Blog-Eka?
Welcome to a blog. Drink this and mind your manners. (photo by Timo)
There’s been some talk online about this Lanka Citizen blog and why it should be tossed from Kottu. What the about page on Kottu basically says is that your RSS feed has to work. I disagree with the opinions of Lanka Citizen, but kottu-wise I won’t drop it unless it breaks the layout. On another front, people have been giving the UNP shit for moderating its comments. On both issues I think it displays a fundamental misunderstanding of what blogging is. To sum it up, Kottu is public and blogs are personal. You can delete and moderate anything on your own blog, but no one has that right on Kottu.
Kottu is Public
As much as possible Kottu is automated. A cron job runs every hour to update the site, and Mahangu and I read it like everybody else. Tagging is still centralized (which really annoys me) but hopefully that’ll be public in 2.0. The only parts the admins control are adding and deleting blogs. In the scope of things, Vishnu is automated while there is still Brahma and Shiva require intermediaries. The main criteria for inclusion are listed on the about page:
# You are Sri Lankan, or cover Sri Lanka
# Your feed doesn’t break Kottu – This is rare, only example is a really long blog title that cracks Internet Explorer.
# You write original content – There are many good sites that gather mainstream media articles. Kottu may link to these, but won’t syndicate.
# You play nice with others – there’s plenty of room for flames, but malicious attacks on other bloggers won’t go.
One other thing we should add is that niche technical blogs generally won’t be included because they don’t match the general audience. As the criteria exist, there are lot of blogs I really don’t like on Kottu. I think some are boring, and some circulate lies. If it was my personal blog I’d cut them in a second, but it’s not. I reserve the right to do whatever I want on my blog, but Kottu is public. I feel free to kick people out of my house, but I have no right to kick them out of, say, a park. Because Kottu is public, no private opinions affect its content. Of course I mean ideally. The whole thing is a hack from the code on up, so there are definitely gray areas. Lanka Citizen, however, is definitely in the clear.
Blogs are Personal
On my blog however, I’m free to delete, moderate and or completely close comments. It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to. I, personally, don’t usually delete comments here, but that is not your right. If I want to kick you out of my house for looking at me funny that’s my business, and the same goes for blogs. Any person or corporation/group that chooses to setup a blog can do whatever they want with it. Morquendi and Sitting Nut have made a fuss about having comments moderated or closed, but that displays a fundamental misunderstanding of what a blog is. There are two sub-points which have come up, which I think need to be addressed.
*Comments Are A Personal Choice*
I’m not expert on blogs, but this is from the Wikipedia definition:
A blog or weblog (derived from web + log) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally, but not always, in reverse chronological order). Although most early blogs were manually updated, tools to automate the maintenance of such sites made them accessible to a much larger population, and the use of some sort of browser-based software is now a typical aspect of “blogging”.
Blogs range in scope from individual diaries to arms of political campaigns, media programs, and corporations. They range in scale from the writings of one occasional author (known as a blogger), to the collaboration of a large community of writers. *Many weblogs enable visitors to leave public comments, which can lead to a community of readers centered around the blog; others are non-interactive.*
Sitting Nut wrote a post calling for deletion of Lanka Citizen, in which he displayed the following misunderstanding:
now i have no objection to very frequent updates of one’s blog or expression of extreme political views in one’s blog. but the difference in lanka citizen blog is that it closes the comments for all posts from the start. when this happens it ceases to be a blog and becomes a propaganda website and imo should not be included in the ‘blogroll’.
We spoke via email and I think this point is clarified. Blogs don’t have to have comments at all. This blog operated for almost a year with like 1 comment a month. It’s a courtesy and it makes your blog more fun, but it is by no means a right or a requirement. I personally find it annoying when blogs don’t have comments enabled, but my personal opinion is about as relevant as my opinion of your interior decoration. If I’m a guest in your house I’ll pretty much drink my tea and shut the fuck up.
