Indy Media Watch

A comment on the Internal UK Indymedia listserver says an article has been hidden:

http://indymediawatch.blogspot.com/ back up and open (358655)- disinfo, disruptive (using FTP's name and email!)

Disinfo? Disruptive? Moi?

All it said was:

Indymedia Watch back up and running.

Are you interested in making Indymedia what it was supposed to be?

Would you like to see a consistent policy in the Hiding and Removal of posts and comments ?

Would you like the Indymedia moderstors to be open in their application of the Editorial Guidelines ?

Indymedia Watch blog is the place for you.

Roy Bard

I can see the disinformation there...

Over at Melbourne Indymedia, you can read a lengthy article by Fred Halliday titled "The Left and Islam". Here's an extract of the article:

The trend is unmistakable. Thus the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez flies to Tehran to embrace the Iranian president. London’s mayor Ken Livingstone, and the vocal Respect party member of the British parliament George Galloway, welcome the visit to the city of the Egyptian cleric (and Muslim Brotherhood figurehead) Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Many in the sectarian leftist factions (and beyond) who marched against the impending Iraq war showed no qualms about their alignment with radical Muslim organisations, one that has since spiralled from a tactical cooperation to something far more elaborated. It is fascinating to see in the publications of leftist groups and commentators, for example, how history is being rewritten and the language of political argument adjusted to (as it were) accommodate this new accommodation.

The comments in response aren't as articulate:

WHAT A LOT OF RUBBISH

BUSH! JEW! FUCKOFF!

It's followed by:

The right and christian?

The right and the false flag opps?

What about the religous right and the glutens?

The wrong and the war criminals?

just to name a few!

When the intelligence of Indymedia is questioned, based on those comments, someone springs to the defence of those who ignore the issues entirely, by posting:

I think the two comments show more intelligence than is expressed in the article

But of course they do, in the eyes of Indymedia, where swearing, petty tantrums, antisemitism and denial all arrive in large doses.

*** Scroll for Updates ***

I'll post Indymedia reactions to Saddam Hussein's execution here, as I discover them (tipoffs via email address at top left).

"Latuff", an Iranian Holocaust Denial Cartoon Contest finalist, has spammed his latest drawing all over the IMC network. UK Indymedia has it here wherein he asks:

Now, who will hang Bush for war crimes? Or Blair? What about Olmert?

The excreable Latuff likes to pick the easy targets for his colourful yet monotonous drawings - democracies and their elected leaders.

I can think of certain cartoons he wouldn't have the guts to draw. What a spineless jerk. Previous post on UK Indymedia and Latuff here.

Update: An article on UK Indymedia says Long Live Saddam Hussein and the author writes:

Most people will likely call me a paranoid nut case

No!

A comment on Melbourne Indymedia claims Saddam Hussein isn't dead - they hanged an impostor:

Wonder which Saddam or Shaddam was executed

Meanwhile, this comment, from "Isabelle" appears on this post:

I admire Latuff, and his questions are justified...

I asked the poster:

Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, where you live, where you grew up, and how you can admire such a person. Perhaps you can also mention some of the other people in this world who you admire.

I eagerly await your response.

Naturally there was no response, so allow me. "Isabelle" was connecting from Amman, Jordan. Jordan is a country that has done precisely zero for the Palestinians since the 1970s, when it shot several thousand of them.

As the Palestinians are "Latuff's" leading cause, I suspect "Isabelle's" support for Latuff has nothing at all to do with the Palestinians, but is simply an endorsement of his rabid anti-Western sentiment, something of which, like poverty and illiteracy, there is no shortage in the Arab world. However, like poverty, illiteracy, sub-standard human-rights, oppression of women and minorities, the problem won't be helped by corrupt leaders and brainwashed stooges blaming The West for everything.

The headline: "BBC aiding & abetting anti-Muslim pogrom in the UK"

Oooh I thought. A juicy media conspiracy! Exposed by the fearless Independent Media.

Whatever.

Expecting a detailed media analysis exposing the complicity of the BBC, disappointment was but a click away:

Set aside for a moment Sir Ian Blair and his daily race-hate lies paid for by London's longsuffering council tax payers. Every time they say 'suicide bomber' on the news my guts go over. Mostly because I know the newsreaders are just trotting out anonymous military sources, but we are SUPPOSED to feel sick. It's part of a psycological operation to get us to hate Muslims in which the highest level BBC editors and managers are complicit.

How is the BBC contributing? It seems, the problem stems from their choice of terminology:

The BBC crossed a lethal professional line when it decided to refer to the four 7/7 suspects as 'suicide bombers'.

They called them "suicide bombers"? How terribly unprofessional! They should have called them Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food Product which is the appropriate term for someone who blows himself up on a bus.

Then comes his rationale:

Ignored is inconvenient evidence including the advance warning to the Israeli embassy and the untidily Photoshopped Luton CCTV image (a railing behind the figure at the back passes in front of his arm).

Don't forget other inconvenient evidence like the Zionist mind-control rays that make all the survivors think they saw a bomber in London and planes in New York! It goes on with all the usual conspiracy dross. Oh, don't forget your inconvenient medication and straitjacket either.

But what about the "pogrom"? A later comment on the post asks a sensible question:

Isn't a pre-requisite for a Pogrom, that the victim group be forced out?

The Muslim population of Britain is growing at a significant rate.

Some "pogrom"... Maybe it's a "genocide". "Ethnic cleansing" perhaps?

This just a bunch of anti-Western hype not borne out by any facts.

Lack of facts? On Indymedia?

I have previously commented on the gratuitous and wholly wrong use of terms like genocide on Indymedia. Add pogrom to the list.

