As I scan the OC blogsphere, a persistent theme pops up that we (The editors at TheLiberalOC.com) delete comments we don’t agree with. That’s simply not true. All comments generally go into moderation. If you’re comment doesn’t pop up that instant simply means one of us hasn’t gotten to it in order to approve it.
Some exceptions to the rule: spammers send comments to various posts all the time and those are deleted. If your  comment has nothing to do with the thread at hand, it will get purged. If your comment is laced with profanity or if you flat out libel someone, your comment has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting published here.
If you want to criticize someone in Orange County, the Republican Party, an elected official, someone in the Democratic Party, a media member, a media institution, someone in the Libertarian Party, or any of us on the LiberalOC blog roll for positions on issues, go right ahead. If fact, we prefer you sign your own name to your comment rather than hide behind an alias.
But if you make your comment personal, with a derogatory insult about someone’s age, gender, race, profession,height, weight, hair style or lack of hair, who they resemble, or what sort of car they drive, etc., etc. etc., your comment isn’t going to show up.Â
 We know that many readers here disagree with people like Matt Cunningham and Steven Greenhut on a number of issues, but our debates with them here and on their own respective blogs are debates of ideas, positions on issues and the vetting of certain facts. And frankly, we welcome debates of this nature.
So if your comment doesn’t appear johnny-on-the-flipping-spot, hang in there. It will show up eventually.  Â
Dan Chmielewski, Managing Editor
I feel your pain, Dan.
Dan,
for the most part you tell the truth in this post. However, the fact that posts are deleted, altered, edited, or what ever simply because the content was not within the paramneters of what Lib OC (Prevatt Specifically) would like the public to see is real and has been a matter of policy at Lib OC for as long as I can remember.
Or to say it in a shorter way,
Posts have been deleted on Lib OC because they did not fit the mindset of the editors even if they were germaine to the topic, not lies or libel, non vulgur, and non threatening or discriminatory.
Its just a fact.
Dan,
I appreciate the efforts that the administrators of the LOC and Red County undertake to clean up the debate that goes on at their respective sites. I’ve never had a comment deleted or altered but I suspect deletions are rare and target comments making personal rather than policy attacks.
Paul,
As is often the case, you are mistaken. But given your incessant attempts to portray yourself as some sort of victim, I am not surprised.
Paul — you’re flat out wrong. I get allof your posts via email. Some make no sense, are not germaine to the post at hand, and don’t meet terms of service. Then its quickly followed up by a “why are you deleting my posts?” question from you, when the truth is, we haven’t gotten to reviewing the comments yet. But your perceptioin that we’re deleting posts because we don’t like what we see is bullstuff.
While we rarely agree, I will also say, you all, try to get our disagreements aired, unlike some of the other blogs around here. I will stand up for, your stand up actions of the past. I also think of all you in your capacity here at LiberalOC as the respectful opposition. Thank you for that drive to debate. We need more debate and communication, not less. Chris, Special thanks to you for fixing things, even I have been gone for a few days since, I left the blog problems with you.
As I told you then I appreciate that fact you believe in open, honest, and civil debate, even when we disagree.
what a pack of lies. theres been plenty of times my posts havent shown up or were altered by the gila police thats just a fact. i would think you guys would be more than happy to get negative posts since nobody really posts here because you cheminowski and your little friend prevatt have run this once great blog into the ground. but many of my posts that were deleted didnt have cuss words at all they were just deleted. so yes, that sort of thing goes on here and by saying it doesnt is a flat out lie. who do you guys think you are deleting comments art pedroza?
Jose —
We don’t alter any post; becuase then, we’d be responsible for it legally and comments from commenters like yourself are your responsibility. I have personally deleted some of your comments due to excessive repeatition. There’s only so much, “are too” “are not” argumentative stuff we’re going to put up with before you cross the line into terms of service violations.
I suggest you review the terms of service again. When your comments have been deleted, it was because we believed you crossed the line.
What was the purpose of the posts about Paul Lucas being placed a the top of the roll just a few minutes ago?
I just went over to the oc progressive and now I realize the origin of this post. Now i want to know why there is a rift between liberal factions here in OC. It seems to me that the Lib OC people are a bit too thin skinned in the critique they get from the OCP bloggers. Granted, criticism can be a tough pill to swallow at times. But your reactions tend to spill over into the over the line sensitivity reactionary type.
Adrian.
I’m not sure I understand what you are asking about. Can you clarify?
Chris,
when I brought up the lib oc page this morning, all the posts you made last year attacking Paul Lucas were at the top of the blog roll after this article. as if you were dredging up all that bad blood.
the second question i asked in my second post today is asking why is there an apparent bad blood atmosphere between the Lib OC and the OC Progressive blogs. Ive seen comments made by joe shaw and gus here on lib oc and your reactions to them were in my opinion a biut over the top and very hypersensitive in tone.
So im wondering why there is bad blood between your two blogs and why you brought up all that vitriole and hyperbole you directed at Lucas last year. It seemed like a very cheap shot and dredging up something from last year in which you were clearly in the wrong to begin with.
