Stories

Chinese Microblogs Suspend Commenting to Prevent Rumors

by on Saturday, March 31, 2012 100 comments comments

Sina Weibo homepage

On the 31st March 2012, Chinese netizens woke up to find the commenting function suspended without warning on both popular Chinese microblogging services Tencent Weibo and Sina Weibo.

From Wanjia News:

Clearing Up Rumours: Sina and Tencent Weibo Close Commenting Function

Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo today (31st) announced that they would be closing their comment functions from this morning until 8am 3rd March. At the same time, the National Internet Information Management Department closed 16 websites that create and spread rumours, whilst also singling out the microblogging websites of Sina and Tencent for being centres of rumour spreading.

The message shown to Weibo users after Weibo suspends commenting.

The announcement from Sina Weibo:

Weibo users: 

Recently there has been an increase in the amount of rumours and other illegal and harmful information appearing in microblog comments. In order to carry out a concentrated clean up of these comments, from 8am 31st March until 8am 3rd April we will be temporarily suspending the comment function on microblogs. Following this tidying up, we will restore the comment function. Carrying out this necessary clearing of information is in order to ensure a more beneficial interactive environment for everyone. We hope to have your understanding. Thank you to everyone for your support.

Sina Weibo
31st March 2012

The almost identical announcement from Tencent Weibo:

Dear users:

Recently rumours and other illegal and harmful information spread on microblogs have had an adverse impact on society, with harmful information spread through comments being relatively numerous. As such there is a need for a concentrated clean up. For this reason, we have made the decision to temporarily suspend the commenting function on our microblogging site from 8am 31st March until 8am 3rd April. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Tencent
31st March 2012

Famous netizens’ reactions on Sina Weibo:

张欣 (Zhang Xin, CEO of SOHO China):

A Weibo without a ‘comment’ function is going to end ‘rumours’? What’s the best way to end ‘rumours’? By being public and transparent. The more you stop people speaking, the more ‘rumours’ there’ll be.

李开复 (Li Kai-fu, founding president of Google China):

Sina and Tencent have closed their commenting functions until 3rd April. Make the most of this opportunity! All those things you wanted to post but were afraid of being criticised harshly for, you can now post!

Regular netizens’ reactions on Sina Weibo:

Foss_Cai:

Really don’t know what kind of tempest would be kicked up if the comment function were closed on Twitter. Haha! Our Party’s the boss!

Qxily:

Does everyone know that from the 31st March until the 3rd April, the commenting function on Weibo has been suspended? … Don’t tell me it’s because of Shu Qi. If it is, I hope things get better.

潶曼巴徔吻:

Sina Weibo, China’s greatest information (rumour) source is closing its commenting function for the next four days. This definitely isn’t a unilateral initiative of Sina’s. Don’t tell me something big is going to happen? Even bigger than what happened in Chongqing?!

mora橙:

Weibo’s temporarily suspending the commenting function, I think it’s probably because of the rumours about Beijing which spread like wildfire on Weibo. Sina and Tencent have both been fined … Poor fucking netizens.

泡泡i布丁:

Is stopping comments an April Fool’s joke?

Lunes7:

How are wumao going to make money if they can’t leave comments for the next few days? Why didn’t anyone consider their feelings?! Wumao have been ‘innocently’ punished by association.

  • Kim Jung ILL

    Thank god I am not living in China

    • Hongjian

      God is dead.

      Please join him.

      • McMando

        You first.

        • redgirl

          Why did the chicken cross the road?

          • http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

            Didn’t the egg go first?

          • mr. weiner

            I thought it was to avoid the chicken molester.

      • coala banana

        Hongjian, the only true chinese nationalist on this planet !

        Wie geht es dir ? Ich hoffe gut ? Habe dich vermisst baby !

        • Hongjian

          Babby hat dich nicht vermisst.

          Und, wie viele minderjährige Angestellte Deiner Firma/Fabrik/Ausbeuterunternehmen hast du schon vergewal- ‘tschuldigung – “in Dein Büro einbestellt”?

          Ich empfehle Dir mal ein paar kleine, feine, feminin aussehende südchinesische Knaben zu besorgen, da ich hörte, dass ihr Rektum besonders eng sein soll. Das wäre doch mal was, oder?

          • coala banana

            love when you talk dirty, unfortunately you seem to be obsessed with anal rape and sodomy. Just to your information, an asshole can be fucked without raping it !

            Ich beschaeftige keine minderjaehrigen, soweit ich informiert bin machen das nur chinesische arbeitgeber und firmen….vergewaltigt habe ich auch noch keine(n), es ist eher anders herum da ich staendig muschi angeboten bekomme und je nachdem mehr oder weniger empfaenglich dafuer bin…..

            knabensex ? ich dachte immer das thailand die hochburg dafuer ist ? wie auch immer, es ist nicht mein gusto….ich stehe eher auf eine schoene, warm feuchte frauenmuschi, fuehlt sich denke ich mal besser an….

            wie auch immer, hab dich vermisst du schnuckelchen !