The UK Indymedia post has brought out all the 7/11 crazies (Europe's answer to 9/11 crazies). Predictably, it was The Jews... Aside from the usual "Jews knew about the attack" meme, ine poster has even applied some manner of do-it-yourself Hebrew numerology system to determine Jewish culpability in "ritual sacrifices" in London.

I've done some of my own: 7/11 + The Numerical equivalent of UKIMC = Stupid.

I am advised via email that there have been 'additions' made to this post, which means either the poster is a UK Indymedia admin, or an admin read the original post and promoted the additional comments.

Trying to stem the damage, comes one comment:

This article shouldn't be simply hidden it must be deleted and so must any other post that questions 7/7 if Indymedia is to retain any credibility.

I think we're just a little bit past that.

Bay Area Indymedia (Indybay) reports:

UNLESS INDYBAY RAISES $4000 in 30 days we cannot afford our web hosting and the site will go off the air.

This is serious! We are an all-volunteer collective and our costs are miniscule in comparison with the service that the website provides to the Bay Area, Santa Cruz, and Northern California activist communities.

Here are just a few examples of this fine service.

North Korea has Right to Blow You Away

Bay Area Indymedia Censorship

Flag BBQ and Reich Inflation

Genocide-o-Mania

Courtesy of Indy Media Watch, there's plenty, plenty more.

The plea for help boldly claims:

Indybay Is Grassroots Media at Its Finest

Sure. If you say so. I'm sure the finest grassroots media source will have no trouble making money to cover costs in producing such quality media. Good luck with all that!

A defunct Indymedia site won't be missed, although I will miss some of the weirdo photos .

Update:Santa Cruz Indymedia asks "Have you got Indymedia's back"?

Since the Santa Cruz Independent Media was established in 2001, we have never had any major fundraising drives. However, we have recently lost our free webhosting and need to raise $4,000 (along with Indybay, our partner website) by January 30th or we run the real risk of having to shut down the site.

Please seriously consider making a donation today. You will be hard-pressed to find a more efficient charity to donate to. Nearly 100% of donations go directly toward operating expenses; we won't waste your money on slick brochures or marketing schemes. If your donation is postmarked by December 31st, you can use it as a deduction on this year's taxes.

Indymedia is a tax deduction?

I'm not sure how long it's been down for, but Sydney Indymedia has been offline now for what seems like almost a week. Because there has been nothing new from what must surely be close to the worst of all Indymedia, let us take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the articles that that made it onto their newswire.

Al Qaeda is administrated by the Pakistan secret police & the Pakistan secret police is financed by the CIA basically the american government [sic], the american government is financed & supported & directed by the super rich leaders of the corporations of the world, so the super rich leaders of the world are responsible for killing innocent peoples in order to achieve their political agendas.

As Steve Irwins politics had swung well back toward Labor and , ' Man-of-steel', the dictator John Howard began to see Queensland as his ' Leningrad', so a plot was hatched to murder the popular rival to the savage Tyrant.

an elderly lady was assaulted by an Israeli terrorist right outside the Sydney Town Hall, in front of every one! ... Two days later some one [sic] said to his friend during a meal, "by observing and analysing the attitude and behaviours [sic] of Israelis and their supporters I can conclude the fact that Hitler and his Nazi followers were much more honourable than this lot"!

Sydeney riots mossad opp to help cement howard fascist [sic] regeme [sic] takeover

those disgustig [sic] creatures from mossad are at it again, engineering instability and violace [sic] in australia one of their newist hosts their disgusting thirst for blood has surfaced again and one of there bumbling agents Zev Barkan was lijnked [sic] to a tex [sic] messaging campain [sic] to incight [sic] violance[sic] in a gullable [sic] population

One can only hope that time away from the site will help the moderators clear filth like this off the site for good.

Update: (The Watcher) In the meanwhile, they are asking for donations! Nothing clears off filth better than closing a site. Maybe they can buy Faruque Ahmed a spellchecker? Makes you sic doesn't it?

Melbourne Indymedia was running a piece titled "Takver - his bias and insulting, accusatory lies" - but it was hidden pretty quickly. The piece is inflammatory, and may or may not contain factual inaccuracies, but it certainly isn't quality journalism. Leigh from the House Of Wheels blog points out that Google News - now more than 30 hours after the piece was first hidden - hasn't removed it from the index.

This is not the first time either. You can see just some previous examples of Google News's failings when it comes to Indymedia here, here, here, here, here, and here.

However, Melbourne Indymedia appears to be improving [it could be argued there was a lot more room for change in a positive direction], with stupid articles like "racist white pigs" rightfully being hidden.

A post on Victoria Indymedia advises:

Celebrating the new year and the 13th year of the Zapatista uprising; IMC Victoria is up and running again! That means YOU the radical, the independent, the free thinking have again at your disposal a means to disseminate information and spread your world changing ideas

Call for submissions:

If you know of any radical events taking place in our city or province, or you simply have something interesting and relevant to say, you can publish it here. Just use the Publish your news link on the top right hand column. It [sic] E-Z and F-U-N

Then comes the million dollar question:

So what is IMC and is it relevant?

is it relevant? Millions of bloggers suggest otherwise. Pause to catch your breath.

IMC is a global network of independent journalists and alternative media activists that have no access to the traditional media because our views do not meat [sic] with their editorial bias.

or spelling standards.

The Independent media center was started during the 1999 battle of Seattle. Its focus was to give the public access to evidence of police brutality, that CNN and other major news wires were denying was happening. As soon as footage went on line of police attacking non-violent protesters, the major broadcasters had to change their line. The project was so successful that 167 IMC collectives exist now around the world.

So, seven years later, how's it all going? No really!

