Violet Blue scratches her head over BoingBoing purge

Incongruously, the forward-thinking, free-culture-touting blog BoingBoing has apparently deleted from its giant archives more than 100 posts related to, written by or containing the name of Violet Blue, the San Francisco Chronicle sex columnist, contributor to Gawker's Fleshbot, and otherwise prolific writer about the nasty.

No one, including Blue herself, has any idea what's behind the scrubbing. BoingBoing has been conspicuously silent; despite considerable confusion in the blogopshere, the site has not posted about the issue or said they planned to.  Blogger and long-time BoingBoing contributer Xeni Jardin did not respond to an e-mail from me, and several other bloggers and writers reported non-answers too.

Almost all of the deleted blog entries, according to Blue, were posted not by her but by BoingBoing writers highlighting and linking to her work. (Here's an example of a scrubbed post, courtesy of the Wayback Machine.)  Blue said that none of the her-related posts were particularly scandalous, illegal, or "disgusting." Not all were even about sex. The one post Blue did write herself — also deleted — was edited by Jardin before publication.

"I’ve been wracking my brain thinking of what issues I might’ve come down on the wrong side of," Blue told me on the phone. "There’s been no argument, there's been no disagreement, no flame war, none of the usual things."

So she didn't kick BoingBoing writer Cory Doctorow's dog — there goes my theory. Any other possibilities?

"I haven’t blogged positively about anyone they hate. I haven’t decided that DRM is awesome. I’m not totally pro-AT&T wiretapping. I’m just trying to figure it out," Blue said.  "If there’s an issue they have with me, they haven’t told me. If it's someone I've made friends with that they don't like, no one's said, 'Hey, this person's really hurt us, and we're no longer comfortable associating with you.'  Or whatever. I'm just making it up as I go here."

It's bizarre that BoingBoing has failed to take any steps to clarify the situation.

For one thing, post-snuffing is usually "a serious no-no," said Eve Batey, Blue's friend and Chronicle editor. "That's just against the rules of the blog world."

But there's also the fact that BoingBoing has often presented itself as a stalwart of cultural openness. Doctorow himself is a well-known copyfighter — a crusader against restrictive intellectual property laws. He has removed a post at least once before — when writer Ursula K. Le Guin asked that an excerpt of her book be taken down — but he immediately wrote a long, apologetic explanation of the incident. 

In the case of Violet Blue, no such explanation has been offered, and at least one person has claimed that a comment he left on BoingBoing regarding the issue was "quietly censored."

Given that there is no apparent ill will, that the Blue posts were not illegal or obscene, and that BoingBoing has plenty of other sex-related posts that it hasn't removed, this situation will remain inexplicable until the BB crew feels like cluing us in.

Meanwhile, rumors go undisputed — free to fuel plenty of conspiracy theories and speculation about BoingBoing's intent.

top photo courtesy of Violet Blue used with permission, bottom photo of Xeni Jardin and Violet Blue in better days by justin via flickr

Comments

[Chris_B]

If the theory about Violet Blue's mention of someone moonlighting is what caused Xeni to delete every reference to Violet Blue on BoingBoing then things are sillier than the counter theory that Violet Blue stole Xeni's man. Either way it just confirms the BB crew as the hypocrites they've been suspected as.

[Brent]

Boing Boing: FAIL.

[browne]

You don't just get to delete past posts, not if you plan on being taken seriously. This is a sad day in the credibility of the world of electronic media.

I think the only people who want print to die are the advertisers. You can't erase print with a key stroke.

Browne Molyneux

[Brian Carnell]

"Has no one noticed Xeni's pointed refusal to type Ms. Blue's name in the Boing Boing comments? I'm guessing that when VB decided to copyright her name it became an issue for the Boingers. VB's delayed response suggests there is far more to the story, but that would certainly explain the unpublishing..."

First, she trademarked her name. Second, if that is such an issue for the BBers, wouldn't Cory long ago have renounced typing "Disney"??

[obo]

I guess this gives me some precedent to push for BB to delete my account again. They brushed me off the first time.

[zzzzzz]

Did someone say something interesting? Oh, nevermind... Go back to your lives citizens...

[CC]

I fully support this complaint against BoingBoing. Their moderation policy is heavy-handed. They are hyper-sensitive to criticism (even though they're free to rant against commenters). They're shameless self-promoters. And they violate liberal ethics of free speech. On the bright-side, alexa.com shows that their hit numbers have been declining for the past year. As for the people saying that BoingBoing is legally allowed to remove anything they want, well, yes, they are allowed *legally* to do it. The problem is that you can do everything legally and still be a dick. That's exactly what BoingBoing is doing: their actions are legal, but they're also being dicks.