      • whichone

        cliches about God are evidently alive and kicking

    • http://www.kingbaeksu.com King Baeksu

      In fact, you are no longer living at all.

  • staylost

    It isn’t blocked, they still allow commenting on Sina and Weibo! This report is just a baseless rumor.

    Maybe I will have to unilaterally turn off commenting on ChinaSMACK.

    • https://acrossthetasman.com 山炮 ShanPao

      your wrong. this story is not about it being blocked… its about the ability to comment on tweets being suspended not the actual ability to tweet.

      This is a response to the Beijing Coup rumour.

      • Alec O

        staylost was joking, joking that this news article was a ‘rumour’ and as such commenting should be disabled on chinaSMACK. Got me too ;)

        • staylost

          Does that mean commenting under my comment’s should be blocked too?

          • staylost

            (I have not idea why I added an apostrophe to ‘comment’s’ above. I guess I’m just a grammar rebel.)

  • Jeffli

    SOFA

    DIVAN

    Chaise lounge

    + a Lazyboy!

  • Nyancat

    replace the word “rumor” with “truth” and the article is fixed

    • MassiveBender

      Oh yeah, the truth about that coup that was widely reported in Western media. Maybe I’ve been brainwashed but I didn’t see any tanks rolling down the streets of Xi’an, but I suppose those rogue Chinese soldiers and tanks must have been wearing those newfangled cloaking devices: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/312/5781/1780.abstract

      • http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

        Ummmmm…. The fact that so many people have the same ideas and there was such a drastic measure by those in power is a pretty good indicator that something really is rotten in the state of Denmark.

        Bo Xilai was ousted from his sweet seat and denied what many thought was going to be a place in the inner circle.

        Wang Lijun (Bo’s right hand man from way back when) is unceremoniously deposed of his position as deputy mayor (something like that) and flees to the American consulate in what most regard as a plea for asylum.

        XingJing is supposed to be taking the reins sometime later this year and there’s a number of people who don’t like him, even if he’s Jian Zhemin’s little puppet, especially since old Jiang is headed out of this world very soon it seems.

        It’s either that or the case of the mysterious Ferrari 458 convertible crash in Beijing. Young princeling going WAAAAAAY over the speed limit with 2 girls in the passenger seat, get himself killed and the 2 girls in critical condition. The search term Ferrari is being filtered in china as well.

        Whatever the case may be, someone struck a nerve with the higher ups and they thought that it might be the straw that broke the camel’s back, now they’re blocking everybody…

        • https://acrossthetasman.com 山炮 ShanPao

          Elijah… you obviously missed the story this whole incident was sparked from…

          http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/21/inside-the-ring-436080940/

          this WAS senseless rumour-mongering as the massivebender suggested

          • http://www.wtchina.freeforums.org Elijah

            Nope, didn’t see it, I don’t really read American news.

            Stick to local sources.

            Might not have been tanks on the streets, but possible coup? Yeah.

            Cheers for the link anyways, always good to catch things from a new perspective.

          • https://acrossthetasman.com 山炮 ShanPao

            I just searched for it and thats the first thing I saw… however its not where I first saw it, this was not an American news story it was massively circulated on Sina Weibo and thats how I know about it and thats why these actions have been taken. Thats all there is to say about it really. Those involved have now been arrested and I find it highly unlikely to have any truth since the alleged perpetrators of the coup have been seen out in public and official duty on many occasions.

        • 骂人的是孙子

          。。。竖子不足与谋

        • coala banana

          “It’s either that or the case of the mysterious Ferrari 458 convertible crash in Beijing. Young princeling going WAAAAAAY over the speed limit with 2 girls in the passenger seat, get himself killed and the 2 girls in critical condition.”

          There is nothing wrong living over your own limits and capabilities or die trying. The car was ready for him, but he wasn’t ready for such a car. Btw the same goes for the girls ! Some people along the way of making their own life experiences end up dead, injured, with a bleeding nose, a hurt ass, or with an fantastic orgasm……that’s all natural. I would be more worried when they would all be death, cause they ass raped each other and cause of that bleed to death in such a nice car.

          The dead boy is no big loss, just another spoiled rich living over his mental capacities small dick Chinese male who wanted to impress girls with his car and not his dick. Dick fear and inferior complex can’t be compensated with a Ferrari. I drive Porsche, but I first had my 8 inch cock, before I was able to afford such a car….

          • Boris

            Are you implying that you had to work your way up to an eight inch cock, and once you got there it gave you the ability to acquire a Ferrari?

          • coala banana

            no, what i am implying is that, when you have an 8 inch cock then you don’t necessarily need a fancy car to either impress a nice chick or get her into the bed….means you made your experiences first building up self confidence, when in addition you are able to buy a nice car, then the car and everything else is nothing else then an additional bonus, which seperates you from the other males with 8 inch + cocks. That’s what i am saying…..

