where's Trig?

Fine. Bravo on enforcing the TOS.

Now what about the other person that was deleted? Same deal?

And if so, YOU DAMN WELL BETTER ENFORCE THE TOS UNIFORMLY, dude. There are at least 3 -4 DOZEN other people here who have violated the TOS and I expect them to have their accounts deleted as well.

Fair is fair. Know what I mean, Jelly Bean?

great! one nut job down and ...how many more to go?

TOS violations have always been ignored here for the most part, so i think many of us are wondering why one violation is dealt with and others not. is there a number of complaints you must receive first? or is it just a judgement call? just curious.

Thanks very much.

r.

Good call. You're doing a great job.

Glad to see RWNJ gone. I personally tossed him from an (non-official) FB OS group.

If Tr ig has been chucked, can we have an explanation?

And what about the people with alters? Full disclosure, I have an alter, obviously just for fun. But there has been discussion here over the past week about people who have used a whole stable of alters to rate themselves and take potshots at other people. NOT for fun.

Inquiring minds want to know...

The first two comments here posed valid questions. Where is Trig?
If he was also deleted for the same reason then what about the fairly large number who have broken that rule, will they follow out the door as well?

And as to your weighing in on this late, I think waiting to speak on this, at least a bit, was not late but useful, bc it allowed for a critical mass of disgust to coalesce around what happened, allowed a positive consensus to begin to develop and police the site without your having to place yourself in a position to defend against potential charges of censorship from the top.

Thanks for letting us know.

As they say, better late than never.

I actually thought all the links were put there to collect partner cash with Amazon. I just took all mine down. Amazon was on the top of the list. Thanks, by the way. Better days ahead! (I'm going back to work now :-)

Your pm indicated I'd have an answer to my concers over trigs account. Still waiting...

Be judicious, Jacob.

Banning comments and commentators is a very hard habit to break.

Lots of what the Nut Job said was sludge, but the concept of free speech requires protecting garbage as well as flower gardens.

there's garbage and there's toxic waste

Thank you for showing Mr. Nutjob the door. He'll be back though. They always come back.

Thanks for working on the spam issue too (do you like my lovely avatar? made it all by myself).

And echoing others....where's tr ig?

greenie, his account was restored.

Was just on tr ig's blog.

Jake, I'm glad you're engaged, but I don't envy your job.

Thank you. Bravo. Though he's been around a while, I'm afraid nutjob's comment on my gun post started this latest brouhaha. I apologize to for leaving his comment up deliberately. I wanted to show that hate and bigotry still exist under the guise of freedom of expression. I could (maybe should?) have removed subsequent argumentative responses.

Jake, what's your take on moderating comments on our posts in that regard?

Whew.

Okay, now where is Gorlock?

gorlock went to watch a soap opera... since gorlock is an alien, somehow that doesnt surprise me.

greenie, it's Gorlockness. it's still there.

Thank you Jake, for removing the vile poster. That he wrote these posts was disgusting -- and that he was rated by anyone is disgusting.
I told my son (who is editor of a major magazine connected to a major website with more hits than Salon), about what has been happening here and how the site has been degraded by people flaunting the TOS in often malicious ways.
My son says that those who flaunt the TOS of a site in egregious ways should be removed. "They would be gone in a minute here," he said.
This site is at a tipping point in terms of quality. You did well in removing the nut job. Now we need some administrating of TOS rules beyond this action.

A heartfelt thank you for restoring trigs blog. Whew! I love that man!

Thanks for the TOS reminder. I hope it resonates.

Good job Jacob. This is the first time in the 3+ years I've been on OS that there has been this kind of communication and, at least in my recollection, this type of action. I appreciate it.

Thanks, Jacob. I'm not long enough here to have seasoned opinions. I don't even know this trig person. If there are others who have violated the TOS, I have not stumbled upon their sludge (love that description). What I do know: RWNJ's post was an EGREGIOUS violation and I don't think there will be many sorry to be quit of him.

As for the party crasher links, once I deleted them, they durst not return, apparently.

Thanks and Pax,
Jett

Okay, thanks for fixing the "other" deletion thing.

NOW, this:

"You agree that you will not register for more than one account, register for an account on behalf of anyone other than yourself, or use another's account without permission.

Is part of your TOS, as well.

When are you going to start enforcing ALL of your TOS and delete the people who have multiple, multiple alt accounts that they use to inflate their own ratings & comments and to attack other people on this site? Their TOS violations are EVERY bit as egregious as RWNutJobs (which WAS, BTW.)

(I'm SURE you know who exactly I'm talking about. If not, ask and EVERYBODY will gladly tell you).

I have not posted in months, but I have sure been reading a great deal. I am appalled by the invective hurled by some OS users at others. I am disgusted by the intimidation and the distortions some users have brought into their posts and comments. I am more disgusted by the spirit and tone of the accusations--even if they were founded or true.

I have reviewed the terms of service, and I would like someone to tell me if multiple accounts (0r alts or avatars or whatever people would like to call them) constitute a violation. I could be missing something, but I cannot see any language to that effect. Honestly, the "Terms of Service" page is a long, dense passage. I am only human.

If these alternate accounts are not indeed in violation of the terms of service, I still respect the feelings of people who would consider activities on these accounts to be unethical or somehow retrograde to the spirit of collegiality on OS.

Far more retrograde, however, would be the substitution of suspicion for evidence. Moreover, I pose this question: Why should it matter to anyone if a user pads his or her hits or ratings? This is a forum whose most important purpose is qualitative, not quantitative. This is a forum for professional, civil discourse. This is a forum for those who would stand apart from the current mass-media phenomenon of saying it loudly and often enough so that people will believe it.

Forgive me if I sound sactimonious, but I respectfully suggest that if people are outraged by the opinions of others, they should respond with extra measures of civility and sophistication, while clobbering their adversaries with substance, not vitriol. Those who possess a genuinely constructive purpose will confront topics, not personalities.

Those who do, however, choose to make personal matters out of intellectual disagreements, deserve to be ignored--as difficult as that has proven for many of us to do.

Given that, I would suggest--respectfully--that as editor, you, Mr. Sugarman, be more assertive about the term of use stating that users "will not harrass or intimidate any other user of the Service or the Site." On this point, I would submit that MANY accounts deserve deletion. Furthermore, I beg to differ with you that you are not a moderator; rather, you are sheriff, and though the volume of content on OS is a bit much for one person to monitor, the buzz of trouble is easy enough to follow if you listen. I am sad to say I have discovered that lately in the most unfortunate way.

Perhaps it is time to address the spirit of the rules as well as their letter. Perhaps we should incorporate principles into the rules in order to supplement the particulars.