Want to know what’s happening in Chiapas right now? goto the Chiapas IMC you’ll get up to the minuet [sic] news from the streets from any where in the world. That’s access to information you simply can’t get anywhere else.

Or spelling! Of course, when visiting Chiapas IMC for the latest, it will help if you speak Spanish. Although there are the occasional English gems, such as "Death to George W. Bush".

Remember the last time you tried to approach the conventional news in all their corporate sponsored, military supportin’, new world agenda promotin squareness. We are the alternative, we are your alternative.

Peace, Love and Free Speech

IMC Staff

Oh good grief.

Too bad the author's English was too weak to realize what they meant to say, was that Victoria Indymedia is re-forming, not reforming.

Thus far, there's no content however a note (undated) at the top of the page says:

Victoria IMC is currently under attack by a holocaust-denial spammer. These posts are deleted as soon as they are spotted by Victoria Indymedia volunteers.

Maybe they are reforming after all? It does beg the question why Indymedia attracts this type of person in the first place.

Something for the F-U-N new Victoria guyz and galz to ponder very seriously...

Via Melbourne Indymedia, advice for the new year to give Indymedia readers the edge they need.

A post on UK Indymedia declares 2007 should be cancelled.

Leading green economists have agreed there is only one way we can save the planet. The entire year of 2007 needs to be cancelled! Percival LaCosh, a leading economist from Oxford University said, "If you really want to save the planet then you should retire from almost all economic activity!"
This sounds ridiculous and extreme, but we live in an extreme situation. Don't wait for someone else to act first. Don't turn up for work. Don't drive your care. Don't even sign on.
Switch off all your lights now. Power down and look for food.
No cars.
Nowt.
Try for one week......it will make a difference.

Googling or searching Oxford University for Percival LaCosh yields nothing.

Will the article be cancelled?
Will UK Indymedia be cancelled instead?

An article on Melbourne Indymedia further explores the article suggesting the Australian Government and CIA were behind the Bali terrorist attacks (previously reported here).

The headline: "Troll trys [sic] to destroy MIM credibility".

The comments then descend into bizarre antisemitic conspiracy theories, namecalling, large cut and paste diatribes and generally incomprehensible blabber.

If Indymedia has no credibility, it is because of "the troll" right?
Just like antisemitism on Indymedia is the fault of Jews and anti-Government libel is the work of secret agents. It's always someone else's fault.

What a wonderful example of accepting responsibility for incompetence.

I have no doubt Indymedia would be far more credible, if it had no authors and no readers. In other words, no content. As it stands, as a wide-open unmoderated cesspit, the site has zero credibility and can't blame anybody else.

If you leave a loaded gun on the front porch don't be surprised if someone gets hurt.

I have previously expressed my disappointment that Google regards Indymedia as a sufficiently worthwhile source for Google news.

Searching Google News for "Indymedia" yielded the following headlines:

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Can you say spam?

Pay attention Google: What you see above, is not news, but the result of an open, largely uncontrolled cesspit pretending to be a 'newswire'. You will not see such spam at any quality news resource.

Amusingly, at the top of the Google news page, is an option to "sort by relevance". Surely selecting this option should make the links to Indymedia disappear...

In other Google News News, one of the many articles indexed and listed by Google News, is: Trashing Christmas which asks:

Why Do the Jews Hate Christmas?

For many Jews, their grudge against Christmas begins in September, or thereabout, when their employers do not allow them Yom Kippur as a holiday from work, even though it is the most important holy day of the Jewish calendar. These Jews must take a vacation day for their observances.
...
How the Jews Trash Christmas

In addition to the doleful seasonal chorus of Jews whining about how they are being victimized by Christian holiday cheer, there are other purposeful techniques used to trash Christmas. Here are several of them.

It then goes onto link to a dubious site, also referred to by the neo-Nazi Vanguard News Network, claiming Jews were trying to ban Christmas.

Rank antisemitism is of course nothing new for Indymedia, but it's a crying shame that it's Good Enough for Google. I've said it before: Google discredits itself.

A comment appeared on the previous post, Australia's Conspiracy Nuts pointing to another article on Melbourne Indymedia and claiming that the article, which blamed the Australian government for a terrorist attack in Indonesia (that killed Australians) was in fact "parody". It claims:

Deliberate lies by some Indymedia contributors are wrecking the site by destroying its credibility.

Got that? The reason Indymedia has no credibility, is because of "deliberate lies". It goes on:

If articles like this are left on the newswire, Indymedia will come to be regarded be regarded as a kook site.

No!

One of the Melbourne Indymedia moderators, when confronted with claims it was parody, remarked:

For parody or satire, it should become obvious by the time you finish reading the piece exactly what piece of writing you were sending up. You could at least attach the URL of what you parodied at the end. I'm sorry, the parody in this article wasn't particularly effective for me, and I read alot of corporate and indy media.

Quite. I originally came across the article via UK Indymedia, where it would also be taken completely at face value - additionally raising the question of the article's local relevance to the UK site, an issue I frequently raise, which is as yet unanswered.

The Melbourne post is followed up with other comments "proving" the bombing was in fact a government plot, and there is no possibility these follow up comments are also obscure attempts at parody. These people do believe it, just as they believe the World Trade Centre was attacked by people on George W. Bush's payroll.

Why is it however, that whenever articles appear on Indymedia that shatter whatever little credibility it had to begin with, its defenders insist the articles were actually placed there as part of a deliberate effort to discredit Indymedia?

For example: Odious antisemitism on the newswire? Could only possibly be the work of Jews. Anti-Government lies? Clearly the work of government agents.

Is it at all possible, for the heads of Indymedia, to consider, just for a second, that allowing morons unrestricted access to a publishing media, means morons will contribute moronic material? Do they not appreciate, that one cannot possibly be taken seriously as a media outlet, if one exercises no control, fact-checking, editorial or other responsibility over their content?

