Another aggregator is shut up!!
Before I say anything, I am publishing Khaled’s message here:
Statement
On December 30th 2006 when Jordan Planet decided to shut down, it took me 24 hours to come up with an alternative portal in a genuine attempt to keep all Jordanian Blogs together. And although I’m going through a major step in my life, I gave Jordan Blogs a lot of my effort, time and money. It was all for the spirit of keeping us together in one spot.
Lately, I have been battling issues with certain Blogs, some that has to do with politics and some with morals.
Anyone can raise the flag of “Freedom of Speech” but I for one usually look into matters and don’t take it for granted. I think “Freedom of Speech” was created to help the weak, and never to promote hate speech or immoral issues. OK, I admit my mistake in not having a clear policy, but again I started this on my own and when established a committee and assigned tasks, people have jobs and lives outside the blogsphere, so things take time. I have no problem with someone criticizing the government, religion or anybody for that matter. I do have issue with somebody slandering and throwing stones without offering a real solution. When it comes to morals, if you are going to post X rated materials, you are banned from JB regardless you put a disclaimer or not.And today I find out that I’m being crowned as the enemy of “freedom of Speech” side to side with the Egyptian government. Well, frankly, it is not worth my time or effort. I never planned for this, when I started JB I did not think things will get to this. So as a result, I would like to see about closing JB. If you guys want this to stay rolling till Jordan Planet comes back, fine! And I will release the committee from its responsibility. If not I will just shut it down, and you guys can use other aggregators.
Salam and God Bless,Khaled
Ever since JP was paused, Khaled has stepped up and took it upon himself to provide Jordanian bloggers with a substitute solution. Single handedly; he built it up and had it running without even being asked to do so. The level of proactivity and initiative he showed is admirable and must be respected.
The main concern was to get the aggregator up and running to give everyone access to their favorite blogs and not lose their daily input and read. This was more important than setting up a policy or a committee but that was not far to follow. Khaled recruited a diverse group of bloggers to give objectivity to decisions and actions taken and I believe that the group was reasonable and mature enough to be in the position they were in.
We all have avoided discussing this issue on our blogs because Khaled spoke on our behalf when it came to JB and that’s how harmonized the committee was, and when we were faced with the case of blog deletion, we were all supportive of the committee’s decisions and actions because that is the way things should go.
We read on many blogs how everyone was confusing moderation with censorship. Khaled said it best when he said that slandering and hate speech is not categorized under freedom of speech and this is a general rule in the whole world. There are limits and there comes a time when some cross the line, therefore; action was taken. It was not a sole decision; we all voted and the result of the voting drove the action. No one was manipulated into his/her vote; we were all free and responsible and that’s how it went.
We could have continued to ignore all the campaigns and motions to classify us as enemies of freedom of speech because we know better and the majority of the blogosphere knows better, but to be compared to and resembled to the Egyptian government in the case of Kareem, now that was over the top and no one can put up with this.
We are not the government, we did not stop anyone from writing or saying whatever they want to say on their own spaces, we did not delete their posts or moderate them, we did not persecute them legally, we did not threaten them to delete and take back what they said or else, we did not do any of those things. What we did is that we took a stand and agreed that we are not going to promote hate speech and slander no matter who it was directed against, we took a stand and agreed that we are not going to promote X rated material on JB, we agreed that we are not going to create a war with these bloggers by telling them what to do with their blogs because that would have been censorship. Instead; we elected to quietly stop the feed and move on just like any newspaper or publishing house elects who to publish for and who to promote for.
We were bending our time and schedules to meet online and try to organize things the right way, we were about to publish the policy and refer everyone to it to get out of these situations, but we were not given the time by our dear friends the bloggers, therefore; I respect and support what Khaled is doing and I think that when you do something for the people, the least you should expect is some appreciation to the effort, time and dedication in the least. When this is not there; I think it is not worth it to begin with!
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:28 am
you described it all.
February 23rd, 2007 at 7:14 am
ya akhi absar, fee nas shikilhom 3an jadd mahabeel. sho jab JB lal egyptian government! bokra beeji bogollak kaman JB is responsible for the torute of prisoners! JB was behind the execution of saddam! Khaled assasinated president kennedy!!
February 23rd, 2007 at 7:21 am
Jordan Blog is free too to decide who they wish to include or not. this is their project and they can do with it whatever they please. it’s their RIGHT too to decide how they run THEIR website.
The funny thing is that many of the advocates of “free speech” routinely remove posts from their blogs they don’t approve of. Hard to reconcile that with their newfound love for free speech on someone else’s volunteer project like Jordan Blogs.
my 2 cents.
