Thursday, December 08, 2005

Comments to be moderated

Things seem to be getting out of hand in the comments here, so I've enabled comment moderation. Now this does not mean that Anonymous or non-registered posters will not be able to leave comments. It means that when you comment on a post, as anonymous or unregistered wtih Blogger, it will not immediately be posted. I will review it and either allow it or disallow it, depending on my view of it's relevance to the topic or it's tone. Regardless of the Moderation feature, I have had the ability to remove comments that were off topic or inappropriate in the past and have done so.

I hate cencorship, but I will point out something I've told others before. This Blog is not a public forum for your views. If you look at the top of the page, it says MY Ford Dreams. Meaning ME, the writer. This is a Blog or Web Log/Journal. This is not a forum. There are many bloggers that don't allow comment on their blogs. This is not a pay site, it's not a news forum, it's not your personal pulpit. It's my journal or diary or blog to discuss how I feel about news and issues related to Ford. I have other blogs that are not associated with this one where I talk about other things. I don't link between my news/issues blog and this blog. The two don't mix and they don't promote each other ever. I have a total of 5 blogs that I write under different names, that have no common theme. So make no mistake, this is My Ford Blog. Where I discuss issues related to Ford. If you don't like it, don't read it, just move on to one of the other 100 thousand blogs out there.

In the past I've had to enable word verification for comments, because of spam, and then I asked readers that if they leave comments "anonymously" that they ID themselves either with a nickname or initials, so that others can direct responses. Don't fear that I will automatically delete your comment because I don't like what you're saying. I will only remove anonyous posts and those that are hostile towards other commenters. I don't have to agree with what you say, to allow you to comment. This is the USA and I beleive in the First Amendment.

Now recent news about Ford has caused me to post on issues that may seem off topic, but I assure they are not. Also some people may confuse my posts as supporting or putting forward an agenda of social issues. That's not the case. In these recent posts, I've tried to be clear that the issue for me is Ford Motor Company's capitulation to a small special interest group.

To be clear, take the word Gay out of these posts and replace it with any of the following;
Black, Brown, Yellow, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Catholic, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Democart, Republican or Martian. The facts are that Ford Motor Company was not supporting anyone's lifestyle, and they aren't condemning it now. Ford made a poor business decision. They chose to allow one group to dictate their advertising towards another group.

Ford would have been smarter to ignore the AFA, just like Disney and WalMart did. Now there is just more bad press for Ford on the horizon. That's the point of my past posts. I'm not looking to promote anyone's agenda, I'm pointing out Ford's poor business decision. Pure and simple.

If some of my words or the images you see here offend you, that was not my intention. But the problem is not mine, but yours. I'm not a journalist, or a professional writer. The images I post are rarely mine, but mostly taken from Google Image searches, and are usually the first ones I find related to the topic. You can imagine with several blogs to write, of course this one is the most active, I can sometimes get sloppy with spelling.

So comment all you like, just don't make personal attacks against others and of course remember to ID yourself in some way, even if you just sign the bottom with a nickname or initials. like this;

Joe

Update, the lord closes one door and opens another. In fairness to those that want to participate in open forums, please click the link here or in the title line for Blue Oval Forums;
http://www.blueovalforums.com/index.php?

2 comments:

Stephen said...

Yikes! I don't visit for a few days and miss all the fireworks. Joe, you got to do what you got to do, and like you said, this isn't a forum it's your views and beliefs. I can't imagine why anyone would assume they were free to post stuff like that on your Blog. Good for you for taking care of busiess.

Big Ford Fan said...

Stephen, what do you mean you haven't visited for a few days? I forgive you, but don't let it happen again ;)

Jeez, you should have seen some of the comments, it was like someting out of the tabloids.