At the beginning of the year, the Oregonian announced that it would no longer carry a comments section beside their articles. When I was in the comments section on cleveland.com on Jan. 2, a fellow instigator tipped readers off as to what was going to happen in Cleveland. What does the comings and goings in Oregon have to do Cleveland, Ohio? Both websites are owned by the Corporate Media Umbrella Advance Local.
Both the Oregonian and cleveland.com use the company Viafoura to moderate their comments sections. At some point, the corporate powers that be needed to decide if it was worth paying a company cash for something that Facebook would do for free. I could moan and bellyache, but unfortunately removing comments was a simple business decision.
Cleveland.com Editor Chris Quinn can claim that the incivility of the trolls and the off-topic commentators as the reason for the change, but the worst comments are never even seen by Chris Quinn, they are weeded out by Viafoura. If commentators clicked on the ads more while they were typing their missives, there would still be a comments section. Chris Quinn blaming the customers instead of a failing business model is actually quite convenient so he can sleep at night. Chris Quinn is not a free speech champion, he is a New Media Businessman.
In his defense, Quinn only has limited resources and is constantly being asked by his bosses to do more with less. The problem I have with the editor is his hypocrisy. Just a month ago, cleveland.com's editorial board took to print to complain of the "shameful...long-standing custom of denying the public to speak....."
Here read the article yourself.
1/15/20
Cleveland.com doesn't like it when you restrict their access, doesn't have a problem restricting your access. Under the constitution, individuals have the same rights as corporations. Am I going to sue cleveland.com for restricting my speech? Of course not, that's absurd. They made their business decision, now I need to make my consumer decision whether to use them as a news source anymore.
I said my peace with my final post.
(I was going to say "I'll see you all in HELL." But then I realized I would be banned again for my troubles. So technically the last words are from both me and Michigan J. Frog.)
That was supposed to be the end of the article.
Then I came across this gem in the comments section:
Chris Quinn picked his own comment as an Editor's Pick? I had never even seen the Editor's Pick option used in the comments section before. Chris Quinn gets the last word.....for now.