Commenter bans on theJournal.ie

Red Alert

I believe I have been banned from commenting on theJournal.ie. If I post a comment, it will seem to go through but will not appear on the page at all, either immediately or later on that day. However, if I go to the my profile page, I do not see any indication that I am banned. The problem appears on a number of different computers, so I don't believe that it's technical at my end.

I have made a number of comments criticising journalists in general, and a number of editorial decisions and possible biases on theJournal.ie. Because of these I believe I might have been awarded the wrath of its staff.

I was wondering if anyone else here has been banned, or had their comments silently suppressed as mine seem to be?

I have attempted to engage theJournal.ie on a number of their published e-mail addresses but have been met with a deafening silence.

Corkbah

.... what do you expect, same thing would happen if you complained here about boards.

some companies protect their online image ...so any negative feedback that they can remove - they will.

Red Alert

Well the difference is on boards.ie if you're banned you'll be informed of it or see it clearly on the screen. Secondly, you'll be given the reasons why and informed of how long the ban is for. TheJournal.ie are not doing either, which makes the whole thing arbitrary and opaque.

Corkbah

Red Alert wrote: »

Well the difference is on boards.ie if you're banned you'll be informed of it or see it clearly on the screen. Secondly, you'll be given the reasons why and informed of how long the ban is for. TheJournal.ie are not doing either, which makes the whole thing arbitrary and opaque.

so because they choose not to engage those random people making comments they are in the wrong ??

other websites do the same ...like breakingnews.ie .... comments are moderated by Discus or something like that so the breakingnews people dont know whats happening and discuss or whatever they are called dont engage the people so comments are deleted and bans are given without the person knowing, I've been banned from commenting on breakingnews because I have a particular view which is not agreed with by the moderators ...as such, I've stopped visiting the site.

similarly with the journal ...I simply don't go near the site, I don't like their concept so have never engaged with them - they are not mainstream media as far as I'm concerned and in the past many of their stories are copied/pasted from actual journalists who have spent their day covering a story - only for the content (the journalists intellectual copyright) to be "robbed" and passed about online so that the journal makes money and the journalist gets shafted.

if you dont like their policy ...do what I do ... dont visit their site.

Also ..difference between the journal and boards ... the journal pays all of the people working there ...boards doesn't - they artificially make people think they are doing good for the boards community by being an unpaid "Mod" - when the reality is ..they might be getting some of the increased benefits of boards - increased storage etc ...but they are probably on boards more because they have a "responsibility" or "duty" to moderate.

Red Alert

I agree with you as a matter of fact - it's their site and they can do what they like. But in principle to ban people without any reason seems excessive and not the "new media" culture that these sites claim to be. Like you, I think I have been banned essentially for my views, rather than the legality of them.

Red Alert

Update: I have written an e-mail to the editor of the Journal, but it has been ignored.

coylemj

Update: nobody cares.

Who reads those reviews anyway? When I used to succumb to the temptation to add a comment on one of the UK news websites, it often used to occur to me that even I didn't bother to read too many of the existing comments so nowadays I just don't bother, it's a graveyard.

Remember all the books of condolence for the death of Princess Diana and the people sitting there writing their pieces? Same thing.