Yahoo! News: Popular Websites to Go Dark Over SOPA Controversy

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If you have anything you want to look up on Wikipedia, you’d better do it today, or you’re going to have to wait a full 24 hours to get your answer. Why? Well, Wikipedia will be leading a number of high-profile websites going dark on Wednesday to protest two controversial bills in Congress. SOPA, also known as the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House of Representatives, and PIPA, the Protect I-P Act in the Senate, are designed to crack down on the illegal sharing of movies and music on the Web. However, critics say the anti-piracy legislation is censorship and would force sites to police the online world.

On Twitter, Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, confirmed that all of Wikipedia’s 3.8 million English-language articles will be unavailable from midnight Eastern time tonight until midnight Wednesday. Anyone who visits the site will be redirected to a banner that reads “The Internet must remain free.” Also joining Wikipedia in going black are Reddit, Minecraft, Craigslist, and Boing Boing, among others. Craigslist has posted a message at the top of its city homepages with a link to “help put a stop to this madness” of SOPA and PIPA.

The Obama administration, as well as Congress, seem to be listening to the critics. In a blog post, the White House said it would not support “legislation that reduces freedom of expression … or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” And House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said a vote would not come up for SOPA until a consensus is reached. By the way, if you’re a fan of any of the sites that are planning to participate in the blackout, don’t worry: You can still tweet about it as much as you want. Twitter will still be up and running. In fact, CEO Dick Costolo tweeted this about the sites choosing to go dark: “Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish.”

More here.

Learn more:

• PJM: SOPA and Protect-IP: A Line-by-Line Analysis of the Bills We Must Kill
• Mashable: Why SOPA Is Dangerous
• Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA): Stealth tool to shut down political speech and the Counterjihad

Blogging Vermont:
US court wields censorship hammer on Wikileaks

Wikileaks, a website that has brought to light many scandalous acts by giving whistleblowers a forum to expose wrong doing anonomously, has been ordered by US District Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California to display blank pages and goes even further by barring them from redirecting traffic to offshore servers. It also bars them from transfering ownership of the domain name wikileaks.org. Once again, a Bush appointed judge has over-extended the government’s conrtrol over our essential freedoms. If ever there were any doubt about our Constitution being under attack, this would be a shining example.

Wikileaks was founded in 2006 by people from a host of countries, including the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa. It has generated headlines by hosting documents exposing several high-profile scandals, including those related to the collapse of the UK’s Northern Rock bank and to prisons in Iraq and and Guantanamo Bay. The site says it has posted more than 1.2 million documents.

In the case in dispute, Wikileaks claimed a bank located in the Cayman Islands engaged in money laundering and tax evasion. The latest agreement came in a lawsuit brought by Bank Julius Baer, the parent company of the accused Cayman bank. After trying unsuccessfully to get Wikileaks to remove the documents, Swiss-based Julius Baer went after Dynadot, the California web hosting company, which according to this copy of the court order [PDF], agreed to roll over in exchange for the suit against it being dismissed. Dynadot also agreed to turn over records related to Wikileaks, including “IP addresses and associated data used by any person, other than Dynadot, who accessed the account for the domain name”. Wikileaks claims that it is an “uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis”. But this is true only if its webhosts can be trusted not to pull the plug on its customers or divulge sensitive client information.

Wikileaks lawyers were given only a few hours notice of this latest hearing, and amazingly the judge allowed the hearing to proceed and issued the injunction without hearing any counter-claim from Wikileaks lawyers. One would hope that this type of shotgun injunction will be overturned on appeal based on the patent unfairness of the proceedings. It would also appear that the court is engaging in what amounts to Government sanctioned censorship. It all is a fascinating story to follow.

Wikileaks has also been banned in China and Thailand. Apparently they have pissed off many rich and powerful people around the world. It will be interesting how this plays out in the U.S. courts, as I’m sure this is only round number one. Stay tuned for more on this one…..

Wikileaks.org under injunction – Wikileaks
(you may get a certificate error from this link, but it is safe to follow)

This is the main site: (hosted outside of the U.S. of course)

https://wikileaks.be/wiki/Wikileaks
you may get a certificate error from this link, but it is safe to follow)

Thanks to Blogging Vermont.

How did Parviz Khan get that bruise on his forehead?

Parviz Khan is one of nine defendants on trial in the UK for a terrorist plot against the British military. Family Security Matters has been following the trial:

UK: Man Admits Plotting To Behead Muslim Soldier

Those shrill cries claiming persecution can now be exposed as false. A trial is currently taking place in Leicester Crown Court. And it is only now revealed that 37-year-old Parviz Khan, one of the nine people arrested in late January and early February 2007, has pleaded guilty to plotting to kidnap and decapitate a British Muslim soldier.

Khan, an “unemployed charity worker,” admitted his guilt earlier this month, but the news was suppressed until a trial involving two other individuals, Amjad Mahmood, 33, and Zahoor Iqbal, 31, began. These two denied involvement in the plot.

But did he get the bruise while in custody?

Evidently not. Dymphna at Gates of Vienna explains that this bruise is nothing unusual among devout Muslims:

Gates of Vienna: Muslim Stigmata

What I hadn’t been able to find is any commentary on Mr. Khan’s bruised forehead. Had the police been having a go at him with billy clubs, perhaps? Why no mention of it by the MSM? Strange that it would go unremarked…

Well, sorry, this is nothing as pedestrian as torture. What creates these Muslim stigmata is the effect of devout head-pounding fervor. Fundamentalist Muslims do not touch their head to the ground in prayer. Instead, they bounce their cranium forcefully onto the stone floors on which they kneel. Performing this act of adoration five times a day will get you that prune-shaped hematoma our head-banger suspect now sports. By their bruises you shall know them.

And these people have the nerve to complain about Gitmo…

The Wikipedia whitewash

Prayer bump

A prayer bump, also known as a prayer scar, or a zabiba or zebiba (raisin) in Arabic is a mark on the forehead of a pious muslim, caused by rubbing the forehead against a prayer mat. Islam requires its adherents to pray five times a day (known as salah), which involves kneeling on a prayer mat and touching the ground with one’s forehead. When done for extended periods of time, a prayer bump may develop. Devout Muslims consider the presence of a prayer bump to be a worthy sign of religious dedication and piety.

The prayer bump can take the form of a discolouration of the skin, caused by repeated chafing and the build-up of callous. In extreme cases, the callous can be thick enough to create a real bump that portrudes from the forehead. Prayer bumps are common in Islamic countries such as Egypt, where they are colloquially called a ‘zabiba’ (raisin).

