MumbleVille

Got an email from eHow recently explaining to me that they’re deleting content that… ummm…. I guess, doesn’t fit with their image of themselves.  Oh, sure, they coated it all in blather about how they were removing spam, plagiarized content, and “cloned” articles. You can see their blog entry here explaining that they’re just trying to maintain quality content (though I maintain that any person who’s ever closely inspected information about his or her own field will doubt the “quality” part of that content).

That’s neither here nor there – until they start censoring information they don’t like. Here’s an exchange in the above-mentioned blog’s comments:

“Unsuitable content: This is the SECOND time I’ve gotten this notice on this same, exact article. No one, including some of the top eHow authors, Rich, and apparently the editorial staff, was able to tell me what was wrong with it the first time, and so they said check spelling and republish. I did. Now today, it has been put into draft again for “unsuitable content”. I STILL have NO IDEA what could POSSIBLY be wrong with this article!!!!!!! Please READ it and enlighten me so that I can “correct” it once and for all.”

The answer comes later:

The problem AJ with the article is that while it is excellent it mentions and accepts TUBE feeding (as do most vets who will instruct). Ehow editors have consistently pulled articles about tube feeding puppies in the past due to the risks to puppies. They feel it is dangerous information.

Errrm… OK, the writing is atrocious (as is much of what’s on the site) but it appears to say that veterinarians – people who’ve spent years being educated for their specialty – say that the so-called TUBE feeding [sic] is an acceptable technique, but eHow’s soi-disant experts, the Editors, don’t think it is. Just how full of themselves are these people?

I should add that I posted twice to the comment section on that blog, and the moderators haven’t seen fit to allow either to be seen by the public. Clearly, eHow censors wherever it can.

The first post, placed 24 Feb, says:

Wow. What a load of horse-puckey. If you want to clean up eHow, why not start by getting rid of all the dead-weight rubbish vomited onto the site by people scurrying to become “experts.” As a professional in (none of your business), I cringe at the content I see regarding my own field. I can’t say that I trust anything I see on eHow without independent verification!

eHow, your site needs a good kick in the ass.