My name is Adlib and I’m an Ariannic. I was addicted to The Huffington Post for two years. I have been in recovery for 9 months and I feel like I have my life back. Sometimes, I feel the urge to pick up the mouse and go back to my old habits but thanks to my Sponsor (“Principles N. Perspective”), I’ve stayed free and expressive.
What grows on you as you disengage from HalfingTruth Post (I still post there occasionally, mainly to criticize her and the site or tell friends about The Planet) is the realization of how importance they’ve created out of the drama at the site…really doesn’t matter in any of our actual lives.
Blogging should be fun and satisfying, not an unending series of attacks and counterattacks. And the comments of the mentally indebted are the sounds of one hand clapping…in a locked safe…in space. They have no importance, impact or relevance in the real world.
Commenting at Heavington Pissed is now an endless blog version of “Dungeons and Dragons – The Politics Edition!” A meaningless game where one is immersed in another environment, takes on a virtual identity and prepares for battle to win…to win…well, we haven’t quite figured that one out yet.
Once you know you’re being played and that the intention is to get you riled up and emotionally vested in the dialog and conflict there…it’s so much easier to sit back from it all.
That’s not to say that when I read some posts, I don’t click on “Reply” to begin a round of “Whack A Troll”…but I find myself repeatedly catching myself and saying, “This is all bullshit.”
I don’t like when people try to manipulate me, whether it’s The Bush Admin or HalfingTruth Post. So when I’m about to reply, I remember that it’s all just a futile game and I’m being treated like I’m a lab subject on Pavlov’s Blog (*Ding!* “I’m so outraged!”).
Really, who gives a shit what any of these unpleasant, small-minded, petty people have to say. They’re so transparent, they don’t change any minds or influence any people. So why should I accept the phony role of “Defender” when there’s really nothing that needs to be defended…aside from HuffPoop’s quarterly earnings?
What would I do if I was in a conversation with one of them at a party (using the word “conversation” loosely, it would be more accurately described as my talking and their responding with a series of clicks and grunts)?
I would walk away from them. So why should I engage them at Whorington Poseur? They should be ignored which is what hurts them far more than any attention-giving insult.
And I’ll drink to that!
Adlib;I too felt the urge to engage but kinda quit that a few weeks ago when the trolls pretended to to be liberal and I thought this is b.s.I noticed the stories at hp are of little substance lately and are not interesting enough to make a comment on
Hello all,
been on Huff po for about a year,as undecidedaboutPotus
And today I finally made it here and see a number of friends.
This looks like a good place for rehab and detox for Ariannics.
See you on Friday
signed KittywithGlasses (aka undecidedaboutPOTUS
I followed a link on huff po over here last night, read all the post and recognized myself. Today when I went on HP the first thread I went to was on Rep. Grayson on the House floor tearfully reading some of the stories off his new website. The first comment I came to was from that “Zen D” jerk and it instantly made me wonder why the heck I keep going back to HP when it makes me mad as heck. That’s when I came here and registered. I may post on HP again but I want to wean myself off it, I did it before under a different name–then for some reason gave in one day, made a new sock, and now I’m hooked again. Anyway, it’s good to see familiar faces here.
Hi Jane!! Welcome to PlanetPOV!
Make yourself at home, and yell if you need help!
Hello, I’m Monk, and I backslid today. I visited HP, not to participate, but to fan some old friends. But in doing so I had to visit several “articles” and see the same old stuff from the same old negative people on the right. It was a very sad experience, and now I feel very sad. It is now obvious that HP is very bad for the psyche, and even small doses can be harmful.
What will cheer you up?
Do what I did to bring you here!
Pass the word about the planet!
I will.
I just set up a new disposable over there in order to do so.
You might flush your cookie jar of cookies from Huff. I was having no luck getting a sock to stick until I did.
I’ll try that since it didn’t last and I hadn’t really said anything other than that someone was like superman and had another “planet” to protect.
Of course, I was talking to deygirl, and she had just said “FM” so who knows.
