Those Damn Reds / The S-Word and Progressive U

Much ado has been made about this issue elsewhere, and yet it's still a problem. Progressive U flags any comments containing the word "socialism" as potential spam, refuses to post them until they've been approved by an editor, and logs the IP addresses of the "spammers", preventing them from doing things like edit posts while so logged.

This has resulted in a mandated self-censorship, under which we all use "s-ism" in our comments to get them past the filter. This proves that not only are the spam filter's motives questionable to begin with, but it also achieves literally nothing.

It may be a noble sentiment to take action against true spam, but from the comments I've seen all over this website the filter isn't actually doing this. Random advertisements and inarticulate one-liners are certainly more spam-like than comments containing the word "socialism," and they abound. Actually, these things aren't even really interfering with the function of the website. Certain types of advertising could be flagged and deleted by the editors if not justified by the poster, but for the most part even the advertisements aren't causing much harm. There seems to be no real need to have a spam filter at all.

But the decision of the site designers to functionally ban the word "socialism" except in blog entries is totally baffling. It serves no legitimate purpose, and could easily be construed as a form of censorship. The opinions of individuals regarding socialism as an economic theory are irrelevant to the right of a supposedly progressive website to censor it as a word.

First of all, opinions on socialism are just that - opinions - and therefore legitimate subjects for debate on a blog like this. Censoring (or effectively censoring) the word symbolizes an attempt to censor the opinions, whether intentional or unintentional. Any such negative symbol should be eliminated to uphold the integrity of Progressive U.

Second, although this privately owned blog has no obligation to grant all users complete freedom of speech, private adherence to the public First Amendment certainly falls within the progressive goals of the website. Censoring a political word or opinion is very anti-progressive.

Third, censoring the word "socialism" is a ridiculous act even for a blog willing to engage in anti-progressive censorship. It hampers people who criticize socialism as much as those who advocate it, as well as people who make passing reference to it.

I have seen comments containing the S-word (and complaints about the filter) go through the editorial process and get posted days after being written. This implies that the editors are fully aware of the filter and the adverse effects it is having, and are still doing nothing about it. I tested it again today, and we still can't include "socialism" in our comments. I don't understand why this clownishly senseless and offensive feature of the website has not yet been eliminated.

Incidentally, I also suggest getting rid of any spam filter entirely, since there's always a risk of silencing legitimate voices in addition to "spammy" ones.

So this post is a plea to the administrators, editors, and code-writers of the website: please get rid of the socialism-spam connection!

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