I have been privileged to have an account on Open Salon for over a year and a half. I have valued this forum as a host for ideas and a refuge from the adolescent brand of sarcasm and backbiting that so often characterize less elevated social-media sites. In fact, I always considered this site--and I am open to comments that will dispute my assertion--to be an intellectual site primarily and a social-networking site in only a very loose sense.

I have seen some noble souls suffer attack lately. The noblest of them have taken up silence as a strategy against insidious forces that render any response an invitation for more abuse. If my commentary here results in rebuke, so be it. I only hope afterward to live up to the example of at least one Esteemed Colleague--and a few others--who have learned to rise above.

Well done.

Thank you.

Thanks for restoring trig's account. Can we get the back story? Operator error? A lot of us were pretty upset by that and are glad to see that he was restored quickly enough to save his comments.

If you really want to see abusive posting, check out Yagoda- Yezhov comments to me on this blog:

http://open.salon.com/blog/artlouis/2012/05/30/oh_god_not_nanatehay_again

I'm not asking that the blogger be taken down. At least he's himself, people know he's a troll. But what of the folks who made fake accounts to rate their own blogs and stalk and harass others? Feel free to PM me if you would like me to forward my files showing the activity on 8/8 and 8/9 of 24 alters created to rate one person's posts and those of her friends (who were not in on it).

In the last few days, those alters are leaving comments like these:

http://open.salon.com/blog/femme_forte/2012/08/10/multiple_personalities_on_os_-_shadowland_for_fun_and_profit_1#comment_3042876

http://open.salon.com/blog/aim/2012/08/08/unforgiven_-_meta_rant#comment_3039591

Actually (and do check with your legal adviser) OS is legally a moderated site. It's not 4chan. You might not like that function, it might not be fair to saddle you with it, but someone in management needs to be responsive to TOS issues, at least the serious ones. For example, when someone posts another blogger's RL name, and management receives a complaint to that effect, the offending post should be deleted immediately and the user at the very least warned. There are RL consequences far more serious than any hurt feelings from a nasty comment.

OS is a shoestring operation, and that makes it tough to be both a creative editor and a nuts and bolts administrator, but sadly, there's no one else to do that job. You're the best we've had in a long time. Keep communicating, and so will we.

I must add that as valid as Frank Apisa's comment is, above (and I have a lot of respect for this fine man for leaving comments in place that I thought were entirely inappropriate), this gin joint needs some bouncers. The greatest newspapers in our nation's history of free speech and freedom of the press have had editors who set standards. The flower gardens can remain in full bloom here; those who would dump garbage can buy their own domains and do it there.

You know I think highly of you, Frank.

Tr ig is restored? Thanks.

And thanks for tossing RWNJ.

If the TOS is to be enforced I would think the "gaming" of the system with alters should be looked at carefully. Rating by alters and making slanderous comments by alters.
There are some who think this is OK and although they may be silent on their main account make they strike out at others with their false avatars.

A second re Yagoda- Yezhov. He's left or been tossed a few times and comes back with different names. He has posted some truly vile racist and anti-Semitic stuff. Doesn't get the same attention that RWNJ did, but the stuff is similar.

Thanks for trying to sort things out. Like you point out you're an editor not a moderator... you'd think that we'd behave more like grown ups and figure this stuff out without wearing our outrage on our sleeves. There's a pretty clear linguistic difference between a good natured snipe and a grotesque insult (example: jackass vs. assh_le) and I hope we all take the time to read and rewrite before we click on the "Post this comment" button.

so.....ya havin fun yet?........

" but I can't be there to police every comment and post that goes up on Open"

Ummm, the dust clouds have been swirling over the main pages of OS for 5+ days and across hundreds of comments (so much so that ancient elders of OS have emerged from the crypt); where exactly have you been?

There is an importance of being Earnest. Deleting Rwnj is a good start, but check with your aunties regarding Sirenita and Candace's revelations.

Thank you for seeing a problem and dealing with it, and thank you for communicating as you are here.

Thank you for letting me come over to your place and play. I promise to play nicely.

Glad you're here now, Jacob.

Thanks for your clarity and for your commitment to basic civility. Obviously, people define civility differently and words are often interpreted very differently person to person. In the end, one person must be responsible for making the determination as to whether or not anyone violates TOS. In this place, you, as the editor, are that person.

I agree with others that TOS should be applied equally without regard to personalities. Again, I respect that it is your role to determine when and if specific TOS have been violated as well as the outcome of such violations.

One final thing - a few years ago there was a great deal of chatter here among the masses as to whether we wanted to be "policed" by monitors. I think most of us agreed we did not want a moderator. I think most of us also agree that we want to be treated respectfully and not have people who disagree with our positions to resort to name calling, mockery, ridicule, the use of gutter imagery in comments of our posts, and other forms of blatant disrespect.

Clearly, disagreeing with someone is not the same as disrespecting them. Most people over the age of six or seven have a fairly good sense of when they are behaving respectfully or not.

Thanks again!

Jake.. going to explain why my account was deleted, or suspended? Ruined my dinner man.

For those that expressed concern above. . . thank you.

Wanna start playing by the rules? What a novel concept!

Establish some boundaries. I get that. Teach some lessons.

Thanks for the POV and more. but.....Where do photographic posts figure in all of this? Live long and Prosper!

impressive

When you tell the whole world who you are, and leave it up for two years, and then get your unlicensed lawyer to "defend" you?

And The New College of California School of Law closed down in 2008. There are many practicing lawyers with severe disabilities, Mrs. Lawyer wanna be couldn't pass the bar exam, so stop attempting to provide legal advice without a license. Didn't they teach you that in your now defunct law school?

http://open.salon.com/blog/trig_palin/2011/02/25/turns_out_we_are_related_by_marriage_to_bonnie

Obviously she gave you advice to take it down. Don't put your name and face on a open billboard than then cry "VICTIM" when your real victims decide they have had enough.

No doubt your account was reviewed due to excessive numbers of complaints, much more than most other OSers. No doubt you are proud of yourself. Changes nothing on my end.

Thanks Jacob, we know you are doing double duty with Salon and OS, and I'm sure you find all of us folks fascinating!...especially Chicago Guy...well....maybe a few of my scribbles too...

Umm, does anyone know what KO is going on about?

"Many of you have told me that the My Links section of your blogs have been infiltrated by spam (that magnificent bastard). Is that still the case? Please let me know in the comments section."

I'm not aware of any blogs that have been "infiltrated" by spam in the links section. There are, however, thousands of accounts in which the account bio and links are used for spam.

For example, the account for user "Marcus mcmahan" (or "traducci8y") is a spam account, with spam links in the "My Links" section.