Could he have gotten a deep bruise like this merely from rubbing his forehead on a mat?

A mark from dirt, yes. Chafed skin, maybe. A callus, possibly. But a deep bruise? No. Rubbing the surface of the skin against a flat surface does not cause bruising in a normal individual. A bruise is evidence of a strong enough impact to break blood vessels below the surface.

Now I’m not a neurologist, but…

Repeated blows to the head can cause permanent damage to the brain. Any brain function can become impaired when the brain is damaged – motor and sensory capabilities, regulation of internal body processes, sleep and wakefulness, emotional states, memory, reasoning, judgment, personality, and character. The dangers of concussion are well known from studies of athletes, soldiers, and others who have suffered such trauma.

• Troops risk undetected brain injury

  By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

  Thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may be risking permanent brain damage by returning to combat with relatively minor but undiagnosed concussions, often caused by bomb blasts, military researchers say.

  Doctors say they are only now understanding the scope of the problem. Researchers screening returning soldiers and Marines at four military bases found that about 10% suffered at least a minor brain injury during combat. About 20% of troops in front-line infantry units suffered such injuries.

  The injuries frequently go undiagnosed because troops have no visible wounds or may not know they suffered a concussion, doctors say. Medics and field doctors often aren’t aware of what happened during fighting.

• Brain Injury in Sports

  Sports-Related Recurrent Brain Injuries – United States

  An estimated 300,000 sports related traumatic brain injuries, TBIs, of mild to moderate severity , most of which can be classified as concussions, (i.e., conditions of temporary altered mental status as a result of head trauma, occur in the United States each year. The proportion of these concussions that are repeat injuries is unknown; however, there is an increased risk for subsequent TBI among persons who have had at least one previous TBI. Repeated mild brain injuries occurring over an extended period (i.e., months or years can result in cumulative neurologic and cognitive deficits, but repeated mild brain injuries occurring within a short period (i.e., hours, days, weeks) can be catastrophic or fatal. The latter phenomenon, termed “second impact syndrome” has been reported more frequently since it was first characterized in 1984. This page describes two cases of second impact syndrome and presents recommendations developed by the American Academy of Neurology to prevent recurrent brain injuries in sports and their adverse consequences.

• Chemical Proof of Punch-Drunk Effect

  Hits To Boxers’ Heads Cause More Chemical Markers For Brain Injury

  (WebMD) A blow to the head may do more than just make you feel woozy.

  A new study shows repeated blows to the head cause an increase of chemicals in the fluid that circulates around the brain and spinal cord. These chemicals are markers for brain and nerve cell injury. The rise of these chemicals of the brain may also help explain what is commonly known as “punch drunk” syndrome, with symptoms of long-term neurological damage.

  Researchers studied a group of amateur boxers and found those who had recently suffered repeated blows to the head during a recent boxing match had higher-than-normal levels of certain chemicals in their cerebrospinal fluid (fluid that circulates around the spinal cord and brain). These chemicals, known as neurofilament light protein and total tau, have also been shown to be increased in some neurologic disorders with damage of brain neurons and cells.

  Researchers say about 20 percent of professional boxers develop chronic traumatic brain injury as a result of years of repeated blows to the head during their careers in the ring. But little is known about the brain injury risks faced by amateur boxers who must wear protective headgear and compete in shorter bouts.

• Concussions May Spell Later Trouble For Football Players

  ScienceDaily (May 5, 2000) — SAN DIEGO, CA – The first scientific survey of head injuries in professional football players suggests that head trauma from the sport may lead to later neurological problems.

More:

• Fashion and faith meet, on foreheads of the pious
• Muslim prayer rules may lead to marks
• Discover Magazine Brain: What happens to a linebacker’s neurons

To our readers, and other bloggers and admins:

As we all know, some people in the world are angry and destructive, and many of those are on the Internet. These angry people exert a negative effect on anyone who has the misfortune to encounter them, even if it is only a feeling of fatigue and disgust. Some angry and destructive persons are genuinely dangerous.

The Internet is a tool that can be used for good or ill. The team at 1389 Blog is working hard to do some good: to use the Internet to confront and curb jihadism and expansionist Islam, and to provide knowledge and tools to others who are working to accomplish the same goals. We will never allow anyone to abuse the comments on this blog for the purpose of undermining this effort.

False accusations, mudslinging, and editorial discretion

We have grown especially weary and disgusted with haters who use blogs, comments, forums, Wikis, social news sites, or email to circulate false allegations against others – whether it be public figures, other bloggers, entire groups of people, or whomever else they hate. Despite claims of “fairness” and “impartiality,” disinformation has been planted throughout Wikipedia and other social media, where it becomes fuel for flame wars, mudslinging, and propaganda.

Typically, one or more responders will put in hours or days of unpaid effort to refute those accusations, but then, the malicious accuser simply goes elsewhere and starts the same process all over again.

We have other things to do besides responding to the same falsehoods again and again. If these miscreants can’t win the argument on facts and logic, they hope to win by shouting us down and wasting our time.

Yes – these haters have the right to post what they want – on their own blogs – and to face whatever consequences accrue. When haters commit libel, their victims may sue. When haters incite violence against the persons or groups that they hate, they have passed the boundaries of protected political speech, and we will do what we can to shut them down.

No one has the right to take advantage of other people’s blogs and websites to spew false accusations, obscenities, and bile in front of the readership that reputable bloggers and admins have worked so hard to earn. No one has the right to spam the comments or forum threads on someone else’s website for the purpose of interfering with that website or harassing its owners and participants.

Excluding malicious comments is not censorship – it is vital editorial discretion. No blog or forum administrator – or for that matter, no publisher or media producer – can, or should, publicize every response that comes in. Bigoted ranting, name-calling, bullying and threats, spam, obscenity, incoherent rambles, libel and slander, and ad hominem attacks, attract a lynch-mob mentality, drive away decent readers and participants, and expose the website or organization to repercussions, legal or otherwise. And the endlessly misused argumentum ad Nazium, a/k/a reductio ad Hitlerum, is a signal to readers that the argument has worn itself out, and that intelligent life has departed from that venue.

