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We are currently two and a half weeks away from election day from the DDO Presidential election date, which happens to be March 7th 2010.  Our two candidates are Ragnar_Rahl (the incumbent) and wjmelements for the Liberty Party and Lexicaholic and Volkov for the Reform Party.

The Liberty Party stated with their caucus on Feb 6th, a day after the Reform Party began their caucus.  About 3 hours after the start of the thread Nags moved most of it to a formal message thread.  This was largely due to the side comments of non-party members, such as Askbob and Panda.  Ragnar was announced as the candidate for the Liberty Party, which heavily represents the conservative and libertarian base, the next day.  The Liberty party never did publicly announce a platform other then Ragnar’s “Big Issues,” however as issues came up that were outside of the Big Issues, the Liberty Party made their voices heard then.

The Reform Party, which heavily represented liberals and progressives, began its caucus on Feb 5th, but we much slower then the right in choosing a candidate.  The Lex/Vol ticket was publicly announced on the 11th, 6 days after the start of the caucus (compared to the Liberty Party’s 1 day).  Many in the party have said this is because they had so many good candidates to consider and that they also had to build their platforms for the party.

The RP (Reform Party) announced its platform shortly after they announced their ticket.  Parts of it came under quick criticism for the idea of making extra “premium” features that are pay-for-features, such as video debates.  While many on the right and in the LP (Liberty Party) have said that it is important that DDO be completely free, Lex and the RP stood by the position and hold that no currently free features would be removed or negatively impacted.  These quick criticisms are likely why the LP never did come out with a complete platform.

The “pay-for-features” issue went to the next level when it was equated to a “tax” by Nags of the LP.  This lead to comments such as “taxes always lead to more taxes” by Mattrodstrom and “He admits it. That’s called taxation.” by wjmelements, the LP VP nomination on Feb 16th at around 3pm PST.  That was then linked to a definition that wjm vehemently stood behind that a tax is “a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services.”  However, this definition is a double edged sword because two days earlier, in an interview with Ragnar, the President said, “Well, lessee here. Tolls on any roads the government has, a small percentage of the value exchanged in each contract that is to be legally enforced (nonpayment means the contract is no more meaningful than toilet paper in court), opening your phone as a connection to emergency numbers (nonpayment means you can’t call, nor be protected if someone calls on your behalf, nor post signs that display the government’s trademark demonstrating to prospective criminals that you are protected), are the sorts of things that would be needed.”  This means, that according to wjm’s own definition of taxes, that he and Ragnar are proposing a ton of new taxes on everyone.  So far, how, this has not stirred up much fever from members in the LP that don’t want new taxes, or from members in the RP.

When confronted with the hypocrisy, wjm said “Those taxes aren’t applicable to this site, but I do support a user-fee system for government funding.”  In which he admits them to being taxes and promptly dodges the questions, moving on to say it is okay for government to tax, but not for a privately held website to charge for services.  ”We can not have a government without funding because it would surely go under; however, the services that Debate.Org will provide come at no expense to the website. There is, therefore, no need for a stable source of income.”

Another one of Ragnar’s comments that was missed by both parties was this, OreEle – “So those that can’t afford the protection of the government (medial transportation or police officers if their house is being robbed), will not be eligible for it?” Ragnar – “Pretty much.”

However, the RP has not been free from slip ups and snide comments either.  Volkov, VP for the RP made a low blow against wjm on Feb 15th, “wjm, we all know you love Ragnar, but we didn’t know your nose was that brown!” and “wjm, you are only a talking piece for Ragnar. We all get this.” on the 16th.  And in the party platform for the RP, Lex said that “Within the United States as around the world there must be a recognition that gay people and straight people are as equal under the law as they are in rights…” implying that his policy should be enforced around the world for the worldly gay community.  But his very next point is “We must recognize that the autonomy of each nations’ citizens is threatened when we engage in nation building, and that it is our responsibility only to do no harm unto other nations and to protect ourselves, not to save the entire world from every calamity brought through the free choices others have made for themselves” which basically says that we should not interfere in other nations.