Do a search for accounts with the word "Interesado" and you'll find thousands of such accounts.
----------------------
Concerning the account that was deleted for "hate speech" -- I read through the posts in that account, in particular a couple of recent controversial posts. They were objectionable, but in what I read there was no profanity, no personal attacks, no threats, and nothing illegal.

I've always heard that the correct response to objectionable speech is MORE speech. As far as I could tell, that's what happened in this case. The now-banishsed user published a couple of posts that people vehemently disagreed with, and in response they published their own refutations and disagreements in comments and posts.

Now I find that the user has been banned for "hate speech." But there is nothing in the Terms of Service prohibiting "hate speech." In fact, "hate speech," and even the words "hate" and "speech" are not mentioned in the TOS. In the section of the TOS you cite, there's nothing about "hate speech." As far as I know, no member has ever been banned for "hate speech." On Open Salon, this is something new under the sun.

And so I have to wonder -- have the Terms of Service changed? Are there subjects that cannot be written about on OS? Are there points of view that cannot be expressed on OS?

More importantly, what counts as "hate speech?" If members can now be banned for it -- even though it's not mentioned in the Terms of Service -- then I think we're owed some kind of clear explanation of what is permitted and not permitted.

Banning someone for hate speech is a road that, as far as I know, we have not gone down before, and it raises all sorts of questions. For example, several OS members have stated that they believe that Chick-Fil-A's corporate opposition to same-sex marriage is a variety of hate speech. Were someone to support Chick-Fil-A's position in the pages of Open Salon, might that person be banned? I think most people want to follow the rules, but they need to know what the rules are.

I confess; I did it. Now I demand a full body cavity search and a martini, with two

Thank you Jacob. you are my heroe.
HUGGGGGGGG

Ah, I thought this was about you wanting me to fave you...

olives! No, I'm not drunk, what, you think I could do my nails like this if I was drunk? You can't find indigo black nail polish with opalescent swirls just anywhere you Philistines! Arrest the smarmy, snide preachers with their third grade elephant parables right now or I'll tell where all the skeletons are buried goddammit!

Drew, shhhh. Mish is the only one here not kissing ass or pushing a personal agenda...or going missing the point.

::waves at Kate::

"missing the point" ... Was going to say "going off the rails" but didn't want to inflame.

Sigh

Oh, lawdy. Yes, Kate, I refer to New College as the "late, great imploding law school" in my bio. I became disabled during law school, and while I graduated (while the school was still in operation), I never took the bar. No point, since I couldn't work. I have never said I was a lawyer, I said I went to law school.

Why the attack, here of all places?

Hey Jacob--thanks for what you do. This is a thankless task, trying to referee this creative bunch of, I don't know, maybe monkeys. Maybe housecats. Pretty soon you'll get a black-and-white striped shirt and a whistle to go with your editor's pen. I appreciate what you're trying to do, and I hope you have some success. I like it here. It's more fun when people can be civil.

Thanks Jake.
As for picking one or two and not ALL offenders, I get that too. Booting all would be a full time job that you are not resourced for, but knowing that it COULD happen to any one of us might deter some.
Anywho...love your engagement.
Love the last paragraph too.

Thanks for being so hands-on, Jacob. As a writer, the negative "social" mood around here has really put a damper on my enthusiasm about posting at Open Salon, and trying to land freelance pieces at Salon.com. ... FYI: I can't seem to remove the spam links that are in the "my links" section of my blog. Is there anything we can do? I've tried deleted them, but they just keep popping up. One is Amazon "hot books" and the other is some web-hosting link. Thanks.

ummm, Jake...


*Gasp* Look!

K O
AUGUST 14, 2012 10:44 PM

I find this comment on your OWN post to be, "defamatory or invasive of the privacy of another person..." and in violation of the TOS.

What are you going to do about it????

The solution here is obvious: we need a Committee of Public Safety. They will be the safeguards of the OS revolution, to maintain its purity and enlightened vision. Those who fail will see the guillotine! *holds up bloody head of rwnutjob*

And with Jake as our editor they can become the new "Jake-obins"! Now, who's got a Robespierre alt I can use??

I was mean to somebody once, but they were mean to me first, or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, it seemed to me that both parties felt better after the exchange. And Sirenita, asking Kate that is like asking a posum why it poops in the woods, and you're as likely to get as logical an answer from her as you would from the possum.

Harry (sorry, I just can't call you Cheshyre), can't we use hacksaws instead? They're a lot cheaper than guillotines and far more of a hands-on experience.

I think you made things clear enough. The TOS is there for all to read and follow - or not. You are the editor and not a moderator. Sounds right to me. Hate speech is not part of the deal here. As with a baseball umpire, a pitch is just a pitch until it's called a ball or a strike. Call 'em as you see 'em!

I've been here four years and have seen many gifted writers come and go for various reasons. I've seen lots of dust-ups and some spectacular train wrecks. Some were kind of "fun" and most were pretty pathetic (even the ones I participated in). We've debated whether or not this is a social site ever since Kerry's days. He said it wasn't as I recall. Matters not as everyone sees things a little different here and that's cool with me.

I do appreciate your statement and the heads-up on Salon cross-posting as a "priority" at this time. Thanks.

Uh-oh. Slippery slope ahead Jake.

BTW, didn't you feature a post by rwnutjob on the cover as recently as Monday? I'm with mishima666 on this one.

RW Nutjob's comment to Sally on her blog was hate speech. It was aimed at her and stated that she and all Jews all Jews were responsible for all the evil in the world. Look up defamation, as he could have been tossed for that as well.
Thank you, Jacob for taking a stand.
r./

Yes, "rwnutjob" had an EP (that I think was also featured on the cover) on August 8 -- just five days after the first "objectionable" post. Six days later he got banned. And this, after he'd been a member for the last two or three years.

all Jews were responsible for all the evil in the world.

Damn. I thought it was old white men. Or the Christian fundamentalists. No, check that. IT"S THE REPUBLICANS! No, make it the Catholics. It's the matriarchy. The patriarchy. The government. The Terrorists! Islam. Catholics. Nope, it's those damn snake handling Pentecostals. The South! That's it! It's the South that's responsible for all evil in the world. No, it's the Yankees! Cardinals! Packers! Patriots! rah-rah-rah sis-boom-bah!

Thank you so much for your professionalism.

" . . . all Jews were responsible for all the evil in the world."

Rwnutjob didn't actually say that, but I get what you mean.

But look, on OS people say stuff like that about Catholics from time to time. At one point I actually considered OS to be an anti-Catholic venue. According to various OS members, religion in general was literally responsible for almost all the ills of the world, and Catholics were the worst of the bunch. For a while, it seemed like every week OS featured a "how I lost my religion" or "why I'm not a Catholic" post ON THE COVER.

