Suggestion about comments

We just don't want it. why

We just don't want it. why do you have to change something that so many are using? you do what you want I do what I want. why do you want to change what I want?

To Heck What Do I Know? and everybody else

I didn't talk about people's style of writing, what should or should not be said, censorship, freedom, politeness, fohsh, etc. I also didn't say that people should not be anonymous. I myself blogged for 3 years anonymously, still have an anonymous blog nobody knows of, and I'm pro choice with anonymity. All I said was registering. That is, choosing a user name, log in with it, and leave comments under that user name. That name can be anything. It can be "gooz tappeh" "jish daram" "aghle kol" or "sakine se pestoon" Or it can be your real name. Who cares about the names? I'm just talking about creating an online identity which brings accountability. Did any of you who talk about limiting freedom read my post?!!

To jj: Well, you don't let unregistered users to have a blog or post an article. What about that? Aren't you also blocking people from having their voice heard that way? Why do you have different standards for blogging and commenting if you think registration blocks or limit people who don't want to register?

To all: I consider this discussion closed on my side! Don't have time to check the comments any more. I have a paper to write. Thanks for participating in this discussion.

What you see on comment section is real

Any limitation to posting is harmful to free thinking. What you see on comment section is real and it carries various styles of expression by different people within society.

Certain style may not be pleasing to some viewers, but shouldn't their rights and dignities be protected?

Do not mold them. Let them experience.

IRI agent and traitor in our midst

Re: IRI agent and front: Nazanin Ghazemian has been
exposed on this site as an IRI front and agent and
has absolutely no credibility, relevance or acceptance in the
Iranian Diaspora.

Khorshid Khanoom !

In total agreement with you , one thing you did not point out , and I know that was your intentions is , registering would eliminate same person  going back and forth and posting different comments under an anonymous or fake name !  

For example if "so and so registered person" posts a comment , pretty much everyone else knows where he or she comes from and that helps to better understand his or hers point of view.

In my opinion what you suggested has NOTHING to do with censorship , filtering or freedom of speech , as you said , no one knows about that " so and so" 's identity.

P.S. sorry ! you said "don't comment if you agree with me" but I just wanted to add to it !

Regards,

Shakespeare

Expat: There is a great deal of evidence proving Shakespeare is the author of all the folios. Please don't use that as an example.

genuine

Thank you Expat

Rest assured your are dealing with the genuine article.

Ali Mostofi

//www.alimostofi.com

Anonymity

Hey Alimostofi,

It so happens that we are both on the same side
in wanting a free and secular Iran, and I would
still agree with the ideas in your posts, regardless
of the name you attached. For all I know, Alimostofi
may not even be your real name, but I still concur
with the content of your articles.

Your reference to Shakespeare also makes my point.
Nobody really knows who really wrote the masterpieces
known as "Shakespeare's works." But regardless of
the true identity of their author, they remain time-
less classics.

The same applies to the teachings of Jesus, the
Buddha, the works of Homer, etc., etc....

With the present conditions in Iran, many Iranians
are more comfortable in retaining their anonymity.
No doubt all of this will change on Iran's liber-
ation and establishment of a secular democracy.

Hey Expat

Shakespeare said in Hamlet:

"There is no such thing as Good or Bad. But thinking makes it so."

So there are no absolutes. There needs to be Good dialogue, for truth to appear. We Iranians are doing it, here and other places on the net.

Now everyone knows, that Good dialogue flows, when you know something about the other person. Having a real name, filing out your profile, all helps us to get to know you and your views. You will tell me things I don't or I do want to hear. It is all very important.

Being all secretive and illusive does nothing.

Ali Mostofi

//www.alimostofi.com

When are you people going to get it through

your thick skull that Fohsh Khahar Modar is like bread and cheese of the Iranian conversation. They are part of the alphabet set of Iranian language.

I mean look at the way we address the Islamic Republic leaders:

Khomenie koskesh,
Khamenei Jakesh,
Rafsanjani Dayoos,
AhmadiNejad Koonee.

Come on guys, use them.

THE MESSAGE

IT IS THE MESSAGE THAT COUNTS AND NOT THE MESSENGER.

