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A blog admin changed my comment!

  1. eringtheblog
    Member

    Hello all,

    I recently posted a comment on this blog.

    I used no profanity, and did not intend to hurt anyone with my words. I never targeted anyone, I simply gave some advice to the admin. I come back later, only to find that he has edited my post with a simple, "Hello! What's this site gonna be about?". I am a little angry right now, mainly because I am being deprived of my freedom of speech. It would be nice if, there was a "See post before edit" link, or at least a timestamp and message saying that this post was edited by username, instead of someone being able to edit a comment that I made and making everyone think that I said something that I didn't. I don't really care if the blog admin has the right to do this, because I believe that it is unfair and insulting. I am sorry if I come off rude or angry, but I am disappointed that wordpress doesn't make sure that everyone is treated equally.

    Thanks,
    Eddie Ringle

    (Wow, I just noticed, this looks a lot like a letter... bleh.)

  2. raincoaster
    Member

    WordPress makes sure everyone is treated equally. If he leaves a comment on your blog, you have as much right to twist his words as he has to twist yours.

    You might be interested to know, however, that courts have begun ruling that the comments belong to the commenter, legally.

    Your best course of action is to 1) never leave a comment on his blog again and 2) make a blog post about it, including (if you can) the original comment, which might be in the Google cache. If you link to him you will draw him to your blog, and if he leaves a comment then there you go. If he doesn't, it's still good for hits.

  3. eringtheblog
    Member

    Thanks, good idea. :D

    Nice to know that there are some people who aren't out to get you or anything.

  4. cpuhacker1
    Member

    Hello? what are you talking about Eringtheblog I happen to know from looking at your profile, you live in a Michigan? I live in England. And I'd like to know why youre picking on me gentle laddy? Im sort of new here and dont exactly know what you are speaking of lad. I kindly like you to revise that from my username, think you have got the wrong lad mate.

    640 KB ought to be enough for anybody.
    -Bill Gates 1980

  5. cpuhacker1
    Member

    oh yes, ive almost forgotten mate, that link you posted, well sorry to break the ice, but I have never been to such a crisp site. It does seem a bit out of touch but it looks new, maybe ya should not pack on the load onto this guy?!!

  6. raincoaster
    Member

    Take it to the blogs.

  7. lettershometoyou
    Member

    This happened to me once. Some loud-mouth right-wing twat who can't spell or do basic research yet calls himself a citizen journalist (hehe) changed my comments completely. I thought of blogging about it, but what's the point? Like they say, it's like getting into a fight with a pig. All you do is get dirty, and the pig loves it.

  8. raincoaster
    Member

    No, it's great for hits. That's one reason I suggest everyone blog about it. I mean, it is FANTASTIC for hits.

  9. lettershometoyou
    Member

    Hits aren't everything, rain. If I cared that much about hits, i'd put the word porn, sex, child girl, Obama or Clinton in every post headline just to watch them roll in. I have to feel good about what goes onto my blog, and if it's just a little flame war with someone who doesn't deserve the attention, I'd rather pass.

  10. raincoaster
    Member

    You know what? Porn surfer baiting doesn't work as well as flame wars.

    Uh, I read it somewhere.

  11. lettershometoyou
    Member

    ... in your stats, I bet! ;-)

  12. tisme
    Member

    eringtheblog, just in case you haven't had a chance to know it yet, your case is a pretty common one here on .com -- any of the comments left on the WPMU powered blogs can be completely changed by the blog admins to whatever of their wish or whimsy. also, without a mere notice that original comment has been edited and therefore is not actual/authentic henceforth.

    oh, and on the top of that you're not even allowed to *remove* your own comment form someone's other blog here, despite it could be completely spoiled by a blog admin and the current content of such a comment would have nothing to do with the original one already.

    that's just one of the obvious flaws in the WPMU design (or rather lack thereof), which was blindly transfered from the standalone single-blog WP script which, as you know, mocks with the comments in the same peculiar manner.

    since you might've been quite surprised* by such a lame way of handling user comments on .com blogs, I hope you will able to guess it by yourself what the only 'best bet' of yours in this situation is the real one...

    .
    *) for instance, I was indeed amused pretty much myself, because before .com and so far I've never seen any other truly multi-user public blog-service which does allow quiet editing of user comments *and* does not its removal by their very authors at the same time.

  13. mark
    Staff

    "pretty common"

    Those posted here and sent to Support equal less than 0.001% which is not a figure I would call 'common'

    It may be upsetting for the person who left the comment but there is only one form of action - do not comment there again.

  14. tisme
    Member

    Mark, while I agree on the wrong choice of the word if it were to describe a scale of the issue, however the stats you gave above just proves what I was trying to say: the very probability of the comment fraud here is significantly more than a zero.

    that said, it just means that anyone's comment here can be get screwed by a blog admin just about anytime. and you won't know it before you try.

    what, in its turn, simply suggests to not comment on such public services at all. just 1 (one) of such a case would already pretty much suffice for me, at the very least.

    once again sorry for the wrong wording -- my point was primarily about an existing of such an opportunity itself, and not about its quantity.

