Displaying 18,961 To 18,990 Of 19,504 Comments A New Way To Fight Right Wing Trolls on HP Actually, I see the “fanning” and competition for fan numbers as part of the problem at Huffy. When political discourse is turned into a popularity contest, it denigrates the content of conversation. Simply put, in order to be most popular and most fanned, one would do best to focus on making snarky quips and bash trolls. Now, I stand guilty of doing and enjoying both (not for “fans”, just for the sport) but after stepping back from HP a bit, I recognize what a detour it is from what I sought to do as a blogger. With that in mind, there won’t be fanning at The Planet, I’m a fan of what everyone brings to the site as a whole. If we’re here to thoughtfully blog about issues of substance, I don’t see how infusing the element of high school popularity contests supports that. » Posted By AdLib On November 1, 2009 @ 11:28 am A Planetwide welcome to the site, SeeknDestroy! Very pleased you’ve joined us and big thanks to HITO for sharing the site with you! Yep, this is intended to be the adult’s table for blogging and we’re always happy to add another chair! » Posted By AdLib On November 1, 2009 @ 11:09 am Nicole, fantastic! I would welcome whatever assistance you could offer on improving the site! Thanks so much for your list! So as not to get all nerdy here, I’m emailing you. Very pleased about all of this! » Posted By AdLib On November 1, 2009 @ 1:10 am It is very telling indeed, clearly confirms what we’ve been asserting. Would a true progressive have such a right winger as a partner? I wouldn’t attribute such Machiavellian maneuvers to Arianna. She appears far more focused on herself. The scenario I see is that she and her fellow Republican saw money, celebrity and power in taking their GOP approach to the Progressive side and set up Huffington Post. It was just business to them and the thrust behind Arianna’s preposterous 180 on her political beliefs. She’s so focused on her own celebrity, wealth and importance I just don’t see her putting dogma ahead of her own self-gratification. » Posted By AdLib On November 1, 2009 @ 12:56 am Interesting. Unfortunately, not surprising. The real question I have is why is a so-called Progressive site happily taking ad money from far right entities and promoting them? » Posted By AdLib On November 1, 2009 @ 12:31 am They were probably referring to Volvo who was originally JohnCT. » Posted By AdLib On November 1, 2009 @ 12:29 am Just a HuffPo rumor, headline writing is not a profession. Journalists or their editors write the headlines for their articles. » Posted By AdLib On November 1, 2009 @ 12:23 am FeloniousMonk, can’t tell you how much I appreciate your sensibilities and your having joined The Planet. You’ve hit the nail on the head on so many points. Indeed, many new members have just a brief snapshot of The Planet, many joined within the last week (which is very exciting!). The great thing is that for the most part, the site’s been well received by the majority who’ve joined and people really seem to feel comfortable diving in and freely expressing themselves…that’s what really rocks. Unless Arianna makes another tabloid style media blast, the focus at The Planet will no doubt move back this upcoming week to Health Care Reform, Afghanistan and whatever other issues members care about and want to discuss. As to the content at The Planet, you nailed that one. The content can only reflect those who write here and what they’re focused on. The more members are writing articles, the more varied the voices and topics. It is indeed a challenge for any new grassroots website to reach a critical mass of members and content to the point where enough is going on for people to make a habit of dropping by to see what the latest discussion is about. We’ve been working towards that goal and I say very cautiously that we may be in that neighborhood. That’s thanks to everyone here who has been supportive of this site by joining, writing comments, posts and especially, inviting and encouraging others to come on over and check it out. PlanetPOV is and will be constantly evolving with its membership. As a by-members, for-members site, that’s the dynamic here. This is intended to be a citizens’ think tank, a reflection of those who generously contribute their opinions, concerns and solutions here. You get it completely and I think most here do too. And that is very, very cool! » Posted By AdLib On October 31, 2009 @ 4:07 pm Yep, even as an Admin here, I’m bewildered by the concept of exclusive blogging. I still blog at HuffPo and DailyKos, partially on behalf of The Planet but I do still comment on issues and comments like everyone else. Like you, I spend most of my time blogging here because I think it’s better for posting and commenting about substance and not getting my posts buried, censored or derailed by troll bullshit. The exclusivity thing is like saying people should only eat at their favorite restaurant and if they ever eat at a different restaurant, they’re being disloyal to their favorite one. But there are those out there who are very provincial and possessively minded, who see others as traitors if they’re not exclusive to a blog. Just don’t get it myself. » Posted By AdLib On October 31, 2009 @ 12:01 pm Welcome javaz! Great to have you on The Planet! Hmm, interesting about the virus. Sometimes there can be false positives if there are a lot of apps and functions going on at a site and messing with cookies and requests on your computer. I have been a bit uncomfortable with the Facebook hard press over there and how they are trying to drill into members personal info. Aside from that, as a fellow Firefox user, maybe Firefox is just a clever program that knows an infected site when it sees one. 