*Moderation Is A Personal Choice*
Morquendi is all pissed that the UNP blog moderates its comments, which makes no sense to me. It’s like writing a letter to the Daily Mirror and wondering why it isn’t published, or why its edited. Every letter-to-the-editor, radio call-in, and TV interview is moderated, and blogs are nothing new. Every political blog from Dean to Kerry was moderated and that’s their choice. Morquendi, however, has somehow lost his moorings to public/private reality and gotten hysterical:
The admin chose to remove this part [of my comment]. This is the level of critisism that the UNP website won’t tolerate. What does this say about their attitude towards the freedom of expression? Does anyone here think they should have removed this? Was this offensive? Was this abuse? Was this hatespeech? If the UNP were to come to power would their media people treat the entire media like this? Would this kind of control expand to cover the print and electronic media as well? Would people who are critical of the UNP be ‘deleted’?
The UNP just fell quite a few notches in my standing. What does the future hold for journalists and the free media if people such as those who run the UNP website were to manage the media in Sri Lanka?
If the UNP was going around DOS’ing critical websites I’d understand, but they’re not. All the UNP is doing is moderating the content on their personal blog, and they’re fully within their rights. You have no right to be published on any blog, no more than you can be published in the Daily Mirror. What’s cool about blogs, however, is that you have every right to start your own. The UNP won’t ‘manage’ media anymore than the UNP website ‘manages’ the Internet. The idea that the UNP can’t moderate the content on its own website is completely ludicrous, and against everything blogging is. I run every comment here through multiple filters. For example, you can’t say ‘casino’ or ‘viagra’ without getting moderated. I have also deleted comments I don’t like. Some of the biggest blogs like Andrew Sullivan and Dooce don’t allow comments at all. Those are personal blogs and they can do whatever they want. Every blogger has that right, and commenters are there at the leisure of the blogger. The system works out cause any commenter can start their own blog and spew as much as they want. I personally don’t like moderation, but again, my personal opinion is not relevant. If I’m a guest in your house I’ll pretty much drink my tea and try not to say fuck so much.
People seem to expect public spaces to censor and personal spaces to be completely open. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what blogs are. I can basically do whatever I want on my blog, and if you don’t like it you can start your own. It’s my personal blog and *I* have that right. Every roadside Johnny has exactly 0 rights on my blog, only what I feel like giving. It’s basically my house and I can kick you out for looking at me funny. Kottu, on the other hand is a public space, and everybody syndicated there does have the right to speak, regardless of mine or anyones opinion.
Sorry attempt to pick another fight. Thought you’d have grown up by now. Sad to see I was wrong.
You’d better be as pretty as Mahinda, cause there’s no content or reasoning here.
As always, Morq likes responding to logical argument by “Becoming personal, insulting and rude as soon as you perceive that your opponent has the upper hand” (how to argue).
The only assumption I can make is that there is no real defense for his position, just bluff. The point at hand is whether personal blogs have a right to moderate their comments. If Morq has an argument against this I’d like to hear it.
Dude, here’s a typical scenario.
Mr K. Gunapala says: I do not think that the UNP is entirely honest. Its members have been involved in corruption and other scandals in the past.
After UNP “moderates” it: I think that the UNP is entirely honest. Its members have never been involved in corruption or other scandals in the past.
You call this ethical? If you don’t like what Mr Gunapala said, just delete it.
Btw, I think this is actually counter productive to Ranil’s campaign. One of the (very few) things that I liked about Ranil is his liberal attitude on freedom of expression. Anyone who visits his site would know that the comments are either fake or have been modified. It’s not gonna win him any new votes, trust me.
i looked for this Mr. Gunapala and I couldn’t find, so I’ll assume it’s a hypothetical case, that is, made up.
None of the admins of the UNP site have enough time to rewrite comments. If something gets personally abusive or out of hand it’ll get deleted, and some stuff gets automatically moderated based on ‘bad’ words, etc. I wish everyone had time to make up or modify that many comments, but they don’t. Some people are just naturally cheesy, and that’s OK.
first, thanks again for the clarification.
about kottu:
as i said in my post from the start it’s up to you to decide on kottu’s policy.