This new thing of banning people for "hate speech" is interesting. I hope it works out for OS management. But it does open up Pandora's box. If we're going to ban some guy who says that Jews are responsible for the world's ills, what do we do when someone else says the same thing about Catholics? If we kick out a guy who disses the Talmud, what do we do when someone disses the New Testament? Or the Quran? If "hate speech" from the Right is intolerable, how about "hate speech" from the Left?

I think nutjob's sin was twofold. Denying the Holocaust and implying the Jews were responsible for their annihilation. That's some pretty vile crap, and OS shouldn't want to be identified with it. Adios, nutjob. Off to Valhalla to play dominoes with the Aryans.

Less onerous and just as delusional is the time he posted about signs popping up along interstates, directing to a "Containment" zone, or area...something like that. Anyway, he claimed they were to imprison Americans when the gubmint started rounding up the dissenters, etc. What they are is places where leaking tanker trucks can park to keep from spilling.
Gullible is bad enough, but racist, anti-Semitic and delusional on top of that is beyond the pale. In that case, though, hilarious.

And yes, mish, I've thought the same about anti-Catholicism here, but that still isn't on the same level as Jew bashing, or anti-religion in general.

And Jacob...his post about Lincoln and the Military Industrial Complex was lousy history anyway. You must have been in a big hurry that day. :)

amend that to anti-Catholicism and anti- religion in general not rising to Jew bashing. If the Bishops want to play partisan politics and dictate secular law, then I can't be surprised when people react...or over react.

and are are instead of are is....but I could have lived with that oopsie.

I agree with mishima, much as I detest runt job and his ilk. The response to speech is more speech. We don't need to be protected from seeing or hearing ugliness (though if you scan the various high-profile dust-up posts, many think we do). We don't need to be a site of uniform opinions. Even idiots should be allowed to spout their idiocy, and smart people can then run rings around them.

We do need to be protected from prolonged abusive attacks, invasions of privacy, threatening behavior, libel, and in general the type of personal attacks that can make participation here difficult or impossible for an individual. Again, I'm referring to either persistent, abusive attacks, or else a single instance of a clear and serious violation of the TOS, such as publishing someone's identifying information or threatening them.

However, OS has cover for deleting runt job. This is from the "Termination" section of the TOS:

"Salon may, in its sole discretion, terminate your account, delete your profile and any content or information that you have posted on the Site, and/or prohibit you from using or accessing the Service or the Site, at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including but not limited to violation of these TOS."

So, they get to do it, much as we may think it's not a good idea. I, for one, prefer to know who I'm dealing with. It's the fakers I'd like to see gone, and anyone who uses their account or accounts for a harassing or otherwise prohibited purpose.

This experiment has failed.
The entire operation must be liquidated.
The dream is over.
The dream is over.
The dream is over.

there is nothing to see here folks, move along

this place is so, so, so, over

the sword pleads to the powers

that be

pleaze

end this open salon

Take a flying fuck at the moon, Sword.

Notice who the "Sword's" only friend is. Jake had to remove a defamatory post of his about 2 months ago.

I cleaned out the My Links spam on my page and it has stayed that way...Stealthy little cockroaches they are.

Oh! And I don't think this is said enough. I am profoundly grateful for your efforts, Mr. Sugarman. I will be writing something, a story, soon but have been waiting for the schrapnel to settle.

Good to hear this person has been banned, and of course it's understandable you can't be watching every post or comment here - nor should you have to, in an ideal world. Thank you for enforcing the terms of service, even so.

As for the spam in the links, personally, I deleted mine when I first saw them, and they haven't come back.

Continued luck with running things here. What a shame for all of us that there are so many people with such hate in their hearts out there....

Thanks for this. But did you get my email about the issue of alters rating themselves, and is this true and a significant issue? Patrick

Somehow, I avoid being attacked and avoid reading racist or hateful posts. My experience on OS has been good that way, but in a few instances this has occured. I do not contribute to OS to be exposed to hate; there is enough of it out there in the world. Maybe my stuff is too vanilla to draw much hate.

here's a game for you, Jacob. find some of the cyber-bullies on this thread!!! rwnutjob is not the only problem.

libby

game gets tougher when they are using their alters!

@Patrick

Let's see ... you're overweight, have ED issues, opine about aging and the physical limitations it presents when playing basketball, sometimes yell at your wife and feel bad about it, have some extended family conflicts, felt anxious about moving, play music to a handfull of people, champion political talking points without any in-depth knowledge, etc.

Yes riveting stories for audiences everywhere.

COWARDLY hiding behind their alters!

@Joisey Shore - Redux -I just came by for a second but had to stop in and ask why so cruel to Patrick? He has never hurt anyone just writes because he enjoys it and is kind. What the hell??? Why be mean, just because you can?

Patrick apparently thinks it's a "significant issue" that there are alters rating themselves on OS -- enough so that he wrote to the editor about it.

Yet, he wonders why he gets so little attention.

I offered some constructive criticism -- perhaps he should blog about something besides his everyday life that's no different and no more insightful than the guy to the left of me and the woman to the right.

Constructive criticism can sometimes appear harsh -- are we all suppose to be in fairytale-land? Oops, I didn't get that memo.

I see your point and understand what you are saying I guess my problem was with HOW it was said. I agree to a point constructive criticism done right should be encouraged but maybe privately?
I appreciate your answer and now see why you said it....
Also a thank you I failed to mention to Jake for all his hard work. NOW I must get back to work!

I am stunned with what has been going on around here the last week or two. Much had to do with the anti-semitic post of nut job, but like any good civil war, a lot of private score settling has been going on as well. I guess it is good to air the laundry once in awhile.
I am glad you scooped the offending party out of the fish tank.
It came as a surprise, although I guess it shouldn't have, that people have multiple accounts and personas, i.e avitars. Athough, apparently, this violates the TOS, there is not much you can do about it as long as the machinery of OS permits people to open multiple accounts. If you built it this way, they will come. I know little about internet technology but I am sure there are protocols you can install to force new members to create a master account.
I never considered the idea that people would create accounts just to rate their own output as it is alleged. What is the point of that?
The picture you see below is me. The name next to it is my own. If I write it, I'm not ashamed to put my name on it. If I am ashamed of something I have written, it goes in the dust bin. If I SHOULD have bee ashamed of something I wrote, people know where to find me. It's simpler that way.

Joisey, in my view there is nastiness on this site that needs to be addressed, and the use of a dozen or more alters is something management should consider. However, if you find someone's choice of topics to be too mundane for your tastes, simply ignore. If Patrick complained about alters, that's a legitimate matter of concern to the site as a whole and its management; if Patrick writes stuff that bores you, STFU.

