Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
How can we get our local politicians and other public servants to post regularly in this forum?
I've been asked by a shyer member to put up this topic in the hope that more people will contribute their ideas and strategies, inspired by Michael Andersen's post:
Why do so few HoL members post on this site?
I think many of us want to be able to ask them stuff directly on this site (a sort of 'virtual surgery') and get a timely reply. I'd extend that to Council Officers too. For the politicians, I suppose there are two sorts of posts we might want to make:
a) 'Business' questions/comments about things like why everyday services are not up to scratch etc. We might have to ban things that really ought to be reported using the Councils reporting facilities, because they can't have an official and an unofficial system for dealing with litter or whatever is counter-productive. Politicians are supposed to be a conduit to power though and if we get together and press for things here and they are 'on duty' then we as a band of locals can work for beneficial change more effectively online than anywhere else. Hugh's Cash Mob for instance is an example of direct, local action that surely Cllrs want to and should be involved in - HoL discussions can create actual local change:
b) 'Political' questions about wider issues like going to war - should that be limited to our MP's though? Do you want to read non-ward-specific views from your ward Councillor over matters they have no real control over? The Council can declare the borough a 'Frack-Free Zone' which is an international issue, so it's not as if they are powerless but you know what I mean.
Issues like whether or not there should be cuts or could we not use our savings and borrow against our future wealth as it's so expensive and damaging to cut, cut, cut are relevant to local issues. With so little money and so many in poverty in the East - how can the rich West expect political support for even a single penny? Some Cllrs in the past have, for instance, refused to enact central government cuts and as far as I recall went to prison for it, provoking a law that means they can't simply refuse what Whitehall orders. The Chief Exec of Barnet has now moved jobs to be the Chief Exec of Haringey - do we want to create content that makes local political points as a spur to action?:
So, are those the sorts of discussions we want to have here with our reps and between ourselves?
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Some UK politicians are very 'internet-savvy'. So as to try to take the measure of our politicians, here are some Councillors who are digital award winners:
Cllr Melvyn Caplan, Westminster City Council was the driving force behind the Tri-Borough’s Customer Led Transformation Programme. This encouraged the adoption of new technologies internally, such as interactive and collaborative meeting room tools and the incorporation of mobile and tablet devices into council work, saving over £1m across the council
Cllr Muhammed Butt, London Borough of Brent led a transformation of the way that Brent Council operates, incorporating social media into its communications, along with live-streaming of council meetings. By making digital innovation central to the council’s activity, Cllr Butt has helped to ensure that technology is utilized to protect and enhance essential services.
Cllr Stephen Canning, Braintree District Council developed and supported the concept of ‘Braintree hour’ on twitter, which encourages the promotion of local businesses to the community, as well as building community cohesion. The scheme has spread to other council throughout the region.
Cllr Theo Blackwell, London Borough of Camden lead LB Camden’s first digital strategy, encouraging collaboration and new thinking across the council, as well as building partnerships with business. Innovations at the council include coding of after school clubs, expanded public wi-fi access, peer-to-peer lending schemes, and digital inclusion work in social housing.
Cllr Tom Sleigh, City of London Council ran a successful online campaign to reinstate rubbish bins in the City of London, twenty years after they were removed following terrorist activity. He launched a similar campaign to reduce speed limits to 20Mph across the City, using social media, surveys, and innovative methods of sharing information.
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Salford Council has put HoL-like facilities on their own website - would things like this not be better:
Current discussion forums on this website:
- Are you a carer for a friend or relative?
- Are you quitting smoking?
- Dying matters
- Family history search
- Find old friends
- General discussions
- GhostCam
- Ordsall Hall Museum
- Salford Museum and Art Gallery
- Schools information
As we know that our local politicians don't post here, I'd like to simulate what our councillors/politicians might argue if they did actually post here:
1) It is a relatively low-paid job (starting salary £10,500) and there are literally thousands of meetings to go to - each ward in Haringey, for instance, has loads of community events (many in the evenings) which local Cllrs feel obliged to attend. Apart from the work of attending numerous policy meetings and dealing with people's problems by chasing Council Officials, most Cllrs put in way more hours than they're supposed to - most have second jobs too I think, some full-time. So, time spent HoL-typing is a dereliction of their duty to put themselves in front of local people and listen, then take up the issues raised by the face-to-face contacts they say are the only way to do 'real' politics. Be good to see a breakdown of how they spend their time on our behalf.
