The Post provides a public comments section to its subscribers, allowing them to offer views, opinions and feedback on most articles. As with any large Internet forum, there is enough misbehavior that the company must moderate these postings.
The Post moderators, however, act with an abject lack of transparency or accountability. Specifically:
1. It is not possible to appeal a moderator's decision.
2. The Washington Post refuses to explain a moderator's decision, either initially or upon complaint. The posting just silently vanishes.
3. The Washington Post destroys the evidence of the removed posting, not just removing it from the default view but from any public review. It doesn't even remain privately available to the paying subscriber who posted it!
Without accountability, the Post moderators routinely abuse their authority to censor views which, while contrarian, are on topic, polite and respectful to the other commenters. Needless to say, this stifles discussion creating an echo chamber of views that align with those of the moderators.
For an organization that sees itself as a bulwark of democracy, I find this reckless mismanagement of public debate quite disappointing.
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