Saturday, November 27, 2004
Vancouver Indy Media
Vancouver Indy Media has a problem.
They can't decide whether or not they have been over-run by Nazis. One reply on their site to a deluded site-administrator sums up the 'problem' nicely:
Of course don't take my word (or that of the author above) for it. Go and wade through the site as well. If you're not back in ten minutes I shall say a prayer for your soul.
I'm also attaching the following image (screen capture taken five minutes before this blog entry) to help the reader make up their own mind. It's of Vancouver Indy Media's "Global News". Do you get the feeling the "Globe" is getting a tiny bit smaller these days? Or is nothing happening anywhere in the world except Israel?
Oh it seems they have one other problem as well - they are out of money. There is currently a plea for donations (including this truly scary 'advertisement') on their front page. Looking at current site content it sure looks like real value for money.
They can't decide whether or not they have been over-run by Nazis. One reply on their site to a deluded site-administrator sums up the 'problem' nicely:
we here at Vancouver IMC have been managing fine for several years without your assistance.
No, you haven’t. This place is a cesspool of racist propaganda, warmongering homophobia and misogyny. You shame us all.
No harm is being done to the reputation of Indymedia.
Bullsh*t. You’re making us all look like Nazis. If people preach Nazism in your name, and you let them, the world will think you’re a Nazi. This is a *fact* of life. Do you want the world to think you’re a Nazi? Do you want the world to think that Indymedia is a Nazi propaganda distribution network, and that IMCistas are Nazi sympathizers?
If so, then do nothing about this. If not, then act. There is no third choice.
We accomplished a small miracle under challenging circumstances. We are growing at almost 20% per month.
So what? If anything, that makes what you are doing be even worse.The more people you reach with your Nazi message, the more people there will be who will believe that Indymedia is a Nazi propaganda machine, and that IMCistas are Nazis.
Fortunately, compared to SF-IMC, you’re still small, low traffic site. The last time I bothered to ask, which was a couple months ago, SF-IMC had had a little over 140,000 page views that day. Why does SF-IMC attract so much traffic? There are a number of reasons. First and foremost is that we practice quality control. You don’t. This not only drives away untold droves of potential readers, it reflects poorly on all of the rest of us. You are making all Indymedia look bad. You are damaging our credibility and infringing on our ability to do authentic journalism.
Our quality of submissions and comments is generally very high.
That is patently absurd. This place is routinely flooded with crap like this:
Advertisement for National Alliance:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/132517_comment.php
Holocaust denial:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128847_comment.php
Glorification of ecocide:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128987_comment.php
Celebration of Rachel Corrie’s death, repost of Horowitz spew:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128713_comment.php
Warmongering:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128990_comment.php
Softcore porn, gibberish, spam, racism, misogynist slurs:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2003/12/96152_comment.php
Homophobic slur:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/35426_comment.php#129188
Disinformation (title says one thing, article says another):
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128870_comment.php
War mongering, racism:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128784_comment.php
Support for child abuse:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129047_comment.php#129143
Repost from anti-Semitic website "La Voz de Aztlan":
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129202_comment.php
Anti-Semitic website "fortunecity.com/911/" returns the favor by linking to Vancouver-IMC
http://members.fortunecity.com/911/
Commercial advertisement
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129582_comment.php
Promotes right wing hate site
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129304_comment.php
War mongering
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129583_comment.php
Of course don't take my word (or that of the author above) for it. Go and wade through the site as well. If you're not back in ten minutes I shall say a prayer for your soul.
I'm also attaching the following image (screen capture taken five minutes before this blog entry) to help the reader make up their own mind. It's of Vancouver Indy Media's "Global News". Do you get the feeling the "Globe" is getting a tiny bit smaller these days? Or is nothing happening anywhere in the world except Israel?
Oh it seems they have one other problem as well - they are out of money. There is currently a plea for donations (including this truly scary 'advertisement') on their front page. Looking at current site content it sure looks like real value for money.
