# 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

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.

I think the space should be left open only for personal blogs, the rest we can read in the newspapers.

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.”, 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 expression”, 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 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.. – 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?

well the random point was “usually there are more than two options for a question.”.. 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…

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.

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 :)

The Americans nuked Japan, does that make nuking ok? John Kerry moderates comments. Does that make a moderating a political candidates blog ok?

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.

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.

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:

As for the SLFP and JVP sites not having any commenting, well at least they’re up front about the fact that they’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.

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?

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. :-)

*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.

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)

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.

there are degrees of seriousness (‘hell bent’ etc.).
usually there are more than two options for a question.

confused or amused ?:-)

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?

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.

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.

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.