One year ago today, I was unjustly censored in the LANDIS-II developers group.

The censorship was related to the mismanaged migration of the LANDIS-II source code from Google Code (Subversion) to GitHub. When I realized what had gone wrong, I posted twice to the developers group to explain the problems and how they needed to be fixed using GitHub’s Importer tool. My 2 messages were part of this topic that Brian M had started. Notice that 3 messages have been deleted.

Screenshot of Google Group topic with 3 messages deleted

This is what the complete topic originally looked like:

Date From Subject
7/14/2015, 3:12pm Brian Miranda [LANDIS-II Developers] GitHub - checking out (cloning) code
7/15/2015, 12:31am Alex Vyushkov Re: [LANDIS-II Developers] GitHub - checking out (cloning) code
7/15/2015, 7:34pm Jimm Domingo Re: [LANDIS-II Developers] GitHub - checking out (cloning) code
7/16/2015, 2:31pm Robert Scheller Re: [LANDIS-II Developers] GitHub - checking out (cloning) code
7/16/2015, 10:22pm Jimm Domingo Re: [LANDIS-II Developers] GitHub - checking out (cloning) code


Rob’s response to my second post arrived in my in-box a week later. Oddly, he had done so by starting a new topic. I wondered “Why didn’t he reply in the original topic?” Well, when I navigated to that first topic in my web browser, I was stunned to discover that he had deleted my two posts! He had also deleted his reply to my first post since his message quoted mine.

I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked and angered by this unwarranted censorship. He had egregiously altered the public record of our community discussion, erasing my part in it. My first instinct was to access the administrative section of the Google group and see if I could restore my deleted messages. (OK, truth be told, my first instinct (and actual response) was to swear like a sailor.) But I discovered his censorship extended further. Not only had he deleted my public posts, Rob had also revoked my administrative privileges without explanation or even notification!

I’ve had those privileges since the group’s creation many years ago. Rob and I had jointly managed that communication forum in a manner that was quite effective for both us and the community. No one ever complained to me about how I met that responsibility to facilitate community discussion. I had always acted in the community’s best interest. Stripping me off those privileges was totally unjustified.

I conferred with a few trusted colleagues over the weekend about this censorship. They helped me collect my thoughts and consider how to respond to these unfair actions. The following Monday, July 27, I submitted my response to the developers group. I initially emailed my message, but unexpectedly, it was bounced. So I submitted it via the group’s web interface.

In it, I refuted Rob’s technical arguments for how the Git migration was done. They did not justify how the Git repositories had been set up incorrectly. And, I pointed out that these problems could still be corrected. I also called him out on the censorship – how it was a sign of very alarming issues about communication. I ended my response wondering what would happen to it, in light of recent events.

After I submitted my message, I was immediately notified that it was waiting for approval:

notification that post is being reviewed

So not only had he deleted my public posts and revoked my administrative access, Rob was now moderating my posts!

Three hours later, he rejected it. Apparently the emperor wasn’t pleased with the commentary about his new wardrobe.