            I drove Ferrari too, switched to Porsche cause i can drive a porsche everyday in the city without being afraid that the motor will get too hot….but i cant really say that i had more pussy with the car then without it….if someone is a self confident alpha male, proud of his dick and his capabilities, respecting women in the way to get sure they have their orgasm first, then you can pick up the girl with a fucking bicycle, it wouldn’t matter (at least for some time)…..i see life as a climb the steps upwards, BUT do it step by step. One can of course jump and bypass some or most of the steps, but fact is that the steps you bypassed will never forgive you what you did…..one day will be payback time and you can find yourself falling down all the way to the first one, realizing that you have to start all over again (in case you were lucky enough to survive the downfall)….

            I would always prefer to buy my cars, watches and house, based on own accomplishments. I just don’t believe that its the same feeling when the car was bought by the rich daddy. It doesn’t help to built up self confidence and overcome of inferior complexes….it remains an illusion. He paid a high price for being illusional…..it was his own will to power which resulted in this tragic event…..

      • Nyancat

        ummm look i was referring to this article, and as far as i can understand it concerns a cleanup of rumors on chinese microblogs. As we all know the chinese media is never very forthcoming with all the details surrounding events that make the government look bad. Stop trying to make everything a east vs west pissing contest. I usually read news articles from western media outlets with a grain of salt because as of late the reporting and investigative journalism has gotten sloppy and it’s all about rating, but at least they don’t censor the opinions of the public.

  • notorious

    funny how they responded to the closing of sina and tencent because of rumors, with more rumors.

  • notorious

    fauna must be some type of ninja with super powers. i don’t know, how the hell does she manage to keep her blog going when others get shut down? lol

    • Andy

      She must be the daughter of a government official. ;)

    • http://www.webproxychina.com/ Rod

      I’m wondering this too. I mean, all the keywords are here – maybe it has to do with traffic to the site? Like blocking only occurs after the site reaches a certain number of visitors per month?

      • PeterScriabin

        Could it possibly have anything to do with:
        . the vast, vast majority of Chinese don’t read English, and certainly not on this site if they do
        . the Chinese authorities don’t give a monkey’s toss what foreigners, mostly outside China at that, have to say on the subject?

  • Orthodox

    I blame Shu Qi.

    • Winterb4Spring

      o.O tsk tsk tsk –> Shu Qi

    • cc

      I want to lick Shu Qi’s pussy

  • Slughead

    When I logged in my Sina Weibo today and found that I couldn’t comment anymore, there was only one word in my head: FUCK. What’s a microblog without its commenting function? It’s a dude wthout his dick, it’s majiang without a dice, it’s Sheldon Lee Cooper without all his blah-blah-blah. But it ain’t gonna stop the rumors from spreading, it only turns rumors into more rumors.

  • Pingback: » Sina Weibo, China’s Largest Microblogging Service, Punished For Lazy Censorship Beijing Cream

  • Brett Hunan

    I guess no new chinaSMACK posts until Tuesday?

    To anyone in Beijing now:: Did anything happen over the past few days?

  • skeeball

    Thanks Alec. I actually noticed this on my weibo account before most of my chinese friends and was a little puzzled by the lack of reaction I was hearing from it. Most of my friends were pretty passive, unsurprised and uncaring. Numb I guess.

    I’ve been looking for local opinion since it started.

    Will take a gander here.

    • Alec O

      Not a problem. Nice to be appreciated, and by name too! A lot of my friends are carrying on business as usual too.

      • donscarletti

        Your gravitar makes me wish I could hand out wedgies over the internet.

        • Alec O

          ?????

  • Hacienda

    this is the harsh reality that people in china cannot accept.
    there is NO FREEDOM.

    • coala banana

      there is a lot of freedom in china when you have money. In fact, from my own personal experience i enjoy as an individual more freedoms in china then in some western countries. I dont give a shit about internet censoring and self protection from the CCPs side, when on the other end I can do and even say pretty much whatever i want.

      What makes china miserable are not the CCP and some democracy suppressions, its the people which are the problem. Pissed cause of their own incompetence, selfishness and ignorance, pissing, spitting and nose drilling their way through the day. To keep the tight and under control is just common sense. After 7 years in this country living with this people, i know that i defintely wouldn’t want to be here when they would be given democracy and all the freedoms foreigners would like to give them. I expect major social unrests, civil war like, with millions of deaths, when chinese people are given their “freedoms”. Democracy is just for people which can handle it, which are civilized enough to appreciate and who understand taking and giving, obligations and responsibilities. Fact is that NONE of that is enforced in chinese people and society. That money is number 1 in this country is not the problem, its about how goals are achieved, and looking at china, they are achieved in the most ruthless, selfish and ignorant way ever witnessed by mankind….now just a few millions are let loose, give the same rights to the other 1.45 billion and you better look for the next shelter…..

      • grovesman

        Agree 100%. Chaos at never-before-seen levels would result…Even Jackie Chan said the mainlanders could not handle the freedoms western people enjoy.

