Dear crybabies,

I think I need to explain a few things to you:

First, the Saker blog is the Saker‘s blog and not your blog or a public blog.  So your First Amendment rights don’t apply here.  Cry me a river!

Second, you are mistaken if you think you got “censored” for your views or ideas.  In fact, except for clear cases of racism (this is the only “view” I “censor”) you get your comments removed for breaking/ignoring the rules of moderation and/or for petulance, whining, trying to bypass the rules, bitching about the moderators, rudeness, etc.

Third, some of you have been bitching about Saker’s censorship on other blogs and websites.  Good!  I encourage you to keep it up, keep whining (but only over there, don’t try that here, it won’t work).  What you don’t realize is that you provide me with free advertisement and when smarter folks than you check out the blog and they often end up staying (since, unlike you, they have no problem commenting within what the rules allow).  Some even tell me that they will never go back to unmoderated blogs simply because petulant trolls with a overblown sense of entitlement systematically try to “own” the comment section, which is really repugnant to intelligent people.

Today I even had one of you send me a message bitching because I intend to keep my Telegram channel “by invitation only”.  Dude, open your own channel and invite the planet if you want, but don’t tell me what I get or don’t get to do on my own resources!

The truth is that I personally owe you absolutely nothing and that if/when you come to what is MY blog, you should do what every well-mannered person ought to do: accept the rules of the house or leave.  Please understand than when you leave, there is no need to send me a kind of “divorce letter” which the narcissists amongst you obviously feel compelled to send me.  The truth is that each time I get such an email I think “good, thank God, this one will finally leave the blog”.

[Sidebar: just a true fact FYI – those who bitch the most, either never send any donations, or send very little and then, in their “divorce letter” inform me that they will stop sending me the couple of bucks they sent.  As for those who send the most, so far, not a single one of them as EVER demanded anything in exchange for that support.  So each time I get one of those “divorce letters” I also have a good laugh…]

What mostly happens is this: a person discovers the blog, initially likes it, but then is shocked/hurt/angered either by me writing something which offends that person’s political sensitivities, or that person gets a comment trashed.  Then one of two things happens: those on the left side of the Bell IQ curve either bitch, or double down while those on the right side quickly adapt and see that these apparently over-the-top rules are, in fact, quite reasonable and minimalistic.  This is why you see articles on the Saker blog written by conservatives and liberals, Right-wingers and Left-wingers, Muslims, Christians, Marxists and atheists.  The truth is that we are all a happy and quite diverse family, but that is a family in which you, the banned person, really does not belong: I think of the Saker’s moderation setup, if you wish, as a “filter” which keeps those who truly belong here inside and those who don’t, outside.

Oh, one last thing: I also get to decide which articles should have an open comment section, and which ones don’t.  In the past, I rarely closed down a comment section, but since the pandemic began, I had to do that (twice iirc).  Please believe me when I say that, if/when, needed, I will do that again, if only because I do not want to swamp my moderators (who already work very hard and get no gratitude!) with a first wave of stupid comments followed buy a second wave of complaints and demands.

Conclusion: “the Saker blog is a den of iniquity which censors everybody”

Absolutely true!

Every time I see this accusation on another blog, I want to post “YES!  you are 100% correct”.  But I don’t.  Why?  Because, on principle, I never post a comment on an unmoderated blog (for reasons, see above).

But now you know :-)

Cheers,

The Saker