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Jeff

Why should the Complainst want to improve our cyberspace language?

Who are these characters with their condescending attitudes.

Having people like the chap P. Gunasegaram who could not understand the meaming of "figure of speech" is already bad enough.

"The Complaints Bureau is likely to come out with a draft advisory for commenters on how to improve your cyberspace language."

As with the above commenter Frank&Honest said; who are these authorities to police what we can say or what we cannot say?

I feel that a set of guidelines "to improve our cyberspace language" is an insult to our intelligence. Do bloh commentators like us 'shoot' (oh dear me I have just used a potentially dangerous word) our mouths off like louts?

I believe the people here are intelligent enough to exercise their right to leave their comments in a diplomatic sense without resorting to sensitive/vulgar language to get their message across.

Then again, there are people who read the comments and decides that it is too much for them to take. It is just a matter of interpreting the context of the commentaries. The recent Gunasegaram incident is one such good example of 'one taking the context too far ahead of its intended usage'.

The draft on "how to improve your cyberspace language" is nothing more than an exercise to propogate self censorship among bloggers or commentators. That is a sad thing because the Internet is not something a body of authority can control nor censor.

So how is it going to be now. Lets say Gunasegaran has said all those things. What am I allowed to say?

Can I say:

[ DELETED]

Ofcourse I also always apply this kind of language on our very deserving politicians and political leaders who earn these remarks ofcourse.

So maybe this mediation panel can enlighten me on this.

jeff,

it's sad to see so many comments deleted on your blog since u came back from the Content Forum Complaints Bureau. it's no longer as great a pleasure to visit you.

i disagree with DELETING, in part or in whole, comments posted, even if the comments are downright offensive. this is bcos in essence, it will b no different from pre-moderating the posts (which i disagreed earlier), after all.

i've argued in your previous post that blogs are merely SPACES. u should not (though, i concede, u could) control what people are saying there.

to me, blogs can b the perfect example of a free 'marketplace' (pasar!!) of idea, where anybody should be allowed to say anything - whether it's intelligent or stupid, nonsense or just venting their frustration.

those who believe in liberal ideals of free speech would agree that in the end, truth will stand out from n prevail over falsity, as the audience/readers will listen to all views and judge for themselves the validity of each n every view. it's not up to u, the owner of the space, to tell them what's valid for them to hear and what not.

those who sounded offensive or rude, the audience/readers can see. u must not forget that those who abuse their freedom of speech actually shoot themselves in the feet - by indirectly UNDERMINING their own CREDIBILITY, bcos my judgment about the speaker's comments would be affected by his offensiveness/rudeness/childishness/immaturity: a childish person - NATURALLY - carries much less persuasive force.

so, u dont have to (indeed, morally, u dont have the right to) 'help' me along here.

for u to do so (edit), u r indirectly claiming 'ownership' and responsibility of the views posted (bcos u HAVE read, and approved them), therefore exposing yourself to liabilities which were non-existent had u not meddled with them.

besides, what's deemed offensive or rude whether "when read in overall context under specific circumstances" or not is really SUBJECTIVE.

for u to take it upon yourself to edit them is, therefore, rather patronising and self-aggrandizing (making u no different from the ruling regime, or any authoritarian government, except that u r NOT the government/power-holders but merely doing their bidding!!) bcos u r basically telling all your readers that YOU KNOW BETTER than ALL of them what is deemed offensive or not.

also, u r claiming to get it 'right' everytime u edit, meaning that YOU r imposing on ALL of us YOUR standard of acceptable speech n open-mindedness. could u, with all intellectual honesty, rule out the (albeit tiny tiny) possibility that YOU might get it WRONG or b too PETTY-MINDED in certain cases?

JEFF OOI says: Admittedly, yes, I am not devoid of such human frailty.

i personally cant, but then again, i'm not "the most influential blogger in Malaysia" who's afraid of getting his ass dragged to the Content Forum Complaints Bureau again and got his ass kicked.

Jeff,

Is it absolutely necessary for the Complaints Bureau to waste time on this exercise ?
"The Complaints Bureau is likely to come out with a draft advisory for commenters on how to improve your cyberspace language."
I believe we the 'rakyat' are responsible netizen. We meant what we write and will write what we meant.

He he he.

Trying to hijack my blog title here?

I've said it ages ago!

Here we go again. Another bunch of Bozos, who incidentally are being paid out of taxpayers hard-earned money, telling their paymasters how to do and what not to do.

It is most unfortunate that you, Jeff Ooi, have to pay the price of having to answer for the comment of others. This is ridiculous. Once you start moderating your blog it becomes another gomen instrument which is what these bozos main intention is. That will be a very sad day for bloggers like you, who have the guts to do it openly and not hide behind some psuedonym.

But at end of the day, I believe this whole excercise will be one of futility becos as the Shaziman fellow said, this is the Wild Wild Web.

Malaysia.......macam macam ada!