      • Andao

        I look at it the opposite way: you only get responsible when you have to take responsibility. The “Chinese people aren’t ready for democracy” BS is getting old. OK, when will they be ready? Give some indicators. When people stop throwing garbage all over the place? Might be a hundred years on that.

        I think the US was still pretty miserable/rural/uncivilized when they let people vote.

        • Loubo

          I agree with you. And what freedoms are they talking about? it’s already chaos in China..if you have ever been on the road or the street. The US, by the way, is pretty moronic and by all accounts should not be permitted to vote but I still believe they should have the right.

          Really most of these lines of thought, and they come not just from outsiders but from Chinese as well, are ridiculous lies. Democracy is messy…EVERYWHERE and imperfect as well. But I have a theory that as time goes on China will have to adopt a more democratic system, at least with the trappings of democracy because of two major reasons.

          1) the internet.
          2) Identity; without democracy or some other new way of framing national identity..the current framework will not hold up to time

        • coala banana

          strange logic my friend:-)

          lets see, you said: “you only get responsible when you have to take responsibility”

          says who ? i would call THAT BS ! you ask why ?

          lets nail it down, without asking you if you have any china experience, and if you have china experience, then i would like to know what makes you think they are ready for democracy ?

          however, lets throw in a few points….trustworthiness, accountability, understand and accept consequences, answering for own actions, duties and rights, keeping promisses…..just to name a few…

          I would claim that the waste majority of chinese people dont have such attributes and virtues. You can call that garbage if you wish, but thats my opinion based on years of experience. If your experience is a different one, the all power to you my friend.

          According to your logic, you can just give and assign someone responsibility and he would act accordingly ??? Well, i call that BS, cause in many cases it doesn’t even work in the western world where most carry such attributes, so what makes you think it would work in a country like china ?

          Look at it from this way, if someone acts irresponsible, how he can take over responsibility for others. Irresponsible and careless behavior can be witnessed in china all the time, and i am not just talking about their gov. , its the people i am talking about. You think they are ready ? Ready my ass….the day they get all their freedoms, I am running for my life and will get my ass out of here ASAP.

          You call “Chinese people aren’t ready for democracy”..BS which is getting old ?

          Again all power to you, but i think that some things will never get old…..

          When they will be ready ? To be honest, I dont give a fuck….but my rough guess would be 5000 years or never. Their “culture” is 5000 years old, thats why…..to improve things, one must first accept that mistakes and failures have been made. I can just judge the last 7 years, and i can’t recall one moment where i saw a chinese regretting his mistakes or dumb ass behavior and actions.

          • notorious

            Coala, all of these negative qualities you attribute to Chinese people… If Chinese people would not be able to handle democracy, why is it that we don’t see any of thse qualities when they live in America? All of the things you have described I have not seen even once. I have never met a chinese person who acted dishonest, spat everywhere, picked their noses, threw trash on the ground. In the U.S they are mostly law abiding and quiet. Living in impoverished situations brings out the worst in people. If Chinese people had more control over their ability to acquire wealth they would be not be as you describe them in China

          • Andao

            5000 years of culture but it’s the same 50 years 100 times…

          • john digmeme

            Those same ‘saving face’ Chinese do perfectly well in Taiwan.

      • oOWOo

        Probably I tend to agree that it is hard to imagine that over a billion mainlanders would suddenly be voting and that all this would be done in a nice and civilized way and yes, it is quite likely that the result would be that some small regions break apart from the kingdom and might even be thrown into civil war.

        But then, you only look at China right now, at this tiny time period starting with Deng untill now, where the politics have kind of benefitet the masses (ignoring Tiananmen and human rights and other small details). Before that, there was a the cultural revolution and civil war with millions dead…

        Imagine that during the current power struggle in the CCP or during one of the next ones to come up in the next decades, guys like Bo Xilai would win and China would time travel back into the years of Mao. Latest when China’s economy finally is having its first major crash. the risk herefor is extreme.

        China basically is coming to a point, where its political system is a bigger threat to the country than the threats from which the system is protecting the people from. There is no other choice for China than to opening up politically, if they want to keep on being in the top league of economical power houses, else they risk everything they have accomplished in the last decades.

        • MeiDaxia

          改革开放 only benefited the masses? What about pre-’49 China? Mao did a lot of questionable things, same with Comrade Stalin, but they also somewhat succeeded in bringing their countries up by their bootstraps from pre-Industrial Revolution conditions to at least semblances of modernity. Yes, there are still archaic farm villages in China, but there are fewer now than before. In the US and the majority of Europe, we not only created this new industrialized era, but continue to ride it. To try and compete, Mao and Stalin both had to strap rockets to their sneakers to catch up. They accomplished pretty amazing feats, if you look back on them, disregarding the death tolls.

          One thing most every cab driver tells me through my near-daily conversations with them, though, is Chinese do not fear death. They will march over a cliff a la Alexander the Great’s army, because they don’t have the same concept of identity as we do in the West. Because of their oft-repeated 5000 year history, a history complete with totalitarian government rule, the Chinese have forged a communal culture where they depend on each other for everything. Exceptions to the rule will always exist, but those exceptions are exceptions for a reason: the rule exists.

