2012 Election Year Comment Guidelines

In the interest of not having every thread on every subject turn into a hissfest about whether Obama or Romney is a bigger doody-head, Boing Boing's election year rules are back on. These rules will remain in force for the rest of 2012.

• Please do not refer to candidates or parties unless they are mentioned in the post or clearly relevant to the subject. Example: In a post about radioactive scorpions who eat puppies, "They must be Republicans" is not a valid comment.

• In political discussions, please limit citations to credible news sources, credible statistic sites, etc. Links to candidate propaganda should only be used to demonstrate that candidate's stated position. Links to partisan websites will be treated as astroturf.

• Copy-pasted opinions and talking points will be treated as astroturf.

• Please do not stump for your candidate by shouting slogans. Content or GTFO.

• Please observe all the other niceties such as not repeating yourself and remaining civil.

antinous at boingboing dot net

MORE: everything in moderation

More at Boing Boing

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Hackers prepare for first "national holiday" in their honor

Isaac Marx

That is one disturbing photo.
- http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza
  
  Thank you. I do my best.
  - edi
    
    You are my favorite person on the internet. Seriously.
- zyodei
  
  It’s a disturbing reality…
  - http://twitter.com/digorytoothman digorytoothman
    
    Hardly.
  - chaopoiesis
    
    Nothing more than snark-hunting season, opening day.
- Grahamers2002
  
  Must be a pic of a repu… never mind.
OldBrownSquirrel

This seems an opportune moment to link to my all-time favorite piece of reporting on partisan politics:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/national-funk-congress-deadlocked-on-get-upget-dow,625/
It’s the best satire of partisan politics since Jonathan Swift wrote about the lack of consensus regarding the correct manner in which to eat eggs.
- chgoliz
  
  It’s rather more like the high heels vs. the low heels in Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”.
Val Lindsay

Love you guys and I will extend every effort in keeping it classy. That picture is so truthy though it’s burning out my retinas!
Under the River

I think this fair and will help keep comments on track, but they must be Republicans!
http://twitter.com/JJThorpe JJ Thorpe

I promise to abide by those rules as long as you NEVER EVER use that picture again–my every eyeball cell is burning and writhing.
Chris Koontz

Please source this image!
- http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza
  
  Boing Boing! (but the originals are official presidential and gubernatorial portraits)
- malindrome
  
  From the secret cloning vats beneath Boing Boing headquarters. Arise, Obamney, arise!
awjt

Rules are made to be broken:

http://www.ronpaul2012.com/

“Ron Paul is not only a physician, but he was trained in the discipline of obstetrics, gynecology, racism & hypocrisy and therefore is at the front lines in the battle against abortion.”

Ron Paul FTW!

Ron Paul FTW!

(Just kidding)
p9ooo

May we still make with the funny?
- awjt
  
  No. You are BANNED and so is your funny.
- PhosPhorious
  
  Why start now?
  
  Zing!
grs

Where is the link to the story about about radioactive scorpions that eat puppies? I was promised radioactive scorpions!
- Just_Ok
  
  The Scorpions are very radio active. I heard them on ROCK 97.9 MORNING, on KISS 106.9 and a couple of others
  - grs
    
    So maybe they save the puppy eating for the stage show?
    - billstewart
      
      As Ozzy Osbourne said “Just once you bite the head off a bat on stage and they’ll never let you live it down!”
  - http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11
    
    They will ROCK you like a hurricane that was not caused by man-made climate change!
    
    Also…climate change for the homeless, anyone?
- http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
  
  Everyone knows the radscorpions are libertarian. Most postholocaust critters are, you know.
  
  DEATHCLAW / RADSCORPION 2012!
  - malindrome
    
    Gruthar 2012: Garden of Eden Creation Kits for the New California Republic!
http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza

If you were appalled by this image, you may be appalled harder by this one.
- http://twitter.com/BadgerBeth Beth Cravens
  
  ca-reepy. Looks so natural.
- http://profiles.google.com/bigfatpugsley Αντώνης Παππάς
  
  Should he fail to get reelected, Obama has a great future ahead of him as a drag queen.
- awjt
  
  Man, you are just KILLING it today with these shoops.
- zarray
  
  Oh I know her! She sells tangerines at the farmer’s market.
- http://boingboing.net/ The Life Of Bryan
  
  Is that Val Kilmer’s mom?
Lobster

Might have been best to disable comments on this one. It’s troll bait.
- Tribune
  
  no, it is radioactive puppy eating scorpion bait.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  People use bait for a reason.
  - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
    
    I happen to be a master- of that, actually.
  - malindrome
    
    That’s entrapment!
  - teapot
    
    Can’t we just make these the rules the whole time?
Kobie

An extra point:

- And please keep in mind that not a single person will change their mind due to something you post.
- Marktech
  
  - And please keep in mind that not a single person will change their mind due to something you post.
  
