Have I been 'locked out'?

[SomeYoungGuy]

I am always trying to leave comments that are maybe challenging but never uneven.  Certainly I support MMM's lifestyle, and I have struggled to be anywhere near as 'badass'.  But lately I believe my comments are being blocked.  I have travelled the world, and I know how insidious profiling can be.  Try living in the Middle East andbeing from India.  Try living in Norway and being from Poland.  So I really detest this internet discrimination, if that is what is going on in the MMM comments these days.

[dragoncar]

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/continue-the-blog-conversation/deleted-comment-on-%27the-black-hole-second-home%27/msg134950/#msg134950

[Kira]

I am always trying to leave comments that are maybe challenging but never uneven.  Certainly I support MMM's lifestyle, and I have struggled to be anywhere near as 'badass'.  But lately I believe my comments are being blocked.  I have travelled the world, and I know how insidious profiling can be.  Try living in the Middle East andbeing from India.  Try living in Norway and being from Poland.  So I really detest this internet discrimination, if that is what is going on in the MMM comments these days.

How do we random internet people know what you look like or where you're from?

[boy_bye]

Um, I saw a few of your comments on the latest post (also complaining about how your comments keep going missing) so I don't think you've been locked out.

[daverobev]

Yup, MMM blog is not a democracy. He has a point he's trying to make and if you're going 'off message' that comment gets removed. It's not 'fair' but OTOH have you seen comments on any un-moderated popular blog? Ugh.

[Mrs MM]

Ummm... you have 28 approved comments. Maybe you're just not seeing them. The last 2 comments (which are approved) say:

where is my comment?

and

Very insular. I suppose this comment will also be moderated, so I won’t spend anywhere near the time I did on my last attempt to contribute…

I will delete them now, since they are not contributing to the conversation.

I'm not sure why you're not seeing your comments, but they are all there.

[SomeYoungGuy]

I didn't realize that there was a spam filter applied to all posts, so that cleared up my confusion.  I used to see a comment go up in 'preliminary' edit mode, then when timed out it would stay up.  Lately they have been disappearing.  I have read the rules about deleting items that don't contribute or repeat, so I read all of the comments before I get done posting.  Thus I spend a reasonably long time trying to add my two cents and usually think it's worth the effort.  It was in a moment of frustration that I made this thread in the forum.  Still, it is a bit disappointing that all of the comments after a MMM article are of the 'I totally agree' variety and I feel like that is the result of my suspected profiling.   I think there could be some interesting discussion if a little debate and difference of opinion were allowed, it would feel much more like 'the real world' and not the same commenters making the same comments.  And I disagree with the idea that 'it's his blog so he can police however he likes' if it leads to abuses.  The fact that it's called a 'comments section' leads one to believe real people are freely commenting, otherwise it should be called an 'agreements section'.  Obvious trolling and spamming should be policed, not just differences of opinion.

[Kira]

Still, it is a bit disappointing that all of the comments after a MMM article are of the 'I totally agree' variety and I feel like that is the result of my suspected profiling.   

Not to be snarky, but you must think that MMM is paying an awful lot of attention to you if you think he is looking out for all your comments just to delete them. I would bet he does not even read most of them.

And I disagree with the idea that 'it's his blog so he can police however he likes' if it leads to abuses.  The fact that it's called a 'comments section' leads one to believe real people are freely commenting, otherwise it should be called an 'agreements section'.  Obvious trolling and spamming should be policed, not just differences of opinion.

Again, not to be snarky, but what authority do you have, exactly, to say how someone else should run their website? You can disagree with the idea all you like but that doesn't mean someone else has to do what you tell them to.

[Russ]

I didn't realize that there was a spam filter applied to all posts, so that cleared up my confusion.  I used to see a comment go up in 'preliminary' edit mode, then when timed out it would stay up.  Lately they have been disappearing.  I have read the rules about deleting items that don't contribute or repeat, so I read all of the comments before I get done posting.  Thus I spend a reasonably long time trying to add my two cents and usually think it's worth the effort.  It was in a moment of frustration that I made this thread in the forum.  Still, it is a bit disappointing that all of the comments after a MMM article are of the 'I totally agree' variety and I feel like that is the result of my suspected profiling.   I think there could be some interesting discussion if a little debate and difference of opinion were allowed, it would feel much more like 'the real world' and not the same commenters making the same comments.  And I disagree with the idea that 'it's his blog so he can police however he likes' if it leads to abuses.  The fact that it's called a 'comments section' leads one to believe real people are freely commenting, otherwise it should be called an 'agreements section'.  Obvious trolling and spamming should be policed, not just differences of opinion.

Did you read Mrs. MM's post? Even your "where is my comment" posts were there until you brought it up here. The comment section isn't really moderated at all besides the spam filter. If it's mostly people that agree with MMM that's because most people agree with him, not because of whatever OCD comment-deleting you're imagining. Maybe clear your cache and look again; I'd be very surprised if your comments aren't there (especially considering several people here have seen them personally).

I understand that it's frustrating for you, but I really think you're jumping the gun on getting upset here.

[beltim]

If SomeYoungGuy is posting under the same name on the comments as here, then I"m not seeing his comments either, on two different browsers after clearing my cache.  Perhaps there is a server-side problem?