A comment on the UK Indymedia piece asks:

Im just wondering if anyone on this site has ever actually believed that any act of terror wasn't a conspiracy with either jews, the US, or any other western nation behind it?

eventually, you'll have to face reality. Christ, they have people on tape taking credit for terrorist attacks and you still try to turn it into a conspiracy. Is it just fun for you, or do you actually believe the crap that flies onto this site?

Why yes. That's why the article in question remains on the UK Indymedia site.

On October 12, 2002, a bomb in Bali's Sari Nightclub and Paddy's Bar was the deadliest act of terrorism in the history of Indonesia. It killed 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals (including 88 Australians), and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were seriously injured.

Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamist terror group was found responsible and various members of the group convicted, including three men who were sentenced to death.

Or at least that's what you'd believe if you relied upon the Mainstream Media.

UK Indymedia however has the real story:

[There is] no doubt whatsoever of the CIA's involvement and the complicity of the Australian goverment and that view is shared by us and by our counterparts in Indonesia.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty says he is still convinced Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is the mastermind behind the Bali bombings, despite his convictions being quashed.

However, many in the Australian and Indonesian Community blame the CIA, and the War Criminal John Howard the coward in their complicity in the horrific bombings of the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar in Bali, on October 12, 2002

Who?

Is there actually any single act of Islamist terror that fools on Indymedia won't try and pin on Western Governments?

No doubt Mossad is relieved they aren't also being blamed for this by the same fools who believe George W. Bush personally ordered the attack on the World Trade Centre, as the article continues:

So you have to have a story behind it to make up for the distance between false flag opps in Indonesia all the way across to Iraq and Afghanistan that's a huge leap to cover without a terror tale to hook into? What about the Icon of the Terror movement G W Bush? At least we know he's guilty! Osama bin Laden hasn't been found guilty of anything, yo!]

You are an idiot yo! How much of an idiot?

Every family member of a 'victim' must feel this way. So when you think of the innocent victims in Bali then also think of the innocent victims in Iraq and Afghanistan the very reason for Bali.

The attack in Bali, like the attack on the World Trade Centre, took place before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Damn those psychic terror groups and their pre-emptive revenge!

Morons...

Update: Speaking of which, Sam Wilson points out in comments that UK Indymedia didn't have the scoop, as the article was a copy of one which appeared on Melbourne Indymedia previously.

I have frequently argued that much of Indymedia's content is simply cut and paste. Usually from other sources but frequently from one IMC site to an other. See Seagull Spammers. Considering that an article from Melbourne Indymedia, of relevance to a terrorist attack in Indonesia, appears on UK Indymedia, can anybody remind me the point of so-called "local" Indymedia sites?

Via Portland Indymedia:

On Saturday, December 16, 2006, on a bitter cold day in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf district, about forty hardy patriots came out with the intent to expose the lies and omissions of the 9/11 Commission Report by passing out information to tourists and locals, by reciting most of the omissions and deceptions in the official document, and then dumping the offensive whitewash in the San Francisco B [sic]

Their costumes were nice.

Marking the 223 anniversary of the Boston Tea Party where 18th century colonists decided to reject onerous and unjust taxation by dumping tea in the Boston harbor, these modern day patriots, some with fifes and drums, marched from Pier 39 past curious, and some stunned, onlookers to the end of the Municipal Pier at Aquatic Park. They then proceeded to dump the 9/11 Commission Report to its watery grave to boisterous "hoorays" from the crowd gathered.

I wonder if the curious/stunned crowd knew what was being tossed? I was also going to make a clever comment about the environmental effects of throwing stuff into the bay, however someone beat me to it:

I loved your action of live street theater and educating others up to the point of dumping it into the San Francisco Bay. Back in colonial days, tea was not grown with pesticides, etc and was an organic action in a sense. The dumping into the bay, no matter how well intended, is an insult to the life of the waters. I hope you do this action again, but this time recycle the prop for more actions or to install as a "sculpture" on someone's private property in view of all passerbys.

Remain calm! Comes the response:

As you can see- we through [sic] the small replica into the Bay- to make a statement- it didn't sink and was actually, for the most part- disposed of in the garbage. The image was saved, washed, is drying and will be reused as a prop. The large replica we have also saved and will improve for use at future rallies. We also had the action filmed by the local television station who basically finished the piece by saying how enviornmentally [sic] responsible we were to toss in the more easily retrievable replica.

Environmentally responsible, perhaps. Sane?

Indy Media Watch has reached 1000 posts.

Actually, that happened 3 posts ago but we didn't notice.

To celebrate, we are re-opening comments. They are now 'moderated' site-wide. That is, they need to be manually approved before appearing on the site, so we do not get spammed again.

Do note, this may result in a delay before your comment appears. We do have lives outside this blog. Yes, really, and no, we don't like this any more than you do.

What's our comments policy? Simple: Commonsense. If yours meets that criteria, it's in. If it doesn't, I hope your fingers didn't get sore typing it. Criticism and dissent is fine, abject stupidity is not.

This subtle difference is of course lost on our newest friend from UK Indymedia, so perhaps he can have someone else explain it.

Apologies for the site's brief downtime. It looks like everything's back in action.

Further to the previous post - When Idiots Attack comes more of the same via the corresponding thread on UK Indymedia.

In my post, I noted that the author of the scurrilous piece wrote:

The comment which obviously struck to close to home can be found in google cache

and responded:

No, it can't be found in any Google Cache at the time of posting, and the author of the UK Indymedia piece is a liar and obviously the spammer, with access to a local copy that was used in the attack.

