yahoo comments censorship and manipulation

this is going to be a different type of thread, i hope its not against t and c, as thats not my intention

i am simply curious about the experiences of ats members regarding yahoo comments

i have noticed for quite some time now comments posted to yahoo news articles are often changed and censored/edited to completely change the format of the post as to how its written and they have even removed/added some words to many posts of mine

along with the changes to format, words, and sentence structure, the thumbs up and thumbs down are often wiped clean to show 0 thumbs in either direction even though there were previously several, along with several replies

what im curious about is how widespread is this censorship? has anyone noticed if its only certain commenters, only certain topics, etc?

does anyone else have any information regarding this issue?

reply to post by abovesecret




sir...you are not alone in this issue....


have you noticed how some articles have comments that were written hours ago?...you'd figure a site as popular as yahoo would get several comments every other minute....

also about 95% of the comments reflect the "expected" reaction from people...they all seem to agree, like some sort of mindless mass.

i really took notice of the comment censorship during the egyptian "revolution"...


what are they trying to accomplish by doing this? also is it legal?

Do you have some examples of this? I know that when you write a comment you are not expecting to have it changed, so you only realize it when you go back and take a look, but still, that's kind of shaky proof. Perhaps you could set up a test. Write a comment and copy it to your own PC, then, if it has been changed, you have the proof you need. Obviously you'd have to be "on your honor" on this, but if I saw you made a bona fide effort to build a case, I'd be impressed with your attempt.

reply to post by abovesecret


same thing happens here in oz, sometimes my relpys to yahoo arnt even posted...censorship for sure although some of my comments might hit a nerve.

I can at least say that CNN does not do it.

Originally posted by strangedays
I can at least say that CNN does not do it.

Was that a joke,because I just sprayed my drink all over my computer!

I can tell you that all the msm censor they're comments,cause they have censored me,several times.
They don't like someone going against the grain .

Originally posted by kdog1982

Originally posted by strangedays
I can at least say that CNN does not do it.

Was that a joke,because I just sprayed my drink all over my computer!

I can tell you that all the msm censor they're comments,cause they have censored me,several times.
They don't like someone going against the grain .

edit on 8-2-2012 by kdog1982 because: (no reason given)

maybe its recent then bc Ive personally posted a couple of controversial things on their comments section adn they dont seem to take them down.

reply to post by abovesecret


absolutely agree it has happened to me numerous times,

they remove posts that disagree with the articles implied preassumed opinion or they edit comments always in a way to further support the article,

this always happened to me as i would post comments on articles of political nature, pretty much the only articles i'd comment on yahoo since all other yahoo news is total BS fluff crap,

reply to post by schuyler


You wouldn't have to be only "on your honor". All internet traffic can be tracked down from the ISP logs. Every word of, for example, a comment sent to Yahoo can be pulled out, if need be and for example some authority requires such data to be available in court, once again, for example.

Originally posted by Lithops
reply to post by schuyler

 

You wouldn't have to be only "on your honor". All internet traffic can be tracked down from the ISP logs. Every word of, for example, a comment sent to Yahoo can be pulled out, if need be and for example some authority requires such data to be available in court, once again, for example.

That's great. Really. But what chance is there that someone here on ATS could get at, or use the energy to get at, this information? We're not the cops with subpoenas to the ISPs. All I was asking for is some examples instead of just a post that said it happened. Realizing that there is always a way to deceive just by editing, I thought I'd be easy on the guy. But so far there is zero evidence that this has happened.

reply to post by schuyler


I see your bait and I'm not biting.

Cryptic message here.
Cheers!

I post on yahoo. Yes, sometimes comments do not show up but if i continue to try it will usually pop up as long as it's not extremely derogatory....but yahoo also has guidelines as well. As someone who views information on ATS....quite frankly there isn't much difference in much of the comments and there is a huge variation of opinions across the entire spectrum.

Much of it is stupid nonsense....many people post the same exact thing over and over again....purposely...i don't know if they are bored and just copy/paste every 10 mins....but that's what it looks like.

I also know that you cannot post links in your comment as it will instantly be deleted.....that has happened to me numerous times.

Anyway, i love reading the comments. Some people are complete jackasses....but some of it is really funny...especially with the GOP primaries going on.

Really people, nothing to worry about.

Not that many people out there who like Santorum....lol.....and that's a GOOD thing.

Censorship and editing happen in discussion boards all over the internet, that's no big surprise, it happens on ATS! However, the extent to which you are claiming it is happening has made me think about a couple of things. Can it be proven that your comments have been changed? Would some alphabet soup guys doing an investigation be able to tell your comments were altered? How hard would it be to fool a server into thinking you made some comments your never made in the first place? How easy would it be to set up someone on the internet for making terrorist or criminal posts? Man, some scary possibilities!

reply to post by abovesecret


Any time you comment on any liberal comment board, and you say something mildly conservative, you are subject to be censored.

Liberalism has become the extreme measure of anti-Constitutionalism.

Like, nobody's noticed this already? Long ago?

Interesting thread.

I can't post comments on Yahoo anymore because the "Post as" button mysteriously does nothing now.

img.photobucket.com...

I know this guy Greg's post was changed, and I can find no way whatsoever for you to edit your own posts.
Don't have a before pic, unfortunately, this is the best I can do. You might notice Joe's post points out that Greg's post was funny, when it isn't really. That's because it had contained a funny comment before it was changed.

You can remove your own posts, but I can't find a way to edit them, so it about had to be Yahoo.

I've been trying to post this on the Occupy thread.

"I'm not sure Americans are concerned about the crimes committed by the bankers and business people. They don't appear concerned if these crimes are facilitated by government. Americans do seem obsessed with competition. They appear to be a selfish lot in general. I see a lot of bashing of cooperation. It’s called “hippiedom” or “communism”. They seem to be concerned with winning whatever they can for themselves at whatever cost to someone else. Those who are for cooperation and leisure are called “weaklings” and other names. This is similar to the behavior in sports and politics. These behaviors keep us divided."

It shows as posted and then disappears.

I'm always deep in the minority at Yahoo News. It does make me wonder.

On a new story, where people are laughing at Occupy again, I can't post, "Occupy serves to remind us that the USA has a power hungry people problem." It might have something to do with me removing a post prior due to a typo. That's when this started.

I'm surprised that I need to point this out, but Yahoo is not a public service, it's a business, they can censor anything they want.

Is it right? No. But people seem to think that the entirety of the internet is free and some kind of socially run enterprise. Guys, I hate to break it to you, but just as a blogger can delete, remove or edit comments, sites like Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Facebook and others are well within their rights as a private business to publish whatever they want.

People need to get out of the mindset that the internet is a completely free and open system. It's not.

reply to post by detachedindividual

Oh, no need to point it out. We're just wondering if and when it happens by Yahoo. But thanks anyway.