More will come in the coming weeks and for now, attack ads have not gotten too sour, but it is still early and politics has a habit of getting dirtier and dirtier the closer to election day we get.

Askbob is currently the only 3rd party running.

http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/4338/

http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/4336/

http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/4297/

http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/4287/

http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/4288/

http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/4247/

http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/4165/

http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/4166/

A thread in the forums got me thinking about the ideological battles we sometimes witness on DDO. Which ideologies balance each other, or act in opposition? What is the prevalence of conservatism on the website? Or liberalism? Or libertarianism?

Well, I made up a list of 32 active members here – members who are active on the forums and also show their ideology, meaning people like Kleptin are left out, and decided to dissect them demographically. Here are my results:

As you can see, the pie chart shows that liberal members of the site are the most common, yet are hardly a plurality, as conservative members of the website are nipping at the heels, in membership, so to speak. Meanwhile, moderates come in third in adherents, tied with libertarians, while socialists and authoritarians are fringe.

However, it is important to note two things: one, that 3 out of 8 “conservatives” also profess to be libertarians, and their membership could easily switch back and forth, meaning that in general, conservatism and libertarianism are tied in terms of absolute adherents, not giving a truly clear right-wing opposition; and two, the left-wing (liberals, moderates/progressives and socialists) outnumber the right-wing (conservatives, libertarians and authoritarians) – 17 to 15.

So while, yes, this is a small sample, and yes, it isn’t representative of a lot of views of DDOians, I think it can give a somewhat clearer picture of DDO’s ideological drift. Overall, I’d say that DDO is about even on the ideological divide, though “liberals” probably take up the lion’s share of all active users.

So, when sometimes people complain about the “left slant” of DDO, people should remember this: quantity-wise, there is no real difference – so quality is what distinguishes the argument.

I-am-a-pandas second Mafia game, DDO Modmaker Mafia, took off yesterday. A twist on the usual formula which takes away the democratic process of lynchign and vests power in a king to kill one person each day phase, the moderator hopes this fresh twist on the game will be interesting for all involved. I-am-a-panda, agreed to an exclusive interview with DDOFans.

DDOFans – “So, this is your second Mafia game modded and eleventh overall Mafia game. How do you feel about the future of the mafia game overall, as users such as Logical Master predicted a dip in its popularity?”

Panda – “So far I haven’t seen any notable dip in interest, people are still flocking to sign up. And we racked up 100+ posts in one day, which is usual. The main problem is that the regular members have not taken an interest in playing, so there’s a lot of new blood going around, which is good in the long run, but currently leaves a gap in the skill. “

DDOFans – “How do you feel the Kingmaker variation will affect your game, and the Mafia game i nthe long run?”

Panda - “I felt that the Mafia game as it was was fairly limited, not much room for expansion. I stumbled across the Kingmaker version, and thought it would be a good idea. I feel the first game will have a lot of mistakes and such due to a major change in the gameplay, but overall I think it could be a positive step for DDO and Mafia games.”

DDOFans - “How do you think this game will compare to your previously modded game?”

Panda – “As I’ve stated before, my previous game was a full fledged disaster from the second I intervened. I’m taking an non-interventionist policy this time around. I’m avoiding my previous mistakes.”

DDOFans – “What’s your view on True2Gaga participating in your game?”

Panda – “Initially I had an issue, for the obvious reasons, but I figured why not? Maybe it would reveal a different side to her. It remains to be seen yet at any rate.”

DDOFans - “Thank you for this interview. Any closing comments?”

Panda – “I’d like to wish all the participants good luck, and hope they have a great game!”

Ever watch Keith Olbermann? Ever seen his Special Comments? I’m ripping it off.

When the votes tab first came online, I think everyone expected there to be controversy. But the fact that it has enveloped theLwerd, a noted member of the site, has become quite a divisive issue. She has become the poster girl for vote-bombing, and things that were long left in the past have come back to surface.

