Monday, May 7, 2018

Annals of the (unsuccessful) commenters strike at Bloomberg Opinion

I'm moving information into here because I want to delete two posts about the strike and get them off of my top posts list, making way for more relevant posts. So commence the copy and paste:

TONY WHITE CALLS FOR STRIKE AGAINST BLOOMBERG

Tony White asked me to put up this page for Bloomberg commenters to organize their strike. This is a one-week strike of commenters at Bloomberg View (maybe now called Bloomberg Opinion) arising from them putting up a pay wall. It's mostly an experiment to see if anyone other than the commenters here care.

ACTION PLAN FOR JUNE

1. Continue to get new people signed up.
2. Commenting is allowed and encouraged this week. Show that our words enhance the comment threads.
3. Continue to search for and try new sites to continue the unique conversation without the issue of paywalls. See this post.
4. Started the month with about 37 people signed up.

SIGNED UP ALREADY:

Tony White                                                   
mountaintraveler (Traveler)                         
Steeple                                                           
ModeratePoli                                                 
mb                                                                 
Yak Hearder                                                 
Howard Craft
Fish heads
yobubba
Sir Tainley
Keith Fenton
waynerober
bgdg
eyethink2
Epstein's Mother
Covfefe is my slave name
Johnny sunshine
Reaganite88
clandabbg
JC1010

Iseheijiro
LiberalSmallInvestor
Joe Brady
thrashertm
Zack Smith
M. Faizal Rasol
Dean Achison
DCoronata
The Contentious Otter
Justin Woodall
Lew
Joe_Hubris
Craig
Working Class Dog
Popcorn
Luc
Danno


HOW TO SIGN UP

Please sign up by leaving a comment on this page.

Very important: You don't have to register at all to sign up or comment. After writing your comment, follow these directions, as shown below:

1. Scroll down to the comment box and enter your comment there.
2. Click on the toggle by Name/URL.
3. Enter the name you use for Disqus.

Everything else with the comments is self-explanatory.

About the trolls who might feel interested in signing up, you can guess how much shit I'll put up with on my page. Be respectful or begone.

Even More Important

Tony has been the leader but with a huge openness to ideas and help across the board. I'll be updating this page to put important info at the top.

How to Reply to Comments

This site has limited capabilities for handling replies. Basically it's just a straight list of comments. Sorry, but that's what is available. If it's important to cite what you're replying to, name the person and quote their comment.

The BV Commentariate Mission Statement

We the "BV Commentariate" adamantly and vigorously oppose the new Bloomberg paywall. It is detrimental to both Bloomberg and its subscribers. Our strength lies in the promotion of readership for which Bloomberg benefits through greater advertisement exposure. Our unique and diverse group adds life, zest and value to every article. Our Motto is "Tear Down this Wall."

Rules:
1. When "on strike " all members are very, very, strongly urged to withdraw comment activities from Bloomberg Opinion on or View. (It is our major leverage)
2. While commenting during a strike is heavily frowned upon, it will not be grounds for "Dismemberment".
3. Anyone who signed up will only be removed upon their request.
4. Anyone can signup either here or by "in discussion request" to any existing member.
5. Posting during a strike is acceptable for the following:
a. To protest the paywall.
b. To attempt to get a commentator in discussion to join our group.
6. Shills and trolls must renounce their shillish and/or trollish ways before joining.

Points of discussion not yet agreed upon:

- Whether to go for zero fee, to pay one dollar/year will alienate many.
- We aren't freeloaders. No, we are uncompensated contributors who add wit and added dimension and spice to each article.

Test out our new guestbook
Top item on the right side of the page.



Guidelines for Writing the Daily Posting

It makes a great impression that we have a lot of people willing and able to express their reasons for wanting an open Bloomberg View/Opinion. It's a reflection that we're all literate (Yay!) and involved. This is so much a group effort, and getting more so.

Guidelines for the official daily commenter:
1. Comment as early as possible on all articles from The Editors.
2. Comment as early as possible to a few additional articles that are likely to be popular. Don't spam everything.
3. Include the list of supporters/strikers.
4. Invite people to join and give the website.

Thanks everyone. But remember, Tony White is in charge, hahahaha. Do as he says.


REPORT ON WEEK 1 - MAY 7 TO  MAY 13

1. Daily posting, with responsibility shared among those willing to write. Since we're commenters, there are a fair number willing to write.
2. Strike against commenting. Members ideally shouldn't comment except in response to the group's daily post. However, a couple of comments are OK. 
3. Trying to recruit new members. 
4. Starting the strike with about 18 group members.
5. The quality of the comments threads suffered, especially from midweek through the end of the week.

REPORT ON WEEK 2 MAY 14 - MAY 20

1. Daily posting by multiple members as a reminder of the strike and of the value of good commenters.
2. This was a period where people were encouraged to comment as a reminder of the value of our voices.
3. Many commenters are leaving, so the quality of the threads is clearly diminished.
4. Started the week with about 26 people signed up.

