Teh Interwebz

299 posts

Let the siege begin!

120 comments

In honor of Frolic Friday, let us commenters adopt a siege mentality to The Site Which Shall Not Be Named.  No pageviews, even out of idle curiousity.  Perhaps one post in crosstalk inviting dissenters here. 

The interesting gentleman pictured above is Ralf Moeller, who pursued a career in bodybuilding until his stature brought him to the silver screen as a friend to Russell Crowe’s Gladiator.   He also was in The Scorpion King, the tv version of Conan The Barbarian, and has worked on several techno / trance albums.  This makes him similar to Crasstalk – an amalgam of multiple talents and hotness, big but still nimble, and if his sword ever needs polishing, there will be no shortage of volunteers.

I am serious about depriving Gawker of our company.  They don’t deserve it.  The site went to shite, as my Irish friends would say, and while I feel bad for Richard and Brian, both of them will land on their feet.  But since Denton has chosen to take his business in this direction (which is his right), he should not get the benefit of our scintillating wit and he certainly shouldn’t get money for our pageviews.

Snark Off: Banned Substances

9 comments

Commissioner Bud Selig has just announced that Charlie Sheen is now an illegal substance under MLB regulations.  Players will be randomly be tested for exposure to Charlie Sheen.

Charlie Sheen (middle) with (from left to right) MLB players, Coco Crisp, Eric Davis, Brandon Watson and Milton Bradley.

The Blog is Dead. Long Live the Blog!

23 comments

So I guess Mr. Denton feels that the era of the blog is over and it is time to move on. Maybe this is true for Gawker, but there are still some really excellent blogs being produced by some really talented people. Blogs are a pretty democratic form of communication and they can often focus on local or niche issues that would not generate enough revenue for larger websites. While blogging may seem like a trite pastime, there are some serious issues being discussed out there. For every hipster jack ass bitching about some band there is a neighborhood activist covering issues their local papers cannot. For every dumb girl writing about how drunk she was last night there is a watchdog covering corruption and graft (often in countries that don’t take kindly to such activity). I thought I would share a couple of my favorites and I am hoping you will do the same in the comments.

Barefoot and Progressive: A fantastic blog about Kentucky politics from a liberal perspective. There is some great reporting going on here, and you get a ring-side seat to the Tea Party circus.

The BLager: Like beer? This blog is for you. Updates on beer news, beer events, and recipes in short, delicious posts. A must for the functional alcoholic in your life.

Duck of Minerva: A great foreign policy blog run by a group of international relations professors. Cool analysis and some pretty good snark.

Africa is a Country: I cannot say enough good things about this blog. Written by a South African who lives in New York it covers African politics, literature, and sports. He also has fantastic taste in music.

So there are my favorites, and yes The Grand Inquisitor has a couple of blogs (you can see them by clicking on my Intense Debate profile). Please share you favorites here and bonus points if you post one of your own.

Snark Off: I Remember When Gawker Was…

198 comments

It’s time to turn the tables.  Come up with your best hipsterism about Gawker.

Whether you want to talk about when the commenters there all kept it real or when it was all gritty and cutting edge, now’s your chance to show how you got that Star.

Unless, of course, you realized way back that commenting is about Stars, man.

And The Band Played On…

56 comments

I’ve popped over to Gawker a few times today.  A quiet resignation is filling Crosstalk.  The comment system is in ruins.  Replies either can’t be seen or don’t get threaded.  Inane and offensive remarks get pushed to the top.  And it looks like someone at Gawker HQ is devoted to gaming the frontpage so the Chris Lee story gets maximum exposure.

I’d say it’s a clusterfuck but that connotes a mishap.  It is now veering towards sabotage.  We are in territory we’ve never been in before – where the new changes can’t be made to jibe with the old format.  From all indications, it appears that the old ship is indeed sinking.

Because Crosstalk cannot be relied upon, please use this post as a central repository for FB profile info.  The lifeboats are being lowered from the davits and we are being scattered to the seas.

Those wishing to find me on FB may find me at matthew dot c dot baron.

It has been a privilege commenting with you.

Dear Barbie Q: How to deal with trolls

42 comments

Dear Barbie Q:
I just saw a comment on Gawker CT, wherein I got name-checked by someone I’ve largely considered to be an obnoxious troll. (She was addressing the CT community at large.) I have to admit that what she said made sense to me. There is a fine line between enjoyment and addiction, and maybe CT was more of the latter for many of us.