The sides might seem similar – Nags, the Mongs, and others on one side; Lwerd, Vi, and others on the opposite – yet this has also attracted unwilling participants. Leet4A1, a member notorious for his laid back personality, was roped in. Logical-Master, another member known for rising above the fray, is also involved. Accusations fly. Ad hominems are prevalent. AskBob, administrator of this site, and perennially banned member of DDO, is playing the part of “the voice of reason/DDO” – emphasis on “playing.” Its chaos, as much as chaos can be within an online community.

In the midst of all of this, no one seems to have realized the effect it has on the ‘community.’ It might seem like just another ripple, but its a ripple that has inflamed old wounds. Its animosity that is being let out in a very sustained manner – and it doesn’t look like it will let up too soon.

Lwerd will continue to claim her right to do as she did, on the basis of suspected vote-bombing against her, and it is an excuse that will continue to fall short. Mongeese will press the issue ad nauseum, attempting to correct the bombing and trying to take the moral high road, and yet I don’t think anyone really takes it at face value. And people will continue to mediate; to call an end to the fighting; to express their views on how absurd it is; yet their cries will be almost pointless, and sometimes, even hollow.

So as this ‘ripple’ takes its toll on the members of DDO, maybe we should all take a pause, and look at what is happening. Maybe we should start addressing the issues that start up these fights. Maybe we should learn to have a little respect, and a little integrity, and not pray that Phil continues his half-assed administration of the site. Maybe people should start treating DDO like a real community, as we constantly say it is – and not the dustbin for our pent-up hatred and anger.

I won’t claim to speak for DDO, but I’m willing to bet that no one wants this bullshit to continue.

Phil recently announced that the long-awaited Vote Tab is now finally reformatted to show how the different users voted in each debate, which many users hope will essentially eliminate (or at least diminish) vote-bombing. This has also revealed to the members of DDO the numerous vote-bombers that already existed.

Frodobaggins first started a thread to idenfity “friends” who voted together, to avoid debating them.

However, as Volkov predicted, mongeese used this opportunity to identify the vote-bombers that he suspected to exist for so long. Mongeese had originially planned to use what he found to prove himself innocent to theLwerd’s accusations in November. He and mongoose concluded that JBlake, comoncents, and SaintNick had all vote-bombed them about 2 months ago, with the theLwerd banning controversy. Mongoose even set up a photo album to incriminate the vote-bombers.

However, the most surprising discovery was made by mongoose, mongeese, TheSkeptic, and MistahKurtz was the voting habits of Vi_Veri and her wife theLwerd, who currently tops the leaderboard. Mongeese cited numerous debates in which both Vi_Veri and theLwerd 7-bombed him (this being perhaps the most extreme example), including some debates in which theLwerd also voted with Lwerd, her puppet account. Why her puppet account’s indentity was even verified to allow for voting is beyond mongeese.

 Mongoose and mongeese were rather upset by the apparent vote-bombing after theLwerd had falsely accused the Geese brothers of having vote-bombed her back in November. (Currently, nobody has taken up mongeese’s offer to investigate the accusation.)

Other debaters, however, were more wary, with some users calling their actions overly ridiculous, including a call to impeach theLwerd from the DDO Hall of Fame. Numerous threads were created about the previous threads, leading mongeese to fear over-cluttering in the forums. Some debaters wished the Vote Tabs not to have been revealed due to the controversy that inevitably followed.

Since the discovery, Vi_Veri posted one comment on one debate. Other than that, neither Vi nor L have made any comment about the current issue.

comoncents apologized for his own vote-bombing, and JBlake claimed to justify it through the banning controversy. Both agreed to neutralize their vote-bombs. SaintNick has yet to comment.

In happier news, mongeese commemorated Kleptin for his votes that were biased against himself, and the Democrat supermajority in Congress was eliminated with the election of Scott Brown.

Hopefully, the issue will be resolved in the near future when theLwerd and Vi_Veri explain their actions.

UPDATE: Vi_Veri has been on, posting numerous comments concerning the rap battle tournament, but nothing relating to the issue. TheLwerd has not been on. Mongoose theorized that theLwerd may have fallen off the face of DDO, but Vi claimed that it was because her own laptop broke, and she had to use L’s.

