(note: glo is "scribe) Since the shakeup over at Boo, (and my royal hissy fit here!) I decided it was time to look for the light at the end on my OWN tunnel for a change, and I think I have found it. (in terms of where it works out best for me to spend my online time and energy, I mean). Since it does speak to larger "meta issues" going on now, I thought I'd share the outcome with you.
You''ll notice my name back on the contributer list here and you will also find me very involved over at ECFS . What you will NOT see me doing, ever again, is considering myself to be a "member" of ANY political blog "community", that is operated on a "top down management model". (Or any other online "community" operated and run by a single "owner".)
I will visit these blogs as I care to, comment as I care to, maybe even contribute something now and then, but I will not be joining any of these "communities." or considering any of them any kind of online "home base" . I really should have known better to ever fall into that trap again.
I take the concept of "community" (or "teamwork" , or "democracy" for that matter) seriously. I don't consent to join anything that I am not willing to invest in. This means freely contributing whatever I have to offer, and getting to really know and care about the other members, because this is my concept of what a "community" is. In return I get a sense of comfort and familiarity and "belonging" as a part of a group of other human beings..that I call a sense of "community". (Sort of like "Cheers": a place where everybody knows your name)
I think I have finally completed a long long lesson. For me, there never will be no more joining any top down, pyramid shaped organization. For several reasons:
1) I AWAYS end up breaking too many of the unwritten, unspoken rules and norms of "acceptable behavior or thought" (that all groups with a top down structure form )
2) I cannot tolerate having subtle yet real limits placed on what I can or cannot say or believe, without getting attacked or "shunned".
3) I cannot witness good people I care about tearing out each others throats out and nobody in charge doing anything about it, not in silence anyway.
4) I will NOT be pressured into taking sides between "insiders and outsiders" and being expected to support those in charge,when I do not agree with them, as the dues I must pay for continued acceptance by the "core community"who is loyal to the owner.
5) And when I am fully "invested" in a top down group, and it falls apart, I tend to get sucked in emotionally, which wreaks havoc with me ,stresswise and raises hell with my objectivity and clarity.
These are all dynamics I have experienced for a lifetime, on the job, in social groups, literally everwhere people organize themselves into groups based on a top down power based model, and I am DONE, hear me?! I am DONE with this! FUCK IT!
I LIKE being an "Other"! I was born with this non conformist nature, and I embrace it fully . At the same time, I am not a an "island", and I do enjoy and need the company of others and that elusive sense of "community", when I can find some of it.
Mo betta is NOT a top down power structured blog. There are several here with admin prvildges and from what I can see, whatever "power" that grants, is flowing in a circular fashion. The same at ECFS. Everyone posting there is in an admin, and so far, it is forming itself into a totally collaborative, circular shape, and flow.
So these are the places where I intend to hang out now, and contribute, for as long as they remain viable in a circular organizational structure. I have long been absolutely fascinated by wondering just what we could do together, if not forced to deal with the inevitable dysfunctions that will always arise in groups operating within a top down, power-over model.
(And I do not find it a surprise at all to find all my most favorite online "Others"right here, and also at ECFS! )
Oh. And for any drop in visitors here, who have been told that we are all bunch of sickos who have no lives at all and spend all our time "blog wrecking" just for the hell of it, you might want to stick around long enough to read all of what's here, not just the carefully selected chum you may have been hand fed.
(And to ductape, wherever you are: I know, I know, it took me awhile to really "get it", fully, but better late than never, huh? Thank you, my dear friend.)
75 comments:
Scribe, when DTF set this up back in the day, I believe the idea was for all of the members of Mo Betta META to have admin privileges. Now that you're back, I've made sure that you to are an admin. as of now. One of the cool things is that there is no hierarchy as such (when ya got anarchist tendencies like me that's a very good thing).
Sounds good..as long as I am one of many. (Otherwise, I wouldn't touch any "admin" designation with a twenty foot pole!) :)
"Question authority". And that's not just about government and the media, obviously. The tightening grip on dissent on some so-called "left-wing" community blogs in order to preserve "the message" (which is really about maintaining the status quo) speaks to a fear that is far too prevalent in society.
As Ben Franklin said: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety".
Safety doesn't foster revolutions. Dissent does.
Yes, even George Lakeoff says this about power and framing. I have that book at home. What was the name of it?
Liberals tend to be the mothering role, nurturing and taking care of. The Repubs tend to be the stern father figure and they get people to lockstep by fear. Are the blogs doing this? Yes, but that is what is confusing about all these labels. Kos tends to ban first ask questions later.By the way, anyone noticed he is writing a lot more front page diaries? Not just his usual little blurbs. Wonder if he is looking to get hired by one of the campaigns?
