The launch of Huffington Post Canada as is may make 1.5 million people angry!

Dear Ms Huffington:

Congratulations on launching your first international edition. I think that Canada and the UK are logical and smart next choices.

I am a big fan or yours Ms Huffington and I am concerned that whoever is advising you may be misunderstanding your international audience. May I give you some unsolicited advice?

I realize that any launch will have bugs and launch day will bring headaches but whoever told you that hijacking 1.5 million Canadians and giving them the book banning lady in the same day was the way to go may not be giving you the best advice.

Ms Reisman I realize that you banned anti-Semitic trash but banning books when you have as much power over the sale of books that you have is abuse of power to many people. That makes people who value freedom over censorship very nervous.

I apologize Ms Huffington, as I understand that Ms Reisman is a friend but I think you will find that giving her editorial control may make people nervous.

I think one of the following three options might please your international readers better than redirection:

1. Distinct .com, .ca and .uk editions (no hijacking)
2. Separate tabs at huffpo.com or
3. Just geolocating for advertising on HuffPo.com.

I know this should be a day of only celebration but I think you may find that you have 1.5 million people angry at you.

You may want to get the tech department coding...quickly.

Sincerely,

Sage Spencer

Next Blogum: June 2011

Julian Assange: Hero or Horror?

I have just read a passionate criticism of Julian Assange by Huffington Post Former Associate News Editor Larry Womack.  My attempt at a HuffPo comment is too long and so has become a blog post instead.

Julian Assange: is he a hero or a horror?  He appears to be polarizingly one or the other these days or at least that is the picture being drawn. 

Everyone plays a role in society, a function of their personality, parenting, health and worldview.  In order to be healthy, a society needs many roles to be played.  Julian Assange is clearly a shit disturber.  We need shit disturbers in society at every point in history.  Too many people are sheep and question little about what is done in their name.  Dude is clearly no sheep!

“So it is difficult for me to look across the blogosphere today and see one show of support after another for a man who has consistently shown himself to have no ethical standards as a journalist, blogger or human being.”…Larry Womack, Huffington Post, Dec.4.2010

Some might accuse journalists these days of having an unacknowledged level of jealousy toward Julian Assange, self-identified non-journalist, who has exposed more secrets of late than any professional journalist.  In Larry Womack’s Huffington Post piece, his point is clearly one of ethics and his great displeasure at the appearance of broad support for in his judgement an unethical WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.

I obviously cannot explain the basis of support for each person across the blogosphere but perhaps the difficulty in grasping support for Julian Assange is simply a misunderstanding of exactly what that support entails.

Maybe…it is support on balance but it is not all encompassing.

The Ethics Of Wikileaks

I have not commented on the ethics of Julian Assange online or among my friends because I feel that I would first have a duty to read every word he has released and I have not read every word WikiLeaks has released.

Along with other ethical considerations, I would personally not choose to release documents that would endanger a human being without soberly weighing how humanity would be served by endangering a life.  I am confident based on what I am aware WikiLeaks has released that Julian and I would make different decisions on what to release and/or in what form.  That said, that does not mean that I do not support him because partly I do, though I cannot identify my level of support if one had to put a number on it.

For me, WikiLeaks is a message much more important than whatever Julian has released yesterday or will release tomorrow. Julian Assange has elucidated a message about secrecy and power.

You know when you have one of those nanny shows and the parents are screaming “fix my problem child” and the nanny looks knowingly into the camera non-verbally communicating to the audience that the problem is much bigger than the child’s present behaviour.  Julian may in fact simply be an anarchist and therefore problematic, though at this point in time I do not accept that characterization of him (or at least it is far too simplistic) but for me all this screaming about whether Julian is a hero or horror ignores the bigger picture of what the WikiLeaks phenomenon is elucidating about secrecy and power in our 2010 world.  The ethics questions in each of those documents are to my mind much more important to the fabric of our society long term than the short term thinking noise we are presently focusing on.

Contrasting the ethics of mainstream journalism and WikiLeaks as Larry Womack has done is a valid comparison.  But for me anyway, getting lost in the ethics of what Julian has released yesterday or today is missing a bigger picture question about what we release and what we keep secret and whether the balance is in our best interests OR whether it is simply power for power’s sake.

