Public Comment

I have been banned from commenting on the site Berkeleyside.com. Twice, actually. There I (formerly) wrote as "Bruce Love" and prior to that as "dasht".

I have gotten praise over the past couple of years from a few fans of my comments there and I have been told there are still more that appreciate my efforts. I am sorry to have to tell those people that I am forced to leave and not return to Berkeleyside. I am driven away for standing up to some of the obnoxious anonymous accounts that have haunted Berkeleyside.

With that in mind, I thank the Berkeley Daily Planet for giving me a chance to announce my second banning, and to explain my absence from berkeleyside.com. 

I was banned in early July — just in time for July 4th. From one side of the horse's mouth:

From: Lance Knobel

To: Thomas Lord

We try to be thoughtful in the decisions we make about comments.
There are many times where it's not easy to decide, given our bias
towards allowing openness.

I think your recent post suggesting you might take legal action
against commenters (and Berkeleyside?) crossed a line. It could well
have a chilling effect on commenters who worry that someone might
ensnarl them in legal action that could be costly and time consuming. By
no stretch of the imagination is that the kind of comments section we
want to have.

We've exchanged emails in the past about the relentlessness of your
comments. I think sometimes you have interesting points to make. That's
why I've long been reluctant to stop you from commenting on
Berkeleyside. The same is true for some other commenters. But I think
we've reached the stage where either you either take a voluntary break
from commenting on Berkeleyside or we'll endeavor to stop you from
commenting. I know you're technically adept enough to circumvent
whatever we do, but we'll try to keep you out of our comment
streams.

If you take a voluntary break — say for the month of July — I'd be
happy for you to return if you can restrain the number and length of
your comments. I hear often from readers who feel intimidated by you in
the comments. You're good at argument, you have many facts at your
disposal, and you too often use that to bully others into submission.
That needs to stop on Berkeleyside.

This is the second time I was banned. The first time was after engaging in a number of arguments in the comments, mainly with Laura
Menard.

This time, Knobel complains particularly: "I think your recent post suggesting you might take legal action against commenters (and
Berkeleyside?) crossed a line."

He refers to a comment in which I told an anonymous commentator who goes by "The Sharkey" that I felt his behavior towards me had reached a point of giving me reasonable fear for my safety and that I insist he stop —and my warning extended to other, unspecified anonymous accounts. Such a warning is, to the best of my understanding, a required step towards invoking California's cyberstalking laws in self defense. That is why I made the warning. Because I issued the warning, the banning was triggered. I am all for spirited public debate but I am not down for the kind of harassment and intimidation some of Berkeleyside's famous anonymous comments have dealt out. Apparently, Berkeleyside would prefer the conduct of those anonymous accounts to my own comments — so I am banned.

I'll live with that, I guess: Let Berkeleyside's brand stand, in part,for banning me just as they've forced my "brand" to stand for their banning me.

I think it is important I reply to this bit that Knobel wrote:

If you take a voluntary break — say for the month of July — I'd be
happy for you to return if you can restrain the number and length of
your comments. I hear often from readers who feel intimidated by you in
the comments. You're good at argument, you have many facts at your
disposal, and you too often use that to bully others into submission.
That needs to stop on Berkeleyside.

I have commented at length about a select set of issues on Berkeleyside generally taking what I think to be a progressive stance. Those who argue against or complain about me most strongly in public have mostly objected to those positions. I have been in a minority on Berkeleyside for representing progressive views, and so the ban is also in effect a partial suppression of progressive views.

In my comments there I have tried to bring to the table facts, logic,nuance, civility, flourish, and humor. I confess to using facts and logic to make my points. I confess that facts and logic flummox and intimidate some people. 

I don't think it was appropriate to ban me for it but what is done is done: 

In reply—I am insulted by and refuse the condescension of Knobel's offer. You owe me an apology, Lance, not conditions for my return.