Site Update - I’ll Pull Off Keeping Comments, Somehow
The reaction that I have received about the site has been overwhelming. I’ll tell you what, I will make sure that commenting on the new site is still a feature. I’ll find a way, no worries. The last thing in the world that I would ever do is ask anyone to pay to read what I write, and while I’m flattered that some have suggested that as a solution, it’s not something that I would ever contemplate. No one should have to pay for access to information, to be a part of a broader discussion regarding what is transpiring in the world, their country, or their community. So I’ll find a way to make it happen.
Anyway, Roy sent me this video yesterday which is worth a look. While economic analyst Max Keiser is a little over the top at the beginning of the interview, make sure to watch all of it, as what he has to say is extremely important.
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October 10th, 2008 at 11:19 am
In terms of comments, one thing I think that could be helpful, instead of having to moderate the comments, is maybe putting a “report offensive content” link with each comments. That way, users can help out by reporting offensive content, and you don’t have to babysit a comment moderation queue. Then again, the potential for it to be abused is also there as well, but it could be a possibility.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:33 am
@Shane - There’s already a link to “Report” below your name. I would think that should be sufficient. ;-)
October 10th, 2008 at 11:38 am
This site is a high traffic website but perhaps you could stick with Wordpress while finding yourself a cheaper host? It would make the designing process a lot easier. I have a Wordpress blog and the only thing I pay is the yearly $10.00 fee for the domain name; I found myself a free web host.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I totally knew about the “report” link, I swear!
October 10th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Glad to hear about the comments sticking around in some form or another.
That’s an interesting video. My beef with a lot of these tele-economists is that they’re so over-the-top that people don’t listen to them, regardless of how accurate their statements actually are. In one of my classes an economist came in who did an excellent job teaching everyone about the banking system and the stock exchange and didn’t resort to flinging his arms around or using crazy sound effects every five seconds. Thanks for the link though, it was an interesting watch.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
What’s the news source of this report? I see the news anchor’s location is Tehran? All I see is ‘News’. This could pass off as a BBC report if one was not paying attention.
An English news show out of Tehran…hmmm?
October 10th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
This is just like when Elizabeth May got into the leaders’ debate! Sometimes making a fuss works. :P
Extremely happy, to say the least. Thanks man. We loves us our MG.org Community. (I know you said you don’t want to get into strangers moderating comments, but some of the regulars around here are pretty sharp. You’d only need a handful. It’s how the Leonard Cohen forum works.)
Will watch the vid later. Already wasted enough time this morning composing a belligerent e-mail (*cough*).
October 10th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
hurrah!! :D
October 10th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
:D
October 10th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Somebody tell me that committment won’t pay…
October 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Thanks for posting the video. Every little bit helps. However, I’m still confused as Hell.
What I DON’T know:
- What the fuck is going on with the stock markets
- I’m living at home and making regular contributions - how scared should I really be?
What I DO know:
- I just started a small mutual fund to help me save the money I’m not using to operate a car.
- I just took out a small lone for something really trivial, (don’t ask, but my self-esteem is already thanking me) but in the end is helping me get new mutual fund savings account off the ground and will allow me to save so I can move next year to a city that no doubt has a higher cost of living than what I’ll ever experience living in Sarnhole.
- Every single investment I’ve made in the past year or so has been as minimal as possible because I don’t have a full picture as to what I’m like as a spender and I don’t want to take chances
- I’m an artist, not an accountant and I’m heavily relying on the information given to me by my adviser
- Even though I still pay some kind of attention to the stories they’re reporting, TV news is generally sensationalized
- I’m waking up every morning to the TV letting me know the world is in some kind of panic.
- My particular financial establishment has get to be named dropped on the news
- I was doing just fine until last week or whenever the world realized it was going up shit creek without a paddle - and to be quite honest, I’m still doing just fine even though the world is still going up shit creek.
Do you know of any particular sites that are excellent for explaining what’s going on in very basic terms for those of us who are truly clueless?
October 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Erm, does that mean, we are all going to be kicked out of your facebook again? *Rotfl* That’s worth it…
October 10th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
What I also know:
- “Loan” as in a bank loan is spelled L-O-A-N and not L-O-N-E
- I’m a dork
October 10th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I am glad that you decided to keep the comments section. I think without the comment section your email would be full all the time, we, your fans, have lots to say and love to read what others are thinking too :)
October 10th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Ha Ha!
Glad to hear it! The community thanks you, but also understands that a site downgrade may be in the future. We’re greedy Matt, but even we know that you get to have a life too!
October 10th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
And since we all get to stay…… COULD SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW TO USE THE QUOTE FUNCTION SO WE ALL QUIT QUOTING OURSELVES!!!!!!
