Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments Steamed At HuffPost For Getting Rid Of Anonymous Commenting? Chill At PlanetPOV! KT, thanks so much for the very kind and gracious review of The Planet! Also, appreciate your welcome to new members. I do find it fascinating how much I’ve learned and explored here without the distraction of trolls, censorship and expoitative stories. It’s not for everyone, some enjoy sparring with trolls or emoprogs but it seems to have dragged HP so far down they became desperate enough to attempt this ending of anonymity at the site. It really is a challenge to read any page of comments without seeing a racist, homophobic or mean-spirited and dishonest RW propaganda screed. Often, threads are almost fully occupied by these types. Hard to have a worthwhile and thoughtful conversation in that kind of environment but folks like Murph succeed despite that. » Posted By AdLib On August 28, 2013 @ 3:31 pm CaptD, we do post comments immediately as you can see from your comments. There is no automatic moderation here, all comments post right away. The only comments or commenters that would violate our Terms of Use are only extreme cases which are few and far between, mainly those having to do with expressing the kind of hatefulness and racism that trolls typically post or making personal attacks against a fellow member. Since the kind of people who have gravitated here share those principles, of free expression and having respectful discussions and disagreements, it really isn’t much of an issue so comments here are very rarely moderated. » Posted By AdLib On August 28, 2013 @ 2:00 pm Welcome to The Planet, CaptD! Actually, PlanetPOV has been in orbit for four years and is going strong. This is a place for the kind of in-detail discussions you mention. I do agree that if this policy was enforced as envisioned, it would bring about self-censorship and people would indeed silence themselves out of concern for their jobs and personal safety. We’ll see what develops but the fact that this was what they wanted to do should give people pause and a reconsideration about Arianna, her mindset and how she truly views the bloggers there that make her site what it is. » Posted By AdLib On August 28, 2013 @ 1:43 pm Murph, that was an excellent response to the initial policy, well done. I think that your statement along with others who stood up on principle against such a harmful policy, cowed them into retrenching back to a pretty modest (and in the end, toothless) verification policy. Anyone can set up a bogus Facebook or Twitter account so this rushed backpedaling won’t really accomplish their stated goals in any case. This is a victory for those at HP who wouldn’t stand by as the site dictated a change in terms that could personally jeopardize members. Even though they’ve backed off from it, the original announcement by Arianna was that anonymity was being ended at HP. It is stunning how she could make such a declaration without any effort to engage with the membership first. A bit dictatorial if you ask me but when your business relies on the willingness of people to spend time at your site, very short sighted. Very much appreciate your kind words about The Planet and the Admin here. We try our best to protect and promote the principles of community, respect and free expression here. We know that our members ARE The Planet, we see managing The Planet as a welcome responsibility to the membership and we’re very pleased to be able to contribute in that way, as the folks here contribute in their way. That’s what a community is all about! » Posted By AdLib On August 28, 2013 @ 12:51 pm Hey gmb007, grab a lounge chair and the waiter will be by with a tropical drink! Welcome back! » Posted By AdLib On August 28, 2013 @ 12:30 pm Thanks gmb007, great to see you! » Posted By AdLib On August 28, 2013 @ 12:15 pm Haruko, you get it but I’m afraid many people over there won’t. They’ll happily go along with a disrespectful, classist system as long as they get to be in the upper class. And all the while, they’ll be under the impression that their superior status will be permanent. It won’t, HP will have no need to continue anonymity for those accounts once they represent a minority of members. But that’s how the powerful manipulate the many, make them think that only other people will be harmed by something and they will be above it…then once the new system is in place, you eventually steamroll over those who believed they were above the steamroller. Yep, there’s got to be a huge frenzy of troll accounts being set up since the announcement, more than enough to sustain them as they figure out how to evade the new system. The incompetence of those at the top over there has never been more on display. They didn’t think their first version of the policy requiring all to have their identities made public would cause an uproar? They think everyone will be cool with a two-class system, especially the newbies who have no anonymity? They think this will really be effective in reversing the troll dominance over there? The members are far sharper than the management at HP, had there been a brainstorming post over there on how to best address trolls, they could