John Altevogt, a frequent and articulate critic of the Kansas City Star, has been banned from posting any comments on the paper's Midwest Voices section and the readers' rep section.When John logs in and posts a comment at Midwest Voices, the above message -- "you can't post comments" -- appears. He was written Miriam Peppers and Yael Abouhalkah to find out the reasons, but hasn't received a response.
So you understand: the Star hasn't deleted specific comments from John due to profanity or abuse or some other violation -- they have banned John from posting entirely.
Seems to me Midwest Voices and the readers' rep blog are the areas at the Star's site where diversity of opinion should be valued the most.
Of course the Star can run their site however they want. But banning critics makes the Star looks weak and pathetic. And like they are clumsily trying to impose a speech code.
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33 comments:
What's interesting is that I post freely on the Crime Scene KC blog and Prime Buzz and beneath the articles. Only the Editorial Bored and Derek Donovan (who feels free however to make obscene phone calls to me and libel me by name in his blog) have restricted me from posting.
This reinforces my comments about newspapers not being monoliths. The reporters and IT people leave me alone, only the management lackeys try to shut me up.
Incidentally, the topic of the blog entry that Miriam was responding to was about censoring The Star's blogs
http://voices.kansascity.com/node/4547
Meh. Who cares?
Kansas City is dull. Altevogt is dull.
The people at the Scar keep finding new ways to make themselves look like fools.
I wonder if it’s a coincidence with the MNI trolls around here.
It's their Marxist party, and they'll cry if they want to.
(Layoff crying that is.)
Maybe McClatchy Watch should take note and follow suit.
I am curious. It says that your account is a "moderator". So it looks like you were "promoted".
Maybe they don't have priv's setup correctly for moderators to vote.
But again, this is going of half cocked about something without having the full story. You clearly say he has not heard back yet from any of them, so it all could likely be a misunderstanding.
And you get mad at newspaper journalists for their shoddy reporting. Ha!
I'm not a moderator on this blog. And the contacts were made months ago. In fact, I think the first one was over a year ago. If this is a "misunderstanding" apparently there is quite a stack of "misunderstandings" for them to go through.
Nice try at an apologia though. Thanks for coming.
Wow. Hard to see why they wouldn't want you around.
PS: Ha!
9:37 Insult
10:57 Insults us for not researching the facts without researching the facts.
11:24 Another waste of space. No argument, no rebuttal, just SOS different day.
Keep 'em coming, at least you can do that here.
10:57's was an insult/attack at MW not you personally
So apparently what you want people to see in the screen shot you provided is the "you can't post comments" and the rest of it means nothing?
Have you tried re-registering under another name, i.e. JAltevogt or John_Altevogt?
Also, you said you haven't tried contacting them in months.
If you want to share your bounty of knowledge with us I am sure there are ways for you to either do it, or ways for you to contact them (i.e. phone).
Actually, I did not say I hadn't contacted them in months. I merely indicated that they have had plenty of time to respond and have chosen not to do so. Personal emails were sent to Yael Abouhalkah and Miriam Pepper just a week or so ago after the IT people indicated that they were the ones responsible for banning my comments.
Also, the ban is not only on the accounts, but also appears to be attached to the cookies in my browsers.
The only reason I brought this to anyone's attention is owing to the whining and sniveling coming from the trolls on here about what they perceive to be unfair treatment.
As I indicated above, no one here has done anything but engage in dialog with you.
Thanks for your comments.
John-
You stated clearly "the contacts were made months ago". Most people would assume that to mean that you haven't tried in months, otherwise you could/would have stated, "I have tried contacting them for months".
As far as cookies go, I would doubt it as that is not "secure". I.e. anyone can delete their cookies at anytime so you could then easily post a comment thus circumventing their ban.
Most likely the only thing they have banned is whatever user name you were/are using.
Also this apparently seems like you have been banned for a while now (based upon your inferences). That leaves nothing for the rest of us to judge whether you should have been banned or not.
Also, if you have been banned for months why do you only now decide to "publicize" it to MW?
As I previously stated you can easily change to a new account and continue to post your comments.
Great. All John does is complain about the Star. They let him go and good for them. He can dish it out but he can't take it.
Get a life John. I agree with 9:37 both are dull and boring.