Oh, and by the way…

If you want to argue with us, you’d better be loaded for bear. We expect to see verifiable evidence and valid logic, presented in a clear and civil manner. Just for starters:

• Calling us liars, racists, Nazis, or whatever else is evidence only of your incivility. Accusing us of being “racists” or “Holocaust deniers” or “fascists” merely because we do not accept your accusations against Jews, Israelis, Serbs, European conservatives, white Americans, or whomever it is you happen to hate, doesn’t cut it either.
• Hearsay, rumors, innuendo, or unconfirmed urban legends, or something you thought you heard from a “friend of a friend,” does not make for sufficient evidence to back up an allegation.
• Articles in Wikipedia are acceptable only for noncontroversial matters, such as technical background, computer and Internet history, and definitions of words and phrases (as shown here in the previous item). But when it comes to controversial political, religious, or historical issues, Wikipedia is far too vulnerable to vandalism, flame wars, and spin, and we generally cannot accept it as evidence. (See our Reference Material resource page, and Byzantine Sacred Art: Wikipedia, the Source of Disinformation, for more on Wikipedia spin jobs.)
• For that matter, we roundly condemn Wikipedia’s self-righteous pretense of enforcing a neutral point of view. It is senseless to make a virtue out of amorality! When we write or blog, we do our best to gather and publish the whole truth and nothing but. There is no neutral ground between right and wrong, between good and evil, between truth and error. There is no room for diluting the truth by presenting falsehood alongside it, in an effort to appear “fair and balanced.” The devil has too many spokesmen already, and too many spokeswomen too!
• Making patronizing remarks, such as claiming that you “pity” us, is nothing more than mudslinging disguised behind a false sense of moral superiority, and it will get your remarks flushed into the spam bucket without a second thought.
• If you, or any of your sources have a vested interest in the issue that could affect credibility, we expect you to disclose it.
• Just because you saw something in the mainstream media does not automatically mean it is true. Many stories, photos, and videos have appeared in the mainstream media and have later been shown to be planted by untrustworthy sources, staged, mislabeled, Photoshopped, or otherwise falsified. Check it first!

In particular, we will not post comments that contain racist or bigoted ranting, especially the anti-Semitic ranting and the Serb-bashing that seems to be plaguing the blogosphere these days. We don’t care how many times you have seen or heard the same piece of Serb-bashing or Jew-bashing or Israel-bashing in the blogosphere or even in the mainstream media. As we have just pointed out, this does NOT make it true, nor does it give you any right to repeat it here.

What’s a blogger or admin to do?

1389 Blog posts a comments policy and we enforce it consistently. Anyone with a modicum of common sense should already be aware of what is acceptable on this and most other blogs. But if you have any doubts, read it before you send us email or comment on this, or any other, post on this blog.

We encourage people to post comments or use the Contact Us form in our blog to expose injustice or other wrongdoing. We have no objection to leveling verifiable accusations against public officials or other culpable individuals, organizations, or governments. We have no objection to polemics or to strong opinions. We encourage readers to engage in vigorous debate and to point out any factual errors that we or other commenters might make. We also encourage readers to investigate and report suspicious incidents and criminal or terrorist activity, and to keep us up to date with that information. But if the accusations cannot be substantiated, the communication in question will be either refuted or deleted.

It is up to us, as bloggers and admins, to maintain civility in our part of the blogosphere. If we fail to make this effort, the better part (in both senses of the word) of our audience will leave. I suggest that it is time for each of us to set up and enforce our comment policies to stop that from happening. And when it comes to dealing with haters, I suggest that we take care neither to let malicious commenters spew their bile until everyone else gives up and lets the haters have the last word, nor to allow false accusations to stand unanswered in any of our comment or forum threads.

Also see:

• There’s an angry fire in cyberspace
• Foehammer’s Anvil: Words of Warning to Commenters
• The definitive guide to Trolls – Ubuntu Forums
• Flame Warriors Home
• Attacking genuine evil in the blogosphere

Technorati : Israel, Nazism, Serbia, anti-Semitism, blogging, comment policy, forum, hate, incivility, injustice, spam, troll, wikis

SonicWALL finally unblocks Jihad Watch!

This calls for a PARTY!

JihadWatch Unblocked

Other bloggers who have been wrongfully blocked by SonicWALL or other censorware providers should read this article carefully. Also, please read the comments that follow. If necessary, do as Robert Spencer did and consult an attorney!

Also see:

• Stop Blog Censorship! Resource Page

Blogger WiredPig faces a takedown request

Musings of Wired Pig 2.1: Takedown Request (Updated)

WiredPig is a retired sheriff who is a prominent Twitter user and a web design/mobile computing expert. He recently got a takedown request that he believes may be bogus. He’s currently trying to determine the legitimacy of the request.

If you get a takedown request on your blog, please make an effort to verify that the request is legitimate and is not coming from a prankster!

Lawsuit Jihad

This could happen to any of us.
That said, the consequences of failing to confront jihadism would be even worse!
For what you can do to help, see:
Litigation Jihad Update 10/31/07 – Let’s DO something about it NOW!

• Front Page Magazine: Sued for Terror Watching
• Atlas Shrugs: Litigation Jihad! Sueing Anti-CAIR Leader into Submission

Attempted Murder: The Ultimate Censorship

• Foehammer’s Anvil: Murder Attempt on Anti-Islamists in Denmark
• Danish Counter-Islamization Leader Was Target of Assassination Attempt

We have to keep going nonetheless. After all, they can’t kill us all!

Italian Government Caves

• LGF: Dreaded Italian Toilet Seats of Blasphemy Seized by Authorities

  This one comes from the Muslim Brotherhood propaganda site IslamOnline, where they applaud Italian authorities for doing the bidding of seething Islamists threatening violence over another incident of “blasphemy:” Italy Seizes Quran-printed Toilet Seats.

  (Please note: the IslamOnline site has been previously identified as trying to install worms/viruses on visitors’ computers. Click through only if your anti-virus/anti-malware software is up to date.)

• Foehammer’s Anvil: Flush a Koran Smilie
  Antidote to dhimmitude!

Wiki page for reformist Irshad Manji vandalized, then reverted

• Talk:Irshad Manji – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Posted on 1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech and on Fort Hard Knox

Technorati : Foehammer s Anvil, Jihad Watch, SonicWALL, U.S. Constitution, blog censorship, censorship, content filtering, crime, culture wars, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis, enemy propaganda, flush a Koran, jihadism, leftist-jihadist convergence, litigation jihad, media, military, smileys, wikis
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Ice Rocket : Foehammer s Anvil, Jihad Watch, SonicWALL, U.S. Constitution, blog censorship, censorship, content filtering, crime, culture wars, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis, enemy propaganda, flush a Koran, jihadism, leftist-jihadist convergence, litigation jihad, media, smileys, wikis

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Read the fascinating details of this story, and ask yourself why the media has shown little interest in following up and bringing them to you:

• Michelle Malkin: Mystery at Goose Creek: Who are the accused Pipe Bomb Boys (updated)
• Riehl World View: SC 2 Linked to Sami al-Arian Investigation

The news media should be keeping an eye on incidents like these, but they’re not. Instead, they’re helping to make sure everybody stays asleep.