have had a great and open discussion that could have yielded an approach that members would have strongly supported. Instead, such decisions are handed down from on high and the members are treated like “the little people” management sees them to be. Bottom line, good folks have been leaving HP and trolls haven’t been. This new policy won’t change that. » Posted By AdLib On August 27, 2013 @ 10:15 am Hey Haruko, nice to see you! As you say, even with anonymity, people are and have been stalked at HP by RW lunatics and other unbalanced people. I know of instances where people wrote letters to editors in local newspapers and were stalked, threatened and harassed. Do people want that multiplied by thousands on a site like HP? What will that do to chilling free expression? Who would want to risk a crazy person stalking them just to express their honest opinions? Why would any blogsite, dependent on its bloggers, make such a huge and oppressive change in their policy without any interaction or discussion with their members? As I’ve mentioned before, it’s the hubris of corporate people who think their wealth and power means their thoughts are superior to those below them. I mean, how could any blogger at HP have a worthwhile criticism of the brilliant decisions made by their executives? It really is insulting. So true, this is a Golem that they created. Just like the GOP, they happily catered to the rabid RW because they saw it being to their short term benefit, the conflict trolls caused made Dems outraged and got them spending more time, writing and clicks at the site. Now, just like with the GOP, the ones being cynically exploited have overwhelmed their too-clever-for-their-own-good exploiters and taken over. HP has become so utterly toxic now, especially on any race-related story, that they are losing traffic so now they want to undo the ugliness they championed. Well, the trolls like it just fine the way it is, with so much domination of HP, they’re not going to just walk away. So HP instead decides to implement policies that in their original version, would harm innocent members by exposing their identities along with trolls then after protests grew, changing to a two-class system of bloggers. They are using the same approach as the GOP on Privatizing Medicare. “Don’t worry, the changes won’t affect you if you’re currently on HuffPost, it will only affect those who aren’t on it yet!” The strategy is of course to pacify and bribe those who are currently members to going along with a worse system that will eventually apply to all who are a part of it. What happens in a couple of years if there is an equal number of newer members who are forced to compromise their privacy and see others having more privacy rights than them? Would they protest if HP insisted that all members be equal and have the same compromise of privacy rights so none are “above” others? Bottom line, HP will necessarily be a site where you are no longer anonymous, at least to them if not others. And might one’s identity ever end up hacked or leaked? That’s just a risk people will have to take. You put your finger on it, the real solution is hiring a big enough staff to comb through comments, removing truly offensive comments and users. But that would mean spending money on operating their business properly and it’s much cheaper to just destroy the whole village to save the village than it is to just go after the bad guys in the village. » Posted By AdLib On August 27, 2013 @ 10:01 am Hi Mattie! Several years ago, HP took a very serious attitude towards their headlines, having a policy of only straight up descriptive headlines, no play on words, dumb puns or vague words. No doubt those editors work somewhere else now. Don’t know if you saw this but after AOL bought HP, Arianna declared in an interview that she was not a Progressive, that HP was not a Progressive site and that depending on who was nominated, she might vote Republican. So, agreed, HP is not the Progressive site its earlier members built it to be. I occasionally post a comment featuring the most intelligence-insulting headlines at HP that are on the site. When you see such a collection, it kind of puts things in perspective. Here are current HP headlines that are actually on the site right now, how can you see a site as a serious news organization that puts stories like this (on the site right now): Why Sharon Stone Is Urging Younger Actresses To Get Naked PHOTOS: The Real Reason Barbie’s Staying In Malibu 500 Years Of Being Absolutely Obsessed With Witches WATCH: Journalist Goes Topless During Interview With Mayor Indeed, if HP’s solution to identifying people is to force them to link to a FB page, that too can be easily navigated by creating a phony FB page. The most obvious approach to the troll problem there is spending some of those millions in revenue on staff who monitor activity and regularly remove hateful comments and ban accounts. It is a neverending process but it would be the cost of doing business to respect the members and hold only those who break the rules as guilty. Consider, they have unpaid labor writing many of their articles, they post articles from other sources without paying for them, they have unpaid bloggers