          China already makes a mockery of democracy with the people’s congress, and I think only a very base form of democracy would ever take root here. Not because of ignorance, incompetence, or any other negative reasoning, but simply because there will be vast majorities of people voting how their circle votes, disregarding personal choice. I see it happen in my classrooms all the time. I take a vote in class, and 1-2 students make the decision for a mostly lethargic class. On the rare chance the majority of the class will vote, the students are prone to siding with the majority of hand raisers, as opposed to striking out on their own.

          This “time since Deng” stuff sounds great, in modern Chinese contextual arguments, but if you want to dig a little deeper and see the times when China thrived GLOBALLY, they were under authoritarian Empire rule replete with corruption. The Tang Dynasty, considered thereafter to be the greatest of all the Chinese dynasties, was as strictly coded as any previous or subsequent dynasty. China can thrive as an authoritarian nation in our modern world. Democracy =/= modernity.

  • Jim M.

    There is definitely something serious going down in China’s leadership. They wouldn’t have shut of Weibo comments for any other reason.

    I have actually heard that Jiang Zemin has been incapacitated, leaving a power vacuum at the top of the CPC leadership. This has led to open warfare inside the party, as everyone jockeys for control.

    Given they have shut down Weibo commenting, this pretty much confirms it. All hell has broken loose inside the CPC.

  • skeeball

    “A Weibo without a ‘comment’ function is going to end ‘rumours’? What’s the best way to end ‘rumours’? By being public and transparent. The more you stop people speaking, the more ‘rumours’ there’ll be.”

    Dead on. I think I’m a Zhang Xin fan now.

    I had also wondered if it was a April Fool’s Joke. But the kind of joke doesn’t seem to last one day.

    • skeeball

      I mean really…

      nciku? come on… a chinese online dictionary?

      http://www.nciku.com/ maintenance, my ass, you don’t go down for maintenance for 4 days.

      • Alec O

        Woah! I didn’t even notice. That’s weird. Coincidence?

      • Alec O

        Just checked their Weibo (http://www.weibo.com/u/1644480460), and they actually announced on the 20th March that they’d be closing between 30th March and 6th April. So purely coincidental, unless they got super advance notice of closure, which I doubt ;) hehe.

        • skeeball

          Ah, ok, thanks for the follow up!

      • terroir

        The site hasn’t been upgraded in years except for adding more and more ads (five per page at least), so let’s hope that this finally it.

        The “cool N-word” has been advertising this “maintenance” for awhile so, so it isn’t a shutdown thingy. Nothing exciting happens on nciku except when the angry wife of some old laowai caught him flirting online and scandalized the place.

        If you want your does of nciku meme, google this phrase:
        “Towel nicer, macho bee”.

        • skeeball

          yeah i’ve stopped using it lately anyways… get better results and performance from Pleco or Hanping Pro on my phone anyways.

  • lonetrey

    Oh my, this could be interesting. I really hope things start getting heated, and maybe something will spark.

    • pada

      If something would spark, your arss would be the first to feel heated. Do you know natioanlism and populism often go hand in hand? Guess you were not living in China, as only pig will like to ruin its sty.

      • lonetrey

        Hahaha, u mad bro?

        You don’t even know me, and yet you assume so much. Good thing I don’t listen to stupid fools like you

  • MrT

    Last year in the UK a lot of people went to prison for posting rumors on Twatter during the riots.
    So I don’t see the big deal here.

    • Stu

      Wasn’t for posting rumours, was for inciting riots. And it wasn’t shut down.

  • coala banana

    the banana man is back !

    • coala banana

      btw, i am glad this blogs are down, or at least the msg functions. As a factory owner, I let our IT department clean out all this nonsense from employees PCs once a week, but somehow they always find a way to install it back….seems the chinese gov are the ones to consult the next time, they are much better at it then my lousy IT guys….

      however, whats the big deal….its china….lets see….last year november a brit called Heywood (who had very closed ties to Bo and his family) was found dead. They told everyone he drunk his self to death, when in fact he was poisoned. The police chief found out who was involved (Bo’s wife), he feared for his life and run to the a american embassy, left soon after and was never seen again. To run to a foreign embassy thinking they will help him, was very naive in my opinion. They will probably use the evidence he gave them to play their own game…justice is definitely NOT on top of a diplomates priority list….as a police chief he should have known better….the Brits, same like the americans would also just use the truth from Heywood case, to play their diplomacy cards….who gives a fuck about a consultant with close ties to top chinese officials on one side and intelligence services on the other….its business as usual in china AND the rest of the world….to close the senseless blogs was the right action, fuck em…they would just disturb the peace on one side and in my case prevent my office staff to concentrate on their real jobs they are paid for….the good thing is, that i can use my IT guys for more important things then to let them delete micro blog functionality on a hundred PCs…..

      CB

      • Loubo

        your an asshole

        • coala banana

          The Boss is alltags the asshole btw, and I got no problem with this point of view as long as I earn the money I earn right now.

