我们姑且称它为小T吧，一个想成为明星的帖子。从出生时，它就在寻找自己的成名之路。
这一条路并不好走。在想对网络编辑进行“潜规则”之前，小T必须先穿越一片雷区，接受网络“过滤”系统的淘汰。
看得到的明雷，比如与政治或色情有关的禁忌词汇，对小T来说，这点比较好办。有些哗众取宠而手段又不怎么高明，或者试图以破坏和谐为目的的坏小T们，它们在第一关就会被“卡死”。接下来，第二关是不好对付的暗雷，极不容易被察觉，有时踩到了只能落得被“冤死”的下场。比如河北一位网友，整理一个有关歌星刘若英的帖子，但发现她的歌曲怎么都发不上去。经过逐一细查，才发现原来有首歌的名字叫《静静坐着》，里面含有“静坐”二字；广东一位热衷军事的网友，发帖称“可在20米内射穿板甲”，结果被删。后来经高人指点才明白，此句中含有“内射”二字。
安全通过上面两道关卡之后，小T开始接受版主的普检。
River是西祠胡同资深版主，05年全国十佳版主之一，他每天的工作就是删除不和谐的帖子、封禁违规ID、应付投诉和精华区建设。小T必须要“打通”他。他对付小T们有三招：一，言语肮脏、趣味低级的，砍死；二，信息陈旧、观点俗套的，自生自灭；三，言论精彩、新奇有趣或发人深省的，推荐。至于会选择上面三种命运种的哪一种，就要看小T们自身的造化了。
“在版主以外，西祠还设有监控整个网站的部门，”River说：“他们直接与政府接触，根据指令删帖。这个指令是版主层面无法直接接触的。”一般来说，遭受监控部门暗算命运的小T往往是对一些政府失职的现象进行捕风捉影的曝光，而当时的确实情况其实尚未调查清楚，还不便宣扬。这类小T其实有被推荐的潜质，无奈生不逢时。
而那些一旦被版主推荐的小T，就有希望受到网站编辑们的赏识。“我们的工作性质和新闻媒体差不多，”搜狐社区的主编梁春元说：“博客和论坛提供了很多的信息，我们做的工作就是把有价值、有话题的信息给提炼出来。”小T如果正好符合这一要求，最终将幸运地成为“明星帖”，更幸运地就会被置顶成为头条。
当明星，需要伯乐的赏识。2008年12月，“天价烟局长”的帖子在天涯网站刚一露面，该网站的周报编辑应勇（化名）立刻觉察到了它的“明星相”。应勇判断，一个公务员仅靠职务收入根本抽不起1500元一条的高价烟，这几年公款消费是网友们关注的热点，这个帖子很有“卖点”。所以他在次日核实其内容真实性后，在帖子前面加了“红脸”，强力推荐为“天涯周报”的一周头条。这之后，“天价烟局长”的帖子迅速走红，一天之内点击率超过7万，回复近2000条。第二天，网友发现“天价烟”主角——南京江宁区房管局长周久耕戴江诗丹顿表；第六天，网友发现周久耕开凯迪拉克。这最终导致周久耕的落马。“接下来的林嘉祥事件、强建周事件，都是我写的‘天涯周报’。” 应勇说。
小T如果本身具有足够的明星范儿，却没有坚持路线正确，则最终将沉沦，功亏一篑。 “比如像反思央视大火的帖子，”一位网站编辑说：“因为持续的讨论会对央视的形象带来影响，我们就选择既不删帖、也不推荐的方式，让其慢慢地沉下去。”
这是小T的成名之路，也是网络信息控制的一条简单脉络。但在网络信息控制的同时，一些越界控制的现象也层出不穷。
2008年7月，网友“米兰血液”在天涯上发帖称：部分河南领导以20万元的建筑成本价购得实际价值200万元的别墅。而后，信阳市国土资源局一工作人员在接受采访时指出：“领导好像已经知道了帖子的事，正在做工作删帖（援引自《东方今报》相关报道）。”同样受到类似指控的，还有此前轰动一时的“三鹿300万公关百度”事件。尽管事后百度否认曾收取过三鹿“封口费”，但仍有大量网民发问：为什么三聚氰胺事件的搜索结果百度比谷歌少？
“技术虽然给人带来了某种平等，但是在技术的拥有者和非拥有者之间同样会因为这种‘数字鸿沟’而出现控制与被控制。”时评家熊培云在其反思信息和控制的博文中写道：“当权力与技术合流，社会是否从此手无缚鸡之力？”
（《环球人物》记者刘菁、许陈静对本文亦有贡献）
来源：http://nbweekly.oeeee.com/Print/Article/7325_0.shtml
参见： The Seven Possible Fates Of An Internet Post (03/08/2009) (Southern Metropolis Weekly)
Let us imagine that there is an Internet post that we shall nickname Postie. How does Postie a become headline story? From the moment of birth, Postie seeks to become a star. The road is not easy because Postie has to step through a minefield before the "hidden rules" of the editors even apply.
