Open Thread 09-10
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New open threads will get launched when the most recent one fills up with about 50 comments.
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Posted by b on May 6, 2009 at 6:13 UTC | Permalink
« previous pageI'm prepared to go anywhere anyone else suggests or better still help in setting up a new jointly organised space, although I hafta point out that whilst proud of my limited IT skills, they are confined to networking and security issues, I am equally proud of my ability to have got this far on so little html. Which is my way of saying I can't build the front end of a site for shit. But considering our needs aren't that great, just a space that can display our disparate thoughts robustly free from the sort of bulldust that a few anti freedom of speech assholes have wreaked on Lespeak although that side of it will be the toughest part of the site because it requires constant work something than none of us ever gave b enough credit for.
If we do this we have to acknowledge that parts of it will be a deadly grind. In other words make sure you can spare time before you commit.
Last week after I saw b's notice to terminate, I shot over to wordpress.com and opened a free blog there, not with a view to replacing MoA because even if I wanted to I doubt I could and these freebie sites have a number of limitations, not the least of which is bandwidth - after all even the open source community has to pay for shit in our wonderful consumerist society (concentrate on the task at hand DiD) but as a temporay refuge for us to gather our thoughts, gird our loins and whatever else it is we need to do before embarking on a new project. However since Juan has been kind enough to offer his blog and I am not yet convinced that free wordpress blogs could withstand a sustained attack from these assholes I won't put the url out yet, it may better serve as either a backup or an invitation only site for likeminded individuals to use as base to construct the next big thing.
Which we need to get on with I've still got a couple of weeks spare before I go back, so I wouldn't mind getting on with it. However someone has to take charge if we are going to do this because the best sawg's (semi-autonomous work groups) have a leader. Just in case that statement got anyone worried don't I wasn't meaning me. The person who takes on the co-ordination team leader role needs to be located in either europe or amerika so they are close to web servers and the like (there is only one not very fat pipe running in and out of where I live) and in time zones that don't clash with everyone else's when real time communication is necessary.
I know many of you have lines of communication with each other outside this board (that came out considerably more paranoic than I intended LoL) and I suggest that those are used for some of these early decisions.
The alternative to let this community fade away because it's time has passed is attractive from some points of view particularly in light of the last few weeks hissy fits but that is an overly extreme reaction - trampling on a resource which many have repeatedly stated they still need.
Because make no mistake it will be needed by a lot more people in the next little period of the world, although this site fell apart over one particular issue but really it could have been any one of a score of issues. Some of us predicted times would be tough for peeps who thought like us during the oblamblam period but we didn't consider that would mean moA so we kept on taking it for granted (sorry about that b).
As other activists can attest, humans like us who favour truthfulness over blind loyalty to clay footed parasites, are usually put under the greatest threat during times of a pseudo-leftist administration. The uniting force of war with conservatism keeps the limp wristed bourgeois bullshit quaffers from nit-picking and back biting us too much when the conservative greedheads reign supreme, but once they imagine they have the brass ring firmly in their grasp, us mob, their former allies, are the first bunch they turn on, as they kiss the asses of the greed headed despots they had previously been throwing damp sqibs at.
So let's do it then.
Posted by: Debs is dead | Jul 4 2009 22:55 utc | 102
So why not head over to Juan Moment's blog to discuss what to do?
Here is the link again:
http://linglongexchange.blogspot.com/2009/07/ideas-for-new-beginnings.html>linglong exchange
Posted by: Tangerine | Jul 5 2009 7:51 utc | 103
looks the same as before to me - the menus are available but when you load an actual post you get the hacked splash screen
Posted by: b real | Jul 6 2009 4:07 utc | 106
Siun finally got my attention. Sorry, I only check MoA or LS sporadically these days, and Mac Mail thought she was junk mail...
I have no idea whether the timing of the LS hacking was just a coincidence. But admittedly that would be a HUGE coincidence, and no one could be blamed for suspecting a connection to events here.
I will be trying to restore LS to serviceability. I have received at least one offer of technical assistance.
(a special shout out to b real, rgiap, juannie, annie, anna missed, debs is dead, dan of steele, maxcrat, outraged, slothrop, and my other old WB friends)
Posted by: OkieByAccident | Jul 6 2009 5:58 utc | 107
OakieByAccident
Man, are we glad to see you; the gang has been looking forward to your arrival. Thanks for coming to our aid. We started meeting at le speakeasy; and those of us who had never been inside got attached real quick. It sure is a sweet place.
Not quite yet, the site is still hacked, probably between Copeland's above post and now (three hours).