UPDATE 2: The Lwerd has been on and posted the following comment concerning the issue on mongeese’s profile: “The Lwerd responded by saying: “First of all, not that it’s any of your business but Vi and I have to share a computer now so I’ll be on a lot less considering she actually needs it a lot more (for school) whereas I don’t. So, while your conspiracy theories about why I haven’t been on are full of lol and entertain me to no end, it’s simply not true.

Second, the only reason I ‘vote bombed’ was in retaliation. I used deductive reasoning to figure out who I thought v-bombed me (LM and you) time and time again based on who I thought I pissed off or whatever — It seems I was 100% right about you and some others before your pussycatted out and changed your votes hehe but thank you, I appreciate it! Better late than never I always say.

Anyway I was never part of The Cleaners and I have always accepted and spoke out about how v-bombing was a natural part of this site. Hopefully not anymore! But as you know, I have been bombed over and over and over again and it means little to me so you can take any type of “punishment” you want for me (LOLOLOLOL) and suck it. You mean nothing to me. Your accusations mean nothing to me. Your judgment means nothing to me. Have a nice day!

Ps. I find your obsession with the matter more than slightly disturbing and chalk it up to you being 15 and living in Texas lulz”

UPDATE 3: Logical-Master called theLwerd out on her lack of evidence, citing the fact that votes are generally timestamped, so any changed votes would be noticed. TheLwerd claimed that she and Vi_Veri could testify to a mysterious change in her win record (but as we all know, testimony requires integrity to be believed), but she didn’t cite any debates in which votes were recently changed.

Users mostly became upset over theLwerd’s debate with leet4A1, in which theLwerd claimed to have voted for leet4A1, with leet complimenting her on her integrity, while she had actually given herself all seven points. TheLwerd has yet to justify this deception.

Webcorp Strikes Again

In light of comments made by Senator Harry Reid in regards to Obama and his ethnicity, Phil created a website called www.negrocomment.com. The website features a slider with the ability to change Obamas skin colour and see a corresponding comment by Harry Reid. The website states it is supported by Debate.org and not Harry Reid.

“The “Harry Reid Presidential Endorsement Scale” is not officially endorsed by Harry Reid. The scale is based on a series of complex math calculations and algorithms referencing Mr. Reid’s past statements and his voting history in the US Senate.

It also states that “This website is meant to be humorous by mocking Senator Harry Reid.” and suggests that “If after years of public school indoctrination and exposure to political correctness you are ill equipped to handle the site’s satirical humor, then please buy a one way ticket to either France or China where you will fit in nicely.“

The resident black supremacist Kelly224 made a thread in regards to the situation.

Video in regards to Harry Reid

In related news, Phil has delayed his updates of Dork.com, as the latest one is supposed to be updated this month.

Issues such as the voting tabs, an edit post button and comments on pictures are yet to be resolved.

Privacy Invasion?

After I-am-a-panda attempted some laughs with a video of theLwerd begging for a bit of Vi,  Vi_Veri threw a hissy fit at Panda, at which point he put his tail between his legs, not before Tkubok leapt to his defence. Lwerd nicely summed up the whole situation saying:

“The point is that all you contributed to discussion was saying that it was this was all my fault for not making it private, because people like gossip. I acknowledge this. But even saying something at all when she’s obviously already ticked off is just contributing to the “gossip” and I’m wondering why you feel that to be necessary…? Panda didn’t do anything wrong – just nosey. And she doesn’t like nosey. I admit it’s my fault for not making it private. She doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong either; she just doesn’t think it was necessary. She’s a very private person. She’s asking if people can respect that in general for future notice, but all you’re coming back with is “Too bad!” which is just immature and unnecessary. Just say “No” and move along.“

The Love Bug Bites

Among the usual January user influx came someone who caught the eye of the DDO public, the member Lovebite, who many members have fallen for. When a new member creates a “Hi newb here” thread they’re told to F’ off, yet this member got special attention, raking in 59 posts and counting in the space of 12 hours. As Brian Eggleston put it:

“True, very true. But that’s the way it goes. At the end of the day a top hot babe is going to be a lot more welcome on a a male-dominated site like this than just another bloke!“

And with a picture like that who can be blamed?