Adrian,
I am uncertain why your computer pulled up past posts related to Paul Lucas. We have not written specifically about Paul as a topic for a post in months. And we really have no interest in doing so.
This post, which is not specifically related to Paul, was made to address allegations that heve been made regarding commenting on TheLiberalOC.
I have my reasons, as many people do, to take issue with Paul’s actions over the past year. We did not dredge up old history about Paul at the top of this blog.
As far as the matter of “bad blood” between LiberalOC and OC Progressive blog, there is none on our end that I can speak of. I strongly disagreed with the way Gus attacked a new blogger on this site, and I responded accordingly. I have known Joe for several years and while we may periodically disagree, I hold no animosity towards him. It is inaccurate to infer “bad blood” from differing positions expressed on the blogs.
We respect that the other blogs in OC have their political perspectives, and we have ours. Our perspectives may from time to time differ and that’s fine. Neither I, nor anyone else on the LiberalOC blog team have disparaged OC Progressive or their team of bloggers in this forum. To my knowlege, other than one recent instance, we have not experienced any disparaging remarks from the OC Progressive team towards us.
Chris,
it appeared to me in your (Lib OC) interactions with OCP bloggers have been charged. The issue with the posts about Lucas was that when I brought up the Lib OC this morning, all the posts you wrote attacking Lucas were placed under this one in sequential order. It was just wierd. the a few minutes later they wre gone and back in theoir original sequential order in the archives. This was just for a few minutes and just seemed very weird to me. but in reviewing them, it seems that you had violated your own TOS in the content of those posts. Just an observation(s).
thank you cheminoski for admitting you have deleted my posts. thats exactly what i was saying. and none of my posts crossed the line you just didnt like what i had to say. thats why this blog has gone downhill like it has because you and prevatt run it like pedroza runs the oj. only thing is he has way more people going on to his site than yours.
Actually Jose, your deletions were emailed to you with an explanation if you recall. And I disagree with you; they violated our terms of service and were repetitive to the point of being obtuse.
But if you’d prefer, you could join the club with two other people who are permanently banned here. It would no trouble at all.
Adrian —
I saw the same post on OC Progressive, but that wasn’t the source of nor the inspirarion of my post on this. I was speakinhg with a regular reader of the OJ blog who tells me Art regularly accuses us of deleting posts. I just felt that what I said to him shoul dhave applied to a broader audience.
There’s no bad blood between the lefty blogs in OC.
hey cheminowski you want to ban me from here ban me dont threaten me with it like you have in the past. and you e-mailed me once about deleting my comment and it was over that horrible posting of alohas pic that you blocked all comments because your boy was getting a beating. you never sent me any e-mails on the other postings that were deleted or altered. it just goes back to what i was saying, you do delete and alter postings on here because you can. personally i think thats so cowardly to do that but hey, maybe thats why this once great blog is in the toilet. you just dont like to have certain things pointed out to you is your problem. and by the way, congrats on having a post with some comments on it. seems like those are pretty scarce around here these days.
I wonder Jose how many times you plan to repeat yourself in the multiple postings on this subject? I say something, you say that’s not true. And we repeated the cycle over and over again. Thanks for proving my point.
Dan,
if that post OCP was not your inspiration for this article, it is pretty darned apropos. That being said, I have spoken to many people who have had their comments deleted from lib OC which were on topic, non-vulgar, non-threatening, etc etc. The common theme is that these comments countered what was beinged in the original ar foistticle by the author. Almost exclusively Chris Prevatt. Other censors were Gila Jones and Andrew Davey.
Another forms of debate “Moderation” on Lib Oc would be the closing of comments. This always seemed to happen when the debate would show that Chris Prevatt was wrong in his assertions and positions.
This is a common event here at Lib OC that I have witnessed first hand. You have opened the door of debate over semantics concerning “Deletion”, v “moderation”, but in the end, when a comment is not allowed to be posted when a proponderance of TOS violations is not presnet, then in the end that is censorship.
Chris Prevatt said
“I have my reasons, as many people do, to take issue with Paul’s actions over the past year.”
Chris, you “issues” and “resaons” which you have always denied and and deleted comments that point tot he truth is that you were and still are in alliance with and support of janet Nguyen and her campaign, her policies, and her personally by way of your being controlled by Phil Becerra, Alicia Berhow, and that woman melahat.
You deleted comments that pointed out the fact that Courtney Rychel committed a felony by coercion when she filed a false police report on Edgardo over a fabricated Road rage incident and withdrew the complaint after it was proven beyond doubt that he was ina meeting somehwere elese.
You deletd comments that protested the illegal actions of courtney and those in the dpoc who coerced her to file a false police report.
These actions are illegal and you helped cover them up. You attacked Lucas because he took an action to slow down the momentum of janey Nguyen who is proving to be even more dangerous than van Tran.
So i would like to know once and for all, why it is you are allied with janet Nguyen and why you attacked Lucas so badly last year?
