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cliff_smiff t1_j7vh9p1 wrote

Reply to comment by icarusrising9 in Why do some books blank out arbitrary place names? by PangeanPrawn

Why were true accounts at the time censored?

Edit- I still don't get why a city name would be withheld. Names, addresses, etc. sure those make sense. Are the place names in fiction imitating place names in true accounts being censored? Were other kinds of information censored in true accounts instead? What kind of things are the true accounts, like newspaper articles or something else like an autobiography?

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jenh6 t1_j7vhys7 wrote

It’s to protect privacy at the time. The same way certain court cases don’t reveal names

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icarusrising9 t1_j7vimh9 wrote

It's just like when faces are censored in today's media, or a reporter doesn't give sources' names. It's identifying information.

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bluesam3 t1_j7wsp4b wrote

You're overestimating the size of the places being hidden: at this point, first name and town might well be enough to allow people to identify your address, and certainly town plus whatever other information was in the thing being censored would be.

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