Pickford Studios acknowledges that we have slowed the pace on our blogging. That fact saddens us. It seems that we have been almost completely banned from both Facebook, and Discus. And this has virtually destroyed our ability to get the word out. We have thus far been committed to being ad-free, and we cannot afford an advertising budget. We have relied on getting the word out by commenting on relevant stories that appear on Facebook--via pages as varied as The New York Times, PINAC, and Boing Boing. It is a myth that Zuckerberg only censors alt-right. We believe that what the Facebook software frequently censors is any comment with a link that might take someone (God forbid) away from Facebook. (And should you decide to test it, be aware that it doesn’t happen the first time you include a link. Only if you do it over time--however judiciously--do you get ghost banned.) This is particularly troubling as many of the major news outlets no longer offer the opportunity to comment on their dot.coms. Only on their Facebook page. But the Z Man has other ideas. Ask yourself--when you read the comments on a story that shows up on Facebook, are those comments replete with scintillating links that back up assertions and opinions--as one might expect from any good debater, scholar, teacher, student, academic, politician, author, activist, or citizen? Or does the comment thread consist of just a series of brief, often ignorant, and typically smarmy remarks? Now ask yourself another question: do you really think that is reflection of the world writ large? So much repetitive cruelty, snark, and attack-oriented rhetoric? Or are the smart comments, with their proofs and evidence, disturbingly absent? We will be writing a longform blog on the subject of Mark Zuckerberg’s penchant for ghost-banning. It is sad that such a powerful man with such potential has become such a virulent censor of free speech. So let us apologize once again for the lack of constant blog posts. We are just sad, and exhausted. And censored. We are demoralized.
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