For the second time, from my 11:49 post:
"The only reason I brought this to anyone's attention is owing to the whining and sniveling coming from the trolls on here about what they perceive to be unfair treatment."
Compared to The Star's normal misconduct, this is trivial and it's really not worth the time to register again. I rarely comment on the blogs that I'm allowed to post on, much less fret over not being able to post on Midwest Voices. It's just another demonstration of the Stalinist mentality that rules the McClatchy chain and their attempts to silence truth to power.
Dear John-
I know that you think you are the $hit, but anyone that runs a blog can choose whom to allow to comment.
Deep down you are probably just upset that your $5k contribution to McCain was basically just pissing in the wind.
As with any site the old adage "Birds of a feather..." applies here. The Star nor any other organization/company/individual owes you the time of day to spout off your thoughts/diatribes.
If anyone blocks me from commenting then you know what I do? I move on. Apparently you just have separation anxiety that you need to deal with.
And not that it really matters, but I voted for Barr.
Interesting how the MNI defenders thinks that banning someone from commenting without explanation is just fine as long as its a MSM bird cage liner. They respond with a personal attack (boring or "you must have dome something")
What happened to the glory of speaking truth to power?
Not when it irritates the suits at the Star.
I love the way 2:04 throws up "personal attacks". What the heck do you call John attacking the Star all the time? John is a bitter person since they threw him overboard. This blog is becoming all about John. Poor John.
****What the heck do you call John attacking the Star all the time?****
Nobody forces you to come here. And John has legitimate gripes against the Red Star.
Is 3:24s point "you do it too"? If so, that is a really, really weak argument for the hypocritical mean spirited actions of the Star. Have the suits at the start sunk so low that they suppress speech?
Boo-hoo.
What was your username on Midwest Voices, John? I post there regularly and was just curious.
come on folks, leave ol john alone, rejection is a hard thing to deal with for some folks.
somewhere someone or something out there has to understand and that something is mcclatchy watch.
what better place to vent your rage? this is his happy place.
this is the happy place
go ahead john, you show em, tiger...
And this is what we get to "refute" the factual information we post.
"come on folks, leave ol john alone, rejection is a hard thing to deal with for some folks.
somewhere someone or something out there has to understand and that something is mcclatchy watch.
what better place to vent your rage? this is his happy place.
this is the happy place
go ahead john, you show em, tiger..."
Outstanding. This is what "journalism" has come down to. Thanks for the great example.
Here's another gem. How do you make "personal attacks" on a corporate entity? And shouldn't it be Poor Star when a newspaper that supposedly has millions of readers wants sympathy because one person points out its ethical misconduct on a blog that only gets a few thousand hits a day. Golly, I just can't tell you how bad I feel for being so uppity. Please, could you be any more pathetic?
"I love the way 2:04 throws up "personal attacks". What the heck do you call John attacking the Star all the time? John is a bitter person since they threw him overboard. This blog is becoming all about John. Poor John."
And finally, if I'm so dull and Kansas City is so dull, what are you doing here? How stupid do you have to be to sit around reading stuff that bores you?
These are the people you're getting your "news" from. Far out.
Sad AND pathetic. Who cares anyway? John's just another has been who was unable to dodge the axe. Maybe he should have worked on getting his reflexes better. But it's okay folks, he has MW to regurgitate his inadequacies to. Be happy for him.
go perez, go. you go girl
5:35 AM
You need professional help. Seriously.
Our troll was up early. Thanks for all three posts. As usual, any factual information you post is wrong. I was never at The Star. I had an independent column they carried for a little over a year. I was stunned that it lasted that long, a tribute to the fairness and integrity of Rich Hood, an investigative reporter and editor at The Star for 29 years, fired by Art Brisbane for trying to publish a decent editorial page that actually endorsed honest candidates. An era that is long since over under Miriam Pepper's regime.
Everything's up to date in Kansas CIty!
When not busy gently cupping the scrotum of Phill Kline in cold weather, John Altevogt posts as "Mainstream_Coalition" on the main kansascity.com site, so if you want to see some super crazy crap from a demented real estate agent, keep an eye open.
"Homosexuals are the brownshirts of
totalitarian liberalism" was one of my favorites from the last week.
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