2) Politicians are 'people people' - all the way up the chain the paramount interaction is always stressed as being 'talking to people', even Cabinet Ministers regularly knock on doors apparently. I think this is an excuse and simply untrue today anyway. Many of the older ones just don't 'get' the internet. Claiming to be 'in touch' with the electorate gives them the chance that they often take to say 'people tell me' or 'my constituents think' when the human truth is that most politicians hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest. Ask them what the main issues are in their wards and they cite things that others would prioritise differently - it's a matter of opinion - they are not accurate surveyors - they could be better at quantifying views. Considering the main things they ignore specifically:
- Facebook: they don't consider it worth posting to Facebook for instance whereas many here would probably think they ought to. What would be better on Facebook here than there? Many have the problem that they've already got a 'personal' Facebook page so are stuck with converting it to a 'public' page, which exposes their 'real' friends to a wider exposure than they signed up for. Almost none of them know how to post in one place and have it 'syndicated' - they are not generally techophiles.
- Twitter: many councillors do tweet, with the result that we are drowning in Tweets that nobody really looks at and no-one outside their circle ever responds to, so this is proof in their eyes that digital is only for people with time on their hands. We could tweet our Cllrs and they would probably react, but why don't we do that? From a Cllrs point of view, trying to plan how you spend your time must be close to impossible as residents can pop up at any time 24hrs a day with an issue you need to respond to.
- Blogs: lots of work for very little measurable return. You try writing even one paragraph of political comment - it could take you all afternoon, Risk that what you wrote might accidentally come back to haunt you or worse, that nobody at all would even bother to read it. Fierce competition from great political bloggers could make yours look pathetic. You're imposing a liability on future Cllrs to match your output - they won't thank you for that.
- Newsfeeds - how would it be if a Cllrs auto-posted a newsfeed of all their activities on HoL (say auto-posting their tweets for instance) - do we want that? Wouldn't it be seen as a cynical bit of advertising? Would anyone subscribe to it?
4) Political posts on HoL attract 'history's greatest monster' type vitriol - people make virulent, unsubstantiated personal attacks on the character of local politicians they've never met, often barging into a topic and steering it towards hatred, racism etc. Any politician who posts here risks a shed-load of this sort of horrible stuff from us - what's in it for the politician? They'd need an army of clerical help to unpick each accusation and debunk it and none have that resource - if they had they'd spend it otherwise.
5) Geographically HoL is limited to Harringay. Bounds Green has an excellent HoL-type forum for example, so why would anyone from round there post here? We all know that this site reaches all of Haringey (alright, there's better coverage of the West of the borough, but it could have a lot more Eastern stuff if people would bother) but they will say the clue's in the name. There is no one forum for the whole of Haringey and why should there be? There are no politicians who represent the whole of Haringey (discounting the 'ruling' party on the Council) - it's split by two MP's and lots of ward councillors. So, how would it work, a 'Tottenham' section on HoL for instance?
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To remind you, our local politicians are:
Tottenham: Incumbent: David Lammy MP(Labour)
prospective: any?
Hornsey and Wood Green: Incumbent: Lynne Featherstone MP(Liberal Democrat) 
Prospective: Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green,Labour):
any others?