  You know, I never thought of it like that.
- microcars
  
  I would have thought otherwise, but after reading your post, I’ve changed my mind.
- Snig
  
  No, Rocky, this time for sure! Nothing up my sleeve, and Presto!
  - Donald Petersen
    
    That trick never works.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4FUD4VOOO53VZJ7HLWAL3MMTIQ Joe F
  
  Some people, like me, may get so mad at your post that I will vote opposite of you just to cancel out your vote that you care so much about haha.
- http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11
  
  But, “someone’s WRONG on the Internet!”
- Lobster
  
  I’m not going to change my mind, but I will refer to non-specific (and possibly apocryphal) instances where I did change my mind in the past, thereby proving that I disagree on merit rather than because I’m stubborn.
- billstewart
  
  That’s not always true. During the previous Administration, I changed my mind, and decided that the civility issue was important enough that I had to take the high road and stop claiming that Dick Cheney actually eats live puppies for breakfast.
  
  Civility’s not only important for its own sake, and for making the Internet a nicer place to be, and keeping myself from just being an ngry sshl in too many internet discussions, but it’s also important because the Evil Party were using polarization as a political technique, so being angry and rude just helps them.
  
  And besides, factually, I don’t know whether Dick Cheney is enough of a morning person to actually eat breakfast, as opposed to just coffee. Dark, burned, bitter, acidic coffee, with sour cream and vinegar in it, and underripe persimmons on the side. The kind of coffee that goes well with bacon made from puppies. But I ain’t saying he actuallly eats puppies. Or breakfast.
  - IronEdithKidd
    
    Why don’t you Ask DickCheney about his breakfast habits?
irksome

“Repeal the 20th Century! Forward, into the Past! Vote GOP!”

There, I feel better now. You’ll have no issues with me.
trudy gonzalez

where is the link for the radioactive scorpions?
:D
- Ito Kagehisa
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tug7vVn_s2U
  
  You asked for it, don’t blame me.
  - Donald Petersen
    
    Nah, this here’s the one.
    - Ito Kagehisa
      
      Oh, damn, I had finally managed to forget how badly Roger Zelazny’s excellent story “Damnation Alley” was mangled in film.
      
      I guess I deserved that, though…
InkBlot14

I’d also love to see a rule along the lines of: “When referring to a candidate by name, keep to their unadulterated first, last or ‘common’ name as used in mainstream press.” So “Arnold” would be fine, “Schwarzenegger” would be fine, but “the Governator” would be out.

I know, “Governator” is cute and fairly harlmess. In fact, it’s my attempt at a harmless example. But years of people calling President Bush “Shrub” made me very uncomfortable (and I didn’t even like the guy), and the ways detractors refer to President Obama put my teeth on edge. And the current crop of Republican candidates aren’t immune either.

If you truly detest a person so much you can’t extend the basest courtesy of using their proper name, I really don’t see what positive contribution you’re going to have to the conversation at hand.
- theophrastvs
  
  Absolutely! But not quite neutralizing enough, because that allows the freedom to choose font, weight, style, etc. Imagine if i set “Romney” in italic comic-sans. That would be…well, just rude. Therefore, i propose a central registry whereby all individuals in the public eye would have a proper hexidecimal hash that must always be rendered in 12 point Times-Roman. For example: “cab005e” or “0ddba11″ (“deadbeef” having been pre-reserved for Rick Perry)
- Mujokan
  
  I also find this tendency irritating. Just use their real name, if you don’t want to look childish: that’s my opinion.
  - Ito Kagehisa
    
    I see your point, but honestly it was a lot easier to type “Shrub” than to put “President George Walker Bush, not his father, former President George Herbert Walker Bush” in parentheses after every reference to a witless Xian pronouncement perpetrated by the former.
    - Ipo
      
      bush43 not bush41.
    - http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
      
      GWB as opposed to GHWB or the drug GHB.
      - Preston Sturges
        
        “Dubya”
- http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza
  
  I think those things are considered as ‘aggravating factors’ but I don’t think it’s fair to ban thm on principle.
  - http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch
    
    I know, right? Besides, “Mittens” rather reduces the sting of knowing that Romney is a (censored, banned, blackedout, hidden, disemvoweled).
    - billstewart
      
      On the other hand, “Willard” really is Romney’s first name.
      - Shane Simmons
        
        True, but he goes by Mitt.
        