posting comments…the east they could do is spend the necessary money on salaries for screening out troll posts without violating innocent people’s privacy. But they are a corporate entity and like the rest of them, the game is paying as little (or nothing) for those who do the work and hording all the income into the hands of the few at the top. Hope to see more of you here! But as a corporate entity, the mantra is the same. » Posted By AdLib On August 27, 2013 @ 9:37 am I do visit HP each day but I don’t comment anymore. The comments that typically prod me to reply are of course, the intentional lies posted by trolls but as I learned long ago, what’s the point of replying? The trolls want to outrage Dems which makes them come to and blog at the site more which has made for greater ad revenues. HP let them flourish for a long time for that reason but now realizes that the toxicity level there has risen so high they’re losing traffic so now they’re trying to dial back the crazies they relied on for creating traffic. I don’t know that they can successfully do it, like letting part of one’s body get infected, you can’t just remove the infection, you have to remove the part of the body with the infection. As to the privacy thing, they seem to be contriving a way to pacify the current users by claiming that only new users will lose their anonymity (that is, at least HP will know their true identity if not those who read their comments). It will either not work to deter trolls or, as I would bet, will eventually lead to the deterioration of privacy for all users on the site. One can have fun and fascinating discussions here or play Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots over there, to each their own. » Posted By AdLib On August 26, 2013 @ 9:56 pm Nirek, too bad because I’d like to thank whoever it was! Feel free to invite folks here or even provide a link to this post: » Posted By AdLib On August 26, 2013 @ 6:58 pm KT – I’m hesitant to attribute wholly altruistic intentions in any case like this but I will say that the goal of reducing trolls at the troll-infested HP is a legit mission. What they appear to have done now, to placate those who rose up and were upset at this, is to say, “Don’t worry, we’ll only apply this to new members!” As I mentioned to Murph, this is how policies get massaged into place. Like allowing employers to pay new hires less, eventually, the new hires become more plentiful and resentful of the older hires who have better benefits. Then, they side with management in dropping the older workers’ benefits to their level. The short term picture is HP will now be a classist site, with two classes of bloggers, those who are anonymous and those who are newer and are prohibited from being anonymous. The long term picture for HP though is unchanged if this policy continues, eventually it will become a 100% non-anonymous site where at a minimum, HP will know the identity of everyone who posts any comment and of course, how long until that kind of info is leaked or hacked and people are publicly exposed? More reason than ever not to comment there. » Posted By AdLib On August 26, 2013 @ 6:21 pm 50 Years After The March on Washington, Racism Marches On KT – Absolutely, that was the revelation that shattered my naive view of American society, there are always going to be a percentage of Americans who are racist…who NEED to be racist for emotional and psychological reasons. And there will always be those like the GOP who live to exploit the flaws in human beings to help themselves in gaining wealth and power. I’ve had to drill these concepts into the optimistic section of my brain: 1. Plenty of Americans don’t want a country that’s better for all of us (in fact some are happier to suffer if the ones they’re bigoted against will suffer more). 2. At least 20% of Americans are probably racist and many of the kids they raise will be taught to be racist too (IMO, that percent could be as high as 30% and not lower than 15%). 3. There is no such thing as finality in social battles, you can win in one era but if not constantly protecting “wins” and remaining vigilant, the same battle can be lost in a future era (just look at abortion rights, the right of black people to vote, letting white men get away with killing innocent black men, etc.) As Christianity is the most populous religion in the US, it’s not unusual that there are so many hypocrites that are Christian. You look in the ME and find many more Muslims who are hypocrites when it comes to their religion. Many who claim most aggressively to be believers are overcompensating for their own inner knowledge about how far off the path they really are. When it comes to so many things in addition to religion, those who are most genuine don’t need to be shouting about how genuine they are, they know they are and unlike the shouters, they don’t have the fear that someone will assume or discover that they are frauds. I noted this today while walking down the street and seeing different people, different features and colors and body shapes, we’re all just so matter-of-fact about being alive on this planet while the rest of the universe is such a violent and lifeless place. Yet we have wars and hatred