Hey folks, howzit going?
Morning here in CT, how are you? I’m coming here in the mornings instead of HuffPo, trying to stiffle my urge and addiction! It looks like there was some lively discussion here last night, Yankees were playing, lost to Phillies, so I wasn’t here.
Morning, OffTopic.
Going well.
Hi OT, You the same as OT1?
Hi OffTopic, welcome!!
As a now probable ex huffposter it’s nice to see some familiar names.
I’m from Australia and whenever I tried to make a point on how things were done here…re Health..Finance Regs etc I seemed to be treated as some 3rd world citizen. All I was trying to point out was there are others ways to conduct matters..I personally believe some sane regulation (we aren’t recession) and basic human decency (no one goes bankrupt getting health care) these things are important. I look forward to posting more here.
ps…I found myself more and more reading one page of comments…and thinking ok..there may be 20 pages but they are all much of the same
Welcome to our Planet carolj47au. I’m a German born naturalized Brit living in Tokyo, I had the same problem as you did there but it was 99% from the trolls and trollettes.
You will be respected here, so don’t be afraid to let your hair down and speak your mind.
Thank You one and all…nice and friendly and even if we may disagree on certain things I’m sure after a greeting such as this this..we can agree to disagree without venom.
Again thank you all for the wonderful welcome
Welcome!
And be here on Friday, for HuffNoFriday!
Welcome Carol. I’m still a Huff Poster, but I do plug this site. I would never treat you like a 3rd world citizen on either site. Visting your country someday is one of my top 5 travel priorities. Hopefully the US will someday catch up to the rest of the world…..we were set back for 8 years.
Welcome carolj47au!
It became increasingly difficult to have anything resembling a substantial or meaningful discussion at HuffPo last year…and that’s what many of us went there seeking in the first place.
For me, the comment blogs serve no purpose other than say hi to friends and invite them here to have real discussions without censorship or snide back and forths with hateful people.
They do have a decent collection of news but now they slant headlines and stories so much and mix them along with legit stories and propaganda stories from the likes of the WSJ that one really needs to be discerning about just using the site to catch up on news.
As for the xenophobic nature of some at HuffPo, you won’t find that small mindedness here. There are members at this site from around the country and the world which is how it should be…after all, this is The Planet! We’re seeking as much diversity in views and perspectives as possible and a modicum of respect for all members is pretty much all we ask.
In other words, welcome to The Planet! Very happy to have you here!
G’day Carol, welcome. I spent three years living in NZ and going to Sydney on business frequently and I like how some things are done down there!
Hi everyone, still getting used to the feel of this site, but I also am becoming more disillusioned with Huff Post, especially on two fronts: the moderation and the greed of the site. It has degenerated from an interesting forum for agreeing and disagreeing in an intelligent, adult manner to one of allowing trolls to infest the site to disrupt with cut/psste name calling and insulting. I’ve slugged it out with the trolls, but when that becomes the main theme, it may be time for a change. Actually, with the language I use, I’m amazed I haven’t been banned like kevenseven, who did not use the language I do. Go figure.
Hey Kid welcome here.
Hi Sue. Good to see you. Lots of familiar faces here.
Hi Kid, good to see you here
Thanks for hanging in on the site, KK, there is a little learning curve but hopefully the FAQs can help make it quicker and easier.
I was such an avid HuffPo blogger up until the election, then I had to take a break from “the wars” over there.
With some time for reflection, I considered what my initial goal was in seeking a political blog to participate on…thoughtful, passionate and (hopefully) witty conversations with people who shared my passion for what’s happening in the world around us.
The positive thing is that I met, conversed and became friends with many remarkable people who I felt connected to.
The negative thing is that as time went by, I had devolved into approaching participation at HuffPo as a psychological battle.
Trolls to the left of me, trolls to right of me, into the valley of dead brain cells rode the Army of the Progressives.
When I would talk to my friends and describe what I did at HuffPo, stomping trolls and proving their lies to be just that…I felt like a nerd describing a role playing game he was really, really into.