@Lunchlady

I rarely do PMs every since Mrs.Raptor took a "private message" of mine and posted it publicly, shredded it for grammatical/spelling errors, and selectively-edited it to make it appear that I was an ass.

That was during my first week on Open Salon as a newbie. Little did she know that Ryan [PlaceboStudman] and I became buds -- he taught me a lot about how the disabled navigate the world and some of their trials and tribulations. It was insightful.

As a result of that experience and a couple of others where people manipulate PMs and forward them to others, I tend to state things in public comment threads.

If you look at my history, I rate a great many OSers on their posts (including you). There was no malice meant -- only a suggestion that Patrick try not to fixate so much on his normal life and everyday experiences if he wants to build an audience.

Or, if he is treating OS as simply a glorified personal journal, then he shouldn't be so upset about an issue (alters) that don't affect his purpose for being on Open Salon.

Libby -- take a chill pill.

@Myriad

I do "simply ignore". Notice that I didn't state my comment to Patrick in Patrick's blog? Nor do I ever comment in Patrick's blog?

However, once someone begins to type messages in a public comment thread about general issues, then their complaint/observation/question becomes public domain allowing others to address them.

Or, do I need to behave based on YOUR rules-of-public-comments? If so, please send that memo as that's another which somehow skipped past me.

Joisey, you are hurtful, not constructive. That is the truth. As for my writing, some of it is good, some not so good. I have received enough fair appraisal to know that. OS is not the only place I write. It is a springboard, but I do the best i can to give to others here and produce insightful work. And I have to wonder if you are one of those alters. Where does your obvious hostility originate. I suggest that you take a look at it.

Ah Jake. No good deed goes unpunished. Thanks for being the most engaged editor on the site since I've been here. I hope you don't go running off screaming into the night.

I am torn on the matter of removing RWNutJob. While I am glad I will not have to see his disturbing content and comments, I also worry about the points mishima makes. OS does not want to be associated with vile filth like his, and this IS a private operation that can be run a Salon sees fit. so for my own peace of mind on OS, I am glad you made this call.

I don't envy you your job. But you've got my respect.

when ya gonna have a section for -farout,irrelevant,socially insignificant,poorly written,whackjob sci-fi?......needa place for my scribblings...

And Joisey, your take is just your take, and does not represent the take of many others who have commented on my work. And the range of my concerns extends beyond the issues you mentioned. There are some who like my work, others obviously who do not. I am not receiving many comments, but the ones I do are apprerciated. On politics, I study the ins and outs. The fact that I have had many political columns published suggests that I am relatively well-informed. at the minimum. But not on every issue. I try to stay away from topics that I don't fully understand, like the housing market and how that intersects with politics. The tone of your comment is sarcastic and hurtful and not balanced at all. If you cannot see that, there is something wrong. I suggest that you take a long, hard look at yourself. Again, some of my writing is strong, some not. But much more varied than you represent.

It is so refreshing to see how involved you are here. Great job! :-)

Thanks for responding. And thank you for removing rwnutjob; he was a disgrace to the site. I am all for better enforcement of TOS. This site, to me, is a place to come and read good writing - I don't want everyone to agree with me, but I also don't want to find myself in a swamp of bile and hate.

I am tempted to defend having multiple avatars. I can see where you might want to be known as Ficus Child when you write poems, or Galveston Gal when you write sci fi and never the twain shall meet. I really don't care if you want to say rude things, because that's what my personal delete button is for. If you want to rate yourself, it's sad, but not reprehensible. But in the short and the long run, Jacob S, you got my vote!

Thanks for stating some very much needed reason. It is much appreciated by those of us who have come to this site to write, not to fight.

I agree with mish, and you are heading down a very slippery slope. Just look at the bashing going on here on your post by some of the comments. They are saying hateful things to and about other users, are they too going to get banned? Have the posts that have been calling out other users been removed? If you remove one, should you not remove others?

RWNJ has surprised me with a few important and good comments at times but at other times he has clearly indicated that some of his material wasn't worth my attention. I would have preferred to see him stick with the good material he provides occasionally. Didn't see what led to his ban. Would prefer not doing that in most cases but have seen some exceptions and am glad not to be making that choice.

Just my opinion on that.

The Amazon Spam on the My links hasn't repeated itself; my post recommending a boycott is still up although I thought I would probably delete it myself if I received a response and they declined to do it again. I find it stunning that they would do something so counter productive. Presumably a bureaucrat that got carried away without thinking.

Let me know if they agree not to do it again.

Thanks.

"COWARDLY hiding behind their alters!"

Libby? Is this the same Libby who defended the stalkers and frauds using alters? This is a little inconsistent. But it's nice of you to come and discuss these issues here, since you fire salvos from your page while closing comments.

We should all try to use the same definitions. These are issues we need to discuss. Stalking, harassing, threatening is what we're talking about. You say there are crypto-bullies on this thread. Bullies are people who intimidate, and therefore obvious. You may be upset about a parody of one of your posts, but honestly, that post was was a bit over-dramatic. The parody might have hurt your feelings, but it didn't threaten you.

Your latest post appears to say that there is OS is a microcosm of all that is wrong with American policy, including "drone killing"--drone killing on OS?--including this statement, "I don't know about my flouncing, but I take drone killing really seriously."

It's not clear what you mean, but it invites parody, particularly since you shut off discussion.

Your efforts are appreciated.

sirenita: ad hominem attack -- read up on it

One person's parody is another person's derision.

They are synonyms, after all, but parody denotes humor and derision, well...

I am finding this whole defense of a position interesting. Why so much time, effort, and emotion to defend an accusation that the accusers say is damning enough that it should be obvious to the world?

IMHO, true or false, the original accusations have become irrelevant. This discussion has devolved to a need to be right at all costs. Anything goes, nothing is off the table, no quarter is given until all fall in line and salute.

Is that what we want?

For me, the issue of alters is not being an alter, but rather rating your own post. That is simply dishonest and aslap in the face to others. But simply having more than one account? So what?

And I guess the issue would be if someone hides behind an identity to attack/insult someone...re the alters.

And I guess the issue would be if someone hides behind an identity to attack/insult someone...re the alters.

Jake, you do your work in a very professional way, but still you care for us here too. I think that there is a strong issue of bullying in OS, members being insulted, called names, ridiculed, and even frightened, and the worse is that they feel that there is no one from Salon that can refer too.

Of course, it is not your work, but for us feeling safe in here is essential, and I think adds to the quality of Salon Media the creation of this quality and only intellectual and artistic network that they have created.

