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Hi! CTO of npm here. I haven't been reading HN today because we were trying to fix the SSL thing, so I was genuinely taken aback to see this article. We didn't

by seldo 13y ago

Hi! CTO of npm here. I haven't been reading HN today because we were trying to fix the SSL thing, so I was genuinely taken aback to see this article. We didn't censor any comments; we did no moderation of any kind today. I have no idea what happened to his comment, but nobody at npm did anything to it.

tbranyen 13y ago
Tough to give benefit of the doubt, but we're talking about Disqus here and I've had this sort of thing happen to me in the past. Willing to believe it could be an honest mistake. At least you know now to tread lightly if you were ever thinking of doing something like this.
- seldo 13y ago
  I know you don't know me, but if you ever meet anyone who does, you can ask them about my personal attitude towards censorship of any kind. The idea that I would stoop to censorship for something as petty as somebody voicing legitimate complaints about a technical screwup of mine is laughable. (Update: I remembered I wrote http://seldo.com/weblog/2013/09/04/why_i_am_a_web_developer http://seldo.com/weblog/2013/09/04/why_i_am_a_web_developer a while ago, which should give some indication about how I feel about censoring the web)
  - swombat 13y ago
    Sounds like a lot of misplaced "outrage" about nothing. You've done nothing wrong, don't let yourself feel like you did. The internet is a weird place like this, where mobs can assemble in hours and stick you on their pitchforks for an imagined slight before you know what's going on. That's just the way it works, unfortunately, and the tech crowds are no exception. http://swombat.com/2011/6/1/random-acts-of-violence http://swombat.com/2011/6/1/random-acts-of-violence To those who actually appreciate what these guys are doing: now would be a good time to pipe up and show that you support them and are not represented by the vocal minority who's currently getting all the spotlight!
  - debaserab2 13y ago
    Just curious: what happened with disqus today that caused Rob's comment to be moderated without action on your team's part? It seems worth investigating and would set many of the skeptics at ease to know that it truly was not moderated by a NPM member.
  - gaius 13y ago
    To be honest, if you had moderated that, I wouldn't blame you. Freedom of speech doesn't mean you get to go into someone's house and shout in their face.
- justin66 13y ago
  > Tough to give benefit of the doubt Why?
  - forgottenpass 13y ago
    Because their business interest very clearly align with HN readership not believing that they swept this comment under the rug, regardless of if they actually did.
    - nl 13y ago
      NPN's business interest is very clearly aligned with making sure that HN readership understand how seriously some people regard this. It is clearly in their interest to publicly address the issue - anything that hints at trying to hide from that is against their business interest. IMHO the allegedly moderated comment didn't have anything that hasn't been said in hundreds of other places (except perhaps the cheap shot about them smoking something)
- jrs99 13y ago
  I was under the impression that anyone could flag something on disqus and it would be censored automatically.
  - teddyh 13y ago
    Does this mean that anyone who doesn’t want random and unknown censorship of their page comments should avoid using Disqus?
  - danneu 13y ago
    Yeah, this must be it. Here's a screenshot of the settings option: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/spa/quq37nq1583x0lf/42zarc5r.png https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/spa/quq37nq1583x0lf/42zarc... "Do not display a comment once it is flagged [Off/1 time/3 times/5 times/10 times]"

by seldo 13y ago

tbranyen 13y ago

Tough to give benefit of the doubt, but we're talking about Disqus here and I've had this sort of thing happen to me in the past. Willing to believe it could be an honest mistake. At least you know now to tread lightly if you were ever thinking of doing something like this.

seldo 13y ago
I know you don't know me, but if you ever meet anyone who does, you can ask them about my personal attitude towards censorship of any kind. The idea that I would stoop to censorship for something as petty as somebody voicing legitimate complaints about a technical screwup of mine is laughable. (Update: I remembered I wrote http://seldo.com/weblog/2013/09/04/why_i_am_a_web_developer http://seldo.com/weblog/2013/09/04/why_i_am_a_web_developer a while ago, which should give some indication about how I feel about censoring the web)
- swombat 13y ago
  Sounds like a lot of misplaced "outrage" about nothing. You've done nothing wrong, don't let yourself feel like you did. The internet is a weird place like this, where mobs can assemble in hours and stick you on their pitchforks for an imagined slight before you know what's going on. That's just the way it works, unfortunately, and the tech crowds are no exception. http://swombat.com/2011/6/1/random-acts-of-violence http://swombat.com/2011/6/1/random-acts-of-violence To those who actually appreciate what these guys are doing: now would be a good time to pipe up and show that you support them and are not represented by the vocal minority who's currently getting all the spotlight!
- debaserab2 13y ago
  Just curious: what happened with disqus today that caused Rob's comment to be moderated without action on your team's part? It seems worth investigating and would set many of the skeptics at ease to know that it truly was not moderated by a NPM member.
- gaius 13y ago
  To be honest, if you had moderated that, I wouldn't blame you. Freedom of speech doesn't mean you get to go into someone's house and shout in their face.
justin66 13y ago
> Tough to give benefit of the doubt Why?
- forgottenpass 13y ago
  Because their business interest very clearly align with HN readership not believing that they swept this comment under the rug, regardless of if they actually did.
  - nl 13y ago
    NPN's business interest is very clearly aligned with making sure that HN readership understand how seriously some people regard this. It is clearly in their interest to publicly address the issue - anything that hints at trying to hide from that is against their business interest. IMHO the allegedly moderated comment didn't have anything that hasn't been said in hundreds of other places (except perhaps the cheap shot about them smoking something)
jrs99 13y ago
I was under the impression that anyone could flag something on disqus and it would be censored automatically.
- teddyh 13y ago
  Does this mean that anyone who doesn’t want random and unknown censorship of their page comments should avoid using Disqus?
- danneu 13y ago
  Yeah, this must be it. Here's a screenshot of the settings option: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/spa/quq37nq1583x0lf/42zarc5r.png https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/spa/quq37nq1583x0lf/42zarc... "Do not display a comment once it is flagged [Off/1 time/3 times/5 times/10 times]"