Editors_Desk's blog

This is a test. This is a test.

This is a test to see if service has been restored on The Hive.

This is a test at 11:02 a.m.

Dan

Some bad drivers may occasionally get our dander up on the streets of Modesto and Stanislaus County, but I was struck this morning on my way into work how generally polite drivers are in these parts.

Anyone trying to access downtown Modesto from the east these past few weeks has encountered the construction where Scenic Drive turns into H Street. Because H is all torn up, westbound traffic is diverted onto Downey Avenue.

This morning, there was a long line of cars in the right lane of Scenic approaching Downey. Everyone seemed to know that the big squeeze was ahead, and they dutifully got into line on the right and waited their turn to merge onto Downey.

Presented with this type of forced merger, most drivers in Eastern states like New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania would zoom up the left lane and cut into traffic just before the merge.

In recent days there has been a spate of conduct on The Hive that flagrantly violates this site's community guidelines. You can read the full text at that link, but here are a couple of highlights on point:

- Modbee.com encourages a free and open exchange of ideas in a climate of mutual respect.

-(Y)ou may not post content that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, that violates a third party's right to privacy, that otherwise violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, or that is otherwise inappropriate.

I've just removed in their entirety several recent posts and all attached comments for the mere fact that each of them contained pesonal attacks from at least one blogger against at least one other blogger. I removed the content for that fact alone - not because of the status of the individual attacked, public, private or somewhere in between. I removed the content not because the content had or didn't have some sort of public or civic value.

As I write this I'm the width of a dime away from suspending the accounts of nearly 20 bloggers, and I will do so if this asinine behavior continues.

Dan

Over the past two weeks I've spent a considerable amount of time trying to keep spam off the site. Given the choice, I'd much rather battle spammers than the shameful, vituperative attacks a few bloggers on this site have launched against other bloggers in recent days.

Even more regrettably, these attacks have come from some of our most active and longest active bloggers. More's the pity.

You can hunt for dirt on each other in court documents and other public records all you want, but don't put it here on The Hive. I've just removed several posts and comments from the site, and I don't want to see any more.

This isn't a matter of free speech. This is a matter of maintaining an online community for civil public interaction.

Dan

[UPDATE] The chat is over, but the link below will take you to the transcript of the chat.

We're trying something new on modbee.com this morning: a live chat with our Turlock reporter, Patty Guerra.

While we've done a few "live" events on our Talking to the Top blog here on the Hive, this one uses new technology that's essentially an instant messaging format. Participants don't need to sign in formally. We'll be using the "Cover It Live" utility that many newspapers and Web sites have been trying of late.

If you have concerns about Turlock - or are curious about how this chat goes - head to this link at 11 o'clock. Patty will be chatting on the site for roughly an hour.

We've put some get-tough software on The Hive to block spam. I was installing it this morning in the midst of another attack, and it did its job. We can't guarantee a spam-free site any more than we can guarantee snow on Christmas. But we do believe these new protections will drive away most spammers.

Meanwhile, today we are updating the story commenting system on modbee.com. Many of our bloggers are also regular commenters on stories on modbee, and we hope you'll like the changes. For one, you can now sort story comments in different ways: by most recent (which is the default setting, same as we've always had), by the oldest, by most recommended and by the least recommended.