Althouse: 6:23, 6:29 a.m.

September 6, 2021

6:23, 6:29 a.m.

22 comments:

john mosby said...: “F*** Joe Biden” Chants Break Out at College Football Games Across the Country:

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-chants-break-college-football-games-country-1626438

JSM; 9/6/21, 3:58 PM
rehajm said...: So many ‘news’ outlets fell for the Rolling Stone Ivermectin hoax. MSNBC of course, but also The Hill, The Guardian, Business Insider, Daily Mail, Newsweek, NY Daily News and countless blue check liberal pundits.

Did you fall for it?; 9/6/21, 4:57 PM
gadfly said...: Omar Little is dead. "The Wire" actor Michael K. Williams was found deceased in his NYC apartment this afternoon.; 9/6/21, 5:55 PM
Bill Crawford said...: Turned 68 in July. Re-reading CS Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. Now old enough to appreciate childrens literature.; 9/6/21, 6:50 PM
farmgirl said...: I never wanted to come here again- after the Easter Sunday Eviction.
It’s not my thin skin- it’s the heart I wear on my sleeve. I know you didn’t want a general store cork board filled w/things a motley crew hawks in such places- at least that’s what I think I know.

I never truly understood the prodding to answer the specific questions posed- think deeper, be more specific…
I am just thankful to hear(read) the familiar voices again in black and white. I appreciate this space.

I’m still bruised, but that’s just me; 9/6/21, 7:39 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: "Son of 9/11 victim tells Biden not to come to Ground Zero for 20-year memorial ceremonies"

link text; 9/6/21, 8:09 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'Did you fall for it?'

They didn't fall for it...but they wanted you to.

'Omar Little is dead. "The Wire" actor Michael K. Williams was found deceased in his NYC apartment this afternoon.'

What a shocker.; 9/6/21, 9:02 PM
Original Mike said...: Biden Admin: There’s Little We Can Do to Help Americans in Afghanistan Because We “Don’t Control the Airspace”

Yeah, no kidding. That would take an air base…; 9/6/21, 9:05 PM
Narr said...: Our NPR affiliate is broadcasting a traditional sounding of the shofar to mark Rosh Hashanah.

I had no idea.; 9/6/21, 9:13 PM
Achilles said...: Did my first multi day fast. Ended at 1 today. 72 hours. Been slowly eating the rest of the day. Can't say it was fun but it wasn't terrible.

Probably going to do this every 40-50 days or so. Probably going to aim for 5 days next time.; 9/6/21, 9:16 PM
Drago said...: The Taliban have sent invitations to Turkey, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar to take part in the new Afhhan government installation ceremony.

All the direct benficiaries of biden's policies hanging out together.

And biden is their "Man of the Hour".

The rejoicing in those foreign capitals over biden being installed must be never ending.; 9/6/21, 11:41 PM
rehajm said...: “I never truly understood the prodding to answer the specific questions posed- think deeper, be more specific…
I am just thankful to hear(read) the familiar voices again in black and white. I appreciate this space. “

Same. It’s someone else’s space. Just take away what works for you and ignore the rest.; 9/7/21, 6:07 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @farmgirl

Maybe try to think about it from my perspective, what I was being subjected to and how much of my time it consumed. I asked people in that comments thread (on Easter) to explain to me what was my motivation to continue to support unmoderated comments and I couldn't get people even to begin to think about it from my point of view.

I got answers that were basically that I'm doing it for the money and I need the comments to maintain traffic because no one actually wants to read me. I asked several times for people to take my problem seriously, and the utter failure to get a response or even the beginning of any help with it led me to close the comments.

The problem had a few parts to it: 1. a small number of trolls, people I always deleted but who would vandalize the blog at random hours, 2. "back and forth" junk with one person insulting another and the other having to answer every insult which led to long threads with a small number of people saying almost nothing of substance, 3. people who wouldn't respond to the post, which always contained something new, as my front page is carefully curated, who'd put in their own topic or treat the topic as something more general that's been talked about before. For example, there might be some new law or legal case about something specific having to do with abortion and I'd blog about that development, and they'd post to state that abortion is murder.; 9/7/21, 8:04 AM
Kai Akker said...: --- I asked several times for people to take my problem seriously, and the utter failure to get a response or even the beginning of any help with it led me to close the comments. [AA]

A difficult subject to reenter, but I read through all those comments at the time and I remember this quite differently. Many -- many, many! -- offered thoughts on how to rein in your tasks and make them more manageable. A few volunteered their own efforts in ways that might help you.