The home page comes up & looks fine but every "read more" link brings up the same "HACKED" splash screen. Looks like it is not quite back up and running. It’s 5:50 am here & okie is 1 or 2 hours earlier so he is probably still asleep & I don’t have his email so I’ll just alert all here try to be patient.
Posted by: Juannie | Jul 6 2009 9:56 utc | 109
I go away for a week and MoA shuts down. Ok, that is coincidental.
Guess all good things must come to an end, but since this is mainly about b needing to get his life in order (a feeling I recognise) I hope that we can reconnaitre somewhere else and that this thread will be open for a while to coordinate it.
LeSpeakeasy has an interesting, nice format (once restored from the vandalism) and it would not be the first time we migrated there. Got to dig up my old login though. :)
Posted by: a swedish kind of death | Jul 6 2009 13:42 utc | 110
I was gone and incommunicado for a few days but it's good to still see/read friends around here. Thanks for this Bernhard.
Thank you Okie too for keeping the bistro open.
Posted by: beq | Jul 6 2009 17:04 utc | 111
We are hopefully on our way to recovering from the hack at LS, courtesy of longtime barfly dan of steele. Loud huzzahs, please!
We will try to keep you updated here, since b has graciously left comments enabled in this thread.
I will also cross-post updates to the old Whiskey Annex (redundancy is our friend).
http://entmoot.typepad.com/whiskey_annex/
Posted by: OkieByAccident | Jul 6 2009 18:34 utc | 112
b,
I didn't get to comment in time on the goodbye thread, but I have been increasingly in awe of how you founded such good discussions, and I understand what you mean about wanting to stop reading the news - real life and news run in different mind channels.
Thanks for the experience - I agree with others that you cannot be replaced, but the experience makes us able to make something else, and to make it equally necessary to our happiness. Our discussions prove their value precisely when new people take their turn to lead the peloton for a while. It will always differ depending on who does it, but there are always people who can do the job. Thanks for the years that started one day.
Posted by: citizen | Jul 6 2009 19:42 utc | 113
from where I sit, from what I see
the echoes of community
the voices read
the paths they led
are gathered up by our man, b
though memory serves
it throws you curves
and as a guide it tends to swerve
so to relive the evenings past
the threads so long and full,
I'll have to grab me a cd
and from my pocket wallet pull
some cashly stuff, at least enough
to make the deal Bernhard has set
do you not think that this pure act
will thank the man
who led the clan, allowed each throat
to speak, each hand to write
who followed, acted from the side
with genteel hints
as those discovered voices learnt
their task
discovered that there is a mask
that can be glimpsed through
down these mornings, many evenings
that we gathered
in our way
under the Moon
and so as well to fully knell
the moonbats
thanks to you all
Posted by: jonku | Jul 8 2009 4:52 utc | 114
Hey, I'be been jonesing for a spot of Moon for so long -- had no idea anything was still open. With Le Speakeasy trashed, I was beginning to think all touch was lost.
Kind of strange it got hacked just after it was re-opened.... eh? Someone wanted to break up this group?
Now I see r'giap wrote much of what I have been feeling.
Take heart, dear rememberinggiap. As Dr. Who was wont to say, where there is life there is hope.
But still, there is no place else I have found that is anything like b's Moon of Alabama blog. Miss it so much. Think I'll go lie down, beat my heels on the mattress, and wail....
Posted by: jawbone | Jul 8 2009 22:57 utc | 116
LS functionality has mostly been restored. bravo, dan of steele!
One caution - any activity that occurs from today forward may be lost if we do the server backup that may be required.
Posted by: OkieByAccident | Jul 9 2009 0:30 utc | 117
This place is closed. Some regular commentators here have moved on to Le Speakeasy.
Please visit and bookmark that site.
The comments to this entry are closed.
plus i loooove the format here. the darkness, the ongoing threads. b b b b b b b
i am still in the rethink mode wrt b changing his mind at some point. i guess i just don't let go or move on easily.
the critical factor at this point is probably to get a space where people can hash out what we can do to keep the community intact as much as possible. while there's no sense of immediate urgency, the quicker something gets up, the better the chances for retention.
something tells me as long as b keeps this site up until something else is established people are going to keep checking back. who are the IT specialists among us? certainly not me. i imagine it is a huge time consuming effort monitoring sites like these and even moreso the more popular it gets.
one thing i was thinking is we could take turns gathering fresh daily lists of crucial news/blog links for threads to start off the day and encourage others to add their links, like b provided every day. this way it would alleviate the pressure of anyone being responsible for having to churn out posts.
i could certainly do that a few times a week. i am off to the mountains til tuesday.
Posted by: annie | Jul 4 2009 14:01 utc | 101