Question about removing posts

[Anonymous]

Brigid Schulte, the author of this article, posted a message here last week asking if anyone else had had their child kicked out of preschool as a result of accidents. The reaction from DCUM users was to question whether the child had, in fact, been potty-trained. This apparently upset the mother and Brigid asked me to remove the message thread. But, seeing the comments on the Post website, I think DCUM was largely restrained in comparison. If the DCUM comments gave the mother pause about the wisdom of the article, she probably should have followed her instincts.

I initially posted this question in another thread, but have not received a response.

Jeff - I take it you complied with that request - can I ask why? I don't believe any names were mentioned in the first thread, and the discussion, while not supportive of the mother, was not really that bad (what I saw of it, anyway). If an anonymous person being upset that she received criticism in a thread is grounds for removing that thread, aren't all threads subject to removal? It seems especially odd because the mother (and you) knew that an article would appear in the Post - it's not like removing the thread would put an end to the issue. Not trying to be confrontational, but I'm curious about your thought process.

[jsteele]

Brigid Schulte and I have talked many times about potential and/or actual articles on which she was working. I think she takes her job pretty seriously, but for whatever reason, she doesn't seem to get much respect on DCUM. Her experiences on DCUM have been almost all negative. When she called me about the thread, I hadn't yet seen it. She described the responses and explained why she wanted it removed. Given the WCP article and ongoing media attention describing DCUM as a den of mean and nasty posters, I was pretty eager to head off another bad encounter with the press. So, I agreed to remove the thread. After I saw the thread, I didn't really think it was that bad. But, I didn't want to go back on my agreement.

[Anonymous]

Fair enough.