Total number of comments: 308 (since 2009-05-22 14:07:20)
alec
Mondoweiss.net supporterWriter & photographer.
Website: http://uncoy.com
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- Video: Palestinian demonstrators break a hole in the wall during … 0
- Kennedy’s insistence on right of return prompted Ben-Gurion to rewrite … 0
- Palestinian-American Raed Zidan plants flag on top of Everest, dedicates … 0
- Exile and the Prophetic: Disappearing Massad, disappearing Palestine 0
- Lapid says ‘Israelis want peace and security and Palestinians want … 1
- Birthright guide turned US youths’ eyes away from refugee camps, … 0
- Two friends meet for 5 minutes in Jerusalem 17
- Video: Soldiers aim guns at fallen boy’s head outside West … 25
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- Israeli airport sorts passengers with ‘Jewish stickers’ and ‘Arab stickers’ 782
- ‘Newseum’ folds under pressure, will not include Gaza cameramen in … 314
- In photos: Gaza marches and rallies mark 65 years of … 149
- Glenn Greenwald brings facts and reason to ‘Real Time’, ruins … 145
- San Francisco bus ads condemn Israeli apartheid: backlash begins 120
- Washington Post’s racism map omits Israel 105
- Washington state bus-ad campaign dares to state: ‘Equal rights for … 100
- Barbara Boxer’s visa bill for Israel comes under concerted attack 89
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- International Criminal Court opens preliminary investigation into attack on Mavi … 94
- Glenn Greenwald brings facts and reason to ‘Real Time’, ruins … 88
- Barbara Boxer’s visa bill for Israel comes under concerted attack 73
- Washington Post’s racism map omits Israel 72
- Israeli airport sorts passengers with ‘Jewish stickers’ and ‘Arab stickers’ 69
- ‘Newseum’ folds under pressure, will not include Gaza cameramen in … 62
- Uncompromising hope inspired by Ghassan Kanafani 62
- Church of Scotland backs away from boycott call in the … 62
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- Kennedy’s insistence on right of return prompted Ben-Gurion to rewrite history: They fled ‘of their own free will’ http://t.co/IiL1P0hW5p, 10 mins ago
- Video: Palestinian demonstrators break a hole in the wall during protest commemorating the Nakba http://t.co/cWsoOsAoFy, 10 mins ago
- Lapid says ‘Israelis want peace and security and Palestinians want peace and justice’ http://t.co/rGAQJVloa8, 15 mins ago
- Exile and the Prophetic: Disappearing Massad, disappearing Palestine http://t.co/jilG67kdzl, 15 mins ago
- Birthright guide turned US youths’ eyes away from refugee camps, settlements http://t.co/4PjDh3VFMW, 15 mins ago
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Recent Comments
click link to see last 100 comments- Lapid says ‘Israelis want peace and security and Palestinians want peace and justice’ (1)
- Ramzi Jaber: Lapid just accelerated 1S1P1V. Lapid was the hope of Israelis, Palestinians, Europeans, and Americans...
- Abulhawa declines to ‘balance out’ several Israelis in ‘Al Jazeera’ forum on Nakba (36)
- German Lefty: Her problem with the show was that it sought to present the Nakba as an Israeli issue — with a...
- gamal: no, no we will all be sitting together, all the varieties of Arabs and Israeli’s, on the corniche very...
- Donald: “I saw her in a recent debate on RT, and she gets too easily rattled and irrational to argue her pints...
- Two friends meet for 5 minutes in Jerusalem (17)
- Annie Robbins: hops, are you justifying the collective punishment and submission of millions of Palestinians for...
- hophmi: It’s not a great situation. But this is what happens when Palestinians dress as civilians, strap on...
- Yousef M. Aljamal: Welcome to the only ‘democracy’ in the Middle East!
- Barbara Boxer’s visa bill for Israel comes under concerted attack (73)
- Ramzi Jaber: James, sorry I misunderstood. Do you think if the CA political reality was different, then Boxer would...
- ritzl: @Bumblebye Bingo.
- Uncompromising hope inspired by Ghassan Kanafani (62)
- Inanna: Well said Taxi. I admit when I read this I just thought this person was an amateur and wasn’t...
- Lapid says ‘Israelis want peace and security and Palestinians want peace and justice’ (1)
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Enjoy your books Al. Thank you for your support!