Thank!
October 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I was so happy to hear about the ….sniff…excuse me I must have got something in my eye….comments being kept that I did a jig - music courtesy of the boys across the road at the 98 Saloon. That’s me a minute or so in to the video by the gas pumps with the hat - doing the ‘Whitehorse shuffle”: Thanks for putting yourself out - again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tqxzWdKKu8
October 10th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Quoting Emily: “I’m living at home and making regular contributions - how scared should I really be?”
I don’t know the answer to that at all, but I just did what I swore I wasn’t going to do anytime soon and actually checked my RRSP and investment statements; it was not good times. Really, really not good times. Especially considering they don’t even take into account the most recent nosedive. I am, however, continuing my contributions and just hoping that because time is on my side, I’ll somehow be okay. I generally think “ignorance is bliss” is a horrid way to live, but in this case, I really am happier not knowing because every time I hear another damn news report about how we’re headed towards the financial apocalypse, I just panic and want to hide under the bed. (While I still have a bed…)
October 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
k: That was just a silly assumption of mine. Of course I hope he will NOT kick us out ;D
October 10th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Matt, you have a heart the size of Texas !!
October 10th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Saweet! (about the comments that is)
As for comments, put an thumbs-up and thumbs-down besides each (like comments on youtube) and let us, the users, moderate them by hiding all comments that have more than say 5 thumbs-down or something.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Polarbear-Don’t you mean the size of BC? (Hee hee hee! So glad that we still all get to play together!)
October 10th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
People suggesting to pay fees to help maintaining a project of which they all benefit in the end, means living evidence for true democratic socialism being feasible ;)
October 10th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
reading these last three entries from top to bottom has left me feeling like i’ve been on some wild emotional roller coaster ride!
damn what a fantastic site and community :)
cheers all~
October 10th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
There are definately some good points in the interview. With regards to the right wing attempts to peg some, if not all of the blame on Bill Clinton, that is utterly ridiculous. This financial crisis is a direct result of two primary things:
1.) Gross over-consumption and exceedingly rapid economic expansion since the economic upturn following the 9/11 time period.
2.) Negligence on the part of the the banking system in general for loosening their lending practices which ultimately facilitated the over-consumption.
The U.S. mortgage crisis was simply a catalyst that finally tipped the global economic crisis over the edge. With rapid expansion in the Middle East, China and other developing countries were exceeding their capacity to borrow and capitalize on their new-found growth opportunities. As a result …hyper expansion, consumption and inflation. That is a recipe for financial disaster.
Regardless of anyone’s opinion regarding government intervention into the financial market, it is absolutely necessary. Is it socialist in nature…yes, and that scares the crap out of the right wing. Unfortunately they are so tunnel-visioned with their political, financial and social ideology they completely disregard reality and the potential impact of inaction. With that said, I am not for bailing out banks and rewarding them for their glutonous behaviour in the marketplace. It is like giving a 16 year old boy the keys to the Ferrari…of course they will take it out and wrap it around a pole. Well the banks got the keys and they did a fine job of crashing the economy into a brick wall.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Tuuli22- AGREED! It isn’t “paying for information” Matt, it’s contributing to a “community project” that we would all like to see continue and are willing to put our money where our mouth is (or in this case, typing fingers) I think there is a HUGE difference in “paying” for something vs “supporting” something.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
k: How did you manage to quote correctly?
October 10th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Tuuli22- I didn’t. I just typed your name in- I am still quote deficient. Gotta tell you, it’s driving me freaking insane that I can’t figure it out!!! Grrrr!
October 10th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Thanks Matt - we appreciate the hard work. For sure.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Hey Matt- Your site could still be free access for all information, just have a membership fee for those of us that wish to be part of the dialogue. People could still read and learn but if you wanna jump in the game, you have to support the team. Makes sense to me!
October 10th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Shit yes, now I see: you quoted polar bear but it had YOUR name above it instead of his/her.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Test?
October 10th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Nope. I don’t know how to make it work with the new setup. Just copy/paste and type the name, I’d say.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
aaawww… you da best!
I suppose by keeping the comments feature, you may possibly be able to avaoid being bombarded with a million comments on your facebook site…but who knows: You opened a flood gate buddy!! hehe
October 10th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Thanks Matt - that’s great news.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Emily,
I’ve talked to a couple Financial Planner and Stock Broker friends of mine and this is how I’m understanding what is going on.
