I started blogging with Blogger and I must admit, it was great. It offered two wonderful benefits. It was free, and it was easy.

My current platform is Movable Type, not free, and alas, not nearly as easy to use as Blogger.

Movable Type though gives me something that Blogger never could. Peace of mind.

With Movable Type I do the hosting. I don't have to worry about what anyone else may think about what I write or what I post. With Blogger, someone else is ultimately in control of the blog.

I was lucky. I never had a bit of trouble with Blogger, but we all know that Blogger will not hesitate to hide a kinky blog behind a warning if a handful of folks click the little 'objectionable' button. I imagine that photographs are what motivate most of those clicks for kinky blogs. I must confess though, that I don't really have a problem with that. My own website has had an adult warning page since its inception, and I think it good practice to warn folks about what they are heading towards.

If though, still a few more people click that 'objectionable' button, Blogger will remove the blog completely. That is to me, bothersome. Blogger certainly has an absolute right to decide what it will host, but those decisions should be based upon specific and public criteria. Not on how many prudes click a button. Nevertheless, while bad, this is not scary.

What is scary though is what Blogger will do to non-kinky political sites in an apparent attempt to silence discussion.

Blogger had a problem with a blog titled "Just A Girl In Short Shorts Posting About Whatever." Just a Girl is Arizona attorney Becky Chandler, and Becky is a funny lesbian who effectively mocks President Obama and those like him. She does so with a racy, sexy, but not pornographic style. People on the left didn't like it, so they clicked that little 'objectionable' button.

This led Google to first remove their ads from her blog. She asked for and received a human review of her blog, and the ads went back up as it was decided that her blog was political, not sexual.

Nevertheless, members of the left who did not believe in free expression continued to click the 'objectionable' button.

Enough clicks, and the adult warning page went up.

Again, a human review was made, and the warning came down.

More 'objectionable' clicks.

The warning went back up, and did not come down.

Still more clicks and the blog was removed from Blogger by Blogger.

Blogger caved, removed political speech from their server because that political speech offended people who disagreed with it.

Blogger is certainly within its rights to remove anything from its servers, but it is troubling that they will remove political speech just because it offends some people. Certainly any political speech will offend some people and our nation was founded upon the principal of embracing speech no matter how offensive it is.

What it all comes down to though is that Becky was not allowed to "Post About Whatever" on Blogger's servers, and all blogs run the same risk if they are hosted by an outside company for free.

I do get to "Post About Whatever" because I am my own host. For a few bucks a month anyone can set up a blog of their own on a platform where they can "Post About Whatever." Having watched this drama unfold on Becky's blog, and indeed similar dramas on kinky blogs, it seems to me that while Blogger might be a great platform to cut one's teeth upon, it is incumbent upon the serious blog author to move away from such free services so that self censorship, or worse, outside censorship do not become an issue.

Becky's own story had a happy ending; she is now posting with the Ladies Liberty Alliance at:

Becky Chandler's Blog