Haringey Councillors:
Photograph
|
Councillor
|
Political party
|
Ward
|
|---|---|---|---|
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Work mobile: 07528 443838 Work: david.beacham@haringey.gov.uk |
Liberal Democrats | Alexandra |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677729 Work: liz.mcshane@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Alexandra |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677720 Work: james.patterson@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Alexandra |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677743 Work: clare.bull@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Bounds Green |
 |
Councillor Joanna Christophides Work mobile: 07854 544697 Work: joanna.christophides@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Bounds Green |
 |
Cabinet Member for Planning Work: 020 8489 2964 (office) Work mobile: 075408 54293 Work: ali.demirci@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Bounds Green |
 |
Work mobile: 07940 005507 Work: joseph.ejiofor@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Bruce Grove |
 |
Cabinet Member for Environment Work: 020 8489 2687 (office) Work mobile: 07854 544696 Work: stuart.mcnamara@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Bruce Grove |
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Work mobile: 07812 677717 Work: felicia.opoku@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Bruce Grove |
 |
Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture Work: 020 8489 2964 (office) Work mobile: 07812 677736 Work: jason.arthur@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Crouch End |
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Work mobile: 07815 700588 Work: natan.doron@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Crouch End |
 |
Leader of the Opposition Work mobile: 07812 677730 Work: sarah.elliott@haringey.gov.uk |
Liberal Democrats | Crouch End |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677741 Work: patrick.berryman@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Fortis Green |
 |
Home: 020 8489 4005 Work: martin.newton@haringey.gov.uk |
Liberal Democrats | Fortis Green |
 |
Work: 0208 444 9516 Work: viv.ross@haringey.gov.uk |
Liberal Democrats | Fortis Green |
 |
Work: gina.adamou@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Harringay |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677724 Work: emine.ibrahim@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Harringay |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677710 Work: james.ryan@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Harringay |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677737 Work: clive.carter@haringey.gov.uk |
Liberal Democrats | Highgate |
 |
Home: 020 8348 2710 Work mobile: 07870 157703 Work: bob.hare@haringey.gov.uk |
Liberal Democrats | Highgate |
 |
Work mobile: 07818 094573 Work: liz.morris@haringey.gov.uk |
Liberal Democrats | Highgate |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677723 Work: adam.jogee@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Hornsey |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677727 Work: jennifer.mann@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Hornsey |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677 711 Work: elin.weston@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Hornsey |
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Work mobile: 07812 677738 Work: mark.blake@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Muswell Hill |
 |
Chair of Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel Work mobile: 07812 677734 Work: pippa.connor@haringey.gov.uk |
Liberal Democrats | Muswell Hill |
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Home: 020 8489 4005 Work: gail.engert@haringey.gov.uk |
Liberal Democrats | Muswell Hill |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677735 Work: peray.ahmet@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Noel Park |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677721 Work: denise.marshall@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Noel Park |
 |
Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration Work: 020 8489 2964 (office) Work mobile: 07854 481050 Work: alan.strickland@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Noel Park |
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Mayor of Haringey Work mobile: 07977 562105 Work: kaushika.amin@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Northumberland Park |
 |
Work mobile: 07967 336448 Work: john.bevan@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Northumberland Park |
 |
Work mobile: 07967 336234 Work: sheila.peacock@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Northumberland Park |
 |
Work mobile: 07971 804722 Work: dhiren.basu@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Seven Sisters |
 |
Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion and Sustainability Work: 020 8489 2687 (office) Work mobile: 07794 218566 Work: joe.goldberg@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Seven Sisters |
 |
Leader of the Council Work: 020 8489 2241 Work: claire.kober@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Seven Sisters |
 |
Chair of Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel Work mobile: 078126 77740 Work: barbara.blake@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | St Ann's |
 |
Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing Work: 020 8489 2964 (office) Work mobile: 07812 677713 Work: peter.morton@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | St Ann's |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677716 Work: aligul.ozbek@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | St Ann's |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677728 Work: tim.gallagher@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Stroud Green |
 |
