I think we all appreciate that being an Indymedia volunteer can be a busy job, what with all those posts and comments coming in. Things aren’t made easier with fascists (and others) trolling the site. But in recent weeks a number of obviously genuine antifascist posts have been ‘hidden’, though in at least a couple of cases the hidden articles are up as showing in the ‘View all posts’ section (always well worth a visit.) Removing misleading posts and threatening comments by fascist trolls is one thing (though this is often done inconsistently), but why remove antifascist articles, which are clearly genuine, and have sometimes been up for several days before being hidden from the newswire? The most recent examples are as follows:

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/02/334126.html

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/02/334290.html

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/02/334026.html

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/02/333921.html

If the fascists learn, as they are doing, that to get an antifascist article removed, they simply have to troll it (in one case pornographic photos were posted by a known fascist), then Indymedia is going to get trolled even more than ever, and antifascists will give up writing for Indymedia. What is needed is intelligent moderation, preferably done by people directly involved in the antifascist struggle who can spot a real post from a bogus one.