        You know, there are so many jokes that could be made about that.
  - Preston Sturges
    
    Just call Romney “Willard” which is his real name.
- Shane Simmons
  
  This has bothered me over the last 8 years or so. Maybe someone smarter than me can chime in on this (shouldn’t be hard to find someone smarter than me on BoingBoing) but wouldn’t names like Shrubbie, O’Bummer, and R-Money be a form of dehumanizing the enemy? At the very least, it’s incredibly childish.
  - marilove
    
    Mittens.
- marilove
  
  But… but… but… Mittens is is the greatest nickname for a presidential candidate ever!
http://twitter.com/kballweg kballweg

Civil? We ain’t got no Civil. We don’t need no Civil! I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ Civility!”
Marktech

In the spirit of Mardi Gras, couldn’t there have been just one total knock-down drag-out fight first?
- Lobster
  
  Mardi Gras offers the wrong kind of drag.
  - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
    
    Racing?
  - malindrome
    
    How awesome would it be if the first presidential debate were moderated by RuPaul?
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      I’d prefer Hedwig.
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=718945058 Kirsten Spitzner
      
      RuPaul vs. Ron Paul? Mwuh?
    - Just_Ok
      
      And Dame Edna. And the cast from Monty Python.
- Ito Kagehisa
  
  Pass me some of that druidic magic potion, then!
- ocker3
  
  Ah, Asterix, how do I love thee
- Just_Ok
  
  Maybe Obama was actually born as a female.
Guest

I take issue with your photo.

The two candidates are clearly not the same, on numerous issues – not the least of which is the appointment of probably two Supreme Court justices.
- Crispian
  
  Avoid bunched panties. I don’t think Ant/Mod is saying they are the same. It was merely a funny photo which combined the two likely candidates. Both men constantly disappoint their parties but they are very different and I don’t think any serious person would claim otherwise.
  - Guest
    
    Then don’t make a photo that implies this point of view. This happened in 2000 with that site, billionairesforbushorgore.com, and I think any sane person would have to recognize that Al Gore wouldn’t have given us Justices Alito and Roberts, a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a disastrous tax giveaway to America’s aristocracy.
    
    False equivalency is a big problem in our country.
    - Crispian
      
      You are reading all of that into the image. It certainly is one possible intended use of the image, but nothing would lead me to believe that was Ant/Mod’s intention.
      
      “False equivalency is a big problem in our country.”
      
      LOL.
      
      Believing false equivalency is a big problem in our country is a bigger problem in our country than false equivalency.
      
      It matters little what logical fallacies are at work when we discuss actual problems like our enormous debt, the future of social security, privacy, technology, etc. We absolutely should point out false equivalencies, circular reasoning, straw men, etc when they appear, but they are not big issues in and of themselves.
      
      How about we let go of the concern about (non-)similiarity of the two prospective candidates and talk about what needs to be done substantively on the big problems facing our country. We might come to the conclusion the candidates will be the same on any number of issues. What you’re probably concerned about are those people who do not care to learn any more than they read into a silly internet image.
      - Guest
        
        When you have a fourth estate that is nothing more than stenographers for the rich and powerful, then yes false equivalency is a big problem. We don’t hear from the 2+2=5 faction on the evening news as though they have a perfectly valid point of view.
      - Crispian
        
        Yes, sorry for that. When I clicked Post, it hung for a bit with the pending message and then got an error box. I assumed it hadn’t posted, so tried again, same effect. But then I reloaded page…just in case, and there they both were. Hope it helps, somehow.
    - wysinwyg
      
      Stop pretending like there aren’t millions of reasons to hate the Democratic party. The “lesser of two evils” is a big problem in our country.
      - mkultra
        
        Know what the best thing is about picking the lesser of two evils? Less evil.
      - Guest
        
        I’m not pretending that at all. I hate the fact that we have this problem, but there are ways to solve it that won’t result in two more fascist scumbags being appointed to the nation’s highest court.
        
        If you want to see viable third party candidates in our democracy, elect them to local office where the stakes are lower and the odds greater of them winning.
        
