If there had been a real concern that the SMC logo implied “other advertisers” could “buy” space on MyRagan, all that was necessary was a simple request for Chris to change the group’s profile photo. Knowing Chris, he would probably have complied. Instead, the group was shut down and Chris was replaced as moderator.

That does not speak well at all to Mark Ragan’s commitment to the free flow of discussion or the principles of social media. Turns out that “My”Ragan isn’t “mine” at all. I’m not at all motivated to participate if popular groups, which have not violated the terms of service, can be arbitrarily deleted.

Again – we haven’t heard from Mark on this yet, but Chris’ comment certainly seems to indicate that Ragan acted in bad faith.

As Bryan says, there’s always at least two sides to the story, but Chris Heuer’s one of the good guys and I’ve no reason to doubt his version of events. The cited rationale, that use of the SMC logo was somehow giving the impression that the space was being paid for, makes no sense at all. Even if there really was some kind of ToS violation caused by the use of the logo, surely you’d just remove the logo, leaving the group intact – not delete the entire group and introduce a new one with a new moderator?

It’s just… odd. Can’t wait to read what Mark has to say.

I’m with you on this one. If Mark shut down/renamed the group and kicked out the moderator just because the group was becoming too big in number for Mark’s comfort, then I don’t think MyRagan is a site I’m likely to spend more time on.

But there are always at least two sides to every story. Let’s hear Mark’s.