Is Julian a hero or a horror?  I have not decided yet but I pray we will not all get lost in whatever moves threatened-secret-power inevitably makes to try and stop him and that we will choose instead to focus on the questions of secrecy and power that affect our 2010 lives. 

“The question is not, as so many seem to believe, government corruption or WikiLeaks. The question is responsible coverage of legitimate government wrongdoing or lives lost on a megalomaniac's whim.”…Larry Womack, Huffington Post, Dec.4.2010

That is the question for Larry Womack.  I have others.

• What do we keep secret in our 2010 world…and why?  The stalkerazzi knows more about what schools the children of celebrities attend then we know about our own government.
• Do these 2010 secrets we keep serve our best interests or are they just secrecy for power’s sake?
• Who we are is where we draw our lines.   Where should we draw those lines between secrecy and power?
• If we make our government’s actions more transparent will we get better government?
• Do more professional journalists need to be doing what Julian Assange is doing with the addition of the ethically hard work of redacting for innocence and safety? (though given that telling the truth is now being treated as treason, some might understandably be scared at the present intimidation tactics of the powerful)

We each have our own ethics.  Julian Assange has his.  Larry Womack, professional journalist has his.  I have mine.  Instead of focusing on the ethics of whatever Julian has released today, maybe we should be having a broader conversation about the ethics of secrecy and power.  Because if we do not know what our government is doing in our name, then is it really OUR government?

Support for Julian Assange

Larry Womack seems confounded by what seems to him to be broad support for an unethical Julian Assange.  Perhaps it is only that Julian Assange’s supporters are willing to take the bad with the good because they are so desperate for truth and for something that is for the PEOPLE and not the secret powerful!  Maybe that!

Next Blogum: January 2011

Sage Spencer

P.S.

Before the June 2009 Webby Awards, The Huffington Post had a blog posting asking for five word entries for Arianna Huffington’s Webby acceptance speech.  I think it would be a fascinating posting to do the same for “What WikiLeaks means to you.”

A Letter to Tea Partiers and all others who wish to abandon Network Neutrality!

Please do not offer the world an opportunity to kick our internet ass!

I have just read a post on The Huffington Post indicating that Tea Partiers wish to abandon network neutrality and that they have inexplicably called network neutrality

“an affront to free speech and free markets."

This post began as a comment to that article but due to length has turned into a blog post.

Dear Tea Partiers and all others who wish to abandon network neutrality:

Network neutrality is not an affront to free speech and free markets.  It is in fact quite the opposite.  Network Neutrality is a communication principle that allows for an  INCREASE in the exercise of free speech and is a principle that makes markets FREER.  Anyone who has told you differently is not telling you the truth.

Network Neutrality is not something new.

  Network Neutrality is also not a plot by the present government or any other government to control us in any way.

Network Neutrality is a communication principle that the Net has been operating under since its inception.

This communication principle allows you and me, the internet users, to be treated as equals when we use the internet…one of us may be paying for temporary access at a public internet café while the other may have a dedicated computer room in a house with a fourteen car garage. Network Neutrality means that my traffic on the internet is not more or less important than yours.

It is the same principle that another communications tool has operated under since before my great gran was born.   That other communications tool would be the telephone.  This principle guarantees that when I phone my great gran, my telephone company does not get to discriminate against my call going through before my neighbour’s does…because they happen not to appreciate my great gran protesting their investment in blood diamonds, outside their company headquarters each week.  Network Neutrality, as a general rule, disallows discriminatory or preferential treatment of  communications.  A Canadian internet example of a corporation being non-neutral can be read here: Telus Blocks Consumer Access to Labour Union Web Site and Filters an Additional 766 Unrelated Sites

Recently, two large corporations, Google and Verizon, have banded together, in what some might call an internet mafia, in order to devise a new set of rules that they would like to see the internet function by.  They have decided that they no longer want to operate under the Network Neutrality communication principle that the Net has been operating under until now, and they would like to abandon this communication principle... for wireless communications and other yet to be determined “new services”.  

Presently, YOU the internet user get to decide what you see on the internet; you the user have that FREEDOM and that POWER.  Abandoning Net Neutrality transfers that freedom and power from YOU to the CORPORATION. 