[Mrs MM]

Note that there are multiple pages of comments now.  If you go to the bottom of a post, you have to click "newer comments" to get the rest.

Comments from SomeYoungGuy appears 4 times on this page:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/08/29/luxury-is-just-another-weakness/

I deleted the 2 on the latest article, as they did not pertain to the article (just asking where your comment was).

If there are others, I don't see them anywhere.

[beltim]

No problem seeing his comments on that article.

[SomeYoungGuy]

I had also commented on the 'Low Information Diet' blog post.  I had read through over 250 comments and wanted to contribute.  Interestingly, MMM seemed to contradict the blog post in the 3rd page of the comments (that he doesn't 'watch' the news, but 'learns' the news, and went on to mention ACA, debt ceiling, and the shutdown).  My comment ended up mainly pointing out this confusing message and how difficult it is to manage information intake (e.g. had to read all of the comments to try to make a worthwhile comment, so I had already invested far too much time that I should have spent playing with the kids outside).   Maybe it was redundant, but I didn't see anyone else mention this, mostly it was people recommending quality over quantity, etc..  I also found the comments generated off of Alicia's 'your day will come' comment to be interesting on both sides of the 'aisle', otherwise I wouldn't have read more than a handful of the 'excellent article again' type comments and been done with it.

[Nords]

Thus I spend a reasonably long time trying to add my two cents and usually think it's worth the effort.  It was in a moment of frustration that I made this thread in the forum.  Still, it is a bit disappointing that all of the comments after a MMM article are of the 'I totally agree' variety and I feel like that is the result of my suspected profiling.   I think there could be some interesting discussion if a little debate and difference of opinion were allowed, it would feel much more like 'the real world' and not the same commenters making the same comments.  And I disagree with the idea that 'it's his blog so he can police however he likes' if it leads to abuses.  The fact that it's called a 'comments section' leads one to believe real people are freely commenting, otherwise it should be called an 'agreements section'.  Obvious trolling and spamming should be policed, not just differences of opinion.

Do you really think that MMM is taking the time out of hundreds of commenters to pick on you?  Or do you think that he writes a post, puts it up, checks on the comments once or twice, and then goes about his life with his family and his projects?

You seem to have some pretty firm opinions on how to run a blog.  I look forward to reading your blog.

[thepokercab]

Not sure if anyone else experiences this, but I use Google Chrome, and I have noticed that when I exit MMM's website, and then return to it, I need to specifically refresh the web page in order for an updated page to appear. So for instance, I'll read a post with 112 comments in the morning.  Close that tab, return to that page later in the day, and it will still be the same page as it was that morning, until I specifically refresh the page.

This quirk, at least for me, seems to only happen when I visit the MMM website.  Probably some cookie or internet history issue I have (although it doesn't seem to happen to me anywhere else)

Anyway, point being, just a reminder to check out your browser as that might be a reason why someone might not see any new comments or comments you've recently posted. 

[arebelspy]

What a great thread.  :)

[grantmeaname]

Try living in Norway and being from Poland.  So I really detest this internet discrimination, if that is what is going on in the MMM comments these days.

How do we random internet people know what you look like or where you're from?

[Peter]

Interesting thread - MMM and Mrs MM, do you sub out the work to other admins to handle this kind of silliness? Are they volunteers or employees?

I would imagine dealing with annoying things like complaints for a massive blog/forum would turn this more into a job than a fun retirement hobby.

How do you handle it? Excessive complaining/trolling is the reason ERE was abandoned by Jacob, afterall.

[msilenus]

Interesting thread - MMM and Mrs MM, do you sub out the work to other admins to handle this kind of silliness? Are they volunteers or employees?

If they're paying to outsource their comment moderation, I'm leaving.

[Mrs MM]

We moderate all the blog comments ourselves (as I mentioned before, less than 1% of comments are deleted). We get a ton of spam and I don't bother looking through there anymore (I used to, but there is too much now). I usually don't look at the forum much though, but occasionally I'll stop in and comment.

Everything on the blog is done by us (MMM and myself).

[msilenus]

Sorry, I wasn't playing that one straight.  The suggestion that you hardore DIYers were paying people to read your e-mail seemed absurd enough that I thought highlighting it with a straight face would serve as a kind of deadpan joke.  In hindsight, it reads a bit dickish.  Apologies for that.

[Mrs MM]

Sorry, I wasn't playing that one straight.  The suggestion that you hardore DIYers were paying people to read your e-mail seemed absurd enough that I thought highlighting it with a straight face would serve as a kind of deadpan joke.  In hindsight, it reads a bit dickish.  Apologies for that.

Ha! No worries. People read me wrong all the time on the internet. ;)

[Nords]

Sorry, I wasn't playing that one straight.  The suggestion that you hardore DIYers were paying people to read your e-mail seemed absurd enough that I thought highlighting it with a straight face would serve as a kind of deadpan joke.  In hindsight, it reads a bit dickish.  Apologies for that.

I know several hardcore DIY bloggers who outsource just those sort of tasks to Fiverr or virtual assistants (living in places like the Philippines or India).  The bloggers figure they can earn more from working on freelance writing or other projects than from reading their own e-mail. 

I reviewed a book from one blogger who had completely outsourced the review process.  The publisher sent the book to their VA, who mailed it to me with a handwritten note that was written "by direction" for the blogger.