A Comment on Comments
TB knows that lots of campaigners are all very excited about the CF elections, but such a battle will not be won by bitching about each other in the comments of this site.
Over the weekend one IP address attempted to post 30 comments in favour of one candidate and presented some pretty spurious and libelous allegations. You know who are. If you want to end up in the High Court, go get your own blog.
Moderation is going to be a lot tighter now and repeated offenders will be blocked. TB is all up for hosting a forum for debate, but when it descends into smearing from one camp pretending to be another, save your breath, the comments won't get though.
Here endeth the bollocking. Sorry to get all Tim Ireland on your for a moment.
Posts
15 comments:
Hear Hear Bear! Was the IP address Northern Irish?
There does seem to be tons of this going on, have you seen the NUS e-mails flying around also? Totally ridiculous.
no, forward them to editor@torybear.com please
Tell us, who done it?
Would that be the NUS e-mail from Kit Friend? We all seem to have got that one! Just having a pop at Craig Cox.
As I've said before, why not just disable anonymous or self named comments for the duration of the campaign? If people have something to say for one candidate or another they should have the respect to do so under their own name. This whole sorry spectacle illustrates perfectly why the party has so little trust in CF. Honestly, reading all this, would you give any additional money, time or power to an organisation that loves to air all its dirty laundry and bitchiness in public? I despair at CF sometimes, I really do.
I agree with Richard above, disabling comments would make for a far more interesting and fair race...
Plus keep certain people from multiple posting, they seem to have been doing that over at Londonspin too. I wish I had that much free time.
Anyway I wanted to wish all of the candidates good luck, concentrate on your campaigns. not the crap, and try if possible to enjoy the process too.
I despair at CF most the time. But as there is little organisational structure and no "sensible" forum for Candidates. This in itself creates the situation where unsuitable candidates get into the race, with few realistic ideas and little credibility.
TB, why don't you stop covering the stupid elements of the race, husting comments and various other things and ask questions of the Candidates, which your readers would like.
When you go against the Chatham House rules and one Candidate is affected. That Candidate and his team will seek retribution.
I reckon at the very least anonymous comments should be banned. If people have got something to say they should at least stand by it (incidentally I only emailed the 3 candidates, my MP and NUS - hardly "everyone"!).
What did you e-mail Kit? Why did you feel the need to e-mail your MP, the NUS and the three Candidates?
Obviously you expected your e-mail to be Circulated, hence sending it to the group designed to get the most impact! Vote Cox not cocks.
It's important to respect Anonymous comments, otherwise everybody who comments would be hunted down for their comments. It aids free and fair debate on important topics.
Just reading above it seem's a rather weak defensive line to suggest that sending something to the Largest Student Union in the Country, the Candidates in an Election and to an MP, it's clearly an attempt at maximum damage!
As an experienced CF hack, I would just like to say these elections are the worst I can remember in terms of abuse. What Simon and Craig have been subjected to is outrageous.
why many are commenting as anonymous. People write as anonymous in countries like Iran, North Korea, Cuba etc.. Come on guys!! please write your comment with your name that is what called brave politics. You are not making any crime here, you are just giving opinion and UK allows the freedom expression. I am sick of seeing these many anonymous!!
Couldn't agree more with the above posts. Anon postings should stop. CF elections are the only time I feel blessed to be over 30. I've only met Craig and Ben briefly in the past and both seemed 'sound' candidates with plenty of energy so the mud slinging is so unnecessary. All candidates should campaign postively for what they can achieve rather than 'who they are not' CF
elections have always descended into this farce and it's depressing that the current campaign teams cannot rise above it....