Dear reader, we're closing comments (IOL)

schumi

schumi

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Dear IOL reader, we need to talk …

I thought you should be the first to know that Independent Online (IOL) will be closing comments on its online articles with immediate effect.

It is a difficult but necessary decision to make and we arrived at it after careful consideration of all the factors at play.

The freedom of expression guaranteed by our Constitution was never meant to override the personal freedoms and human rights of our fellow citizens.

Let me be clear that commenting on an article is not a right, but a courtesy afforded to you by IOL as a reader.

If you are prone to being racist or sexist in your thinking, by all means express yourself on other platforms that may find such behaviour acceptable, but not on IOL.
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More at http://www.iol.co.za/news/dear-reader-we-re-closing-comments-1.1930349#.Vh9iIG6-Opo
 
LOL! I moved to them from News24 because of that.

Guess it will be EWN now :p
 
If anyone believes they're doing this by choice, you're mistaken. It is what Paul has been trying to warn MyBB about for a while (granted, it got a little heavy and heated). There is a list, and MyBB is on it...
 
DJ... said:
If anyone believes they're doing this by choice, you're mistaken. It is what Paul has been trying to warn MyBB about for a while (granted, it got a little heavy and heated). There is a list, and MyBB is on it...
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Lol. Tell us more. I love conspiracy theories.
 
SammyD said:
Lol. Tell us more. I love conspiracy theories.
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It's no secret that the government is leaning on media organisations....

Why do you think 702 had such a change of heart a few years ago?
 
DJ... said:
If anyone believes they're doing this by choice, you're mistaken. It is what Paul has been trying to warn MyBB about for a while (granted, it got a little heavy and heated). There is a list, and MyBB is on it...
Click to expand...

I'm sceptical.

I reckon they are just distancing themselves from the liability of providing a platform for people to spew hate speech.
 
SammyD said:
Lol. Tell us more. I love conspiracy theories.
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Not much of a conspiracy. It's simply what's been going on behind the scenes from a political angle for a while.

I can't disclose much about this other than to say that the closure of these "comments" sections, which are akin to this forum's sections, was not a voluntary choice made by the publications who have chosen to do so. There has been building pressure for some time. MyBB has a slight issue with respect to moderating posts where the offending post in question has been amended by someone representing MyBB. This is part of what Paul was trying to warn MyBB about, and is why he lost his cool and targeted a few individuals with which to point out to MyBB the risk. It did however devolve into something completely different, as it does with this sort of thing.

I don't sanction nor agree with his methods, but I certainly understand what he was trying to do, and it was with the best of intentions...
 
DJ... said:
If anyone believes they're doing this by choice, you're mistaken. It is what Paul has been trying to warn MyBB about for a while (granted, it got a little heavy and heated). There is a list, and MyBB is on it...
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^This times a million

Did the ANC not just recently announce they will come down onto the media an they will come down hard.
 
Necropolis said:
I'm sceptical.

I reckon they are just distancing themselves from the liability of providing a platform for people to spew hate speech.
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Of course they are. But they've never done so before. The risk of liability however has been, um, pointed out to them by certain attorneys representing certain political interests...
 
DJ... said:
Not much of a conspiracy. It's simply what's been going on behind the scenes from a political angle for a while.

I can't disclose much about this other than to say that the closure of these "comments" sections, which are akin to this forum's sections, was not a voluntary choice made by the publications who have chosen to do so. There has been building pressure for some time. MyBB has a slight issue with respect to moderating posts where the offending post in question has been amended by someone representing MyBB. This is part of what Paul was trying to warn MyBB about, and is why he lost his cool and targeted a few individuals with which to point out to MyBB the risk. It did however devolve into something completely different, as it does with this sort of thing.

I don't sanction nor agree with his methods, but I certainly understand what he was trying to do, and it was with the best of intentions...
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I disagree, the best of intentions can be conveyes with constructive discussion and debate, not emotional outbursts, turning threads into a circus or holding a grudge so intensely that he would take an opportunity to remind us who bothers him.

If he wanted to make a positive impact, he went about it the same way as a person cleaning up litter whilst screaming at people passing by
 
DJ... said:
Of course they are. But they've never done so before. The risk of liability however has been, um, pointed out to them by certain attorneys representing certain political interests...
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Do you have proof of that?

Or are you just assuming that is the case?
 
STS said:
I disagree, the best of intentions can be conveyes with constructive discussion and debate, not emotional outbursts, turning threads into a circus or holding a grudge so intensely that he would take an opportunity to remind us who bothers him.

If he wanted to make a positive impact, he went about it the same way as a person cleaning up litter whilst screaming at people passing by
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That's what I said. Read it again...
 
Oh please, ffs, does anybody see any value that these cowardly racist trolls add to any debate ever?

Nobody who is abusive or racist deserves the right to have their abusive and racist views aired to the public.

The whole concept of freedom of speech should be reserved for those who are willing to come forward in public and face the consequences of saying what they want to say, and not those who hide in anonymity.
 
Until the ANC decides any opposing views are racist.....
 
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