In maximum smug mode, the following now appears on UK Indymedia:

Over on Indy Media Botch, the Wotcha has done some brilliant detective work.

In his "When Idiots attack" masterpiece he notes:

"No, it can't be found in any Google Cache at the time of posting, and the author of the UK Indymedia piece is a liar and obviously the spammer, with access to a local copy that was used in the attack."

http://masl.to/?S5F02186E

That link is however not to a Google Cache at all, which as I noted, did not exist, but to Altavista.

A general principle when one is in a hole, is to stop digging. Instead, our friend here is currently taking donations of shovels.

Speaking of which, I was trying to recall the comedic genius who first came up with "Indy Media Botch" and found what I was looking for on this old thread, where a supporter of the vile International Solidarity Movement humiliated himself over a semantic issue and smugly wrote:

it seems that "Indy Media Botch" is none too rigorous in his sleuthing work.

You don't need to be a "brilliant detective" or a sleuth to see a pattern between these comments. What an idiot.

Ironically, that earlier provided a great example of my attitudes towards deleting stupid and dishonest comments I happen to disagree with.

It is becoming increasingly clear who's responsible for both rampant stupidity on UK Indymedia and, if that wasn't enough, here as well, during the week.

Another comment appears on UK Indymedia:

It would appear to be fair comment to compare the behavior of the Indymedia Watch owner to that of Indymedia collectives rather than other private bloggers and call him hypocritical since the stated purpose of the blog is to hold to account Indymedia for either hiding things or not hiding things.

It is? I had no idea. Let me check the statement at the top of the page... Perhaps he is getting this site confused with "Indymedia Hides Things or Doesn't Hide Things - The Blog".

Finally, there are a number of other comments on the UK Indymedia post in support of this site (thank you by the way) which have been hidden. When asked why, this response was added:

All hidden comments on this thread to date are the work of one poster - now he wants to know why they're hidden.

I would like to know how the Indymedia moderator knows this? Perhaps he is convinced there couldn't possibly me more than one person who reads this site. Maybe UK Indymedia is tracking IP addresses? (Dum dum daaaaaaaaaaa.....) He goes on:

Tis a pity that Indy Media Botch is down - cos this discussion really should be taken there, especially as most of the comments are from its own right wing commenteers.

Well it's back up now and you will be held to account.

The Wotcha will leave all comments up - unless he doesn't like them.

A total lie and he knows it. I could count on one hand the number of comments I have deleted, even though many (particularly of late) were senseless drivel. However, I have certainly deleted comments where they were pasted verbatim dozens of times. Our loyal moron resents this, however, it is not unreasonable. Unless you are an idiot, who I suspect is also one of the leaders of UK Indymedia.

In separate threads, others on UK Indymedia are also starting to ask the hard questions:

Indymedia is far from dead but it does need to change. We have all seen the damage done to the UK site this year from the concentration of Editorial control being held in the hands of a small elite.

Unless Indymedia wants to continue to hemorage readers contributors and funding it needs to return to its first principles and provide a media outlet for those who are disenfranchised by the mainstream corporate media.

IM reader and contributor

And just as one might expect, that comment was hidden. Pathetic.

It's amazing what doesn't get hidden on UK Indymedia, versus what does.

Further to the previous spam attack on this site, which resulted in the current suspension of comments, comes this piece on UK Indymedia - Indymedia Watch Censors Comments.

The self proclaimed watchdog of indymedia sites has disabled comment [sic] on his blog in response to comments criticising his hypocritical campaign against the indymedia - criticism which he described as a 'spam attack'.

I'm not sure how else to describe the same comment, posted over a dozen times to various pages on the site.The fool continues:

The comment which obviously struck to close to home can be found in google cache and reads;

No, it can't be found in any Google Cache at the time of posting, and the author of the UK Indymedia piece is a liar and obviously the spammer, with access to a local copy that was used in the attack. However, for the record, here is the comment:

"Indy Media Watch is run by a unaccountable elite of one who allows complete lies and fabrication to be posted on the blog or deletes posts without adequate explanation. There seem to be no clear rules and they are applied inconsitantly.[sic] People are regularly allowed to post comments while pretending to be many different people yet the owner of the site makes no effort to expose the such dishonesty even though it is within their [sic] capabilities. However, the owner is quite happy to trawl through logs to expose the IP address of posters who point this out.

Your point? Attack each other in comments all you want, I really couldn't care less. Attack this blog with spam however and we have a problem.

The Indy Media Watch blog is a travesty of inconsistancy [sic] and hypocracy [sic]

At least it's not a travesty of English.

a den of misfits banned from indymedia sites around the world and huddling together like a little self help group for the terminally stupid.

Again and again the blog cherry picks something from the hundreds of posts to indymedia open newsires around the world and tries make [sic] them representative of the collectives who admin the sites. The double standards expressed by The Watcher and the rest of the deluded fools posting on this blog as if they are exposing some great travesty, is something to behold.

Yes, welcome to Indy Watch [sic] Blog - where disruptive trolls banned from Indymedia come to play."

As if to prove the point, the owner of the Indymedia Watch blog acted out the very act of censorship that he and his cohorts regularly accuse indymedia sites of. The irony is too much to bare [sic] and has obviously not been missed by at least one comedian who set up the Indymedia Watch Watch blog - apparently a spoof of the watcher.

While there is no doubt much that could be improved within indymedia, it is farcical that this 'watcher' likes to pretend to be beyond the contradictions inherent in open publishing, only to end up censoring his own site at the first hint of criticism.

What an ass.

As I said before disabling comments, I have no problem with criticism (although it would appear that someone on UK Indymedia does).

I hav no problem with criticism, however posting the same comment dozens of times, is (as the English might say) taking the piss. Going too far. Unacceptable. Spam.

