Sunday, October 25, 2009

Greetings from Riptide Readers

I made the executive decision to pull down this post. Nick Nolte was OK, but I really did not think Richard Ramirez was appropriate in any way. We're trying to find out which Fix Pacifica editor posted these pictures, and hopefully we can continue the productive dialogue we have started here.

JEFFREY W SIMONS

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

How does this Fix Pacifica?? This is 3rd grader bullshit..You people lost all credibility!!!

Steve Sinai said...

That was me. I figured a few people wouldn't like it, but if it was really that offensive to people, then a couple comments would have sufficed to have it taken down.

I guess our no censorship policy is down the drain.

Jeffrey W Simons said...

Steve,

I sent you a few emails with no response. I don't see this as censorship, since I am certain you would have removed it yourself anyway after the complaints. Feel free to re-post it and remove it yourself if that makes you feel better.

Steve Sinai said...

Hey, I don't live in front of my computer.

Jeffy, the pictures have already been deleted from my computer, and I'm too lazy to hunt them down again to re-post. But as was said in my email to you, it sets a bad precedent for one person to decide to pull down an article. If I pulled down everything I disagreed with on Fix Pacifica, it would be 15% shorter than it is now.

While I've commented on some of the things I've been unhappy with on Fix Pacifica, I haven't edited or deleted anyone else's post. If several people complain, that's one thing, but no one person here should be deciding on behalf of everyone else what's acceptable or not.

AnonyMouse said...

I found it to be juvenile, but harmless. I'm surprised that the "no censorship" claim was proven to be BS so quickly, though.

Big Brother said...

AnnoyingMouse:

Have you ever been censored here? Didn't think so...

Jeffrey W Simons said...

Sinai,

ok then that's my bad. I didn't agree with the other pictures, but I drew the line at serial killers. Its not a matter of disagreeing with something, but I think even our dear readers of Riptide don't warrant a comparison to serial killers.

If you want me to send you more pictures of unclean hippies, just ask. Geez, I got photos from the last Grateful Dead show I attended that were pretty scary. ;)

P.S. Bad drug-addicted actors are OK, but please, no Busey. I still have nightmares from watching him on Dr Drew's show.

Jeffrey W Simons said...

Anonymouse,

catchy handle, dude. To be honest, all I wanted Sinai to remove was the picture of Richard Ramirez. I struggled with my html this morning to just remove that 1 picture, so in my frustration I just took down the whole post. I apologized to Sinai, but no comments have been censored and won't be.

Jeffrey W Simons said...

P.S. Anonymouse . . . you've been complaining to John Maybury about his whole sale editing of comments, and his outright refusal to post some comments, over on Riptide . . . right? You've sent letter to the Tribune complaining about letters to the editor being edited or not run, correct??

Steve Sinai said...

Fix Pacifica outright says " no censorship," so it's appropriate for someone like AnonyMouse to complain when we do it. It was inevitable one of the editors would censor something they didn't like, but I consider that a case of growing pains, and nothing more.

The Tribune and Riptide both openly edit and censor - the Tribune for space and legal reasons, and Riptide just because John doesn't like posting things he disagrees with. It's gotten to the point where Riptide doesn't even pretend to be anything other than a reflection of John's personal views. Neither of those outlets claim "no censorship" so I'm not sure it does any good to complain to them about editing and censoring.

Is AnonyMouse "Scotty?"

Jeffrey W Simons said...

Point taken, Steve, but you did put this blog in a rather difficult position. I hope you can show better judgment next time. LOL, for a guy who has such a strong position about countdown clocks and scrolling banners, you seem rather lenient on yourself about serial killers.

Steve Sinai said...

You over-reacted, Jeffy. Pictures of criminals are constantly on display in the media. I've never heard anyone complain about being emotionally-scarred by seeing them. AnonyMouse's description as "juvenile, but harmless" is how reasonable people would interpret it.

Taking the post down, and then exaggeratedly describing it as if it was the moral equivalent of kiddie-porn, is what makes Fix Pacifica look bad - not the original post.

This is yet another case of getting whipped into a frenzy over nothing.

Jeffrey W Simons said...

I just emailed you some pictures of Richard Ramirez. Put em back up.

Jeffrey W Simons said...

so here's the intelligence of the Riptide readers:

"Jeff Simons unilaterally removed the Scary Hippy photos from Fox Pacifica. Apparently he is in favor of censorship after all.

Posted by: ian butler | October 25, 2009 at 02:23 PM"

so Ian Butler prefers to be compared to a serial killer.

AnonyMouse said...

You're not as bad as Maybury? Is that really the best you can do? You aren't really interested in setting the bar very high, are you?

Lionel Emde said...

Steve,
Just as long as you don't post a picture of Riptide reader Dick Cheney--another serial killer!

Editor said...

Please read the follow-up piece: Censorship?

Steve Sinai said...

Lionel, I didn't think Cheney read Riptide, so I didn't include his picture. But if I find out otherwise...