        The effects of W. Bush’s dubious victory in 2000 are still plaguing our country, and will do so until Citizens United is reversed.
      - wysinwyg
        
        @boingboing-6dbd2699e8e7ec0047de2d5d1b28a75b:disqus :
        No, when you choose the “lesser of two evils” you actually end up with MORE evil than you had before. Less evil than you MIGHT have had, but more evil than you had before. See the problem yet?
      - http://goodsharer.com/ Aloisius
        
        Compromise is such a pain. Wouldn’t it be nice if I got to elect someone who matched my ideology perfectly and never had to compromise for the sake of getting things done?
        
        Clearly we need to replace this pesky republic with a dictatorship.
    - Navin_Johnson
      
      and a disastrous tax giveaway to America’s aristocracy.
      
      Those were extended and are still in full effect btw.
      - Guest
        
        True, though as a concession to the GOP to get a budget extension passed to prevent a government shutdown.
      - Navin_Johnson
        
        That was a political gift to Obama and an actually committed POTUS could have made a case and done quite a bit with that apart from bending over and assuming the position….
        
        Anyway, empty suit.
      - Guest
        
        It’s easy to be a cynic. Let’s see if you’re as sanguine when the SCOTUS is 7 deep with right-wing corporate fascists.
      - Guest
        
        Yep, definitely an empty suit:
        http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/16/obama-administration-to-make-drug-companies-disclose-money-paid-to-doctors/
        
        I’m sure any Republican would do the same.
    - http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
      
      The photo implies that both are same as much as it represents the potential (scientifically impossible) spawn of a same-sex relationship between the two.
      - Guest
        
        Hardly.
Crispian

Good picture of President Obramney. Do Fox News and MSNBC count as partisan or credible?
- theophrastvs
  
  please!… that’s Romama
  - awjt
    
    No, it’s Barmitt Rombama.
  - Lobster
    
    Romama so fat…
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=718945058 Kirsten Spitzner
      
      This comment made my vagina hurt. Well crap. I’m going to get banned now for saying vagina.
      
      Oh no wait, that’s congress.
    - Just_Ok
      
      …when she sits on a committee, she sits ON a committee.
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  I was going to ask this.
  
  I see the Daily Mail crop up as a ‘credible’ source on BoingBoing (very occasionally) and Fox News is a given; these not credible news sources, period; so are we to expect the same from BoingBoing? Also what about the funnies? Fox News post a lot of funny stuff, assuming you don’t take it seriously.
- Dash Riprock
  
  Baritt Obamney (pronounced “Bar-IT o-BOM-ney”) sounds pretty good, too, I think…
Snig

I will do my best, but can’t promise you on the last bit about repeating myself or remaining civil. When I’m not it’s cause HE started it. I will also bear no malice should my content be removed.
guanto

It would be extra-rad if BB authors and moderators here could at least try to refrain from hurling insults at random people, random groups of people or commenters for a while. Would make this space much more readable.

Thank you.
- microcars
  
  OK- “a while” has passed, now I wish they would show us their tits.
  What are they hiding?
  Tits or GTFO!
  
  /your move Rob
- Ipo
  
  Screw random people!
  I like to insults hurled at specific ass clowns.
- guanto
  
  Well, it was nice for the day or so that it lasted. The pointless name-calling continues today; I capitulate.
- http://maggiekb.com/ Maggie Koerth-Baker
  
  *Resisting the urge to comically insult the OP*
  - Just_Ok
    
    It wouldn’t be a random target if you give in.
lakelady

Can we please have these rules ALL the time, not just election years? pretty please?
- wysinwyg
  
  You’re always completely free not to read the comments on any potentially flamey post.
  - http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch
    
    That would be all of them.
    - wysinwyg
      
      Good point. I’m always surprised how boingers totally go to pieces over the comics let alone the political posts.
    - Just_Ok
      
      You must be a democrat
      - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
        
        Oh, BURN!
  - mikey p
    
    Yup. Also, US citizens are totally free not to treat everything on the internet like it’s actually all about their domestic politics.
- billstewart
  
  You’ve probably noticed that especially flamey comments on BB get disemvoweled (unless you’ve stopped reading comments before they get to that point.)
  - http://boingboing.net/ The Life Of Bryan
    
    I haven’t seen any disemvowelling in quite some time (seems like a couple years). I figured they’d stopped doing that, which saddens me.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      What’s the point of dv’ing a comment when the commenter can just edit it right back?
      - edkedz
        
        That’s what you get for choosing disqus.
        
