This entry was posted on
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 at
4:22 pm and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.

Recently, Iain Dale declared that; “If people abuse the hospitality or insult other users their comments will be deleted without explanation.”

However, it soon became clear that what he really meant was; “If people abuse the hospitality or insult any other users (apart from Tim Ireland or anyone else who dares to question my credibility) their comments will be deleted without explanation.”

Now he’s banging on at me about me going ‘off-topic’ and ‘hijacking’ threads when all I’ve been doing is responding to material that he himself has published and/or pressing him for answers to challenges or questions that he has abandoned in other threads (this thread is an excellent example of the latter).

This afternoon, under this post, he made the following comment:

Iain Dale said…

Right, all comments by Tim Ireland posted on this thread which bear no relation to the topic under discussion are about to be deleted. All associated comments by Dizzy and anyone else are also going to be deleted.

This is the second time in a few days that Tim Ireland has hijacked a blog thread.

He won’t be doing it again. If he continues to post comments on this blog which have nothing to do with the topic under discussion he can expect them to be deleted.

1:05 PM

I responded with the following, which he immediately deleted (please excuse the third-person, which is essential to this particular exercise):

Guido 2.0 said…

Iain, Manic has already pointed out that only one comment of his in this thread could be described as taking the thread off-topic, and he had good reason to make it. It should also be noted that you left the relevant question unanswered.

The rest, you are responsible for. You either published and retained the diversions or made them yourself. Manic is not to blame.

Neither is Manic to blame for posting ‘off-topic’ material that you yourself requested!!!!

Your exact words were: “Carry on like that Mr Ireland and I will publish the email you sent Guido and me last night – presumably after a long session down the Dog & Duck – which shows you up for what you are. Or feel free to publish it here yourself.”
(Psst! Manic will republish said email on Guido 2.0 later today… just for you.)

Also, Manic is not to blame for multiple ‘hijacks’ as you claim. Your presentation of this as some form of moderation landmark is extremely dishonest.

Take this thread for example. How does this count as a hijack when your post included prominent use of an image that you stole from Manic – *again* – after being clearly told that you were not allowed to use his photoshopped images? Manic’s content formed a significant percentage of your post… surely he had a right to respond to that post?

Also, not only is there a wider point that covers your conduct as a blogger in general (and keeps coming up thanks to your repeated examples of mendacity and hypocrisy), but any diversion from the topic aside from this has involved a question that you have left answered under another post before attempting to bury it with a flurry of new posts.

If you simply gave a direct and honest answer to a few pertinent questions (that, again, usually result from comments made or published by your good self) this would be far less of a problem. Note also that these questions are not great in number… they just seem that way because you force Manic to repeat them!

PS – Manic reserves the right to respond in any thread where you have knowingly published and retained an insulting or derogatory comment about him from yourself or one of your anonymous bullies… as you did in this thread. All you have to do to avoid this is follow your stated moderation policy… without your usual OTT show of faux-concern for Manic’s feelings that is itself a deliberate attempt to insult. FFS, it’s not rocket-science, and Manic is not asking for anything in this instance that you yourself have not promised to all of your readers.

1:49 PM

I then responded with this, which he also deleted:

Guido 2.0 said…

How is a direct reponse to the comment of the author of this weblog ‘going off-topic’, Iain? You brought it up.

2:05 PM

So when Iain Dale says; “If (Tim Ireland) continues to post comments on this blog which have nothing to do with the topic under discussion he can expect them to be deleted.”

What he really means; “If (Tim Ireland) provides any response to topics that I myself bring up, he can expect them to be deleted.”

Mendacious. Hypocrite.

That is all.