Say you and 100 friends go to “The Future Shop” and all buy 42″ Plasma TVs and you all go with one of those financed, minimum monthly payment for 5 year plans. So you’re all each paying $25/month for your Plasma. The accounting for the Future Shop shows you and all your friends as an asset in the form of projected and expected earning. The Future Shop wants to build some more stores but because they don’t have your cash now, they go to the Bank and say “we need money to build and, look, we have this much money coming to us from our Plasma TV program” so the bank lends them some money. The bank now has accounting showing the Future Shop owing them a whole lot of money. They take this projected and expected earning and pass it up along the chain to someone else who sees it as an asset and at somewhere along the way someone uses this potential money to buy stocks on credit to put liquidity into the market. Now what also is happening is that the Future Shop, being publicly traded, puts up an annual report showing how much growth they’ve been able to achieve in the form of new buildings and plasma tv financing which makes it an attractive stock to buy for someone looking to invest in the short or medium term.
Here’s where the problem comes in.
Not only are you and all your 100 friends financing your Plasma TV but also your car, your mortgage, you took out a line of credit for house renovations, and took a trip on your credit card. So the Future Shop took a bit of a gamble that you and your friends could actually pay back on those TVs but you’re all living a financed life. So all that needs to happen is for all (or many) of you to default on your TV payment. All of a sudden The Future Shop can’t make it’s payments to the bank because it doesn’t have money coming in, the bank can’t pay it’s creditor for the same reason and all the way up to whoever it is that is holding the end credit in the market - they have borrowed assets they can’t pay for. As news of this travels back down the ladder, the person who invested in the stock market realizes that they overpaid for Future Shop Stock because earnings will be way below expectations, and they try to sell off their stock before they lose too much money. And down goes the spiral of people wanting out of inflated stock prices.
Ok,
So in my example I used The Future Shop, which for all I know, is doing fine - I just used it as an example.
In reality, it was cheaply financed mortgages that collapsed first. And it wasn’t 100 people buying $400 plasma TVs, It was millions of people buying $300 000 houses. The problem being, that, as in the example, they also bought TVs, Boats, vacations and racked up their credit cards. The mortgage payments were just the first things they couldn’t afford to pay when they hit the end of their credit.
Unfortunately, it will probably be the credit card industry that collapses next. Because all those people that foreclosed on their mortgages were forced to live off their credit cards paying off one with the other. The credit card companies use this as projected and expected income to inject money into the economy but really, the whole thing is built on a house of cards. As soon as a mass number of people hit the end of their credit cards, the economic melt down is going to intensify.
JM
October 10th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
IDEA if your reading MATT
We all want to support your efforts. Why don’t you put together a digital book of your most liked comments, add a song or two, a digital short movie or video, maybe some of your poetry and anything more of your creative life. Are you painting at all? Anyway, find a value then add $10 as a donation (maybe you should start a non-profit) to MatthewGood.org. I sure you would be surprised by the support.
We can help too by keeping direct emails down to very important ones and be very conservative to linking or just do not allow linking our pasting URL’s in comments.
Have a Statement of Understanding be accepted when you set up the new site and we all have to set up new accounts. Hopefully, our level of demanding more personal responsibility is on the rise after the last two weeks.
You know you have a lot of support as you’ve seen by the people that have volunteered to help. But something like MatthewGood.org needs to be guided by only one man, you.
Good Luck with the transition.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Yay yay yay yay yay! Thank you so much for keeping the comments, Matt. That means a lot to me, and to many other people, I’m sure. And I’d still be willing to pay a site fee if it comes down to it. I was getting so sad watching everyone say goodbye. This is the best thing that’s happened since Live @ Massey Hall was released on iTunes. :) You are so generous to your fan community!
And I know nothing official has been said about your facebook page, but if you need to defriend us all again it would be completely understandable. While it’s fun to have you as a facebook friend, I’d gladly trade that for blog privileges.
Will watch the vid once I get home from work (or once my coworkers go home–whichever comes first!). In the meantime, I’ll be riding my wave of elation over having the comments saved (omg I am so lame =P)
October 10th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Maybe the way I just quoted worked…
October 10th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
K- or happy feet :) Being from the states, that’s a common saying, but I think we can stretch that to include BC. LOL!!!
Savage- roller coaster ride indeed. :0
Ket- Your right. I think some of the regulars would make good Deputy Sheriffs
I think many of us felt in a way that we were losing our extended family. How about I break out with some Sister Sledge with that comment.. LOL!!!
Fuck, I got a headache, really !!
October 10th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Not only did it not work, but it treated the adition to the html as if it didn’t exist. Although I don’t know if adding “= “username”" into it was going ot work anyways.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
anyone watch that news clip? lol
October 10th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Michael, I will admit that no, I have not in fact watch the vid yet. :) I will at home- we are all just too busy frolicking with each other in celebration! We will put away our silly hats soon, I promise!