        (Edit: I love this site, and would always get real enjoyment from turds getting disemvowelled, but I hate Disqus so much, and am so unhappy when sites I love succumb to it, that I can’t help but feel a little schadenfreude at one of said sites getting one of its beloved traditions hobbled as a result of the decision to adopt Disqus for their comments.)
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        I’m not particularly thrilled with it myself. When we switched, it worked much better than what we were using, but they keep “upgrading” it into unusability. And it keeps breaking.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        I didn’t realize that Disqus would allow commenters to edit their comments. When I found out, I thought that it would be a great idea because commenters could fix their own errors. But it turns out that hardly anybody bothers to check their own links to see if they work.
        
        I fix dozens of borked links every day, mostly because the kids have decided that it’s cool to put links inside parentheses. Because the fact the link is a different color is apparently insufficient to make it visible.
IamInnocent

We shouldn’t repeat ourselves… make it so that we shouldn’t repeat what has already been said by others and we’re good for a year of peace and quiet.
Ito Kagehisa

OK, I can abide. But can I still whine about how much Disqus sucks?

And more importantly, Radioactive scorpions!!!!

Scorpions, I say!

Radioactive scorpions!
http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11

Boing Boing made it through the 2008 election, and this election looks no different. I doubt this decree is necessary or realistic. But whatevs.
- http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza
  
  Had it in 2008 too….
ROSSINDETROIT

But Antinous! The Internet needs my political opinions! Why are you interfering with my First Amendment right to express myself on your dime? Doodyhead!!1!
- http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
  
  The first amendment dosen’t apply to what I don’t like.
  
  ”I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to SHUT THE HELL UP”
  –Voltare
http://twitter.com/doggo doggo

Pffft! Civility…
- http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
  
  “During his first visit to England, when asked what he though of modern civilization, Gandhi is said to have told news reporters, ‘That would be a good idea.’”
Mujokan

I supported Obama from the start of the nomination process, and I posted arguments in his favor literally thousands of times up to the election, mostly on high-traffic websites like Digg (well it was high traffic back then). I had very high hopes for his presidency. This time around I won’t be doing so much.

This is not because I’m disappointed in Obama, really. In the course of the above career as a forum warrior I got a substantial education into how he thought, and I am not very surprised at the course of events since then in terms of what Obama has done.

I am much more disappointed in the Republicans. I made the mistake of thinking they would look back on the Bush years somewhat rationally and come to the obvious conclusion that they had made a lot of mistakes and should start being more cooperative. I usually like to big-up my predictive powers, but there I got it completely wrong.

If I’d realized that, I think I could’ve predicted the course of the Obama presidency better. Given that intransigence, it hasn’t played out surprisingly. There was a quote in the New Yorker review of a recent book on the Obamas that summed it up. “Obama was elected to lead “a rational, postracial, moderate country that is looking for sensible progress,” a White House official tells Kantor. “Except, oops, it’s an enraged, moralistic, harsh, desperate country. It’s a disconnect he can’t bridge.”

Where I would make an exception to the above is in some of the DoJ decisions. I get that if you believe in separation of powers, the DoJ has to take a great deal of notice of the will of Congress. But I think they have been more craven than they needed to be. That said, I think the repeal of DADT was instructive. I was arguing on the side of the White House continuing to defend DADT, because getting rid of it for good required a repeal, which eventually was forthcoming. That was the right way to do it. But still the DoJ is my greatest area of disappointment with Obama, even if I think critics often don’t quite get how the system has to work.

I really, really wanted to get the Republicans out in 2008, because I thought another dose would kill the country. This time around, I don’t care quite as much, I guess mostly because I like America less after the events of the past few years.

But it is just lazy to say “Both candidates are the same”. It’s a rhetorical exaggeration that some people unfortunately seem to take literally.
- Donald Petersen
  
  You know what I’d like? An occasional political-minded post that encourages the BB readership to post little self-examinations like the one above.
  
  That was real nice. It’d be great to find out what has brought about the evolutions in the political leanings of the BB regulars. Those of us who’ve been here for a while often know with whom we generally find ourselves in agreement or disagreement, but little introspections like this (mostly divorced from the usual partisan ranting) would do much to humanize each other hereabouts.
  
  I’d do one myself right now, had I a less-busy day at work today.
- Layne
  
  Not sure it’s “lazy” to come to the “both candidates are the same” conclusion when the only tangible difference separating them is the severity of the abuse of power.
  
  When it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, calling it an elephant or a donkey is a pointless exercise.
paulehoffman

Need thread with links to combined photos. Srsly. Much more useful than most political postings.
Tribune

Mitt Obama is really a McGill Chemistry Prof:

https://people.ok.ubc.ca/publicaffairs/exchange/2011-02-02/joe_schwarcz.jpg

http://oss.mcgill.ca/schwarcz.php
- Ipo
  
  Don’t call him Mitt.
  Can’t you muster the civility to call Mr. Romney by his given name?!
  Mittens.
  