There are some clearly visible mines, such as banned terms related to politics or pornography. That is relatively easy for Postie. Many other competitors aim for sensationalism and disruption, but they get quickly purged at this first step.
The next step involves detecting the hidden mines which are not easy to spot. If Postie steps on one, it will die without even knowing why. For example, a netizen in Hebei posted repeatedly on the singer Renee Liu but his posts were always rejected. By checking and testing the contents carefully, he discovered that there was a song title
After passing through the first two stages, Postie now faces the initial scrutiny of the webmaster (=the administrator in charge of the section).
River is a webmaster at Xici Hutong and was voted one of the top 10 webmasters in 2005. His daily job is to delete unharmonious posts, to ban rule-breaking ID's, to handle complaints as well as highlight the best posts. Postie has to get pass him. He has three rules for posts like Postie: (1) Filthy language and vulgar content will lead to death; (2) Outdated information and pedestrian opinions are allowed to survive on their own; (3) Brilliant, innovative, interesting and though-provoking posts will be put onto the list of recommended items. Postie will meet one of these three fates based upon its own merits.
"Apart from the webmasters, Xici Hutong also has a department that supervises the entire website," said River. "These are the people who are in direct contact with the government and who will delete posts in accordance with the orders. The webmasters in charge of the sections have no direct knowledge of these orders." Usually, the posts that are wiped out by the supervisory department are speculative exposés of government malfeasance. When the situation is unclear, it is inappropriate to publicize it. So even though these posts have good potential to become stars, the timing is wrong.
The posts which are recommended by the webmasters stand a chance of gaining the approval of the website editors. "The nature of our job is similar to the newspaper industry," said Sohu chief editor Liang Chunyuan. "The blogs and the BBS's provide a lot of information. Our job is to select the most valuable and topical issues." When Postie meets this requirement, it will become a star that may even show up in the front page headline.
In order to become a star, Postie needed someone in charge to appreciate its value. In December 2008, the post "Bureau director smoke sky-high-priced cigarettes" appeared at the Tianya Forum. The editor of the weekly news report immediately detected its star potential. How can a public servant afford to smoke cigarettes that cost 1,500 yuan per carton? Given the current interest in wasteful government spending, that post had a "selling point." The next day, the editor verified the story and made it the headline of Tianya Weekly Report with a flashing red face. The post became hot immediately with more than 70,000 page views and 2,000 comments within one day. On the next day, netizens found out that this bureau director wore an expensive Vauchon Constantin watch. On the sixth day, netizens found out that this bureau director drove a Cadillac. Eventually, the bureau director lost his job. Other stories such as the Lin Jiaxiang affair and the Qiang Jianguo affair also followed the same trajectory as the headline of Tianya Weekly Report.
Even if Postie has star value, it may sink into oblivion if it does not have the right line. "Take for example the posts about the CCTV fire," said one website editor. "Persistent discussion would negatively affect the image of CCTV. So while we didn't delete the posts, we didn't recommend them either. They just sank away slowly."
So this is how Postie becomes famous, and this path is a simplified picture of how information is being controlled on the Internet today. But at the same time, there are other types of control coming in from outside this system.
In July 2008, a netizen posted at Tianya: "Certain Henan provincial officials paid 200,000 yuan to purchase villas that cost 2,000,000 yuan to construct." Afterwards, a worker at the Xinyang city State Land Resources Department told a reporter: "The director is aware of this post and is working to get it deleted." Another example is the sensational post on "Sanlu paid Baidu 3,000,000 yuan for public relations work." Although Baidu denied it ever took any "shut-up" money from Sanlu, many netizens wondered why Baidu returns fewer results on "melamine" than Google.
"Although technology has brought about a certain equality, the relationship between those who own the technology and those who don't is also one in which some are in control while others are being controlled due to the digital gap," commentator Xiong Peiyun wrote in his blog. "When power merges with technology, does society become impotent?"
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