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I would still make the argument that anybody who wants to do anything with the text here would have the technical skills to run it directly through the translation service. Creating a proper working DVD of the website would present some technical challenges. We do keep off site archives.
On the other hand, if I see 20 requests for a paid archival DVD of Mondoweiss.net at even $25 + postage, I'll make sure it happens. If there's higher demand, we could lower that price.
Don't lose heart T-Bear. That is the goal of the Israelis: to drive us and the Palestinians into the ground. And when that is done, a sudden push into the sea or fenced off prison work-camps (not too far from today's status quo, but far more severe).
Every conversation I've ever had with an Israeli or Zionist includes he or she comparing the Palestinians to animals, then to dangerous animals and then suggesting that such animals need to be caged or put down.
It is up to the world in general and us in specific to keep up our hearts and prevent that from happening.
Thank you for your support!
PS. The rejection driven automated donation system really is not very good. I thought it was just me having trouble from outside the US. If you can't even use it from within the US, there really should be a better system put into place. Paypal will not be tax-deductible but at least it's quick and easy.
I would suggest we set up simple Paypal donations for people outside the US who do not need an American tax deduction.
I have had trouble to donate directly myself via the form, on account of a difference of location between my addresses and my banking country.
Hi tokyobk and Keith,
Your stars have been taken care of until July 1 2013. Thank you for your support!
Hi MRW,
Current web technology makes it very easy for you to archive a site yourself with any of a number of spidering tools. No need for DVD's.
On the other hand, Mondoweiss could have a series of DVD's of Palestinian, Israeli and US DVD's related to the political and social situation which they sell directly off this website.
Running that would be a whole secondary project though and quite distracting. I do think some kind of DVD/bookstore would make sense though. Some materials are hard to get ahold of. Fortunately more and more filmmakers are putting their work directly on the internet.
Thanks for the suggestion though.
I hear you Al. The tshirts used to be sent out by us but they are now sent out directly by Phil and Adam. I've warned Adam and Phil repeatedly about making good on promises to donors.
Adam and Phil, I have to say I'm really upset to hear that donors are often not getting their stars, their shirts or their books.
People's loyalty is not something to be toyed with and promises are made to be kept.
Actually the Third Reich example is interesting. If Hitler (like Israel) had nukes, he would have used them at the end. No question.
The whole V-Bombs episode (which carried on hopelessly right until the end of the war) proves that a culture can have and use a Samson option.
Curiously the V-Bomb programs were much less successful largely due to the complete control of German intelligence sources in England by MI5. Parallels to the dual loyalty program in place now are troubling.
Colin,
Medical circumcision looks relatively harmless. Halachic circumcision with herpes-ridden older men (rabbis?) sucking on infant cocks does not. Eleven cases of transmission, two deaths, several cases of mental retardation, life long herpes victims in the rest of the cases.
That is the issue, not circumcision.
The problem is not with circumcision the problem is with allowing oral-genital contact which kills these children.
And yes barbaric practices and exceptionalism are on Mondoweiss's beat.
Hopmi,
We are talking about infanticide here. Grown men with herpes sticking their mouth on your child's penis and killing him.
And it's happening legally in America. No other religion would get away with a practice like this in the United States.
Not only that not only are the ultra Orthodox not apologising for these deaths, they promise more of the same. Equal opportunity at last. Not only will we kill Palestinian babies, we'll murder our own too.
On a more positive note, Medecins sans Frontieres does sometimes manage to get the odd project through. When MSF tried to help in Gaza after Operation Cast Lead, their operations were obstructed.
Revenge for helping Gazan Palestinians was swift in coming. Accusations of anti-Semitism and smearing of the entire MSF organization.
MSF Canada Annual report 2010.
For about two years MSF was shut out of Israel for saving Gazans.
Another dark secret of the occupation. The Israelis and their American lackies have made it almost impossible to donate to the front lines (via bank freezes). Any organization however innocuous is labelled as terrorist.
And if you do manage to donate, the Israelis will blow it up or destroy it (EU infrastructure projects). Mafia tactics.
If there is a god in the heavens, these SOB's won't enjoy what's coming to them in the after life.
What would that be giladg? That some people are ubermenschen and some people are untermenschen and that is the way of the world?