  Teehee
  - Donald Petersen
    
    Hmph. His name is Willard. Like the guy with all the rat friends.
Trader Tim

Having seen the entire political landscape undergo more erosion and plate tectonics than the famed “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific, I still wonder why anyone thinks the presidential hotseat matters anymore.

Paid-for policy is what rules this domain, and a few ineffectual vetoes does little to keep things in check. Running for office has devolved into pithy one-liners suitable for a reality TV series, not intellectuals championing for constituents.

Politics, like the entertainment industry, deserves the same upheaval that torrents and the internet in general have brought about. The beauty of the internet is its underlying design routes around damage, and in this case – we need something to fill the representless-void that current politics provides.

I don’t know what form it will take, but I can tell you I’ll support anything other than the broken system we have in place today, if not for any other reason but to bypass decades of cronyism and cruft.

Enjoy the current “Election Cycle” in the meantime. I’m sure the wealthy sponsors of the ‘candidates’ wouldn’t have it any other way.
- awjt
  
  Well put. We’ll need a different Internet to make it happen.
jgroves76

In regards to the second bullet point regarding credible sites, does that mean you can’t site Fox “news”?
- IamInnocent
  
  We’re pretty much limited to the Daily Show, Colbert Report and the Onion.
  - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
    
    The Onion is the newspaper of prophesy …disguised as satire.
caipirina

Wow … a mashup photo of Obama and Romney … looks like another Schwarzenegger love child!
http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch

…turn into a hissfest about whether Obama or Romney/Santorum/etc. is a bigger doody-head…

C’mon, Antinous. Take the moral high ground: you be the bigger doody-head here. :D

On a more serious note, all, please leave the place in a better condition than you found it in.
monitorhead

Nice!! I like it! Now… i wonder if i can apply this rule to my facebook account. hmmmm… lolz
Artor

Holy crap! The pic of Obromney is creepy as hell. I’m not going to be able to get that image out of my head now. Thanks guys.
- zarray
  
  It’s creepy because it’s/he’s kind or pretty.
phil koltko

“…whether Obama or Romney/Santorum/etc. is a bigger doody-head…”

Etc is the smallest doody-head of the bunch and that why he/she/it is getting my vote.

Happy Mutants for Etc, 2012-ish!
Wordguy

Wait, are the _puppies_ Republicans?
Ipo

Haven’t read other comments yet, but I love that bOINGbOING commenters are held to a higher standard than Fox News anchors and guests.
Genre Slur

How would RAW seem to write comments in this thread?
bjacques

Loooooosseeeeeeeee!!!!!

I’ll show myself out.
http://www.facebook.com/kevynjacobs Kevyn Jacobs

Rob that is a BRILLIANT portrait of Obamney, Inc.! Kudos!
mikey p

Speaking as a non US reader, is there any chance these rules could apply always and forever, whatever the year?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  They do, sort of, but aren’t strictly enforced in off years. Four years ago, every comment in every post was about Sarah Palin. It was really obnoxious.
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YQZFGD3Q2J3A2KXHUN6N7CVUNU Zippy
    
    then again, so was she…
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      She was a sketch comedy character. Mittens is not really any weirder than most candidates, or most Americans, so the problem isn’t nearly so bad this time. Assuming that he doesn’t pick Jan Brewer or Donald Trump as VP.
      - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YQZFGD3Q2J3A2KXHUN6N7CVUNU Zippy
        
        I’d almost be tempted to vote for a Rmoney/Brewer ticket just to get her the Hell out of my state before she causes further damage… ALMOST
https://openid.org/stevenordquist Steve Nordquist

I for one welcome our new {$incumbent} as they join the {$incumbentparty}. New jobbers in {$year}! (And let us consider disparate syndicators as groundline reportage, not the IBS Everywhere one.)
Mike The Bard

Y knw wht? ‘m jst gng t dsmvwl myslf nd sv th mdrtrs th trbl. Hppy lctn yr vrybdy!
pjcamp

God, I haven’t got a handle on the first 47 rules

http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/30662

and now you want to add 5 more? Republicrats!
RJ

This blog entry should be right up at the top of the site, or at least on the sidebar. Maybe decorate it with the heads of the self-congratulatory political trolls you’ve already zapped. “LET THIS BE A WARNING TO THE REST OF YOU,” a sign scrawled in their blood might read.