Had he posted it once it would have stayed. But that wasn't good enough. Of course now that I have reprinted it in full, is our loyal moron going to continue to believe I am somehow terrified of his comment and trying to censor him?

Hardly. I simply have no time for complete acts of stupidity, of which his was a gem of an example. Sadly, in the UK Indymedia post, our 'friend' didn't even have the common courtesy to link to this site.

I don't need to respond to why the rest of his comment is wrong, as someone on UK Indymedia has done it for me (highlighting my own):

Thanks for the publicity

Thank you to this contributor for the publicity about the Indymedia Watch website.

Indymedia Watch was created because the author was concerned that the original concept of Indymedia had been hijacked by individuals who were pushing an agenda of their own which was at odds with the original wish to see non journalists empowered with the ability to publish news. Indymedia Watch is part of the tradition of progressive journalism in that it allows individuals with alternative viewpoints to voice those opinions in a way that is free of the control of groups like those currently controlling various Indymedia sites.

Indymedia Watch has already been succesful in bringing to wider notice concerns shared by many about the direction Indymedia has taken and its increasing isolation from the broader activist and progressive community. Those of us who have worked hard to try and return Indymedia to its roots and save it from the desires of a few to be their own mouthpiece are already seeing the results of that activity with the incredible amount of support Indymedia Watch has received from individuals who share that wish.

Indymedia UK is an excellent example of this problem which is probably why certain persons associated with the UK Indymedia operation have worked so hard to try and close the Indymedia Watch site with a campaign of Trolling and Spamming. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised as the number one reason for no longer contributing to Indymedia UK is the censorship policy and the heavy handed way it is enforced, an attempt to shut down a site that illustrates clearly the various failings of Indymedia UK is a logical next step for those who fear debate.

The controller of the site has indeed temporarily stopped comments on the site as a result of this spam attack but I understand will be reactivating comments in the near future.

Those persons who share the concerns of us may wish to take the time to read the archives of the site, it contains excellent writing on issues of interest to anyone who cares about Indymedia and its future.

That entire post has been hidden by UK Indymedia.

Can you guess why? The subsequent comment might give some idea:

THIS POST AND ALL THE COMMENTS SHOULD BE REMOVED. THE LAST THING WE NEED IS ANY MORE PEOPLE READING THE INDYMEDIA WATCH SITE

IMC REGULAR

As for this "Indymedia Watch Watch" blog - Until now, I've never heard of it. Nor has it sent a single hit here, according to the referrer logs. Must be awfully popular...

Finally, I could predict a hundred miles away, that responding to the spam attack by turning off comments would result in claims I had 'fallen for' the 'clever trap' set for me, I was a hypocrite. etc. etc.

To claim there are double-standards, or that:

As if to prove the point, the owner of the Indymedia Watch blog acted out the very act of censorship that he and his cohorts regularly accuse indymedia sites of.

is rubbish.

Here's the thing: I am not "censoring comments" at all as I am under no obligation to provide space for you to leave them. This is a blog. It is not an "independent news source". It is not an experiment in "open publishing" (although Blogger may be). It is not a "discussion forum". It is not a "bulletin board". If you want to respond, go and start your own blog (hey, good luck with getting people to read it) and I won't stop you.

Indeed, I am setting an example for Indymedia. As soon as I saw things here were out of control, I stepped in, and as much as it upset me, did the responsible thing to stop the problem.

The. Responsible. Thing.

Much of Indymedia on the other hand, refuses to even consider that there is a problem, much less do anything about it.

Way to prove a point. Fool. How sad that that energy couldn't be channelled toward fixing Indymedia. After all, as you said:

there is no doubt much that could be improved within indymedia

The same derogatory comment was posted dozens of times across multiple posts on this site.

I have now removed them.

All of them. I would have not deleted it if one copy had appeared, as I have no trouble with fair criticism (even though most of it was an outright lie). Thanks to the spamming effort however, they are all gone now. To the spammer who spent all the time initially typing it: Ever heard the expression 'your own worst enemy'?

I have also deleted a comment posted under my handle, using the 'other' feature and have no time for such weak attempts at fraud. Note for future reference: I can spell.

I will not allow this site to become a total cesspit. Comments are disabled right now while I consider options. Perhaps the perpetrator will lose interest and go play in traffic instead.

To the genuine posters, I apologize.

Update: Via email:

I am sorry to see that you have turned off comments, it was probably for the best as you were getting swamped with trolls. Of course, they will now claim victory and final proof of your fascism.

Probably.

I have previously reported that on many Indymedia sites, the only material of any quality whatsoever, has simply been copied (usually with no permisssion) from other news sites. In many cases it is of no local significance either, so the Global Indymedia Network effectively becomes a giant echo chamber.

In other words - Indymedia adds no significant value.

It gets worse however, when an article is copied but subtle alterations are introduced to support the reposter's political views. Sometimes, it's just too easy to spot.

One such example currently sits on NYC Indymedia.

The NYPD shot and killed a young man a couple of days ago. Someone at IMC changed a few words from the NYT article and posted a distorted version on the site. One of the key paragraphs are as follows:

From the original Times story:

"Mr. Person was with three friends Wednesday night when the group caught the attention of four uniformed police officers, who were in a marked car and on the lookout for graffiti vandals, Mr. Kelly said. When the officers approached, the men scattered, running, and the officers followed Mr. Person into the building’s vestibule, where the skirmish then broke out, Mr. Kelly said. "

From the IMC post:

"Mr. Person was with three friends Wednesday night when the group caught the attention of four uniformed police officers, who were in a marked car roving around unsupervised, Mr. Kelly said. When the officers approached, the men left the scene out of concern for their safety, running, and the officers chased Mr. Person into the building’s vestibule."

