Huffington Post Comment Moderation Sucks

I've been banned from HP before and expect to be banned again.
They banned me during the 2008 Pres election for asking other poster
too many questions and ended up with too many flags.
I signed back up last month under a new name. I thought things would
change some ( for the good) with the AOL take over. Nope.
I wish the would just send me the posts the have banned.
Sometime a post will be up there for several days then bam it's gone.
I hate when you answer someone in a civil matter and it never gets past the
moderator and by not answering the other poster thinks you are in agreement
or scared to reply.
I am extra careful about my posts, no swearing or insults and try to stay on subject.
My view and replies are usually of the Libertarian or conservative side and that sure
makes some angry over there.
What I don't understand about HP poster do they really just want other poster of the same
mind? Just kiss kiss and slap each others backs over their cleaver posts and call anyone
else names like teabagger, troll or worse.
I know where I can go to read post that more or less in agreement with my views but what
is the point though. I go for interesting "conversation" and some give and take. But HP/AOL
is just getting more partisan by the day and my guess is it will continue that way for the 12-14
months (election time).

Whether your comment on the Huffington Post site is "catch as catch" can, depending upon which moderator does the so-called "moderating". Some of them have actually become "censors", deleting whatever is posted that even challenges their convictions or assumptions. The system they have chosen to select so-called "moderators" can so easily be manipulated as to render it worthless for those seeking any type of serious discourse. What they failed to do, and still continue to do is quite obviously to moderate their "monderaters", something which could very easily be done if they were serious about the integrity of their site. Alas however, they are not the only ones who are afflicted with that failing as even some newspaper sites have their own positions, and will protect certain entrenched interests and "pets" to which they will give free rein and suppress any dissenting voice(s). That may be due, which it frequently is, to their having their own agendas. Unfortunately, they make themselves little else than propaganda outlets in the process.

I have been frustrated for the longest time with huffington post moderation. It seems random and arbitrary. After they removed one of my posts that I did not see a problem with, I decided to stop with the posting and deleted my account. I also notice that the titles of many of the articles are extremely misleading. I don't feel that I am getting news but entertainment. I wish there was a better site. I don't like the format of cnn or msnbc and enjoy huffs format but can't keep going to a site that does this.

huff post hires biased morons for moderators, if you dont attach a pic of you giving obama a blow job its not going to get posted, but obama lovers can post the most hatefull blogs ever, there is no free speech with them, i hope they get their butts sued off

This is what I tried posting about Ron Paul 4 times w no success another example of biased media
I have been a Democrat all my life. After listening to Ron Paul in the last few months I have changed my mind on so much. Those who call Ron Paul radical have to understand the fact that we borrow 30c of every dollar we spend,unsustainable. I elected Obama to end the wars, What does he do start another one. Guantanamo is still open, We can't protest without being beaten. Under the excuse of terrorism we are losing all our rights(patriot act). Soon the internet will be regulated. The media lies to us. Never mentioning the Federal Reserve(private company that controls all our money and gold destroying our middle class with debt and inflation). Or mentioning anything about what the FBI or CIA knew b4 9/11(search Phoenix Memos). We bail out all the big financial institutions while people everywhere are losing their homes. Who bails me out when I mess up. Where is the change we can believe in. Ron Paul 2012 from a life long Democrat. This recession will be nothing compared to the depression that is coming if we keep printing money we don't have. P.S this is the fourth time I try posting this I see nothing wrong w this message.

i wish lulzsec would hack the shite out of huffpost that would reach em ffor being such forum nazis

One more thing: When I threatened I was going to report him, he commented "This is your last warning! Stop stalking me!" And he deleted my comment. In total I must've wrote around 7 responses to him, and all that's left is him responding "Stop stalking me!"(Again, this is an official blogger of HP. Very unprofessional)

It seemed like he was doing it to pretend to HP that I was the abuser and not him, since I reported him. Hopefully, they can see comments after they're deleted. But even if they can, I doubt they'll do anything.

I also had a weird experience with Huffington Post comments.

