Commenting on Planetfeedback

This letter was not meant to be a complaint about the TOS or about the
current condition of PFB, and the Kitchen Table was the furthest
thing from my mind when I wrote the letter. I wasn't even sure if the
Kitchen Table still existed.

I simply wanted to know if there was a change in the TOS. This isn't
the first time I noticed discrepancies in the removal of comments.
Last time I made the mistake of posting my observations in a profile,
and we all know how that turned out. So this time I went directly to
the source.

But when all is said and done, it still leaves me wondering (as I said
in the letter) why some comments that clearly violate the TOS are not
removed while others are. I haven't really been given an explanation
other than informing me that all the comments are not read. I guess
I'll just have to accept that as the answer whether I think it's fair
or not.

I don't think anyone has to get away with murder for this site to be
entertaining and informative at the same time. No one should ever be
abused here, especially letter writers, but they shouldn't enter the
thread as a commenter and abuse anyone else either. That has caused
problems many times, but I won't get into that.

My point is without candid banter, a lot of the responses just sound
like canned, stock comments, and it's extremely boring. Not only is
it boring, but the restraint that is needed in order to comment within
the rules prevents people from sharing a lot of useful information
that would otherwise be posted.

I can't tell you how many times I read a letter and completely agree
with the writer, but after reading the comments I realize that there's
another side or other things to consider. And the comments are from
people who are experienced and have knowledge of the subject matter in
the letter. That's what makes PFB so useful to me. There are always
two sides, and of course we are only going to hear one side from the
letter writer and have nothing to compare it with. Those are the
comments that make PFB a useful and valuable consumer tool. And
that's what is missing now either because people have left or because
they just no longer comment out of principle or fear of being
suspended.

I could find something in ninety percent of the comments here that in
some way violates the TOS, especially when words like "and not limited
to" are included in the examples of things that are not allowed. It
is completely open to interpretation, and when you have a site where
certain people are not liked or perceived as troublemakers, the
awareness and interpretation of comments becomes an issue. That's
what I believe is going on based on my observations lately.

However, my real concern is how all of this is affecting the site. I
have come to the conclusion that what we see here now is exactly what
PFB was going for when they decided to crack down on commenting. If
that's the case, then they succeeded. But if this were my site, I
would have found a way to achieve the best of both worlds. There has
to be something between murder and what I perceive as the complete
death of a website that was previously a valuable source of
information with some entertainment thrown in. I really don't see why
those two things can't coexist. In fact, I've seen it enough times
here to know that they can.

Traffic to the site is up.

More people are staying around to comment and participate.

More people are writing letters.

Many fewer letter writers and commenters are writing emails of
complaint about how their treated in the comment section since the
moderation went into effect.

Your concerns, while I am sure well-meaning, are just simply not the
reality of the situation.

So, this question has been posted on this site for nine days now, and
PlantFeedback hasn't responded yet. Maybe they did so behind the
scenes, but considering the posting is in a public venue about the
very site it's on, a response here is appropriate.

This is not meant to be an insult in any way: I have never seen worse
Customer Service from any other organization. PlantFeedback is clearly
telling the people who bother to come to their site that they don't
care.

At least the average companies that do not care about Customer Service
send a canned reply.

Low rent.

i have noticed that some comments I thought would be pulled haven't
yet been touched. (i.e. related to grammar or pointing out where a
letter-writer may have broken the law)


but on the flip side i have seen comments that contain direct attacks
and name calling have been pulled.


maybe they've finally relaxed a little with how things are being
handled.

i think it has something to do with the way things got heated up very
quickly over the blog-moderation notice.

I have had comments deleted in the past. Usually they are ones where I
have politely suggested that the original poster rewrite the letter to
make it more readable. Simple things like punctuation, spelling, etc.


It was my understanding that when a comment is deleted that the
poster of the comment was supposed to be sent an email explaining why
it was deleted. I never received an explanation of why the comments
were deleted.

I agree with you Venice that lately it seems like comments of those
type and worse are being allowed. I have no problem with some of my
comments being deleted but all such similar comments should be deleted
as well. It should be fair and equal.

Oh Venice, here you go again.......

As one of the folks that recently posted a comment about rewriting a
letter that included calling the employees things like "idiots", I
apologize if I've offended anyone.

I am a casual poster here,(obviously, since I am just now seeing this
letter) and thought that constructive criticism was allowed.
Apparently, I am wrong. Although I fail to see how trying to help
someone realize that a well written letter will forward their
complaint more than a really bad letter can be construed as offensive.
If I failed to see this rule in the TOS then it is my fault.

I do have to offer my completely unsolicted opinion on another matter.
This site now has so many posting rules that a score card is needed,
and it's just not worth it.

Combine the interesting posting rules with the ever present tension
and sniping among members, this site has become hard to take
seriously. What a shame!

Somewhere along the line the inmates have taken over the asylum and
it's just not working. If I were Planetfeedback I'd close the whole
thing down, re-vamp things, and start over in rebuilding the site's
creditbility.

I know that I've been told that there have been no changes to the
moderation policy, but I'm still not sure if that includes suggesting
that a letter be rewritten or made clearer. I have seen several
comments to that effect lately that were not removed. Are suggestions
on how to improve a letter now permitted?

Never fear Venice, the censor police at PFB are still out and still
working overtime.

My guess is...its just certain people who are being censored.

Venice, if there is a comment that you feel is inappropriate, why
wouldn't you simply shoot an email to Greg to delete it? What could
you possibly hope to accomplish by posting this letter? Really. I
don't for one minute believe that you honestly think that "comments
now allowed that include but are not limited to speculation,
name-calling, insults, letter critiquing, etc.?"

This letter really comes across as an attempt to stir the pot so to
speak. Have things been too calm? I have noticed a bunch of new
names lately - maybe they need to be sucked into the drama filled
whirlpool that was the TOS debate.

Hopefully Greg will respond so that everyone who participates in
commenting can have things be ever so much more clear than the TOS
makes them.

wow.