February 23rd, 2007 at 8:57 am
I don’t like how things turned out for Jordanblogs, but guess this is what happens when an administrator breaks the circle of trust between him and his users\readers.
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:01 am
Devil’s Mind,
I think this is a 2 way street my friend … both the aggregator owner and the users had obligations towards one another … the users thought that anything can go and pass and the owner (and the committee for that matter) think that there are limits … so when the users crossed the line, the owner had to act … it was not the other way around ..
True; there should have been a policy and true the removed bloggers should have been contacted immediately .. but this does not call for a boycott campaign in the name of free speech because no one was stopped or forbidden from blogging as far as I remember … so what does this have to do with free speech?
Anyway; Khaled’s efforts were met with a lot of attacks and if this continues to happen, I don’t think that the whole thing is even worth the trouble and I fully support Khaled in any decision he takes …
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:22 am
I think this violent reaction from the blogosphere should tell something: Jordanians are sick of censorship and dictatorship. I am one of those who are sick of censorship.
Bloggers blog because this is pretty much a space for people to express without being repressed. All blog readers get online with an implicit assumption of transparency, honesty, and integrity, away from repression and censorship.
Once readers and bloggers realized their mistake (assuming transparency and lack of censorship) readers stop using Jordanblogs, because they now can see that this service isn’t providing what they want.
No-one can impose on Khaled how to administer his blog, at the same time Khaled cannot impose on readers what to read!! Since he has gone the ugly path of imposing on readers – readers lost interest in that service…. Its the most natural thing to happen!!
The case of Khaled is NOT a case for free-speech!! Its a case of respect… Khaled has insulted all Jordanians, and the natural reaction is disapproval.
To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves.
-Claude-Adrien Helvetius
I for one, would never accept anyone to declare me as a fool or a slave. Guess no self-respecting reader accepts being called a fool or a slave.
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:51 am
Devil’s Mind …
You are generalizing my friend … not all Jordanian bloggers agree with you and not all disagree with Khaled, so please let’s not fall in the trap of generalization
You would be right about censorship if we had the authority to shut any one up and this did not happen, you and the other removed bloggers are still doing what you used to do before you were added to JB, so this does not apply
If anyone turned this issue into a free speech debate, it is the bloggers themselves; the ones that were removed from JB and not us …
When you say that Khaled has insulted ALL Jordanians, I think that this is an exaggeration on your part and telling by the support that we are getting on blogs and by email, it is safe to say that the majority in the blogosphere disagrees with you and do not feel insulted …
No one has called anyone a fool or a slave … the simple act was to elect and choose not to promote material that is against our beliefs … would you promote something you do not believe in on your blog? wouldn’t that be hypocrisy on your part? would you accept anyone telling you what to promote and what not to?
If you answered yes to any or all of the above, this means that no one has the right to impose on Khaled anything …
February 23rd, 2007 at 11:05 am
I might not promote certain idea, but if a commentator has added a comment that criticizes my ideas I would NOT delete it!!
The idea is simple, a blog post represent the ideas of the blog owner. But comments represent the ideas of their writers. So while I would not promote certain ideas, I allow people to criticize my ideas through comments.
An aggregator to blogs, is more or less, like comments to a blog. They don’t represent the ideas of the owner.
As a blog owner, I feel the responsibility NOT to delete comments that are against my ideas. I think an aggregator owner needs to have a similar sense of responsibility to allow people with different ideologies to have their point of view represented without censorship.
As a final note, I didn’t mean to generalize about Jordanians. But the events that happened shows that what I am saying actually represents a good portion of Jordanian bloggers and blog readers.
February 23rd, 2007 at 11:07 am
If you answered yes to any or all of the above, this means that no one has the right to impose on Khaled anything … – No-one did!! No-one imposed anything on Khaled.
