Tim Ireland on tabloids, media, blogs and politics
Two screengrabs for your reference and mine
This entry was posted on
Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at
8:48 pm and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.
Over the past 20+ hours, Derek Draper has been playing a fun little game of comment keepsies.
He’s been challenging folk, including me, to respond to this or that… while withholding any responses.
This is the link, but please keep in mind that this thread could change and there are a number of comments Draper could release at any time. A screengrab for reference is below:
Given his recent behaviour, I have every reason to expect that these responses – or simply the ones that put him at a disadvantage – will be deleted. Or maybe even released all at once into a confused mess a day after most readers will have moved on to another conversation.
He is using his position as moderator of the conversation to gain an unfair advantage in the conversation. This is a childish game, but it wouldn’t matter quite so much if he didn’t also tout himself as Labour’s ambassador to bloggers; a man who believes in the empowering wonders of engagement and debate.
I am trying to be patient with Draper and his people, but it appears that we have come to something of a crossroads:
Well, there it is. If I want Draper and his gang to take me seriously and treat me courteously, I’ve got to go through Downing Street.
An interesting week lies ahead.
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Comments are closed.
about 3 years ago
Pardon my stating the obvious, but that is one screengrab twice, rather than two screengrabs.
about 3 years ago
Now fixed. Ta.
about 3 years ago
Don't understand your point. Tom Miller was simply pointing out that if you want an email address for Gordon Brown, then it's up to 10 Downing Street to provide it, not LabourList – presumably because the latter is for party discussions, and most people who want to email Gordon Brown are after him in his job as Prime Minister.
about 3 years ago
Tom Miller was waving about examples of 'likely' search queries that were, quite frankly, pathetic and more contrived than anything he was dismissing. But it seems the answer to that one is "we're only in beta", too.But the exact topic under discussion in that thread is not the issue under discussion here. The issue under discussion here is Draper's blatant attempt to rig conversations through highly selective and dishonest moderation. We're now well into the next day after this post went live and Draper is still holding back on my comments and an unknown number of other comments in that thread.It is unclear how much Tom Miller knows about what is going on in the back end, but he's enjoying a lot more freedom in this thread than anyone else, in places it only *looks* like his is the last word, and his sly sidestep did make it clear to me what has to be done:Draper clearly doesn't take my concerns seriously. He even appears prepared to play the Dale/Staines game of undermining my reputation instead of addressing my concerns.Meanwhile, the effing Labour Party is spamming me, and instead of an honest apology I get a bullshit line about it being a one-off mistake.I need someone a little higher up to take notice. Happily, Downing Street's continued failure to address the Brown email issue can be addressed at the same time.
about 3 years ago
Tim, there is some kind of account setting that can be applied that allows users to post without moderation. It's been applied to several users on the site (including me). That's why he's getting the greater freedom.
about 3 years ago
But I hope people understand that there's a clear difference between being held back until the moderator gets around to you in such circumstances and the moderator himself calling you out and then holding back your replies.