Thanks for the lesson in bigotry and racial supremacism. As if just 72 years later, we needed another lesson.
Your protests sound like the cries of a paranoid racist hypocrite.
I'm sure you didn't mean them to sound that way.
Oh no, don't tell me that not every article in the NY Times blames the Palestinians for every event in the Middle East.
The NY Times is clearly anti-Israel as not every article blames the Palestinians for Israeli crimes. Blame the victim - it's giladg's way of life. Used to work great in rape cases too.
Oh yes, gilad the bloody, Israel doesn't get a fair hearing in English language press. It's the first thing that hits me between the eyes when I open my NY Times every morning or turn on the television: the unjust coverage Israel faces.
Farcical.
Have you considered a career as a clown? Much more suited to your talents than world events commentator.
Thanks for the input ravendxpac. We did the original flotilla animation and proposed funnier and tougher animations for this season as well which were rejected. On the other hand, the airport Gmail login story did take off in national media thanks to Mondoweiss. It's hard to know where to draw the line. I'd draw it much further than Phil and Adam. Palestinians are murdered by settlers under the supervision of the IDF while we're debating the point.
The US drone campaigns have really dumped the US in the same ethical cesspool as Israel though.
Asherpat, your "questions" are just noise making. There's enough information here to indicate land is being stolen and people are being divorced from their livelihoods.
Go on banging your pans if it makes you feel better.
Always looking for a little bit more wiggle room. Merchant of Venice level self-parody.
Their bones with your teeth on them, more likely. Your Darwinist winks are touching. I wonder if young Adolf was as clever as you. When will you ever fully catch up with his population shaping projects?
Alas, the government of the area is neither effective or legal. It's a bunch of racist clowns in KKK-issued yamulkas like you.
You are really shameless FB. You had best hope there is no karma in this world or the next.
Hi Sean,
We'll look into it. It may be the comment sorter.
If you'd immediately like to be able to browse these huge threads faster, try doing so not logged in.
It does mean keeping a second browser handy for making comments but it should be instantaneous.
Hi Sean,
We've considered this several times, but any such system is relatively easily gamed. And there is definitely a group or two here who would try to game the system.
I can only imagine the hair tearing by those who don't see their comments appear after we add such a system.
But soon we'll have to.
It's a work in progress. Thank you for the more detailed and useful feedback.
Why unruly and disobedient?
Rude would qualify well enough.
How could anyone be foolish and/or paranoid enough to consider work to improve the user experience would be undertaken with malicious intent at Mondoweiss?
Rhetorical question.
Hi Fred,
There is now a toggle on the social sharing menu on the left to hide/show all comments.
Hi Kathleen,
Please read the comment threads just above. When you come back to a thread, you only see new comments.
We are planning to go to some kind of toggle.
Hi ahadhaadam and Taxi,
The new comments feature means when you come to a page you only see new comments saving hunting through hundreds of comments to find the new ones. We are still working on the details.
The best way to avoid having to click out the comments is to read through the full page first before refreshing. After that when you refresh you'll see all the new comments and won't have to hunting for new ones.
If you aren't logged in, you will see all comments (this feature only works for logged in users).
We are likely going to change to expand full threads on click (rather than one comment at a time). Or we may move to a toggle (New/All).
Hi Fred,
The new comments feature means when you come to a page you only see new comments saving hunting through hundreds of comments to find the new ones. We are still working on the details.
Thanks for noticing!
Hi Danaa,
The new comments feature means when you come to a page you only see new comments saving hunting through hundreds of comments to find the new ones. We are still working on the details.
The best way to avoid having to click out the comments is to read through the full page first before refreshing. After that when you refresh you'll see all the new comments and won't have to hunting for new ones.
If you aren't logged in, you will see all comments (this feature only works for logged in users).
We are likely going to change to expand full threads on click (rather than one comment at a time). Or we may move to a toggle (New/All).
These new rules are terrible. Moderating discussion (all discussion is moderated at MW) would be enough.
Don't like the direction a discussion is going Adam? Just stop approving the comments. No need to start banning people.
I'm willing to bet the Nakba denial and blame the Palestinian Zionists will be left standing, but anyone mentioning cheering Israeli "painters" and their white van or mentioning cynical collaboration between the Zionists and the Nazis (lots of that discussion was news to me and is still relevant to the ideology of Modern Israel: do what helps Israel not the Jews) will disappear forever into a black hole.