If you think the media has been doing its job in keeping us informed about terrorism-related evidence and events, you’re completely mistaken.

Read and watch this: Radioactivity at Jersey City? Conflicting reports

(stein hoist to Noisy Room).

By the way, if you live anywhere near Jersey City, it’s up to you to demand some answers as to who has been telling the media to keep us in the dark about a vital matter such as this!

Since the news media and the governmental authorities aren’t properly keeping track of these incidents and informing us so that we can use this information to safeguard our families and communities, it looks as though we’ll have to start doing that ourselves.

I blogged about that quite recently; see Why we need a public-access database for tracking small-scale disasters and unusual events. I’m waiting for your suggestions!

Michelle Malkin’s article tells us that the SC pipe-bomb duo had, until recently, been using Web 2.0 social venues to network. How interesting! You can be sure that they aren’t the only ones taking advantage of the Web for that purpose. E-jihadists, and those who aid and abet them, are all over the web. So are courageous, diligent, and loyal citizens who are ferreting them out and reporting them.

Just for starters:

• Who’s Editing Wikipedia and Why?
• Wikipedia EditGate: Al Jazeera’s Antisemitism
• My Cyber Counter-Jihad
• Jihadi websites hosted in the USA (updates)
• Spies watch rise of virtual terrorists
• Virtual terrorists
• Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations
• A web wise terror network
• How to Keep Islamist Sites Out of your Google Ads
• 4 British students convicted of collecting terrorist training videos
• Web of Terror, Part 1: Extremists Take to the Net
• Web of Terror, Part 2: Chasing a Moving Target
• The Mosque of Chebi – and Muslims in Second Life
• Jihad and Second Life (Updated)
• Homeland Security Comes to Second Life

This is where you come in! You, with your helpful eyes and ears, and with your cognitive abilities and your common sense to help you to connect the dots! Put those to work whenever you explore Web 2.0 social venues. If you see something, say something. Blog about it, comment about it, and notify the authorities. Also notify the owner of the web venue and everyone who should be aware. Above all, keep watching to make sure that appropriate action is taken!

Update: Keep these links at hand for the next time you spot a Wikipedia spin job – whether it’s e-jihadist or anything else:

• Virgil Griffith’s Wikipedia Scanner
• Submit the evidence to WikiWatch at Wired.com: Submit a Wikipedia Spin Job
• How Wikipedia Scanner works: See Who’s Editing Wikipedia – Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign

Also see:

• Global Terrorism Incident Map: Here are the Links and Contact Info
• Resources

Subscribe to 1389 Blog!

Technorati : American South, DHS, Florida, Foehammer’s Anvil, Goose Creek, Homeland Security, Islam, Koran, Wired.com, al Jazeera, al Qaeda, anti-Semitism, censorship, current events, cyberjihadism, e-jihadis, hate, jihadism, media, wikis
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Ice Rocket : American South, DHS, Florida, Foehammer’s Anvil, Goose Creek, Homeland Security, Islam, Koran, Wired.com, al Jazeera, al Qaeda, anti-Semitism, censorship, current events, cyberjihadism, e-jihadis, hate, jihadism, media, wikis

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What is Twitter, anyway?

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging environment. If you’re wondering what this means in real life, Twitter is a place where you can let your friends know what you’re doing, network and meet new people, and keep a shared record of interesting things that you encounter on the Internet and in real life. There are even “tweetups” in various locations where Twitterers can get together in person.

How does Twitter work?

When you bring up the first Twitter screen, it asks you, “What are you doing right now?” Although people do use Twitter to answer that question, Twitter is far more than that.

Once you have signed on, you can recount your daily activities, share news items and links, or converse with other Twitterers, in messages of up to 140 characters each. Messages are sometimes known as “tweets” or “updates.” If your text is longer than that, you can continue it in the next 140-character message.

Each user can page back to see earlier messages. This means that you can communicate either in “real time” or by posting messages that others will see when they sign on later.

How do I access Twitter?

You can access Twitter from just about any device that has an Internet browser or messaging capability: a PC, Mac, or Linux machine; a smartphone or PDA such as Blackberry or iPhone; or any cell phone that has a web browser and/or text messaging (SMS or IM). Once you have a user ID, you can use any combination of these methods.

To access Twitter from a desktop or laptop browser, enter http://twitter.com in the address field. That’s all you need.

It’s free; just follow the simple instructions for signing up.

For those who prefer other user interface styles, various downloadable desktop clients are available, including a plugin for Facebook.

To access Twitter Mobile from a cell phone or other mobile device, simply enter http://m.twitter.com in the browser address field. Here again, there are other interfaces you can use, depending on the type of device. If you wish, you can also associate your cell phone number with your Twitter user ID, so that you can send SMS text messages to 40404 and have them appear with your user ID. This also lets you receive “tweets” as text messages on your cell phone. If the text messages get to be too much, you can turn that feature on or off at your convenience.

Tech Tip: If you plan to use Twitter from any mobile device, make sure that you have a service plan that allows for unlimited web browsing and a sufficiently large number of text messages per month. Keep an eye on the amount of data traffic through your account. Even if the company’s television ads claim that they offer “unlimited access,” read the fine print on the service agreement before you sign!

Who will see my messages?

Twitter lets you send two kinds of messages: normal “tweets” that can be viewed by anyone, and direct messages that go to one specific individual.

Direct messages are useful if you want to send someone an email addy or a personal invitation, or if you are communicating with family members or business associates. To send a direct message, enter a “d” followed by a space and the other Twitterer’s user ID (e.g., d 1389 for a direct message to me).

Anyone can see your normal “tweets” if they are watching the public timeline or if they view your profile page. You have the option of preventing this access by locking your updates for access only by friends, but most people choose not to do that.

To direct a normal “tweet” to a specific Twitterer, put an at-sign followed immediately by the Twitterer’s user ID in the message (e.g., @1389 for a message to me). Everyone else can still see the “tweet,” but it will also appear in the other user’s Replies tab.

The real question is not who could potentially see your messages, but who actually will be reading them. Twitterers generally stay on their own home page most of the time. Your home page shows you only the messages from other Twitterers whom you are following. In order to have a conversation, the “following” relationship needs to be mutual. This structure helps to make Twitter self-policing, in that spammers, trolls, and other bad actors find themselves tuned out. On the other hand, it does make it more difficult for a new Twitterer to begin establishing a network of friends.

So how do I start building a network on Twitter?

