New Front Page Guidelines

Henceforth, for the sake of fairness, any essay or open thread that mentions covid 19, whether directly or tangentially, will not be promoted to the front page. Editors, if you promote a covid essay yourself it will be removed from the front page and relegated to the CC page. All open thread writers, any mention of covid 19 will relegate the OT to the CC page. If a covid sub-thread is started in the comments of either an essay or an OT, it will be demoted to the CC page. No exceptions.

This is non-negotiable, so don't even ask.

I'm tired of the bickering. The front page is our landing page, I want it to appear to be neutral on this issue. At least if it's on the CC page visitors will have to hunt to find it.

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mimi's picture

Aye, aye, Sir.

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4 users have voted.
QMS's picture

Pretty sure most of us know how screwed up the health care system is by now.
Thanks
Q

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8 users have voted.

It applies only to promoted content and OT’s, such that if a co#id turd were to be dropped in said FP domain that content would be relegated to the CC?

Are “free range” discussions still permitted in the Community Content domain, including the C-word?

Just want to be clear here….

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8 users have voted.

“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024

@ovals49
A year or so ago I started promoting all OTs to the front page because that's where some of the best content on this site can be found. I don't want the OT writers to be penalized for said turd drop so it will be up to the OT author as to whether they want to allow covid 19 discussion in their threads or not.

If so, the OT will be displayed on the CC page only. If not, then the author can ask that the thread be covid 19 discussion free.

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8 users have voted.

@JtC

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8 users have voted.

“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024

@ovals49
anyone can do an open thread on any discussion. We can have more than one.

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7 users have voted.

@JtC

it will be up to the OT author as to whether they want to allow covid 19 discussion in their threads or not.

If so, the OT will be displayed on the CC page only. If not, then the author can ask that the thread be covid 19 discussion free.

I was under the (mis?)impression open threads were, well, *open*. I don't recall ever seeing one indicating thus and such a topic was not to be discussed. Did I miss a FAQ somewhere or is this something completely new? I usually just go directly to CC anyway - had no idea this was even a controversy.

I guess you will draw the line wherever you think appropriate, but Covid-related content is often related to labor and free speech issues, police brutality, government and corporate transparency/accountability, travel, the economy, education... and much etc. Covid and associated policies have so impacted society so broadly it's difficult to discuss a whole range of things without touching on it.

Can we operate on the assumption that if the editor of an OT does not specifically say to avoid Covid-related content that they are effectively saying that if it comes up it comes up and that if it does and the thread is exiled to CC that they are prepared to live with that?

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2 users have voted.

@Blue Republic

Can we operate on the assumption that if the editor of an OT does not specifically say to avoid Covid-related content that they are effectively saying that if it comes up it comes up and that if it does and the thread is exiled to CC that they are prepared to live with that?
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6 users have voted.

@JtC
...

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0 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

@Blue Republic
I'm scheduled for a total knee replacement surgery on Oct. 4th.
I was to spend one or possibly two nights in the hospital, but there are no rooms.
Because of those "C" patients from the next state east flooding hospitals in my state, I have to go home the same day.
I am already anxiety ridden because this is my first time under the knife.
The effects of covid are incredibly widespread.
Let this be my rant on the subject and if I'm still among the living Oct. 5 I will apologise profusely.

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3 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

janis b's picture

I think it's a very graceful solution to a complicated problem. "Take it to another room, away from the entrance". I hope this enables more comments on other subjects from regulars, as well as those whose voices are silent. Maybe it might even invite new voices.

I like this voice …

[video:https://youtu.be/_nVA4btQBzw]

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9 users have voted.

@janis b

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0 users have voted.

"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

CB's picture

@Fishtroller 02
You can use a VPN to change it.

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1 user has voted.

First, I must state that I quit watching TV news in 2002 because I knew they were selling the war in Iraq. It was so obvious it made me mad.

As an aside, during this time the only media I found to be responsible with Al Jazeera Arabic. (more on this later).

So the entire Western world has been sold on neo-liberalism and the media reports from this perspective. The people kind of know it is BS, but can't quite put their finger on it. They have very respectable people telling them things...meanwhile their basic way of life is collapsing. Not unlike a frog in hot water.

So it is starting to come to a boil. We elected Trump. Brexit. France has a banker in charge that no one trusts.

Everyone knows the people in charge are crooks and not beholden to them.

Then comes Covid-19. And people have to not only change but accept the corrupt class. This is not only a US problem, but all throughout the great enlightened Europe! The people in the west have no trust in their leadership. They know they are lying. Ask the Brits about the great Tony Blair that the establishment promotes until this day. Or that the mainstream Dems are no promoting W as if he was actually someone that shouldn't be in the Hauge.