So just as the Zionists were conclusively losing, basically the debating playing field has been seriously tilted in favour of their favour. When have I seen that happen before?
Donald's bilge from the other day didn't impress me (although some of the comments did). I was surprised to see DKOS censorship find its way into an article at Mondoweiss and shocked to see it turn into policy.
So how do you get your information about foreign military activity Winnica? From direct satellite feeds or from calling buddies in Mossad and Shin Bet....
FUD strikes again.
Hi Richard,
I am a commenter and an occasional contributor here. I am not an editor.
Frankly I think the Israeli troops killing and beating Palestinians in checkpoints is the real embarrassment to Israel and AIPAC.
I would say to you too, but I've long given up hope on you finding even a morsel of conscience for those who are not born to the tribe.
Hi Mooser,
What is it that you are missing exactly? We've worked hard to make the site better organised and easier to use. Let us know please how we can make things better.
Well said Theo.
Phil, we are asking you if Richard Witty's self-referential feelings are still more important than Palestinian blood?
This site is not striving for absolute balance, Donald. It's a resource for people who can carry the word out to more "balanced" venues.
There are enough pro-Israeli sites bought and paid for out there. Mondoweiss doesn't need to become one.
We don't donate our time and money to Mondoweiss to see it turn into Mother Goose nursery rhymes for Israeli settler children.
Given what's going on in Palestine every day, Witty, offending the sensibilities of the IAF Waffen Troops and their foreign supporters (i.e. you) is the least of our concerns.
You and the rest of the so-called Liberal Zionists have made yourself irrelevant through your endless vacillation and water carrying for Netanyahu's storm troopers and slow ethnic cleansing.
Guy, you have zero credibility. The only person on this site who cares about your opinion at this point is Phil Weiss. You sir, are his private court jester, with bloody pom-pom's and all on head and wrists.
Ever get the feeling you are being Goldberged, Phil?
If one approach doesn't work, try another one. I think your weak point has been fingered: seeking acceptance by Liberal Zionists.
I don't know about you bigots, but that map looks pretty similar to me.
Didn't they just fire the publisher of the New York Times? A woman by the name of Janet Robinson.
Congratulations Annie!
Looks like a disinformation campaign to discredit the Palestinians and take the wind out of their sails.
FUD tactics are what it was called in the Microsoft era. Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
Actually MRW, to be able to present that much information (a week's worth of posts here), the format has to be headline only. The whole point is almost that of a news ticker. With the old format it wasn't possible to put enough posts up in a single place for a reader to be sure he'd seen everything.
I would make the argument that the editorial crew should write better headlines.
Sometime soon we will try a title tag to let you see the short summary of the article on rollover.
Hi Richard,
The Most Shared and Most Discussed is currently on a ten day cycle as it is mainly to help new visitors. The regular readers will probably be more inclined to use the daily news feed at the bottom which also lists number of comments, as do the monthly archives: link to mondoweiss.net will always get you the latest monthly archive.
These algorithms may be refined over time. We may put red comment badges on posts with more than 100 comments at some point to provide additional information without adding visual clutter.
Thanks for noticing Justice please. I like it too.
Hi iamuglow,
I'm able to log in with Camino 2.1 (about a Firefox 5 equivalent). Current release version for Firefox is 7.01 so I'm not able to test Firefox 5. Perhaps update to even a later version of Firefox 5 with more bug fixes.
Is anyone else having login problems since the relaunch?
Visual offset on blockquotes is back Chaos. Accidentally got lost in the transition. Thanks for noticing.
Headline should be in two places only: Featured/Don't Miss and in the daily post log. Removing a story from the daily post log would make that log incomplete. We've thought about doing it and may still do so.
As for the rest, it sounds like a fine recipe for not growing the site and not expanding the audience. Just a little further down someone is asking for more recent comment information.
Most people like to see photos of the writer. Decades of book jacket editors and designers can't be wrong.
If you'd like to see Mondoweiss with no formatting, the answer is not far away. Just read Mondoweiss in the RSS reader of your choice.
Not possible without very heavy javascript overhead. We'd be tracking thousands of users state across thousands of posts. Not a good situation.
In fact the last 100 comments is specifically set up to help deal with this issue. You can always subscribe to a post via email or even add the post to your RSS reader (where you will get new comments). Just use URL and add /feed at the end.
