Hey Don Surber! If You’re Tired of Having Your Ass Handed to You on a Plate, Maybe You Should Get a MySpace Page Instead

Chances are many of the people reading this have left the occasional comment on Don Surber’s blog. And so have I, for whatever reason. I guess when someone goes on about how we should have stayed the course in Vietnam, It’s hard not to throw a bullshit flag.

But ever since Don moved his blog over to the Daily Mail’s website, not one of my comments have made it out of Don’s bottomless moderation pit. What’s more, I learned that all of Raging Red’s comments went right through–no moderation or anything. Apparently, he enjoys getting slapped around by a woman.

“But surely he hasn’t banned me,” I thought. I mean, why would he wait until now?

Curious, I sent Don the following email:

Dearest Don,
I have yet to see one of my comments make it out of moderation on your new blog–even the G rated ones. Am I not allowed to comment anymore? I sure hope you haven’t taken a page out of the William Stewart playbook.
Best,
HK

To which I received…no response. Classy.

Ever the friend, Raging Red finally left Don a comment asking if I’d been banned. Which he promptly deleted, of course. He then sent Red this:

Dear Red:
I love your comments. HK is free to blog what HK wants. But everything has its consequence.
Don

Well, it is his blog–even though it is part of the Daily Mail, and even though Betty Chilton pays him a handsome salary for writing it. Don is free to take his bat and ball and do whatever he wants. But I would at least think a “professional blogger” would be a little more open about who is and who is not allowed to challenge what he says while atop someone else’s soap box.

I can’t help but wonder who else Don isn’t letting through. Judging by the waning number of comments, I have a sneaking suspicion he has quietly become more parochial since moving his blog over to the ‘Mail. But who can blame him? If I had a parade of “readers” lining up to eviscerate my every sentence and otherwise point out how much I have yet to learn about everything from the politics to music, then well, I wouldn’t want my coworkers to see that either.

But guess what? If you write hateful, dishonest, illogical, ahistorical, inaccurate warmongering drivel on the website of one of the state’s largest newspapers, people will occasionally stop by to tell you that you’re full of shit. And they won’t always be as nice about it as I am. That’s how it works. I’m sorry if Don Surber’s fevered ego can’t take it.

If you just want to write stuff and have your friends tell you how great you are, there’s a place for that on the internet too. It’s called MySpace.

In response, Raging Red and I have scratched out our own place on the internets to respond to Don’s “work” as we see fit. In the spirit of Malkin Watch and xenisucks, we proudly roll out The Surbinator. Who knows how often we’ll update–I’ll admit, I can only take so much Surber. But check in from time to time. And feel free to comment, of course–I probably won’t delete anyone. Why would I start now?