Not in this instance. But it’s certainly lame.
Avvo.com’s founder Mark Britton demonstrates his sense of humor in this post from earlier today, which concludes with a link to the lawsuit pending against the company (the post mockingly berates the ABA for its new blog list the same way Avvo’s litigation opponents challenge its online service). A one sentence comment I posted later in the day identifying me as the commenter and inquiring about the status of Avvo’s pending motion to dismiss the case first went unanswered (fair enough I suppose), then went AWOL.
I definitely support Avvo’s innovative website (which, for the record, presently does not assign me a rating). But deleting a pertinent comment is lame.
12/3/07 UPDATE: An Avvo representative has responded to this post (comment #1) and offered an explanation. See my reply (comment #2). Case closed.
Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 11:44 am
Michael - thanks for the comment on the post. And to assure you that we are not lame, let me explain the delay in posting comments. Our blog is inundated with blogspam, so I manually review every comment before it is posted. We get about 50 SPAM comments daily and manual review is, unfortunately, the only way to avoid having our blog become a dumping ground for links to cialis, viagra, and innumerable adult sites. Your comment was never deleted, it just had to go through our review process. It is posted now and I sent an email to Mark this morning asking him to respond.
Check out the blogspam your own post generated for your own site here: http://onlineliabilityblog.com/2007/08/22/online-innovation-attracts-offline-litigation/ and you’ll understand why I have to manually review everything.
To further convince you that Avvo is dedicated to openness on the web - please check out comments I approved on our own blog from the lead plaintiff in the class action suit against us: http://avvoblog.com/2007/06/14/defending-avvo%e2%80%99s-right-to-provide-information-and-guidance-to-consumers/
One final note: I’d encourage you to claim your profile, merge your DC and Illinois information, update as much information as possible and see what your rating is.
Thanks for your interest and support.
-Conrad from Avvo
Monday, December 3, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Conrad,
While I’ve never seen a comment appear, disappear, then reappear again, it sounds like I may be the one that’s lame. Thank you for the explanation.
Best,
Michael
Monday, December 3, 2007 at 12:55 pm
I suspect what you initially saw was a preview when you submitted it, but it didn’t actually go live to the public until I greenlighted the comment. We use the same blog technology you do, and I’m pretty sure this is how it works for unmoderated comments.
Be well - and if you have any questions about Avvo - just let me know, we’d be happy to answer them.
-Conrad from Avvo