🙂 » Posted By AdLib On October 31, 2009 @ 11:51 am There are plusses and minuses to Movable Type and WordPress but they’re not greatly dissimilar. It’s all just programming (money and time of course) but the design and function of the comments section here can be changed and customized. As KQ says, the HuffPo system is constructed for short comments as opposed to in depth discussion, it is also a custom system which cost quite a bit. What would be great is to get feedback from members on what they do and don’t like about the current comment system. What do you think would make it better and easier to use? » Posted By AdLib On October 31, 2009 @ 11:46 am Escribacat, thanks for your kind words about the site and I’m very pleased it’s a “must check” for you. Very cool! As for petitions and HuffPo, earlier in the year, I was part of a mass exodus of bloggers who left in protest and through blogging and writing to them, did just as you’re describing. We made clear to them that we wanted to continue there but that the repressive nature was too much. They didn’t care and didn’t respond. They don’t care. They see all bloggers as replaceable and history has validated them. After our exodus, others came in to fill the void who were initially less confrontational and more accepting of HuffPo’s treatment of bloggers. That was fine as far as HuffPo was concerned. HuffPo’s popularity went down after the exodus but is now higher than ever. They have no issue banning Volvo, AtomicSplash, KevenSeven, FeloniousMonk, etc. because I think they actually prefer not to have “leaders” of opinion there, leading rebellions against The Huffington Empire. So, for these reasons, it’s not my perspective that the toothpaste can ever be put back into the tube over there. As I said in another comment, they used to be a Mom and Pop store but now they’re Walmart. They may keep a facade of a Mom and Pop store nailed to the front but I don’t see them ever going back to what they were. » Posted By AdLib On October 31, 2009 @ 10:04 am I like the subversive aspect of what you describe and as we did here last night, it’s a kick socializing with friends here and at HuffPo. It’s fun to mess around but if that or evading censorship or hammering trolls became the central aspect of blogging, it would seem to be kind of detour from the original purpose of joining HuffPo. That is, to discuss, debate and explore political and social issues with others who are as conscientious as we are about the world around us. That’s where my passion is which is why I originally chose to set up shop at HuffPo instead of a social blog. The great bonus is having so many cool people to socialize with as we discuss issues that really matter to us. As for The Planet, I’d say the recent focus here on Arianna and Huffington Post is due to a combination of things. I’ll start with myself. Arianna was a newsmaker recently with her bullshit “Biden resign” article and for me, that was a tipping point. IMO, it was a blatant public acknowledgment of what I already knew, that Huffington Post was just a tool for the exploitation of her celebrity and to generate publicity and income for her and her hedge fund partners, not bound to principle as represented. It was not a revelation as much as a slap in the face. For years I invested time, energy and a lot of writing in Huffington Post (which they profited from) to confront the hypocrisy, greed and deceit of the Bush Administration. To then have it blasted across the media that the site I respected and contributed so much valuable time into was also hypocritical, greedy and deceptive, angered me. My principles are not conditional. I abhor hypocrisy, greed and deceit, especially in those who have at least a degree of power. I would feel hypocritical if I did not try to expose Arianna and Huffington Post for the same things that I spoke up about with Bush and other Republicans, the health insurance industry, the banking industry, Blue Dogs, Beck and Limbaugh, etc. There are many addressing the hypocrisy of most of the above (on HuffPo!) but HuffPo seems to be rolling right ahead as a bigger and bigger force in the media and politically without much awareness of what’s going on behind the curtain. Seeing representatives for HuffPo on MSNBC and other MSM every day, called on at Presidential press conferences and quoted and featured throughout the media, made me feel that there should be a concerted effort to expose the underlying character of this entity. Add to this, the recent and welcome surge of new members here who finally have a chance to get off their chests how they’ve felt about HuffPo but weren’t permitted to express on the site and you do have a greater focus recently in articles on Huffington Post. I say “recently” because this site is not dedicated to nor based upon opposing Huffington Post. I hope new members will take the opportunity to browse our archives and see that there are a wide array of articles written here on many meaningful social and political issues (even during this week). There have been substantive articles and discussions at The Planet on Health Care Reform, Iraq, Afghanistan, Religious Extremism, Global Warming, Torture, The Economic Collapse, Astronomy, Gay Rights and much, much more. BTW, HuffPo too goes through phases where the stories are focused for a period of time in particular areas and topics such as AIG, Geithner, TARP, Obama’s failings, how clever, unappreciated or wronged Arianna is, etc. Not to mention the theme of hysterical and misleading headlines on Health Care Reform legislation. However, between the trolls, the moderating, the banning, the word blacklist and the quick flipping of