Technical glitch or deliberate silencing?

This just happened to me and doesn't directly impact anyone else, so I certainly don't expect anyone to get all hot and bothered about it. However, it annoys me!!

I posted a comment on the SL official Blog yesterday, concerning the Town Hall Meeting. I was critical, but neither hysterical nor vitriolic. I think I have a fairly civil, rational and well reasoned writing style. Those of you familiar with my posts here would hopefully agree with THAT, even if you disagree with me on issues. In other words, I may be wrong but I am polite. Is that a fair statement?

Anyway, this was the first [and obviously the last] time I will ever post there. After the comment was posted, it did say that it was "waiting moderation." I have no certain knowledge of what that means - perhaps waiting for some Linden functionary to review it before it gets posted permanently? Its gone now. Completely gone. Not edited, gone.

I am a bit surprised. I disagree with LL on some things but I never would have figured them to go in for this type of censorship, especially reading some of the other things posted. To their credit, they generally seem to be okay with criticism - they may not listen to it, but they don't seem inordinantly thin skinned.

Can someone, particularly a Linden, give some insight on why this happened? God knows, there are enough technical glitches happening with SLto make that a plausable reason. I really don't want to think LL deliberately silenced me and I hope they didn't.

The meanest thing I said was that the Town Hall was "sad and pathetic." No profanity, obscenity or personal attacks. Most of you know my writing style.

Any feedback on this one? Thanks

this happened to me I think its a glitch because when i left a message for technical support and came back an hour later the message pending moderation was gone and i simply posted what I had intended to say in the first place.

I used the contact form to ask why i was being moderated and no one else was I got no reply to the question but suddenly I could post what I was gonna say.

If that was your first post on the blogs it does get reviewed before it is posted. Somewhere it's spelled out when you post for the first time. I remember thinking they had censored me the first time I posted........but it finally showed up sometime a day or so later. Once you get past that first post everything is posted immediately. Give it time before you go off the deep end I can see no reason why they would restrict any of your comments.......you are a little more tactful than I am and they let me post.

I wouldn't take it personally. Towards the end of last year it seemed LL were cherry picking the best of the comments, and if their investors are looking closer in the wake of project open letter, it wouldn't surprise me if they're doing it again. I don't read the blog comments much thesedays because they're usually off-topic and their general prolixity gives me a migraine.

By the way-Only the first comment per unique email address enters the moderation queue. Once approved, all future posts should be approved automatically.

My guess: your post, being your first post there and all, got sent to the moderation queue like happens with everybody's first blog post. Then some time between the act of pressing "submit" and the time when, under the natural course of events, the post would have been approved and appeared on the blog, the Magic 100 Reply Limit got surpassed and any posts still awaiting moderation got flushed from the queue.

Thanks to all for your information!! If I understand all of you correctly then, it is basically LL's policy to prevent first time posters from commenting on popular issues? Interesting and why oh why am I not surprised?? If true, this is more comical than annoying. These LL people may or not be absolute technical wizards..time will tell on that one. BUT, I have to say OMG the level of social ineptidude leaves me in absolute slack jawed amazement! Every time I think I have seen or heard of just about everything something like this comes along!

You know, honestly, I pay quarterly and my tier is only 40 or 45 dollars, I forget which. The ANTICS of LL is worth EVERY penny of it, just for pure entertainment value!!

OMG, OMG I can't stop laughing. The most gifted and sacastic comedy geniuses in Hollywood could NOT in thier wildest dreams create a group who indulge in unintended hilarity as wonderfuly as LL!!

I believe it is meant as a way to control spam.

hehe mine wasn't a first post although i think i post to the blog once every 6 months (hate blog format) so its why I am thinking it was a glitch plus the post pending moderation never actually got posted just disappeared into thin air ^^

We do this at Linden Lifestyles, too. It's a feature of WordPress, the blogging software we use and LL uses, too. It works extremely well to combat spam. Your first comment is always moderated. If your first post is "Buy XANAX cheap!" then we mark the post as spam and ALL your future comments will be held for moderation or marked as spam.

If your first post is "Well, gee, that sucks and you're mean" then we approve it and you're free to post ever after.

If you've not run a blog than you wouldn't have any way of knowing how serious spam is. We get over 3,000 spam messages a day posted to our blog. They are ALL automated. Not a single one is ever a rational initial post from an actual human who then follows up with 30,000 automated spams. So, the system of holding a poster's first post for approval really does work.

Our comment box says "Comments are moderated (but not censored) and will not appear until approved by an administrator (which is usually instantly)." The Linden Lab blog could make theirs a little clearer, too. But if you post after working hours, then you will have quite a long wait until your post appears.