Student Educational Exchange makes mistake, users irate

Earlier today, students logged into their computers and began discussing an article at SEEdebate.org. When they tried to submit, they were surprised to find a message telling them that their messages would need approval before they are posted.

"Is this some type of censor monkey?" One irate student asked of SEE administrators. Meanwhile, the powers that be at SEEdebate were working furiously on another feature of the site that also dealt with permissions. Little did they know that students were encountering this frustration in other states.

Their teacher also wrote a concerned e-mail to SEE, "My class was so dismayed by the change in the website. Instead of having students engaged in a debate online, they posted a comment that had to be previewed and would be posted after that process. They became listless and did not care to comment because they couldn't read anyone else's because those students' comments had to be screened. The enthusiasm was zapped."

Not knowing why the site was suddenly screening their posts, students and teachers alike concluded that SEE had deliberately begun censoring student posts for more than just profanity and the use of real names.

"Our goal at SEE is to provide an open forum for students," SEE president and curriculum director Meghan Connelly said, "student comments would only be 'censored' for three reasons, profanity, use of names, and creepy or disrespectful tones or ideas." When asked, Meghan could not elaborate on the meaning of "creepy", but she claims that "she would know it if she saw it."

Student uproar about the censorship at SEE prompted students to remind administrators of their first amendment rights. The first amendment protects our freedom of speech and allows us to voice our opinions. Stopping posts from appearing on the SEE sight is tantamount to a violation of our most basic rights in the United States of America.

Their teacher was quick to add that she had been following her students’ posts and felt that on the whole, they were mature, and on topic. Therefore forcing them to get approval before posting is unnecessary.

SEE administrators, noticing the error, quickly fixed it and then immediately logged in to "approve" the comments that had been withheld. "I hope I continue to get feedback from students using SEE" said Ann Thomas, news director and business manager at SEE debate. She added "I am consistently impressed by the students's posts and it is nice to see them engaged enough to take the time to write."

One student email stated, "I just hope that these comments remain unedited, except names of profanity, so that opinions are fully posted." At least we are all on the same page.

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How would you feel if your posts had to be "approved" before they would be allowed on the site?

Do you think that students would want to discuss topics anyway if this was the situation?

Can you think of other countries where this kind of thing is the way life for everyone?

Are you happy that you live in a free society where our rights are protected?

What improvements would you like to see at Student Educational Exchange?

REMEMBER TO BE RESPECTFUL OR WE WILL PULL YOUR POSTS IN A HEARTBEAT - DON'T THINK WE WON'T :)
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