pages which buries any wonderful thought or discussion a minute after it’s posted, I don’t see the ability to have truly meaningful discourse at Huffington Post anymore. The bottom line is that we want The Planet to be a place where substantive discussions can take place between people of a variety of opinions, without the censorship, animosity and personalization that occurs at HuffPo. Where anyone can write about anything that matters to them, where folks can express themselves freely and in the end, just thoroughly enjoy blogging as they really should. As always, I invite and welcome every member here to share their thoughts, ideas and suggestions about how we can make The Planet better and best fulfill your expectations of what such a site should be. In that respect, I really appreciate your thoughts about the comment system. Can you share more details about what it is about it that feels less user friendly and what might feel more user friendly? Thanks! Like everything that lives and thrives, we want to see The Planet changing and evolving. With your suggestions and those of our other members, that will be the case and we can make this a more satisfying site for all. » Posted By AdLib On October 31, 2009 @ 9:47 am HuffNo Friday – Topic of the Night – Which Way Afghanistan? I’m fine with that. Can we add in your amendment in committee and get a vote on this on Monday? Really would like to end the war in Afghanistan by next weekend if possible. » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 11:40 pm Night Kev! Sleep well knowing that I’ve solved that whole Afghanistan thing! » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 11:37 pm Wait till my next idea, THEN you can say you’ve really heard stupider ideas before. I agree that we are all fatigued by the war but if such an approach as I described was attempted, Pres. Obama could explain that we are no longer pursuing a strategy of war but of rebuilding Afghanistan, I think attitudes would change. And we could bring many of our soldiers back home, we wouldn’t need an enormous amount of troops for protecting limited areas that could be well fortified and defensively prepared. I started this proposal as a shot in the dark but the more I discuss it, the more it’s growing on me. » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 11:12 pm Actually, you’re off the mark here. Where did the 9/11 terrorists train for their attack? In the United States! That’s where they got their training to fly planes into buildings. They weren’t on the monkey bars in Afghanistan. They didn’t train in Afghanistan to learn how to open box cutters. This is what people forget, the terrorists who attacked us did indeed come primarily from Saudi Arabia, a non-democratic oppressive regime…that is seen by the people as being protected and propped up by the U.S.. The lesson American leaders forget is that if you are in bed with people who oppress their citizens, those citizens see you as oppressing them just as much if not behind it all. So my suggestion does address some of what caused 9/11. If Saudi’s saw us standing up to The Taliban oppressing their people AND we then turned to Saudi Arabia and got firm with them on reversing their oppression of their own people AND we stopped occupying nations in the region, we would be reducing the hostility against us in Saudi Arabia too. What Obama needs is out of the box thinking. McCrystal is trying to take us down the road to another Vietnam. We can’t win militarily against terrorism. We just can’t. We need a more holistic and realistic approach to terrorism. » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 11:03 pm Thanks Nicole! My point is that we should try to do only what we can accomplish and something that has a beginning and an end. I’m also sensitive to the issues AlphaBitch raises, after all we’ve done to encourage Afghans to be democratic and stand up to the Taliban, to just bail on them seems cruel. But at the same time, we can’t let the war drain our military and finances. Instead of trying to stop what we can’t stop, we could just focus on improving life as best we can and gradually, over many years, there could be many positive things that result. » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 10:53 pm Okay, the Taliban are violent, hateful, extremist, chauvinist, ultra-religious fanatics. They are, as a group, an oppressive, threatening and dangerous organization. However, there are horrible, murderous people all around the world, even others who hate America. We certainly can’t afford nor have the troops and resources to “end evil” as Bush claimed he was doing (guess he felt since God made him President and he knew so well how to perpetrate evil, he could figure out how to stop it). My proposition is this, although we can agree that The Taliban are murderous and vicious and dangerous, what if in fact U.S. military force is not an approach that can defeat them? What if that basic proposition is true? That no amount of military force can destroy a loosely knit, far flung group scattered across mountains and rugged countrysides? What if we are trying to put out a light bulb by blowing harder on it? What if our current approach is thinking “If only we had 500,000 people trying to blow out the light bulb, it surely would go out!” I think history and our recent experience supports my proposition, military force just doesn’t work in Afghanistan to dominate the country. So, do we just stay there anyway so as not to lose face or to keep the hope alive that one day we’ll be able to put out a light bulb by blowing on it? As I mentioned in my response to AlphaBitch (who I think is incredible in her knowledge and insights about Afghanistan), I’d instead suggest