So yes, trust issues are quite open around the West.

But this is not where I get my news. I get my news from the ICU. My niece's husband's grandmother broke her hip. It took 72 hours to find a hospital bed. If you look at any ICU in the nation, they are full of unvaccinated COVID patients. None of my sources work for pharma. None are politically connected. One got into nursing because her two sons died of a rare disease. My cousins daughter just started as a nurse right when this kicked off.

So I understand the questions, but I don't understand the hesitancy. COVID is nasty. Getting the shot helps. Wearing masks helps. Staying healthy helps.

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13 users have voted.

@Mickt

I hope your family members who joined the ranks of healthcare workers are not subjected to what is going on in Idaho...
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-idaho-mi...

Last year we celebrated them. This year is a whole new world.

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3 users have voted.

"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Dawn's Meta's picture

You seem to have found the best way to parse a solution.

In our household, the references provided by many on this subject have been read and watched with great interest (our own preservation). Without the links and discussion we wouldn't have had the trove of information and links to scientific papers (which we prefer to read) that have gradually accumulated.

Thank you for making this possible and for your patience with all of us.

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8 users have voted.

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

enhydra lutris's picture

but Covid Corner. Perhaps treat is as a feature, like mud-wrestling or something and have an auto-scheduled daily unhosted Covid Corner OT that is nothing but a header, some tags and some boiler plate to the effect that "this space is not intended to limit or restrict covid related material to this column, but is available for anybody not feeling like writing a full column on some covid related material, information or incident to post same"

just "spitballing" as they say

be well and have a good one

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9 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris
that idea is already under discussion.

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5 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@enhydra lutris

'discussions of SARS-(whatever) will be only in Covid Content now.'

works for me, JtC; i've done my darndest to avoid 'knowing anything', but questioning everything.

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2 users have voted.
Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@enhydra lutris

Covid Corner could be a tab, and it would be fine with me if that tab were on the FP, though it's not my decision. That way the fighting wouldn't be the first thing people see.

I rarely read Covid content here, or anywhere, apart from tracking my county's numbers as best I can, and watching this guy:

Occasionally, I'll go to the World Health Organization, though my trust in them is not perfect--but at least they sometimes acknowledge their mistakes, and they seem better than the CDC.

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1 user has voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

mimi's picture

is posted. Relax. The front rows in a cinema are the least favorite ones. Smile

And in the back rows, you can cuddle amd make noises, what more do you wsmt ?

Which movie are you going to watch in a real cinema?

Have a good one, all.

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5 users have voted.

.
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I want it to appear to be neutral on this issue.

.

What a lively marketing concept! Come to our board -- it is neutral on the most significant issue facing the human race.

It's your board, of course. No complaint coming from me as I can think of several rational reasons for not wanting the board to be identified with either "side." One of them is being able to stay on the net. Another is to keep trolls from actually "taking over" the board. Yet another is that the "debate" is often embarrassing.

What a pass the Internet has reached. Gotta be careful about what you say. Can't be too controversial if you want to survive.

Is this a great country or what?

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4 users have voted.

I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@fire with fire

and what I think of JtC's decision, but I don't exactly interpret it as "be careful what you say." Be careful what you say, or...your essay will be taken off the FP and put in CC? In an online world mainly defined by censorship, shadowbanning, demonetization, character attacks, and witchhunts, in which police have been sent to people's houses because they say something critical about a politician online, this seems pretty mild. However, although mild, it is not an insignificant change. It's worth some chewing over, IMO.

But it hardly constitutes much of a threat. Nor do I see Community Content as exile. Exile would be getting banned.

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3 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal .

I did not make my ironic twist clear enough. It is not the banishment that I was referring to. That is less than trivial. I agree with you that there is nothing to complain about when a Board puts certain topics in certain areas of a site.

It was the decision itself with respect to drive-by viewers of the site that I found ironic. Be careful, C99, what you put on your landing page. I have run a message board before and I have no quarrel with the decision at all. I just find it telling that C99 makes the realistic assessment that it is unwise to be perceived as Anti-Vaxx or Pro-Mandatory Vaxx.

I don't blame JtC for recognizing that reality. I blame the people who run the world, not his board.

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3 users have voted.

I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@fire with fire

I think we're pretty much in agreement about censorship, and the general conditions one finds in online discussion these days.

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0 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Raggedy Ann's picture

It’s hot in that kitchen! Homosapiens are an unwieldy group with plenty of opinions! Corral us as you must! Pleasantry

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1 user has voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11