If we the internet users were to lose Network Neutrality, then a few large corporations would gain certain opportunities to control us for profit. We would be giving up a freedom and power we presently enjoy and then agreeing to pay a corporation in the future in order to exercise that freedom, in whatever way they choose to allow us exercise it.

Profits are a great thing.  Business is the engine of the economy. Both of those do not mean that what Google and Verizon are asking for is in your best interests or the best interests of businesses… other than their own.

Yes, in the short term, abandoning Network Neutrality creates the potential opportunity of profits for a few large corporations. In the long term, it will create a very different internet than the one that has existed until now. Abandoning Network Neutrality will create an internet with less competition and less innovation, both of which are bad for business… unless you are a monopoly or near monopoly.  It will also offer other countries who retain the freer markets that Network Neutrality provides the opportunity to kick our internet ass.

If you are voting to abandon Network Neutrality then know that you are voting to abandon the free market principle of a level playing field.  When we play against each other on the soccer field both our teams get to field 11 players. We don’t know who will win but we agree to play by the same rules.  Network Neutrality has created a level playing field on the internet which has fuelled new businesses. Network Neutrality is great for competition, innovation and new business.

By voting to abandon Network Neutrality, you are also voting to allow a few large corporations to make short term profits at the expense of long term competition, innovation and business development on and of the internet.

We must thoughtfully consider whether enforceable rules are necessary to allow for the continuation of this level playing field that has created successful businesses originating in garages, homes, dorm rooms and basements?

The Internet will soon become as much a  necessity as the telephone before it.   It is in the public’s best interest to think seriously about Network Neutrality at this point in time.  Two large corporations are proposing abandoning it on wireless, which is the future of the internet, therefore defacto abandoning it.  This decision involves, at the very least, questions of freedom of expression, questions of access to a technology that will soon be as fundamental as the telephone and questions of fair business competition. 

PLEASE, think seriously about Network Neutrality before you agree to abandon something that you will NEVER get back!

Next Blogum: October 2010

Sage Spencer

July.20.2010 – Something Went Wrong With My HuffPo ‘My Comments’ Tab Overnight?

Dear Huffington Post Tech Department:

There is something wrong with my My Comments Tab today, July 20. 2010.

I went to bed and it was working fine but today a whole slew of my comments are not visible from many different threads.

I will post stats and explanatory image below.

Between July 1st and last night, I:

Made 105 Comments

91 were allowed and posted until today.

14 were not posted

As of today, only 9 of the 91 posted are visible on My Comments tab

Where did my 82 comments go?

I have created detailed images below accounting for the comments from most recent going back to July 1st 2010. 

July 14 16:41:18 to July 20 19:40 PM-      49 Missing Comments

July 1 18:40:17 to July 14 16:41:18-       28 Missing Comments

July 1 14:10:56 to July 1 18:40:17-          4 Missing Comments

July 1 13:27:58 to July 1 14:10:56 – No Missing Comments

July 1 12:18:44 to July 1 13:27:58 –         1 Missing Comment

I can go back farther if you want but since whatever happened, happened last night, it is probably not necessary as it all happened around the same time.

I can give you help to identify the relevant comments individually if you need (or just identify the 14 that were not posted) but I figure someone at HuffPo will know what happened and that is likely unnecessary.

Thanks for your help,

Sage Spencer

 

UPDATE JULY 22, 2010 12:22 AM

My original problem is described above.  It was basically that 82 comments disappeared overnight from my My Comments tab.

I logged on very briefly at some point after I contacted you and I thought it looked like the problem had been solved so I do not now if this is a new problem or if you are working on the My Comments tab system-wide?

But as of now, July 22, 2010 12:22AM, I can only see two pages of comments when they are sorted on the My Comments tab by the sort “ALL”, the oldest page of my comments (though it says it is the newest) and one other page of recent comments (though not my newest)

I will attach explanatory images below though you can just go to:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/SageSpencer?action=comments

try it and you will see it for yourself.

IMAGE ONE: My Comments Tab Sorted by “ALL” and “Newest First” is displaying OLDEST FIRST?

IMAGE TWO: Pressing the right arrow button in IMAGE ONE gets me these quite new comments as opposed to those next in THE timeline?