Chair of Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel Work mobile: 07583 119123 Work: kirsten.hearn@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Stroud Green |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677709 Work: raj.sahota@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Stroud Green |
 |
Home: 020 8340 8477 Work: isidoros.diakides@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Tottenham Green |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677722 Work: makbule.gunes@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Tottenham Green |
 |
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Communities Work: 020 8489 2241 (office) Work mobile: 07817 954961 Work: bernice.vanier@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Tottenham Green |
 |
Work mobile: 07812 677739 Work: vincent.carroll@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Tottenham Hale |
 |
Home: 020 8376 2310 Work: lorna.reith@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Tottenham Hale |
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Work mobile: 07854 002078 Work: reg.rice@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Tottenham Hale |
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Councillor Eugene Akwasi-Ayisi Work mobile: 07812 677732 Work: eugene.akwasi-Ayisi@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | West Green |
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Work mobile: 07870 157701 Work: eddie.griffith@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | West Green |
 |
Work mobile: 07870 157883 Work: toni.mallett@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | West Green |
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Chair of Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel Home: 020 8800 7658 Work: charles.adje@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | White Hart Lane |
 |
Chair Overview & Scrutiny Committee Work mobile: 077995 86111 Work: whl@gideonbull.co.uk |
Labour | White Hart Lane |
 |
Work: public no - 020 8815 9208 Work mobile: 07854 002675 Work: anne.stennett@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | White Hart Lane |
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Work mobile: 07967 336120 Work: george.meehan@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Woodside |
 |
Cabinet Member for Children and Families Work: 020 8489 2687(office) Work mobile: 07854 002470 Work: ann.waters@haringey.gov.uk |
Labour | Woodside |
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Please, please don't make personal comments about their views, conduct, strengths, failing etc - this is a discussion about how and why we can get them to be active participants on HoL, not a chance to lambaste/praise them.
Tags for Forum Posts: Catherine West, David Lammy, Lynne Featherstone, MP, democracy, engagement, involvement, local politics
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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Thanks Seema, great post! Your accurate analysis gets right to the heart of the matter (as I've noticed on other occasions here on HoL where you've commented).
Given the points you make, it would seem that all is lost as regards politicos posting - pretty much the same goes for council officers I guess, for almost identical reasons.
All the dangers you mention apply to every form of comms, notably the press. We can probably all recall all of your points being validated by the local and sometimes national press vis-a-vis Haringey politicians and civil servants - these dangers are part of political life, not something to shy away from, they go with the territory.
However (and I would say this, wouldn't I) all is not lost :)
There seems to me to have been a sea-change in the types of politicians standing in the wings and elected - many seem so young! This surely means that the inevitable ditching of the established hegemony will happen a bit more quickly than otherwise. Here on HoL, unlike in most places, we have excellent moderation, trusted and demonstrably politically agnostic.
There must be a groundswell of opinion among the players that regards the paltry, ineffective web presence as a huge missed opportunity and an imperative. I guess they cannot understand why in this day and age it is being both so underused and misused, if only because funds are low and it's free! I actually have done some twitter research and it is as you opine - people are talking to themselves - very little 'reach'.
So, as your input has led me at least to a clearer understanding of the reasons for the vacuum and to mix a few metaphors, can we on HoL be a bridge over the Rubicon to a safer channel into which toes can dip?
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Permalink Reply by Sharon on
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Good post Seema! It's clear and concise and funny. Nice to see you on HOL again x
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This is weird Billy - I can't make head nor tail of it - you having an off day?
>>why should they come on HoL
That's what we're trying to address, we're trying to get them to show up by giving them good reasons to do so. They are going to do it, but just maybe not yet and not in the way we might want. You got any helpful ideas to accelerate their progress on your terms, here?
>>the locals are happy with their governance. That is objective fact
No, it isn't. 20% of us voted Labour - this wasn't a happiness issue - you could say that people chose the lesser of two evils. It's like saying that women didn't leave men for centuries, therefore they must have been happy. Truth was, as soon as women gained the basic rights denied them, they voted with their feet. They had made the best of the choices available to them, that's all.
>>not stuck in the bubble that is Haringey politics
It's impossible to legislate to make reps 'ordinary' people, it's never going to happen. Apart from the considerable gumption and dedication it takes to stand up and be counted, you need to be extraordinary or you'll never get selected, let alone succeed. How about doctors or teachers? Want them to bend to your idea of what sort of personality they ought to have?