October 10th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Didn’t watch the news clip no.
One thing I’ve seen fly and sink on personal blogs is a paypal thing, like the online equivalent of a tip jar. I couldn’t agree more about information being free and about places where advertising shouldn’t and can’t exist but with a tip jar it sounds like there are a lot of people who wouldn’t mind chippin’ in and it might add up.
Newspapers and magazines don’t ask for tips no but the paperboy gets them and blogs do that, too - timely delivery, so yeah I wouldn’t find a tip jar at all tacky.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
*******I think that all of us from the community that Matt added as a fb friend should delete him NOW as a big fat thanks for the comments staying put.****
Defriend!
Delete!
And let the comments roll!
October 10th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Matt, where did this video originally come from?
October 10th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
How about….. we just don’t bug Matt. I added him on facebook and personally would like to keep him on as a friend… not to bug with silly little apps but instead as another avenue to a truly gifted artist.
How’s that work for people?
October 10th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
The video was very interesting. I don’t think that the economy has hit bottom yet before it gets better. There has to be some way to keep some of these financial institution honest in how they put some of the money that get to invest. It makes me so mad that for example AIG gets money from the bail out plan and the spend it on going to a very luxury hotel for there top executives and then they get more money after that, while other people are loosing there pension money to live.
Don’t look for it to get better anytime soon.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Maybe you could have the site two-tier. Free for everyone, regardless- but some special features for people who really want to pay to keep things running smoothly? I’m sure a lot of people would be all for that!
October 10th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Thanks for the explination! I hope you don’t mind me asking further about some of the stuff you just said…but what if you don’t have a morgage, and your credit card limit is high enough to pay bills during a month, but also low enough that at most, your debt can be paid off within two paychecks? (As I said, I’m a bit stingy with how I spend right now - the only reason my credit card limit is $1000 is because of my trip to England last year.) Am I going to be in trouble?
October 10th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I was concerned about whether I could comment or not….however, I did watch the news clip…
what a fucking disaster the economy is in.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I’m glad you decided to keep the comment section! Obviously if you decide it’s too much for you to do, then I’m not going to be all, “How dare you pull comments, we are so *entitled* to have them!” or any such silliness. But I do enjoy them. :)
Hey, I’ve even met a new friend or two on here! *waves to taro_twist*
October 11th, 2008 at 6:13 am
I have to say that I am not that much a friend of suggestions that would devide membership into ‘those who pay’ and ‘those who don’t’ and the degree to which people can make use of the site functions depending on exactly the payment issue.
Then I’d rather see an all voluntary fund for the benefit of the site project and everyone helping out within the scope of their financial resources.
October 11th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Matt, I do suggest a *donate* feature. Keep the money that will keep the site going. And then the rest donate to a worthy cause.
And frankly, your record company has no fucking clue how important this site is to the promotion of you as a artist. Yes the site is your blog, but at the same time, it also is a place that your *fans, friends and loved ones* actually get to *see* what it is your working on.
I would donate to you, greatly. And there is NO harm in having your fan base want to contribute to a noble cause. Especially when we all know, that you have a great bullshit detector and wouldn’t give a nickel to assholios who are just in it for the money.
And that was not meant as a pun, I swear!
October 11th, 2008 at 8:51 am
I agree with what the video person says, although he seems like a complete flake. The current bailout is not solving the root of the problem–their economic growth is built on deficit spending. To have a solid economy you need to invest in infrastructure and education, which the US has neglected for 25 years.
October 11th, 2008 at 8:53 am
People like Ron Paul have been predicting this for years.
This extremely informative video also goes into some depth in explaining how we got where we are, what financial levers are being pushed and pulled, and what our “money” really is (ie. debt).
I urge all of you to watch this
October 11th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Regarding the “global economic crisis”, I think we’re going to see the final push for world government. I think we’re going to hear the argument that in order to properly coordinate globally, control of all currency needs to be centralized in order to “save us” from economic doom and volatility.
The idea of what money is and what it represents will not be challenged, but the fear will be embedded in people’s minds to convince them that we need the current system to continue functioning. This in and of itself, I believe is a lie.
As we’ve seen with the ridiculously imbalanced distribution of wealth, the current system favours a select minority who act as parasites to the vast majority.
So I think we’ll see this push to finally establish their permanent control over the wealth of all.
And because people are afraid, they’ll willingly accept this, even ask for its expedition without realizing what it will really mean: the end of the possibility of financial freedom for the vast majority of earth’s inhabitants.
I hope I’m wrong, but that’s how I see it.
October 11th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
*waves back at foresthouse* Yay, you’re still around here! I really need to get my butt back over to LiveJournal … any day now, any day now …