          But of course, I could just be tolerant and let 100 office staff play QQ and blogging during office hours ?! I am sure I would be considered a very cool boss , at least until the company would get bankrupt and all this 100 people would loose their jobs, but hey at least they could again have a reason to blame me for being an asshole cause of my weak leadership qualities which resulted in them loosing their jobs. Makes perfect sense my friend.

          hmmmm,let’s see….. be cool or be an asshole seems to be the question here….BUT I wouldn’t be the banana man if I couldn’t manage to be both at the same time: a cool asshole !

          Cool with the ones which deserves it and know how to appreciate it, and an asshole for the rest (which includes self righteous people like you)…..I am cool with that !

          • Loubo

            Your not an asshole because you enforce rules at work. You are an asshole because you gleefully support shutting down a tool for people to express themselves because A) it makes your job easier and B) you think of the Chinese as lesser people who need to be controlled

            BTW I’m not calling you a racist because you probably have similar attitudes towards other “proles”

            Yes behavior in China can be “uncouth” to put it lightly but that really has little to do with transparent government and accountability and a culture of responsibility which is what needs to be developed and can only happen with greater freedom.

          • coala banana

            are you one of the ones, who is still trying to export democracy to certain countries, expecting appreciation for doing so ? and then you are surprised when it doesn’t work out ?

            for me all humans are the same, except that some must be controlled better and with stronger/different rules then others. All people will get the leaders they deserve….again:

            selfish ignorant citizens = selfish ignorant leaders

            i don’t think of chinese as lesser people. I think of most chinese as people which would act and react out of control if not ruled by the CCP. Its not just the experience i made so far in china. Its also based on the epxeriences i made in my own country where we had a communism rule, and where everything ended up in a mess.

            Fact is (for me), that some people/nations just don’ t know how and maybe even don’t like to appreciate freedoms which are given to them. I could name countless examples of countries where it will never work….my own country being one of them…

            You guys think that sitting down with people, explaining them the benefits and teaching them a couple of things, will actually change something ? Fuck that, i will tell you what is going on in their mind when they are confronted with a rational, peaceful person….they would consider him/her WEAK ! Even they might not punch you in the face immediately, they will probably agree with what you said, but right after when you are gone they will laugh about you, about your weakness and try to figure out a way how to use your own “weakness” against you…..

            The ONLY language most of this people understand, is a strong fist, and unfortunately this is the ONLY language they understand and they are ready to obey by its rules (at least to a certain degree), like in china. Even i would argue that things are on the edge even in china, and it doesn’t take much to have a lynch happy mob walking the streets….

            so you think that the chinese citizen would appreciate a transparent gov. ???? what the f&*% ? even in western countries we dont have true transparency ? Most things are hidden from us, cause our leaders know that even WE are not ready to handle the truth…what makes you think a chinese could handle such a “burden” ?

            Culture of responsibility my ass…..after 5000 years of cultural cheating, lying and irresponsibility from leaders and the common people, you think a few decades of slowly implemented steps towards democracy would make a difference in the commons men understanding of freedom ???

            Good luck !

          • Loubo

            Nice reply, No I don’t believe in exporting democracy per se and my point about transparent government applies to the West as well. I hear everything you are saying, and in fact as per the “exporting democracy” thing I’ve made similar arguments.

            The experience of post communist regimes is mostly negative when it comes to democracy save for a few, much of that has to do with the pace of change and also some of the cultural factors you mention. I also don’t believe that the “western” model of democracy is the best or should necessarily be duplicated. Nor would I consider the US or Britain to be shining examples of what democracy should be like, these nations are both governed by powerful interests who know what is good for us…or so they say.

            I’m not sitting here advocating for western style liberal democracy tomorrow, and in fact this discussion was started over comments about shutting down one of the few speech outlets available, not what I believe should be.

            That being said; people wanna be free, they wanna love, and they wanna be safe. There’s always a danger of fascism or anarchy taking hold which is why those who want a better world have their work cut out for them.

            And lastly, the internet must never be ceded as a free space for human interaction….first China..now they come for the W(r)est

          • coala banana

            “That being said; people wanna be free, they wanna love, and they wanna be safe. There’s always a danger of fascism or anarchy taking hold which is why those who want a better world have their work cut out for them. ”

            are you sure about that ? I would rather say, most people just think they want to be free, they WANT to be loved, safety i would agree on, but not with freedom and love….

            freedom now a days is very much dependable on money, which means that now a days you need financial possibilities to enjoy and live those/certain freedoms, either in a democracy or in a totalitarian system where in addition you need “contacts” so they let you alive…

            I am sure that myself and many other people i know in china, enjoy more freedoms here then we would in most of the western countries, even we would all agree on that western countries citizens have more rights and freedoms, then most chinese citizens in china. But lets have a closer look at our so called “western freedoms”. In my opinion they are just illusions, you are given certain illusional rights and privilegues and the famous illusion of choice. You might “feel” that you can chose something, but what its worth when you can chose between “a” or “b”, when in fact both a and b, stand for the same BS.

