We’re pleased to announce a new feature on our site — working with The Spotlight Project, we’re going to be offering a way to email individual posts to specific journalists and media outlets with your own personal commentary. It’s a work in progress and since FDL has a wonderfully engaged readership, we’ll ask for your patience and participation in test-driving this new feature.
At the bottom of each post you’ll now see a "Spotlight" tag next to the permalink. Clicking it takes you to The Spotlight Project, which offers you a list of contact information which allows you to forward the post of your choice to specific journalists. I’ll ask that folks consider several things when doing this:
- Please be polite and reasonable. We don’t want folks to get angry and up-in-arms over a bunch of ad hominem attacks.
- Since it’s a serious tool that could have a profound effect as we try to re-shape the dominant narrative with key opinion makers, abusing it could not only lessen its effectiveness, it could neutralize it completely.
- Praise is just as important — if not more so — than criticism.
- We may have some initial birth pangs, so if you have any problems please report them here.
This is a very exciting new feature with a lot of promise and I’m sure others in the blogosphere will be watching to see how it goes on its initial test launch here at FDL. Please take it for a spin and let us know your impressions in the comments. (Might I suggest following up on journalists who have printed Dan Gerstein’s bogus allegations about site hacking that were never substantiated? That certainly fell into a media black hole after its damage was done, and I don’t think those base fabrications should be allowed to dissappear quite so painlessly.)
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Groovy!!! thanks so much, Jane, great idea!!!
damn, missed by one… thanks for all the work guys, this is a great idea.
Very cool, thanks!
Cool!
Roots! Where is the spotlight button?
OOooeee. Sweeet. I can’t wait.
This is a fabulous idea.
I’d gladly make a small spotlight icon for this.
People love tiny icons.
-Monk
Spotlight button should be showing up now.
Wow, this is beautiful and user-friendly. Jane, many, many thanks to everyone involved in this, techs and originators alike.
I will use my ndoor voice.
What a wonderful communications tool this will be. What fun! Thanks!
BTW, if any contact info is wrong, or if you have any other journalist contact info you think they should include, please use the email contact in the post and let them know.
KUDOS. Constructive, positive (at least the potential for being same) and appropriate for the moment. Again, KUDOS to all involved for conception and execution!
BTW, Jane, very nice seque.
Heh. Incredibly good timing.
Jane, the journalist links are a great idea. My concern is that by allowing the same post to be copied to journalists by unknown numbers of readers, Spotlight could turn into a “liberal” spam machine. The most important element of the messages IMO is/will be not the copy/copies of the original post, but each reader’s unique comments.
Shorter: use carefully. This could be a good way to really piss off potentially friendly and/or thoughtful journalists.
BRAVO!!
GREAT IDEA!
Brilliant! These are the kinds of ideas that will make blogs revolutionary.
percy @
15
RE percy @ #15: Thanks for the comment.
Note that the site limits sending a post to no more than ten journalists at a time. Also, to send a post requires that the sender enter a personal comment about the post. And finally, before the post is sent, a “bot-check” code must be entered.
We have tried to make it hard for people to spam journalists.
percy @
15
TIME IS SORT MY FRIEND>
oops-’short’.
Great use of technology.
nit piking
“mroeso” is two words
One giant leap for blog kind.
Is the next stage of this project going to be the ability to send to elected officials as well as journalists?
-Monk
Monk – I like the spotlight on the button idea.)
Wow! once again FDL delivers the best!
Thanks Jane and crew …
and what fun we’re going to have! Of course, as a media relations person, I’d like to underline the tips about using this tool well. Reporters can learn – but like all of us, they tend to turn off when their mailbox fills with abuse. While some will deserve precisely that, I hope we use this to send thanks and suggestions even more often – look at the Roberts apology and the CNN coverage this afternoon on Allen – they are learning and we want to reinforce that learning not shut it off.
Spot on. We await the great results of this new capability.
Urgently recommended reading on this war and the coming Big One in the Middle East, one of the ten best articles I’ve read in my entire life:
Driftglass nails it brilliantly.