we create a Green Zone in Afghanistan that was an entire city, a size that our forces could truly protect from the Taliban. Then allow citizens who don’t want to live under the Taliban, to move there. Build the schools and hospitals and social infrastructure for a fraction of what we’re spending now and will doubtless spend in the future. This could be the way to defeat the Taliban, from the inside. If such an area grew in population, had a police force and Afghan military developed, we could finally leave. If the Green Zone City was a success, it could expand and/or other Green Zone cities could pop up elsewhere in the country. And as the numbers and cities grew, the Taliban influence and thereat would be reduced. One of the main reasons young boys join the Taliban is poverty and no future. Start nullifying that and recruitment drops. Not to mention what it will mean to the society to have kids getting good educations and a thriving city to find work in. And if the U.S. is responsible for helping make that happen, we would be seen as benefactor, The Taliban would lose the ability to recruit based on the resentment and hatred of the U.S. and in fact, it would be the other way around, I think the Afghan people would feel very positively towards the U.S., as a partner. This is all pie in the sky, I know, but it’s an approach that at least makes sense to me. » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 8:36 pm Wow. Very enlightening and powerful. All your points are excellent. The crux here as you pointed out is that without controlling Afghanistan, building up the social infrastructure is a waste and would soon be destroyed by the Taliban. Yet I think most of us hate the idea of turning our backs on the people who would be helpless under the rule of The Taliban. But if it is in fact not possible to win the kind of control that would be necessary, maybe the focus should be on the humanitarian side and figuring out a way for people to escape that. Though I’m sure there are many political and ethical issues with doing something like this, what if the U.S. and its military, instead of trying to fight back the Taliban in the whole country, focused on a specific section of the country that we COULD protect and build a social infrastructure? It would cost a fraction of what we’re spending now to help relocate people there who wanted to go. Yes, it would be massive social engineering and asking people to leave where their families may have lived for many generations but it wouldn’t have to be mandatory. If people wanted to stay in Taliban controlled sections, they should be free to do so. Afghanistan is an artificial country anyhow. Why not recognize the reality of it really being a patchwork of different tribes and peoples? That’s all I can think of right now to help the people with a realistic approach. I don’t believe we can use our type of military force to solve this problem. And staying there because we’re afraid of what might happen if we leave is a quicksand trap which has helped and is still dragging our nation down. We can’t sustain this as it is and we can’t accept indefinite war for that reason. Just looking for a realistic and limited approach. » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 8:19 pm Hopefully you’ve been busy in a good way. Would be great to get together, looking forward to hooking that up. » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 8:03 pm Hey FlyingLotus! Long time no see! And your long lost sister says hello. It is very upsetting to think about how Bush burdened Obama’s presidency with so many terrible things but teo things to keep in mind. If McCain had won, the Bush disasters would still be there but we would have sunk into a horrible depression because McCain and the Repubs’ only answer to the economy was tax cuts and no stimulus. And we’d be ready to go to war with Iran…well…not really ready but they’d be rattling the sabres and pissing off the world even more. And secondly, if Bush hadn’t destroyed the nation as he did every company he ran, I really don’t know that a black man named Barack Obama would have been elected president. Of course I wish Iraq and the derivative crisis never happened but if they hadn’t, I don’t think enough Americans would have been willing to make such a big step. » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 7:48 pm Dahling, zat vas vunderful! » Posted By AdLib On October 31, 2009 @ 10:41 am Heh! Right on the money! Welcome to The Planet Johnie2xs! » Posted By AdLib On October 31, 2009 @ 10:38 am 😆 Love the words “Arianna” and “cackled” next to each other, a perfect fit! And I wish I had thought of “shriek”, perfect to rhyme with “Greek”. » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 7:37 pm Heh!!! I thought of rhyming “Greece” with “knees” but you did it right! Nice! » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 7:32 pm Thanks Kalima! Little did I know at the time it would become truer and truer! » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 7:30 pm LOL! Literally! » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 7:28 pm Hey my friends, a little musical farewell for the evening: “Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome, Night all and thanks for a fantastic debut of HuffNo Friday at The Planet!!! Lots of fun and thoughtful conversation. Next week? Night! » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 11:58 pm I’ll be right over! And I’ll bring some “Puzzle Helper” if you’ve got the matches. Hope your wife won’t think we’re stuttering when she keeps hearing, “But…but…but…” » Posted By AdLib On October 30, 2009 @ 11:54 pmComments Posted By AdLib
Time for this one to go home.”
«« Back To Stats Page
Home Stats