  15. mark
    Staff

    At every point we interact with others there exists the possibility of distortion, misunderstanding and manipulation. Commenting is no different.

  16. tisme
    Member

    now I completely agree with you -- commenting indeed may be a subject of distortion and manipulation (and it is as we both had a chance to see).

    and that is exactly why any other known to me major public blog services in the best case won't allow me to quietly alter, change, modify etc. your *non*-anonymous comment at all; or, at the very least, such an edited comment will have system notice clearly indicating that it has been edited (when and whom by).

    because, well, you know, your comment is yours -- "I CANT HAS IT" ;-)

  17. mark
    Staff

    I leave a comment on tisme's blog.
    tisme gets the email confirmation
    I then edit my comment
    tisme sees the edit
    tisme reverts it to the original
    I re-edit
    he changes it back
    repeat.

    I could delete my comment - but tisme still has all the information in the email and can duplicate it perfectly.

    So how does the ability to edit change what we have now?

  18. tisme
    Member

    misunderstanding is possible here:

    I leave a comment on tisme's blog.
    tisme gets the email confirmation

    so far it's OK.

    I then edit my comment
    tisme sees the edit

    no, this is incorrect -- you cannot (nor should be able to) *edit* your comment left on tisme's blog (thereby tisme does not see the edit);

    but the point is, neither tisme himself should have an ability to quietly edit Mark's comment which he left on tisme's blog.

    (currently, I've got such an opportunity and let alone that Mark won't even be notified about edits.)

  19. mark
    Staff

    'but the point is, neither tisme himself should have an ability to quietly edit Mark's comment which he left on tisme's blog.'

    I get that. But there are people here who reply to comments inline. The threaded comments point aside, a change would break their ability to do that.

    Trust. In the end it comes down to trust. If you are like me you trust someone until they break that - break it once and that's that. Lesson learned and it will never be restored. That applies to commenting as well.

  20. tisme
    Member

    But there are people here who reply to comments inline.

    just another lame, a straight one as it is.

    no wander that one lameness (lack of the threaded comments *and* the ability to edit other's comments) engenders another one (inline replies).

    trust? like by trial and errors leading to frustration?
    -- no, I don't believe in such sort of the trust when it's about a *public* web-service.

    so, in the end it comes down just to the software which (provided it's well designed) is supposed to provide the means of communication without a needless discontent.

  21. rocketwolf
    Member

    I think this information would be important to everyone. When you are commenting on a blog, there is no guarantee that the blog was created by an American. Freedom of speech is a US Constitutional right. The world wide web does not belong to any one country, and therefor is not governed by any one country. It is the world wide web. If you <i>choose</i> to log onto the world wide web and <i>choose</i> to post comments to anyone, anywhere, your words can be changed at any time.

    This is not a violation of yours or anyones rights. If you don't like that your words have been changed, don't post any comments and they can't be changed. If you do freely choose to make a comment, understand, it may disappear, change, transform, or repeat at any time. If you would like more control over how your words are used, raincoaster has an excellent suggestion, run your own blog where you are in control of what you say. Even then you don't have full control, because what if one day WordPress decides to close shop and all the blogs with it? There is no law to stop them or any law to prevent them from deleting your blog. It's the world wide web of computers and no one country has jurisdiction over any other country operating on the web. The internic could shut down all together one day, and what is any one country going to do about it?

    Lets just understand that the internet may appear permanent, but the computers connected to it are owned by somebody/anybody/everybody and one/some/any of those computers might go away some day due to fire, natural disaster, etc. So go the words and the blogs and anything else stored on them with it.

    Post with enthusiasm, post with excitement, post with the mind that it may, or may not make a difference or may/may not be temporary.

    Happy Posting

  22. thesacredpath
    Member

    There is also no guarantee that Americans will honor your constitutional rights (quick, look surprised!). Many whine about their rights being violated while they are violating the rights of others.

  23. watex101
    Member

    Thats a hackers blog anyways. I hate hackers!

  24. trent
    Member

    Quit posting randomly on threads watex101 since that is not helping your cause at all.

  25. raincoaster
    Member

    All WordPress.com blogs are governed by US law; that's in the Terms of Service. If you really want to go to the barricades for your comment, remember that the contents and the copyright belong to you and you have the option to take legal action if you so choose when/if your comment is edited. This may not be the case when/if it is deleted.

  26. watex101
    Member

    One of my concerns is advertising. Alot of people advertise on my blog so I usually edit that out. That isn't a problem is it?

    Watex

  27. raincoaster
    Member

    My advice would be to delete it, not edit it.

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