between ourselves simply because there’s a difference in our skin colors, the shape of our noses, the personal beliefs we have. It’s kind of funny how people imagine aliens as being homogenous, all unified and of one mind yet we recognize how people on Earth can be so petty and divisive. Since racism is often driven by feelings of intimidation and inferiority, maybe some part of a racist’s mind knows that they are inferior to others, how members of the same race should see each other as equal, that the vague recognition itself generates their racism and the cycle of inferiority and hatred keeps propelling itself? Of course, ignorance is a huge factor too. Statistics show that lesser educated people and those who aren’t around other races have a greater propensity for racism. What you don’t know or understand, you fear and want to dominate to protect yourself. These are endemic human traits, I don’t know that racism can be any more eliminated from the human race than greed or jealousy. What our duty is and what we need to pass on to the next generation is to fight against it wherever it crops up and remain ready to go into action the next time…because there always seems to be a next time. » Posted By AdLib On August 26, 2013 @ 9:41 pm Kes, it’s been an education for me, I too used to think that once a battle was won, it was won. But when it comes to societal issues, it’s just not true. Liberals thought we had prevailed in making ours a liberal and tolerant society after the 60’s/70’s but the RW came back big time and has been clawing back on women’s rights, racial and economic equality, on and on. No victory in a society is permanent, that’s what I needed to be taught to me when I was in school. We may win the tug of war but our adversaries don’t just accept defeat and disappear, they keep a tight grip on the rope, ready to pull it back in their direction and win later on. So yes, there is great wisdom in that quote, we must have eternal vigilance on all of our rights and principles (look at how the 4th Amendment is being carved away by our own party!) or they will be eventually taken from us. » Posted By AdLib On August 26, 2013 @ 5:47 pm Hey Kes, it is so complex. That’s a very good analogy as to racism in America and what we’ve witnessed. May I add a labored analogy to yours? Racism also seems like a wild beast that used to roam freely as it brought mayhem and destruction. Society encroached on it so it retreated into a southern cave and many people mistakenly thought it was gone. Obama’s election was like throwing a rock in that cave and it came out angry and ferocious. It may be a mistake to think that racism will ever be completely gone from our society, the best we may be able to do is drive that beast into a smaller and smaller cave. And…always be prepared for it to roar back into society. » Posted By AdLib On August 26, 2013 @ 4:35 pm Weekend Movie Thread – The Top Movies for Tea Partiers Good one jjgravitas! Actually, she does resemble Phyllis Schaffly: [img]http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/39/2011/02/medium_schlafly1.jpg[/img] » Posted By AdLib On August 29, 2013 @ 11:10 am One of my all time favorites, brilliant pick, KT! » Posted By AdLib On August 24, 2013 @ 8:17 pm Kalima, this perfect pick opens the door to so many more 1950’s invasion films! » Posted By AdLib On August 24, 2013 @ 7:52 pm Patsy, the irony is that baggers are wholly oblivious to the fact that they would be among the most hungry ones if we came down to the games. As you say though, the survivalist themes would appeal to them but most of them look like that rather plump, out of shape, high pitched bagger at the town hall calling Obama a commie Muslim so despite their delusions, they wouldn’t last long if they actually had to compete for their lives. » Posted By AdLib On August 24, 2013 @ 7:41 pm That’s exactly the point, KT. Perfect pick and sequence! » Posted By AdLib On August 24, 2013 @ 7:26 pm And of course, how could we not include the movie starring Tea Partiers and portraying the America they want for the future? IDIOCRACY
» Posted By AdLib On August 24, 2013 @ 7:24 pm No worries, pal, I’ve always got your back. BTW, fantastic picks! You’re nailing this theme! » Posted By AdLib On August 24, 2013 @ 7:16 pm THE MOUSE THAT ROARED HOLLOW MAN LIAR LIAR » Posted By AdLib On August 24, 2013 @ 2:40 pm Patsy, nice picks! Hey, isn’t The Hunger Games their term for their policy of food stamps cuts? » Posted By AdLib On August 24, 2013 @ 2:30 pm Why Obama Can’t Be a Magic Genie on Egypt Assumed, when Obama was taking office, alternative energy was a big priority for him and the Stimulus funded a lot of green energy efforts. Still, what is needed is far more investment and with the Repubs controlling the House, that’s not going to happen. The BaggerGOP seems determined to hobble government and the US so that the country is in an eternal state of crisis which could allow them to step in and grab power then finish the job of destroying our country. We’re going to be getting a late start since it may be a number of years before Dems take back Congress but we won’t have the chance to make a big push on this until that happens. » Posted By AdLib On August 21, 2013 @ 