The "NewUser2" Test

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Previously:

The "MirrorMirror" Test

The "Jacob2217" Test

Similarly to the above items, this test was designed to determine and document what HuffPost would do if a new user:

• Attempted to post carbon-copies of anti-Christian comments that it had reviewed, approved and decided to publish by its radical leftists, but...
  
  
• Reworded them to attack Islamism (Muslim supremacism)
  

Close observers of HuffPost know that while user comments containing prolific anti-Christian, anti-Catholic, and anti-Semitic libels and hatred are quite common on its "news" threads, it (a) generally does not allow comments that challenge or denounce Islam, and (b) often quickly bans the user. To "know" this is one thing; to prove it through physical documentation is something quite different.

The source material for this test came from a "news" thread on HuffPost that was rife with anti-Christian hate comments, documented here at Huff-Watch:

5/4/09: The HuffPost-alJazeera alliance: Fomenting (and approving) anti-U.S. military, anti-Christian propaganda, hate and libels

We figured this test would not last long (and we were right), so for starters, we pulled only two comments from the above thread --- both of which, as noted earlier, HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish:

X1MCMetal1X See Profile I'm a Fan of X1MCMetal1X permalink
Spreading "democracy" and "Christianity" at the tip of an M-16 ; it's kinda' like trying to spread healthy living while force-feeding someone e.x.c.r.e.m.e.n.t
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:58 PM on 05/04/2009

wedgie See Profile I'm a Fan of wedgie permalink
The religious right has long made it a priority to infiltrate the US military. They want to kill for their beliefs. Abroad and possibly at home as well. God help us all. Jesus would be proud. He's heavily into body counts.
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:35 PM on 05/04/2009

Unlike the radical leftists who posted the above comments, clearly intended to denounce an entire religion, for this test (and out of respect for the truth), we opted to be more precise in our rewording --- to focus only on "Islamism" (Muslim supremacism), and "Islamists." The following are the "reworded" comments that we attempted to post:

(1) "Spreading Islamism ; it's kinda' like trying to spread healthy living while force-feeding someone e.x.c.r.e.m.e.n.t"

(2) "Islamists want to kill for their beliefs. Abroad and possibly at home as well. God help us all. Allah would be proud. He's heavily into body counts."

We waited for an appropriate thread to appear on which to attempt to post the above comments.

The thread we chose emerged on May 20, 2009, entitled:

New York City Temple Bomb Plot Broken Up By FBI, 4 Arrested

Some key things to keep in mind as you review this article:

HuffPost's Terms of Service, Section 3(iii) claims that by using the site, the user agrees to "not submit material that is.. racially or ethnically offensive."

HuffPost's Comment Policy states that it prohibits slurs of any kind. It also claims, "We never censor comments based on political or ideological point of view."

Note: The following narrative description and screen captures are by the Huff-Watch operative who conducted this test: "NewUser2."

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At 10:45am on May 21, after establishing a new user account on HuffPost, "NewUser2," I attempted to post Comment (1). As shown below, HuffPost sent the comment to its "pending" area (where it is reviewed by its staff):


By 10:54am, 9 minutes later, HuffPost had still not published it:


At 10:55am I submitted Comment (2). As in the case of Comment (1), this one went right to "pending":


By 11:03am, HuffPost had still not published either comment, so I re-submitted Comment (2) --- which, as before, went right to "pending":


By 11:24, HuffPost had still not published either comment. I had to leave the (desktop) computer I was using, to go on the road. A few hours later, via my laptop, I checked in again - and noted that HuffPost had banned me:

(Note: The reason this screencap is a bit fuzzier is that it was copied and pasted into Word; I only realized after the fact that when I attempted to copy and paste this into Photoshop for cropping, later, it cuts off the right side of the screen. But the date-stamp at top left confirms that this "banning" occurred on the same day.)

This test tends to confirm what we stated earlier that close HuffPost observers have noted for some time: that whereas it apparently has no problem with users espousing vicious anti-Christian hatred, it will not only not post identical comments directed as Islam, it can/will ban the user who submits them.


ADDENDUM 1:

Although HuffPost banned "X1MCMetal1X," at some point, by August 30, 2009, HuffPost had permitted him to rack up nearly 1,400 comments under a new screen name --- "MCMetalHasReturned":


"Wedgie," however, was a different matter. HuffPost has allowed him/her to remain active as of November 18, 2009 --- six months after his/her original hateful comments towards Christianity --- and to amass nearly 4,000 comments:



ADDENDUM 2:

One particularly notorious libeler of Christianity and Catholicism, who has enjoyed a four-year-long, practically uninterrupted, protected comment posting "career" on HuffPost, is "HumeSkeptic." Summary here; full detail here. As of November 2009, HuffPost has permitted this user to post 75,000 comments.

Yet HuffPost chose to ban "NewUser2" after he submitted two comments that were carbon copies of ones it had approved and published --- the only difference being the religion under assault.


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Return to:

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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