Even before Chowhound became a part of the Chow network, users frequently had problems with deletions. Controversial posts and less than glowing reviews of certain restaurants were deleted without explanation and some users found that their posts were deleted with a high frequency, regardless of the topic. Since the message board is a public forum, it is perfectly appropriate for moderators to remove offensive content, but when non-offensive reviews of "off the table restaurants" and other posts relevant to the website were taken down without explanation, many users grew frustrated. The problems persist with the new Chowhound, leaving many former contributors to head to different, more open minded, websites.
It appears that Eater is one such site because they have just offered to post anything that has been inexplicably removed from the Chowhound site. They are able to do this because the "offending" posts are not removed from the Chowhound feed as quickly as they are from the site, so there is a window of time where it is possible to retrieve the posts. Of course, you will have to contact the staff to let them know if your post was stricken, but it will be interesting to see what types of pieces are selected for removal.
Second Helping of Slashfood - June 19
Competitive-Eating Contest to Pit Humans Against Elephants
The Backyard Boom - The Hungry Bride
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-21-2007 @ 5:10PM
Sara said...
The chowhound comment of mine that I was surprised got yanked was when everyone was talking about ways to suppress appetite - including drinking a glass of water with a tablespoon full of tabasco sauce - and I commented that I'd never thought I'd see the day when pro-ana and chowhound united.
I thought I was pretty clever, dammit.
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1-22-2007 @ 9:14AM
Frank said...
Can anybody suggest any forums similar to Chowhound? Especially if it's has localized forums.
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1-22-2007 @ 10:39AM
calamari said...
Frank, Yelp is a possibility for restaurant reviews and restaurant lists, but it's not so good for forum-style discussion unless you luck into one of the larger regions and/or a committed group of Yelpers.
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1-22-2007 @ 11:32AM
Jonny said...
I've kind of vowed after this past week to stop posting on chowhound. I've had 5 posts removed, 2 of which were extremely pertinent to the discussion. One was a topic on food snobbery-- there is a glaring impression over there that the chowhounds have better food sensibility than others and look with disdain on those who aren't expanding horizons in the same way that some of the chowhounders are.
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2-11-2007 @ 12:33AM
Roxanne said...
recently, i received an email from the one of the chowhound moderators. i was completely shocked that they thought my comments were not appropriate to the discussion. i am still quite offended.
i replied stating "Wow! I find this email completely uncalled for....I'm wondering what in the world did I post that you would send me this email. Based on fellow chowhounders topics and posts, I believe all of the topics and comments that I have posted were appropriate. I'm very offended! You can delete my membership!" they responded "as you have requested, we've deactived your account."
what jerks! here i was speaking highly about this website to all my friends and family and then they send me that email. to add to it, they didn't even bother to say sorry that you offended. they obviously do not care about their members!
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2-27-2007 @ 3:16PM
dolores said...
Interesting. I have 'googled' the topic and am finding more sites dealing with the arbitrary censorship of posts and the deletion of subscriptions to chowhound than I was in finding posts at chowhound.
No doubt because they were all deleted!
Amazing. I find it heinous that such arbitrary censorship is practiced in 21st century America.
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3-13-2007 @ 11:25AM
Bubble Boy said...
The CH site now features an audio interview with a moderator. The terms "nazi" and "tyrannical" are bandied about as if they are cute nicknames. The real issues of inconsistent and unexplained deletions are never addressed. It's a one-dimensional piece of propaganda that tries to obscure real problems with flip humor:
http://www.chow.com/stories/10474
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4-10-2007 @ 4:42PM
JoeSoCool said...
I too am sick of the food-snobbery on Chowhound, and have had perfectly non-combative suggestions removed from the posting area. Please let me know there is some grass roots alternative to this censorship oriented, I-know-more-about-food-than-you group.
Thanks,
Joe
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4-14-2007 @ 6:14PM
stephanie b. said...
I actually wrote a comment in yelp about the Whole Foods Market in Los Gatos, CA and it got deleted, the comment was about my terrible experience with expired products that they keep on having on their shelves, and this problem never got solved. I wrote yelp an email asking if Whole Foods was sponsoring them and that I'd write to Action Line, the comment came back the next week.... have any of you gotten your comments deleted on yelp as well? How can we trust them if our comments get deleted?
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4-18-2007 @ 6:21PM
gastro said...
chowhound blows! you cann't voice your opinion at all !
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