IMAGE THREE: Pressing the left arrow button in Image Two brings me back to my oldest comments, one of only two comment pages that will display under the sort ALL?

Thanks for your help,

Sage Spencer

 

UPDATE August 2, 2010 2:12 AM

My original problem is described above. 

1. It was basically that on July 20. 2010 I noticed that 82 comments had disappeared overnight from my My Comments tab.

- You corrected that.  Thank you.

2. I then updated you on July 22.2010 that I could only see two pages of comments when my My Comments tab was sorted by ALL.

- You corrected that.  Thank you again.

Now as of August 2. 2010 and since I last contacted you there is a new/similar issue with my comments?

IMAGE ONE: July 27.2010

I have made 718 Comments but only 698 are displaying?  Why are the other 20 Comments Not Displaying?

 

IMAGE TWO:  August 2.2010

Since Image One ABOVE, I have made “1” additional comment.  It does show that I now have 719 Comments (correct) but now only  672 display.  So now 47 are not displaying??

Thanks for your help again,

Sage Spencer

 

UPDATE August 3, 2010 4:39PM

Last time I contacted you, yesterday, I had made:

• 719 Comments - Correct
• Only 672 were being displayed
• 47 were missing from display

As of 4:39PM today, I have now made:

• 724 Comments – Correct
• But now only 640 are displaying.
• Including new comments, I have lost another 32 comments overnight?

Where have 79 of my Comments gone?

Thanks for your help,

Sage Spencer

 

UPDATE August 4, 2010 2:40PM

Last time I contacted you, yesterday August 3, I had made:

• 724 Comments
• But only 640 were displaying.
• Including new comments, I had lost another 32 comments overnight and was then missing 79 in total?

As of 2:40PM today, I have now made:

• 9 new comments since last time I contacted you, 8 of which were posted
• So, ignoring the one comment not posted yesterday would equal my having made 733 Comments now
• My comment profile now says I have made 642 comments and is displaying 639
• So including new comments made (and posted, 8) since I last contacted you, I have lost another 9 comments overnight from display.

Why have I lost 88 comments from display HuffPo? 

Thanks for your help,

Sage Spencer

 

UPDATE August 5, 2010 2:54PM

Last time I contacted you, yesterday August 4, I had made:

• 9 new comments since last time I contacted you, 8 of which were posted
• So, ignoring the one comment not posted yesterday would equal my having made 733 Comments now
• My comment profile now says I have made 642 comments and is displaying 639
• So including new comments made (and posted, 8) since I last contacted you, I have lost another 9 comments overnight from display.

As of 2:54 PM today, I have now made:

• 733 Comments
• My comment profile now says I have made 642 comments and is displaying 613
• So since I last contacted you, I have lost another 26 comments overnight from display.

In Summary

When I first contacted you on this issue:

• July 20.2010:  At least 82 comments had disappeared overnight from my My Comments tab (the 82 I identified were 82 of 91 that were posted between July 1st – July 20th)
• I believe they briefly reappeared
• July 22.2010: Then I could only display two particular pages of comments (my oldest page and one recent)
• July 27,2010: 718 comments made, only 698 displaying
• August 2.2010: 719 Comments made, only 672 displaying
• August 3.2010: 724 Comments made, only 640 displaying
• August 4.2010: Should be 733 comments made but now says 642 made and only 639 displaying.
• August 5.2010: Should be 733 made but now says 642 made and only 613 displaying.

Is there a Gremlin eating my comments?

Thanks for your help,

Sage Spencer

Next Blogum: August 2010

When Comments Are Not Posted On HuffPo…Try Something New?

It is official. I am spending too much time on The Huffington Post, as this is my second blog entry about it…and in a row??

So…I made a comment today on HuffPo. Someone responded. Actually a few people did. I attempted to reply to one of the responses and continue the discussion but my reply was not posted.

I know…it is not my website. They can post whatever they want and reject whatever they want, though recently I admit to being confused about why certain harmless comments are not posted. It is slightly frustrating when you are essentially trying to continue a conversation.

Also recently, I posted a comment that did not appear on its thread an hour later …maybe even longer. I eventually posted it three times. Then all three comments appeared on the thread!?! So what happened during that 1 to 1/2 hours? Where were those three comments? Is it a computer thing? A human thing?

