The Mrs

In my experience, JJ’s generous with his advice, support and encouragement. But he can also be inconsistent and malleable.

On cnn.com everyone gets the same links. No matter how many different ways you log into hotmail, you know the inbox folder will always be there. Yahoo would never remove one of your folders, not tell you, deny they’ve done it or blame it on a programming bug. Can you imagine cnn removing your link to the Entertainment section because you were looking at too many Angelina Jolie pictures?

Our level of trust in Iranian.com matters a lot because if a site wants to be taken seriously, it has to first take itself seriously. It has to commit to some measure of realistic business integrity without stumbling into utopian inertia. It has to build a sense of trust between readers and administrators.

One of the benefits of registration is supposed to be “self publishing”. I’m not a journalist; maybe I don’t understand what that means. But blogging is an option for every registered user on this site. And the only difference between blogs and articles is the former is controlled by the submitting party whereas the latter is controlled by God.

To encourage users to register and then remove the tools designed to differentiate between articles and blogs, especially on a case by case basis and without our knowledge, is false advertising at best, cheating at medium and lying at worse.

Fellow bloggers, if the Edit button on top of your blogs is missing and you were told it is a programming glich, be aware that’s not the case. JJ has been selectively disabling the Edit button on most of my blogs (I didn’t check all). And of course, he never told me. I won't get into details of numerous private exchanges in which JJ could've told me he disabled the link. Instead, he didn't disclose the information. I can only imagine that he didn't want me to know.

By removing the Edit button on a blog, the site basically changes blogs to articles, usually without the knowledge or the consent of the contributor. My sources reveal that I’m not the only one in this predicament. But I have a bigger mouth and have to talk about it.

I believe it’s a very big deal when a contributor is deceived. It destroys the credibility the site has and ruins the relationship between bloggers and readers. After all, if my stuff is tampered with, why should I trust anything else on the site? For example, who knows if the most viewed link is exactly that and not used as a way to advertise for bands or events?

There are no rules any where about the number of times and the manners in which the Edit button can be used. I wasn’t informed of any limitations to the delete feature when I signed the agreement to register!

As for the long term psychological effects that deleted blogs might have on readers, all I have to say is that I survived a revolution, war and immigration. I can assure you that a few deleted comments, which are sanctioned by the laws of this site, won’t destroy our hopes for the future of Iran.

No blogger has ever promised readers to carve their blogs into stone for all eternity. Those who comment do so because they want to participate in discussions. Those who wish to keep their comments till eternity and onward are more than free to take their participation to articles. If I comment on a blog, I know I’m participating in a debate that is controlled by the blogger. If at any time he wishes to end the dialogue, it’s his right. That’s the policy of the site. I respect the contributing party and his judgment, even if his methods differ from mine.

If any of us have a problem with the site’s policy, we are free to contact the administrators. Typically, if the admin decides there’s enough cause to change a policy, he will do so and inform the rest of us about the change. If enough readers have complained about deletions on blogs and if JJ has decided to change the policy, he should announce that. By the way, if any deletions or editing has screwed up the site statistics, I would recommend an upgrade of the technology or hiring a better programmer. Secretly over stepping the regulations of the site isn’t a liberal remedy.

I’m free to start my own site and not complain about Iranian.com right? I’ve said this to other people too. Boogh. Wrong! That’s not a civilized way to deal with dissent, criticism or dissatisfaction. By telling people to go back where they came from? Or to get lost and start something else? I didn’t realize until recently how unfair, undemocratic and juvenile I’ve been every time I’ve suggested that. If you follow that logic, anyone who doesn’t like the way the government, the teacher or the businessman works can go and open their own establishments.

We have a long way to go until we can learn to live within the boundaries of regulations we set for ourselves. If we want to talk about civil liberties, freedom and justice for all Iranians and all that stuff, we cannot afford to disable links quietly and selectively just because we don’t like the way bloggers use the site’s features. JJ has trained me to have thicker skin, too bad he doesn’t seem to be playing by his own rules.

JJ has bailed me out a few times, I appreciate that. He's been generous with his time. If and when JJ decides to return all the features that are supposed to be under my user id back to me, I will be the first one to apologize to him and delete this blog. We can pretend like it never happened. The future of mankind is at stake here man. Until then, sucks to Iranian.com.

“Can I delete my article, blog or comments? Published articles will permanently remain on iranian.com. Blogs can be edited and or deleted by their owners. Comments can be edited by the author until someone replies to them, after which they cannot be altered.” – JJ and his team.