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UPDATE: Mat Mullen, Disqus employee got a comment past the moderator (maybe he knows someone): This is the weirdest thing I've ever read on the Atlantic. You'r

UPDATE: Mat Mullen, Disqus employee got a comment past the moderator (maybe he knows someone): This is the weirdest thing I've ever read on the Atlantic. You're actually letting the Church of Scientology sponsor content on your website?

jacalata 14y ago
if you go watch the 'upvote' count on his comment, it is flickering rapidly, up two, down one, up one, down two - fascinating.
- coloneltcb 14y ago
  Surely Scientology's army of Astro-turfers are working overtime tonight
  - joezydeco 14y ago
    And Reddit is probably on the case as well...
    - a_bonobo 14y ago
      HN seems to be much more active on this topic, if you check Reddit's posted links here, some links, few votes, few comments yet: http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fsponsored%2Fscientology%2Farchive%2F2013%2F01%2Fdavid-miscavige-leads-scientology-to-milestone-year-%2F266958%2F http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlanti...
- fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
  Good then, It's not just me.
- irollboozers 14y ago
  I think any forum with upvote/downvote needs to have this, so cool to watch.
- madiator 14y ago
  I don't know understand why its going down? The downvotes should be displayed separately and should not affect the upvotes, unless the upvotes are getting deleted (by somebody or by the upvoters themselves)
  - illuminate 14y ago
    Because either the Atlantic is moderating the comments or the COS employs a lot of sockpuppets (my guess on the latter.)
- tylerlh 14y ago
  A few minutes ago his comment had over 600 upvotes. Now it's teetering around 300.. it appears the moderators are also removing upvotes?
- anonymoushn 14y ago
  You can cause the same thing to happen to any comment by rapidly clicking the upvote button. This seems to cause the upvote count to drift upward, even though you would expect it to just oscillate between two values. I've just taken parkermoseyondown's comment from 0 to 40 upvotes. Edit: This seems to be a UI issue. After reloading his comment is sitting at only 1 upvote.
- Blahah 14y ago
  Now his comment seems to have gone...
  - neumann_alfred 14y ago
    Yup. CREEPY.
  - illuminate 14y ago
    Hrm, I'll be fascinated to know whether there's a COS employee of the Atlantic or whether they give moderator accounts to their advertisers, HuffPo-style.
citricsquid 14y ago
interesting, could this be his Disqus employee "privileges" allowing his comment to bypass moderation and if so, how does that bode for websites using Disqus? They control the discussion unless someone at Disqus wants to talk? Although ~~from what I can tell it's a free service, so they can't do much damage by leaving.~~ nevermind, there is a disqus premium service.
- neumann_alfred 14y ago
  how does that bode for websites using Disqus? That was never a good idea IMHO... If you care about your readers, don't outsource comments. I cannot take websites seriously that are using Disqus (or Facebook, or other such shady, inaccountable stuff) to replace such a vital part of their online operations.
smoyer 14y ago
His comment is now gone ... it was by far the most up-voted and I'm a bit shocked that Disqus is in collusion with The Atlantic.
- dbcooper 14y ago
  This sly comment remains though. :) "Such beautiful buildings! It's a shame that Shelley Miscavige couldn't join her husband at the gala openings!"
  - smoyer 14y ago
    Yes ... I appreciated that one too. I'm sure they're monitoring HN since this place is such a bastion of scientists, so it might be disappearing shortly.
- alxndr 14y ago
  They probably have a contract that Disqus wouldn't want the Atlantic to cancel.
- smacktoward 14y ago
  "Collusion" seems like overstating the case a little to me. I'd be more shocked if the opposite were true -- if the site publisher wanted to remove a comment, and Disqus, for whatever reason, wouldn't let them. Disqus isn't supposed to be making editorial decisions on their customers' sites; if someone wants to be an idiot and moderate out non-cheerleading comments, it's not Disqus' place to override that decision.
  - illuminate 14y ago
    ""Collusion" seems like overstating the case a little to me." Aren't they editing the comments for their customer?
    - smacktoward 14y ago
      Why would they be? Sites using Disqus can moderate their own comments, and Disqus claims to do no moderation beyond that -- see http://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466223-who-deleted-or-removed-my-comment- http://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466223-who-d.... I suppose you could come up with a theory where The Atlantic talked/bribed Disqus into doing the moderation for them, but it seems much more straightforward to assume that it's the admins at The Atlantic who were filtering comments.