February 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 am
Why did Jordan Blogs committee vanish while the blog is still up and running!? I don’t get it. I don’t know if you guys volunteered to serve on your own or you were hand picked but all of you were able bodies and would have made a great deal of difference had this thing been given a chance to grow. You guys are professionals and intellectuals, a rare commodity these days especially in an arena where no one earns a penny for their work. I can’t say enough about you guys even if I try : You Khalidah,Hala,Oula,Shaden,Mohammad,Wedad, all of you are the best of the best. Each in his own way contributes a unique feature unparalleled any where on any other Jordanian discussion list. I think that you were born to be a leader, I like how in one of those Jordanian bloggers meetings a while back you ordered everybody to shut up and then you took charge of the situation and straightened everything out. Then there is 7ala, she is a socializing machine just look at the number of replies that she gets for every entry she places on her blog. People from all over the Arab world, Europe, and the USA react to everything she writes about. Shaden too has an experience from Mahjoob, she was very active over there, I have been tracing her over the last 3 years or so, she had matured to a very sophisticated level. Oula works in Journalism any way in addition to having a degree in English.Wedad is well versed in theological matters and she adds a special aura to the discussion that is not solely mainstream but can easily be streamlined to suit the majority. Mohammad is technologically inclined; he too would have been a great asset to the bunch. Why did you guys dissolve we barely started knowing you and interacting with you. I hope that you re consider every start has its own bumpy road I hope that you guys didn’t expect that everything is going to run smooth. Like they say: The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. I usually don’t write too many posts but I’m a good critic and good commentator, and I enjoy reading a lot. So please don’t deprive me of all of these privileges. Thank you.
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Devil’s Mind …
There you go again with the censorship flag … no one is censoring your ideas … proof is that your blog is still up and running and no one can tell you what to post or do with it .. because that would be the right definition of censorship ..
What we did was merely moderate what we get on the aggregator … and it is so different than comments on a blog because with the aggregator comes a great societal responsibility and that was the motivation for the action … while on the blog it is a sole responsibility and a private playground … so different ..
I realize that your ideas are the same like many but still .. not all and that’s why I asked you not to generalize ..
Anyway; you are always a welcomed guest on this blog and you know that
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Hatem,
Thank you so much for the encouragement and the great words … we were both handpicked and volunteers at the same time … when Khaled approached us, we jumped to be a part of this initiative, however; when Khaled posted his statement this morning, he chose to keep us out of it till this whole matter is resolved … you can say that he is acting as a true leader and is being over protective of all of us … but we are still there and he speaks on our behalf and we continue to support him and JB till the very end …
We did not expect and easy journey, but we certainly did not anticipate being attacked by our friends and labeled as enemies of freedom of speech just because we acted out of responsibility towards ourselves and our readers/members
Anyway; it will be solved one way or the other but I truly thank you for the nice words although the “shut up” moment was an infamous one and people kept teasing me about it if not still doing just that
February 24th, 2007 at 12:24 am
Hatem,
Thank you very much for your support and nice words, you made my day wallah
As Khalidah said Khaled acted as a true leader and he kept us away from this situation to protect us but we still supoort him and our aggregator and we will keep this spirit till the end.
Thank you again Hatem for this sweet comment, as long as there are great readers and bloggers like you I believe we will keep going on
February 25th, 2007 at 10:27 am
I guess you guys have to answer one question only… do you believe in what you do?!? If not close JB down cause it aint worth it… if YES then what the hell are you doing shutting down a great piece of work…
So what if a couple of bloggers don’t like what you do… even if it’s a million bloggers with hate blogs all day long?!? It doesn’t matter if you’re doing the right thing…
I can’t believe this… how can you give up so easily? SO WHAT if you were compared to the Egyptian government?!? Don’t you think people can tell the difference…
And what’s all this drama about Khaled being a leader and protecting us, for God’s sake… how can you give those @#@#%@# the chance to demoralize you… Where is the fighter’s spirit… Don’t give those hate bloggers what they want… I can picture them feeling happy; yea we closed down JB, and it breaks my heart…
Freedom of speech, that’s all bull and misinterpreted, when you abuse people verbally that’s not freedom of speech… when you stir up the masses with halfway facts that’s not freedom of speech… it’s the distortion of speech… a very close example was the recent Comics on Islam…
If Khaled feels its not worth it because he can’t give it much time… I can understand that but don’t say you’re closing down because of a few objections and a bit of hate blogs and harassments…
I assure you of one thing… You CAN RELY on people’s intelligence, those who have it will appreciate what you’re doing those without it will shine away… I think whats happening is a great filter…
February 25th, 2007 at 11:03 am
M Kilany,
Thank you for the nice words and for the encouragement … I think each and every one of us needed to hear that and yes, you are right about the filter thing
We are not closing … not by a far chance, but we had to say something when we were compared with what happened in Egypt and when everyone raised the flag of free speech, something had to be said and done to put everything in its place
Thank you again and welcome to my Mind!
February 27th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Happy to see jordanblogs up and running… all the best
February 27th, 2007 at 2:33 am
M Kilany,
Thank you for your nice words and follow up.
We have finalized the policy and moved to a new location with the same URL … and hopefully by the end of the day; everything will be back to normal again