(btw i did not complain to you about the contents of the ‘lanka citizen’ only about their comments policy. this just to clarify)
about the blogs:
i accept your argument (i stated the same as a comment in morquendi’s post about unp blog) that blogs are private property and owners are free to do whatever they wish with it.
however i am still as i was then, of the opinion that bloggers who close the comments or edit or delete comments show intolerance and a desire for curtailment of freedom of expression. when the blog in question is a appendage of a political party this should be especially noted. but again it’s up to the bloggers to decide how they want to be perceived.
in other words, you are free to use your property to be a bigot, that is your right.
as for morquendi being ‘hysterical’ after his comment in unp was edited (not deleted but edited) that is entirely justified. if one edits a comment one should indicate so (even the ‘daily mirror’ does that), that is the decent thing to do, otherwise delete it completely.
I still fail to see how moderating comments makes you a ‘bigot’. If you somehow stop people from starting blogs that would make sense, but a personal blog is just that, personal.
Bloggers don’t have a responsibility to publish anyone except themselves. Anything else is a courtesy, not a right. It has nothing to do with freedom of speech, because you can very well start your own blog.
i don’t want to get into a circular argument with you.
as i admitted above the bloggers have the right to do as they please with their property.
but if one posts a disputable view (which btw pretty much means everything) and if one respects the views of others and respect the freedom of speech and the right of reply one should leave the comments open and never edit them imo. as you say this is a courtesy and not a right. but it is also more than that. it tells others what kind of person the blogger is.
whether a person is ‘bigot’ is always a subjective judgment. one has to judge on the evidence available and a blogger’s comments policy is evidence. (especially if the blogger says he/she/party is for freedom of speech etc.)
..you can very well start your own blog sure i can and will post something under such circumstances, so will others. but can everybody? i am sure you will agree that the decent thing to do is to let others comment. again this is also subjective.
when people behave in a certain way other people will react and make their judgments that is their right.
Surely the right to reply is pretty much guaranteed since no one’s stopping you from posting one on your blog… I’d have to agree with Indi, what you do in your house is your business… if you disagree with the content of any blog no one is going to stop you from commenting on it on your own.
dude… when you say “i don’t want to get into a circular argument with you.”, that should be the end of the comment… you can’t say that and keep arguing…
i really don’t see why some people are hell bent on making personal ‘judgements’ based on blogs… i mean sometimes you can’t help but judge them to a certain extent based on what they say.. by why would one go out of his/her way to try and judge the other person??
..you can’t say that and keep arguing… says who? :-)
anyway i was repeating what i said from the first (see the first comment here )elsewhere and here in this regard . when you repeat same thing again and again that is because you have entered into a circular argument. hence that statement.
who was ‘hell bent’ on anything here? :-) you are taking this way too seriously or think others take it so.
yes, never ‘go out of the way’ to judge anything. but when you publish (as i did when i made the comment above and you judged it) you are asking for it and will have to accept it.
says i… why ??.. let’s see…
a) first you tell indi “i don’t want to get into a circular argument with you”..
b) later on you state “when you repeat same thing again and again that is because you have entered into a circular argument”, defining a circular argument in your terms…
c) but you also admit “anyway i was repeating what i said… elsewhere and here in this regard”, refering to what you did right after putting down the statement given in a)..
i find this a bit amusing.. please excuse me…
oh.. so you weren’t serious about this whole “not being able to comment” issue on lanka citizen or whoever’s blog??.. VERY good.. phew…
glad i was able to amuse you.
but unfortunately i find your comment to be only confused.
there are degrees of seriousness (‘hell bent’ etc.).
usually there are more than two options for a question.
