Dear LabourHome,
Not satisfied with Labour campaigners in Crewe and Nantwich turning Labour into the ‘nasty party’, it seems that Labour bloggers are now following suit. Your LabourHome website hasn’t been working properly on my computer for quite a while now and looked like this (click thumbnail to enlarge – notice I’m logged in on the top right-hand side):
As all the stories had disappeared, I thought the site might be undergoing maintenance but according to everyone else the website is fine. Why was it not working on my computer, I wondered – and now I have the answer: I’ve been banned from your website. When I log out, the website looks like this:
So logging in as ‘Letters From A Tory’ completely disables your website. In fact, when I view a story and try to comment on it, I get this message:
Not only have I been banned, you’ve also deleted every comment that I have ever made on the site:
The innocuous comments I made on recent stories such as ‘Chris Mullin to stand down’ and ‘David Taylor MP to stand down’ were therefore deleted, although you foolishly left evidence of your juvenile and petty behaviour when you deleted my comment from the ‘Labour grassroots survey’ story posted earlier this month but accidentally left someone’s response to part of my original comment (which is underlined in pink):
How pathetic, how unbelievably pathetic. Even though I have never sworn, been verbally abusive or made inappropriate remarks on LabourHome you have still barred me. Iain Dale recently showed how weak the Left’s blogosphere is when you ignored Gordon Brown after the humiliation of recent election results, and now here you are banning Conservatives from commenting on your site – not because I’ve written anything out of line but because you can’t defend yourself in the face of criticism. Even if I had broken your terms of use (which are mysteriously unavailable on your site, as far as I can see) that doesn’t explain your decision to delete every single comment I’d ever written. I am more than happy for you to publish screenshots of any or all of my comments on LabourHome that exhibit the behaviour for which I have been banned, yet I have a sneaking suspicion that you won’t.
Just like the Labour government, instead of standing up to your critics you run away like a little child. The only thing I’m guilty of is disagreeing with you and making a mockery of Labour – but that seems to be too much for Labour bloggers like you to handle.
Grow up, seriously.
A.Tory
22 responses so far ↓
Stu // May 16, 2008 at 4:30 pm |
Conservatives definitely have a far more mature and rational approach to blogging – comments and dissent are an absolutely necessary function of having an opinion, and conservative bloggers (even the erstwhile and much-missed former WebCameron blog) seem to have a definite and serious grasp of this fact.
Disagreement is the central tenet of debate. LabourHome is an embarrassment, or at least it would be if the Labour Party or its supporters had any shame.
Letters From A Tory // May 16, 2008 at 5:10 pm |
I think your use of the word “mature” is rather poignant, given the way that LabourHome are behaving. If they can’t take criticism of Labour policies and politicians, why bother running the blog in the first place?
Bill Quango MP // May 16, 2008 at 5:16 pm |
Labour Home is odd isn’t it.
Plenty of other Labour blogs and even Chris Paul will give a reasoned , if a bit weird sometimes, response to comments left on site. most publish what you print and responds in kind.
Most Lib Dem sites I look at are the same.. Print and expect a comeback from them.
But Labour Home do seem to be a bit , shall we say, Soviet in their denials and inability to take criticism of any kind.
Well it will be like the Berlin Wall for them soon, with the media running the story of Mr Bean loading up the Pickfords van and leaving politics forever, while Labour Home triumph the return of some obscure seat to Labour control.
Letters From A Tory // May 16, 2008 at 5:27 pm |
Blogs like Dave’s Part and Bob Piper also deserve a mention for genuinely fighting their corner and standing up for what they believe in – which can include openly criticising the government.
LabourHome could learn a lot from them, as they debate points with me rather than delete them and subsequently ban me from visiting their blog.
Man in a Shed // May 16, 2008 at 7:33 pm |
I miss their original graphic header of the crashing aircraft ( well the horizon it showed looked like that).
Socialists have a real problem with reasoned argument.
asquith // May 16, 2008 at 7:45 pm |
I almost wish there were more of a Labour blogosphere. I’ve cut my argumentative teeth against the take-no-prisoners folks at Iain Dale’s Diary etc. I’d enjoy a challenge from the Labour side of the aisle. Perhaps a spell in opposition would revive them. It would seem that blogging is almost by definition a medium for oppositionists and those who are excluded from the platforms offline.
Steven_L // May 16, 2008 at 9:21 pm |
You should try the Compass think tank forum, they’ll argue with you. Newmania and I had a stint of winding them up sometime last year, it was quite a laugh. I even recognised someone I went to school with blogging on there.