Once you have your user ID, you can start the process by choosing to follow other Twitterers whose messages you find interesting. To see another user’s profile, you can click on that person’s user ID or enter http://twitter.com/their_ID, substituting the other Twitterer’s actual user ID for their_ID. On the profile page, you can click on a button if you want to begin following that user. Whether other users choose to follow you in return is up to them; some will and some won’t, for whatever reason.

It helps if you already know someone who is an active Twitterer. Some people display their Twitter user IDs in MySpace or Facebook or their blogs. Once you have set up an account on Twitter, you can begin following him or her, and perhaps send an email asking the other user to start following you on Twitter and to help you get started by introducing you to others.

If you’re not comfortable doing that, you can always follow me by clicking on http://twitter.com/1389, or you can leave a comment here asking for my assistance. I check my follower list regularly and will follow anyone in return who is not a spambot and who behaves in a civil manner. Let me know what your interests are, and I’ll try to introduce you to other Twitterers who share those interests.

What are some of the “unwritten rules”?

• You gotta “tweet”! If you don’t interact with the people who are following you, they’ll figure that you aren’t on the system any more and they’ll drop you. Get to know people, say hello or good morning, remember who they are and ask them about things that they are interested in. Check your direct messages and your “replies” tab regularly.
• Don’t “spam.” People do converse about what is going on in their workplace, and about products, services, or intellectual property that they or their company are offering, and that’s generally okay. But people will block Twitterers who spew out blatant sales pitches or advertisements. By the same token, feel free to block and/or report any user that appears to be a “spambot” or is abusing the system.
• It’s okay to send links to interesting news stories or blog posts, whether on your blog or someone else’s. Twitter uses Tiny URL to convert long URLs to shorter ones. This allows the link to fit into a short text message, but the downside is that other Twitterers won’t be able to see where the link is going until they click on it. So be sure that your message includes a few words explaining what the link is all about. If you want people to visit your blog, tell them what you posted there!
• Don’t be shy about inviting people! There are some prominent Twitterers, including media people, politicians, campaign managers, well-known bloggers, and tech industry innovators. Go ahead and follow them; many of them will follow you back, and some will converse with you if you have something to say with regard to their areas of interest.
• Controversial topics are not off-limits. This may surprise you, but prominent Twitterers generally will not flame you or drop you just because you expressed a point of view that they don’t happen to agree with. It’s true that Silicon Valley and media people have a reputation for being left-wing, but some of them are willing to hear other points of view, if expressed in a civil manner. If you speak your mind, and back up your statements with verifiable facts and logic, a few people will drop you, but a far greater number will begin following you!

Anything else that would be helpful to know?

Tech tip: Did you know that you can claim your Twitter account as a blog on Technorati?
It’s very easy to do. It will make your tweets searchable and it will give you more of a presence on Technorati. After you do this, be sure to ping your blog(s) on Technorati regularly to keep Technorati up to date.

Also see:

• Twitter FAQ
• Twitter Fan Wiki (highly recommended by Twitterer Thiothixene)
• Top 10 Twitter Apps from Readwriteweb
• Twitter vs. Pownce – Comparison with Rolling Updates
• Paper: Why We Twitter (hat tip to Twitterer Jeff Quinton)
• Updated: Two MORE Takes on Twitter
• Why Bloggers Need to Ping
• In Disasters, Everyone, Not Just Bloggers, Should Use Twitter

Also on FHK

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Last week, FHK took advantage of Techrigy’s offer to try its new SM2 beta.

SM2 was specifically developed to assist corporations track and record internal and external communications through blogs and wiki’s. Techrigy has worked extensively to develop software to help the enterprise monitor compliance with various laws and industry best practices in terms of proprietary information and protecting the company reputation.

The product, however, as Adam Steinberg (“Technology Evangelist“) demonstrated, has potential for managing any type of social media, and may also be useful to any public relations enterprise seeking to track information that is being disseminated via blogs and wikis.

The blogosphere is becoming one key tool in the election campaigns for presidential hopefuls such as Fred Thompson, Ron Paul, and Al Gore, and since 9/11, has been a venu for alternate political news on both sides of the political spectrum, such as Little Green Footballs, and the DailyKOS.

SM2 is a custom aggregator which can sort information from blogs and wikis on any particular topics using a combination of search criteria. A regular news aggregator will search for news based on a search term or list of terms. Techrigy, however, allows the client to use a combination of search commands like name, key campaign issues, privacy violations, and fund-raising. The searches can be set to alarm the client if key events (aka “violations”) occur, or can be done on a pre-scheduled time-table.

SM2 also monitors for liability or other confidential information leakage risks with automatic keyword searches designed to specifically target compliance issues. The keywords searched for are customizable and can be adapted to each company’s particular concerns.

It’s very user-friendly, and gives results in near real-time. Techrigy is offering free demonstrations of the new SM2 beta, and is requesting feedback about how the product can be developed to meet potential client needs. I encourage anyone who is involved in public relations in the blogosphere to take a look.

Also on FHK

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Looking for the next big thing? We Web 2.0 aficionados hear about the latest and greatest social web applications every day, but each one seems to be described in terms of its competition. Each fledgling “killer app” entering the field is touted as the next “Digg killer” or “Twitter killer” or “Facebook killer.” But here’s an application, still in beta test, whose purpose differs enough from what’s already out there to warrant being considered on its own merits.

What makes Gleamd so different? Let’s start with what Gleamd isn’t. Unlike other fixtures of the social web, gleamd isn’t primarily about its own user base. In other words, if you’re a Gleamd user, it isn’t about wowing everybody with your own multimedia talents, your eye for cool websites, or your nose for news scoops. It isn’t primarily about making business or personal connections with other users, even though you certainly may meet like-minded fellow users on the system.

Then what is Gleamd all about? It’s about promoting other people whom you find interesting and worthy of notice. This can include anyone other than yourself who has at least some presence on the Web, and merits more attention than he or she has received thus far. The media superstars and A-list bloggers already have their ways of reaching the public – this is about promoting lesser-known people who may be more deserving.

Who’s behind gleamd? Let’s hear from developer Matt McInerney, a/k/a mattmc on Twitter, who also runs graphic design website and blog Pixelspread, Twitter sci-fi novella ZombieAttack, among other things:

Right now I’m the only person working on Gleamd. It was my idea that I decided to put together and get out in the world. I created it basically because it was a resource I wanted to use myself. We’ve been featured in a lot of blogs so far, and I hear a lot about “popularity contests”, but to be honest, I really think the site is proving to be more than that. First of all, it’s definitely not HotOrNot 2.0. I wanted to create a meritocracy, so submitted people are going to be judged on their accomplishments. Of course there are the web celebs like Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose that are bound to be submitted, but I’ve been pleased to see that the A listers don’t dominate the popular list all the time. The way we calculate the recently popular, which is based on votes just from that day, new and interesting submissions have been given a chance to rise to the top.

I’ve seen comparisons of Gleamd to people search engines like Spock, but I think we differ by giving our users something to look at. Spock is great if you know what you’re looking for, but you aren’t just going to Spock and find interesting people you haven’t heard of without doing a lot of digging around. Gleamd solves that problem pretty quickly by letting users put in their two cents.

Comparing to other social media or social networks, I don’t think we’re competing with places like MySpace, Facebook, or VIRB. We’re not trying to replace your favorite social networks at all. We’re trying to give you the opportunity to find interesting people and maybe even make connections you would have never made otherwise. Maybe you’ll find someone cool on Gleamd, find them on VIRB, and go add them. Who knows. So while we have profiles and friends on Gleamd, they are kind of minimal, and definetly not the focus of the site.

So how can I get involved? If you want to join the private beta, stop by Gleamd and leave a message for Matt. Gleamd still in the private-beta stage only because it’s very new, not because Matt wants to exclude anybody. He’s eager for more users who want to participate actively and give the system a good workout, so don’t be shy!

Now what? As soon as you get a user ID, you can start inviting buddies (like-minded fellow users on Gleamd), and you can begin submitting biographical information about what Matt calls “interesting people doing interesting things on the Web.” Go ahead and submit some people who aren’t already well known, such as interesting people you know from other social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, YouTube…you name it.

You don’t need to be an experienced writer or blogger yourself to participate; it’s perfectly fine to put in a few words of your own about why the person is cool, and link to other sites such as Wikipedia or your subject’s own blog to round out the details. If you enter a website or email address, the Gleamd editor will automatically post it as a link. Then check one or more category boxes that apply to your subject (e.g., Artist, Athlete, Entrepreneur, Vlogger) and submit the bio. If you realize that you’ve made a typo or have forgotten to check a box, not to worry; you can edit your own submissions later.

What keeps Gleamd from being infested with spammers, self-promoters, and other Web 2.0 bad actors? Matt has explained that Gleamd already provides some safeguards:

• Gleamd has a team of moderators. They don’t intervene to promote or block bios according to their own tastes, but they do weed out the clowns who are spamming fake Viagra or pimping the latest penny-stock scam. Unlike Digg, the moderators at Gleamd are actual, identifiable human beings! You can notify Matt himself or the moderators if you notice somebody abusing the system.
• Gleamd automatically checks for duplicate submissions.
• Gleamd users are allowed to make only one submission every thirty minutes. This hampers the unwanted activities of spambots and pay-per-submission promoters.
• Gleamd discourages users from submitting themselves. In my opinion, this is a good idea, though I have no personal knowledge about how strictly this is enforced.

What would I like to see in the new Gleamd user interface? I’d like to see more robust searching and filtering, perhaps on geographical keys, as well as the ability to see what your buddies have submitted and voted on. That way, when Gleamd scales up to handle a larger user base, each user will have the tools to navigate to the biographical pages that match that user’s interests.

What’s coming next? Gleamd has attracted some investors, so a new user interface is in the offing. There’s also a brand-new Gleamd wiki, where beta test participants can leave comments and suggestions. So if you join the beta test and you think something is missing or needs to be tweaked, go for it!

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The goal of the FHK project is to assist politically-conservative bloggers, social-networkers, and citizen journalists to navigate the wild, wild world of Web 2.0 more effectively.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Ft. Hard Knox Project, here are the links:

• Ft. Hard Knox Main Page and Blog
• Ft. Hard Knox Discussion Forum
• Ft. Hard Knox Discussion Forum Chat
• Ft. Hard Knox Wiki

“Wiki…What?” A Wiki is a user-supported and continuously-evolving hypertext encyclopedia. Thus, by definition, a Wiki is always “under construction.” The Ft. Hard Knox Wiki has recently been established within the Wikispaces environment, and it already has some useful articles. Its purpose is to offer an easy way to access tech tips and information, to help conservatives use the Web more effectively.

Using the FHK Forum and Chat Room:

The Ft. Hard Knox forum is hosted on Delphi, so you’ll need to register for a Delphi user ID if you don’t already have one. Registration for the basic functions is free, and that’s all you need to leave messages on the forum or to use the chat room. Prompts will appear when you click on the link. It takes just a minute to sign up!

Updated 7/17/07:

Meet with us on Twitter!

• The Monday night FHK forum chat has been discontinued for now. That’s because it’s too difficult to get everybody in different time zones all over the world to meet at the same time, especially in the summer when so many people are traveling.
• Instead, we’re encouraging fellow conservatives and antijihadist activists to meet with us on Twitter. You can use Twitter both in “real time” for chatting with people who are online at the same time, and as a forum for communicating with people who will be online at other times.
• Click here to view all of our articles about Twitter. We’ll have many more articles about Twitter in the future!
• So how do I get started on Twitter? The easiest way is to ask an established user to introduce you to other Twitterers. Whom to ask? Me, of course! Don’t be shy. Just go to the Twitter site, register an account, click on my profile at 1389, and add me as a friend. I’ll “friend” you back soon afterward. Then send me a message introducing yourself, and I’ll begin introducing you to others. I hope to see you there soon!

Updated 7/2/07:

• We’ll be discussing the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki during tonight’s Forum Chat, so please stop by if you’d like to know more, or if you think you might be interested in working with us!

Updated 6/26/07:

• The main page and blog for the Ft. Hard Knox project have moved to a new address, http://forthardknox.com/
• From the new URL, the Ft. Hard Knox blog can be accessed via a cellphone or PDA browser as well as from a conventional browser.

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TinyURL for this blog post: http://tinyurl.com/yo8og9

For quite a while, I’ve been keeping a separate “scratch pad” blog, called 1389 Message Blog. Throughout the day, I post various links, along with comments and messages, sometimes through the blog editor, but mostly by cell phone. I use this later on as raw materials for other writing that I do, including articles on 1389 Blog, the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki, and other places.

Well…I finally realized that I am not going to get around to using all of this material myself, so I’ve decided to open it up to public viewing.

Please don’t expect anything fancy! I treat 1389 Message Blog as a workspace, so it’s always “under construction.” The posts that come directly from my cell phone might not have titles or tags. If I happen to be testing something new, I might change or delete a blog post. If I’ve used the material in an article, I may move everything to another blog or to a Wiki page and link to the new article from the post in 1389 Message Blog, so that I don’t have to update it in two places.

Thus, if you find a link on 1389 Message Blog to something interesting that you want to do some serious writing about, I suggest that you link directly to the source, not to the post in 1389 Message Blog.

Here’s the 1389 Message Blog feed.

Other 1389 Message Blog features:

• Both 1389 Mobile Blog and 1389 Message Blog are on Technorati. However, individual posts on 1389 Message Blog are not tagged or labeled by subject matter. In fact, the subject matter on that blog can be literally anything at all!
• Comments on 1389 Message Blog are open, so feel free to communicate!

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FHK members and staff had the pleasure of interviewing Adam Steinberg, a “Technology Evangelist,” with Techrigy at this week’s Monday-night conference. FHK’s WikiTek, AJ, led the interview, and Adam shared his knowledge and opinions of using wikis as a social networking tool online and in the enterprise, of the future of social networking, and of Techrigy’s exciting new SM2 product, a risk-management tool for social media, which is set to launch at the end of July.

The interview, conducted in chat-room format, has been edited by FHK for length, and clarity.

Social Networking and the Enterprise

FHK: OK…let’s start out with the biggie. We’re looking at a huge boom in social networking for personal use, and to some extent for small businesses. What’s the state of social networking in the enterprise, both within the enterprise, and for reaching out beyond it?

Adam: Well, I think it’s definitely still early for social networking in the enterprise. We’ve been seeing some early adopters, namely the IBM’s of the world. “Social networking” was certainly a buzz word at the Enterprise 2.0 conference a few weeks ago.

FHK: IBM has been using internal e-mail for decades, and extended it to their customers a long time back.

Adam: But, I still think a few F1000 companies think of MySpace when it comes to social networking, so I still think it’s about 12-18 months from hitting mainstream in the enterprise. But we’re certainly seeing action outside the enterprise. It’s certainly growing fast. LinkedIn is huge, of course, and we’re seeing Facebook really becoming a professional network as students graduate from college and enter the work force.

FHK: Is LinkedIn used mostly for recruitment or for other purposes as well?

Adam: Yes, recruitment, but also finding old connections, as I’ve used it, as well as looking for potential startup partners.

FHK: Such as sharing expertise?

Adam: Exactly, and for recommendations as well…However, it’s fallen behind Facebook, and they’ve just announced they’ll open up their platform, similar to what Facebook just did.

FHK: Why do you suppose that is?

Adam: I’d say they just became stagnant. They owned a niche of professionals until very recently, but Facebook is just innovating twice as fast as anyone else. As younger Facebook users migrate to the workplace, they aren’t going to leave their network behind.

FHK: Do you notice a phenomenon of people networking in one venue, and then moving on, en masse, to the next thing that looks more exciting?

Adam: Sure, as better technologies and networks come along; there is usually a cycle of early adopters and then rapid acceptance, as long as the technology is worth switching. I don’t think you see too many people switching from MySpace to Facebook. I think you see many people, when deciding which network to join, picking Facebook instead of MySpace, now, whereas two years ago, MySpace was the leader

FHK: Our impression is that MySpace is more for the entertainment world, especially music, and fans of specific bands.

Adam: I think you are right, especially now. Previously, Facebook limited its users to college students. They opened it up to anyone last year, and now we see high school students joining Facebook instead of MySpace. It’s really quite phenomenal.

FHK: Well, yes…there’s a prestige factor for HS kids to join with their college soon-to-be peers.

Adam: Yes, that’s certainly part of it

FHK: Where do you see Wikis fitting into the social networking trends: particularly specialized wikis, other than the 900-pound gorilla, Wikipedia itself?

Adam: I think wikis are really going to be huge in the next twelve months. We’re going to see wikis take off just as blogs have, especially within the enterprise. When we first started indexing wikis on WikiTag, we’d search for random keywords reflecting hobbies of ours, and we’d be amazed at the wiki communities that popped up. These were strong communities, with strong knowledge bases around the most obscure topics, so it really seems like there is something for everyone in the wiki world.

FHK: Examples?

Adam: Well, one of the most memorable is Wookieepedia.

FHK: Star Wars in general, or just Chewbacca?

Adam: From what I recall, it’s the complete star wars universe, which isn’t the most obscure interest in the world, but it’s amazing to see the number of users, and how devoted they are to these communities. These communities have existed for years.

Techrigy’s SM2

FHK: What about wikis for software support, wikis for systems support in an organization, customer service wikis…less exciting, perhaps, but more practical (maybe).

Adam: Those are really taking off as well, and I think they’re equally exciting. Just at Techrigy, we’re using multiple wikis with a staff of about 12 people. We’re seeing IBM’s of the world with thousands of wikis.

FHK: What do you think of opening up the support wikis to the customer base, to allow customers and clients to contribute their knowledge?

Adam: Oh I think it’s outstanding. Practically every medium to large size company uses wikis, or wants to use wikis. Its a perfect way to communicate and collaborate with customers.

FHK: What are the steps for getting started with a wiki in the corporate world?

Adam: Well, there are really a number of different platforms. SharePoint really seems to be taking off; they have a nice platform. There are other strong players as well – Socialtext, TWiki.

FHK: What do you think about Wikispaces?

Adam: Wikispaces is a great option as well – in fact, I just spoke with a manager from SourceForge today, who mentioned that they’ve integrated Wikispaces. Honestly, there are many great options. The harder part, sometimes, is convincing management to let employees use wikis and social media.

FHK: What are their objections?

Adam: Well, if hundreds or thousands of employees are using wikis or blogs, how do managers keep track of who is saying what in terms of the corporate image, correctness of information about company products and services, etc.? There are a lot of risks associated with letting thousands of people communicate, especially if the wiki is public and open to customers.

FHK: There are security issues to think about, too.

Adam: Sure, but beyond that: liabilities, defamation, Sarbanes-Oxley, the list goes on. It’s really email to the next level. That’s probably been the biggest obstacle to adoption, not so much technical, but just on an overall compliance level.

FHK: And that’s what your new product is designed to remedy?

Adam: Yes, SM2 is a risk management tool for social media.

FHK: What about the issue of how to get started…I don’t mean choice of platform, but of how to structure the project, how to structure the Wiki itself in terms of what to cover. Does your product address those issues as well…allowing the management to set the theme?

Adam: SM2 helps management know who’s using social media, what they’re saying, and if they are creating liabilities. It’s really a tool to help management become comfortable with these media, because people are going to use them whether management gives the okay or not. If the CEO says no, the employees will just blog from home.

FHK: Are there tools for validating information that is put into the wiki?

Adam: We actually don’t address this, as we aren’t part of the wiki or blogging package. We’re more of a monitoring layer on top of the content. I think that would be setup on the IT level, in accordance with company policy, etc., although we can do some monitoring to verify this.

FHK: What kind of reports does your software generate?

Adam: SM2 will provide real-time notifications of compliance violations. For instance, if you wanted to know anytime someone posted a SSN, or anytime someone used a curse word on the company wikis, or anytime someone blogging from home started bad-mouthing the company. There are an infinite number of rules that an organization can create within SM2, which does come loaded with a base set of policies.

FHK: What about making sure that valid customer complaints are being addressed?

Adam: Hmm, that’s an interesting angle we haven’t really thought about; we’ve been more concerned with compliance and risk-management, but that’s an interesting angle.

FHK: SM2…it covers more than Wikis then?

Adam: Yes, it does blogs, as well. Blogs are probably the bigger risk, especially away from the work place.

FHK: What you’re talking about, with the blogs, sounds more like organizational reputation management.

Adam: Yes, that’s almost exactly it. We do a few other things with compliance, namely record retention, but I think you hit the nail on the head.

FHK: What would you like our community to know about your SM2 product, Adam?

Adam: Really, we’re just hoping to help speed up the adoption process of these social media by addressing some of the concerns organizations have with these media…Not the right to control what people are saying, but to know what people are saying.

FHK: Would your software be helpful for political campaigns, activist groups, and the like?

Adam: Absolutely. How does a campaign manager know what people are saying in the blogosphere, particularly staffers?

FHK: Right now, they’re using Google Alerts, or something similar. Some of the liberal candidates have had embarrassing experiences with blogging misbehavior on the part of their staffers.

Adam: I was just thinking of that…SM2 would have been helpful in that situation.

FHK: What about chat room behavior that may be traced back to individuals?

Adam: SM2 doesn’t address that directly; I think there are other IM compliance packages that do address this behavior. IM is another huge risk for organizations.

What to do with Wikis

FHK: Adam, back to your experience in working with Wikis, Do you have suggestions for making wikis more searchable online?

Adam: Use WikiTag!

FHK: We have signed up for WikiTag, but tell us more about it for the benefit of our readers.

Adam: Well, WikiTag actually started out as just a side project, but we’ve seen a real need for it. We’re hoping to work with all of the wiki farms and start indexing their content, allowing users to tag those wikis, obviously, to make them more searchable. That combination of indexing and tagging would be a nice start. As I mentioned, there are so many small gems out there in the wiki community, that we really need a way for people to be able to find these wikis and connect with others.

FHK: How does a wiki organizer go about using WikiTag to tag their wiki?

Adam: Just go to http://www.wikitag.us/. Click o the “share a wiki” link, and then register your wiki. You can tag it with keywords describing that wiki as well; then, anyone will be able to search and find your wiki. If your wiki has already been registered, you can add additional keyword tags by doing the same process.

FHK: Do you tag specific pages within the wiki?

Adam: Right now, the technology doesn’t limit that, but we’re encouraging people to just tag the landing pages of each wiki so that people have a nice directory of wikis, and we don’t get overrun with thousands of redundant pages.

FHK: Do you think your policy management software could be applied by the Pentagon for milblogging-control purposes?

Adam: I definitely think so. It’s a perfect application for SM2, and it’s a shame that the military doesn’t allow our soldiers to communicate from abroad via social media. Certainly, there are security concerns, but hopefully a policy can be created that will address those, and maybe SM2 will even play a role.

FHK: Are you talking about potentially using the technology for security/surveillance?

Adam: Well, more for monitoring information flow.

Contacting Adam, and Techrigy

FHK: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know, Adam?

Adam: For those that might want to implement social media, particularly in an organization, I encourage you to head over to http://www.techrigy.com/ and check out our white papers – we have a nice library of information there about social media. I’ll also be glad to help anyone anyway I can – feel free to contact me at adam@techrigy.com

Also posted on the Ft. Hard Knox Blog.

Follow-up: Post on Adam’s new blog, Techrigy

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Why do some people look askance at Wikis in general, and at Wikipedia, the 800-pound gorilla of the Wiki world, in particular? This project page, entitled Wikipedia: Lamest edit wars, reveals the human frailties that tend to weaken the credibility of what should be a valuable social media tool.

Free and open debate is a vital part of the search for truth, but is that what we’re seeing here? When it comes to certain hot-button issues, the search for truth among the Wikipedia community (such as it is) degenerates into a welter of animosity, politicking, ego-tripping, spin-doctoring, and ad hominem arguments. Evidently, the Wikipedians who wrote this project page saw no alternative but to give up on the possibility of making any further progress toward resolving these issues. Instead, they labeled these edit wars “lame,” characterized all of the participants as equally unreasonable and contemptible, and held the entire process up to ridicule.

The character flaws that give rise to such ugly disputes are, sadly, part of the human condition. All too often, they are encountered not only among independent researchers, but also among those in academia, government, and the corporate world. But it’s a matter of degree. In cyberspace, without traditions or established systems in place for resolving such things in a civil manner, incivility often runs rampant under cover of anonymity, and the interaction readily devolves into a flame war.

The problem is that incivility erodes credibility. Discussion and debate have a vital place in the process of building and supporting a wiki. But honest debate has nothing to do with bullying, manipulation, or spin-doctoring. Nor is there any room for the mistaken concept that truth can be arrived at simply by putting the matter up to a vote! For the wiki to earn the respect of the public, this debate must be conducted with respect for the other participants, for the readership, and, most of all, for the truth.

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Sooner or later, every forum moderator, blogger, blog admin, wiki organizer, or Web 2.0 aficionado will have to confront the issue of comment spammers. There are no easy answers. Posting a comment policy statement, such as that shown under the About page tab, may help to discourage human-generated spam, but ‘bot-generated spam will require other measures.

Here are some articles on the topic that may be helpful:

• Bloggers Declare War on Comment Spam, but Can They Win?
• Comment Spammers: Internet Pigs
• Spamming Social Networks is a No-No

Sometimes, though, the bloggers and webmasters themselves are to blame for degrading the quality of the blogosphere:

• Content Hypertext Spam

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Fellow blogger Ron Goodwyne introduces this new blog:

The project is called Ft. Hard Knox and you can find it at www.FortHardKnox.com. Of course you’ll find excellent conservative commentary and opinion there but that is not its primary purpose. It is designed to combine blogging, wikkis and message boards in one platform to involve people who are not necessarily web savvy.

Some of the authors on 1389 Mobile Blog will be helping out at Ft. Hard Knox as well.

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