Deathdebater Dead

The banning of the new member Deathdebater is yet another ban in a list of Anti-Askbob crackdowns by Phil. The battle was won by Phil, but the war is far from over.

In an exclusive interview with DDOFans, Askbob stated “I don’t know why I was banned nor was I given any legitimate reason. I had to forfeit one round of my debate. Phil is as stupid as his DDOWiki page makes him out to be.“

Phil’s DDOWiki page can be found here.

Necromancy

A possible resurgence of the thought dead troll Datcmoto has put certain members into shock, including Kleptin and Mistahkutz, with the latter staing “Oh god, shut up“. Many members have used this as a source of lulz.

Cerebral Narcissist commmented on the situation saying

“ It [Datcmoto] left because it lacks the intelligence, education and spine to defend its occult superstitions and bigotry. Communication with it proved pointless, so we ignored it and it got bored and left. Obviously thats not very self-empowering, so it is going to claim that it is some righteous crusader that defeated ‘duh evol atheists’, (who senselessly persecuted it) and was then called away by God to fight some other crusade. The truth is that it is sad and lonely and people in the real world are sick of it so it’s back to the interwebz to shout “look at me, look at me, hate me love me, but notice me and feed me”. “

Hut Hut!

Comoncents has been attempting to revitalise the sports forum by creating topics including the wildcard play-off games for the NFL. This is part of a string of atempts by various members including theLwerd not to let the Sports forum die out.

Comoncents reason is

“The sports forum is second to last among posts. Meaning that if the ddo gods decided to scrap a few forums to make room for others than this would be next to the top of that scrap list.“

Misc. News

Mongeese has posed himself as a Paradoxical preacher after presenting an anti-Infinite time paradox to the general DDO community.

Newly arrived Mormon user Kahvan has teamed up with Muslim Insertnamehere to answer questions regarding their respective religions. Although a possible relationship was speculated, both have confirmed pre-marital sex is forbidden in their religions.

Generalisations of various groups including Born-Again Christians, Militant Atheists and Liberals has appeared in the religion forum.

Resolutionsmasher has had numerous revelations in the Miscellaneous forums, including one about a nanny-state and one about the National Debt.

True2gaga has challenged members to find a person sexier than her, which has brought up suggestions like Monica Bellucci and Julianne Hough. All male members  and our resident Lesbians Vi_veri and theLwerd have contributed.

Koopin tried to relate gay marriage to polygamy and failed miserably within the first 30 posts.

Quota of Quotes

Thats right, more weekly funny quotes.

(In an thread regarding the funding of arts)

Bonnieluvs – “I do think there should be more money for arts cuz art is an awesome way to express your self“

I-am-a-panda – “So? I’d love a hooker to express myself but I can’t get one with state funding.“

Wjmelements – “Why doesn’t the government fund strip clubs? Doesn’t that fall under “Performing Arts”? They’re a priceless part of our culture.“

[http://www.debate.org/forums/arts/topic/3674/3/]

(In a thread regarding the closure of schools due to weather)

I-am-a-panda – “Hehe, I’m not back in school until Wednesday, government ordered it. I love my government.“

Cody_Franklin – “Damn right you do.“

[http://www.debate.org/forums/education/topic/3640/]

(In a thread regarding infidelity)

Cody Franklin – “Alcohol could be hidden, trafficked, discretely consumed; not so much with sex“

Ragnar_Rahl – “That’s right ladies. Don’t touch him. He’ll blab to everyone. Do me instead, I can be more discreet if desired.“

[http://www.debate.org/forums/miscellaneous/topic/3596/8/]

(In a thread regarding a man getting his nether regions stuck in a pipe)

(In a thread regarding potential republican candidates for the 2012 election)

Nags -

“At 1/6/10 WHEN NAGS WAS SLEEPING ,deathdebater and Volkov wrote :
Har har Har, Ron Paul is crazy, har har har .

