Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Before sending Boing Boing your money, you might be interested to understand their position on censorship. Although they talk a big game about freedom of speech, defeating censorship and the like, try going to their website and doing a search for "th". In their own comments section, if you say something that they don't approve of or agree with, they will vandalize your comment by removing the vowels, or they will simply delete the comment. You can find a lot of examples of this vandalization by searching for "th" -- a "the" with the "e" removed. For example, one of the editors (Cory) posted a blog entry about his own story -- search for "0wnz0red in Swedish". If you look at the comments for that story, anyone who said anything remotely not in favor of "0wnz0red" had his comment vandalized, which only the editors or people with the editor's permission can do. You can also see someone at comment number 23 replying to a post from "Tamara R" that has apparently been deleted. I don't know what she said, but I can guess. You can also find the Boing Boing post about the sale of their (at the time) $120 hoodie. When people began complaining about the price, they put a "moratorium" on further complaints about the price. Imagine if Amazon did that: advertised an item for sale and then limited the number of negative comments that could be made. (We'll advertise it and you'll like it! Or else!) Bottom line: Evidence suggests that if the Boing Boing editors had control over Amazon, this review right here would vanish and/or be vandalized by them, not because there's anything foul or incorrect in it, but simply because it's an opinion that they don't like (especially when it's a negative opinion leveled at a product that they like). Yes, you can argue that they have the right to do this -- it's their blog after all -- but for them to trumpet free speech and blast all forms of censorship on one hand and then ENGAGE in the very acts they publicly decry smacks of hypocrisy to me. They have the right to silence opposition on their blog and we have the right to not send them any money on account of not following their own moral standards. I'd think about that before subscribing.