What's going on at Propeller.com? For the most part it works. However, recently I've noticed strange behavior in how articles are being displayed. Such as, some stories are getting "grounded" and closed from further voting ("props" or "drops") and comments, while other stories with similar (or worse) prop/drop counts remain open. Some say it's a programming bug. More like, humbug. Something smells peculiar. To illustrate what I'm referring to, let's take a look at several stories posted within the past three days (Dec 28-31). The two stories below were grounded, supposedly due to excessive drop votes. As such, the discussions were also closed and no further comments could be posted.
This first story had 10 props and 10 drops, and was subsequently grounded by Propeller:
And this story post was also grounded, with only 9 props and 8 drops:
Say what? The story had more props than drops yet it was grounded and closed? Sounds pretty stringent on Propeller's part. However, if this is how the site operates we can all play according to the rules of the game. As long as these rules are applied equally.
But are they being applied equally? Let's take a look at another story post:
Well now! What's this? Double the drops (26) as the number of props (13). Although the banner indicates the story to be controversial, amazingly it remained open for voting and comments.
Is this fair? Are all Propeller stories governed equally by the site rules? Not by the looks of it. How about another example, with a story post that had 5 props and 4 drops, similar to the second story shown above:
Where's the banner above this story indicating it was controversial? Don't bother guessing - it's a trick question. Actually, there was no banner displayed because Propeller also allowed this story to remain open.
What gives? Is it because of the subject matter of the stories? The two stories in the examples above that were grounded appear to be critical of the Republicans, or at least the right wing neocons. The stories that remained open for voting and comments both appear to be critical of the Democrats, or at least President Obama.
Maybe Propeller has a good (honest) explanation as to why the site rules are not being applied in a balanced manner. Otherwise, something smells on this social news site, and it has the rancid odor of far right wing politics being supported by site censorship of the left's story posts. If so, it doesn't bode well for the Propeller community's future.
To remain a legitimate site, Propeller must apply site participation rules fairly. Otherwise, reasonable members will look for their social news elsewhere, as many are now doing.