An official HP blogger wrote a nasty comment on an article, followed by "Obama 2012/America Wins!" He then ranted about how conservatives don't tolerate anyone who disagrees with them. I responded "I didn't know America wins by piling on 15 trillion dollars of debt." He deleted my comment as well as another person who disagreed with him as well. I re-posted my comment and I pointed out his hypocrisy. He deleted that as well. He wrote "flagged for abuse, lying, and stalking." This cycle repeated again. He then wrote "People who say Obama contributed to the 15 trillion dollar debt and imply he is a socialist, do not deserve to comment on HP."

I reported him to HP but I doubt they'll do anything. Remember, this is an official HP blogger. Can I become an official HP blogger also?

Thank you for taking the time to discuss this. I am a very progressive liberal who happens to have concerns about the control of illegal immigration. I have have had my character attacked and called the most hateful names imaginable by other Huffington Post users. Their comments stand while my comments vanish, are never posted or are edited and I am denied an opportunity to defend myself. For all of their feigned concern over the rights of individuals, they certainly do a fabulous job of denying people like myself the right to dignity.

I will check out salon.com.

Cheers

I just came from the HP site. I had made several posts earlier this AM regarding a sports article that bashes Tim Tebow, the Quarterback for the Denver Bronchos. The majority of my post were not attacks on other poster's, but on the author's consensus regarding Tebow. I pointed out that the issue over Tebow has become a heated topic not over whether or not he can play at the NFL level, but due his public expression and profession of his Christian Faith. EVERYONE of my 7-8 postings had been deleted. No explanation ... nothing. Poof ... gone.

This isn't the first time, but it will be the last. I'm cancelling my subscription today. This censorship has nothing to do with their policy, it's all about whether or not the moderator likes you comments. Obviously, the moderator in the sports department doesn't like folks taking up for Tebow. Fortunately, most of the other moderators in other areas have been pretty lenient in that regard ... ideology is not a big issue for them.

Thanks for a place to voice discontent ... it's a shame what has become of parts of HP.

I came here looking for answers to the question in the subject line. I got answers to the unasked questions?? 'What's going on with huffpo? How/why am I uncomfortable here now?' AAaahhhaaa.....AOL happened....Shucks ,I knew that....
Thanks for the education fellow posters.....Fairly Honest Dave in Alaska

Over a month ago I was banned from commenting. I had no idea why I couldn't enter HP until I contacted them and advised I was banned for 72 hours for violating their guidelines. I asked what did I say and further stated how I had been attacked numerous times and nothing done so I finally retaliated with the thought "Hey! If they can do it so can I!" More recently I was attacked again. This time much more aggressively to the point I was told I should kill myself and other things along those lines. My original commentary? Expressing my sentiments against Obama and his administration (spending to be exact.) I was called a troll by yet another person. I respond "You have been reported. Thank you." Both commentors reply aggressively again. I flag. Other's flagged. Nothing. Effective two days ago when I attempt to enter through AOL as I have always done I am now asked to create an account. I contacted HP regarding this yesterday. No response. Personally? I'll be damned if they think they are going to continue with their banning abuses especially that I pay for AOL for over 15 years. Never ever in all of this time as an AOL customer have I seen or experienced such moderator abuses! Don't say anything negative about someone who wrote an article either! Regardless of how asinine and idiotic it is. Tomorrow I am contacting the AOL corporate offices. At this point I am willing to consult with an attorney to see if I have any legal action as so many other AOL paying customers who are experiencing this uncalled for censorship.

What distresses me is the amount of outright racism that gets past "moderation." The word really doesn't even apply to HP, as the resulting forums are far from moderate. I am starting to think they like racist trolls, perhaps because heated arguments increase page refreshes, which increases ad revenue. I'm almost serious. But I rather suspect it is a failure of leadership, from the top down. It's become nothing but a semi-automatic cash cow to its owners, and a place for conservative trolls and astro-turfers to stir up controversy.

I deleted my profile on Huffington Post today. I had been a member for 3 years. I had not been involved after the AOL buy until this month. It only took a month to see what a commercial farce it has become. The moderators are the worst on the internet. I mean the superlative. I don't know what they are looking for, but it's not input or quality. More like advertising dollars. AOL is just a corporation whose bottom line is the stockholders.
It's a chaotic department store mess of hodgepodge now anyway. It has no cohesiveness. It will go out of business. The quality is just not a standard for the owners.
Thanks, Mischa, for your blog. My experiences were very similar to yours. It also felt good to see the validation and support from the responses.