For this post for instance: link to mondoweiss.net
Did you lend Witty your login for the day eee? That is one of the most confused bit of nonsense about "ephemeral goals and interests" I've ever read.
The Israelis already tried this. They do a lot of deep genetic research on the difference between Europeans and Jews and Arabs and Jews.
Unfortunately Israelis coveting a secret weapon are screwed:
Ashkenazi Jews are not sufficiently distinguishable from Europeans to allow them to target Europeans without putting a huge proportion of Ashkenazi at risk.
Extremely ironically, Palestinians for the most part share DNA with Sephardic Jews. Many Palestinians are Jews from way back.
So the avenue has been explored, is being explored but is fruitless. On the other hand, the separate drinking water shenanigans going on Israel does worry me.
What do these Israeli monsters have to do before the diaspora wakes up? Hint it was not much fun being German from 1945 through 1980. Even now the Germans have to tread very softly.
Hi Citizen!
Your star is there now. Thank you for your longstanding support to Mondoweiss!
As soon as we get the word from Adam confirming your contribution, we'll send out your shirts right away.
Thank you again for your support.
Hi Sumud and Annie!
I'm pleased to report Recent Comment are back and with a vengeance.
On the right sidebar, you have the last 10 comments arranged by article and with an excerpt. If you click Recent Comments above the 10 you will be taken to the last 100 recent comments.
You can also navigate directly to the Last 100 Comments from the top menu tabs (next to Archive). This second location is experimental but the link from the Recent Comments in the sidebar is permanent.
Enjoy!
Happy Labour Day!
Making the web work for you, Alec
PS. We should and will add an RSS feed for that Recent Comments page.
Hi John,
That search button lets you search that commenters comments. Very useful actually. Normally when you are looking for a commenter is when you are reading posts and want to check on other comments by that person.
Very easily gamed, but otherwise selected comments is a very good idea.
The problem is that it's pretty high maintenance to get highlighted comments working properly and keeping it working properly. It's not set and forget.
But it is a great idea. Thank you for the very detailed explanation of how you'd like it to work Danaa. I've added highlighted comments to our wishlist.
That's somewhat true. But even if we grab timezone from the visitor's computer, it would really mess up caching. We don't want to mess up caching (much slower site!). We might be able to jig something together with javascript but it would increase the load on your browser (not good for mobile or lower powered computers).
If you know of a nice light function to do this let me know.
Should be possible for logged in users (as far as I remember we aren't cached now, although we'd like logged in users to see cache too).
That's Phil and Adam's call as they maintain the relationship with blogroll partners. Technically easily done: turn it into a dropdown menu. But people would not use it much.
Hi Shingo!
After much reflection, I think it is time for an ignore button specific to each user. For years, we've been considering some kind of slashdot system where there are community thresholds and scoring per comment but it always ends up too complicated and easily gamed. Our goals with Mondoweiss is to keep the site simple, elegant, easy to use and very fast to load.
But the simplicity of a personal ignore button (used by thousands in this case) sounds like the perfect way to drown out the irrelevance.
For what it's worth, I'll be pressing that button the day of release. In fairness, I would not use this button only on the side of the oppressors. Many of their voices are worth hearing. On the other hand, there are a couple of true progressives whose comments I could live without almost as easily as that of MW's most prolific commenter.
Thank you for your suggestion!
Hi dbroncos,
Thanks for your input! I agree.
But don't worry. If anything, any aesthetic changes will be to even more minimalism. Keeping Mondoweiss easy to read and easy to use is our number one priority.
It would require everyone setting a timezone. Probably not a problem we will solve this round. But something to keep in mind. We'll probably stay on NY time in honour of Phil.
Hi patm,
Donors are allowed to opt out of a star. Who had a star and who doesn't have one now I have no idea.
Honestly, I like to be able to see if someone has contributed. Not having a star doesn't score a penalty for me, but having one does encourage me to pay a bit more attention to that commenter. A star makes me think of a person of action and their convictions who is prepared to actively contribute to creating a better world.
A star also reminds me of how those who were once hounded and rounded up into ghettos, now hound and push others into ghettos. I proudly wear a star in solidarity of all who were persecuted: those who were persecuted for their ethnicity and/or faith in the 1940's and those who are persecuted for their ethnicity and/or faith in the 1970's to 2010's.