F U“

[http://www.debate.org/forums/politics/topic/3582/4/ & http://www.debate.org/forums/politics/topic/3582/5/]

It’s 2010, a fresh step into the “Teens” and another January of strict dieting or obsessive binging. Snow, Santa and School mark the minds of most people, but not the intellectual underbelly of the internet known as Debate.org. We have our own news.

The most notable piece is the banning of Johngriswald. Banned on the 4th of January, many users speculate his banning is due to his “harassment” of the user True2GaGa.

True2GaGa commented on the situation saying “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JOHN’S ACOUNT IS CLOSeD!”

The user Wjmelements said “Most unfortunate. askbob hadn’t really done anything wrong until he started harassing tru2gaga. I believe the mod was letting him stay until that.”

theLwerd responded with “I don’t think he really “harassed” her though. As koopin pointed out – Many people have “accused” him of being someone else too, yet they didn’t get reported for speculation, did they? I saw the thread where JG posted the link about True2GaGa, but I didn’t really understand what the link was… was the information he posted about her real? If so, I can see how that would be considered privacy invasion or whatever.”

Meanwhile in other news Ournamestoolong has started another deadpool with users Nags, Poejoe, MikeLovin, Untitled_Entity, I-am-a-Panda and the original founder Brian_Eggleston taking part.

The recently deceased johngriswald has made a list of threads made by the user Banker.

The nutjob Geo has kicked up stink over people’s ignorance between the difference of Pantheism and regular, good old fashioned vanilla Theism.

Mongeese re-opened the question of teaching Intelligent design and Reasoning derailed it to an Anarchism rant.

The user Kelly224 is again being a racist troll in the Society forums, despite Kleptins earnest attempts.

To finish of, a few humorous quotes to make your day

(In regards to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq)

“Usa did not get any oil contract.! China got most and russia .!” – Banker [http://www.debate.org/forums/news/topic/3595/ -- Post 6]

(In regards to Reasonings comments on the abolition of public schools on a thread regarding the teaching of Intelligent design)

“I don’t think Reasoning actually understands how real life works.” – Leafrod [http://www.debate.org/forums/education/topic/3613/ -- Post 10]

(After Kelly224 affirmed that White people are the only race which profits from pain)

Sky_ace25 – “Would you kindly explain all the oppressive kings in africa? or maybe can you explain the africans that sold their own fellow africans to the slave trade?”

Kelly224 – “Yeah, there had to be greeedy tribesmen who sold there brothers into the slave trade,and ?” – [http://www.debate.org/forums/society/topic/3546/10/ -- Post 6]

(During a debate about his silly votership advertisement)

“This petition can give oxygen to poor and have-nots”  — Votership [http://www.debate.org/debates/Do-we-need-ECONOMIC-FREEDOM/1/ -- Round 3]

We have had many “scandals” in the past few weeks.

A mysterious new user known as Johngriswald has appeared on the forums, with many users mistaking him for a past member.

Meanwhile, Banker is making erroneous claims about Palestine and Islam (And consistently plagiarising some unknown source)

New user Freedomaniac is getting his rocks off to the Libertarian influence on the site and is making it known. His new fetish seems to be Anarchism.

Lwerd has spurred a frenzy of activity in the sports forum with her weekly NFL Football bets, yet the sports forum still only has 1,436 posts, just 421 posts behind Technology’s 1,857, and 438 ahead of Art’s measly 898 posts. On that note, the Forums have clocked over 100,00 posts in total.

Meanwhile, Ragnars fresh RPG take on the Mafia game is going painfully slow as we are now in the 4th day phase, with the game starting over one month ago.

Charlie Danger and his perverted sibling Radioactivepotatoman have been banned, with a lukewarm reception to his “resurrection”.

In light of Charlies banning, Feverish has taken over the Video Rap Debate competition, however most people aren’t ecstatic about the prospect of 31 year old freaks getting off to their dope lyrics.

Till next time, and Merry Christmas!

Askbob is looking for coders familiar with CSS, Wordpress Plugins, and basic Java to help develop a top secret wordpress plugin.

Since this is tightly under wraps, PM Askbob to join in the coding.