How long should we wait before we can assume that our comment has been rejected? HuffPo needs some sort of system…perhaps a tab on our profile page that shows comments that are in moderation (even if only visible to the user) and then a check or cross next to the comment once it has been posted or rejected?

So…I know basically…well, actually nothing about HTML, but I decided to Google, learn something new and try something out. Might work? Might not?

Some comments made on The Huffington Post, but not posted, that I am linking to, here:

Comment One: April 13, 2010

Thread: Hugh Hefner Slams Tiger Woods, Jesse James & Sex Addiction.

Reply to: Saskia2424 (Posted 01:56PM on 4/13/2010) :

My reply not posted: I am laughing so hard right now. Thank you Saskia2424.

But thank you most of all for making my friend Paige laugh. She is L(her)AO right now on my webcam that you think I am infantilizing women...and she is very sick and you are making her laugh..so THANK YOU.

Did not intend to infantilize women. You accusing me of it is certainly a first.

I just like that word. I don't watch Scrubs but same idea.

There was a very emotional scene on Grey's Anatomy where Dr. Miranda Bailey, who often comes across as tough as nails, is kinda loosing it. She is in labour and her husband may be dying in surgery. She is basically refusing to push. Her intern George gets behind her, holds her up and talks to her in a way that gets her to push. During one light hearted moment in an otherwise emotionally tense and dramatic scene:

Dr. Bailey: "O'Malley!"

Dr. George O'Malley: "Yes, ma'am?"

Dr. Bailey: "Stop looking at my va-jay-jay!"

Dr. George O'Malley: "Yes, ma'am."

For whatever reason, that scene was very powerful to me. I loved it and I liked that word…vajayjay.

I have been to the Vagina Monologues. I have no problem saying vagina. I make sure I use the correct term when speaking to children in the family..."Yes, boys have a penis and girls have a vagina"...but I prefer vajayjay..because of that scene, I think. :)

Comment Two: June 20. 2010 3:12AM

Thread: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/19/gulf-oil-spill-tony-haywa_n_618332.html

My comment not posted: Clearly having anything to do with yachts sailing on a body of clean water when your company has maimed another body of water...is...well... DUMBA*S... but we already know Tony Hayward and PR are... like... well... oil and water.

Apparently, Tony was spending time with his son. I do not begrudge him that. Children need to spend time with their parents, even if said parents have F - - - ed up the Gulf. I just wish he could have gone to his child’s soccer game instead of well you know…yachts and a clean body of water.

Now, at some point we are ALL going to have to stop screaming at BP, after they pay for the damages of course, and look at the man in the mirror. We are all responsible for this mess, not just BP and Tony Hayward…ALL OF US!

Comment Three: June 26.2010 c. 12:30 AM

Thread:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/25/internet-kill-switch-appr_n_625856.html

My comment not posted: Freedom of speech does not depend on the medium. It is either free speech or it is subject to limitations. If the President is going to be given the power to shut down the internet for 120 days, that is no different than giving him the power to shut down the telephone system for 120 days or to declare that no newspapers can be delivered for the next 120 days or that those found standing in the city centre expressing their freedom of speech en masse by demonstrating will be gagged for the next 120 days. He has just been given enormous power to shut down freedom of speech and it is not okay.

Trying one last time to post it:

Comment Four: July 13.2010 5:00 PM

Thread: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ahmed-moor/west-bank-prosperity-is-a_b_644147.html

My comment not posted:

"In their minds, cash will placate a human population whose dignity is being constantly assailed at the end of Zionist guns. "
-----------------------------------------------
I have often used the phrase, Palestinians being denied dignity at the end of a gun. Israel thinking that cash will placate a human population being denied human dignity is just another myth Israelis tell themselves. The Apartheid state is unsustainable. Israelis need to stop telling themselves all the myths they do about how this can turn out; Israel can either do right by the Palestinians or there will EVENTUALLY be no "Jewish" state.

