Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Rob Kall and OEN ban dissenters and truthers


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posted by Laudyms

Rob Kall sent out a special email to just some OEN members:

 

Cleaning up OEN and Changing OEN Policy on Edge Topics

Most progressive sites refuse to cover 911 truth and more exotic topics, like UFOs, NWO and conspiracy theories.  OEN has covered them and it has brought some problems, particularly a crew of unpleasant, negative commenters who attack just about every article published, particularly ones by higher visibility writers. We've decided to clean things up, so we're cracking down on this crew,  holding firmer to rules aganst spamming articles and personal attacks and name calling. The goal is to maintain our open forum for discourse-- a forum that this small group has effectively intimidated and turned off.

That WILL mean some of those spamming, name calling commenters will lose posting privileges to the site (be banned) or lose commenting privileges. We expect that the net result will be a community where the widest range of topics and opinions will be discussed in a civil manner. We're sure that this small group will holler about censorship. They will be free to angrily post their words elsewhere. 

We plan to continue publishing solid, well documented and supported articles on all subjects. If the focus is on edgy topics like 911 Truth, UFOs, NWO, JFK or other conspiracy theories, the articles, upon passing the test of new material and documented claims, will be posted to our EDGES hot page

This is a decision that the OEN senior  team has struggled with at length. We believe it is the right thing to do to move OEN in the direction we want it to go-- towards continuing to be a trusted, respected media site/ community blog where progressive ideas and visions are explored in a respectful tough minded way, and where progressive ideas reach political and thought leaders, so our writers not only get their ideas out, but also reach, influence and make a difference. 

I'm taking yesterday's coverage of OEN by the NY Times  as a portent that we are on the right path.

I hope you'll take all this news as an encouragement to post your articles, diaries, polls and comments to the site, or, to go further and take the step of committing to become a volunteer for the site.

Cordially,  >

12 comments:

  1. Evidently I'm thick skinned, or just not PC enough, because I haven't seen any of the problems Rob refers to.

    The banning, the late notice to the admin group, the omission of notice at all to regular members and readers....Perhaps it is all a sign of "growing pains."

    If OEN becomes mainstream enough, it is also likely they will grow more tepid and stop questioning authority. At least that is how it usually goes.

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  2. laudyms~

    what does it mean in a society that bans dissent, strong language and critical thought. Yet we will invade and kill indiscriminately, torture and then a present soft, nice verbal veneer over it?

    What hipocrites we have allowed to rule the correctness of our world. I am nauseous every day I hear them speak.

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  3. Ha! I got that e-mail this morning & thought it was pretty funny for a number of t. reasons. First, most of you guys were paying contributors so Rob's shooting his own foot. Also, with the exception of a couple of whack jobs like Jason & that GI Joe Murphy dude, there weren't too many other contributors that I noticed. Consequently, y'all made up the bulk of the posters. Who's gonna comment now?

    I actually think it's very sad that it's come to that. He essentially doesn't want anybody disagreeing with his opinions so it's more than censorship, it's also control.

    This could very well be a case of 'careful what you wish for.' I'm heading over there later see what's happening.

    BTW, did you get my request to add Stanimal to the list? If you don't have his contact info, e-mail me & I'll provide it to you.

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  4. laudyms:

    I like your Av. Looks like Rob Kall is squeezing yer nuts...ha ha!

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  5. I haven't been banned yet...if that's what you are refering to. (Not something to be proud of.) I have emailed him and another editor about my concerns tho. According to him, " A few members routinely spam articles with irrelevant comments Or they call people who disagree with them names" so they were banned.

    The article by Tradesman at OEN announcing the banning has been marginalized into a Diary. The fact that no announcement at all has been made to regular readers and posters!!! and the lame explanation I got from Rob make me very uncomfortable. Looks like OEN has been co-opted.

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  6. "He essentially doesn’t want anybody disagreeing with his opinions so it’s more than censorship, it’s also control."

    funny you should say that...

    Did you ever take a look at the links Rob put up in his bio that show up on everything he wrote? Take a look next time...

    this is from his bio:

    "He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon..."

    StoryCon is basically a conference (Rob sold the cds for $99 a pop) where people talk about how to create, manipulate, and sell "story' - and by that they mean, how to spin the facts to fit whatever purpose you require.

    Headings of the seminars are like:

    "Using Story As A Business Tool"
    "Stories that can change the world"
    "The Seven Realities of True Myths"
    "Strategy and Story"


    on that site he has testimonials...

    "This set of presentations is a wonderfully comprehensive overview of the role of storytelling in the world today. It would be impossible to find this material anywhere else."

    Steve Denning, former world Bank, Exec, expert in use of story in business and knowledge management

    (I suppose he is trying to insinuate that Steve is from the World Bank and not just A world Bank...)

    "Courageous!! Very organized, holistic, broad based, and yet integrated and full focused."

    L. Feingold, corporate and government story consultant

    A "government story consultant" is pleased with Rob's product.

    Rob is getting paid now for doing his part in helping to "manage the "story" of our dissent.".

    It's called Gatekeeping and OpEd is no better than TP, HuffPo, MoveOn, DU, ADS, and the many many others.

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  7. skiidogs--tradesman--i am still the same guy=wouldnt let me keep my tradesman handle so went with skiidogs---
    ITS shame about oen--ya rob has stars in his eyes---sister is right --we are contributors--with money and comment---its a shame to when editors edit truth---all i ever saw at oen was a respect for life from coto members and others who do not like to be lied to and donot want to succumb to certain lies given to us by our government --tradesman

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  8. Hey Wily! Who were you on oped?

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  9. Hell, I dissed the Noow Yawk Times a number of times. You know the Valerie Plame thing, Iraq war, the attempted coup in Venezuala.

    Maybe that is what got me banned.

    LOLOL

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  10. hi everyone:-) i have come to join the merry band. i found out I too am banned..when I went to comment.
    I guess he did,nt like me buzzing that lame reason for banning folks?
    or my comment about NYT influence.?
    or my comment on tradesmans diary..

    I am amicus curiae on my own blog elsewhere, so hence the change..(however i dont like it,..fast name to get the blog up. anyone tell me if? I can change the name??)Not wordpress savvy)
    I wonder if R Wager will find me here, snigger chuckle.
    I submitted an article dissing the Aus govt for doing deals with Dow, they refused it 2x.
    definitely some buttkissing going on at oped.
    thanks patrick and everyone for keeping a good thing going, I hope I too, can contribute things of worth:-)

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  11. ozspeaksup/Amicus: I'm a cybermoron but the instructions do tell you that once you adopt a name, you can't change it. I made a similar mistake when I signed up and couldn't fix it either.

    Perhaps you can scrap this account and re-sign with the new name? That was my plan. Maybe someone else who is savvy can offer you more help.

    Welcome!

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  12. Rob is a CIA/Centcom shill. Most of his senior editors, some of his writers and many of his commentors are Centcom shills. I would not rely on OEN to tell me what season of the year it is...

    http://olivebiodiesel.com#BOTTOM

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