Hi richb,
We'll be creating a fresh comments page with at least 100 comments on it. We will add an RSS feed to that page with the RSS feed subscribe button on that page.
RSS feed for new comments to a post can and will be added.
An RSS feed for all replies to you is a very interesting notion. We'll look at that too. That's a bit more work.
Thanks for your detailed and specific suggestions!
Keeping track of what comments each user has seen is very technically challenging (while keeping server load low and the site fast). On the other hand, it's a great idea. We'll look closely at this.
It's a bit impolite to force open links in new windows. You can always hold down command and click on a new link and the link will open in a new tab (Apple Safari) or shift click (for IE I think) and the link will open in a new tab. If enough people want external links to open in new windows, this is an easy change.
Thanks for the suggestion RoHa!
Hi Sumud,
Photo upload/insertion is a real security issue, but we'll sort it out in the next round of updates.
Adding outliner-type features is a deep rabbit hold into which to venture (i.e. we'll spend more time fiddling with that than anything else). I'll look at coming up with something deadly simple.
The after the 10th comment limit on a certain commenter is not intended to stop him/her from "contributing" but rather to have to participate in dialogue rather than jump in early to post "incoherent, hypocritical garbage in the hope of luring people away from the discussion".
Curiously, the report comment button produced very few complaints from supporters of Palestinian rights (including about RW or eee for example) and nothing but spurious complaints from hardcore Zionists. Basically the site is pretty tightly moderated by Phil, Adam and the moderating team so there isn't much to complain about anymore.
Hi Sumud and Annie,
Recent comments in the advanced form died due to server load. I don't like the current primitive recent comments at all. We will be adding back much better recent comments, including a long page of all recent comments. The sidebar will be back better than ever, as I've come up with some ideas to keep it 100% up to date and not effect caching (SSI for the technically inclined: a technology which went out of date 5 years ago, but is just right for this particular problem).
Hi Eljay,
This is much more useful feedback. Thanks.
1. Building a page with all the latest approved comments (going to 100 or 200) is not a problem at all. We'll probably put that up next week.
2. I'm not sure what browser you are using but your browser is giving you a cached page. If we disable caching altogether, we seriously compromised performance, on the other hand we should be able to flip a switch somewhere to make sure that the browser looks for the latest cached page.
3. WordPress search is awful. We are considering building a major public WordPress search plugin that substantially upgrades search (currently upgrading search involves a lot of different and not entirely compatible search). Otherwise, one can switch the WordPress search for Google search. We'll look at improving search.
4. I think PM's would reduce the quality of the site by taking much of the discussion underground. Giving certain special interest groups the opportunity to form cabals to persecute online "enemies" is also a concern. On the other hand, PM's to share email addresses with other members does make sense. Contributor is a very important issue to Phil and Adam so this will have to be handled with care but some kind of solution should be possible.
Thanks for the detailed and stimulating feedback!
Making the web work for you, Alec
PS. vBulletin or any other major forum software is very difficult to make minimalist and attractive. For forum software, we recommend and use either fluxbb (formerly PunBB) or bbPress.
Rusty, that's a great idea. I'm just not quite sure how to do it without sinking the server (we have to keep track of which comments 2000 active visitors have seen).
I'll see if we can figure out how to do this. PunBB and flux forum software has this functionality (but only at post level).
Hi HRK,
Your issue is a challenge for all political sites where conversation gets hot. It wouldn't be a technical problem to create user controlled weblogs but it would generate a lot of moderation work for Adam and Phil.
I've have to say now that you can edit a comment after posting, just be more careful what you post. I've apologised publicly when I was very, very wrong once. It didn't do me any harm.
I think what you are suggesting Erasmus is either forums or a user contributed section. We could try to incorporate such a user generated new section. The technical side is quite manageable but the editorial overhead might be quite heavy on Phil and Adam.
If you are going to have a left hand column, a darker one like that in its own area is certainly the way to go. Thanks for pointing it out Annie. I don't hang out at Moon of Alabama but did spend a lot of time on Billmon.com in the day.
We'd like to add a reference section. I don't want to put it on the left hand side as we specifically keep the left clear to keep the focus on the post at hand and current content. But a second right hand column would be fine.
