Monday, August 10, 2020

Housekeeping note

The trolling and spam on this blog has got completely out of hand in recent times, particularly over the last month, so to attempt to apply a brake I've temporarily changed the settings to only allow comments from people signed in to a Google account.  The final straw has been a torrent of pornographic spam - you may not even have seen it because it's mostly been on old posts, but it's been happening more than a dozen times per day, and every comment needs to be deleted individually, which is a major chore.

I'll try reversing the change in a few days to see if our friend has taken the hint.  But even once things are back to normal, I would urge people to post more constructively than has often been the case of late.  Cut down on the swearing and other inappropriate language.  Don't post defamatory claims about named individuals.  And if you want to spend half your life posting ad hominem attacks on me, then by all means do so, but not in the comments section of my own blog.

44 comments:

  1. Whatever it takes to clean them out!

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  2. I hold my hands up to trolling the trolls, but only really when there's nae decent polling to discuss.

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  3. The aggressive and vitriolic posts of unionists is depressing to say the least. There is never a reasoned argument in favour of the union { which is hardly a surprise as there are none }. It is always hatred, ad hominem and venom.

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  4. Honestly, I’d keep it this way, full stop. The anonymous comments on here often put me off sharing links to you. How was I supposed to justify the ranting sectarian guff on the page when simply wanting to point to some polling analysis!

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    Replies
    1. I have had to comment via anon at times depends on which device I'm using, ipad is crap so have to be at Pc to comment via Google account...& PC was down for a cpl days recently...
      but, it's best to hve legit comments and no abuse or dodgy stuff for sure.

      Delete
    2. Try the iPad again. That’s what I’m on here, and it’s working fine.

      Delete
  5. I agree, there's far to much rubbish posted on here.

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  6. I'd keep it that way too. The number of times I've seen Anon vs Anon flame wars, it's just off-putting.

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  7. Hear hear!! Banging my imaginary cane on the floor!

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  8. Sorry to hear you've had to put with all that, James. I think you need anti-spam software. One blog I follow uses Akismet, and it is joyfully free of obnoxious crap of all kinds.The nasty stuff isn't relevant anyway, and there should be no freedom for hate speech anyway.

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  9. I concur James but in defence of those who have previously posted under 'Anonymous' (and I count myself in that number) reasons for doing so were to prevent a 'deluge' of hate mail ending up in my e-mail inbox.Thats all.

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  10. Redd oot the radges.
    I hope that disnae coont as abuse!
    James, this blog keeps me sane while the MSM and Mi5 present a London-centric view of Scotland's future.
    Good move - no afore time.

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  11. Thank goodness James. PS where is GWC?

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  12. I've taken Trumps advice doused myself in disinfectant and cleaned up my act. Now whiter than white purer than pure and just a wee angel.

    James you are the best and GWC is just a poor misunderstood soul but Skier is still a Lib dem with a fetish for proportional representation but hey that is acceptable.

    Peace and love to all.

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  13. Good to read this James, it's defo off putting when the convo ( I know my bro in Aussie uses 'convo' arggh!) in comments is disrupted and interrupted by a few nasties. Your blog is too important to allow such cr*p to interfere...

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  14. Replies
    1. fwiw, this change has suddenly enabled the ability for me to reply and comment from the native Safari browser on my iPhone. Now that is life changing!

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  15. Great. I sometimes found all the different anonymous hard to follow!

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  16. Much improved comments section - hope it lasts.

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  17. Important times are coming. We need a sensible place to discuss ways forward. This blog can be it. Well done James.

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  18. I'm glad James that you have done this as wading through the comments from GWC and his various sockpuppets, plus the sockpuppets others had set up to troll him back, made tedious reading. However very occasionally there were unionists making non-abusive points, and I hope that they still do, otherwise it becomes an echo chamber where we all agree. Having said that, the debate going on in the SNP/Yes movement is being aired, which is good.

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  19. I see the latest Yougov sub sample for Scotland has;

    SNP 54
    Con 19
    Lab 19
    LD 5
    GRN 2

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    Replies
    1. the Tories are no longer polling in high 20's.

      Marcia

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  20. Re: cleanup, GOOD, more enjoyable to read!

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  21. The Scotgov has made a total bollocks of the exam grading. The Britnat media and the pupils are telling the SQA and the Scotgov what grades they are getting - a total farce.

    2020 results will now be regarded as a joke in Scotland. Another joke is Douglas Ross saying the pupils are brill and deserve the large jump in results and then goes on to contradict himself by saying the Scotgov is failing and has been failing on education for years. How can the Scotgov be failing on education if he accepts the massive increase in results. A typical Tory diddy who talks nonsense.

    The Scotgov and the official opposition the Tories both just embarrassing themselves.

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  22. Times Scotland yougov poll coming tomorrow. 53% Yes! :-)

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    1. Great news. Consistently above 50% and SNP SG Set for an overall majority come May.
      As in sport momentum is important.
      With Yoons reduced to a divided rump, we'd go into the referendum on a high.
      Compared to 2014 so much has changed in YESs favour.
      There's a perfect storm brewing.
      Bring it on.

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  23. Thanks James - the trolls really put me off.

    Also hearing 57% for SNP - that's amazing if true.

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    Replies
    1. It is true. I have seen a tweet of the front page of the Times.

      Marcia

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    2. https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1293328861741158434

      Holyrood Constituency:
      SNP - 57% (+3)
      Con - 20% (-3)
      Lab - 14% (+2)
      LD - 8% (nc)

      Delete
  24. Well done, James. I frankly suggest that you keep it. The trolls are just tedious to wade through.

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  25. I'd stick with it, the constant trolling had meant I seldom bothered with the comments anymore

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  26. Bravo James. It was all getting too much. Let's have reasoned and reasonable comment.

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  27. A result of the UK government's initial herd immunity followed by locking down too late strategy.

    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britain-economy/uk-economy-slumps-20-in-second-quarter-unemployment-fears-mount-idUKKCN2580LN

    LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s economy shrank by a record 20.4% between April and June when the coronavirus lockdown was tightest, the largest contraction reported by any major economy so far, with a wave of job losses set to hit later in 2020.

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  28. Yougov follows panelbase:

    Britain Elects
    @britainelects
    10h
    Scottish independence voting intention:
    Yes: 53% (+4)
    No: 47% (-4)
    via
    @YouGov
    Chgs. w/ 14 Feb

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  29. You can get the full info of the recent poll from this link. Paste it to your browser.

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2020/08/12/scottish-independence-yes-leads-53-47?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=website_article&utm_campaign=scottish_indy_10_aug_2020

    Marcia

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  30. Without wishing the site to become an echo chamber, I have to admit, the vile postings of GWC made me not follow the site properly. If he (or she) won't be part of it in future, I'm more likely to voice my ( appreciated or otherwise, I'm not fussed) opinions. Happy to be disagreed with.

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