8:17 pm No argument that we get a lot of belligerence from Israel in return for our aid but even if we ended aid to them and Egypt, Obama wouldn’t be able to repurpose that money towards domestic spending (though it would reduce the deficit which could help reduce cuts). It’s a good question, I do think it’s very complicated as to how our aid to these two countries benefits the US. The basic reason would be to prevent war between Arab/Muslim nations and Israel. That would be a horribly bloody war and the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons. Due to America’s (and the oil companies) concerns over this, Israel has now taken for granted that they will receive aid no matter how terribly they act so on one hand, we don’t have influence diplomatically. However, Israel does know that if it wants to launch an attack in the region, it can’t do so without the US’s permission. In that respect, the US does get strong influence over Israel’s military usage which is an important thing. The aid to Egypt wasn’t originally but is now minimally influential, more a way of the US keeping a toe in the water and having a degree of influence but in light of the severity of the coup and conflict there, it isn’t enough to make a difference. The argument could be made that if things eventually settle down back intro a democracy in Egypt, not a sure thing right now, it could leave the US in a position to continue exerting a degree of influence whereas cutting off aid now could damage that potential in the future. I don’t know, I do see much complexity here so I keep going back and forth as to which path would be best. » Posted By AdLib On August 20, 2013 @ 11:29 am Assumed, You and Kalima have really covered the reasoning well behind the US continuing support of Israel. I do think the fact that Israel is a nuclear power as well as Pakistan and soon Iran, is a very potent reason as to why the US would not want Egypt to join the other ME nations that declare Israel must be destroyed. War with Israel in the ME would of course be disastrous all around the world so putting the pro-Israel lobby arguments aside, it is in the US’s interest to keep and promote Arab acceptance of Israel’s right to exist. » Posted By AdLib On August 19, 2013 @ 2:42 pm Heh! So true Kes, it sure seems that he’s saying that in his expression. But we’ve come to expect this reaction, Obama can never do right. Whether he aggressively jumps into Libya to support the rebels fighting Gadaffi or stays out of taking harsh steps in the conflict in Egypt, he’s wrong. We know it, no matter his successes, he’s always wrong. This situation is more of an emotional one, some who haven’t otherwise criticized Obama much on foreign policy now want to take a slap at Egypt and feel Obama is blocking the nation from doing so. That is short sighted thinking, just wanting to “hit” another nation to express anger. As noted below, we would be violating the agreement our country made with Egypt when it recognized Israel. So if Egypt turned around and joined the call for the destruction of Israel, that would be a good deal? I can’t think of a President in the modern era who has had to deal with as many internal and external crises as Obama has and though he may not always make the right decision, and he deserves criticism when he chooses wrongly (as he has with the NSA spying), he sure has a pretty remarkable batting average. » Posted By AdLib On August 19, 2013 @ 2:27 pm agrippa, that inflated version of the power America has all over the world, that whatever the US says must happen, will happen, is part of that delusion of American Exceptionalism that the RW pushes and so many Americans, even those who aren’t RW, have bought into it. On one hand, such people claim they believe in freedom and on the other hand they expect America to act as a global dictator. Well, we’re not Master of the Earth, whatever the Pres. wants doesn’t magically happen in any other country (let alone this one!) and the world doesn’t operate the way these whiners ignorantly claim it does. The military in Egypt is ruthless, craves power and puts that as their priority, just as the Muslim Brotherhood does. The opinions and orders of other nations and even the lives of their own people come last. » Posted By AdLib On August 19, 2013 @ 2:18 pm Kalima, I mentioned below to CL what you already have, that Egypt’s recognition of Egypt obligated us to providing aid to them. So would those howling for aid to be cut be happy to also have Egypt renounce Israel’s right to exist? Indeed, Egypt is not our 51st state (isnt that what Iraq used to be?) and they have never been a puppet regime for the US to control. So why, when things are in even greater chaos over there, would they suddenly become that? It is a no win situation for Obama, it is a lesser of any evils so whatever the choice is, it won’t be good…but it could be worse. That’s reality especially when it comes to the ME, there’s rarely a decision that is “good”. » Posted By AdLib On August 19, 2013 @ 2:11 pmComments Posted By AdLib
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7L7WLFBYR4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd4SqYc8zX0
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