IF THE MESSAGE'S CONTENT IS TRUE, VERIFIABLE AND

DOCUMENTED, THEN IT CAN STAND ON ITS OWN.

IT IS UP TO THE INDIVIDUAL READER TO MAKE THAT

JUDGMENT AS TO THE VERACITY, RELEVANCE AND VALUE OF

THE MESSAGE FOR THAT PARTICULAR READER.

THE MESSENGER'S PERSONAL IDENTITY IS IRRELEVANT TO

THIS,- UNLESS THE MESSENGER WANTS CREDIT FOR IT

AND REVEALS IDENTITY TO GET SUCH CREDIT.

What did you say? How come you don't register yourself?

To the guy just below my comment named:
Anon Khan you are such a waste of time. You advocate the need to register and Darius is a bad guy and JJ is pro-free this and that and yet you petty little kid come as "anon" youself, what a LOL that takes...

what else can I say, you talk as if you know something about democracy! Go and get a cup of tea to wake up baba.

Signed: another anon like you LOL

Khorshid inaro meekhooneh keif meekoneh az in dava :)

Dear Sun, You`re so right.

Dear Sun,

You`re so right. Your suggestion is logical and responsible, but unfortunately the creator of the site (and what is a deep symptom of some Iranians) feel that Liberalism and "freedom" is defined as being or allowing anti-Iranian ditribes ONLY: that is if one article is solidly (even sadly) pro-Iranian, then that is not "freedom," or "democracry".

Iranian.com used to enjoy a certain amount of credibility where authors of all stripes tried to get articles published here due to its heavy readership traffic. But now, it has been dragged so much in the mud by allowing irresponsibility to flourish--an example is Mr. Darius Kavidar having to drag himself down and engage in petty arguements with commentators--that no credible author will dare publish his or her contents here.

If Democracy comes with a price, then why would it be so hard for one to take 4 minutes of his or her time to register before leaving comments? Is that democracy, or laziness and the ABUSE of democracy?

Mr. Javid, in his zeal to be democratic -(again, what many Iranians see as Democracy)- has foregone moderation and logical discourse. Democracy and freedom of expression are a balancing act; yet, as this site (surely serving as Mr. Javid`s domain/dream of a free Iran)demonstrates, Iran`s future, even after the Islamic Republic dissolves may in shaky hands.

With the current regime haunting and taunting the wolves at a gate but unable to defend Iran if pushes-come-to-shove, self-loathing, irrational Iranians like Mr. Ben Madadi, many Iranians` indifference, and others viewing democracy as a lopsided, anarchy driven entity, what will the future of Iran be like?

Sincerely yours
Anonymous

madam, this is not iran or

madam, this is not iran or some other backward place, freedom of speech is at the base of this country, where wether you like its principles or not, you have chosen to live, if you do not like it here,please go back to Iran

madam, please remember this

madam, please remember this is not Iran, or somebackward place, freedom of speech is at the base of this country where wether you like it or not you are living

to khoshid khanum

reading comments, as is, reveals (and hopefully will eventually correct) one important point that most of us overlook: how difficult it is to govern iran, even with a vast educated population. a large number of comments are vulgar, aimed at one group or the other, with little or no rational to support their point of view. these are the same people who voted (98%?) for I.R. emotionally without asking what it was that they were voting for. we don't like to admit, but we are really far away from being able to discuss matters rationally instead of forcefully and emotionally and with vulgarity. understanding of this matter by itself is valueable.

Ben Madadi, and JJ

Ben Madadi:

My philosophy is based on identity. The fact that I identify a certain arrogant lineage that believes in its own Monarchy, is just to make it very clear who they are, and who we are.

My first name was given to me by my Shiite mother, but she does not link to any Kingdom that is waiting for their disappeared King. She has faith, and in the 1930s in Iran, people just did not know about Zoroastrianism and ancient Iranian philosophy. Heck, I only got to know it, when the Islamic Inquisition started and I went through all the books in Firestone Library of Princeton whilst I was an undergrad there from 1976 1981.  I then consciously converted.  Yes I am the first one in UK who chose Zoroastrianism, and Dr Ali A Jaffari converted me.  Now people convert in droves.  If there was no threat in Iran, the whole country would have converted.

