Interesting:
I asked a question on Phlip’s last post about whether assert { 2.0 } was really necessary, given that it’s mostly just assert_block from Test::Unit. I noticed this question disappeared from the post, because I guess it was offensive somehow.
Though it made it through the second time around and Phlip answered reasonably, he sent me a private email explaining that he had censored me because I apparently don’t “get” assert { 2.0 }.
Not to pick a fight, but I personally believe that blog posts that have comments turned on should only be moderated for spam and/or abuse, which my comment was neither of. If you’ve got some questions about assert { 2.0 } that you’d like to see stay online without silent censorship, feel free to post them here.
This hopefully serves as a simple reminder that we should keep up with the ‘open’ in open source, and not silence technical questions randomly.
Its also pretty interesting how you didnt link to his post...
I agree with you though, censoring is lame.
@Eric,
Oh, hmm... I guess my tendencies to live in the technological stone age with respects to blogs is to blame for that. I assumed because it was on the same page directly below this entry, people would easily find it, but I guess feed readers (which I still don't use) don't necessarily organize posts like that.
I've added the link, thanks for pointing that out.
You gotta love how the same "open"(ness) of the web means the discussion can continue elsewhere like here or on sites like digg/reddit without the moderation of the author.
More amusingly (to me, at least!) is that you're both posting on the same blog and this still happens. Perhaps that's why he took the liberty though. In any case, you're clearly the lead talent on this blog (only Daniel Berger comes close) and it seems more uncourteous than anything to censor a comment from someone with seniority on the blog you're posting on. Keep up the good work, Greg!
@Glenn,
Yeah, certainly. Or if you're a fan of _why, hoodwink'd. I believe authors reserve a right to moderate their comment stream, but I don't like selective removal of non abusive comments. Makes it hard to tell what the story really is.
@Peter,
I've always looked up to Dan, as he's been part of the Ruby community way longer than I have. It's great to have him on the blog here. To me, it's not about seniority, but it certainly is about us posting on the same blog. I don't want folks to think all of us are following this kind of practice. Thanks for the kind words!
Oh bother, two Rubyists I highly respect facing off with each other. Please don't assume malice.
Anyway, the comment you wrote now does appear in the comment stream, along with a lively discussion.
@Ryan,
I've got no intentions to face off with anyone. If we didn't post to the same blog, actually, I'd find no reason to comment publicly. I just want readers to be sure that it's not universal practice here to censor based on content, and quite seriously, if people had comments about assert { 2.0 } that they could feel free to use this post to get them online.
I guess that this kind of thing isn't the most polite way of making a point, but now that I've said what I need to, I have no plans on creating further tension with Phlip because I too find his contributions interesting.