Mark Steckel (19) is the developer of the Spotlight Project. He’s taken time off from his regular gig in order to do this, so please thank him for all his hard work.
Mark would it be possible to use a Monk grahic/icon on the page? Knowing Monk it would be something quite brilliant.
Mark at 19
Glad there are some spam controls. But think about this scenario. Li’l Debbie at WaPo makes some outrageous statement, Jane writes a biting piece about it, and 12,000 people go “Oh yeah, I’m gonna give Deb a piece of my mind,” and along with those 12,000 pieces of mind, come 12,000 copies of Jane’s post. You’ll hear “Liberal Spam Attack” so loud you’ll need earplugs. And if the WaPo is really smart (which they probably aren’t) they’ll install a filter to sidetrack all mail containing the same extended quote (the post) nullifying the power of all those e-mails.
(Okay, even if it’s 1200, the angry response is likely to be the same.)
A toast to Mark Steckel!!!
Thank you!!!!!
Mark – will quoting/not quoting/just linking to the entire post be an option?
Monk @ 25
Re monk @ #25
Absolutely! We had actually planned to support this from the beginning, but since many senators require that comments be submitted via their web site which often have “logic puzzles” we simply ran out of time.
Be patient, its coming, along with a bunch of other fun (and useful!) features.
Mark
Jane,
“We’re pleased to announce a new feature on our site — working with The Spotlight Project”
You never cease to amaze me ; )
Mark, really great work. This is one of the most encouraging things to come along in a long time. Thank you for making this happen.
I don’t see Susan Haigh of AP there. If I find a contact for her, do I just send it in to one of the links on the contact page?
Thanks Jane, Christy and Mark Steckel!
Grrreat idea! Thank you for making all things possible.
Spotlight way cool. One suggestion. Is it possible to ad target=”_blank” to the spotlight link so it opens the Spotlight Project in a new window instead of in the FDL window?
Wonderful edition to the site, Jane. Much appreciated. It should prove to be a great way for the masses (us) to communicate our thoughts to the ‘Whom it may concerns’. You know? Kind of like actually speaking for ourselves instead of having politicians and so called journalists pretending to speak for us. Not forgetting, of course, that it gives us an opportunity to express our appreciation to same journalists and politicians who seem to be doing good work.
I do have a concern, though, about troll abuse of this feature. I’m sure that you’ve given some thought to that also. I hope you and the rest at FDL will be able to keep that ugly aspect under control.
ooo, it looks very cool!
Jack Carter on hardballs… looks just like his dad!
Jane Hamsher @ 29
As long as the icon can be used on other blogs, absolutely.
Mark
Monk @
7
People love Monk’s tiny icons!
Cozumel @
34
FDL is Adapting to Win!
percy @ 30
Understood. Its a real concern. We have a number of idea including sending digests. Other ideas are welcomed.
Mark
I’m not seeing the new icons. Does having Firefox have anything to do with it?
This site is a thing of beauty. State of the art. :)
That does look cool.
Mark, that’s an amazingly useful tool…much more effective than just sending a link and expecting the recipient to go to the trouble to click on it. Thanks so much!
FDL rocks.
Mark – Thank you, for the hard work. Brilliant move!
Subway – no icon yet… look up at the end of the article and you will see a little tiny word, “Spotlight”… click that
Jane Hamsher @
29
This is a spectacular new feature. Thanks for all the hard work to develop it. Thanks for bringing it to us, Jane, I’m next going to the tip jar for this one.
May I add my voice to those urging politeness? Thanking people for their work and for reading the letter I write seems to make a big difference in the response I get.
I feel like the 21st century has arrived, and that Tom Paine and Ben Franklin would swell with pride to see it!