It’s the best you can do, given the circumstances. Despite the clear moral victory it would represent, the NSA won’t let you borrow an anti-nuke satellite just to zap armchair pundits. Not even if you call it “Natural Selection 2.0.”
http://twitter.com/zeroanaphora แอ็ะปปี้

Will there be a list of which sites are “partisan” and which are not? Besides the obvious (Fox News, The Blaze for GOP; Think Progress, Media Matters, MoveOn for the dems) it’s kind of a muddy question.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Fox News counts as a news site. Beyond that, I make a judgment call. If I don’t know the site, I’ll research it and look at criticisms. Disingenuousness aside, pretty much everybody knows when they’re linking to something that’s primarily a propaganda site.
  
  I strongly discourage linking for purposes of citing opinion, as opposed to facts/news. Commenters should be expressing their own opinions, not Jon Stewart’s or Glenn Beck’s. Allowances may be made for lulz.
  - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
    
    Fox News Channel and Comedy Central;
    one is a satirical parody of actual news production, the other is Comedy Central.
- Preston Sturges
  
  TheBlaze is for people who have circle jerks where they fantasize about the hunting down and killing anyone that disagrees them. I like to think that one out of five people there is probably a FBI informant.
zarray

Hey Beschizza could you mash up Newt’s (current) wife Christa and Mr. Obama? I had a nightmare about that.
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

First Bullet: Okay but while it is true that the radioactive scorpenises that eat puppies DO tend to vote Republican you should balance that assessment out by mentioning that the ones that eat kittens tend toward the straight Democrat ticket.

Second Bullet: Don’t link to Fox. Got it.

Third Bullet: I eat paste and make copy. How does this guideline affect me?

Fourth Bullet: Vote Ross Perot!

Fifth Bullet: Stop repeating yourself, c’mon, stop it, why don’t you stop repeating yourself?

I accept and will adhere to your demanded guidelines. Scroll down to scroll down.
- Ipo
  
  Antinous / Moderator: “Fox News counts as a news site.”
  Although I can’t imagine what counts as partisan if the propaganda arm of what used to be the republican party isn’t included.
  Seems pretty safe to link anywhere.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    You do realize that even Stormfront thinks of itself as a news organization.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YQZFGD3Q2J3A2KXHUN6N7CVUNU Zippy

so does that mean we can talk about republicans being radioactive, puppy eating scorpions on THIS thread?
http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope

For these new rules, I for one, demand a concession:

I demand a SCIENTIFIC independent, controlled, repeatable test; A.K.A. the “sniff test”; to verify to see if what the claimant says is, in fact, true before anyone can post any more “Cool story bro” blags about yet another dirty-hippy claiming that soap is some kind of vile conspiracy of some sort, so the claimant never uses it, but magically does not smell.
- billstewart
  
  Can we still have spelling flames? Please, Mr/Ms Moderators? Please? Huh?
  (Dv? Stp tht, Dv! I cn fl my vwls gng wy, Dv? Frtntl, n Wlsh, w’s nd y’s nd l’s nd r’s mk dqt vwls.)
  
  It’s spelled “Hippie”, though in this case it might actually have been both…
  - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
    
    If you are going to complain about spelling PLEASE BE CORRECT. You’re seem to be THAT GUY who mistakenly whines in threads about “octopuses” being wrong.
    - Ipo
      
      How octopedantic.
    - wysinwyg
      
      Muphry’s law strikes agian.
Robert Holmen

Mitt + Obama = Desi Arnaz?
- Preston Sturges
  
  As well as resembling Billy Crystal doing his “Fernando’s hideaway” routine.
  - http://ifthethunderdontgetya.blogspot.com/ ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©
    
    My Social Security cuts will be MAHVELOUS!
    ~
- billstewart
  
  If so, that photographer’s got some ‘splainin’ to do!
http://maggiekb.com/ Maggie Koerth-Baker

Great. Now I’m going to have to spend the weekend trying to find a story on radioactive scorpions. Thanks, guys.
- travtastic
  
  http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060626_venom.htm
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    No. Mr. Cricket, I expect you to die.
Anony Mouse

RON PAUL
- zarray
  
  boat prawn haul
http://www.facebook.com/people/Andy-Murdock/783770273 Andy Murdock

Typical Liberal Republicrat reaction to a clearly Conservative Democran created problem.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Flugfrei-Jones/1403604860 Flugfrei Jones

president obama would definitely break these rules, according to fox news. i know this.. please look for david beckham’s underpants: “Becks sent the US president a box of around 50 pairs after learning Obama AND wife Michelle were big fans of his underwear range” (thesun.co.uk via drudge) TAXD ENUF ALREDY!