If you want to wish for a different sort of democratic process than the one we've got then fine, but why not consider other changes, such as replacing the adversarial system (the one that causes all the shouting at PMQ) with a more collegiate one? In this coalition phase that's much more likely to happen - your ideas have not ever nor will ever come about - we get the politicians we deserve.
>>councillors who act in a strategic manner
This is the fundamental problem with your attitude, Billy. You want to be judge and jury and sit above people who might be actually a lot more qualified than you to even recognise their abilities, let alone pronounce upon them.
I guess it must be hard enough coping with the reality of having to make £90m of right-wing imposed cuts. The Council sit under a government described as trying to force the poor to pay out of their own poverty for a recession imposed by the rich.
The big areas of our life are defence, education housing and jobs. Name me one single strategic action that they are not taking that they could take - you cannot. These people really are informed by generations of us trying to create a better life for us all. They're not very good at it. They make mistake after mistake.
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Sorry Billy - this is what it says it is, how to get local politicians interacting. You slagging them all off is very unhelpful - where does it get us? Nowhere. I'm not moaning about the right wing, I'm trying to position local politicians as having a tough job making deciusions as to what to cut in world where no-budget impetus really can come from us.
You and others seem to want to run away from that, needing to be 'attracted' to the topic as if it was a sideshow. Here is a chance to change things you don't like and you don't want to take it!
I mention the cuts because people seem to think local politicians are directly responsible for a lot of stuff they actually have no influence over and seem to think it's OK to be abusive toward them - it's not.
Unless we can find ways that people like you will stop hating on these people, we're doomed to be a backwater for ill-informed, boring rants on the same topics over and over again.
What would cause you to take them seriously, give them some respect, engage them civilly on issues they can actually influence and provide them with something that makes it worth their while to reply to you?
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Permalink Reply by markb on
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Strawmen seem to be Chris Setz's style of argumentation - does the same to me. Pointless to engage.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I've been reading this thread with interest but one thing keeps coming into my mind. Why should politicians bother? Despite a vigorous showing by LibDem candidates on this site at the last local election they lost. Maybe the effort involved outweighs the benefits.
I use HoL because I like to see stuff about what is going on locally for the most part. I don't use Twitter, Facebook or any of the other popular social media tools. I really do wonder if most of the population in this ward, and probably nationally, would actually want engage with politicians using social media? Maybe their priority is to use it, if they do, to find out what family and friends are up to, the best buy new fridge, or what's going on in Strictly? The only time I really take any notice of what politicos are up to on line is when they end up being paraded in their pyjamas on the BBC news.
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Permalink Reply by SarahC on
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I'd stop reading this site if it became an outlet for councillors' PR guff. I think there's definitely a role for online surgeries using social media, but please not here.
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I've seen some councillors use it exactly as that - an alternate comms channel for the surgery. It tended minimalist and along the lines of "get in touch with your problem via X and we'll explore the issue".
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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I'm not clear whether or not you disapprove of that, Markb.
It seemed to me that it was sometimes a helpful and legitimate way for councillors - ward councillors especially - to respond. Mostly on a non-party, non-PR-guff basis. Councillors' responses did identify them as such - but that's fair, isn't it? And in any case, is a requirement of the rules of this website.
Obviously you might think "he would say that, wouldn't he?" Because I was a Labour councillor until May 2014 and my wife Zena Brabazon was one of the councillors for St Ann's ward. But actually, I'd say the same thing about previous LibDem councillors. We didn't need to agree with their politics to work with them about potholes, dumped rubbish, parks etc.
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I think it's a wise move that shows they're wise to the downsides of social media while trying to help at the same time. I'd prefer a richer engagement at times and engage in civil discourse even in disagreement but internet-lynch mobs aren't always up for that, so I can certainly see why a politician wouldn't engage. It's a shame because it would help me form a better picture of the person and help me guide my voting. I tend to only vote for a parties when I no clue about the individuals running (which is far too often).
