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[Update: I'm leaving this (inaccurate) item up, but Michael Arrington says he did not — repeat, did not — censor the following comment from MobileCrunch. WordPress, he says, automatically deleted it due to length. Michael says he does regularly delete comments, so if he deletes yours, send it to tips@valleywag.com.]

Rising star Michael Arrington surrounds himself with starry-eyed dot-commers who believe in the New Media, the Great Transparency, and the freedom of information. So why is he risking repeated public shame by deleting comments on his blog TechCrunch?

The latest victim is Ari Mir, the Chief Product Officer of Mojungle, who feels his startup was unfairly ignored by Mike and his staff. Ari blew up at Mike in the comments section of TechCrunch site MobileCrunch.

Bad decision by Ari? Probably. Either way, Mike killed the comment, which is usually a no-no for honest bloggers. It's not the first comment he's deleted. It's probably not the first this week. After the jump is Ari's censored comment.

This post makes me so mad!!!!!!! Before I get into this comment, I want everyone to know I have been a DIEHARD reader of TechCrunch since Nov. 2005, every post, every word and I even plan on driving 350+ miles to attend the party (although I don't know if I will still be welcome after this).

Michael,

I hope you are reading this comment. What the $%#$ is going on with the TechCrunch brand? Why are posts on Mobilecrunch so infrequent? Oliver is averaging a new post every few days. If you want an example of what a blog covering mobile news should be take a look at SMS Text News, MobHappy, DarlaMack and countless other blogs. It is VERY apparent Mobilecrunch is not Oliver's first priority. This being the case, how could you entrust your brand to someone who treats Mobilecrunch as a hobby?

I have submitted my website to Oliver several times over the past few weeks. No response, not even an email saying thank you for the submission, we are not interested. Marshall of TechCrunch was even kind enough to pass along mojungle to Oliver.

Excluding all of that B.S., I then read this post about FotoDUNK. No offense you guys, but your service is not any easier to use than mojungle, I would argue it's more difficult to use. We require no registration process. Our service has been heralded by industry blogs as well as REAL users as being "extremely easy to use." Why is "REAL" in caps?

http://fotodunk.com/register.php self explanatory!

Everyone,

Please read the articles written on mojungle, test mojungle out and then if you still agree with Oliver then I apologize for this comment, but if you agree with me then write Michael as many emails as you can. Ask him to take MobileCrunch more seriously and obtain more dedicated blogger to head it. Digg this comment and spread the word.

At mojungle we are very passionate about mobile technology and it hurts us to see such a careless post from a respectable blog.

View our feedback here: http://blog.mojungle.com/index.php/2006/07/16/mojungles-first-safari/

P.S. Am I bitter, angry and envious...YES...But what angers me the most is the lack of due diligence!

Sincerely,

Ari Mir
CPO
Mojungle.com
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Picture by Those Bastards