president obama would definitely break these rules, according to fox news. i know this… please look for david beckham’s underpants: “Becks sent the US president a box of around 50 pairs after learning Obama AND wife Michelle were big fans of his underwear range” (thesun.co.uk via drudge) TAXD ENUF ALREDY!

i’m sure this will be gone soon, but let it be known… i had to go to glenbeck.com to finish it. (i had to edit this to unspell glennbeck, because it actually linked it. dirty.)
z7q2

A few months ago I banished news from my television. It’s all hallmark channel, NHK, food network, and puppies and kittens. Maybe a little CSPAN Book TV on the weekends if it’s something of historical interest. But I decided I had had enough of it. My friends and co-workers are my news aggregators now, they let me know when something worthwhile is going on. If I’m interested, I’ll search Goognooz.

It simply became impossible to filter through the negative sensationalist garbage anymore and make sense of it or take it seriously. It was a constant bummer, and my life is better without it.

I’ll take a peek the day after the election and see who won. Otherwise the whole sorry mess can go to hell.

If I may suggest, when you delete posts that offend, replace them with a picture of a radioactive scorpion? That would be all kinds of cool. And use more than one to keep it interesting! I bet Rob could bang out half a dozen of them before breakfast tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/PhoetrySlam Cyran0

That’s odd.
As I scrolled past this the first time, I could have sworn it had 168 comments, but the second time—only a scant, few minutes later—it only had 164.

Looks like the mods are out in full force tonight
- awjt
  
  Weird stuff happens on disqus all the time. I wouldn’t pin it all on bb mods. But then again, it sure is fun to poke at em and rattle their cages!!!
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    I’m sure you’d enjoy it if someone deliberately did things to make your work more complicated and time-consuming. All in good fun.
    - awjt
      
      Sounds like someone needs a little vacation!!!
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  As I scrolled past this the first time, I could have sworn it had 168 comments
  
  Don’t swear; it’s unladylike.
- penguinchris
  
  Antinous pulled a neat trick here by changing the date on this post – which is originally from six months ago, with all the original comments intact. So all of the original comments which undoubtedly would have been repeated (and even more similar comments as well since we’re closer to the election) are already here, so he doesn’t have to do as much work moderating this comment thread!
  
  A lot of people upthread will be getting confusing e-mails about replies to their comments that they forgot they made six months ago :)
  - Ipo
    
    That already happens.
    Disqus seems to have a wobble in its time/space continuum.
    One reply I got I was informed of daily, for several weeks.
Boundegar

Could I just shout some slogans right now, or is it already too late?
http://twitter.com/sashashepherd Sasha Shepherd

Fuck Your Rules! Fuck the Mods!

VERMIN SUPREME 2012!!!!!!!!!

‘FREE PONIES FOR EVERYONE!!!111!!!’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d_FvgQ1csE
- http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/KHUGSYMRDZ635QMFO5P6UA5MTM nunya
  
  I have seen him naked in the woods carrying a disco ball on a stick.
http://profile.yahoo.com/4BJMWIZDHNZOW7UAX7Z6H5UKKI Russell

What? It’s an election year?
Ipo

Fairly obvious who is the bigger doody-head.
At least some of these rules make sense.
The Squidboy

Robamney!

I’d like to hear some discussion on renewable energy and climate change. These are, after all, economic issues.
Cowicide

Please observe all the other niceties such as not repeating yourself and remaining civil.

I’m screwed.
Scratcheee

I approve this message.
http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch

Personally, I find these folks to be the biggest doody-heads in America:

http://www.doody.com/corp/default.aspx
http://www.facebook.com/jos.reyn Jos Reyn

OMG! Rules that make sense – how the heck did that happen!!! I love you guys!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000444450214 Genre Slur

So there is an american election for the senate and congress coming up, when?
Daemonworks

But most radioactive scorpians really are members of the GOP. They’re a surprisingly conservative bunch, and are very supportive of the ‘small government’ platform.
There is, admitadly, a decent contingent of democrats who are mostly interested in shrinking the military.
http://twitter.com/BongBong BongBong

That picture sums up the problem nicely. Thanks.
druidbros

And how do we report violations of said rules?
http://www.gyrofrog.com/ Gyrofrog

Why now? The POTUS campaign’s already been rolling for, what, 18 months?

Or is this for the 2016 election?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  This is six moths old. We re-ran it because Mittens started popping up in unrelated threads.