Until Monday, 11-19-2012, I was an active, productive member of Daily Kos, under a different user name than this one. My mojo was a four and after several thousand comments I only had received one or two "HR's" and lot's of recommends.
A recent diary I wrote was very well received.
All was going along very well - until I commented on THIS diary.
I knew that mentioning that the 2004 election was stolen in Ohio was not well accepted here, yet I posted a respectful comment about my OPINION and clearly labeled it as such. It seemed in keeping with the general theme of the diary, so I did not think it would lead to any negative repercussions.
A couple people responded and we had some spirited yet reasonable exchanges. Nothing was out of hand, no pejoratives, no derogartoy or harsh statements. Nobody called names or "lost it." People felt strongly about differing opinions - but that is what this site is about, isn't it? At least that's what I used to think.
Then "Anastasia P" HR'd my comment, contrary to the first rule of the Daily Kos FAQ's. She (I am assuming) did not comment or explain just dropped the HR and left. I had read the HR FAQ's and was familiar with them so I did not think this was deserved. In my opinion this HR violated the first rule of the HR FAQ. I chose to HR one of her comments in response.
The next day I was banned. No warning, no explanation, nothing.
I wrote to Kos, the contact page and a couple email addresses asking what was goin on. After all I was a paying, lifetime member. I thought that I deserved a little better than this.
Nothing. I waited a week, two weeks nothing.
I can only guess that Ms. Anastasis P was very pissed that I challenged her and exercised her power to have me banned.
This will be my last communication to Daily Kos in any form. I will not post, comment or submit a diary. Say what you will. Take my side or flame me, I will not be commenting. I will not be back. If the KOS community thinks that this is a good way to behave, having rules that apply to some and not others, banning people without comment - so be it.
I just want people to understand this and to provoke discussion about it. The thought police are alive and well at Daily Kos. You are free to express your opinion as long as it doesn't piss off someone with a mojo of 5, and if it does there is no recourse.
I thought this site was better than that. I was wrong.