REPORT ON WEEK 3 MAY 21 - MAY 27

1. Daily posting by multiple members as a reminder of the strike and of the value of good commenters.Commenters are also were encouraged to comment as a reminder of the value of our voices.
2. Strikers were expressing hope to find a new home for the Commentariate.
3. Started the week with about 34 people signed up.



This was the first daily posting announcing the strike. Kudos to our fearless leader, Tony White:

STRIKE! To the editors of Bloomberg View

We are a group of commenters who highly value the comment threads on Bloomberg View. We [naming ourselves the Commentariat] are announcing to our fellow contributors of Bloomberg View that the names listed below will be protesting the Pay Window policies enacted by Bloomberg Business this past week  on May 3, 2018. We are therefore notifying our fellow writers that we will, sadly, not be participating in this week's discussions. We do this not in selfish promotion, but in the desire to keep all our opinions open and free. As contributors to the success of the opinion pages, we justly feel unfairly treated to be charged for that success. BV is killing the proverbial golden goose. While we understand Bloomberg Business has to have revenue sources, doing so on the backs of the contributors is unjust and unwarranted. Please join us in protesting the paywall which will result in the demise of free and open discussion among all ideologies and incomes.



THIS SPACE IS FOR COMMENTS ON TODAY'S ISSUES.

We may quote from articles and comments. All quotes are for discussion and sharing of opinions, obviously, and therefore are made under fair use guidelines.

#1  From the editors today:
In the world according to Trump, the president knows what he’s doing, and it’s working just fine. Be the bully and keep them guessing. Apply this to allies as well as rivals — because in the end what’s the difference? Disdain institutions that the U.S. spent decades building — because what did they ever do for us? In the real world, this approach will prove enormously damaging to the country, as well as to America’s friends.
#2 Bernstein:
[paraphrase] Trump's cabinet is in chaos. He's fired people with no coherent plans for replacements.  
 #3 Ponnuru:
[paraphrase] What's hype in the media coverage of Trump? 1. There's a constitutional crisis. 2. Some act (like firing Mueller) will end the Trump presidency. 3. Stormy Daniels doesn't matter. (To millions, including millions of supporters, it does matter.)
 Commenters, ADD YOUR OWN TOPICS. Let the commenting begin. It'll start slowly.


#4. Sunstein:
Summary and analysis of possible obstruction of justice by Trump, with a historical framing. 
"Even if a candidate for president did not collude with a less-than-friendly foreign power, or have any relationship with it, presidential obstruction of an investigation into that issue would be a serious offense — from the standpoint of the impeachment clause, at least as serious the first Article of Impeachment against President Nixon."
#5. CNN:
[I'm not a big fan of CNN. I just tuned in to see primary result, but they have a huge story about payments to Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer and fixer.] "In a memo posted online Tuesday afternoon, Avenatti alleged that Cohen received the following payments after the 2016 election: approximately half-a-million dollars from a company linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin; nearly $400,000 from pharmaceutical giant Novartis; $150,000 from Korea Aerospace Industries and $200,000 from telecommunications conglomerate AT&T."

14 comments:

Tony White said...

Trump's rollout of Guiliani as his "go to" guys was an unmitigated disaster -- as there is no cohesion between Trump and his "advisers."

ModeratePoli said...

@Tony, I think Guiliani is trying to get Trump to move on his ridiculous story that he knew nothing about Stormy. But Trump is a stubborn idiot, which is partly how he gets himself in trouble.

ModeratePoli said...

About Guiliani: “He was well aware that at some point when I saw the opportunity, I was going to get this over with,” Giuliani said. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/i-was-going-to-get-this-over-with-inside-giulianis-explosive-stormy-daniels-revelation/2018/05/03/6937ac52-4ee6-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html?utm_term=.dc8f005b858b

Tony White said...

Exactly M.P. [for once we agree on something!]. Everyone with half a brain knew that Trump knew about the "Stormy payoff" from the beginning, yet their strategy of denial went on. When Guiliani come out a week or two ago and contradicted those earlier statements regarding "the deal," I thought for sure that was the correct and legal way to approach the matter. Now, I'm unsure which story was/is the "right" way to go! 'Upvote' for your keen sense of how the world REALLY works.

Fish Head said...

How goes the strike? Lurked around BV a bit and it appeared comments were way down. The new format is pretty sucky. I'll be back soon. How long are we striking? They'll miss our deep thinking, congenative sarcasm and General smartassedness.

ModeratePoli said...

@Fishy, The strike is a week, so until next Sunday. My opinion is that the comment 3 out of 4 threads seemed pretty good. More dehttp://moderatepoli.blogspot.com/2018/05/tony-white-organizing-bloomberg-strikers.html?showComment=1525740638707#c298534874397252600tails here:

johnny sunshine said...