We all need to understand who we all are, what we relate to, and what we believe in. The Seyyeds do not believe in Iran. They need their own Shiite Kingdom. Hopefully they will get it, and leave Iran. Like a magas that comes unwelcomed, we will turn the lights off in Iran, and the magas will go next door, hopefully in Southern Iraq, non-violently.

JJ

The less retrictions you put the better. We need to have an open, unthreatening platform. I want those cocky narrow minded religious bigots to come here, so that we can non violently destroy their argument.

Ali Mostofi

//www.alimostofi.com

Please allow even more freedom:

Mr. Jahanshah Javid,

As someone who has been writing for Iranian.com for many years I appreciate your perseverance to provide freedom of expression. Such freedom always comes at a cost, the cost to us in this forum is to tolerate a few out of line comments, on the other hand the cost in society sometimes is to lose one's head. Freedom has an intrinsic value that a few curse and cuss can not diminish it.

In fact may I suggest to please allow the writers an additional freedom. Please let writers to go back and correct some of their spelling errors or punctuations. Frequently I want to do that but unfortunately it is not possible for the articles.

I understand Ms. Khorshid is attempting to encourage courtesy and civil behavior, however a mere registration can not guarantee civil obedient. I mean look at my name here for example, just because I have registered it will not inhibit me from misbehavior.

And one more important thing, Iranian.com should encourage more eyeballs, this is after all a business entity and not a charitable organization. The objective should be to bring more people into the site and one way is ease of entry for potential participants.

It was a good discussion,

Thanks,

Jeesh Daram

Kileek

it's the cummulative number of clicks, stupid!!!

Just ask Wayne Willis, the Iranian LLC business development manager.

The more, the poor Iranian dodos make comments (meaning more clicks,) the better for JJ.

JJ, Please don't add more

JJ,

Please don't add more paper works. We like it this way and hopefully with the help of good and logical readers we push the morons out. Freedom is not free and everybody should contribute to it. If sane people after reading the article leave some sane comments even short ones it will overshadow the insane ones. On the other hand a professional and good writer should not be turned off by nasty comments. They become Abdeedeh! :O)

With the Best of Regards,

appreciate the freedom

Khorshid,
You have to appreciate what JJ has offered here, why do you want him to take us where we have to put up with same censor and terrors that most likely your parents and many other pro-control officers of the military advocated in Iran to "protect" monarchy.

Let these poor people have one place to express themselves. Behind your fake smile is a lot of control a lot of ambition to destroy.

Iran is waking up don't force my land to go back to sleep.

Thank you lady, I hope next time you come back with a better suggestion. I still believe in Mr. Javid for what he stands for.

Regards

Registration

Khorshid, you are right, registration is not bad thing in itself. But when only a few percent of the readers register, that means the other 90-something-percent are left out and cannot leave comments.

I'd rather have ten people commenting (including 2-3 idiots cursing), than having one person leaving one intelligent comment.

Tell me what to do with the vast majority who for whatever reason choose not to register? They don't want to fill out a form, they don't want to give their email address. Should we leave them out and lock the door? Just because some of them are full of hatred and have a foul mouth? I say let them. Let them show their (our collective) colors. Let's see how everyone REALLY feels. This is who we are: the good, the miserable and the terrible. That's so much more interesting to me.

I hear my own seemingly beautiful slogans and makes me want to throw up. Like always, reality will set in and I will have to make some adjustments. But we always have to have the highest standards in mind.

Look what you have done? Generating all this good debate? THANK YOU!

Just give it time

With time:

1- the worst offenders will get their frustrations out of their system and settle down.

2- More and more users will start to develop reputations and respect so using one's username on an ongoing basis will become an advantage.

3- Annonymous postings will get less attention and thus become far fewer

The problem with Curious Joe's suggestion, IMHO, is who decides who is a "laat" or "jaahel".  WE can't afford to quiet a whole bunch of people.  

In the meanwhile, the forums will be a bit unpleasant but just skim over the attacks until it gets better.   

Dear alimostofi...

