Hidden comments can now be viewed

south west | media and culture | announcement Wednesday August 13, 2008 13:02 by imcvol

People can now view all comments which have been hidden by site-moderators. These comments are available here.

Users of the site should be aware that articles and comments which are posted on this site must conform to the editorial guidelines. If a comment or article does not conform to these guidelines then a Bristol IndyMedia Collective (BIMC) volunteer hides the article or comment. If an article or comment is hidden it still remains on the BIMC server, but ordinary users of the site cannot view it.

This process requires some checks: we want to make sure that BIMC volunteers are only hiding articles and comments for the right reasons. There are two primary checks which ensure that this process works:

1. An editorial log: this is accessible to all BIMC site-moderators. They regularly check the log, to see that other members of the collective are moderating the site correctly.
2. Ordinary users should be able to see all hidden articles and comments if they want to; there should be a button which users can click to show all posts. Unfortunately this button is not operational on the site at present.

BIMC techies have been labouring for some time to fix the show all posts problem. We have now come up with a temporary fix. Hidden articles currently remain inaccessible to ordinary users; however hidden comments may now be seen here.

It is our hope that the linked page will soon also link to hidden articles (not just comments). In the meantime users are encouraged to visit the above page periodically; if you disagree with a particular comment being hidden then please contact us. In your communication, make sure that you give reasons why the post should be unhidden; be warned: if your communication is abusive it will not be considered.

As we explain in the editorial guidelines BIMC volunteers do, very occasionally, delete an article or comment (rather than just hiding it). This means the article is completely erased from the BIMC server. 90% of the time this is because a bot has posted a spam article of porn links, or something similar. Very occasionally there may be a compelling reason for an article to be deleted; such deletions are recorded on the editorial log and are subject to discussion within the BIMC.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have suggestions, or complaints, (or, even, encouragement!) about this matter or about any other aspect of the Collective's work. We do our best to ensure that the site meets the needs of the people of the South West; however this is a continually evolving process and feedback is vital if we are to optimise the site's effectiveness.