Wish something could be done about this. Read through responses & may have missed something, but I went through proper channels to complain about moderation & being banned from commenting unfairly. Had screenshots, permalinks, text, times, etc. No response. Sent several times. All I did was ASK what part of the posts had violated their TOS guidelines. First (& only response) was that they'd look into it & get back to me w/in 48 hours along w/comment to reply to email if it was longer than that. Waited four days & replied to email(s.) Waited a few more days & did it again. Still waiting. Nothing I posted violated TOS, but apparently there is an autobot system that will BAN one from commenting if certain # of comments are removed which is what happened to me on Spetember 9, 2011. What SUCKS is that no one will step up & tell me the reason. They won't respond period. Posting was something I did for fun, it wasn't something I lived for. Now, I want back on so I can sign off on my own terms, but I can't get a response & have no idea how to get through to a "REAL PERSON" as they say they are.

I have posted many comments to the left of an article in HufPo, and seen them disappear.

For example, anything criticizing Obama and the Dem "leadership" may or may not show up. Anything criticizing
an article *by* an admin official definitely will be censored!

When this happens (and my posts are always civil and well-written), I understand why a lot of people hate "liberals"
and "PC".

Although, really, HufPo is hardly liberal after the AOL buy.

Thanks for your article; really appreciate it, and the space to comment! :)

i know now why i was removed from their post. i mentioned george soros. The man who gives them millions.

Moderation on HP is atrocious. They don't moderate just for the usual stuff (spam, profanity) but also moderate based on ideology. Calm, intelligently written posts will disappear simply because the moderators are afraid people will read them and agree with the "other" side of an argument.

Funny, I really wonder sometimes if open articles such as the ones by HP, monitor the way they do, so that unity isn't achieved. The more I read the posts here, I am seeing that one thing that ties us together is a need to voice our opinions for the good of the people. It shows that many, many more people think alike and that those who are impatient, hateful and quick to judge, are in actuality the minority. However, if one has the power to moderate, they can make the unskilled onlooker believe whatever they want and even begin to sway opinion and after time, change that opinion into the person's belief system, if they are not strong. The fact is that many of us do love one another regardless, but media makes $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ off of negativity. Be careful people.

I finally could not take Censorship anymore. I deleted my HuffPost account yesterday. I started reading Huffington Post back in 2008. I found that I really enjoyed it and for the first time in my life I started posting comments and accrued over 500 Followers. I never posted anything that was racists, bigoted or violent...never. Yet over the past year I started noticing that my comments were getting deleted and others would have whole sentences removed rendering many of my comments nonsensical. Then more & more were not even getting posted. I emailed HUffPost to inquire and they denied it yet it continued. I emails them a 2nd time and they never bothered to respond. I found it all too frustrating so on Saturday I deleted my account.

I too am fed up with HuffPost biased moderators who won't let anything but positive comments about the Obamas remain posted for very long. Although working for Obama in 2008, I've made a few respective, but mildly critical posts on Huffington's pages, and they are either not published or later deleted. Makes for a very boring and frustrating experience. I'm not wasting my time any more on that site. Any ideas on good substitute sites?

I just started reading HuffPo because Radley Balko is not writing for them.

So far I have not been banned. I don't really check to see if my comments are even being posted eventually. I just respond when someone comments back to me.

I certainly do feel they hold posts too long and I do not expect it will take long before I am banned from commenting. I'm consistently stumping for Ron Paul, pro-life, and anti-big-government. Yet, my posts are getting through. Sometimes they are held for moderation, other times, not so much.

I have noticed though that the liberals that are responding to me are having their comments held for a period of time as well. The whole process just seems lazy and arbitrary.

As someone else pointed out, everything should be allowed by default and only truly objectionable (abusive) comments should be removed. I'm actually looking forward to getting banned, it will be amuse me greatly.