I respect your attitude and opinion! So long as you are still alive it is clear that the regime is not currently pursuing opposition like you outside the Iranian territories. I hope they don't change their minds. What I do not understand is WHY do some people blame the SEYYEDs? What has being seyyed got to do with being part of the Islamic regime? There are seyyeds in Iran who are poor and who have nothing to do with the regime. And there are also non-seyyed, or seyyed, clerics in Iran who are decent people who have nothing to do with the regime. Secondly, some people like myself hide behind nick-names. Is that so bad? Okay, I haven't got the balls. You do. That is great. It is important to have results, and being anonymous sometimes is better than being known because it can have results. British and American cases of anonymous writings have influenced their democratic societies for far longer than a century. British magazines and newspapers have long published anonymous articles about sensitive subjects. There is no problem in hiding behind a paper or a digital device as long as you can have results, in opeining up issues to be debated or in saying what you think, that may have results as well.

Be open and honest

We Iranians have a long way to go before we can have an open and tolerant societies. I for one, because my background and name are known, have had to be above board all the time. I have probably more than most of you, if not all of you, said things that seem insulting to the Seyyeds. They have done nothing. They can't do anything. In 1980 they sent a couple of goons over to my late father in his residence in London, and then they fled realising that they had done the wrong thing.

A lot of credit is given to the Seyyeds, when they really cannot do much. As I have said time and time again. If we in the opposition can show our unity en masse and be above board, then the world will take us all seriously. No one knows who the people in opposition are. There are so many of you who are so much more gifted than me and yet you hide behind pseudonyms. Come on. Stand up and be heard and face reality with your own name.

Be bold and true to yourself and your country. Take them on, and answer them back. The war with the Seyyed has to be intellectually won. If they are sheepish and not strong enough to say who they are, so be it. Someone who hides behind a pseudonym is wrong right from the start, and can never really win an argument, because he or she can hide. A strong person will present themselves truthfully.

Ali Mostofi

//www.alimostofi.com

My opinion...

I have some members, registered or not, who follow me everywhere and write some not-so-pleasant things... that does not bother me. They will probably come here too. Anyway... there is one problem with allowing unregistered members writing comments and that can be solved by automatically showing their IP number ;) So one cannot pretend to be many people and write many things. It is okay to receive insults because we can ignore idiots, but too many of them destroy the quality of the page and readers no more read the comments because they become nothing but insults.

I am for accountability and honesty.

I am for accountability and honesty.

 Is it possible to give a Noble Prize to an anonymous person?  

If a person believes in truth, he or she must use his or her real name.  One should not hide behind a tree and accuse others that they are apologists; no one will take these people seriously.

  Someone said he is not using his name because of being afraid of IRI.  If it is not IRI, it is the U.S. government or some other entity.  If you are afraid, then do not sit behind your computer and utter non-sense towards others who are putting their life on the line.  

The line between free expression and speech which loses that protection has proved evasive for courts. But clearly speech is not protected if it advocates unlawful conduct or falsely attacks the character of an individual. At the least such false statements could lead to civil tort liability for defamation and, in extreme cases, criminal liability could result. To amount to defamation, the communication must be published or spoken. Ruining a person’s reputation and opportunities is not part of free speech.

  What we say about each other defines who we are. We must not let the broad freedom of speech mislead us into language which could cause civil and/or criminal liability and which at the least undermines our ability to communicate with and to trust each other. We should seek to support one another and our organizations which are seeking to protect our rights and our identity as Iranians not undermine these organizations or each other.

I am for any test (math, logic, pictures, etc.) that separates honest people from those who are not honest or are not person enough to provide an evidence of their accusations.

Dr. Mohammad Ala is Professor of Business and a Board Member of www.iran-heritage.org, www.iranalliance.org, and www.persiangulfonline.org

has it ever occured that

has it ever occured that some of us dont want our idenities bc of the regime?

Anonymous comments are fine

I don't mind if someone hesitates to reveal his or her name. What bothers me about the comments is the lack of relevence to the articles/blogs. It discourages current writers and potentional contributors when the comments are reactive and affirm no sense of contribution whatsoever. I don't think there's really a way to control this. But I did prefer the previous system where people could simply e-mail you. It filtered more of the junk.

I would also like to add

I would also like to add that we need fosho fosh kari in our culture and where should we do this on the street? Perhaps as time goes by we will become desensitized with some of these bad words and realize it's really not a big deal. The average Iranian needs to swear more. However, as time goes on, that behaviour will disappear from iranian.com