“I’m gonnna shine a light”
Jane,
Brilliant! Once again FDL is utilizing the collective grassroots strenghts, mindsets and energy to highlight great success’s “Ned Lamont,” and stunning incompitance Bush, Lieberman, the Rubber stamp congress, and MSM. I’m so jazzed about this new project and its incalcuable reach. Out Fucking standing.
percy @ 32
We thought a lot about this and at least for the time being the answer is no. Basically, it comes down to protecting the integrity of the blogger and blog post. Since it is so easy to quote something out of context we don’t want to enable this sort of thing. The “Spotlighter” is responsible for their own comments and we want the folks in the media to be able to distinguish between what’s-what and where the credibility lies.
Mark
meta:
They’re more sparkly than tiny bubbles!
Probably a silly question.. Does starlight or FDL return addy show up when using this method?
Impressive. I just went through the demo page for this page. A few comments:
- The Spotlight Project’s site requires Javascript. I think this is a legitimate use of Javascript, but nonetheless, it’s a requirement.
- It would be cool if there was a way for the referring websites could send a list of contacts along with the spotlight link. In other words, if we’re talking about what Chris Matthews screwed up today, his address would be added automagically to the recipient list on the Spotlight page.
- The e-mail format is a good one. The links are identified in the text, and then footnoted at the bottom. For most e-mails, this is a good format. It will work even in text-only e-mail clients.
I’m so glad I found FDL. Kudos, Jane, Christy — and all who work so brilliantly. You’ve created a 21st century village green!
[so yes, punaise, that makes us the 21st century Village People.]
Maybe this would be obvious if I clicked on it (running low on time ATM), but does it insert the user-written comments *above* the quoted blog post? This would reduce the appearance of “spam” to the recipient…
This is a great idea, Hamsh… uh, J.H. Kudos to all concerned.
Gosh, I love the Spotlight Project. I just tried it out by sending a thank-you note to Chuck Roberts for attempting to correct his slur of Ned. The “sending” part worked like a charm.
Only hitch was that when it returned me to the FDL page, there were mucho nonsense characters sprinkled throughout the browser text where everything had been fine before. I went back to FDL through the browser (Firefox) and everything was fine.
I’ve tried the links to let Spotlight know about the small glitch, but can’t find a way to e-mail them. Any help appreciated. Thanks! I’m excited about this new venue.
Mark
Thank you. This is wonderful, and even I, the techophobe managed to take it all the wayto stage 3! woohoo!
Jane:
This concept is pure genius. I do worry that Percy has a point about maybe being accused of spam attacking if 1200 copies are delivered to WaPO. Hmmm, there must be a way around that.
One small suggestion, you might want to add
Newsday to the list. It has many readers in the 5 boros of NYC in addition to being the paper of record on LI. Newsday’s editorial page usually has it’s heart in the right place and their readership tends to follow it’s coverage like a soap opera becasue it has content not found in the other big NY dailis.
Cujo359 @ 57
Yes, for ease of use its a requirement, though in this day and age, a minor one.
Good idea though this does open up the possibility of sending spam. We’d have to limit the numebr of additional email addresses. One more thing to add to the to-do list…
Thanks for noticing!
Mark
Jenny from the Blog @ 55
They’re more sparkly than tiny bubbles!
Hi Jenny! Oh boy, new toys. This is almost as good as Fitzmas.
twolf1 @ 37
…and if not possible just right click on linky and select “open in new window”
:-)
Pretty impressive, I must say. And I love the user friendliness of it. I think the regional part is actually more important and useful than the national. Everyone knows how to find the NYT or CNN contact forms, but being able to easily contact one’s local media could be huge.
Doubleplusgood, Jane and Mark! Er, excellent job!
“We may have some initial birth pangs, so if you have any problems please report them here.”
1. Great beta, but I could not find any place at Spotlight to leave this information so I am leaving it here.
2. Ann Kornblut is listed under the Boston Globe. AFAIK, she still works for the New York Times.
3. IMHO, the list of journalists is too broad, as it includes journalists who do not cover politics, eg., sportswriters, technical writers. In this beta phase, I would consider restricting it only to political writers at the WaPo, New York Times, Time, Newsweek, along with the talking heads, such as, Wolfie, Tweety, Russert….. I would encourage deleting Sports writers etc as they clutter the list.