The big news today hasn't appeared in Bloomberg yet. It's that both the Times and Post are digging into the increasingly apparent fact that Trump's personal fortune has relied on money laundering for some time now, though they don't quite say it out loud.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/robert-mueller-must-expose-trumps-crooked-business-empire.html

And that some Republican donor/organization/cabal paid the same ex Israeli spies who worked for Weinstein to try to dig up dirt on former midlevel Obama staffers involved with the Iran deal.

ModeratePoli said...

I'm really struggling today. I badly want to comment in disagreement with posters saying that Hillary was a much better candidate in 2008. Aaarrrggghhh.

I thought the Sunstein piece was very good, and very sober. I'm not quite sure that I agree with him that the most important task for Trump's lawyers is to demonstrate that Trump hasn't obstructed justice. I would think that the most important task would be for the lawyers to nail down the truth first, and then build the defense. However, nailing down the truth with Trump and his cast of toadies can't be easy. Most of them seem to be foreigners to truth, even more than most politicians. And building a defense when Trump thinks he always knows best is a nightmare.

Tony White said...

HRC was a horrible Democratic presiential candidate, so bad, in fact, that it allowed Trump to barely win the election. The DNC was firmly behind her long before the start of the 2016 campaign. The Democratic nomination process was NOT neutral to whom it wanted to see as President. It illustrated how it was on cruise control without considering better candidates.

ModeratePoli said...

#5. That's a huge story by CNN. It's also the first time I've seen an interview with Avenatti. That guy is so sharp. He is just representing Stormy Daniels right now, and perhaps he's mostly a litigator, but he is ripping apart the facade around the cushy relationship Trump has. And, remember, there's a relationship between Cohen and Hannity too.

ModeratePoli said...

To everyone, does this Essential Consultants look like a slush fund? I don't know that the amounts of money would matter to Trump, but the convenience could have been very helpful. (Note, I know this is speculation. However, the corporation had a purpose, or more than one, so what was the purpose?) Maybe the original plan was that Cohen was paying everyone, and getting income from these companies, and not directly from Trump -- deniability. However, that story ran afoul of campaign finance laws, and Trump has no explanation in reserve. Thus the muddling by Giuliani.

I notice that there are very few conservative voices weighing right now. It's not going to stay that way. Stormy wasn't a huge story but this looks so much bigger.

johnny sunshine said...

I think this is gonna be the next big story going forward, though it's as yet unproven. The idea is that Elliot Broidy wasn't the one having the affair and creating a child and asking for the abortion with the (other) Playboy model, and paying $1.6 million through Cohen to keep the "problem" child quiet. It was Trump. I find the argument completely convincing. And I think it'll become clear pretty soon that the money was coming from Russia.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/theory-playboy-model-had-affair-with-trump-not-broidy.html

ModeratePoli said...

Back when Yak Hearder wasn't being a total shit:

Yak Hearder said...
All sounds good. We'll add #6. I'd not seen those cb comments. I like mps changes. I'll hang lose till tommarow in case there is more input. And yes, we need more hyperbolic and caustic sarcasm!

Night all.

May 16, 2018 at 9:03 PM

ModeratePoli said...

Another comment worth preserving:

Popcorn said...
@ModeratePoli

It’s not that I supported him. Never once voted for him in fact. His home policies were always poor (I always said that), but were outweighed by his foreign ones in general. So on balance he seemed bearable to me. Yes, Western MSM are often biased and arrogant when it comes to Russia. Even worse to hear indiscriminate Russia bashing from Western establishment. Putin played this sentiment skillfully by blaming the West for Russia’s home mess (that resulted from his own incompetence of course) via aggressive paid propaganda. It’s very reassuring therefore to see people in power finally starting to distinguish between Putin’s regime and Russians in general (google most recent sanctions-related comments from T. May and H. Nauert for example). This MUST continue.

My personal tipping point was this scandal: The Sex Worker and Putin's Shady Billionaire Buddy Who Could Hold Keys to the Russia Investigation - The Daily Beast

A top official gets caught with his pants down. Resignation follows? You wish. One of Putin’s pocket courts orders any info related to the story be blocked/removed from the web. Roskomnadzor (Putin’s censorship tool) was actually contemplating banning YouTube in Russia altogether as a result. LOL.
Inquiring intelligent minds asking questions about Putin’s public servants were given a plain and short answer: F OFF. Mind your business, serfs. This wasn’t the first time this sequence of events taking place. I say I’ve had it. Enough.
Add to this the (now) disastrous economic (mis)management in Russia that deserves a separate thread for discussion. Let’s just say that I can attest to it by my personal ‘field’ expertise, not some academic theory.
And so, in a nutshell, from 2018 and on the formula is clear to me: anti-Putin=pro-Russian=pro-liberty.

May 22, 2018 at 8:00 AM