Blip.tv Says Response Better Than Censorship

The videos in question came from 1938Media.com. They featured Loren Feldman performing a series of sketches that Valleywag and others found offensive.

Feldman’s videos have been placed on Blip.tv, where their presence inspired one visitor to write a complaint to Hope about them. Hope subsequently posted the exchange to Blip.tv’s blog.

Hope’s answer to the complaint proved well-written and memorable. Offensive content can be dealt with effectively online, not by censorship, but by response:

I found the video distasteful and not funny. But as a company we don’t delete videos on that basis. Instead, we err on the side of free speech, and enabling discussions. I think that a remix or response video would be more effective a refutation than censorship.

That answer didn’t mollify the complainer, who tossed a section of Blip.tv’s terms of service back at Charles and demanded the removal of the videos due to those terms. Hope showed he understands his company’s TOS quite well in his response.

I find it shortsighted that you see a response as less effective than a perpetual quest from service to service, asking each one to delete his videos. Surely you don’t think he would ever run out of new hosting services to try!

I urge you to focus your energy on creating positive change in people’s hearts and dry up the market for Loren’s opinions. We have enough futile attempts at silencing foul speech, but we don’t have enough deep, inspiring, illuminating speech.

Hope pointed out that censorship of these videos would likely lead to them gaining even more attention, with social media sites eventually picking up on them. That could make more people curious about them, possibly leading to broader media coverage.

As Hope pointed out, broadband is infinite. Anyone who wants to create a response that would outlive the original offender has the bandwidth to do so. It seems like a sensible approach in these already troubled times.

Most would think that since Election Day has passed, the practice of mudslinging would begin to die down.

don’t tell that to Loren Feldman.

The outspoken head of production for 1938 Media has made some waves in recent weeks with his sometimes heated, often satirical criticisms of what many consider to be some of the blogosphere’s most influential players.

First, let’s consider the much maligned PayPerPost and the subsequent debate surrounding the company’s payment-for-blogging model. Jason Calacanis goes on the record repeatedly as an opponent of PayPerPost, even labeling the company as “stupid and evil”.

Feldman, however, had some choice words for Calacanis in an October 23rd video blog entry. He responded to Calacanis’ criticism of PayPerPost by retorting, “What people want to do with their blog is their own (expletive) business.”

Offering guidance to PayPerPost, Feldman advises the company to “tell [Calacanis] to (expletive) and get out of your office!”

Clearly, Loren Feldman isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind.

A week later, Feldman introduced a new show, entitled Jason’s Place, in which he pokes even more fun at Calacanis. This time however, Feldman didn’t limit his ribbing to the Weblogs, Inc. founder, but also drew blogosphere darling Robert Scoble in to the fray.

When I asked Robert for his taken on it, he told me, “I thought it was funny.”

Calacanis, however, would seem to be less jovial in his attitude toward Feldman’s criticisms, as multiple attempts to contact him for a response have went unanswered.

Feldman’s venomous volleys, however, haven’t been limited to just Calacnis. TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington has felt the sting of his video antics as well.

So what is point of all this mockery? Well, other than my personal amusement, I believe it all hinges around the concept of blogosphere politics.

Bloggers, like politicians, serve a constituency. For most politicians, it takes years of careful planning and perfectly executed strategy in order to build a solid constituency of voters.

In the same respect, bloggers are always looking to add to their viewership; and election results are tallied in terms of page clicks and community feedback rather than raw voting numbers.

So while Feldman’s tactics could be perceived as underhanded, he is accomplishing his goal. More people are taking note of 1938 Media and his video blog.

Is it moral? That’s debatable.

Is it effective? Most definitely.

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.