jacalata 14y ago

if you go watch the 'upvote' count on his comment, it is flickering rapidly, up two, down one, up one, down two - fascinating.

coloneltcb 14y ago
Surely Scientology's army of Astro-turfers are working overtime tonight
- joezydeco 14y ago
  And Reddit is probably on the case as well...
  - a_bonobo 14y ago
    HN seems to be much more active on this topic, if you check Reddit's posted links here, some links, few votes, few comments yet: http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fsponsored%2Fscientology%2Farchive%2F2013%2F01%2Fdavid-miscavige-leads-scientology-to-milestone-year-%2F266958%2F http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlanti...
fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
Good then, It's not just me.
irollboozers 14y ago
I think any forum with upvote/downvote needs to have this, so cool to watch.
madiator 14y ago
I don't know understand why its going down? The downvotes should be displayed separately and should not affect the upvotes, unless the upvotes are getting deleted (by somebody or by the upvoters themselves)
- illuminate 14y ago
  Because either the Atlantic is moderating the comments or the COS employs a lot of sockpuppets (my guess on the latter.)
tylerlh 14y ago
A few minutes ago his comment had over 600 upvotes. Now it's teetering around 300.. it appears the moderators are also removing upvotes?
anonymoushn 14y ago
You can cause the same thing to happen to any comment by rapidly clicking the upvote button. This seems to cause the upvote count to drift upward, even though you would expect it to just oscillate between two values. I've just taken parkermoseyondown's comment from 0 to 40 upvotes. Edit: This seems to be a UI issue. After reloading his comment is sitting at only 1 upvote.
Blahah 14y ago
Now his comment seems to have gone...
- neumann_alfred 14y ago
  Yup. CREEPY.
- illuminate 14y ago
  Hrm, I'll be fascinated to know whether there's a COS employee of the Atlantic or whether they give moderator accounts to their advertisers, HuffPo-style.

citricsquid 14y ago

interesting, could this be his Disqus employee "privileges" allowing his comment to bypass moderation and if so, how does that bode for websites using Disqus? They control the discussion unless someone at Disqus wants to talk? Although ~~from what I can tell it's a free service, so they can't do much damage by leaving.~~ nevermind, there is a disqus premium service.

neumann_alfred 14y ago
how does that bode for websites using Disqus? That was never a good idea IMHO... If you care about your readers, don't outsource comments. I cannot take websites seriously that are using Disqus (or Facebook, or other such shady, inaccountable stuff) to replace such a vital part of their online operations.

smoyer 14y ago

His comment is now gone ... it was by far the most up-voted and I'm a bit shocked that Disqus is in collusion with The Atlantic.

dbcooper 14y ago
This sly comment remains though. :) "Such beautiful buildings! It's a shame that Shelley Miscavige couldn't join her husband at the gala openings!"
- smoyer 14y ago
  Yes ... I appreciated that one too. I'm sure they're monitoring HN since this place is such a bastion of scientists, so it might be disappearing shortly.
alxndr 14y ago
They probably have a contract that Disqus wouldn't want the Atlantic to cancel.
smacktoward 14y ago
"Collusion" seems like overstating the case a little to me. I'd be more shocked if the opposite were true -- if the site publisher wanted to remove a comment, and Disqus, for whatever reason, wouldn't let them. Disqus isn't supposed to be making editorial decisions on their customers' sites; if someone wants to be an idiot and moderate out non-cheerleading comments, it's not Disqus' place to override that decision.
- illuminate 14y ago
  ""Collusion" seems like overstating the case a little to me." Aren't they editing the comments for their customer?
  - smacktoward 14y ago
    Why would they be? Sites using Disqus can moderate their own comments, and Disqus claims to do no moderation beyond that -- see http://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466223-who-deleted-or-removed-my-comment- http://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466223-who-d.... I suppose you could come up with a theory where The Atlantic talked/bribed Disqus into doing the moderation for them, but it seems much more straightforward to assume that it's the admins at The Atlantic who were filtering comments.