News, Local history and Thanet issues from Michael's Bookshop in Ramsgate see www.michaelsbookshop.com I publish over 200 books about the history of this area click here to look at them.
Comments, since I started writing this blog in 2007 the way the internet works has changed a lot, comments and dialogue here were once viable in an open and anonymous sense. Now if you comment here I will only allow the comment if it seems to make sense and be related to what the post is about. I link the majority of my posts to the main local Facebook groups and to my Facebook account, “Michael Child” I guess the main Ramsgate Facebook group is We Love Ramsgate. For the most part the comments and dialogue related to the posts here goes on there. As for the rest of it, well this blog handles images better than Facebook, which is why I don’t post directly to my Facebook account, although if I take a lot of photos I am so lazy that I paste them directly from my camera card to my bookshop website and put a link on this blog.
If the news is true, this is fantastic news for Ramsgate and everyone should be pleased that the right decision was reached! Well done TDC! And the façade MUST be made part of the new agreement. It needs work.
ReplyDeleteGood news, at last.
ReplyDeleteTDC have a good history in terms of financial management so I can see this happening......
ReplyDeleteGoods news but with a confusing message
ReplyDelete1. In regard to the statement recently put out by TDC’s Portfolio holder that the Council have to act in a “reasonable” way I am concerned that there are “errors or omissions” in the 2006/2009 development agreement that means the leases would be unrecoverable immediately the agreement terminates on the 28th February 2014. This, especially in view of the statement “Thanet council will now employ a construction expert to create a timeframe for what work SFP should be reasonably expected to complete” would seem to imply work would be allowed to continue after the deadline of the 28th February, albeit under supervision.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteYou may be right that this is non-story, although the Observer disagrees with you, but hey what do they know.
Peter (your 2042),
ReplyDeleteOh, I see.
Personally I'm deeply interested in this story. But then I do not have my finger on Thanet's throbbing pulse, unlike others who are out and about in the milieu.
As the article in the Guardian seems to have generated some comment on Twitter and facebook but none on here I would like to pose a moral and legal issue over moderating blogs.
ReplyDeleteWhen anyone runs a blog the owner has a decision to make: Do you let comments appear immediately (as on here) or do you read them first (as on Simon's Thanetlife)
If you allow them to immediately appear (without moderation) any risky comments can only be dealt with by the moderator deleting either by the receipt of a complaint or the moderator reading (when they have time) and deleting.
If on the other hand the moderator reads and then publishes all comments does that moderator have a moral/legal duty of care. This seems to have been the case on Simon's blog.
So does Simon have some responsibility in allowing the comments to appear or is it "freedom of speech".
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/23/rival-facebook-campaigns-stir-storm-margate-tesco
ReplyDeleteBarry,
ReplyDeleteI expect you are already aware that you cannot libel or defame someone if you do not know who they are; which means you can say what you like to an 'anonymous' with impunity.
Neither can you defame or libel a class of people; which means one is free to say that all Councillors are a bunch of crooks.
Politics is a knockabout profession and is not for the thin skinned. Some terrible things were said about Maggie; but she did not go whining to law about being harassed. Some pygmy politicians will use this new legislation as a weapon, being devoid of the strength of character to fight their corner in any other way.
I first learned this lesson in the line of duty when I engaged in a slanging match with a solicitor over her client. She shouted and bullied me and I eventually returned fire. A few days later when it was all settled, I phoned her up to apologise if I had come on too strong. She replied that I should not worry. She said that she suspected her client was in the wrong and therefore had decided to bully me into doing what she wanted. Adding that this was a considered a legitimate tactic in her profession, and that she would have thought less of me had I not replied in kind. We went on to have a long personal chat, she was fed up with her boyfriend and was going out to enjoy herself. There was a tentative suggestion that we meet up when I was next in UK. We never did.
A DISCLAIMER : I do not personally believe that all Councillors are a bunch of crooks.
ReplyDeleteOh Dear, another DISCLAIMER required: I did not mean to imply that my solicitor was a pygmy lawyer. Quite the reverse. She gave me a lesson in how not to be a wimp, for which I remain grateful.
ReplyDeletePeter (your 1036),
ReplyDeleteNot so. I endeavour to be fair and impartial in all things, especially where the law is concerned and this is all about the law.
John as you posted below I wasn't sure which of my comments you were referring to?
ReplyDeleteMy original point still stands; Does a blog moderator have any moral or legal responsibility when they read a post and then publish it.
It really has nothing to do with the Guardian article except that having read the comment Simon allowed them to be published. To take it one stage further I doubt, having vetted them, he would have allowed comments inciting violence against her, but he allowed comments attacking the way she ran her business which had nothing to do with the Tesco protest.
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ReplyDeleteBarry deleted for potentially libelous content.
DeleteMichael did you not mean Sologays?
DeleteSorry Barry I did, this sort of thing isn't easy with a mobile, frankly I don't really have the time at the moment to deal with the blog and am tempted to turn off comments or just shut it down altogether.
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DeleteBarry,
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for not addressing your original question which is: Does a blog moderator have any moral or legal responsibility when they read a post and then publish it?
Morals are subjective, a court cannot and should not decide.
On the question of the degree legal responsibility I can only answer that I do not know; other than to say that it will be decided by subsequent case law. I would expect one of the tests to be that of did the blog administrator take reasonble precautions.
John that is a legal position and I understand that, however is there no morality in this or does a blog moderator allow any posts and hope there is no complaints.
ReplyDeleteBarry,
ReplyDeleteI do not understand your point about morality. Surely you are not presenting yourself as the guardian of our morals? Who do you suggest should decide on what is or is not moral - you, me, everyone, anyone? What is morality, are your morals the same as mine?
John I don't present myself as you state neither does anyone else as far as I can see. In his next blog post Michael explains the situation better than I however the is a major difference in how Michael runs his blog compared to Simon.
ReplyDeleteMichael lets people post then deals with the aftermath, Simon reads the posts then publishes and then deals with issues. That is a major difference as Simon fully moderates and Michael doesn't.
If any one applies censorship (although that isn't the right word) then it is seen through their moral compass.
As Michael has introduced the subject in his next blog post might be better to continue on there