The answer appears to be no for Typepad. The hateful individual who left four comments on my site advocating genocide against Jews ("come next
pogram [sic], you will be the poor fuckin’ victims AGAIN unless you drown us
in your mud and appocalyps [sic] first") will apparently not be banned globally from Typepad blogs. Typepad’s main argument is "we don’t censor." But I’ve taken a look at Typepad’s Terms of Service which state in part (particularly relevant terms are in caps):
"You agree that you will not:
(a) upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available any Content
that is unlawful, HARMFUL, THREATENING, ABUSIVE, HARRASSING, tortuous,
DEFAMATORY, VULGAR, OBSCENE, libelous, invasive of another’s
privacy,…HATEFUL, or RACIALLY, ETHNICALLY or otherwise objectionable;"(k) "stalk" or otherwise HARRASS another;
(l) promote or provide instructional information about illegal
activities, PROMOTE PHYSICAL HARM OF INJURY AGAINST ANY GROUP or
individual…"
Lest anyone think that the TOS apply only to blog owners and not to commenters, read this:
[If your are] a guest invited by an Account Holder (a "Guest") to post comments or
author content on the Account Holders Blog Site, your use of the
Service is subject to these Terms of Service ("TOS")
The TOS also make clear that it is solely at TP’s discretion to implement any action against violators of the terms. So certainly they’re legally entitled to refuse to act. But what about their TOS? What purpose do they serve if they sit on a website and are rarely, if ever invoked?
Typepad also claims this issue is not at all unusual ("This is not an uncommon problem"). Try having someone call for their death, the death of their family and the death of their co-religionists and ethnic group & then tell me it’s "not an uncommon problem." It’s a BIG problem to me.
The Typepad support staff member I’ve been communicating with about this has taken personal umbrage at my "going public" with my feelings about this matter and quoting from communications to me by that person. But what Typepad is missing is that this shouldn’t be personalized. The issue of internet speech and whether there should ever be limits upon it in a commercial/corporate environment is bigger than me or even Typepad. It’s an issue that deserves to be aired and discussed widely. And someone like me who addresses the question (even in a way that upsets Typepad) shouldn’t be viewed as a "bad boy," "constant accuser," or "untrustworthy." I also hope that in my relations with Typepad support I will not "suffer" as a result of what’s happened.
To be clear, we do take the standards of the various communities on TypePad very seriously, but there’s no action we can take against people who aren’t users of TypePad but choose to be abusive or offensive to our members.
I’m sorry you’re having a negative experience with one of your site’s visitors, but with some TypePad sites having millions of visitors, it doesn’t seem like something anyone can reasonably address from the standpoint of an individual company or application; This is a cultural and social issue. And we certainly don’t see you as a “bad boy” for objecting to this person’s behavior. In the same way, I’m certain you understand that we can’t control the behavior of strangers on the internet.
Being in the technology business myself, I can appreciate the challenges that TypePad faces in this. Which is why on our own blogging platform, we leave any so-called “censorship” (we prefer to call it “editorial rights”) up to the individual blog owner. That way, if some ill-educated adolescent inappropriately maligns or defames the blogger, then they can responf in the way they deem appropriate. It is, after all, their words and their forum…they should be able to exert some contol over what appears. And it’s our job as technologists to see that they can.
It is not as though SixApart should get in the business of deciding what should and should not be published – marketplace of ideas and all that