Thanks for the support POA. We have some very sophisticated tools available to Phil and Adam and the other moderators, but we work very hard to keep it simple for visitors and commenters.
I think what might help with the number of comments issue is a leash to prevent a certain commenter from commenting within the first ten comments. That way he might have to participate in dialogue instead of vandalising each post on which he comments first.
Sorry eljay, but vBulletin is an awful and overwrought environment in comparison to the simplicity and clarity of Mondoweiss. Phil can correct me of course but Mondoweiss is a news site with an active community and not a forum. Phil and Adam have access to moderation tools which are very much like a forum already.
You already have a public profile with all your comment posts. You can edit your public profile yourself.
You are just missing the personal messages. But I'd hate to see much of the discussion go underground.
Hi Chu and Exile,
As far as I know that's exactly how the threaded commenting works now. But there are only three or four levels to discourage going too far off topic.
Hi Rusty,
You have editing after posting now. That's effectively as preview. As for adding some buttons, we will look closely at doing that. Full WYSIWYG would slow commenting down a lot though. It would have to be a hybrid solution.
Thanks for your input!
Adding some tickers for significant measures of occupation and freedom to the home page is a great idea.
Could you get a bit more granular and let us know what figures you'd suggest and where to get them from regularly?
This is really off-topic, Kathleen. Why should Mondoweiss readers have to put up with a progressive stream of consciousness any more than Witty's reactionary stream of consciousness?
I'm sure lots of activists are working hard to dismantle any persecution in either Syria or Iran. Many of them were indirectly funded by the US, at least in the case of Iran.
Now, let's return to the subject at hand, Israel's human rights abuses.
Israel and the official representatives of Judaism are demanding a different level of loyalty than Muslims or Catholics face.
And you are good with that, eh?
Or are you fighting that tooth and nail?
Give the land back, Witty, close the border and take a cooling off period.
Works for small children.
The Israelis have completely lost it.
Not the first time in history this has happened.
Pre-WWII movies from Germany show a people also frighteningly out of touch with reality and basic humanity.
Hi Pamela and Annie and Citizen,
I've restored the post to how it was when originally published, with the addition of a disclaimer. There's been a significant difference of editorial opinion. I don't know how long the post will remain in its current useful form.
If I don't see you around in the near future, thank you for all your great work trying to get the message out about injustice and for your work to bring peace and justice to Israel and Palestine.
I would think that Bashi is making a comparative distinction which you are playing too obtuse to understand:
i.e. "In comparison to the shortage of food and goods, the lack of opportunity to work in a gainful way is an even greater evil."
Keep hammering away at justice one chisel stroke at a time. Israel has already disfigured her beyond recognition.
Did you find a transcript Donald? I also don't have time for video but would gladly read the lecture.
Israel is a long-standing state actor in control of the situation. I'm afraid we can and will hold them to a higher standard than Hamas.
Unfortunately for Israel, Hamas's own conduct in the last year has been considerably more peace-oriented than Israel's own.
Hamas's conduct is not the question: Israel's conduct is.
I'm not a mod, Daniel. I'm a supporter and a contributor and we provide technical support. All those lovely new features which show some people talking out of both sides of their mouths, you can thank me for.
So you can address your mod-attacks to Phil and Adam. If you have any issues with the functioning of the site, fire away.
Don't know how this one slipped through Bart. Oops already gone.
That GuiltyFeat is a professional Web 2.0 entertainer and propagandist I find enormously diverting.
And exactly why Phil and Adam need our support. The other side is hiring or incentivizing professionals to disrupt their work.
Sorry, this site is under constant surveillance and regular attack.
Highly like that you are somehow indirectly compensated for your efforts here.
Would you mind letting us know if you do any work for any Israeli or AIPAC organisations or clients?
You have no idea what we delete from the pro-Zionist crowd. Makes you seem like a schoolboy.
I do think you can separate Germans and Nazis and as you can separate Jews and Zionists and Israelis. Your analogy is false from the get go.
Sorry to hear that you think this weblog is a sham. I can assure you that neither Phil nor Adam are getting wealthy from the work here. Consider the economics of running this site and supporting two families on the twice annual fund drives here.
Your donation would be appreciated even if you don't agree with Mondoweiss.net all of the time.
The Irish hate the English on good historical grounds.