Get Rich now // May 16, 2008 at 10:59 pm |
Lbaour need to win as we need the country to remain stropng not weak under tory tyranny.
Letters From A Tory // May 17, 2008 at 11:24 am |
Will have a look at Compass, maybe they are willing to engage in debates rather than blacklist them!
asquith // May 17, 2008 at 3:23 pm |
Yes, you’ll have an easier time there than at Liberal Democrat Voice. Beating them will help you feel better about yourself after your worsting at our hands
Alex Hilton // May 17, 2008 at 8:17 pm |
That was entirely my call.
The Tory trolls on Labourhome are there on sufferance.
NorthernMonkey // May 17, 2008 at 9:10 pm |
Jesus, what a rant.
LabourHome is full of Tory trolls hurling abuse – it allows far more Tories to post on it than ConHome would with Labourites.
You never had anything constructive to say anyway, so I doubt your comments will be missed.
Madeley // May 18, 2008 at 10:36 am |
“Not only have I been banned, you’ve also deleted every comment that I have ever made on the site”
That’s bad form. Either you have an open forum for discussion, or you don’t, and frankly anyone running a political website can’t turn around and say they wouldn’t ever expect criticism- regardless of the political stance the site takes.
“The Tory trolls on Labourhome are there on sufferance.”
What has A.Tory said, exactly, that makes him a troll? Oh, wait, there’s no way for us to tell because you’ve deleted all his comments.
All I can say is I’ve made very few comments on this site that agree with A.Tory, but he’s never deleted any of mine. I’d hope we both learn more from discussion with each other than we would from ignoring what we each have to say.
“Socialists have a real problem with reasoned argument.”
And do you have a reasoned argument to back that statement up with?
Letters From A Tory // May 18, 2008 at 12:08 pm |
Ah, I see, so a “Tory Troll” is anyone who comes onto a Labour website and disagrees with you?
Personally I find it really interesting to read what Labour websites have to say, hence my blogroll including them as I think it’s important to understand things from other parties’ perspectives. In fact, I think it makes people better bloggers, writers, politicians etc if they can get their head round the counterarguments to what they are saying.
If you wish to create a website purely for loyal followers, believers and non-dissenters then that’s fine, but don’t call yourself a blogger – maybe sycophantic columnist? On LabourHome you have said that Tories are only welcome “as long as they are polite and constructive and I’d be grateful if readers would alert me if they feel contributors are exceeding their welcome” – so basically if a Tory disagrees with you or if anyone gets upset by a Tory disagreeing with them, you blacklist them. How very mature. Well done Alex.
Bob // May 18, 2008 at 1:10 pm |
Go outside, have a drink, get a life.
Caroline Hunt // May 18, 2008 at 3:20 pm |
Alex Hilton in being immature shocker
Letters From A Tory // May 18, 2008 at 6:31 pm |
Bob, probably best not to accuse bloggers of needing to ‘get a life’ when you have taken your time to write a comment on someone’s blog.
Caroline, I do appreciate that this is not the first time Alex Hilton has acted in this way!
asquith // May 18, 2008 at 6:40 pm |
“All I can say is I’ve made very few comments on this site that agree with A.Tory, but he’s never deleted any of mine.”
Same here, though I actually agree with him more often than I’d care to admit
Ever been to Ministry Of Truth? That’s a site for you
Candid // May 18, 2008 at 9:07 pm |
Labour Home is obviously an accurate reflection of the entire Labour Party.
Silence those with more valid but opposite opinions and then cause a huge outcry as they didn’t think anybody would notice.
Credibility of the Labour Party = 0
Credibility of Labour Home = 0.
Congratulations!
A.Tory – you have done well – keep up the good work!
Praguetory // May 18, 2008 at 11:26 pm |
At least you got a logon in the first place.
. PS I’m also banned from Piper’s place. Take it as a back-handed compliment.
JuliaM // May 19, 2008 at 11:38 am |
“Ah, I see, so a “Tory Troll” is anyone who comes onto a Labour website and disagrees with you? “
Yes, that does seem to be their definition.
Or on to ‘CiF’, which has a lot of the same logic-challenged contributors.
steve platt // May 24, 2008 at 12:12 pm |
Come say hello here. Labour Home gets a mention and you may find the quiz entertaining:
http://plattitude.blogspot.com/2008/05/crewe-and-nantwich-by-election.html
And I promise not to ban anyone