dagblog - Comments for "Astroturf and Masturbation"

I wince whenever I scroll

acanuck — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 01:04:21 +0000

In reply to Talk about bait and switch! I

I wince whenever I scroll past that headline. Have you ever felt Astroturf, stilli? I'm open to novel perversions, but that's just not my idea of fun. Not at all!

Talk about bait and switch! I

stillidealistic — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 21:39:46 +0000

In reply to Astroturf and Masturbation

Talk about bait and switch! I thought we were going to talk about having fun at the ballpark!

What you are saying about

moat — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 21:25:03 +0000

In reply to You will know a leotard by

What you are saying about personal insults is important and I didn't mean to blow it off.

As happened with your, Let Me Entertain You, post, you've got me thinking about what kind of conversations am I looking for. That question gets me wondering about what kind of conversations other people are looking for.

The article in the Guardian

tmccarthy0 — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:03:44 +0000

In reply to Seriously? It's all the

The article in the Guardian cited by Donal is about Libertarians.

Ahh mean people, they certainly are everywhere and it is easy to call names on the internet. But I was drawing a connection between the article and my own little experience. Let me tell you my story:

At one time during the usenet wars of the 1990's, I had two jobs and was in Grad School at the time, one job was working for a BBS (20 hours a week), and the other was working for the Ballet, I designed their database and of course ran the database and the office (20 hours a week). At the same time while in school I did some work for a local state Senator (internship), so I participated in several usenet political discussion groups. I was one of the only folks on the Senators Staff at the time who knew anything about electronic communication, I'd just given a big presenation at SER's yearly conference, it was 1994 - 1995. I was stalked by an on-line horde (not really a horde but it was to me, although there were just two of them) I was almost 33, as they found me, came to my place of work, followed me home, stalked me, attempted to intimidate me, threatened my life, followed me daily to the ferry, and the coup d'gras, was the day I walked out of a night class and they were both there, they didn't say a word, but they followed me to my car, and really just seemed to try to intimidate me to no end, to make sure I would just stop. As I left class, my friend Jeff was with me, and I asked him to walk with me as they followed me, "It's them," I whispered to him, his eyebrow shot up. They said nothing as we walked to the parking lot, but they trailed behind us, not too far. It was scary and it was weird. The State Senator I was interning for, called the authorities, the very next day, as I told her what had happened the evening prior, and for two months I had security every time I went to the Senators office, everywhere. Finally they gave up, they tried everything to get me to shut up, they called the Senators office, trying to get me fired, they called the Ballet, trying to get me fired, my thesis committee head received a phone call about me. They called my house at all hours, one time waking answer the phone around 3 AM and someone telling me to be careful when I went to work the next day. I seriously have no respect or regard for libertarians as in my life they have had no boundaries to speak of, no limits on how they will stop people from disagreeing with them. I've never had anyone else do that to me, not ever, not a democrat, not a republican, no one else. To me that article exemplifies exactly what I went through. You and I will have to agree to disagree, because we will never see eye to eye on this subject. But I believe my experiences are valid. You never will, so how about we agree to disagree, because we are never going to see eye to eye on this subject.

Well said (and civilly, too),

Hey Wally — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:36:57 +0000

In reply to Astroturf and Masturbation

Well said (and civilly, too), Donal. I'll try harder to watch my own responses to those who push my buttons. It's difficult to know whether to reply or not when assertions are wrapped in insults. Leave the assertions unopposed? Get tangled up in the insults? All I can say is, I'l be more selective about my replies. Thanks, Donal.

Thanks also to cmaukonen for the nice fractal. I think it was "Nova" that did a show on it just last night. I learned a lot.

Seriously? It's all the

kgb999 — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:12:00 +0000

In reply to Donal, both articles are

Seriously? It's all the Libertarians? ROTFLMAO. The only time I've ever had someone initiate conversation by flat-out calling me a "cocksucker" for voicing an online opinion about a politician was an Obama-loyalist Democrat. The tactic was hardly isolated to myself.

Being shitty online is probably one of the few truly bipartisan endeavors left to Americans. Don't sell Democrats short ... some of the biggest assholes on the tubez are Democrats.

Me too!

Michael Maiello — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:11:40 +0000

In reply to I think I'm not the only one

Me too!

I think I'm not the only one

Atheist — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:20:58 +0000

In reply to In other words, too many

I think I'm not the only one who first thinks of Mandelbrot when he hears the name Monbiot.

You will know a leotard by

Donal — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:47:55 +0000

In reply to I appreciate this post

You will know a leotard by those spots on the astroturf. No dag isn't all that bad, but eternal vigilance, blah, blah, blah ...

Oh moat, you crack me up big

tmccarthy0 — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:23:29 +0000

In reply to I appreciate this post

Oh moat, you crack me up big time! Thank you for that, it made my day!!!