Oh, I think that there are plenty of "mean mothers" out there, too. ;)
Anyway, I guess glo must be in charge of writing anti-manifestos, which I'm all in favor of.
Nah..I'm not in charge of anything (and just barely in charge of ME!)
glo/scribe, Just call me the nomad of blogs, or blomad if you will. I hear ya.
"blomad"? Did you coin that term? ;)
Yep, just don't tell skippy.
Have been very busy lately and thank God. I'm sick of you guys setting up a blog though called Mo Betta Meta and have a tissy every time someone who disagrees with you shows up here to talk some Meta after you have talked some Shitta about them. As to scribes response to why I even show up here, I have support now and it isn't from any of you but if you guys think I'm just willing to sit here and allow you to talk Mo Shitta and not stand up to you, well I guess you can kiss my Mo Betta Booty. You guys are not Mo Special or Mo Betta so get over yourselves.
>>As to scribes response to why I even show up here, I have support now and it isn't from any of you but if you guys think I'm just willing to sit here and allow you to talk Mo Shitta and not stand up to you, well I guess you can kiss my <<
Well Tracy, you get to choose where and how you spend your online time and energies the same as we all do.
You get to choose whether to hang out where you can get the support you need, or you can choose to seek out places where you can wage some more stressful battles. You post makes it clear you intend to do the later here.
However one thing you cannot do, nor can any of us, is to control what other people think or write. No matter how much we wish to be warriors for "the truth" as we see it.
I for one, will do my best to not engaging in any "battles" with you here, or anywhere else,Tracy. even though that appears to be what you want. This has not been easy for me to avoid in the past, given the nature of some of your former attacks on people I care about, but I will try.
And again I point out the mismatch between what you say you need to do, and what you are choosing to do.
Tracy, for someone who wants nothing to do with us, you sure do spend a lot of time here. Hmmm...fancy that.
Hope BooMan is still lurking over here. Maybe he will finally see how disturbed MT really is. She just can't stay away. Needs the chaos. It is so weird to me.
Tracy... huh? Speak english woman; I don't understand unbalanced.
leezy... yeah, lol, sure he will.
Hey, I am a starry eyed dreamer. lol I find the hit and run amusing too don't y'all? Maybe the kids came home from school early and caught her on the 'puter...lol.
Good god, Tracy, why do you COME here? YOu hate these people, they OBVIOUSLY care less and less about you -- why doyou subject yourself to them and vice versa? This is just pure trollery, as far as I can see.
Tracy, I'm just a spectator on this blog, but here's a little advice: If people talking about you online in a less than worshipful fashion gives you hives, you can just stop reading their pages. Trust me, I've done it. Very effective. In fact, thanks to google, you can ego-search yourself and generally pre-determine whether the person talking about you is unhappy with you or not-- *without* actually clicking on their spiel. The internet is truly a wondrous thing that way.
And if your inner masochist can't stop clicking on those pages, you need to take it firmly in hand and go out for a walk, or have a beer, or some chocolate. Anything, really, to put it all back in proper perspective.
Sorry for sticking my nose in your business, MBM stalwarts, but I just couldn't resist.
Nice advice, ms xeno. Personally, I would have just sent her here.
Oh and PS Tracy, stop lying. I can't believe how utterly freaking paranoid you are.
Militarytracy said...
Do any of you know who Catnip is in real life? Just asking because she has fed all of my personal information about me that she could find to a "special forces nut" in order to get even with me. She's really nice.....see we had a little blog fight and now well, real big shit is about to hit the fan now!
October 13, 2006 11:35 AM
Lies, lies, lies and you know it. Yet you're still peddling your "poor me" bullshit hoping someone...anyone..will believe you.
You're sick. Get help.
hey catnip...glad I wasn't the only one that spotted that little gem she's feeding them over there. Then, when called out on it she trs me. What a joke. She then has to call in her blogguard Cabin Girl to the rescue. The official blog scolder. Tracy comes here to spew her filth then runs back for cover at Dkos.
catnip, I think that youtube karaoke machine had the images for a John Denver or Jimmy Buffet song cued up by mistake. Can't you damn foreigners learn to treat my splendid culture with more respect ?
Now that I have gotten some personal distance from the blogoramadramas, (can anyone coin a new word?!) it is all looking like a pretty sicko game to me! Like.."OK! ..I pulled some chains there, now maybe I'll go over there and pull some more..oh yeah!! ...it's working! Now here else can I go....etc!" One big intrasite blogowhackamole carnival game :)
Hey ms xeno, I don't produce the videos, I just linke to them. ;)
have only had time to skim through the comments, but just wanted to say:
Welcome back, scribe! glad you decided to have a seat again at the table here
I've still got a bumper sticker perched in my windowsill, picked up from the Peace & Non-Violence Center in Santa Cruz almost 30 years ago (they were kinda ubiquitous for a while):
Question Authority!