confused or amused ?:-)
you shouldn’t be glad when people are amused by things that you did not intend to be amusing :).. (amused… again)
you say you find my comment to be confused, but doesn’t mention why you think so…. therefore i can’t say or do anything about it… (no emotion)
i said “hell bent” because you’ve made a big fuss on your blog as well as this one about why somepne’s site/blog should allow everybody to comment on it, and even went on to imply that that person is a ‘bigot’… if that’s you being casual, i’d hate to see you being serious… (disbelief)
“usually there are more than two options for a question.” …????… typed in the wrong window ???… (confused)
…you shouldn’t be glad… why not? ppl are not that simple i hope. :-)
doesn’t mention why you think so…. therefore i can’t say or do anything about it… as you wish! :-)
i’d hate to see you being serious… (disbelief)good, better run if you see me in a ‘hell bent’ serious mood because some ppl really would end up in hell if i am that serious. :-) i do hope that your life is more enjoyable than to think a argument about freedom of expression to be that important.
every thing was typed in the right place. may be you should get the hint by now. :-) if not let’s continue. :-)
oooh.. i get the hint now… when you’re stuck for a valid point, you put down some random sentence…. now, that sounds like a fun game to play :D..
oh… my life is absolutely boring… that aside…. i think the argument about “freedom of expression” is one of THE most important AND serious issues in the recent history of the human kind…. but i do admit that it looks like a joke when people like you try to attach it to every little passing matter… anyways good that your stance on it has been established… now whenever you talk about “freedom of expression”, we’ll know that you aint being serious :)
:-D
glad that’s out of the way or …may be not…. btw what random point?
well you should have got it from the start when i said that i will vote for unp even if they curtail freedom of expression that i rank the issue way down my ‘serious’ issue list. i love singapore but i hate hypocrites (what do you think, is that a random point too?). :-)
anyway i never consider anything that is not connected to me personally ‘hell bent’ serious.
im sorry… i’ve missed where you said ” i will vote for unp even if they curtail freedom of expression”.. my bad… but in fairness, we’ve seen people forego a lot of issues that are serious and important to them because of their (blind ?) faith in a political movement… however since you’ve said it many a time now, let’s not argue… to you, freedom of expression is not important… fine..
well the random point was “usually there are more than two options for a question.â€.. if that was indeed with reference to a question raised by me, the proper response should’ve been stating what all these options are in the context of that particular question….
you love singapore… random AND useless point for me :)… you hate hypocrites??.. hmmm.. now that’s a bit alarming… see.. you’ve dedicated two posts on your blog and argued on this thread about how blogs disabling or editing/deleting comments amount to “curtailment of freedom of expression”… you’ve gone further by making the connection that persons doing such are perceived as ‘bigots’… all this, while you YOURSELF don’t consider freedom of expression as a serious issue… my my… now what does that say eh…
i am sorry if in my earlier comments i merely made points and did not give all the relevant details. my mistake, your writing style made me think i could do without them with you. any way i realized from your last comment you deserve a more detailed reply. so here goes.
as for the main topic of this thread i have made clear where i stand, to quote:
i accept … that blogs are private property and owners are free to do whatever they wish with it.
however i am .. of the opinion that bloggers who close the comments or edit or delete comments show intolerance and a desire for curtailment of freedom of expression. …. it’s up to the bloggers to decide how they want to be perceived.
in other words, you are free to use your property to be a bigot, that is your right.
btw it’s rather interesting that you (that is ‘spectralcentroid’) have not indicated your own opinion or lack of one regarding this whole issue.
now for your exchange with me:
1)circular argument:
when you say “i don’t want to get into a circular argument with you.â€, that should be the end of the comment… you can’t say that and keep arguing…- but that is just your opinion, you don’t bring anything else to support it. i have my own differing opinion which is that unless all the parties to a argument agree that it has become a circular argument (that is in other words agree to disagree) argument will continue.
2)my seriousness:
in last comment you say: to you, freedom of expression is not important……while you YOURSELF don’t consider freedom of expression as a serious issue
i would like you to point out the place where i said that the issue is not serious.(please include the relevant quote because i don’t remember making any such statement here or elsewhere).actually, as you yourself admit i made a ‘made a big fuss ‘ about the issue all over the place.
what i said all along this thread was that it is not a ‘hell bent’ serious issue with me(in reply to a remark by you) not that i am not serious about the issue.
here are some of my quotes:
who was ‘hell bent’ on anything here? ..you are taking this way too seriously or think others take it so.
there are degrees of seriousness (‘hell bent’ etc.).
