There is, apparently, a double standard in place at the News & Observer’s online edition. There are the things the N&O’s staff writers can say, and then there are the things its readers can say — or more precisely, the things they can’t say.

The N&O on Monday published an article on the upcoming visit to Raleigh by writer Celia Rivenbark, who is the author of five books of humor including “Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank.” The N&O not only made note of that title, but also started its article this way:

Author Celia Rivenbark describes MySpace as the “slightly skankier cousin” to Facebook.

The problem? The newspaper seems to have a prohibition against the word “skank,” but only when used by others. In a comment following the story on Rivenbark, a reader explained that he’d once used that word in a previous comment, and had his comment deleted.

The N&O specifically indicated to me via an online message that the word s-ank was objectionable and offensive when they removed my comment. Now this lady can use it in a title for her book and the N&O prints it.

In fact, after trying to post a comment in response to the Rivenbark article, the reader got snagged again:

… Amazingly enough, when I tried to submit this, I received the message that I must “edit or remove the following word(s): s-kank.”

Well, that’s what happens when a newspaper cuts its staff in half. Computer programs do the copy editing.