Perhaps an aggressively moderated forum might work better, one that limits the conversation to constructive speech, the sort of stuff you'd say to large groups at your workplace (assuming it's an uptight corporation or public body).
This is not to say Hugh isn't moderating enough, it's a tradeoff. For a general neighbourhood forum, I think the level is fine, it's a hang-out/pub level discourse. If this were a medium designed for interaction, then it would need to be moderated to professional standards, along the lines of wikipedia or stackexchange.
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We're not going to get paid professional moderators because those skills are too expensive for the site to support, aren't they? Hugh is open to changes in the forum software (it's ning at the moment.)
I've asked him to consider allowing the community to rate the content more explicitly - what I think of as 'kudos'-based. One of the longest established, most successful open source implementations I've seen is Slashdot. Seems to me to be a well-worked-out system that allows people to 'rate' posts so you can see 'tune' the site to your heart's delight.
We already have the essential component - great people who post and those who read - it might improve if they were given more of a say in a way we can all share. I'd like to go further and attempt to auto-classify what people write, break it down, say, by argument (sarcasm warnings!). Might help me conquer my addiction to straw men :)
Users can 'rate' posts like this:
Normal: The default setting attached to every comment when you have moderation privileges.
Offtopic: A comment which has nothing to do with the story it's linked to (song lyrics, obscene ascii art, etc).
Flamebait: Comments whose sole purpose is to insult and enrage.
Troll: A Troll is similar to Flamebait, but slightly more refined. This is a prank comment intended to provoke indignant (or just confused) responses.
Redundant: Redundant posts add no new information; they take up space with information either in the original post, the attached links, or lots of previous comments.
Insightful: An Insightful comment makes you think, or puts a new spin on a given story. Examples: an analogy you hadn't thought of, or a telling counterexample.
Interesting: If you believe a comment to be Interesting (and on-topic), it is.
Informative: Informative comments add new information to explain the circumstances hinted at by a particular story, fill in "The Other Side" of an argument, etc.
Funny: Choose "Funny" if you think the comment is actually funny, not just because it seems intended to be.
Overrated: Sometimes comments are disproportionately up-moderated—this probably means several moderators saw it at nearly the same time, and their cumulative scores exaggerated its merit. (Example: A knock-knock joke at +5, Funny.) Such a comment is Overrated.
Underrated: Likewise, some comments get smashed lower than they might deserve. Choosing "Underrated" means you think it should be read by more people.
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Among the effects are that you can 'tune' the site to, for instance, ignore altogether certain types of posts the community have rated as not very interesting, or pay more attention to those regarded as funny.
HoL runs on a shoestring - the commercial value of the work that Hugh and Liz put in is huge and in no way properly compensates them - there's no money in this. So that means practically no budget. The only way things can realistically change is if we get people together to support the site, do the tech admin etc and that needs a permanent commitment with a track record before we could be trusted enough to make even minor changes, let alone migrate the site to Wordpress (which is what I'd advise).
So, a first step is to express an interest in this problem and step forward to be part of the solution.
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Here's an example of a post from politics.slashdot.org to show what it might be like. It starts off with a comments filter you can adjust:
Comments Filter:
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
It looks like this, nested, threaded comments:
I've tried to show what it would look like below. On slashdot itself the layout is a lot better (I'm unable to copy in the formatting here), but it does give the idea of being able to get hints as to what to not bother reading. When I am logged in to the forum, some comments are marked 'hidden' because they are below my personal threshold (defined in my private 'settings')
I don't want to read what I don't want to read, so the sites hides those things from me based on their community rating and helps me identify the things I might like:
---------------------extract from a Slashdot thread --------------
An anonymous reader writes:
The BBC and RT report that 16 men named after the Star Wars character "Darth Vader" are running for parliamentary elections in Ukraine later this month. In addition, a Chewbacca, Palpatin, Padme Amidala and Grand Jedi Master Yoda will stand in the snap October 26 polls. All of them have been nominated for parliament by the Internet Party of Ukraine. "This is not the first time Darth Vader has stood for election in Ukraine. In April, a man going by that name tried running for presidency, but his application was rejected by the Central Electoral Commission. One official suggested that his campaign could be an attempt to make a mockery of elections in Ukraine - possibly by Russia."