.. better run if you see me in a ‘hell bent’ serious mood.. some ppl really would end up in hell if i am that serious… i do hope that your life is more enjoyable than to think a argument about freedom of expression to be that important.
i rank the issue way down my ‘serious’ issue list.. i never consider anything that is not connected to me personally ‘hell bent’ serious.
but just as consistently you failed to grasp this fact, to quote
so you weren’t serious about this whole “not being able to comment†issue on lanka citizen or whoever’s blog??.. VERY good.. phew…
now whenever you talk about “freedom of expressionâ€, we’ll know that you aint being serious
it seems to me that you for some reason can’t understand that there are degrees of seriousness.
3)two options:
realization that you seem to consider that all issues have only two discreet solutions(one has to be serious or not, one should stop a circular argument or not, one should vote against unp or not, etc.) was what prompted me to make this point.
there are degrees of seriousness (‘hell bent’ etc.).usually there are more than two options for a question.
is that context enough?
4)unp etc.
you said †i will vote for unp even if they curtail freedom of expressionâ€.. my bad… but in fairness, we’ve seen people forego a lot of issues that are serious and important to them because of their (blind ?) faith in a political movement… however since you’ve said it many a time now, let’s not argue… to you, freedom of expression is not important… fine.. – here again you seem to lose sight of the fact there are many questions facing the country and there are as many answers and not just one question with two answers. if you really read my comments here and elsewhere about why i will vote for unp you will see that i consider some other issues facing the country more important and unp is the only available viable option. ‘blind faith’ has nothing to do with it.
5)singapore and hypocrites:
as i said in nittewa comment earlier referred to, i think there is a good chance that freedom of expression will be curtailed if ranil wins and that we would end up like singapore in this regard. only there is a difference, in singapore people’s action party politicians are straight forward about what they do to suppress freedom of expression and the need for it. imo unp should also be honest about it.
–
its this comment detailed enough?
unpsrilanka.org is not a personal blog. It is the ‘Official Website of the Ranil for President Campaign‘ launched by the UNP. I don’t say this, Indi doesn’t say this, Karu Jayasuriya does, and if he says it’s their official site for their campaign I guess I’d go with it. A personal blog with the rights of a personal blog? Indi, you’re sadly mistaken about who you’re working for.
Read UNPspeak
Again, seems like you’re being used by the UNP. Sorry. You didn’t just design a personal blog for them. You did their official website. That’s a helluva lot more than a personal blog. I suggest you have a heart-to-heart with Karu J about it.
I extend personal to include corporations/organizations which are legally incorporated to have pretty much similar rights to individuals. As per Wikipedia – “A corporation is a legal entity (distinct from a natural person) that often has similar rights in law to those of a natural person.” Anybody or anything with a private website has the right to do whatever they want with that site.
I think arguing that the UNP Blog is not a blog is a little silly. It’s built on WordPress and there are almost daily updates. The static pages all use WordPress’s ‘pages’ feature, everything else runs on a blog engine.
To get semantic, every blog is a website, but not every website is a blog. The UNP site, if you run thru the definition of blogging above, is quite obviously a blog.
Which part of ‘Official‘ do you fail to understand?
That has nothing to do with it being a blog or not.
US Presidential Candidates, Flickr, Google and tons of organizations and business’s have ‘official’ blogs. They don’t cease to be blogs or to have the right to moderate their content.
Just cause you don’t like the UNP doesn’t mean that all concepts of blogging and private space need to be up-ended. It just means that you don’t like the UNP. Why not go leave a comment on Mahinda’s or the SLFP site? Oh wait, you can’t.
Yet again you miss the point.
Yes they do have a right to moderate, edit or delete comments, but as an official site it reflects their attitude towards the freedom of expression.
