tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3082331.post469896352395547838..comments2023-12-22T15:39:43.656-07:00Comments on debitage: The Politics Of CitationStentorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13629599671442149938noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3082331.post-46072070379323784742008-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:002008-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00I know link-banning occurs, but I don't see it bei...I know link-banning occurs, but I don't see it being at all plausible as an explanation for what happened here.Stentorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13629599671442149938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3082331.post-44935548330587337662008-04-10T23:47:00.000-07:002008-04-10T23:47:00.000-07:00They might be link-banning them, internally. For e...They might be link-banning them, internally. For example, after the first Pandagon/BFP flamewar, the one involving the burqa photoshop, Lindsay Beyerstein made a decision never to link to BFP ever again, after she got banned from Women of Color Blog. I did, too; to the best of my recollection, it was because I'm categorically against banning people. I also consciously didn't link to Abiola Lapite, who banned me for disagreeing with his anti-EU views.<BR/><BR/>The thinking, if you're a political blogger, is that the blogosphere is an effective tool of change. So it makes sense to ensure that the left doesn't get hijacked by radicals, i.e. to clamp down on radicalism before it can tar the left by association.<BR/><BR/>The problem is that it's not. Look at the biggest political blog, Daily Kos. It managed to put together a big conference and get all the Democratic primary contenders to speak, but a few weeks later, Edwards, supposedly the most net-oriented candidate, didn't even remember it, and an aide had to remind him. So there's no external feedback mechanism that tells you, "Change your tactics, because you're losing political capital." In particular, feel-goodism in both forms - "We're not compromising our principles," and "We're not letting radicals take over our movement" - is not tempered by realism.Alon Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12195377309045184452noreply@blogger.com