Not surprised that when you come from Tel Aviv you get a better reception. The Israeli repression of the Palestinians has caused a lot of Irish to reevaluate their thoughts on Israel. Israelis and English are slowly being confounded in the Irish psyche.
Touchdown Israel, touchdown GuiltyFeat.
Herr Werdine you are very selectively pulling facts from the record. Your sympathy rings as false Witty's pleas for Palestinian compassion for the Israeli plight.
Not irritating Israel is certain to bring about a quick change for the better in Palestinian lives.
With fewer obstacles between squatters/settlers and the land, said squatters/settlers are certain to pull back and give the land back to the Palestinians.
Do you ever think before you write Witty? Almost none of it makes any sense.
Let's take your approach to another similar historical situation:
Do your suggestions for the Palestinians still sound as good to you in the echo chamber of your empty heart/head?
Since when did doing your best mean slavery and apartheid and organ theft?
Hi Shingo, your points would resonate that much more if you'd run your posts through a spellchecker first. I don't meant to be a bore but honestly there are a dozen typos in your carefully put together post above, most of which you could fix inside of one minute. Firefox will spellcheck for you in the browser.
Translation: And still Fayyad move Palestinians closer to willing serfdom which is the only settlement Israelis and Zionist false-flag Liberals like me are willing to accept.
Where did you pull that bone out of eee?
I'd say the real bone of contention is the little land which the Palestinians still have left, the off sea gas, the water resources, the border with Jordan, the border with Egypt, the ports, the settlements, the settlers, Israeli's white shirts....
Actually anything and everything the Palestinians might get down to a piece of chocolate is a bone of contention to Netanyahu, Likud and most of Israeli society. You are out-apartheiding the Afrikanners, whom you/Israel supported for so long.
Why not try avoiding provoking the host for a change?
The get-out-of-jail-free Israel card seems only to engender greater risk taking. At the expense of the integrated diaspora. Just when we were all getting along so well.
Hubris ever seeks a new victim.
I really wouldn't want a strip of sand and 200 nukes as my trump cards in the game of history.
Theo, this website is not particularly concerned with communism or with the history of the Jews but specifically with the Israel-Palestine situation.
Taking every post as an opportunity to run through a catalogue of historical complaints is tedious and has nothing to do with our concern here, which is peace in the Middle East and justice for Palestinians.
There is a filter here for spam.
Come off of it Theo. I've just read through all your comments and there are lots of them way over the line, including the one about George Soros, suggesting that Soros was supported in his attack on the pound by a Jewish cabal.
There is nothing in Soros's attack on the pound which suggests that participation in that attack was anything other than profit-based.
You are on the edge of being banned. Not employing profanity is no excuse for racism.
There's time enough for that too, Annie.
We're in the early innings yet. There appear to be no bounds to the approbation the Israelis yearn to heap upon themselves.
These are the kind of empty-headed Zionist syllogisms about Palestinians which mirror Goebbels's speeches about the Jews.
Well done, Lightbringer.
Now that you've conclusively demonstrated that Palestinians and particularly those of Gaza are subhumans...
When are you opening up the gas chambers? Starvation is too slow and uncertain a method.
Here's how it works Witty.
The Palestinians and Europeans build institutions and do nation building.
Then the IDF/IOF come and blow them up. Operation Cast Lead first targets: the police academy and UN schools.
Yes, really, let's change the wheel.
On another topic, what should one call a lying liar?
The problem with Richard Witty is that he repeats the same specious arguments again and again, even after he has been show evidence that he is wrong, even the day or the hour before.
He is also prepared to lie about facts on the ground. He used to just post first on threads when he had absolutely nothing of substance to say, just to be there first. Fortunately, either Witty doesn't do that anymore or Adam/Phil have stopped approving "me first" comments: or a combination of both.
It's Richard Witty's disingenuousness which annoys those of us who spend a lot of time here, not his political outlook. eee, hopmi, Robert Werdine all post ostensibly more aggressively pro-Israeli commentary quite freely. Their comments very rarely arouse nearly the vitriolic reaction engendered Witty's duplicity and total lack of sincerity.
QR Codes remain pretty ugly visually. What we use instead in most of the West are short URLs, like Mondoweiss.net
Given that Japan's writing (and in much of Asia) is visually based I can understand why QRcodes work so much better for them than the Latin character world of URLs.