I bought into the bullshit, I became emotionally vested in a game that didn’t and still doesn’t matter.
Honestly, are undecided people flocking to HuffPo by the millions and being convinced by one loony post by a troll, suddenly opposing health care reform because Flossy says they should?
I think the real truth is that the majority of people who read the comment blogs at HuffPo are opinionated people who are already on one side or another of the political fence and are not coming there wide eyed and wanting to be convinced…especially by trolls.
So, fighting trolls and their bullshit is just a role playing game that can indeed be challenging and satisfying but it doesn’t have any resonance outside of HuffPo, out in the real world.
With that in mind, I don’t see anything wrong with playing that game as long as one knows that’s what it is and that the true purpose of it is to use your outrage and conflict to increase quarterly profits for HuffPo and its hedge fund ownership.
Personally, I feel a bit embarrassed that I bought into that for as long as I did, I think much more constructive things can be accomplished by having conversations and debates of substance with a community of concerned people…who could spread good ideas around and take action.
I think that’s one big reason why we’re all here on The Planet.
Hi my name is Sue. I tried to break away from the Arryianic but could not find a good site to go to until tonight. Whoever put together this site, ____ bless you LOL. I am so tired of fighting the trolls and the indomitable Ms A does not seem to want to stop them. You do not know the number of emails I sent to Katie at HuffPo, as of this weekend regarding the banned good guys, she does not even respond anymore. So Huffpo will soon go by the bye for me. God, do not let the trolls get in here, it screws up adult conversation.
Welcome to The Planet Sue, rest assured there will be no trolls coming through our door or staying long enough to post anything outrageous.
We have a few good troll sniffers here. 🙂
Well you just added one more. I am good at that as well. I only figured it out by typing the whole name in, at first I thought it was a bar everyone is going to LOL.
Gonna go work on that avatar, but I definitely will be around here.
Nice to have you aboard. The Gravatar thingy will be as easy as pie once you register there. Good luck!
Bob Marley is already right beside me, it was easy
I can see him. Love Bob Marley. Used to live 5 minutes from Portobella Rd and buy all the latest albums from the street vendors.
Those were fun days!!
I’m sorry, I’ve been away from London far too long, that was Portobello Rd. Now I’m homesick!!
I used to live off of Kensington High Street in London. I remember Portobello Road.
Ken. High Street, one of my favourite shopping haunts at one time. We lived on Westbourne Pard Rd, just a 5 minute walk down to Portobello. It was always such a lively place, my sister and her family still live there.
Gosh now I’m really homesick. 🙁
A big warm welcome to The Planet, SueInCa!
It seems that trying to work with HuffPo on actually caring about how they treat bloggers is like trying to use logical arguments to keep the Titanic from sinking.
Your props about The Planet are very appreciated!
As for trolls, as is explained as a basic rule of this site, all members need to show a modicum of respect to every other member. Republicans are as welcome here as Progressives, everyone is welcome as long as they aren’t hateful or nasty towards other members or try to use the site to provoke and upset and manipulate. That leaves out trolls.
They’ll always have HuffPo though.
Oh dear…my name is VegasBabe, and I ahh…am..err…well, an addict. Specifically of the Huffpost blog site. There are friends there still, HumeSkeptic, Midnite, Ladynaga, Last of the Mohicans, CC2, I could go on and on. People who I care about tho no little about. Yes, the site has deteriorated, but unlike some here, I have never given a good shit about Arianna or what she stood for or what she’s become. She is what she always was, a white woman with money, looking to get more money, and willing to do whatever it takes to get more money. Who cares about her? I don’t. It is the site that has diminished in character and integrity. And I have no desire to assault her lack of principals or willingness to invest any energy to complain about how the site is no longer what it was, especially now that PlanetPOV is up and running. There are a number of favorite bloggers here like Adlib, K7 (though Gawd knows why cause he’s always beating up on me just because I use your instead of you’re 😉 and KQuark, BSM, to name a few. PlanetPOV..this is the place now. I think I’ll stay a spell. About my addiction, well, Rome wasn’t built in a day…this could take a Heineken or two.