And, no I don’t hate the UNP, I just don’t kiss their ass.
Let’s say that the UNP is an entity and they have a voice, be it a blog. If they allow other people to share in that voice, that’s very nice of them. However, if they want to control their own voice that’s fully their business.
If they, however, tell other people to shut up and moderate other blogs then it shows a bad attitude towards freedom of expression. You have the right to share your own voice as you see fit. I for example wrote a post on Boston Terriers that my friend requested. Everyone has a right to full control of their own blog, and I’d say that right is unassailable. It doesn’t mean you disrespect free speech to control your own voice.
If you want to talk about attitudes, on the SLFP and JVP sites you can’t comment at all. What does that say?
When you’ve lost an argument it would be wise to discontinue :)
On the UNP’s official Ranil for President Campaign site they delete, edit and moderate comments which are even mildly critical of them. Many of these comments are not anti-UNP or abusive, but the UNP takes an official stand that they as a party will not tolerate even the mildest of critisism. And they want us to vote them into power to run this country.
If they were not asking to be elected to power the issue would have been different. I would not have cared what they say on their official site, or what they do to comments on their official site. But they are a political party in Sri Lanka that has been in power for the longest period of time since independence, and therefore their attitude
A comment left on the UNP blog is not their ‘voice’, it’s the voice of the person who left the comment. First they invite you to leave comment pretending to be democratic and pro-free-speech and then they delete your voice. If they want to keep their space to themselves then don’t allow commenting. DUH!
As for the SLFP and JVP sites not having any commenting, well at least they’re up front about the fact that tey’re undemocratic bastards. The UNP on the other hand says they promote interaction and makes space for comments and then edits, deletes and moderates comments to suit their agenda. That is way more scary than what the SLFP and JVP are doing.
A fake sense of freedom, an illusion of freedom, is more dangerous than having no freedom at all. The UNP’s site seems to work on Orwellian principles.
On a different note, why this sudden urge to be super-protective of the UNP and their agenda? I can understand you wanting to vote for them, as I would have if I could. But this blind faith in them is surprising for someone who I would assume to be above average intelligent.
The normal party goon who puts up posters behaves like this. They are not willing to be self-critical at all and respond violently to all criticism of their party. The ability to be critical of your ideology is a sign of maturity. Children voting in line with the ideas of their parents, without a rational thought process of their own, is common in Sri Lanka. But somehow I expected you to rise above this. To be critical of the ideology that has been followed by your family is an even harder task but I would expect you to be at least somewhat more advanced than the UNP-family or SLFP-family member.
Take that Ranil Wickramasinghe photograph out of the shrine and remove the garland that goes around it. He’s a man, not a god. The UNP is a political party just as corrupt as all the others, not a religion.
as fun as it is to be patronized, I’m a big boy Morquendi. What I’m arguing is a simple point.
*Every blog has a right to moderate its comments*
I’m saying that Lifehacker, Gawker, Engadget, Binary Bonsai, Dooced, and I have the right to moderate my comments. I can delete or edit the comments all I want because _it’s my blog_. That right applies whether the blog is run by a group or an individual. It applies to the UNP or indi.ca or whoever, it’s a general point.
Despite your innuendo and character attacks on myself and the UNP you still haven’t done anything to support your point, namely that:
*Blogs do not have the right to moderate their comments*
I suppose when you haven’t made an argument at all it’s wise to use bluff and bluster to fill the air-time.
If you stop attacking me personally and for once actually read what I write then you would find I don’t say blogs don’t have the right to moderate their comments. Dooced, Tom, Dick, Harry and Indi can do whatever the fuck they want :)
What part of that do you fail to understand? DUH! Or maybe you didn’t read it at all! in your hurry to return to your favourite past-time: Morquendi-bashing.
Dooced, Tom, Dick, Harry and Indi aren’t political parties asking me to vote for them so they can run my country, so I really don’t give a fuck about your attitude towards the freedom of expression.