But I bet i will never get an answer as you are most likely to delete this comment.
Adrian —
with due respect, I get emails of all the comments that come in as they come in, and the deleted comments you refer to must be phantoms because I don’t recall seeing any such comments on the topics you alledge being deleted. Now if someone libels someone in the comments, then they are gone. So while a commenter might think his/her comment is fine and fair, we might take a different viewpoint.
The notion that Chris is somehow controlled by Phil Becerra, Alicia Berhow and Melehat is a laughable joke. Chris was not in alliance with Janet Nguyen; though compared with Hoa Van Tran, Janet was probably the best available candidate. But don’t let me stop you from holding conspiracy theroy meetings and make sure your tinfoil hat is on nice and tight.
Has Courtney been charged with a felony. No she hasn’t.
And so you know, I am still waiting for Edgardo to get back to me with direct answer to direct questions I asked him about. Frankly, he’s the evasive one.
And Adrian — since you seem so interested, I do in fact have a degree in journalism. I have worked as a radio news director, I was a contributor to UPI, and I have published more than 500 articles in trade and business publications.
I have offered explanations for why certain comments don’t get published which haved been backed up by other bloggers here. You offer no shread of evidence for your charges.
And before you fire off at Chris for the hit piece on Art Pedroza, who demonstrates his lack of fitness for office with each new post on OJ, I gave $250 towards that effort. I wish I had spent more. And for a piece that was considered so lame, why does Art bring it up time and again? My contribution was not in support of Carlos Bustamante (who overwhelming won the ward) but to prevent residents of Santa Ana from making a big mistake.
As for your charges we often delete your comments, under what name were you posting?
dan,
Adrian is an old friend of mine. I was the best man at his wedding. He is talking about some recent but mostly posts from last year that chris prevatt kept deleting when Adrian was posting in my defense. In fact several people experienced the same thing from chris. Including myself.
Chris deleted posts that asked chris to modeate outright attacks and liea about me. Several of which were in direct violation of your own TOS. As far as Phil Beverra manipulating Chris, the aloha pictuyre is the latest example of that relationhip.
cheminowski, just tell the truth for the truth shall set you free.
Paul –
what you (and others, namely Adrian and Jose) fail to understand is I get all the raw comments via email. I see them. I’ve deleted ones inappropriate to the post at hand due to issues of libel, thread-jacking, or obsseive repeatition. I have also seen numoerous posts from you, followed minutes later by a post from you stating “why are you deleting my comments?” These are often sent in the middle of the night when we’re not available to approve the post, but it does allow you to fuel the perception we’re deleting posts.
dan,
the last comment I had deleted was aquestion on why there wasnt any article about the Truman dinner. I was working in Las Vegas that weekend and couldnt attend. So I was looking foir some news about the event.
That comment got deleted.
The reason given was that it was off topic.
Now all I did was ask a questiojn. Dont you thinkn that was over zealous prosecution of the off topic TOS rule? These are the type of actions by Chris that lead to complaints of censorship at Lib OC.
Bythe way dan,
Why are you answering for Chris?
that question had nothing to do with the post you responded to. you have our email addresses and phone numbers and that was the avenue to take. since the question was off topic, it violated TOS and it was purged and rightfully so. And Paul, I’m answering because I authored this post.
Paul,
For the record, Dan has accurately reflected what I told you at the time. If you have a question, feel free to send us an email and ask. Stick to the TOS and your comments will be posted once reviewed.
It would be highly inaccurate to infer that OC Progressive has any “bad blood” with the Liberal OC.
We work on far too many collaborative efforts off site and online for us to be antagonistic to each other.
Competition is healthy.
Joe,
Im basing my comment on the dialogue between you guys here in Lib OC. It seemed highly charged and tense to me.
Dan, granted the question abou the Truman dinner was not on the topic of the article but that goes to the point of my question in the first place.
I had not seen any items about the Truman Dinner and asked why nothing had been posted about it. I aknowledge it was off topic but to delete the question is a bit over the top dont you think?
Call it moderation if you want. But it certainly leads me (and others in Dem circles I have spoken with) to think that something not so kosher was afoot with the Truman Dinner and or the results that lead to the non-reporting of the event in any way.
Paul —
And my point is email was the place to pose your question. The event was promoted here in advance; Chris was involved in the video production of the event.
We all lead busy lives Paul. I recall seeing only one story about the event on one of the blogs.
But there are a lot of stories we don’t get to because either we’re (I’m) not interested in pursuing them or we (I) don’t have time to. That doesn’t mean that something isn’t kosher with it.
And thanks, Paul, for admitting your comment was off topic. That’s why it got purged. If you can’t or won’t understand that, I can’t help you any longer.
Dan,
I always acknowledged the fact that it was off topic. My point was that the deletion was over zealous. It was an inocuous question I asked with no other article related to the Truman Dinner to place the question. The fact that it was deleted was over the top application of the “off topic” rule.
We’re done here. Comments on this post are now closed.