Making up quotes, inventing facts and plagiarising sources. Nice, but you're busted.

Thanks to L for the heads-up.

Via comments on this earlier post:

UK is inconsistent in its hiding policy and there is an excellent example on the site right now.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/12/358319.html?c=all [ I have appended the ?c=all suffix so you can see any comments which are ultimately hidden (but not those that have been deleted) -ed ]

This post concerns a protest about some Cuban intelligence officers who were arrested in the US for spying. The report is full of innacuracies and anti American bias but that doesn't stop it being left on the site. Compare this with the posts that featured reports and photos about protests AGAINST the Cuban government, these were all quickly removed or hidden. A detailed report earlier this year concerning political prisoners in Cuba (held for nothing more than seeking democracy in their own country) was removed on the three occasions it was posted.

I think we can take it as read that the majority of Indymedia moderators hold a view that is Left of centre (I certainly do) but to show this level of support for a regime that has denied democratic elections to its people for over 50 years and has imprisioned people for no more than their views and calls for reform is a disgrace.
These are the people Indymedia should be supporting and reporting on.

ex IMC'er

UK Indymedia a disgrace? No!

Over at UK Indymedia, there was a pointless, vindictive and stupid argument brewing in the comments section of the post "All men are responsible for stopping male violence against women". Scroll down to the hidden comments, and just follow those. Here's a quick taste of what you can expect to soil your eyes:

I know a man who posts here regularly under a variety of aliases and shares your family history, attitudes and writing style. He violently attacked a teenage girl less than half his age and size recently, a complete stranger, simply because she was teasing him. He couldn't control his temper as most macho obsessive sexually hung-up drunks can't. And then he tried to justify that as acceptable behaviour due to his childhood. "I'm a victim" seems to be the rallying cry of bullies. So I'm sorry your dad was a bastard but that doesn't excuse you becoming just like him.

Of course, when nasty personal debates drag the comments off-topic, you expect them to be hidden, especially when the moderators of Indymedia in the UK are so trigger-happy in this regard. But one shouldn't expect them to hide comments like:

There are many lies presented in the original article.

Myself and others have attempted to deal with this deceit and have been ignored while you quite happily publish what is clearly a dispute between two individual contributors which has nothing to do with the issues at hand.

Very disppointing. Very disrespectful. Very dishonest.

...and:

Thank goodness gwallan had the patience to deal with the stupidity of some of these comments. I certainly didn't. Hopefully someone will learn something. Most likely you will all just whine about how you're right, though.

And I agree about shame on the moderators, but I am hoping you're just very busy at the moment. But if you're going to post things like this Utopia Bold article would you please slap a big 'opinion only' warning on it because it has very little basis in fact.

It would appear that asking the moderators to stop a two-day long slanging match of abuse, while pointing out that the comments against the original post have formed a far more convincing argument than that original post, is enough to get your comment hidden. Agreeing with a comment like that also appears to go over the Indymedia UK editorial guidelines. Although, somewhat strangely, the last two quoted comments are not repeated, they're on topic, they don't discriminate, they're accurate, they don't advertise, they're attempting to stop disruption, and they're not reposts. So it's hard to see where the comments in question have crossed the line.

Previous applications of the guidelines by UK Indymedia often range from questionable to being blatantly biased. The Indy Media Watcher (one person, with no Zionist funding either) in this calendar year alone found examples of that here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Indymedia UK is a laughing stock, and virtually the polar opposite of free speech.

A Melbourne Indymedia poster advocates violence over democracy in the comments of one of the many pro-David Hicks threads, "Thousands rally for David Hicks":

shoot the cunt (and his front bench) instead, its cleaner and far more effective than Rudd as PM .. just another puppet singing a familliar tune (with slightly different lyrics)

Of course, the same writer would be thoroughly outraged by suggestions that left-wing politicians should be shot, and would say that this would be anti-democratic. We should be thankful nobody has vocally agreed with the above comment yet, although in true style nobody on Indymedia will come out and denounce it.

But never let it be said that they don't support democracy and human rights.

Further to an earlier post, a Tribute to Progressives comes a real tribute to progressives, in the form of the person who goes by the name 'Sam Wilson'.

Regular readers will be familiar with his comments, which whilst irrational, confused and frequently deluded, were generally civil.

Until now. This person has evidently decided he couldn't make his point rationally (an acute observation) and has decided instead to wallpaper this site with offensive comments.

Logs are a bitch however, and 82-40-78-20.cable.ubr10.uddi.blueyonder.co.uk (82.40.78.20) has exposed Sam Wilson as the spammer. A formal complaint has been registered with his ISP.

The bulk of the comments are along the lines of "come on, ban me".

Now, I am smarter than Sam Wilson (not a mean feat by any means) and get the impression whether by covering this site in crap or being banned, he is actually trying to prove a point.

Unfortunately, he has already proved one quite nicely. Yes, "Sam", you are pathetic. We get it.

If this persists, I will have to take the responsible step of closing comments. This is of course unfair on the intelligent among us, however I will have no choice but to act responsibly. There's a point to be made there as well, Sam. See if you can work out what it is.

Pathetic.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has initiated proceedings against Vancouver Indymedia.






Vancouver Indymedia, largely interchangeable with BC Indymedia, has, on and off been one of the worst IMC sites of them all for a very long time. It would seem they are finally being taken to task on the matter.

So, will Indymedia's supporters lend their support to the fight for anti-discrimination and human rights - the charge of the Commission? Or will they complain about censorship and insist Indymedia is fine and this is part of some grand conspiracy to silence them.

One word: Accountability.

