This Magnificent Soapbox

I've just received the word from Terry Rea of SlantBlog that I am no longer welcome. From what I can tell it is from disagreeing with him, vehemently. Terry is not one to hold any punches and expresses his opinions in no uncertain terms. That's why people have blogs, so they can spout off to their hearts content about whatever floats their boat. That's what I do here every now and then, more then than now, but still. Another aspect about blogging community issues is that it provokes discussion. Some bloggers even allow and encourage it on their website. It can create an atmosphere of debate, fairness and open exchange of ideas, or at least it should. In this case it doesn't.

Since I've been banned for bad behaviour, this will be my parting shot. I'll switch to a more formal tone. Mr. Rea has a long career in alternative journalism. I don't have his full bio and don't want to get it wrong, but he is well known in this town, is opinionated, talented and tells a good yarn. I've told him so, but he's got a weak spot, he can't take criticism. This I find hard to understand, because anyone who has spent years writing for the public knows it comes with the territory. Mostly you just shrug it off. If you can't deal with it, then you need to be writing a diary, not a weblog. It's his house and he can have it the way he wants it. I do wonder how many people notice that only one opinion counts on Slantblog, his. I've been a lot of places and written a lot of comments, both local and national. There's only one other time someone's invited to leave and he knows who he is. It so happens he's a fellow traveller of sorts with Mr. Rea, quoting from and linking to his blog. As the drunk once said, "I've been thrown out of better joints than this.",

In the days of Save Richmond, Don Harrison used to preach to his choir. He made it simple and just didn't allow any comments. I have to credit him with the inspiration to really use this blog for something useful. With no other resort, I was forced to start expressing my opinion here. So I offer thanks to Terry for the kick in the pants. There no need to be trolling around where I'm not wanted when I have this magnificent soapbox here. I'll give Mr. Rea the last words, his own. If you want to see the whole conversation you can go there.

November 15, 2010 11:53 PM

"Paul, I'm not happy having to bring this up, but I told you over a year ago that your comments were no longer welcome at SLANTblog.

Obviously, I made a mistake when you first commented on this post and I answered you politely. I won't make that mistake again.

From now on I'm not going to let you use my blog to play your needling games. This time I'm nipping it in the bud -- from now on anything you post here in the comments section will be deleted.

The end. "