I see threatening to shoot people isn't a bannable offence at BT after all since soj is still happily posting over there. Then again, he/she didn't threaten to shoot Martin, so his tolerance of soj is understandable.
Sure, catnip. I'm sure there are a few people out there who'll fall for your innocent act, but I know better.
BTW, now that Booman is on Mcat's blog grousing about how I called his friend Bowers a mean name, do I get some kind of auxiliary MBM membership pin ?
glo:
blogoramadramas
No no no. It's
blogoramalamadingdong
Oh that's good TOO!
Thanks for the welcome back Arturus :)
do I get some kind of auxiliary MBM membership pin ?
No, but we do have an official toaster. ;)
Oh...and if you're really nice to us, you can work your way up to our infamous gold-plated skewers. Those come in quite handy at times around here.
Toaster !!?? Oh, dear... [fans self] How will I ever explain this to my good friends at the Family Val-US R US blog ?
I hope that's a Yukon Gold skewer. I saw some of those on QVC once and they just looked fabulous.
Toaster !!?? Oh, dear... [fans self] How will I ever explain this to my good friends at the Family Val-US R US blog ?
No explanations necessary. Just hand them out til someone catches on. ;)
(That would be urban dictionary's #3 definition for the completely lost.)
I hope that's a Yukon Gold skewer. I saw some of those on QVC once and they just looked fabulous.
We're into skewering more than taters around these parts!
I was forced to switch to a google account last night & can't access teh dashboard. Do I need a new invite?
& could someone toss aon invite Ms Xeno's way? I dunno if she wants one, but I'd enjoy hearing her here :)
GOddamnit. I just trie3d to post and the entire thing disappeared.
Oh, well. Mabe that was the universe doing for me what I couldn't do for myself, preventing me from posting something I might later have regretted
Always, always, always save your posts before you hit preview or publish. ;)
arcturus,
I'll ask James. I have the same problem since I recently switched too.
Oh come on now MSOC...tell us, what's on your mind? I hate blogger too.
arcturus,
See this Blogger help answer. I'm checking with James to see if we can move the blog to the new version of blogger to iron out some of these problems.
Arcturus and catnip. In theory I sent new invites to you both. Hopefully you got them okay.
Hopefully we can figure out how to migrate this blog over soon.
Hi Maryscott!
I'm fond of an old Kierkegaard quote:
"Do it or don't do it. You will regret both." :-)
arcturus, I have a google email. Just say the words and it's yours. So long as you're not inviting me to sell Amway or Herbalife or something like that... :p
ms X: James tried, but I'm still locked out, so need another myself. Anyone can shoot you one.
Me too arcturus. Not quite sure what the hell to do now!
I just wanted to share a gem from Conservapedia:
Kangaroo
Kangaroos have large ears on top of their small heads, a long snout, and short arms with clawed fingers. Their legs are strong and powerful, designed by God for leaping....
Like all modern animals, modern kangaroos originated in the Middle East and are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard Noah's Ark prior to the Great Flood....
After the Flood, kangaroos bred from the Ark passengers migrated to Australia. There is debate whether this migration happened over land -- as Australia was still for a time connected to the Middle East before the supercontinent of Pangea broke apart -- or if they rafted on mats of vegetation torn up by the receding flood waters.
A leapin' good weekend to all.
arcturus, catnip, do you mean that you're locked out of sending and receiving google mail ? How weird... :/
Can I help? I can get under the hood here..it is showing three "team members" James, Ductape and me..and ten admins..right now.
ms xeno,
No. Not locked out of gmail. James sent me an invite so I clicked on the link, had to sign in with my new blogger ID which led me to my liberalcatnip dashboard where Mo Betta had completely disappeared as an option for me.
scribe,
Can you check out the link I highlighted a few comments above? "this Blogger help answer". That's where the keys to the kingdom can be found so we can move Mo Betta to the new blogger. Thanks. ;)
Sounds to me it has to be Ductape switching us over, or whoever orignally set this up.
It says: "A team blog will only switch to the new version of Blogger when the original owner moves his or her account over.
Team members who have not yet switched to the new version will still see the blog on their dashboards, but it will be grayed out and inaccessible. Once those members move their own accounts to the new version of Blogger, they will be able to access the blog as before. If they can't yet switch, or don't wish to, they can ask the owner of the blog for a new invitation to join the blog on the new version. They can then accept that invitation by logging in to or creating a Google Account to post to that blog. (Later on, when they do switch their Blogger account to the new version, they'll have an option to merge it with this account.)