As I have read, and this is the reason I am here ..

"..Open Salon is a publishing platform with a built-in audience. It was developed for writers, photographers and artists of any stripe in need of a smart home for their work (and not one of those giant, anonymous blog networks), and who are hoping to be rewarded for it. ...
Open Salon is also a place where passionate media lovers can find a new generation of creative voices, and help them discover a wider audience. .."

Believe me, that when one artist feels that he/she can be insulted, bullied, cursed, violated, no creativity is left.. And this is a loss for all of us, when writers and artists are forced to leave, because they are even frightened to be in here, having had attacks by anonymous avatars. I am here with my name, my work, and trully, sometimes I have felt very insulted and even unsafe. Imagine, me insulting or even threating you, -me knowing your name..- and me being a fake name, a fake avatar, a fake bio.

Trully, derives one from his/her maturity, education, quality, and the reason for being here, which to me is creative criticism and meeting writers, artists, learning and sharing. Disagreement in civilized dialoque, is one of the things that we all are taught in kindergarten...

And I am writing this, cause I think Salon Media, cares for the issue of our safety, and this is obvious, cause they gave us the Flag and the Delete Button. I think feeling safe in here, is essential, but these buttons, seem not to work. I can not find anything of a writer or an artist, to one who insults or bullies others, and so I am wondering, what are they doing here...are they writers, artists, creative ones, or even trying to be writers and artists, in need of creative criticism...cause if this is not their case, why are they here.. ?

Most of my friends are like me, working on their creativity, trying to get creative judgement on their work, and make true friends.. But there are others who trully insult OS...and frighten the rest of us.

Thank you very much for you being here, and connecting with us, it is so needed when we all at least feel that one trully listens, and understands.
Let us all wish, that we all can find the best in us, and try at least to act as normal, educated, civilized adults.

I'm frightened of avatars with a double-name as their identifier.

Like Buck-Buck or Bobbob or (looking above) yikes!

^^ I REALLY dislike this SOB, but ^ THAT ^ is funny!

re: My Links. If you need to see an example, just look at Joan and Kerry's My Links. It's not spam, and it had to have come from inside Salon Media Group.

Whether it was a deliberately executed, badly written, script designed to generate more revenue by directing readers to Amazon, or the result of one or more compromised computers I can't tell.

A deliberate move by SMG to generate revenue is most likely, but lack of security can't be discounted.

Joisey... some day you will learn to NOT discuss me IN ANY WAY where I can SEE it because you are GOING to get a response when you LIE about me.

We'll start with this:

"I rarely do PMs every since Mrs.Raptor took a "private message" of mine and posted it publicly, shredded it for grammatical/spelling errors, and selectively-edited it to make it appear that I was an ass."

In point of fact ALL that was done was to correct your spelling and grammatical errors then snip out what was not pertinent to the point I was making, which was that you were using language towards me which I found offensive and abusive. I detailed SPECIFICALLY how what you sent me was abusive in my post as well. Further this was done AFTER I had warned ALL of OS (including yourself) that abusive PMs would be posted, dissected and responded to IN PUBLIC in order to protect MYSELF from precisely what you are doing here... LYING and manipulating the facts to suit YOUR agenda.

"That was during my first week on Open Salon as a newbie. Little did she know that Ryan [PlaceboStudman] and I became buds -- he taught me a lot about how the disabled navigate the world and some of their trials and tribulations. It was insightful."

I'm thrilled you learned something from the experience... shall we continue the lesson... After EIGHT times of asking... STOP using my name or image in any manner which a reasonable person might find offensive. In other words... STOP completely because I don't know a single REASONABLE person who would put up with more than TWO YEARS of your nonsense directed at them.

Couple of other things which YOU are unaware of ...
I AM aware that you and Ry became friends... I'll tell YOU precisely what I told HIM... "I don't CARE who you choose to befriend but I will NOT TOLERATE being verbally abused." Additionally, perhaps it escaped your notice but it was not ME who corrected your grammatical and spelling errors... it was Hourglass Figure... and she and I BOTH still have copies of your ORIGINAL (ABUSIVE) email to me in addition to what's STILL posted on my blog addressed to the "Craze(d)" person in my inbox.

I agree with Frank Apisa that it should not be OS policy to ban writers simply because their work is offensive to readers, except in cases where the published work somehow breaks the law. Nobody forces anyone here to read anything.

On the other hand, I would be happy to see OSers banned if they systematically harass other OSers. Sorry to say that there are some who do this.

What Mishima666 said.

I admire the challenges that you are facing, on the OS home front and here within your post. Your efforts are commendable. I will admire you even more when I see one of Tink's post on the cover. ;-)
~r

@Mrs.Raptor

I'm sure this is boring-as-crap for all others, but considering that you asked me to NEVER COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG and I've HONORED THAT REQUEST completely, I have to respond here.

1) The quote I made in the PM was "If it took you 100 hours to research this, then you truly are retarded." You understand the concept of "if-then"? Since you refute the "if" part, then ANYONE would conclude that you're not retarded. That's "abusive"? Jezzuz, really? The PM was sent (as a courtesy by me -- naive as I was back then) after YOU interrupted a nice discussion I was having with Ryan in HIS BLOG and went YOU went POSTAL ON ME (in your "take-no-prisoners" style).

2) Since you have the original PM (I don't, my original account got vaporized), why don't you post it somewhere (WITHOUT YOUR ANNOTATIONS) and let others decide how "abusive" it was. There's a single "if-then" statement -- that's all.

3) You write "Further this was done AFTER I had warned ALL of OS (including yourself) that abusive PMs would be posted, dissected and responded to IN PUBLIC". Where the hell was that done/posted/noted? I was a one-week-old newbie when you pounced in me in Ryan's blog because I said that there's no way "1-in-5" people have a sexual problem due to a disability.

Finally, I've stayed away from commenting on your blog for 2+ years since you asked me to. Similarly, I've honored one or two other's requests to do the same. However, I'll friggin' reference your sorry ass on OS whenever I feel like it and if you decide to show-up and give me crap, big friggin' deal. I'm a big boy.

(although, not as big a boy as your first, jailed, child-molesting husband whom you decided to show an official inmate photo of in Open Salon -- talk about stooooopid)

Now go back to your election officiating and your fantasies of having your husband's engineering degree. Oh, did you find any other OSers who are plagiarizin' themselves on that nifty "university" program of yours?

Idgit (is that one of the "mere 11,000" concepts you understand in your native language?)

No be alike new jerk hiccuping?
burp ABCs backward. Ay audacity.
No veracity. Ay, vile. Pugnacious.
`
smile
`
`

Patrick.. do me a favor pal- say hi to SpongeBob, and Squidward..