            As for the people and their need/will/dream of more freedom….i know countless examples of people which after they have received their freedoms, after a few years would like the “good, old times” back…..

            take some southern states in the US by example, many people live in shit houses under shit conditions, poor ass folks with no tooth in the mouth, and when you talk with them, any discussion would very fast turn into subjects like: niggers, jews, jesus christ and the muslim president they have :-)

            I am a bit touchy about the subjects of rights, and as fascist as it might sound to some, I dont think that all people should have the same rights, and that includes rights to vote (which is anyway a senseless activity from my point of view, i never voted ad never will). From my understanding, rights and provilegues are something which must be earned and achieved by certain actions and contributions to society and human development.

            That might be the reason that we dont have true democracies, cause most of us couldn’t handle the truth, while i would argue that most of us wouldn’t even want to know the truth ! Not all words are for everyones ear i guess, and some truths shouldn’t be spoken at all or just in whispers. We as a human species are barely out of the jungle, still more monkey then any of the monkeys….in western countries we live the hipocracy of the democracy. There is no such things as given rights, same like not all couples which make children should have the right to call themselves parents…..everything should be earned and achieved before rights are given…..

            while americans want gov “off their backs”, we euro people pretty much enjoy when the gov takes care of some “business”, like universal health care. Its not a choice, cause you MUST have insurance, but i dont know one european who wants to be without it….americans on the other side :-( would call that socialism/communism…

            there are a lot of examples which would proof that many/most people would like pretty much to have less choices. In chinas example, they would defintely chose wrong when given certain rights, but one thing for sure, they will allways blame somenone else for it….

            I have no problem with chinese blogging, demonstrating and situations to escalate, i just want to be sure not to be here when that happens. The CCP knows very well what could happen. The doctrine was always “keep quite and dont disturb the peace”…demonstration in china, would mean 2 dozen real demonstrators and thousands of lazy ass observers drilling their noses, shooting nose rockets, spitting bastards, just looking what everything is all about…..i wouldn’t want that this people make the decisions in this country, same like i wouldn’t want (if i would be an american) that some racist, christian fundamentalist toothless redneck bastard from mississippi makes choices where i have to suffer from later on. Sorry but we are NOT all equal. I respect humans, but that doesn’t mean all of them should be given the same kind rights and privilegues…fuck that. Same like i wouldn’t want to be lead by a president which thinks the earth is just 6000 years old, that we co existed with Dinosaurs, believes in the second coming of christ or magic underwear….sorry but we need people with common sense as leaders and not the ones which hear voices and think they are chosen by god….

            rights and freedoms given to the wrong people, have often resulted in a bloody mess. To give such people the power and the nuclear codes is completely irresponsible…

            chinese people at their current stage of civilization should not have more rights then they have right now…rednecks and christian, muslim or jewish fundamentalist, should be allowed to express them selves just in private…voting rights ? No, first show that you have some common sense, otherwise i consider you a threat to humankind and the further development of humans as a species….

          • Loubo

            Well honestly I think we are more in agreement than disagreement. I don’t think the West has real freedom and I couldn’t agree more that it is an illusion. My point is simply that this needs to be extended further and things like the Great FireWall and Weibo self censorship etc are petty and counter productive.

            I will acknowledge that I am idealistic probably even naive but I firmly stand on the side of freedom especially when it comes to the internet. Its where ideas are exchanged and do battle and it should be controlled by no one.

          • coala banana

            i also believe in freedom, but just when certain pre requirements are set. What we see now a days are just touch up jobs and delaying of problems and issues, guess thats called diplomacy:-)

            I applaud your hope and trust into humankind.

            Either way, we live in interesting times, probably the most important times ever ! We are in a so called transition period, where it will show if we can make it to another higher civilization level. On a scale from 1-3, we are still on 0. Scientist say that the transition from 0-1 is the most dangerous and risky, when we can make it past that, we have very good chances to reach 2 and even 3 without getting extinct…..

            I would like to believe that, BUT having a closed look at the toothless guy in mississippi living in a shithole with the bible in his hand calling obama a nigger and muslim, and the chinese guy i just saw today shooting nose rockets inside our elivator, makes it hard to imagine that we can really make it (at least not as a whole) !!!!

  • skeeball

    Yup, okay, I just got my account deleted from a chinese social media site because I merely asked the question of what was going on with weibo disabling comments right about while this was still first breaking and I was looking for answers..

    No notification, no warning, no just simply deleting or censoring the post. Just poof. Deleted the account.

    • Alec O

      Woah, that’s seems petty even by Chinese censorship standards! Damn, sucks to be you. Maybe you’ll get your account restored in time?

    • whichone

      First rule of internet with Chinese characteristics: shut the fuck up. Asking questions to which the all knowing CCP can not answer is against the rules.

    • coala banana

      look at it from this angle:

      1. you asked a question where the answer is obvious !

      2. what is easier for them ? answer your question or just delete your account ?

