hiding the blogs doesn't mean we completly hide them.

it means we don't promite new pblog content, we don't push it at members.

however members can easily reach anyone blogs, by either visiting the persons's profile or by clicking on the blogs link.

by not having to go through a tep where you search for a certain user we make it clear to all that blogs are a personal thing and the personal responsibility of the blog owner.

now I think the extra step also helps in the blogs goal. ultimatly a lug should not have off topic content at all, but a lug is also a social gathering, without alowing for social interactions and encounters you limit your lug severly, making special off topic areas that are pushed and promoted like the rest of the website simply raises the noise to signal ratio, by keeping off topic content to the blogs and by requiring a step of social recognition (you choose the blog by person) we encourage real social interaction (not just casual comments on off topic threads) and we encourage the building of mini communities within the lug (ie guitar players can find each other through their blogs, link to each other and enjoy long guitar specific discussions on their blogs).

but also there is the problem of admenestration overhead, even if we opt for restricted blogs we can't expect moderators to monitor all blogs for rule violation, so whatever the policy we'll agree on it will mostly be a matter of trust that senior members would abide by the rules. now in case someone breaks the rules and the blog entery gets mentioned on the front page, we will have another outroar, many clueless readers would not know the difference between a blog and the rest of the site anyway and the whole thing will explode again, to avoid this moderators are supposed to heavily police the blogs, this is too much work, and also ruins a great part of the fun (not to mention that the line gets very thin on off topic content).

in [What to do about blogs]] I suggest a system for hiding blogs while using a rating system to promote popular blog enteries to more visible areas, please check it and take the blog policy specific discussion there :-)

BTW Egyptian law is not very strict on profanity, the constitution after all protects free speech. to the extent that when they wanted to remove a certain famous obscene poem from the internet they had to use charges like inciting social disturbance.

hateful speech is illegal yes, at least against religions, not sure if Egyptian recognises ethnicity at all.

hate speech towards SCO certified admins and Capitalist tools in managerial positions is of course allowed, even encouraged.

cheers, Alaa

http://www.manalaa.net