Comment Five: August 2.2010 6:56PM

Thread: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/02/israel-to-expel-children-_n_666995.html

My comment not posted:

The treatment of migrant workers is a problem extending far beyond the borders of Israel. I feel it is immoral to encourage the use of migrant labor in any country long term and expect workers to be single without families. If you endorse the use of people’s labor long term on your land, I feel you owe then the opportunity of eventual citizenship. I assume that Israel’s recent decision must contravene the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but I do not know if they are a signatory. Because of Israel’s defined Zionist character and their admission of this decision is necessary to maintain Israel’s Jewish character it is xenophobic by nature but many decisions adopted to maintain non pluralistic states will inherently be so. If Israel wants to engage in such immigration decisions, then I think they should focus on preventing worker immigrants from entering the country and not punish children for the failed policies of adults.


YEAH!!! Tried again at 8:38 PM and it was posted this time:

Comment Six: Future Date

Thread: X

My comment not posted:

I am having a Huffington Post technical problem: Can you help me?

I joined Huffington Post in December 2009. I have to date made fifty-nine comments, according to my account stats today. I am surprised I have made that many comments actually. A few I suspect are typo corrections, because while I can spell, I cannot type. Describing my typing as horrible is an understatement. There is personal history that explains that…maybe I will write about it one day in some future blogum.

I had committed to writing this blogum monthly but this technical issue is both confusing me and intriguing me, so I will lay it out and hope someone more technical than me can offer an opinion. Anyone?

Summary of the Issue

Day One: March 18th

1. I posted four comments on March 18th on The Huffington Post: 3 on thread one and 1 on thread two

3 Comments on Thread One: AIPAC Lashes Out At Obama Administration Over Israel Statements

Comment 1: Posted Mar.18.2010 @13:49:41

Comment 2: Posted Mar.18.2010 @13:53:50

Comment 3: Posted Mar.18.2010 @14:18:05

1 Comment on Thread Two: Christiane Amanpour To Host 'This Week' on ABC

Comment 4: Posted Mar.18.2010 @18:55:41

2. I believe that all 4 comments originally appeared on their respective threads after posting, as I have the habit of checking before I move on.

Day Two: March 19th

3. There is now a problem with 2 of the 3 comments I posted on thread one. Comment One and Comment Two have disappeared from the thread. (they were posted consecutively in response to a comment from HPoster "icouce", Posted 04:06 AM on 3/18/2010). Comment Three is still there. Comment Four is still on thread two.

Comments One and Two are Not Where They Should Be On The Thread (area is blank):

Comment Three Is Where It Should Be On The Thread:

3. Here is where it gets weird, at least to me. While comments 1 and 2 disappeared from the thread, they ARE visible on my comment page and strangely, also on the thread when clicked FROM my comment page (left sides of the three images below)...so the person whose comments I responded to would think I had not responded to them if they looked for them ON the actual thread. If they looked for them on my Comment Page they would see them…but who would do that?

Comment One: When Clicked FROM My Comment Page VS. Looking At The Same Location On Actual THREAD. (there is a difference)

Comment Two: When Clicked FROM My Comment Page VS. Looking At The Same Location On Actual THREAD. (there is a difference)

Comment Three: When Clicked FROM my Comment Page VS. Looking At The Same Place on Actual THREAD. (no difference)

Day Three: March 20th

4. On March 20th, the issue changed. My missing comments are now visible on the actual THREAD (as opposed to on the thread when clicked FROM my comment page) WHEN I am logged in but NOT when I am logged out???

Which I think means one of two things:

a) either I am the only one who can see these two comments I made

OR

b) myself and anyone who is logged in to Huffington Post can see them, but the general public cannot.

Can any of you Huffington Posters see my missing comments FROM the AIPAC lashes out at Obama Administration Over Israel Statements thread, when you are logged in?

Are there any computer techies or Huffington Posters who can explain to me what the technical cause is of the issue I am having?

Thank you kindly, for any assistance.

Sage Spencer

Next Blogum: April 2010

_______________________________________

Update: March 23, 2010

I checked for my missing posts on the AIPAC Lashes Out At Obama Administration Over Israel Statements thread just now and they have returned.

Comment 1: Posted Mar.18.2010 @13:49:41 Has Returned To The Public Thread

Comment 2: Posted Mar.18.2010 @13:53:50 Has Returned To The Public Thread

I had contacted Huffington Post regarding the issue, but there is no email from them today, so I do not know who to thank…so I posted a thanks on the thread.

Thank you kindly to whoever fixed this issue.

Sage Spencer

Next Blogum: April 2010