Phyllis. I used to like you. Specifically, I liked your posts about drinking. I thought those were interesting. When you and Puff busted ground for the potato patch- that's where you lost me, I think. That and the (not so) veiled whininess. Poor newbie. Been here two plus years but... blah blah..

Libby.. you saw a bully in this thread? Have you considered calling 1-800- PANIC ATTACK?
Poor thing.. consider this though Lib. You post stuff here, in public, right.. be those blogs of your own (comments closed sometimes when it all becomes TOO MUCH), or extended confusing diatribes posted as comments. Should you expect only praise and agreement?
--- How about that damned Drew-Silla? I'd be honored to be lampooned like that by her. Funny shit! Actually Margaret Feike zings me pretty hard about twice a week already, although Joisey Shore has backed out of my ass to concentrate on Patrick, who is much more interesting than I.

Jacob, you NY stud of an editor.. mind your blog man! It's obvious you ain't spending time changing the cover. Being sexy, in itself, is NOT work. BREAK IS OVER!

Friggin' Art got between us during our tag team, tr ig.

(snicker ... Patrick ... SpongeBob ... good one)

Well...I think you're the best editor that OS ever had.

Good grief, its the trig and joisey shore show. Not that a bromance between you too should surprise me...

Call me (trig, not Joisey!) when you're done with the chest bumps. Just make sure you shower first...

Ha!

Libby, I'm sorry you took my comment as ad hominem attack, which it is not by any definition. Drones on OS are just funny, and I thank you for that image. Phyllis, yes, parody is often derisive, but there is no rule against derision. My point seems to have been lost, so I'll try it again. Someone hurting your feelings is not a threat. When lose your cool, whether it's through rudeness, drama, paranoia, or whatever, expect some kind of reaction. People might lecture or they might make fun of you. It does not threaten you.

OS should ban certain kinds of behaviors--behaviors which are illegal or actionable, such stalking, harassment (sexual or otherwise), invasions of privacy, defamation, menacing, and similar behavior. In other words, any activity which could be reported to authorities or for which someone could be sued. These things have happened. Not often, but they have. An example would be stalking someone with the intention of publishing their name and home town for the purpose of encouraging others to locate and harass them. Another would be using a fake identity to claim repeatedly that a person was a drug addict.

OS should also ban behaviors that affect the functioning of the site, whether it's spam or faking statistics. Not all bloggers care what their rates or views are, but many are motivated by them. More importantly, OS has chosen to keep some statistics on our work for its own purposes. We do not have the right to alter those for our purposes. There are ways to increase your audience. Use those, not fake accounts.

Sometimes people are not nice. Someone making fun of you, or pointing out your grammar errors, or telling you that you are an idiot, or calling you names, or accusing you of trading rates with your friends--those things may hurt your feelings, but there is no law against them, they do not threaten your peace or safety, and they don't alter OS's function as a blogging platform. Deal with them as an adult. I make fun of those people, or I ignore them.

There has been a lot of talk about bullies. I hate fuzzy thinking, so here's a attempt to make some things clearer. Cyber-bullying is a crime against children. See this U.S. Department of Health and Human Services websiteto understand what cyberbullying is. While bullying might be used to describe certain adult interactions (workplace bullying, bullying in the military) it is not an issue in an adult internet venue where we all have equal power. It's simply a misused word to describe censure that you don't enjoy. Harassment, stalking, menacing, defamation, invasion of privacy, fraud--these are adult issues.

I'm sure I'm included in the group of people accused in various corners of being malicious, settling grudges, relishing a dust-up, enjoying the schadenfreude, being a mean girl (so funny!), etc., etc., etc. If you read the posts or my comments, you know I had nothing against either of the people accused of using alters for attacking others and inflating their statistics, and one of them was a friend. It was not the least bit fun to learn that my friend was not who I thought he was. No schadenfreude. Just sadness here.

Libby making this whole thing about her--now, that's humor.

Good job, Jake

The WordPress platform allows the blogger to pre-screen/pre-approve comments before they ever see the light of day. When/if Open Salon's comments function is ever updated, that would be a great function.

Also, WordPress allows an obnoxious commenter to effectively be banned by marking him or her as a spammer.

Just suggestions for troll control.

Thank you. You seem to be much more proactive (than your predecessors) and the fact that you have taken a public stand goes a long way.

I suppose Jacob that you by now have a glimmer of why little has ever been done about enforcing ToS issues to this point (a largely thankless and rather Sisyphus kind of pipe dream ;).

You have my admiring appreciation for your attentive efforts, and all of the sympathy I can muster for the rest of it :D.

Rated for a good and well meaning heart.

rated to bring you to an even 50

I hate it when they hang on the 9's

my Vision of the Open Salon has always been that of
a ''place'' where you can contribute to an experimental
Microcosm of
Society at Large.

Anti Semitism exists , and so here it was.
Ok , we dealt with it. Get behind the reason for this ugly virus
that stays dormant through centuries
and then erupts into life
every so often.

it's part of the human need for "conspiracy against me & my kind".
blah to that.

a sign of a demented mind. not evil, but sick.
i have no idea of the cure. jews arent going away, and
hate groups have flourished under our current President.
hate speech is illegal?
is it?
it ought to be.
there would have to be the wisdom of Solomon
or, ha, Sugarman (?) to distinguish free from hate speech.

" I can't be there to police every comment and post
that goes up on Open (I wish I could!)."

you dont need to, jacob. that is taking on too much.
glean the current mood.
strike when necessary. like a smart bomb, go in and
destroy what you intuit , and know, as a decent man, what
simply MUST NOT BE SPREAD in a culture where there is so much
hate already...


listen, we all got big egos here. no one has a bigger one
than art james, tho. i say this with love.

he can pop it at will it seems..................hm...............


he says

"No be alike new jerk hiccuping?
no.
burp ABCs backward. Ay audacity.
audacity is shortlived in its infamy alas, art.
No veracity. Ay, vile. Pugnacious.
pug eh? whitman was a pug.
you are a pug. i can be a pug , all of us can.

vile? yah but somehow necessary in a weird
hegelian CUNNING OF REASON way..


`
smile

well i always cept when i snarl.



art is a veritable treasure trove of psychedelic hick eecummings verse.

heed him.
`
`

@ Jake: You banned RWNutJob for anti-Semitic hate speech.

This is no different:

http://open.salon.com/blog/the_traveler/2012/08/17/israel_is_a_cancerous_tumor

What's the deal? Is hate speech against non-Jews okay now or will The Traveler be banned as well?

Rated this last week -- just came through, reading comments...
not one of you mentioned the sickly cloying, gagging feeling over this?