The UNP, or any other party asking me for my vote so they may run this country, are a lot more accountable (or at least should be) than you lot, and I am concerned about their attitude towards various issues, including the freedom of expression. As I said earlier:
Again, what part of that do you fail to understand? I assume you know what the term ‘Orwellian‘ means.
If you have nothing new to contribute to this argument and I have to keep saying the same thing over and over again because you a) don’t read it b) don’t understand it, then I give up.
What I fail to undestand, like I questioned in my last comment, is your blind faith in the UNP. You rush to protect them without thinking about what you are saying. What makes you different from Ranil W’s bodyguards?
If you want to talk about political sites, blogforamerica.com (Howard Dean) and johnkerry.com/blog (think that’s the URL) all moderated their comments. I dunno if the Bush blog had comments open. It’s nothing new for a political site to moderate its comments. What is new that a Sri Lankan political party is blogging.
I think the UNP is the better of all the parties. I’m also, however, defending the right to moderate as much as anything else. That right includes the right to not be seen as somehow against ‘freedom of expression’ for controlling the expression of your own site.
Is Howard Dean or John Kerry contesting the Sri Lankan Presidential Election of 2005? Please don’t apply your US-centric thinking to this problem. Remember, you don’t live in the US anymore.
The Americans nuked Japan, does that make nuking ok? John Kerry moderates comments. Does that make a moderating a political candidates blog ok?
yes unp is the better of all the parties.
but,
one can never control how others see one. nor has one a right to dictate how one is seen.
so when other ppl(including myself) view moderating or closing comments as curbing of freedom of expression, one pretty much can’t do anything about it no matter how much one protest.
Kottu is getting too political – the two parties just keep posting their election propaganda, nobody bothers to even comment (and in the case of the Mahinda Rajapake hacks) comments are not even possible.
I think the space should be left open only for personal blogs, the rest we can read in the newspapers.
you’re right, i dropped the UNP, Kottu was getting useless. Lanka Citizen is still a person I think, we’ll see
I agree with jackpoint ,too.There is another side to the story.For the people who are outside SL,those aritcle would help because all the major papers are behind a wall.Yours truely refuse to pay (due to couple of reasons).It would be great if I can read Rajpal Abeynayake ,Iqbal Aththas or Ajith Samaranayake once in a while.I don’t know how this fits in with kottu policy though.
as for ‘lanka citizen’, consider the latest series of posts (still in kottu’s main page as i write):
1)Unemployment: Why Jobs are Created in the Public Sector ? … Courtesy: Sunday Island, 2005/10/23 via Lanka Newspapers
2)Why did the government provided 40,000 graduate job in a bloated public sector? The answer is complex
3)Most of the unemployment in Sri Lanka is voluntary: World Bank
4)Why isn’t there a fit between the Private Sector and the Graduates? Market liberalization and social culture
5)Why do educated Sinhala and English youth rebel? It’s the Private sector and their love for English, stupid.
6)The coming duel for power — Courtesy Sunday Observer, 23.10.2005
7)I brought an end to the fear psychosis that had gripped the country under the 17-year old UNP regime – Chandrika –Extracts from The Sunday Observer, 23 October 2005
8)Private buses and the CTB –courtesy Sunday Times, o2.10.2005
9)Neo-liberalism is neo-colonialism in disguise –Courtesy Sunday Times
of this 1 ,6 ,7 , 8, 9 are taken from news papers (at least they indicate that is so.)
others (2,3,4,5) are actually word-for-word extracts from no1. (search the text in first group in 1 and you will see how ridiculous the whole thing is) .
as usual, you are free to do what you want with kottu.
Point. That’s a pretty clear violation of whatever fig leaf policy there is. I thought I’ll ask the Gnu when he gets online, but deleted for now. From the requirements on the about page:
# You write original content – There are many good sites that gather mainstream media articles. Kottu may link to these, but won’t syndicate.
I thought Lanka Citizen had some original content, but on a closer look it’s mostly copy/paste
Why do you delete comments with the words casino and viagra?