I do think that there is importance in exposing that the Empress has no clothes though.
HuffPo and its staff and contributors are all over the MSM every day, HuffPo is becoming a substantial force politically in swaying opinion and I think it’s a valuable contribution to this situation to spread the word that she is not earnest nor is she or should she speak for genuine Progressives.
The danger is that more and more followers elevate Arianna’s and HuffPo’s influence and if people don’t know better, they will look up to her and the site and follow even though it could help lead the Progressive movement off a cliff.
And BTW, I too have had a number of favorite bloggers at HuffPo and what’s very cool is that most are now here…including you!
Very happy about that and to hear such kind words from you about The Planet.
My name is Nicole473 and I am a semi-reformed Ariannac.
From October 2008 through now, I have spent entire days posting both useful and useless comments on a zillion HP threads.
In shock when posts go in to pending on non-blog posts, I gnash my teeth and type nasty notes to the mods for which they reward me by only allowing a tiny percentage of my posts through in to the light of the HP comment column.
With the advent of the Narcissist Arianna’s increasingly frequent attacks on Obama, I have finally had enough, and have managed to limp away, but not unscathed, and have found a much more user friendly home on The Planet.
Please forgive me when I lapse, which will likely be daily for a while.
Speaking of Arianna’s attacks on the president, we all remember the proud day that the President called on a blogger in a press conference. Now wait until the press secretary tells the HuffPo White House reporter to go sit in “that” corner with the people from Fox News, if only in jest.
I would LOVE to see that happen!
I am kevenseven and I am an arrianiac.
I have been wasting time at Huff for going on four years. I am on my 15th moniker, although that was inflated recently as Huff burned me six times in one day….
I got substantial pleasure in building a fan base in the hundreds, and actually felt I was doing something when I ran a campaign against Teleco Immunity. I certainly was encouraged to continue.
And I even made a few honest to goodness in the flesh friends, so it was not all bad.
But the monkey turned nasty. Now it hates me and treats me like dirt. I made money for them, but they have thrown me aside. I have snuck back in with a new moniker, and fear discovery. I feel so helpless and ashamed.
Now my purpose is to show good people that there is an alternative to Huff. I hope we can all make a good push the next two nights at Huff promoting HuffNo Friday.
I recommend that you be discrete.
Six times in one day! And I with only twice.
I did always find it interesting that mentioning the business aspect of the website was alway frowned on, even if you were kind about it. You know, I’d hate to have Arianna out on the street experiencing what she intellectually abhors. Or even having to drink 2nd level champagne.
I’ve said here what my new moniker is, and if it suddenly doesn’t work, I’ll figure she has someone keeping track on us. What the hey, she can do it if she wants. Does anyone else her get Arianna and Orly Taitz confused if you turn away and listen?
I just did a search for the DM id, and it doesn’t show up?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/users/profile/DevastationManor
It did show up. But I won’t be suprised when it doesn’t.
Probably not enough posts to show up in search.
I just became your first fan!
And I your second, DM.
I wonder if we should disguise ourselves so we don’t get banned for being here. I once got fired by a hatchet man hired to shut down our company. He fired me for planning to jump ship, taking a job with someone else because he was so weird.
Thanks to both of you.
As I said above, if they spot us here, so be it, I’m very clever, and if I have to drive around to every internet hotspot in the area to be subversive, I will. However, they just aren’t worth the bother.
They can’t ban you for being here or anywhere else. A lot of the old regulars at Huff&Puff were also commenting on the Daily Koz and other blogs too. I don’t remember signing a contact with Huff, do you?
Any advice on how to do the notifications without also informing the trolls? I’ve told a couple of allies but I don’t know if I also inadvertently told the trolls either.
In a round about way, ask them to meet you on a dead thread no longer monitored, that’s what we used to do by the end of last year when things were really bad with trolls an mods.