The moderation is, as someone already stated here, completely arbitrary. From what I understand, that honor of moderation is earned by agreement with the prevailing thought of the site. Basically it operates like a popularity contest amoungst the posters. With that much intellectual in-breeding you get the hyper liberal schmucks making decisions on what can and should be said.

I have battled with my posts never making it on the threads, being deleted, or most infuriatingly being edited. I have had posters engaging in ad-hominem attacks, and faced little or no repercussions.

The moderation ensures that the arguments are a rigged game. If your anything but a staunch liberal, dont even think your going to have a fair argument on any subject.

First of all, I find it hilarious that the HP's writers for the most part are unpaid bloggers who bought into the hype of Arianna being a crusader for the downtrodden and then she sells the website for over a quarter of a billion dollars. My guess is (judging by the 105 million dollar lawsuit by unpaid contributors) that she doesnt plan on compensating the people she personally has used to get her chunk of change.

Second, the vile and scathing comments posted regularly by the so-called moderators, will leave anyone, liberal or conservative, who is honest with themselves, realizing that the comments that are obliterated are done so to make it appear that everyone agrees with the libereal slant of the majority of posts that remain.

The most offensive to me honestly is the tea party supporters being called "tea baggers". While thier views are fairly far right of mine, I would still rather have an intellegent conversation with them rather than resorting to a 3rd grade insult. And the people slinging these insults are usually the ones with the most power on the post to delete others comments. All their self governing does is allow them to become less and less relevant as more an more people catch on.

Thanks for the blog Mischa and allowing all of us to vent here. It's been very cathartic. :)

I am fed up with their joke of a moderation. I just wrote them and asked for the procedure to close my account. It we all left these *** they would have no blog. That is the best strategy I know. Let them have the most empty of blogs. I will see how much money they get off their advertisers. HoPo does not deserve to have a blog.

Wow, Im not the only one that is very irked about HuffPo and its moderations. I go to the religion section often, talk about the fur flying. OK So maybe the first time I got BANNED i was out of line. But the second and third? Come on, the people there need to back off. I did nothing wrong but give my two cents, and they werent even that hostile, not after the first ban anyways.

A lot more people are complaining after AOL merged with HuffPost, wonder if that has anything to do with it, or only the tip of the iceberg? Dont know, but what I do know is, moderating comments is stupid, and hardly what I consider free speech.

Thanks for this, Misha. You make mention of contacting HuffPo and failing to receive a response. I, too, have contacted the site, more than once, as a matter of fact, and have received nothing back in the way of acknowledgement. Overall, HuffPo has some of the worst board moderation I've ever encountered.
Adult conversation can be found over a salon.com. There, the boards seem to go largely unmoderated, and the conversation rarely devolves to expletive-filled ranting.

A few minutes ago I googled "can I see my pending comments on Huffington Post" and this blog came up. Very thankful to be here and reading the many comments that confirm my very recent experience with HP. HP=Huffington Post.

I haven't made many comments on the HP, but quickly became confused the other day by HP's comment moderation. Here are my recent experiences:

1. In an article about Donald Trump, Birthers, and OJ Simpson, I make a joke about Kenyans being so upset with Obama's poor performance in the US, that now Kenya is claiming that Obama WAS born in the US. Checked AOL email and found out that someone had replied to my post. When I went to the HP, my comment was gone and a message said it had been deleted due to violation of HP guidelines. This didn't make any sense to me.

2. In an article about Lawrence O'Donnell debating a congressional Republican about the budget fight in DC, I made a humorous comment about stepping back to the bigger picture of why we were in this mess to start. This is what I wrote:

“Taking a step away from the current budget debate to a bigger picture . . . Who had control of the presidency­, the senate, and the house for FY2011??? That would be the stellar line-up known as Obama, Reid, and Pelosi. Because these 3 stooges of budget comedy were missing-in­-action, a needless budget debate is raging in the hollowed halls of DC. Sources tell me that even the hope and change unicorn is distraught . . . it appears that "Hopey's" farts no longer smell like cherry blossoms. (My apologies to my childhood Sunday school teachers and to unicorns, in general . . .)”

