Someone recently asked me to take a comment off my blog, and I said “No” – here’s why

censorship

Recently I had a company write to me asking to take a comment down from a blog reader that was sharing their opinion about them. While I would never allow any threatening or blatant lies to get posted as a comment on my blog, I have always been very serious about letting everyone share their voice, whether they like me, or my sponsors.

So I told this particular company – “sorry, I can’t take down the comment, they are just sharing their opinion and I want to give them a voice.”

They persisted and kept asking me to take this specific comment down, and I persisted and told them, “look, it’s my blog, it’s MorganLinton.com and if someone is going to take the time to read what I have to say, I want to take the time to read what they have to say.”

I stand by that and always will. If you look back on my blog posts over the past 10+ years you’ll see plenty of nice positive comments, but you’ll also see negative comments here and there, some incredibly negative and harsh – and I am more than happy to let them in.

The reality is, like I said above, if you’re going to take the time to read what I write and hear what I have to say, I am more than happy to do the same, whether you agree with me or not. What I want all my readers to know is that my blog is an open forum where you can openly share how you really feel without the fear of being censored.

If you’ve been reading my blog for years you probably know that I end most of blog posts the exact same way – comment and let your voice be heard. I plan on blogging well into my hundreds (modern medicine should make that possible right?) and as long as I’m in charge, your voice will be heard.

So to the companies that want me to censor comments, I tell you – not on my blog, my readers come first, period. That’s not going to change now or anytime in the future. I live in a free country and as long as I can write what I want to write, so can my readers. Sure, I’ll draw the line at anything hateful, defamatory, or that obviously crosses the line, but when people want to express their opinion, I want them to know that my blog is a place they can do that.

To all my readers who have been with me for three years, five years, or ten years, thank you for reading and know that on my blog, your voice will always be heard.

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton