Strange goings on at Politics.ie

by Mariella Froster Tue Jan 29, 2008 09:18

I once had a story pulled on p.ie because it was about Foreign Affairs - reason given - I had posted too many Foreign Affairs stories (3 over several days). 'This is an Irish site for Irish news' I was told - despite the fact that the site has a Foreign Affairs forum. Again, it was a piece critical of the US.

by Concerned Left winger Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:06

Some good stuff posted by you. It is pretty evident that several posters quickly swooped to label you a crank or conspiracy theorist.

At present I'm stabbing away at a few threads on co-location and Mahon trying to unravel the spin and the flurry of propogande posted as fact.

I believe the age profile of most pro-government posters over there is about 19, finance or law undergrad, magnanimous superiority complex, abusive, boorish and morally bereft (perfect PD/FF candidates)

I believe a lot of them use the site to peer review thesis or ideas they come up with to counter anti-government/economy news or headlines inthe hopes of impressing their future employers.

Tonys/ard-taosieach/freedomlover/obieonekanobie stand out in how divorced they are from reality.

I wont give my handle because I too will probably get banned

by Barry - 32 csm Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:10

for example if you make a post about the war for independence or the activity of southern Irelands special branch or indeed anything related to republicanism in the 26 counties the topic is invariably shunted into the " Northern Ireland section" . Despite it being about events in Kerry or Dublin .
Last I heard a 32 csm poster " edifice" was banned for no reason and another " Merle Haggard" resigned in protest . Havent looked at it since . mostly populated by west British neo liberal types anyway .

by anon Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:40

take a look on p.ie now.many posters are admitting they are posters on stormfront.this fits in with the racist posts against nigerians that ruin that politics.ie for me

by Mariella Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:21

'DOD' said there was another site akin to p.ie but for human beings about to start up. If I hear anything, will post infor/news here.

by heligoland Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:02

Last summer when this video appeared on youtube.ie it was posted it on the site. There was the usual outflow of anti-shell to sea abuse ("hippies, have a wash, we need the gas, etc etc) but it was somewhat stifled by the outraged reaction to the obvious brutality of the Garda on the tape.

Within a few hours the whole thread was deleted.

Then someone started a thread to ask what had happened, and that too was deleted. In the course of the day, any mention of the video or the the discussions of it led to the threads they appeared on being deleted. Not only the video, but the the very mention of the video became completely taboo.

Of course some moderation is necessary, and generally the heavily moderated a discussion site is, the better. What's odd is that on the Mr Cochrane's site all sort of false assertions, racist and sectarian statements, and personal attacks on named individuals are allowed to stand.

by Mariella Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:28

There are certain stories which certain posters appear to be employed to attack - Shell to Sea is one of them. Anything to do with that story is descended upon. There's outrageous racism and sexism on p.ie which the moderators in some cases seem to be proud of - virtually no women posting to the site either - I'm only aware of three including myself.

"phpBB : Critical Error Sorry Politics.ie is experiencing a problem, please come back in a few minutes. There are a few reasons why this might occur: lots of people are visiting the site, a search engine is trying to download too much at once, or a backup is happening (it occurs at about 4am GMT). If you see this message for more than 10 minutes (during working hours) you should email [email protected] and let us know about it. "

No other posters seem to be having trouble - usually if there is a general problem somebody will post a query in the Development & Editorial Forum. Is anybody else getting messages like these?

"message_die() was called multiple times. This isn't supposed to happen. Was message_die() used in page_tail.php?"

This second one popped up after I attempted to send a private message to another user under antoher id. No idea what it means.

by ((i)).ie Tue Jan 29, 2008 13:04

I never could get into politics.ie - it just doesn't speak to the politics I am interested in. Thats just my taste though.

It is interesting to see this discussion here - p.ie refugees on indymedia! oh my!

So, instead of complaining about p.ie why not use indymedia.ie for your online community?

The rules of indymedia.ie are clear and transparent:
http://www.indymedia.ie/editorial
and
http://www.indymedia.ie/publishing_guide

Why not get involved?

by h Tue Jan 29, 2008 13:32

Because indymedia is not supposed to be a discussion site.
bulletin board style chat is removed by the editors.

A good online discussion forum on politics is very useful, and provides one of the few possibilities for people from opposing viewpoints to discuss issues. Ireland needs a good weel moderated politics discussion forum, sadly p.ie is not it.

by Numpty Tue Jan 29, 2008 14:55

Jaysus, talk about wasting bandwidth. Diddums, poor Mariella. So what? Politics.ie is a moderated site. Anybody who's on it knows that David Cochrane runs it. And most would also know his politics but it's still his website to moderate. Maybe you should cotton on to that or set up your own.
This thread is nearly as ridiculous as the threads that are begun on politics.ie pointing out some perceived foolishness on indymedia.

by Mariella Tue Jan 29, 2008 15:41

You're missing the point spectacularly Mr Numpty. A p.ie troll on a mission here - or somebody anxious to keep in Dave's good books perhaps? There wouldnt be any genuine Indymedia contributors or moderators rushing to defend the undemocratic and free sppech suppressing behaviour that so many people have experienced on p.ie. All sites are moderated - so what? The issue here has nothing to do with what I feel personally about it, numpty, (Im not sobbing in my beer) just noting that some topics are frequently censored, derailed and often get their posters banned when they have not broken any guidelines - e.g. Shell to Sea, Israel in Palestine and US war of terror. That's newsworthy.

Media censorship is the point of this post. Why one rule for traditional msm and another for p.ie? Because it's owned by David Cochrane and is a website? Crap. P.ie was the official website of the FF party conference for instance. That runs to being a little more than some personal blog space for Mr Cochrane. It's a heck of a vote of confidence by our elected government - and charging it with a sizeable responsibility for what we get to hear about them.

If Indymedia banned posters at even a tiny fraction of the rate which they do on p.ie and for the same sort of reasons, p.ie would crash beneath the weight of people complaining about it. The intimidation over there is massive - as one poster on this thread has already made clear by admitting the he or she is afraid to admit their p.ie username for fear of being banned because of posting to this thread.

And of course if this was any other poster putting this up here, you wouldn't be bitching at me like this. Also, I note the attempt to identify me - strictly forbidden here and usually something Indymedia moderators are pretty hot on.

by Mike - Class Politics Ireland Tue Jan 29, 2008 16:02

"DOD' said there was another site akin to p.ie but for human beings about to start up. If I hear anything, will post infor/news here."

It wasnt this site here was it?... http://z15.invisionfree.com/Class_Politics - we advertised it on a few forums on the internet to gather support and to create an alternative to the P.ie forum, and with a leftist direction free from immigration nuts and RW trolls.

Its still only new, and as such very slow. But we are looking for people to represent their party/organisation forum, of which we have a few already. The board is democratic and we hope to implement a liberal policy on banning and moderation.

So if anyone is interested, you are very welcome. The left need an alternative 'message forum' to P.ie, and where leftist organisations are represented - we hope to fill that vacancy, but it cannot be done without support.

I have personally seen P.ie go down the tubes. Catapla for example - should be F-ed out. Leftists have been shunned out of the place through frustration more than anything else.

by Sean Bernays Wed Jan 30, 2008 02:46

David Cochrane of Politics.ie is part of Declan Ganley's Libertas-a neo-liberal propagandist organization. And Ganley is part of the U.S. military-industrial complex. 'Nuff said.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85810&comment_limit=0&c...18458

by cropbeye - none Thu Jan 31, 2008 18:35 cropbeye at yahoo dot com Cork City

For all it's faults it's still worh while that US lefties would post on politics.ie

It does sharpen ones arguments and debating skills especially when one is out numbered

(there really aren't as many of us out there as you might think ).

Confining yourself to only left leaning sites can sometimes make one loose site of actual

goals and lead to what should beism as opposed to current usefull tactics and actions.

I remember Merle Haggard as a real wheeze but he was on so much he kind of

over extended himself. This of course is no excuse for cutting anybody out.

As regards sites that are not left leaning they will always be owned by someone and be open to commercial
advertising etc.

What I found interesting is how many posters are obsessed by new government legislation (imagined or otherwise)
that might hold the internet to account for so called standards in the media: slander liber defamation etc.

The whole area of privacy and attribution is constantly being discussed so the idea of an internet not owned by anyone is going out
the window.

Of course traditionaly any successfull media competitor even the less reactionary which sometimes allowed a few good
stories to be published,were all ultimatly owned by someone and were based on the rules of market forces.

by Goblin Thu Jan 31, 2008 19:32

There is a thread on that Nigerian woman who is to be deported with her two children.

Some of the comments posted are utterly disgusting. It does not bode well for the direction the RW political classes in this country are heading.

http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?t=31198

by Angry. - RAR. Fri Feb 01, 2008 02:26 jambo at hotmail dot com

Politics.ie is a hotbed of racism, it is like a magnet for neo-nazi, skinhead types who like to spew their bile and hatred for all to see.
Check the place out, its disgusting.

by Chekov Fri Feb 01, 2008 02:46

Personally, I think it is pretty irresponsible to provide a platform for the shitefront brigade and I'm not a huge fan of bulletin board banter, but one can't blame politics.ie for their opinions - the racists are still a tiny if vocal minority - any more than people can assume that indymedia editors agree with anything posted here. Bulletin boards always have moderation policies and they are rarely applied without bias. At least the libertarian policies of politics.ie allow people to respond to the immigrant-baiting - although they also mean that there's a very low signal to noise ratio and determined anti-immigrant fanatics can suck up a lot of time. Still, if arguing with people with very different politics is your thing, it's a better place than most.

Indymedia isn't a very good substitute. We're increasingly trying to concentrate on news and cut down on the refereeing of arguments. The sort of banter and off-topic stuff and arguments that spread across threads that you see on bulletin boards are removed here.

by observer Fri Feb 01, 2008 09:30

Oh dear. You really do not like divergent opinions to your own do you?

Far from politics.ie being a "hotbed of racists" there are some extremely interesting and factually based discussions there on immigration which you find nowhere else. Unfortunately most of the Irish media has to all intents and purposes banned all debate on this issue, extending so far as to make taboo even the issue of how many immigrants are actually here in the first instance. If nothing else, politics.ie provides a much needed forum for debate on this issue which is unique.

by Mariella Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:41

- and yours is just one perspective after all. Do many people really think Indymedia is an alternative to politics.ie? The comparisons above between the two relate to moderation and ethos - not to purpose.

The anti immigration crowd on p.ie is a way, way more than a 'vocal minority'. To claim otherwise lets Cochrane and his moderators off the hook for an atrocious failure to control some of the rabid racism that is encouraged by the degree of latitude given to it. Asylum seekers I know who have looked at that site are disgusted by it. Maybe I'm wrong but you seem to be overlooking the outrageous treatment that many leftwing posters have had to put up with over there. As above, this isnt simply Dave's personal blog space we are talking about. It's a public discussion forum for political activists - elected or otherwise - which the government has relied on to get its message out. No coincidence that David Cochrane himself, an ex PD member I believe, is about as right wing as they get. Politics.ie is yet another influential media outlet dominated by fairly extreme pro corporate and right wing views. More and more people are using it as a source of news and information. Given that that is the case, and if we are talking about perspective, then its important to try and get a left wing perspective up there too. You appear to identify more with the site owner and not enough with what the meaning of what he is doing, imo. - I'd have thought that involvement in running an online media/publishing site was about all you had in common. It's kind of scary if it turns out that comparing bandwidth and other logistical problems and so forth creates a stronger bond between you than principles shared with others does :-)

Try posting anything hard hitting about Mary Harney,eg, over there. Put up an item about how she and her husband are savaging the health service - mention the massive conflict of interest - the contracts awarded to his company - and see what happens to it. Cochrane will get up out of bed at 4am to take it down, if need be. You can tell the truth about that on Indymedia but not over there (maybe in some comment buried on page 46 of some interminable thread) but not prominently. It'd possibly be featured here - but it would be canned over there. Whatever Indymedia decides to do with the comments facility, I sincerely hope that this enormous distinction between it and p.ie will survive.

And there is more than one way of 'being the media'. Indymedia is great, but it's not the only kid on the block and it has no monopoly on knowing what to do about life the universe and everything where media activism is concerned - or how to do it.

Class Politics Ireland is making a serious attempt at a left wing alternative to p.ie - and it seems there may be another site under construction too. Early days yet but CPI deserves as much support as possible.

http://z15.invisionfree.com/Class_Politics

by Twilight Zoner Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:56

I'd like to second this comment from P.ie

"wow, an internet discussion board discusses internet discussion.

I think we've entered the twilight zone. P.ie user slams indymedia editorial committee for allowing indymedia users to slam P.ie because p.ie users slam p.ie moderators "

by observatore Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:57

Thr RAR obviously doesn't do irony. Complaining about the tone of bloggers who oppose the RAR position is rich. RAR contributions on Indymedia are invariably content-lite diatribes full of personal abuse. Anyone who doubts me need only click on "migration" and sift through the sewage posted by RAR.

Some of the contributions on politics.ie are pretty forthright, both against, and in defence of immigration and asylum. However, the right to speak freely on these issues is important - particularly because the media and politicians have been bullied into self-censorship,( thereby ceeding the sensible, balanced and rational ground to the extremists who oppose all immigration and all controls on immigration).

Politics.ie certainly censors contributions for foul language and personal abuse. However, it's blogs do feature contributions from all points of the compass. In a polity where the fringe-left is a tiny minority of opinion, it is rather obvious that the relative numbers will reflect this reality.

Indymedia also censors. Indymedia censors content. On the other hand it is remarkably indulgent of abuse and invective from RAR and the other groups and opinions which its prejudices prefer.

Indymedia uses the device of the "Troll" to excise content it finds disagreable. This is a well worn device. Lable someone a troll, communist Jew or fascist and render them a non-person who my legitimately be cessored, put in a gulag, or gassed.

by arturo Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:17

how long can such observations be tolerated on windymedia?

by Moonbat watch Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:33

"However, the right to speak freely on these issues is important - particularly because the media and politicians have been bullied into self-censorship,( thereby ceeding the sensible, balanced and rational ground to the extremists who oppose all immigration and all controls on immigration)."

The problem being that some people use their 'right to speak freely' to promote delusional, moronic, moonbat conspiracy theories involving the far left controlling the media, such as the above. Nobody has a 'right' to spread lies and incite hatred against vulnerable groups. The right of free speech is subordinate to the right not to be smeared and lied about.

by Dan Sullivan Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:33

I've had a quick look at your posts on p.ie and it appears you were simply posting press releases or cutting and pasting content from other sources or most lazy of all just posting a link to somewhere else and then just expecting others to carry the discussion.

One example is this
http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?t=30735&highlight=

P.ie poster are constantly reminded that it is a discussion site. It is expected that you are going to engage from the off yourself if you are posting on a topic. P.ie doesn't work simply as a means to increase traffic to other sites or a billboard for events. If you want to engage in discussion it is the place to go but if all you want is to stick up a billboard and not engage then it's possibly not for you.

As for the comments about the ads, you should be well aware that google ads are context based and not under the direct control of the site.

by Mariella Fri Feb 01, 2008 13:07

Scraping the barrel there Dan - on a mission to distort the record obviously. Any user of p.ie who has followed my contributions to that site will know that what you have posted is so inaccurate as to be laughable. Of course you have tied my hands because I cant now bring the links to show how dishonest your post is - you've banned me and my IP.

No, the problem there was not my conduct on the site but that I was posting things that the regime at p.ie does not want people to hear about - and certainly not on Cochrane's site - embarrassing for him while he is trying to keep all those PD/FF/Green people on side - not to mention his advertisers. A little microcosm of the mainstream media exposed by the nature of internet publishing. Pretty soon, they'll be vetting who gets to post at all and who does not.

Who might I have upset recently: the defenders of Israeli slaughter in Palestine
Mary Harney & Brian Geoghegan
Brendan O' Connor at the Sindo
Ahern
Fianna Fail and its dismal performance as a government
US exponents of the war of terror

by Dan Sullivan Fri Feb 01, 2008 13:33

I haven't banned anyone. I don't have the ability to do that. Again the problem is that you don't understand how p.ie works, it is about discussion. There is nothing to stop you browsing p.ie without being logged in from somewhere else if you're IP is actually banned and collecting together your posts to show that threads you started weren't simple reposts or one liners.

Here are some more examples

http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?t=30992&highlight=

http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?t=30971&highlight=

There is no direct advertising on p.ie, again it is obviously a topic you know nothing about. Perhaps, you might read up on it. I doubt you've upset anyone.

by fhg Fri Feb 01, 2008 14:11

Of course Indymedia is a bastion of free speech and never edits or removes a post

by Mariella Fri Feb 01, 2008 14:20

I understand well how p.ie works and have used that site in exactly the same way that loads of posters there do. The fact is rules are invented and applied ex post facto to justify unilateral action against people who have done nothing wrong. They are also applied in an extremely biased way against people who are not towing the right wing line. If a left winger makes a simple mistake - this is dragged out and, regardless of mountains of evidence of ordinary usage of the site, it gets used in evidence against the person in a shrill way so as to cover up for what is really going on. This is a case in point. Ive posted many items on p.ie - many of which have been popular topics drawing hundreds of views and a high commentary within a short space of time - contrary to the hugely dishonest impression you are trying to create. Of course it's that that is my real 'crime' - drawing attention to things that Dave does not want to be seen to be drawing attention to. Not if he wants to be the government's official party conference website. I've contributed frequently to almost everything Ive posted - about 99% of them in fact. Why should people have to make special journeys to go and post on p.ie?

Why dont you go and write something critical of the government's handling of the Corrib Gas project instead of trying to ingratiate yourself with David Cochrane over here. See how long you last.

by Lurkalot Fri Feb 01, 2008 14:29

That is a poor attempt at sarcasm, surely you can do better than that. Of course indymedia remove the spam and abuse, otherwise you would have to wade through all kinds of shite before you would be able to find something worth reading. If you want to understand the reasons why stuff is hidden just look at http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-ireland-newswire/

You could also take time to read the guidelines by which the moderators operate-
http://www.indymedia.ie/editorial

and you could even join the mailing list which discusses editorial policy and take part in the discussions-
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-ireland...orial

by Dan Sullivan Fri Feb 01, 2008 14:42

I understand well how p.ie works and have used that site in exactly the same way that loads of posters there do.

- All evidence is to the contrary.

The fact is rules are invented and applied ex post facto to justify unilateral action against people who have done nothing wrong. They are also applied in an extremely biased way against people who are not towing the right wing line. If a left winger makes a simple mistake - this is dragged out and, regardless of mountains of evidence of ordinary usage of the site, it gets used in evidence against the person in a shrill way so as to cover up for what is really going on.

- The rules are pretty basic - DGDS and post with a view to engagement. No posting and run away, no excessive re-use copyrighted material, or simple posting of press releases. Avoid profanity. Who was it that was dragging out the simple mistakes, other posters or mods?

This is a case in point. Ive posted many items on p.ie - many of which have been popular topics drawing hundreds of views and a high commentary within a short space of time - contrary to the hugely dishonest impression you are trying to create.

- So you would argue that the popularity of one topic should mean the rules don't appeal to your next thread? The light handed modding policy means that if a thread takes off that people are disinclined to shut it down. However that doesn't mean you get carte blanche to use the same approach again.

Why dont you go and write something critical of the government's handling of the Corrib Gas project instead of trying to ingratiate yourself with David Cochrane over here. See how long you last.

- Why would I need to ingratiate with DC? I'm simply here to correct your evident misunderstanding of how the site operates and to clarify for others reading this what you were actually doing. You're no martyr, and I think most people read this would see that.

by Mariella Fri Feb 01, 2008 15:16

Im no more of a martyr than all the other left wingers on p.ie - or other people banned for no reason. I just decided to do something about it. Maybe others have too, I dont know. DOD, for instance - once a moderator himself and a very popular member of the site among all the political groups over there - pulled out of the board voluntarily - as have others with increasing frequency -because of arbitrary censorhip. This isnt about me personally - and Im flattered that you are so determined to make it so - its about the conduct of the moderation on p.ie. To give the lie to your motives - there is/was a thread posted by DOD and running to several pages of people complaining about the same thing at the weekend - for all I know it is still running. Many, many users complained of similar things - most of them regular and well aware of the rules of the site. Im not on my own by any means. And come off it mate! Do you think we are stupid or what! There is nothing p.ie advertisers like to see more than a whole bunch of well read threads. Light moderation my foot! Kerching! Ah well, consider them my present to p.ie.

Again you are being hugely dishonest in your attempt to smear me so as to draw attention from the fact that p.ie is extremely hostile to left wing posters - as a few on this thread have already agreed.

by Dan Sullivan Fri Feb 01, 2008 15:44

Again you are being hugely dishonest in your attempt to smear me so as to draw attention from the fact that p.ie is extremely hostile to left wing posters - as a few on this thread have already agreed.

- Cite one instance where I have been dishonest. Since your entire argument and the evidence to support it is about what happened to you, which is why I'm talking about you. No one has been arbitrarily banned that I'm aware of.

by Beatrice Fri Feb 01, 2008 15:50

Well apparantly everyones after gettin gbanned as the site is currently down.

"Network Error (tcp_error)

A communication error occurred: "Connection refused"
The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time. "

This is what you get when you try to open the site at present.

Unless I have been banned, which would be strange because I have never posted there.

by C Fri Feb 01, 2008 17:34

When I logged onto this computer there was a red server error message on the page-
I think it was an msn address- cos its not my computer.

shit happens, I would not derive any meaning from it except that there are probs with
servers that are ongoing..

by piebald Fri Feb 01, 2008 19:10

I wouldn't read too much into DOD leaving in a huff of smoke. He's flounced before, he'll be back again.

Was politics.ie really the "official website of the FF party conference"? News to me if it was, and I follow p.ie more than most. I definitely think you're wrong about that one. Someone would have said something.

by Mariella Fri Feb 01, 2008 19:11

That's some general problem today - not to do with what Ive posted.

by Libertylover Wed Feb 20, 2008 14:50

"Libertas has today launched it's "No to Lisbon" campaign in Dublin. "

http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?p=947241

Libertas Staff

Declan J. Ganley
President

p: + 353 (0) 93 43900
e: [email protected]

Naoise Nunn
Executive Director

e: [email protected]
p: + 353 (0) 93 43900
m: + 353 (0) 86 276 1256

David Cochrane
Campaign Manager

p: + 353 (0) 93 43900
e: [email protected]

http://www.libertas.org/

How can politics.ie claim any shred of credibility as a neutral forum when you see the owner running a campaign like this?

by Carmel Wed Feb 20, 2008 15:05

When you click on the utube video and view the disturbing content, please follow it up by clicking on " Gardai Go For Wash" on the same page under Related Videos. Revenge is sweet :)

Carmel

by Carmel Wed Feb 20, 2008 15:09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFZoSX-ombE&feature=related

Wouldnt want ya to miss it :)
Carmel

by Cael Wed Feb 20, 2008 19:18

I used to post a lot on P.ie. but now I find it very difficult to log on, so I dont bother much. Has anyone else found this problem?

by corkman2007 Wed Mar 05, 2008 19:40

What a load of self-serving tripe. I've been posted on p.ie for ages now and I've had no problem expressing my views. p.ie is a very lightly moderated site with minimal censorship. Free debate which does not contravene the libel laws or any other laws is encouraged and respected. There might not be a high proportion of leftists on the site but that simply reflects the realities of Irish society.

by hasty Wed Mar 05, 2008 20:17

anyone know why p.ie site is gone down cant seem to get onto it to have a look

by Lu Lu Wed Mar 05, 2008 23:54

Looks like D.C hasn't paid his bills. It's still off. Where will all the right w(h)ingers go now?

by Bryce Thu Mar 06, 2008 08:46

Yeah, its a weird one alright. Its been off all day yesterday and is still off.

May Cochran's boss at Libertas didn't like some of the posters giving out about the US and the Health Service, we're all supposed to be one big happy right wing : )

by Starkadder Thu Mar 06, 2008 13:08

Yes, it's been down since yesterday. A notice said it would be fixed by 6.40 yesterday,
but it still hasn't come up.

To be fair to P.ie, they also published some interesting threads on subjects the
Irish Left might be interested in, such as "The Marxist Analysis of the Troubles"
or "Irish Opposition to the Vietnam War". As a leftie, I've never had any
problems there.

by Chekov Thu Mar 06, 2008 13:46

Waves of politics.ie refugees are flooding the irish internet. In a scary repeat of the Irish government's actions towards jews fleeing Germany, the boards.ie moderators have turned them away and refused them asylum: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055249...age=4

A few poor homeless souls have washed up on indymedia's shores. But rumours abound that the indymedia moderators plan to launch a fresh wave of persecution against the refugees to drive them once more into the uncharted waters of the wilds of the internet.

It's a pretty unusual failure mode by the way - the server is there and is responding to pings. It also looks like the web server is running, just that it's either timing out or refusing the connections. It could be all sorts of things, from a bug to an admin error, but some sort of malicious attack is certainly possible..

by on the one road Thu Mar 06, 2008 15:51

some of that stuff on boards.ie is saying it was hacked by either garda intelligence or young FG. That stuff in relation to both and the site was being discussed at the time it went hay wire on the europe forum and the development forum. was any one there at the time in happened, sounds interesting

by Don Thu Mar 06, 2008 16:44

Why would Young Fine Gael hack into politics.ie? Or the Gardaí for that matter? I think the site is down for maintanence.

by Chekov Thu Mar 06, 2008 17:00

The internet is full of people trying to hack into servers. Most of these attempts are semi-random attacks by 'script-kiddies' who run standard scripts looking for well known vulnerabilities in common software. Indymedia gets dozens of such hack attempts every day.

There are also, much less commonly, targeted attacks on a specific server. When it comes to forums, most of these are probably from disgruntled, banned users and most such attacks are by way of somebody getting an admin password rather than anything technical. It's pretty unlikely that an organisation is behind an attack since it would be a pretty mental thing to do and ridiculously risky to boot.

Incidentally, it is definitely not an outage for routine maintenance - either something broke or it was hacked. Nobody shuts down a busy server for 24 hours without warning as a routine matter. Why on earth would you?

by runfordahills Thu Mar 06, 2008 17:30

http://skinflicks.blogspot.com/2008/03/politicsie-weath....html

by Slartibuckfast Thu Mar 06, 2008 18:22

I found this thread after googling 'politics.ie down'. I'm getting the 404 error message today when I try on get on to it which means that the website no longer exists as far as I know, which is a pity as it was basically a free forum no matter what is said on here (and I am a leftie republican).

by Starkadder Thu Mar 06, 2008 20:22

The website for Politics.ie says it will be down until Monday at least.
I've no idea why the site is down.

by ibis Thu Mar 06, 2008 22:16

Could well be security-related. Someone was breaking into a string of user accounts, so they may have shut down on a precautionary basis. With part-time admins they won't get a chance to go through the system until the weekend.

by sid - none Sat Mar 29, 2008 21:41

i get the point about politics.ie; its ok to moderate, but lets be fair. don't take perfectly legitimate stuff off just because the discussion is anti israel/us/shelloil. etc. this will just lead us into the murky waters of the print media and mimics the way in which apparent "discussions" occur in american media. open discussion is good and if pol.ie can't maintain that people will stop using it and they will lose their ad revenue. i certainly don't go on it to see my views iterated, and i will stop using it if it remains a churning mill for twenty odd yff and yfg nuts.
people use online info to counter the tripe that established news agencies call news. if it doesn't offer an alternative perspective then people will look elsewhere.
give the people what they want; not what you want them to want.

by Green days Wed Apr 16, 2008 09:40

This is starting to very irritating. The ste is down again with absolutely no info as to what happened or when posters can expect it to be online again.

Mr Cockran is being very cavalier with the patience of those who use his site.

by Ceann Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:19

Green days it's on now. Was it really down for that long? It's allowed be offline for a little while!

by Raketemensch - Me Sun Jun 21, 2009 02:48

I have been posting to P.ie for a few weeks now and think it's very lightly moderated by sheer fact of the vast amount of posts it gets, nobody could moderate that volume. I think it is a bit odd that it is offline for so long now, maybe it just exceeded its bandwidth? Is there a big story going on?

by Major Religious Superior Wed Jun 24, 2009 15:18

According to the Irish Times Cochrane is an employee of not only Libertas, but of Rivada

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0623/1....html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/1003/1....html

"He also said the Libertas campaign director, David Cochrane, was an employee of Rivada who had started working for Rivada in 2007, and worked mainly on developing the Libertas website. Nunn said he received his instructions from Ganley."

He was also Libertas online communications director during the recent EU elections (not director of elections as described here http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0618/122....html)

Denied by Ganley. Personally, Cochranes comments in the last few days about monitoring IP addresses is enough to put me off. I dont like or trust him. Use a proxy if you are posting on politics.ie.

by Guy The Bore Thu Jun 25, 2009 19:00

Who gives a f**k? Life is short. Politics.ie is a waste of time. GDB

by jakdelad - none Sun Jun 28, 2009 22:21

the taliban of fainna fail have taken over politics.ie
you cannot say anything negative about fainna fail
or you will be banned for life

by John Fri Jul 31, 2009 14:43

I regularly post on machine nation and over the past few days we have had a few new arrivals. There seems to be some complaints that Mr Cochrane is once again putting the boot down. It is being alleged that he has had enough of posters who have a Republican viewpoint and is finding any petty excuse to get rid of them.

I had a very brief read of the site this morning and it would appear that a number of threads have been started in an attempt to have the exiled posters brought back. One post that I read this morning suggested that Mr Cochrane change the name of the site to MyPolitics.ie in order to give a more honest reflection of the site.

It really does seem quite bizarre.

by Libertas My Arse Wed Aug 05, 2009 11:13

Oh dear, looks like the Libertas/Freedom Institute goys dont like criticism.

http://peoplekorps.blogspot.com/2009/08/protests-on-dav....html

"Politics.ie is no longer functioning as it used to. 50 regular posters are now more concerned with getting P.ie posters who have been vindictively banned by David (I am not in Libertas anymore) Cochrane reinstated."

And now new registrations...

Of course this shower have been spying on people for ages.....http://www.politics.ie/development-editorial/73670-time....html

The best thing to do here is ignore politics.ie and stick with sites run by people with credibility, like Indymedia.

Cochrane (thanks to Ogra SF for image)

No more protests, goys!

by NOAgain ! - The Anti-Organisation ! Wed Aug 05, 2009 14:40

Who ?

by John Thu Aug 06, 2009 19:36

According to a post on Machine Nation, the banned P.ie posters are creating their own site:

http://machinenation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=86670&si...86670

by Libertas My Arse Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:11

Here we have David Cochrane himself on RTE describe politics.ie as a "community" resource where people are "free" to post. But then, he's also a member of Libertas.

Programme 36: Sunday 4th May 2008

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/marianfinucane/1084847.html

Best of all, enjoy Cochrane being savaged by Marian Finucane into the bargain.

by Graculus - Bird Watch Ireland Wed Dec 23, 2009 19:50

An alternative place to post. Use it or lose it :)

by donkylemore - none Fri Jan 08, 2010 15:03

I had written a few pieces on P.ieand eventually worked up to being a senior member and deemed qualified to make my own threads.
I did a few .. all leftish..A
A piece I wrote about the Bishop of Galway holding out against public opinion ; the bishop mantaining that he would step down if the people so requested it. A vox pop og Galway Bay FM showed emphaticaly that 78 % wanted him to go.
Nonetheless his lordship held firm in thr fortress of his palace on Taylors Hill and insisted the people wanted him to stay . The denial and arrogance of this borders on the criminal .
I wrote as much to P.ie and immediately the thread was closed down.
I later wrote a piece about the American right taking a bizarre interest in Irish politics- given that we followed the right wing - Harney version of light touch regulation and look where it got us ;
So I wrote about why the US right might be watching us now with keen interest again,It is because we are doing what the US right always wanted to do. Cut down on government expenditure, in terms of state employees ; social welfare. higher taxation for the lower paid including those on welfare, and decreasing allowances for single mothers and dole recipients.
I was immediatly upbraided for having my paragraphs disorganized . I rarely pay much heed to paragraphs . My readers know my effusive styyle is because of attention deficit disorder; if I stop to think about grammar especially paragraphs I lose the run; I feel the same way about quotation marks - and referred to them to borrow Joyce's term as '' perverted commas .''
I suggested to this Dave guy that he should stay well away from Ulysess and Finnegans wake , and suggested that I had it on the very best authority that Enid Blyton observed these frigid codes of English grammar, but if he felt that was too steep a learning curve , he might try the Dandy or the Beano .
Needless to say I was turfed out .

This Dave C is the grand ayatollah himself . Little did I know. I was invited to write to him by email to seek an appeasment .

And that's where I told him to put on his Jack Boots .Salute himself in the long mirror and as the tumescence of his ego fused the timber of his manhood to its proud fullness - told him to have a good jerk off.
I am surprised at myself for having gone along with the thing to the extent I did .
I read some interesting stuff, learned all about trolls , and the real inside story about Iris Robinson, which kept me in suspense for days, to discover it was about as interesting as a Paris Hilton story.
And I still dont know what went on; money sex .. what else is new.?
So for social discourse I must now turn elsewhere to vent my sexagenarian misanthropic rants.
Anyone have any suggestions.
I will refrain from the tumescence stuff; Promise .

by Jolly Red Giant Fri Jan 08, 2010 16:21

for saying I had no sympathy for Brian Lenihan.

by Foyleview - SF Sat Jan 09, 2010 01:43

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRwTj6iXnSI

by Foyleview - SF Sat Jan 09, 2010 01:49

Cael youer one of the resons i no longer post on Irish repuiblican .net totaly aunti SF get a gribe.
Comunism has no place in Ireland

by donkylemore Sat Jan 09, 2010 04:36

Hard to log on by Cael
author by Foyleview - SFpublication date Sat Jan 09, 2010 01:49Report this post to the editors

Cael youer one of the resons i no longer post on Irish repuiblican .net totaly aunti SF get a gribe.
Comunism has no place in Ireland

***************

Does any of this make any sense ,
I am all for multiculturalism and all about the down trodden people of limerick who have chosen by some imperishable guild to keep their children out of schools for 3 generationsThats fine . Fine fine fine !

History is history , but why the Jacobite's retreated into Limerick of all places- search me .
Of course there was no rugby back then so I suppose theyy thought the sordid walls would sustaain them
and have protected them from the William's advancing forces
Bad choice .
The flight of the Earls was already betrayed .
The stout men of Thomand had sold the Jacobites well down the river at that stage ,
2 salmon and a score of pints had done for the Earls
But they have Sean South of Garryowen,
Have a pint there - but bring a gun or a switch- blade
My preference would be the colt 45.

by km Sat Jan 09, 2010 06:12

seems like the epitome of polical correctness Merle got banned again a few weeks ago . Theres a surprise . Another republican scalp on " the Coch's" belt .

by genky Sun Jan 10, 2010 12:59

Having being a contributor for more than a year, I am inclined to agree with much of this article. Some of the moderators do tend to take an inordinate pleasure in verbally abusing ordinary members whose views they disagree with. Whilst Mr Cochrane himself can be reasonable, occasionally he will get peevish and behave somewhat in an infantile manner against contributors whose behaviour is reasonable by any standards. The result is that this encourages aggressive behaviour and the expression of extreme views - the very thing he says that he tries to avoid !
At this point the site is not allowing new members to register - surely an embarrassing failure for any site !
It is also a peculiar situation for a site which charges for advertising - are the advertisers being told that the site now prevents new members from registering ?

by Genky Tue Jan 19, 2010 17:45

Dan O Sullivan is wrong if he is suggesting that advertising income isn't a priority for Cochrane. Cochrane himself has referred to the advertising that the site attracts. He claims site is hardly breaking even but doesn't supply figures so we are asked to accept his word on the matter.

by Stephen Thu Jan 21, 2010 13:10

So I've been trolling politics.ie for a while now. Finally decided to sign up to counter some of the scientifically incorrect anti-climate change stuff going on, as I am uiniquely positioned to provide an educated response to some of the comments (PhD in the related science, professor for over 10 years).....yet you don't seem able to register. What kind of forum is that? Ridiculous.

The more I read the more I am wary of such a site.

by Immigrant Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:37

I was banned today by baby face for "menacing" contributors. This was because I dared to take on a Mod who tried to belittle me and was called Nazi, facist, and many other names by mods and contributors. Great place for dopes. Sad man Corcoran. Spoke to my solicitor today to see if we have a case against P.Ie and some of its contributors and it appears we have. He will need to get more advertising revenue to pay upcoming costs.

by C Flower - Politicalworld.org Mon Apr 26, 2010 02:10

In February I started a political discussion forum, Politicalworld.org. The forum is open to all genuine posters and normal forum rules apply. The forum now has nearly 300 members, including politicians, journalists, students, public and private sector workers and all the usual suspects. We aim for a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, in so far as a political forum can reasonably achieve that. :)

Anyone interested is welcome to join and to take part in shaping and building the site.

C Flower

by John Thu May 06, 2010 02:05

Hi C Flower, I recently logged onto your site (www.politicalworld.org) and I have to say that it seems a far more enjoyable place to engage in political debate. Well done.

by children_of_lir Thu May 06, 2010 14:26

I appreciate it.

by My Beautiful Tomohawkl Sat Aug 28, 2010 21:51

And I found that Political world would ban you for sneezing.