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One thing is for sure (Score:4, Funny)
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by BarbaraHudson (3785311) a href="mailto:(moc.liamg)+(ta)+(enilnonosduharabrab)">(moc.liamg) (ta) (enilnonosduharabrab)> on Sunday October 05, 2014 @12:49PM (#48068607) JournalI didn't think Putin was interested in running in the Ukraine, just running it.-
With estimates reaching over * 1 millions deaths * caused be the US lead Iraq conflict, I can see why Putin would be your first thought for an evil emperor. I mean a little genocide never hurt nobody, right? And besides, Russia isn't playing nice with the world banking regime. That's a true crime against humanity.
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Russia is not playing nice with anything. Apparently sanctions do work though because a lot of rich folk are getting screwed. So hopefully soon Putin has an accident with a bear (the kind that carries subsonic sniper rifles) while riding a horse half naked and the entire shitstorm in Ukraine stops.
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Russia is a big country rich in natural resources. If they played nice they'd be crushed by that country that is always at war with defenseless countries.
It is irrelevant that you hate Putin. Most Russians like him and what he has done for the country, and that's what matters in a Democracy (or a Republic with democratically-elected representatives).-
Love and hate are irrelevant when discussing a mad dog.
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The purported purpose of the sanctions was not to screw over some fat cats, but to make Russia change its course in the conflict. Russia has not changed it, and Kiev has been acting on more or less Moscow's terms. Ergo, the sanctions do not work.
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Over 1 million deaths? Sources please? Or maybe you are using the Russky scale of counting, LOL. And if we recall that part of the weaponry used by the IS comes from your dear customer Assad... Greetings to Vladimir:)
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Sounds like a good group of folks...
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I they are serious about politics, why are they using fake characters as candidates ?
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That is what all politicians do... most of them just take on boring and pretend-to-care characters.
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Problem is, look what happened to Estonia, they were victims of a Russian state sponsored cyber attack which was quite problematic because they had built their state around heavy internet focus for provision of services and so forth.
It's a good idea, if you're a nation that has enough control of it's borders to prevent physical access to important internet infrastructure from Russian agents, and if you can withstand Russian cyber attack both focussed hacks and dumb DDOS attacks, but I don't think Ukraine is
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The fuck mate. They are fucking at war. Of course they are living their lives. But it's not like all fun and games. I mean fuck, just imagine they were just right there in California being invaded by some group of jerks or something the like, it's not fucking normal.
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I voted for Skywalker.
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It doesn't matter who you vote for, the problem is that the system is inherently corrupting. Sure, right now, he may be young and idealistic, full of nothing but good intentions. But once he's actually elected, what happens? He'll have to compromise, raise money, fight political battles, worry about re-election, fight wars... in no time at all he's turned to the Dark Side, more machine than man, twisted and evil. I mean, look at Obama. He came in all hope and change, and what happens? He secretly creates a
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by Opportunist (166417) on Sunday October 05, 2014 @01:09PM (#48068697)
Thank god we didn't allow to make a mockery of the elections in the Ukraine and instead allowed them to make a mockery of democracy altogether...
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I didn't mean or mention professional moderation, I was referring to professional standards of behaviour of the participants, rather than treating everyone as open game.
Slashdot never worked for me. It's still a garbage heap. A community can self moderate, like this: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/05/a-theory-of-moderation/
Auto-classification of posts won't work. Sentiment analysis is still in it's infancy. It would be interesting to try a Baysian classifier (spam filter) against it, but I still doubt that would work.
Challenge for Chris: a response that does not induce tl;dr (google it)
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Han Solo votes first.
Hm, that's funny. They've got Vader, Chewbacca,Yoda, Palpatine... but strangely, no Admiral Akbar. What could that mean unless... unless....
IT'S A TRAP!!!!!!!