"I have seen some noble souls suffer attack lately. The noblest of them have taken up silence as a strategy against insidious forces that render any response an invitation for more abuse. If my commentary here results in rebuke, so be it. I only hope afterward to live up to the example of at least one Esteemed Colleague--and a few others--who have learned to rise above."

It sounds so familiar...like a victim has wrapped superiority around themselves like a cloak...
Fusun?
Er, Paul??
You write funny for a guy -- you sound suspiciously like someone else, all that 'noble' stuff....and the poor 'esteemed colleague.'

I suddenly feel ill.

This should be a mantra.

@Just Thinking:

Thanks for the chuckle. I am not an alt, despite the weak masculinity of my writing voice. I am honored by the confusion, however.

Sorry to make you feel under the weather.

So good to have you here, Jacob.

Ignore ,as best you can, this Safe Bet Amy creature. She's illiterate and she's a consummate liar. She can't write so she bullies and annoys instead.
She belongs in some AOL chat room but slimed her way here for some unknown reason. Free speech has its downfalls.

pall may not B an alter butt there R many such

Over the couple of years I've been here, some of the best writing to show up has come from creative Open Calls. I hope you will re-consider and throw out some creative topics without Salon in mind, necessarily -- you might be surprised at the wealth you receive that turns into excellent fodder for cross-posting.
That might also help keeps the unruly minds off topics that de-rail so easily lately.
As a former pre-school teacher, I learned creative distraction kept the crowd under control better than asking them to just sit still and behave.

*help keep,* that is...

Sorry about the hornet's nest.

Rwnutjob had to go because, among other things, he was responsible for two separate offenses in quick succession that were obviously independent of each other because, though they were both virulently antisemitic, they were in different directions. The first was his comment on Sally Swift's blog, a statement which was, incidentally, completely unprovoked; the second was his Holocaust-denying post, which was offensive enough to have triggered at least three posts in reaction to it: from Eljekar, Lea Lane, and me.

There is a lot of anti-Catholicism on OS with a lot of it taking the genuine and obviously justifiable outrage over the American child-molesting cases into far more generalizable grounds, which is a little like saying that anyone who works at Penn State must be OK with molesting boys. (Actually, a lot like saying that - it's kind of a decent analogy.) I've answered it where I've seen it. (I didn't bring that to your attention but I didn't bring Rwnutjob to your attention either.)

There are various standards to decide how or if to enforce. The most obvious ones involve bigotry and civility. You're only going to be able to handle the most obvious, preferably repeated, and eggregious offenders.

By the way, the fact that Rwnutjob had written material you'd recognized is irrelevant. The issue is not whether or not he's a good writer, he is unquestionably skilled; the issue is whether or not he was deliberately and systematically fomenting bigotry, and his pattern there was unavoidable. I'd had arguments on my blog about him with others before where he said antisemitic things that were religion-based (that certain approaches would lead us to Hell), but I wouldn't recommend disciplining someone over a religious belief per se, even a rude one. When, on the other hand, he started blogging a lot that was blatantly contrary to fact, we weren't dealing with faith any more but with slander. (Libel? I guess this is written content.) Don't lose any sleep over pulling his account. If your actions lead to the slippery slope of yanking the accounts of other repeat offenders who attack ethnic/religious groups and engage in blatant slander, I won't criticize you for it, I'll thank you for it.

Multiple names? That one's up to you. Most of those I know with multiple names are blatant about it and I haven't seen them abuse it. We've been asked to watch such things at Readers' Picks but I have yet to see an instance of one identity nominating another or seconding another. I've heard a lot circumstantially of people with a lot of identities using them to shore up their ratings (for recognition by you, not by Readers' Picks, where it wouldn't help) but I haven't followed that. Might be worth checking into because that actually is abuse.

Contrary to any impression you may get here, people in general are grateful for you. Things from an editing standpoint are blatantly better than they were.

"For a solider, you gotta a lot of time on your hands. Keep in mind soldier, your CO can and will read your blog. So just in case you are NOT writing some shit here, you better have your story straight as to who you really are and what you really said (you know, all the stuff that hasn't been deleted, that stuff)"
K O
August 22, 2012 06:54 AM

The above comment brought to you by KO where she openly threatens a 19 year old corpsman serving his country in Okinawa.

it seems that based on limited resources available to you,there's no solution to the spam attacks.....recent comments remain reduced to an ignorable element,and spambots commenting on blogs....but what hell,ya gave it a shot....eh?....

Best of bloody luck to you. (English/English meaning).
You'll need a staff of approx 500 though.

ok,this horse got 3 broken legs, if there's nuthin u can do,it's ok,jus say so....hello.....helloo....hellooooooo?....

Rated not for content but to bring this to whoever's scannings' attention.
Took 5 ( five ) Safari can't open the page messages to get here tonight, your time. Half an hour.
My 26 year-old daughter leaves a page if it doesn't load in 30 seconds, and my 21 year-old is even less tolerant than that.
Reading the recent meta-posts, about your absence and the general lack of care around the site lately it seems some members have no problems, at all, with OS.
So you're probably wondering what the fuss is about, right ?
Safari can't open the page, Firefox can't open the page, Lots of Errors, minute-long waits, time-outs etc ~ no problem, right ?

It's been a sad and somewhat predictable end to a beautiful thing, Jake.
Sorry you couldn't talk to us about it.
Best wishes to all those who have experienced no problems accessing the site.

ps. Don't click Most recent on the cover ~ the competition is humiliating ...

Jake,
Time to return An Earnest Plea to you.
First, please read Kim's words. Please. Then let me add only this.
This would be an exceptionally good time for you not to wait until a convenient time but to step in or up exactly now to try and calm muddied, frenzied waters here ... if there is any water left to calm.
There is fear and anger and trust is almost gone ...
Where are you ... or have you gone ... is this over now ...

Jacob, seeing as how you haven't commented for over two weeks I can't tell if you're still tuning in. In case you are, the main problem seems to be the spammers. When just one of them can put up 500 posts before afternoon tea, and 95% of the weekend posts are streaming sports articles, it looks like the site just gets overwhelmed.

If you or the OS tech staff can't stop this, please let us know. And please let us know why some of the technical solutions offers in other posts can't be implemented.

If Salon is making money off the spammers and so doesn't want to curtail their access, let us know what it would take in terms of OS subscriptions to replace them.

Not addressing any of the technical problems from the past week or two leaves many to conclude that Salon has lost interest in OS and is indifferent to its slow demise. Lots of good bloggers have given up because it's too time-consuming to log in, post and comment. With less to read others give OS a pass and it becomes a vicious cycle.