A Toast to Banned and Disappeared Posters

[MayDay]

I'm very relieved to see that Carol Newquist has been quiet of late. She's been so obnoxious that I've been avoiding the forum in recent months.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Bummed that Joao has left.

[JackRiddler]

I'm very relieved to see that Carol Newquist has been quiet of late. She's been so obnoxious that I've been avoiding the forum in recent months.

Carol is a He. It's already part of the trolling, to pick a name that creates the misconception that he's a she.

[brainpanhandler]

Bummed that Joao has left.

As am I. Except how come I can search through Joao's posts, but I can't search through Hugh's? When I try I get the message, "requested user does not exist".

Is it that Joao isn't really gone? Or is it that Hugh's posts here have been made unsearchable due to his banishment?

Can we make Hugh's posts searchable?

Also,

[Rory]

C2W

Damned shame how things went there. One of, if not the best writer on the forum and a beautiful human being behind that talent.

[conniption]

I didn't do it.

[Project Willow]

Yah.

C2W

Damned shame how things went there. One of, if not the best writer on the forum and a beautiful human being behind that talent.

Absolutely.

[Elvis]

+1

[Elihu]

have we run bruce dazzling off?

[0_0]

I was happy to spot Stephen Morgan commenting over on http://cannonfire.blogspot.nl/

[Col. Quisp]

Where is Joe hilshoist? Why did c2w leave?

[Nordic]

C2w has "left" this place repeatedly, and the response is always the same: ripping of hair and gnashing of teeth. I don't quite get it, but to each his own i guess.

I came here right now to say that I am currently missing the place that RI used to be. It seems like a ghost town now.

Why is that?

[conniption]

I came here right now to say that I am currently missing the place that RI used to be. It seems like a ghost town now.

Why is that?

Do you suppose it could have something to do with the latest set of revelations confirming the capability and willingness of spy agencies to collect and store massive amounts of data on everyone?

Huff Post

Nobel Prize-Winning Writers Say NSA Surveillance Power 'Is Being Systemically Abused'

>SNIP<

Read the full document, "A Stand for Democracy in the Digital Age," below. A full list of signatories is available here.

In recent months, the extent of mass surveillance has become common knowledge. With a few clicks of the mouse the state can access your mobile device, your e-mail, your social networking and Internet searches. It can follow your political leanings and activities and, in partnership with Internet corporations, it collects and stores your data, and thus can predict your consumption and behaviour.

The basic pillar of democracy is the inviolable integrity of the individual. Human integrity extends beyond the physical body. In their thoughts and in their personal environments and communications, all humans have the right to remain unobserved and unmolested.

This fundamental human right has been rendered null and void through abuse of technological developments by states and corporations for mass surveillance purposes.

A person under surveillance is no longer free; a society under surveillance is no longer a democracy. To maintain any validity, our democratic rights must apply in virtual as in real space.

* Surveillance violates the private sphere and compromises freedom of thought and opinion.

* Mass surveillance treats every citizen as a potential suspect. It overturns one of our historical triumphs, the presumption of innocence.

* Surveillance makes the individual transparent, while the state and the corporation operate in secret. As we have seen, this power is being systemically abused.

* Surveillance is theft. This data is not public property: it belongs to us. When it is used to predict our behaviour, we are robbed of something else: the principle of free will crucial to democratic liberty.

WE DEMAND THE RIGHT for all people, as democratic citizens, to determine to what extent their personal data may be collected, stored and processed, and by whom; to obtain information on where their data is stored and how it is being used; to obtain the deletion of their data if it has been illegally collected and stored.

WE CALL ON ALL STATES AND CORPORATIONS to respect these rights.

WE CALL ON ALL CITIZENS to stand up and defend these rights.

WE CALL ON THE UNITED NATIONS to acknowledge the central importance of protecting civil rights in the digital age, and to create an International Bill of Digital Rights.

WE CALL ON GOVERNMENTS to sign and adhere to such a convention.

>SNIP<

[coffin_dodger]

^^
Yeah...the whole NSA revelations are really starting to polarise the world, from macro to micro level.

"You're either with us, or against us" - and I suspect that particular mentality is set to become a big issue in 2014.

[justdrew]

any forum requires recruitment of new members. It's just not realistic to expect people to stay plugged into one forum forever. Granted we have a rigorous community here but the new blood is not flowing in, so slow attrition happens. There are new accounts activated, but not a lot of new posters, which is not to ignore those new posters who are posting

anyway... labor of love... hobby... antisocial-notwork... etc, etc... We're not exactly going to go buy adds to "drive traffic" here.