The much hated 'Mainstream Media' has it. The MSM are obliged to check facts, because upon failing to do so, they are held accountable for their errors. Despite claiming superiority, by remaining wide open and out of control Indymedia has failed to check facts or meet minimum standards of decency. Its supporters and organizers invariably deny accountability saying "we can't be held responsible". Well sorry, as I have always said, Indymedia either wishes to be a credible news organization or it doesn't. Right now... It isn't.

This case should prove very interesting.

Update: OHMS asks in comments, the source of these documents. They were sent to me by the complainant, who adds:

I append for the purpose of eventual removal one of the excerpts that formed the corpus of my complaint. The premise of this complaint is a contention that both individually and collectively, editors, management and regular participants of the internet publication and bulletin boards known as Indymedia, promote hatred affecting persons identifiable as Jews and/or as citizens of Israel.

e.g. From: http://bc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/17140

The zionists, it seems, are infatuated with blood. Tainted blood, that is, which they make to spread among large groups of the population of the world. These children are just the latest victims to be discovered, they are the recipients of this latest poisoned gift of the zionists…

Collectively, I feel that the postings were intended to disarm any who might post opposing substantiation or views; implying most explicitly that persons identifiable as Jews or Israelis are to be regarded with extreme dislike, suspicion and contempt and deserve no right of rebuttal.

Odd that all the talk about community rights and “public safety” seem to fall by the wayside at Indymedia when it is the police and local authorities that fancy instituting such policies.

“Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

This is one of the many classes that bothered me to the core. The more I look the worse it is.
Here is part of the course flier and some links about CPTED.

Peoples Park and how CPTED is altering it. "According to Nov. 13 Advisory Committee minutes, the concept, introduced by Berkeley Police Chief Doug Hambleton, is called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, CPTED. The goal is to remove obstructions so that police can see what’s going on in the park from their patrol cars."

Wow, what a terrible concept: police actually being able to see rapists and vandals before they take action! What a reactionary lot those local authorities are! I guess public safety takes a back seat to ideological purity.

Via the Songun Blog, a thank you to all comradely progressive brothers and sisters.

Further to my previous post on UK Indymedia comes a new development.

In my post, I referred to a comment on a UK Indymedia post, concerning the monitoring of UK Indymedia. I observed that the comment on UK Indymedia had (unsurprisingly) been hidden.

A few minutes ago, this (poorly written) comment appeared on the post:

Why does this blog post made up stories? I followed the link and there is no such comment hidden or otherwise. Also, many of this blogs other critisisms about the content of posts on indy sites refer to posts which imc collecitives obviously don't aprove of either as they have been hidden. Looks like somebody should be watching the watcher to keep him honest.

Sure enough, the comment on UK Indymedia has been deleted.

Not hidden, deleted.

I don't know if the timing (or the spelling) of the latest comment on IMW is related, however something really stinks. Any ideas?

Charlottesville Indymedia is gone and its URL is now pointing to gay porn.

You've been warned.

http://cvilleindymedia.org/

UK Indymedia is discussing the closure of Italy Indymedia as previously reported on this site. A comment appeared on the post, reprinted here in full.

Work for word, the italian statement on indymedia italy could be applied in the UK. Is it time to shut down and relaunch IMC UK?

Not a day goes by without serious complaints about the behviour of the elite core of admin password holders, complaints of censorship and sabotage. It's clear that there are elements within the elite core of indymedia that are abusing their power and totally beyond control. It's getting beyond a joke and we agree with previous posters (all hidden) that it's time to rethink indymedia put a stop to the abuse. However, people within indymedia uk have tried before and failed. There is a nobel history of brave individuals trying to stand up to and expose the infiltrators at the core of indymedia only to find themselves the victims of lies, slander and sabotage before being hounded out of their collectives.

I spoke to several people within imc uk regional collectives at the recent network meeting in london about these issues and we connected up after in the pub to hatch a plan for a coup to reclaim indymedia. The timing could not be better - infact it could be make or break time for indymedia. You probably won't have heard about the crisis over the server money that somebody sat on two years. We are not talking a small amount either but over five grand donated for new servers but ending up almost vanishing were it not for one angry contributor asking difficult questions. Another indymedia supporter has jumped ship, also pissed off with the state of democracy within the core collective. That ex-supporter is taking offline about 70% of indymedias global server capacity!

So now new servers must be bought and this opens new opportunities to wrestle back control from the rouge elements. However, it's going to be difficult. We aim to put together a dosier of evidence to prove beyond doubt just who the inflitrators are who are hell bent on discrediting indymedia through their heavy handed abuse of moderation, hidding, loosing, deleting and even editing posts. We will then present this evidence to not only the wider imc uk collectives but more importantly to the global indymedia DNS and new indymedia working groups who have the power to hand back the indymedia.org.uk domain name to a newly formed collective.

To do this we need your help. Due to indymedia's policy of not keeping logs, it is very difficult to establish which admin person is comminting the offences. We need you to report abuse in as much detail as possible so that we can cross reference against the times each admin account was logged on. Please fill in our incident reports with the article or comment number, time of publish, time of moderation if know, the uneditted full text of the post in question and any further details about the offence.

GO HERE TO FILE YOUR REPORTS

Obviously this post will soon be hidden as it abuses posting guidelines but it can not be deleted or edited without exposing the person responsible.

re think imc uk
mail e-mail: rethinkimcuk@gmail.com
home Homepage: http://publishing4.ne1.net

As predicted, the comment was hidden.

Update: More than hidden, the comment has now been deleted without a trace.

Anyone who has read "Sam Wilson's" comments in previous posts here, will appreciate the depth of denial (and possible fume inhalation) at UK Indymedia. I have no idea who's responsible for the above, however it certainly is past time to rethink the IMC.

While thinking about it, try shoplifting!