If a team member of a blog switches their account to the new version of Blogger before the blog owner does, then the team blog is not converted. It will appear on the team member's converted dashboard, but clicking on it will lead back to the old version of Blogger. Thus, the blog will still be usable, but without the new features of Blogger (e.g. Labels, Layouts, etc.).
If a team member of a blog switches their account to the new version of Blogger before the blog owner does, then the team blog is not converted. It will appear on the team member's converted dashboard, but clicking on it will lead back to the old version of Blogger. Thus, the blog will still be usable, but without the new features of Blogger (e.g. Labels, Layouts, etc.).
This seems to describe thr situation catnip & I are in, but like catnip sez, mobetta doesn't show up on the dashboard at all - totally inaccessible in fact.
I have no idea if another invite would be helpful now or not . . .
Got company coming now..but will get back to this in the am and see if I can shake anything loose by bumbling around in there..
Special case for blogs that have been moved to different accounts: In the previous version of Blogger, the team member who originally created a blog could be removed from the team. This is not possible in the new version of Blogger, where each blog must have an owner who cannot be removed. Thus, a new owner is assigned to these blogs.
Remove DTF. Move the blog to new blogger. Problem solved.
I reluctantly removed DTF. Hopefully one of us will get it moved over to New Blogger.
James, I don't know a thing about this so I'll step out and let you take it!
Mission accomplished. We're now at New Blogger. Took enough trial and error, but that's another story for another time. Anyone wanting to join up who can't currently access the community, just shoot me an email:
the_bokononist at yahoo dot com
I still can't access it. I dont have the privledges to move it to the new blogger. James, it looks like it's all up to you.
When you log in just hit the button "move to new blogger" and blogger will do the rest.
wooHOO I am all good now. Thanks James!!
ps - we can always add DTF back in now as an admin. I don't have his email though... catnip?
catnip and arcturus... when you login to blogger mobetta should be back on your list.
Hi, I gave DTF an invite at the only addy I have for him. I don't know if he checks his email any more though.
Catnip & anyone else who may be needing an invite, just shoot an email my way and I'll get you taken care of.
Everyone who's currently a member is also an admin. Made damn sure of that as my first act after switching to "New Blogger."
THANK you, James! (sheesh, just looking INTO that stuff gave me hives!)
I've send other emials to DT's listed addy and none of them have been returned as "not deliberable" so it's still an active addy. (also never any response from DT, either so as far as I know, it all remains a mystery) (And am I getting the sense of DT grinning right now?)
mx_xeno, just sent an invite your way.
Got it. The MBM page is now showing up on my dashboard. Now all I have to do is figure out if this means I have two "ms_xeno" accounts or only one. Sorry, I'm not any swifter on these issues than glo. At least I'm not the only one who's confused a lot... :p
Thanks, James. Now I just need to think of something interesting to post about...
thx for all yr work on this James
(still not working for me tho - could someone remove me altogether & then shoot another invite my way?)
& welcome aboard Ms X! glad you're here
I e-mailed you for a new invitation, James. Let's get this party started, as the kids say. ;)
arcturus says "still not working for me tho - could someone remove me altogether & then shoot another invite my way"
I have days like that too! :)
I hopefully managed to do just that for Arcturus. If it's any consolation, I've been having similar problems getting able to post over at American Samizdat since Dr. Menlo made the switch to the New Blogger.
As the saying goes, "Computers. Can't live with them, can't kill them." :-)
Well, James, I hope that it isn't too awkward that I just called Shropshire over at AS an asshole. He wanted to see my "activist credentials."
"Credentials." Shit. Apparently you can't talk 3rd Parties these days without presenting a fucking resume of your "credentials" to a Democrat first.
Fuck him and the Donk he rode in on.
[scowl]
What's a Shropshire?
catnip, Philip Shropshire at American Samizdat. Here's his charm up close.
No worries. Shropshire is a bit of a crackpot as I recall.
Oh yeah. I remember seeing that now ms x.
Hey..somebody WRITE something will ya, so my piece can scroll on into obscurity?
lol scribe...here we all were clamoring to be invited and nada. ;)
I do have something in the works. Watch now...3 posts will pop up from different people at the same time. :)
WHat does one have to do to get on the dashboard?
We'll get back to you on that, MSOC.
In the same vein, Glo/Scribe, I've noticed that Never In Our Names allows any diarist the opportunity of posting on the front page as soon as they sign up. On the other hand, the site is owned and operated by a single person, Alexa. Would you consider that a "top-down" community or not?
I for one am just glad to see you, scribe, again. I wrote a blog post many, many months ago wondering exactly where you were. Now I know :)
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