Stats

Comments Posted By mad_as_heck13

Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments

Social Security, Medicare, The Deficit, Poverty, Unemployment – One Vote Could Help Them All

I get so mad when I see the Walmart ads where they compare a receipt from a (probably union) grocery store with their prices, and then brag on how they’re helping families save money. Yeah, off the backs of the Walmart associates. You know any savings are coming off the cost of labor. Not just their workers, but the workers overseas making a pittance to produce cheap goods at the rock-bottom prices Walmart demands. I hear the other side saying, “That’s easy for you to say. Some people can only afford Walmart prices.” It’s a vicious circle. People can only afford Walmart prices because THEY DON’T MAKE A LIVING WAGE. And in the meantime, they may be paying taxes to subsidize workers who have to reply on government programs because THEY don’t make a living wage. The minimum wage increase is in all our interests. I’ll gladly pay $2 for that McDouble. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” right?

» Posted By mad_as_heck13 On December 17, 2013 @ 8:18 pm

Huffington Post Goes NSA on Its Members

Interesting, very interesting. I actually do have a Facebook which I check almost every day. Logged in there a few minutes ago, and for the first time ever, a gold bar appeared at the top of the screen saying “Add your phone to verify your account and more.” Needless to say, I hit the “X” to close that bar.

Just thought the timing was suggestive. What’s with the rush to get accounts to verify? Why anyone wants to give their cellphone number to Facebook, for any reason, is a mystery to me.

» Posted By mad_as_heck13 On December 17, 2013 @ 8:30 pm

Yes, Mr. Hoodoo, intent should really be the defining criterion for trolling. Trolling is meant to upset people and disrupt the discussion, nothing more. It’s never going away. I agree that the best defense is to ignore the trolls, but it does sometimes take a great deal of willpower. Although annoying, trolls never prevented me from posting or enjoying the conversation on Huffpost. Regular readers tended to laugh them off more than anything. You could tell what some TV or radio bloviator had said that day because a word or phrase or talking point would suddenly be rampant in the Huffpost comments – it was comical at times. But I don’t believe that was what made people start leaving, so Huffpost’s calls for civility ring very hollow. It’s only recently that actual spammers have made an appearance on the site (My sister makes $XXXX working from home type posts). That struck me as extremely weird. No doubt, there’s skulduggery going on behind the scenes these past few months.

The good news is we can experience the coming election season on other forums without all the nonsense.

» Posted By mad_as_heck13 On December 17, 2013 @ 3:21 pm

Mr. Hoodoo, you’ve posted some very thought-provoking comments on this thread. I was particularly struck by your opinion about internet forums being used as a diversionary tactic for the people with real money and power. However, I do want to put in a word about Huffpost trolls. My observation was that, MOST times, the posters called “trolls” were the ones who posted brief, insulting comments usually based around a single talking point. They were easy to spot because the same anti-Obama mantra would suddenly crop up in post after post. I have seen the term “troll” or “bagger” applied to someone who basically just had a very different viewpoint, and in those cases, it was misapplied. I don’t think most of us wanted 100% agreement, but I do think those “drive-by” posters did make a lot of people crazy. It was the seeming thoughtlessness behind their posts. They truly did come off like they were being paid to post the insult du jour.

Just my perspective.

» Posted By mad_as_heck13 On December 17, 2013 @ 11:07 am

Thank YOU.

» Posted By mad_as_heck13 On December 17, 2013 @ 5:03 am

I came to the Huffington Post in the heat of the 2008 Presidential campaign, after listening to one of the presidential debates. It was an intoxicating experience to take part in discussions with so many smart, witty, articulate people. I learned a lot and gradually became comfortable adding my own comments to the mix. Back in those days, I can honestly say the discussion was exhilarating, and frequently kept me up far too late at night on a work night. And, silly though it sounds, it was fun and flattering when someone favorited my comment or fanned me. That was one of Huffpost’s canniest moves, to make people feel invested in the site by being connected to a community of (mostly) like-minded commenters. You could talk politics on Huffpost in a way that’s often hard to do in real life. I loved it.

When AOL bought the site, I looked for another place to post – Planet POV was recommended. I came here for a short time, but Scott Walker started acting up in Wisconsin and it seemed the liveliest discussion was, once again, happening on Huffpost. Those threads were electric. Lending vocal support to the protesters made me feel we were actually helping, doing something important. After the protests ended, I was firmly entrenched at Huffpost again. Sure, there were a lot of obnoxious drive-by posters, but the regulars dealt with them pretty well. Sure, the entertainment and lifestyle stories became more lurid, and the headlines more sensational, but it happened gradually, and there were so many important political stories in the past few years that I could brush the trashy stuff aside. It wasn’t till this year that I started getting disaffected – first when they changed the commenting format, then the moderation increased, then they broke the news about linking to Facebook. I wasn’t posting nearly as much, because it’s no fun to post to a void and maybe see your comment the next day – or maybe not. But when I tried to post an innocuous comment last week and got the verification message, I was flabbergasted. I tried all the workarounds to get a fake phone number verified, but Facebook seemed to see through them. Finally it seemed silly to keep trying. Facebook/HP are NOT getting my actual cellphone number, so I’m out of there.

I’ve gone back a few times to see how comments are running, and it really strikes me now how much the site has changed since 2008. And I’ve come to realize just how bothersome and unenjoyable it had become trying to post there. I’m hoping to rediscover the feeling of community and enjoyment in discussion that I once loved on Huffpost. Perhaps here at Planet POV.

But I won’t forget how they lied to their loyal members, and how they tried to stifle any protests. This time, it’s for keeps.

» Posted By mad_as_heck13 On December 16, 2013 @ 9:42 pm