After you read the following quote from Total Package (!!), I would appreciate it if you would share your own thoughts/insights regarding the fine line between enjoyment and addiction. (Does not need to be specifically related to the internet; any life experiences you’d like to share are most welcome.
“You people are all acting like a bunch of low rent, trailer trash tranny hookers who just got their dimebag of black tar heroin taken away from them by their pimp for not turning enough tricks. LISTEN TO YOURSELVES!!! You can’t tell your anus from your mouth cause you are spouting shit out of both of them all day long!!! You are totally addicted to this site!!! (And I dont mean just you Salome Valentine…we all know how many times you’ve tried to pull yourself away.) Why not use this screwup as a final attempt to break free from your addiction. Otherwise if you are willing to stick with Gawker even after this mess you are slaves for life.”
What do you think?
-Salome Valentine

Dear Salome Valentine:
Here’s the problem: You are calling this person a troll, but she is actually a divine sage inspired by the Egyptian Goddess of Truth and Justice, Ma’at. The Goddess is guided by 42 divine principles (http://www.kenseamedia.com/egyptian_gods/maat.htm), including
• I have not spoken scornfully against others
• I have not used fiery words nor stirred up any strife
• I have not been unduly proud nor acted with arrogance.
• I have not been angry without good reason.
If you carefully read the message, you can see the signs of divine inspiration. They include multiple punctuation marks within a single sentence, capitalization for the purpose of divine guidance, vehemence in inverse proportion to provocation, and ire concerning matters that are utterly extraneous to the message’s composer’s interests.
The appropriate way to handle this is to contact the sage and ask for divine guidance. Clearly, the sage is spending her time on worthy and just causes. Where would we be if she was not targeting commenters and attacking them so that they will be worried into to happiness and harmony?
Don’t be embarrassed, you’ve made a common error. If you feel the need to apologize to the goddess, an animal sacrifice may be in order. I suggest a jackal. Or possibly, a hamster.

The Competing Open Thread Sites

38 comments

With the demise of the open threads over at Gawker, some of the more industrious geeks have decided to create their own boards.  In the few days following Gawker’s Meg Ryan-like reconstruction, Twitter was ablaze with people pimping their own sites, and recruiting the better commenters to join them.  It was like a commenter free agency.  When the dust settled, most people frequented two sites, yippayap ( http://yippayap.com/ ), and ATGAR ( http://atgar.dailyentity.com/ ).  Both now have a de facto #whitenoise in them, with yippayap even going so far as to call its corresponding page whitenoise, and yippayap also has the relocated #groupthink.  I haven’t ventured into groupthink, because it’s not really my demographic (straight male who blogs while he poops), but the whitenoise pages are pretty interesting.  They’re like some sort of anthropologic study in how something like 4chan came to be.  There’s no censorship, no threat of banning or destarring, and as a result, they have become a center for ridiculous memes, and fake commenting accounts.  Also, those who I Could.  Not.  Fucking.  Stand.  are there.  I ain’t going to either of those sites, which is a shame because #whitenoise was where I began my open thread career.  Now that’s gone.  Looks like I’m with you guys until BMC decides to revamp this site.

P.S. I have no idea how to use wordpress, so I’m just guessing on the shit below where I type this stuff.  If I fuck it all up, my apologies.

When Trolls Make Sense

142 comments

I just saw a comment on Gawker CT, wherein I got name-checked by someone I’ve largely considered to be an obnoxious troll. (She was addressing the CT community at large.)

I have to admit that what she said made sense to me. There is a fine line between enjoyment and addiction, and maybe CT was more of the latter for many of us.

I feel very grateful to Botswana and everyone else who has been sustaining Crasstalk, because this seems like it might be a more creative (and more balanced) alternative to Gawker.

After you read the following quote from Total Package (!!), I would appreciate it if you would share your own thoughts/insights regarding the fine line between enjoyment and addiction. (Does not need to be specifically related to the internet; any life experiences you’d like to share are most welcome.

“You people are all acting like a bunch of low rent, trailer trash tranny hookers who just got their dimebag of black tar heroin taken away from them by their pimp for not turning enough tricks. LISTEN TO YOURSELVES!!! You can’t tell your anus from your mouth cause you are spouting shit out of both of them all day long!!! You are totally addicted to this site!!! (And I dont mean just you Salome Valentine…we all know how many times you’ve tried to pull yourself away.) Why not use this screwup as a final attempt to break free from your addiction. Otherwise if you are willing to stick with Gawker even after this mess you are slaves for life.”

What do you think?

Twitterdeedee!

5 comments

The Crasstalk Twitter account is back up and running!

I will be checking in a few times a day to see if new articles are posted and will then tweet to all our ‘many’ followers.  I do, however, have a day job and am often busy saving lives at work so I may miss your post!  If you have a Twitter account and write a post – hit me up at @crasstalk on Twitter to let me know.  Also, if for some insane reason you do not want your post promoted, let me know you would rather I not tweet about it.

And don’t forget to follow @Crasstalk on Twitter!