Self-censorship
In the past day or so I have taken an action that I am not proud of. I changed the title of one of my blog posts from 2005 following criticism in the comments on that post.
There had been a Guardian article featuring predictions for the UK General Election by various astrologers, tarot card readers etc. I had checked those predictions after the election. The predictions were not very dependable or reliable and therefore I thought the term "bad", in the original title, was appropriate. Plus, it was a play on the title of Phil Plait's blog.
One of the astrologers I mentioned, did comment on that post. He was admirably good humoured about it considering that my page was ranked at the top of the Google results when searching for him. There was an implication that I should change the title but he explicitly said that he wasn't asking me to do that. I took him at his word. Despite what I feel about the morality of many astrologers (using imaginary versions of the universe to justify getting money from people), I did provide suggestions on ways he could constructively improve his ranking (getting a website for one thing) but those suggestions were not acknowledged.
In the past few days, following an appearance by the astrologer on day-time TV, I had a flurry of comments on that blog post. A few were people asking about their love lives (not sure if they were asking me or hoping that the astrologer reads the comments on my blog) but there were also complaints from someone using the name "Dee". They told me I was being "unecessarily [sic] obstructive" but did not say in what way I was being so. Dee's continued negativity, and lack of acknowledgement of my positive suggestions, got to me.
Last night I did what had been heavily implied (if not explicitly said) and changed the title. I do not wish to be deceitful though so I've included a statement at the top of the post explaining that I have done so. The title is certainly clearer now if less snappy.
Giving people what they want doesn't always solve the problem. Changing the title in this way compromises my integrity and I do not think it helps the astrologer. I actually think it would make things worse for them. Anyway, I can accept that I may be wrong so we'll see if changing the title helps.
Comments: Self-censorship
Posted by Laurel Kornfeld on Saturday 13th Feb 2010 (19:18 UTC)
Stuart;
Based on the libel laws in the UK, I can see why you would feel compelled to make this change. Hopefully things will change there in the near future.
Best,
Bill Hudson
Posted by Bill Hudson on Saturday 13th Feb 2010 (21:35 UTC)
Laurel, I'd heard that. It's a scary thought.
Posted by Stuart on Saturday 13th Feb 2010 (23:13 UTC)
Without having checked the post to see what how you changed it, I hope you changed to something like "Astrology Sucks And So Do All Involved."
Posted by Rob on Sunday 14th Feb 2010 (17:51 UTC)
My problem with the original title is that it implied that the converse was possible.
Posted by ColonelFazackerley on Friday 19th Feb 2010 (20:55 UTC)
Everything nice, but did You know, that modern astronomy was invented by PoleS?
Posted by PaweÃ…âš on Thursday 25th Feb 2010 (14:29 UTC)
* Astrology should remain in the category of 'fiction' as sensible debate seems impossible.
* Paul Watson is a bad astrologer
Posted by Tony R. on Friday 26th Feb 2010 (09:11 UTC)
It's a shame that your freedom of speak was lost out because a charlatan could not post a more interesting debate on the internet; however, this story has highlighted two things:
* Astrology should remain in the category of 'fiction' as sensible debate seems impossible.
* Paul Watson is a bad astrologer.
Posted by Tony R. on Friday 26th Feb 2010 (09:13 UTC)
Hi,
I'm Brazilian and a lover of science.
I'd like to congratulate you for the blog.
Know my science blog (it's in Portuguese, soon there will be posts in English as well):
http://imperativocientifico.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
Posted by Rafael Tadeu de Matos Ribeiro on Monday 15th Mar 2010 (02:44 UTC)
That's a nice posting but according to my view everyone is right at their one's path.
Posted by credit card lawyer on Thursday 18th Mar 2010 (12:45 UTC)