Here’s my “d” for “and,” oops.
My name is kesmarn. And I, too, am an Aryannorexic. Help me, brothers and sisters, because the Devilette is trying to pull me back in to my old ways. The day after I committed to PlanetPOV sobriety, I got 4 new fans on HuffPo. Whhyyyy…? I posted negative remarks about the Queen and they weren’t scrubbed. Whhhyyy…?
It’s almost as though she knows I’m trying to escape…
I need to stay strong.
Thank you. Thank you very much…
😆 The Queen of the tabloid blogs doesn’t give a flying f@@k about any of us, she’s busy counting the clicks. Every time you log on and go to a story there, it’s money in the bank for her, her advertisers and the merry band of hedge fund members she sold out to. If you want to make her richer, then by all means keep on clicking on.
She looks into her magic mirror every morning and chants “Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is the biggest hypocritical bitch of them all.”
You won’t miss much by staying away, I didn’t.
Are you *sniff* saying that the Queen *sniff* doesn’t care about me as a person?
I’m nothing more than a click to her…?
Gasp!
Nooooooo…
LOL! 🙂
Yes 😆 I have to be honest, we were and are just only a wee click to her while she sits in her ivory penthouse, counts her pennies like Scrooge and cackles in her mirror.
You’ll get over it. *sniff*
Interesting. I didn’t even get the infamous e-mail from RobS.
Picking up where escribacat, BigDogMom and FeloniousMonk left off on the 12 steps for Ariannics Anonymous:
6. Were entirely finished with letting God…er…Moderators remove all our comments of character.
7. Humbly asked Her to remove her fingers from our self-respect.
8. Made a list of all trolls we had harmed, and became willing to make wicker furniture of them all.
9. Made direct snarks to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would flatter them or others.
10. Continued to take personal responsibility and when HP was wrong promptly admitted it for them.
11. Sought through posting and moderation to improve our conscious contact with reality, as we understood it, praying only for knowledge of Arianna’s medications and the power to carry them to her.
12. Having had a personal awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to current HuffPo members, and to practice these principles in all our affairs even if it takes us up the Appalachian Trail.
LMAO!! 🙂
LOL. Hilarious!!
Hi my name is Kalima. I was a HuffPo addict for almost 2 years from June 07 to April 09. I don’t even live in your country so I’m a constant time zone offender, staying awake hours after my bedtime, going to bed angry and gnashing my teeth, thinking of a perfect response to a dumb troll while on the brink of sleep but nodding off before I could respond and forgetting it by the next morning.
Then the evil moderation started, my innocent comments went pending or into the “black hole” of the “More comments here” abyss. By the time any of my comments were released or often held captive, my friends had moved on to another thread. In the end there was no conversation, I was talking to myself.
Shaking and trembling, a tear in my left eye, I packed up my pride, integrity, conscience and my ambition to change the world, one small step at a time and limped my way out of there, a wounded soul in search of a place to call home.
It took a few months to shake off the last of the HuffPo claws embedded in my back, but now I’m cured and never want to stray again.
Hi. My name is Suzanne and I am a HuPo addict. Dial up at home was too slow, so I just use the Internet at work. Upon my arrival the most important thing to do was boot up the machine. Having already set my homepage to HuffPo, I could immediately see which articles would be the most provocative, thereby generating the most troll traffic. While I did search out and read knowledgable posters, I also looked for trolls to attack.
Yes, my avatar is a wizard troll, with bright pink hair. I always meant to put the red circle with the line thru it over the troll, but I never got around to it. Besides, pink hair is cute.
Even with a troll for my avatar, I hunted them. I was always so peaceful before Arianna got her hooks into me! I never kill spiders or snakes! But I had turned into something I didn’t want to be.
Many times I would try to convince myself not to read any comments. “Just read the article. Don’t engage with anyone”, I’d tell myself.
Alas, I was powerless.
Now, I have PlanetPOV to assist me. I am no longer powerless.
THANK YOU, PlanetPOV!!