      3. disappointed cause no notification or warning was issued to you ?

      disappointment comes from wrong expectations. One can be happy even in china, right after he realizes this fact….fuck, you will be happier everywhere in the world, when you would stop expecting things in return…..

      put yourself into their position…i just did, and must tell you i would have done the same like they did….:-)

      • Tommy

        My coworkers thought comments were disabled for April Fools day. So, no, the answer isn’t that obvious.

      • skeeball

        I don’t understand your point other then trying to justify their bad practice by using a way to make it look like I’m stupid for bringing it up.

        1) When I posted the question, it wasn’t obvious to me at the time from the local media outlets I had access to. To me it was just weibo shut down comments and I didn’t know why. Please don’t state something is obvious when you don’t have details.

        2) Laziness and effortlessness is the issue here, so thanks for your support there.

        3) Deleting my account serves no purpose. Censoring or deleting my comment at least gives them the chance to tell me so I don’t do it again and avoid the possibility of the misunderstandings and matches the punishment to the offense so the offender knows.

        Deleting the account says that I am personally the problem not the question. So, if I really WAS a problem then there would be nothing stopping me from making new accounts to cause more problems over and over again causing them personally (as a site) more problems.

        • coala banana

          in no way i was trying to insult you or make you look stupid.

          I think the problem is that you see things from a logical standpoint, which is of course correct. But you can’t expect politeness, rationality and common sense from people which just don’t give a shit about you and your “problems”.

          China is more open the many think. I bet you could stand in a public square and accuse the CCP of all kind of things, and not much would happen. As long as you are not a public figure, they don’t give a shit…..when i compare that to the country where i came from, and we had just a very mild form of communism rule….try to question a dumb decission of the factory director and you would end up at least for 5 years in jail. Question the party to your own brother or cousin, and you will find yourself in jail…..question the leaders of any of the other commi countries and you and your family are condemned for the rest of your lives…..china gives its citizens many rights compared to that, they run a policy of deescalation, police dont show up and even if they just try to negotiate…..a few red packs here and there and everything is ok again….look how most of the chinese behave and how simple things escalate, fuck, in every western country they would be arrested for such things. In the US the police would use tazers on them. You just cant to such things in china so easy, cause this folks here have a very violent nature, and a punch from a police man could result in a social unrest of the whole city part…..in china you can get away with mostly everything, looking at it from this point, its more liberal here then in liberal western countries….

          leave chinese people which are pissed alone, wait until they released their pressure or fight the shit out of each other…..just show up when all is done…..

          • skeeball

            You make good points, but i think they go a little out of context to my situation.

            Anyways, i do agree that Chinese are more open than people realize and would argue that most in some causes Western society has more social barriers toward interactions with each other than Chinese do.

            As far as leaving people alone, yes, I don’t want to be a part of a social website who’s administration is to react in that way. Many people suggest that I could get my account back but I am not sure I want to be back. At least only stay long enough to retrieve some personal writing that I had on there.

      • Made In World

        (from previous post, couldn’t reply… maybe it’s the gov)

        selfish ignorant citizens = selfish ignorant leaders

        who made who?

  • rjay

    Seems Tune In Radio (tunein.com) has been blocked in China aswell…

    • skeeball

      Damn I just got that app.

  • Andy

    When I logged into Mobile QQ (Android) this morning, it tried to sneakily download a 6.4mb ‘upgrade’ (that wasn’t available on Android Marketplace !).

    I clicked CANCEL and everything worked fine still – sneaky fucks ! Tencent are just agents of the Government anyway.

  • bert

    This is China. Why even talk about it? Democracy without its roots is pretty useless anyway.

  • notorious

    shit. chinasmack was not loading. it kept “resetting”. I had to trick my browser just to access it. weird.

    • Brett Hunan

      April fools joke. Fauna got me too. See below.

  • http://www.webproxychina.com/ Rod

    So I asked some of the people at work today what they knew about it, and they knew nothing about it. Some though the sites were down for maintenance, and others, after I explained what was going on (and showed them ChinaSMACK), thought it was an April Fool’s rumour taken too far. Still others were bored with the news but though it was funny that Google has been blocked and when you search some silly pictures come up and fall into water.

    • skeeball

      This was actually what I also was trying to find out. I almost seemed like the only one to notice it between myself and many chinese friends and the rest didn’t really care either way.

  • Foreign Devil

    Children of China, please mind your own business. Big Brother’s gonna work it out. Go back to your 60 hour work week and your KTV and period costume TV dramas. Let Big Brother run this glorious nation and just be a good model citizen. When we say jump, you just ask “how high?”.

    Thank you.
    -Big Brother

  • Brett Hunan

    Why is April fools so popular in Asia? Honestly we all thought it was cool until high school, but that was the late 1990′s.

    The only people who try to get me now are Chinese friends…. and chinaSMACK.

  • Liesl

    “Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo today (31st) announced that they would be closing their comment functions from this morning until 8am 3rd March”…..hmmm invented a time travel machine??

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