"DaBandStillStands"

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This was one of the fastest HuffPost bannings that any of our observers ever witnessed (and had the foresight to document) --- after 6 non-violating comments.

On June 8, 2009, HuffPost's splash headline story was as shown below, dealing with the allegations made by a terror detainee against the U.S. military:


"DaBandStillStands," a new user, apparently questioned the legitimacy of this individual's allegations, as shown below --- the surviving two pages from his/her comment archive, taken at 4:42pm (see lower-right corner of pages for time-stamps).


Given HuffPost's long history of false and misleading headlines --- including those dealing with the U.S. military, and Israeli affairs --- user apprehension on these types of inflammatory, splash headlines is well merited.

In response, "rich_misty," one of the most egregious, pathological violators of HuffPost's (supposed) policies, announced that he'd "flagged and reported" "DaBandStillStands," meaning that he personally notified HuffPost of a (supposed) violator that required immediate attention. (It should be noted that as this report documents, HuffPost has protected "rich_misty" to propagate blood libels against the U.S. military).


The following screen capture, taken three minutes later, at 4:45pm, shows that HuffPost banned "DaBandStillStands" --- after six comments:



The fact is that "DaBandStillStands" violated none of HuffPost's comment policies or terms of service.

That is, unless one wants to claim that suggesting this detainee is being less than truthful is a "libelous" or "defamatory" statement. In which case, it is inconceivable how HuffPost could justify banning this user, while at the same time not only enabling but protecting the most egregious, pathological violators of its policies to run amok over all its top threads, every day, for months and even years. A sampling:

April '08-present: User boasts about in-home interview by Secret Service re his threats against Bush on HuffPost (HuffPost: "Approved!!," protected!!)

3/23/09: HuffPost Users: "Hey, Let's Commit Murder!!!" (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

4/12/09: HuffPost Users: "Hey, Let's Murder Bankers!!!" (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

4/28/09: Suicidal user: "We must 'wipe out' Republicans to survive!!!" (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

5/2/09: HuffPost users: "Hey, someone should murder President Bush!!!" (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

And as far as "libelous" and "defamatory" statements, note how in the following cases, it was HuffPost itself that incited such perceptions, on a false or misleading basis --- then reviewed, approved and decided to publish a torrent of libelous, defamatory user comments based on these misconceptions:

10/27/09: Lieberman acts independently, incites HuffPost's biased wrath and its users' anti-Semitic venom (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

10/27/09: HuffPost publishes false, inflammatory story about Justice Scalia; user hate-fest erupts (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

4/7/08: A "report" that McCain called wife a vulgar term turns out to be nothing more than a vicious rumor --- at best

4/6/08: False headline, copy claim McCain wrong on Iran - al Qaeda connection; foments misconception-based hate comments (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")

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HuffPost's protection of the most egregious violators of its "policies" --- and its banning of non-violators --- often on a minute-to-minute basis

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