You rejected every such offer; and maybe most of them would have caused you more trouble, in the end, than they might have saved. But the offers were made and sounded sincere to me.

Meanwhile, only a few made the accusations you mention here and they were often idiots whose comments should not have carried much weight.; 9/7/21, 11:12 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @Kai

I agree that many people proffered solutions. All of what they said were things that could not work, suggestions that I do things that my software wouldn't let me do or that I open up my blog to another person being the administrator. These suggestions were intended to be helpful but they were also characterizing the problem as not really such a problem. No one that I can remember ever understood what it was actually like for me, how much of my time it took. All of these suggestions, albeit friendly, made me feel alone and helpless. Meanwhile, many people were asserting that no one comes to my blog to read me, to which I said: What's my motivation? The answer again and again was: money.

"You rejected every such offer..."

Please try to understand now that there was no offer that I could accept. First of all, to have solved my problem, you would need to be watching the blog 24/7. No one could do that. Second, to do that, if you could, I would need to make you an administrator to the blog, something no one other than Meade and I has ever done.; 9/7/21, 12:55 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I mean, go back and read that thread and concentrate on what I said in response to people. I was begging for understanding. Please tell me, why would I do this? I ended up convincing myself because the question stood unanswered. Again, you don't know what we were catching and deleting, what a shit fest it had become. We were cleaning it up constantly, so of course, you couldn't see the problem. But people wouldn't believe me when I said there was a problem. That really sucked.; 9/7/21, 12:58 PM
Kai Akker said...: ---Please try to understand now that there was no offer that I could accept. First of all, to have solved my problem, you would need to be watching the blog 24/7. No one could do that. Second, to do that, if you could, I would need to make you an administrator to the blog, something no one other than Meade and I has ever done.

I do understand that; you could tell, reading through, that the ideas and suggestions were probably not going to produce concrete assistance for you, especially given your highly personal approach. And I sympathize with your problem.

My feeling then, and reading your reply to farmgirl, also now, is that you might have undervalued your commentariat. That's all I wanted to say. I don't know how much time you put into your blog, but it is obvious that it is a lot!

And the enjoyment your commenters get from participating in the discussions reflects that effort. There are smart and funny people reading you. No need for me to state more of the obvious! Like everyone, I hope that the shutdown and reopening has helped reduce the labor required of you.; 9/7/21, 1:20 PM
lb said...: Ann - interesting to read your thoughts regarding Easter. I do appreciate all the work you did/do to create such a wonderful space and truly have no idea how to fix the problems that you ran/run into. My only objection - and why this will probably be the only time I ever comment here, was your disparaging characterization of your commenters. It clarified to much just how much you dislike the right wing squatters. Of which I am one. I hope your new format works for you and I still appreciate your aesthetic but personally think that one should not go where one is not wanted.; 9/7/21, 1:38 PM
Narr said...: Prof, I think plenty of people believed you had a real problem--more than one. If I said anything to imply you were here only for mercenary reasons, I apologize. I understood those who offered to share the load--I wouldn't dare--to be acting mostly in good faith and because they valued what can happen here.

When you changed the format I went elsewhere but nowhere I went has the same ambience and clientele as your salon. Cafe. Thing.; 9/7/21, 2:12 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "My feeling then, and reading your reply to farmgirl, also now, is that you might have undervalued your commentariat."

I greatly value the part of it that isn't the problem I described (in 3 parts, above). I MARRIED a commenter. I have enjoyed many other commenters by responding to them in the comments and by quoting them on the front page. I could have dealt with my problems and simplified my life by completely ending comments, but I kept working on it, first, cutting and pasting comments from email and, now, moderating everything and reading and deleting after moderation. This leaves comments that are much better than what you would have if everything just went through. It makes the good comments easier to see and makes people more willing to read comments.; 9/8/21, 4:37 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "It clarified to much just how much you dislike the right wing squatters. Of which I am one."

You probably aren't and I think you misunderstand what I meant, which isn't just commenters who are right wing. It's commenters who acted like they owned the comments and that non-right-wingers don't belong there and should be hounded out. Wouldn't it be cool if the professor, who isn't right wing, had a comments section that was entirely right wing? That attitude. They didn't just express right-wing opinions. They were nasty to other people, and I wanted more balance and debate. That's why I keep saying be substantive and don't attack other people.; 9/8/21, 4:41 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Thanks, Narr.

"When you changed the format I went elsewhere but nowhere I went has the same ambience and clientele as your salon. Cafe. Thing."

Thanks for noticing!; 9/8/21, 4:42 AM