In my opinion, C.Flower is perhaps the rudest and worst moderator I have ever come across. From the same stable as David.C and the other dictators at Politics.ie

No time for control freaks here. They can go to hell and take their Mickey Mouse webshites with them!

by Lazarus - none Wed Mar 09, 2011 23:44 esthersteele at gmail dot com xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx

DC has always shown hostility towards anyone who shows socialist leanings, or worse, working class origins. Anytime he contacted me he was ectremely rude. I made the error of emailing him and telling him he was the rudes young man I had ever come across. He told me I had called an eFFer a female dog, but I never did. What I said was that whilst watching Primetime I FELT LIKE SHOUTING "FF B.I.T.C.H. at the telly. He then claimed I had been extremely rude to him in public and private. I have not. He did not ban me immediately but told me I should go..... elsewhere. I then emailed him that if he wants me gone he should have the honesty to ban me. He did. Forever. lol.

A very nast mod has I believe being maligning me whilst other posters objeced to my banning. Cyberianpan, the most hated Mod on P.ie., and brain dead at that, so I don't care.

But I have seen P.ie sink into Troll Land, and basically a Norn Iron site. WTF is the stock response from the trolls. They don't get banned. I was too polite. Glad I'm gone now. World of Politics is a relief after P.ie.

I;m known as Buddha there.

Regards.

by Sam Thu Apr 21, 2011 17:59

Ignore politics.ie if you want to read real and honest opinions. Its owner ( Cochrane) and mod with the most power (Cyberianpan) are both right wing economicial shills. Read this thread for the evidence of the mindset of these people.

http://www.politics.ie/political-reform/158734-multi-ap....html

The two of them sing the praises of the unelected Colm McCarthy. McCarthy wants to asset strip the country to pay off foreign bondholders.

by Mike Sat Apr 23, 2011 01:58

Well I'm sure that we are all well aware that a certain forum www.irishrepublicanism.net has been set up and run by shinners, in particular a certain seabird to spy on dissidents and this person and her SF forum have been caught out doing this many times in the past. However there are still foolish idiots who post there and who are willing to let every word of gossip be recorded and passed on to SF/MI5.

The internets a wonderful thing especially when it's a usual tool for MI5 spies...Like Ir.net.

by Fongo Veckymay Thu Jun 16, 2011 15:58

I was posting to politics.ie for a while getting the usual abuse from the anti Enda crowd there. No problem with that I have a thick skin.

This morning I browsed the site from the office and saw all my posts were hidden. I set up a new account called "Fongo got censored" and posted this in the feedback thread ---

So I browse politics.ie from the office without logging on and see that all my posts are hidden. No contact, no email, no infraction no explanation just devious censorship. What's the deal with that?

Why am I being censored?

How many others are censored like I am?

Are we censored at the request of the financial backers of this site?

What opinions are forbidden here?

Fongo Veckymay.

---

Got no answer from Bald Boy but I was banned from the feedback thread. Posts from Fongo got censored are now censored as well.

Banning posters for having "wrong" opinions is bad enough but sneaky, devious censorship is scary stuff.

Bald Boy should come straight out and say if members are censored or banned on the orders of his financial backers. He should say as well why the companies office website returns a "nothing found" message when you search for Pie Media Limited (Ireland)

by copyright Thu Jun 16, 2011 19:32

all posts are actually copyright of Politics.ie media.

David C owns your drunken/sober/mad/loony/hardworked words and there ain't much you can do about that !

by chriskavo Tue Nov 08, 2011 22:57 chrisneilll at gmail dot com

Politics.ie was down earlier today for a few hrs due to a DDOS attack on it's server. I have been a member for about two years but today when I tried to logon I was told that I entered in an incorrect password which I did not. I even re-set my password but to no avail.I then received an e-mail that another IP address was trying to access my account. However, I have a sneaky suspicion that I have been stealthily banned. I wrote two e-mails to David Cochrane but got no reply.I have posted lots of comments criticizing Israel and think that this might have something to do with me being banned. Any thoughts?

by On the bench - None Mon Mar 02, 2015 11:33

I have been recently banned from Politics.ie without ANY explanation whatsoever and despite several emails to the mods I have been totally ignored.

The VERY LEAST they owe people is an explanation, especially when the person banned sees no logical or illogical reason for their banning.

Man up David.

by pie balled Mon Mar 02, 2015 23:20

start a new account or join politicalworld if you are desperate
and don't mind dictatorship ;-)

by shiel - none Fri Jun 09, 2017 17:06

I used to post the odd comment to politics.ie.

It seems to have disappeared.

What has happened?

by Ceka Fri Jun 09, 2017 17:22

Politics.ie is dead/unconscious on the busiest political day of the year. I fear it may be terminal.

by cropbeye - none Tue Aug 01, 2017 13:02

I agree with most of what is being said.

But is still a good place for young or new lefties to get used to debating Irish style

and to realize what they are up against.

J R

by Turps Tue Aug 01, 2017 16:49

Political debate in Ireland is likely to degenerate into abusive slanging matches between individuals who can't control their emotions. Try talking about the arts, nature, music and hill walking instead. There hasn't been a stimulating and productive discussion about anything on Indymedia for quite a while. This site has gone stale. Why?

by cynical activist Tue Aug 08, 2017 07:29

maybe because people have foolishly opted to put their trust and their political comments on corporate facebook where they can easily be buried if they become problematic to anyone in power, as shell to sea found to their cost.

Activists should learn a lesson from this and create their own websites as shell to sea did and/or use sites like indymedia which are not in the grip of corporate scum and their political friends in the establishment.