Should the vuvuzela be banned?

The long plastic trumpets have been blowing in all the matches so far at the tournament. Their sound is ubiquitous.

The noise of thousands of them being blown at once has been described in a number of creative ways, although the comparison with a swarm of angry stinging insects is almost universal:

It's like you have one millions bees in your television and you can't put them off!!

With World Cup Have Your Say being part of the BBC, several people have emailed asking if there is anything we can do about it for them. There isn't, I'm afraid - but you can read this guide to cancelling the noise and see if it helps.

Several more have simply said it is ruining their enjoyment of the competition:

Somebody have the guts to admit that these Vuvuzelas are KILLING the tournament. I have only watched 3 games and I am already sick to death of the noise, there is zero atmosphere - bar the cacophony of monotonous and constant droning of the horns - the fans cannot be heard and this is going to be the worst World Cup in history.

But Fifa's Sepp Blatter has said that he is not in favour of a ban, since he does not want to "Europeanise an African World Cup."

And as Eduard Avila nots on Global Voices, for local South African fans the vuvuzela is a natural part of the football match experience. They wonder what all the fuss is about.

Craig Kanallay on the Huffington Post says that they are an essential part of the World Cup atmosphere. As he notes:

It's hard to rip that passion out of these fans, especially since some 650,000 vuvuzelas have been sold for this World Cup. And they actually provide for one amazing and unique atmosphere, so it could all depend on your point of view

What do you think? Would you like to see them banned - or are they an essential part of an African World Cup?

Source: BBC.co.uk