I received one serious response with valid debate points. Received 2nd response asking if more serious trolls could be found due to the fact the responder was bored and no longer entertained. I wrote back to the first person with serious commentary, which was posted.

3. I added a second humorous comment to experience #2. Here's what I wrote:

“One last question for Lawrence O'Donnell before I go . . . Shouldn't you change the name from "Last Call" to something that makes more sense? You're on @ 8 PM. You're not the "Last Call". I"ll leave it up to you . . . it's your call . . .”

Three folks responded in which my intelligence was questioned and suggesting to check my facts so I don't embarrass myself again. They were right. Got Last Word and Last Call mixed up. Wrote back and said they were correct.

4. Final source of confusion comes from inconsistency in HP moderation policy. One person wrote that my joke about Last Call was "mideless" drivel. I pointed out the error saying that it should be "mindless" drivel. This response was posted. That makes sense.

“Could we get some quality trolls up here please? I'm bored and their not entertaini­ng at the moment.” Remember this from the comment reader who was bored? I wrote back and joked about the boredom, disagreed that I was a troll, and would preferred to be described as one engaging in political discourse. Much more encouraging than being called a troll. Also pointed out error about using "their" instead of they're. My response disappeared into the HP world of pending comments and still has not posted today. Why did mideless/mindless drivel post, but not their/they're?

In 2-3 posts I experienced the above action. I was really bummed to have that comment about Kenya deleted (thought the joke was pretty funny) and confused by the inconsistency in comments posted. My brief experience with HP has dampened my desire to post on the site. I made a few other comments that were passed by HP without trouble. It seems once I posted the Kenyan joke I started having trouble.

Who wants to put effort into reading and responding just to have their posts disappear or be removed for inconsistent reasons? Not me. I'll continue to visit on occasion, but I'm not going to post.

Thanks for reading my verbose comment. I tend to be wordy, but I really love words. :)

Thanks for posting your experiences with HP and allowing others to voice theirs as well.
There is no better vindication or peaceful form of protest than simply doing what you can to allow the light of truth to dispel the darkness of injustice in any form.

I am a liberal, I agree with a lot of the ideology of HuffPo apart from the idiotic anti-science new age blather... and of course their constant misleading headlines, sinking into the gutter talking about who has a new nipple piercing, etc. And of course their ridiculous and arbitrary moderation.

But today I find that I am deleted. My account is deleted. No explanation. I had a lot of fans, I am a liberal and generally take a liberal position, etc.

So it's not just censorship of conservatives or even simply differing viewpoints... you seem to get deleted just for tweaking somehow some faceless moderators pet peeve.

Screw them. Arianna is a fake liberal anyway, and now that it's AOL, you can bet it's going to be just a crappy version of People Magazine.

Posting comments on Huffpo feels like one is be watched by the KGB. I have tried to post reasonable comments that are declined, and yet they print so many stupid and nasty ones by other people. I just don't get it.

I no longer identify with the left due to my negative experiences with self-described left-wingers and with websites that claim to be liberal, like the Huffington Post. I still believe in liberty as an ideal but neither the left nor the right represent it for me. The Huffington Post truly has a chilling "Iron Curtain" feeling about it. Their slavish devotion to their Dear Leader Obama is embarrassing. Thoughtfully critical comments are not allowed, but all kinds of crude and stupid comments are welcome. If you don't tow their agenda, they won't post your comments and they might even delete your profile for no reason. Orwell would have despised the Huffington Post.

i caucused for Obama, bought it all hook line and sinker. I worked hard for arianna believing she was a progressive beachhead in an ocean of self-serving money grubbers. I was completely wrong on both counts. they both told us what we wanted to hear until they reached critical mass and then sold us all out for self-serving money grubbing.

huffpo blows.

Lol. I once made a comment in one of the threads about how annoying I found Ariana's thick irritating accent to be and THEY BANNED MY IP NUMBER!!!!! Hahahahaha, how badly that must have PO'd Ms Puffington!

HuffPo moderators have made it thoroughly non-worthwhile to post comments. There is no way to gauge whether your comments pass the moderators' sniff test. I'll gladly read and share opinions on a less PC site.