4. Most importantly, however, I applaud you for working with the other liberal blogs to start this project. Progress not perfection.
A key functionality imo, is that you and the other bloggers can measure the volume of messages we are sending (and to whom) as a result of your posts.
5. Is it possible to send the Spotlight messages through the troll software? I’m not sure this is a great idea, but I just wanted to raise the issues.
This is a wonderful idea and will make it more efficient for those of us who want to be activist letter writers but lack the time. And I agree that positive comments are as important as negative ones (if not more so). Today, I happened to have a few extra minutes so when I read on crooksandliars.com that Chuck Roberts had apologized to Ned Lamonot for calling him “the Al-Qaeda candidate” I went to mediamatters.org where they had the original story and the contact info to write CNN. So, here’s what I wrote, in the few minutes I had (with more time it would’ve been better, of course, but I think this new Firedoglake tool will make it more likely that I’ll do it more often — kudos, indeed):
“I am writing to commend Chuck Roberts for his apology to Ned Lamont for the egregious and specious comments that he made characterizing Mr. Lamont as “the Al-Qaeda candidate.” That’s exactly how it’s done: admit mistake, apologize, accepted, it’s over! Perhaps Mr. Roberts could give the rest of the news media and most of our political leaders lessons in how to perform this simple, but important, act!”
Re John Casper at 67
Not being familiar with the specifics of the troll software, would that merely put a spotlight email into “moderation” or block it altogether? If so, would the sender know and be able to try to rephrase?
Back when Jane hinted about this new feature coming I knew it would be good. But this is very impressive. Clean, professional, well designed, effective. My feather headdress is off to you Mark Steckel, thank you Jane, FDL rocks.
I can’t wait to see what other goodies and features are being developed for it, and I hope we will be able to access it for basic topics or categories we’re interested in, not just individual posts.
I do agree with twolf1, it could use a target=”_blank” as I like to multitask and or mull things over. As threads unfold we’re group brainstorming and I’d hate to miss well thought out points I could have added. Still and all, this is an instant hit. BRAVO!
Mark, Fantastic!!!!
I would like to comment on certain items, but also have a job which needs to be kept separate from my personal life in the web world. Is there any possible way to do this in ’spotlight’? I would like to be able to engage in a meaningful dialog, but I cannot have my name out in the world.
Sue Schmidt’s retaliation against a couple of relatively benign critics is the example that springs to mind.
looseheadprop @ 62
Wonderful to hear. Ease of use was/is one of the main goals.
Newsday is already in the database but they are not a “national” media outlet.
On the “Aim” page, the first step of Spotlighter a blog post, check the “Regional” radio button and enter ‘ny” in the State field and press “Update”. The list will update showing just the New York contacts.
Mark
Mark at 72
Ah ha.
i was not as clever at it as I thought. no surprise there.
Thanx
Jane, Thank you so much: this is a TREMENDOUS idea and I know it’s taken a tremendous amount of work to get it up and running. I’m no computer person, but I hope there is some protection built in so that trolls don’t use it to besmirch us (even though I recognize that many CM folks are fully capable of creating such out of thin air).
I am all for this concept. As I read the posts, it struck me that I did indeed want to contact my Senator about Ned Lamont. Once again, being the neophyte that I am, I linked to where I (thought) could email my Senator. Well, most of you know the rest – NO EMAIL for our Senators. Am I the only one that this elitism really pisses off? Why cant we email our Senators and Congressmen like anybody else, without having to go through their website?
What a nice step in the evoultion of the progressive blogosphere.
My gratitude to all involved along with my wish and prayers that it be invoked mindfully and with the good intention that our words and our thoughts will benefit this battered planet and her people.
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine…
:-)
John Casper @ 67
Maintenance of the contact database is a big deal and will require ongoing effort. I know that there are some issues and they will be corrected.
I agree about the current list including too many people. Stayed tuned, new features are planned to better narrow and target the list while at the same time permitting access to everyone in the database.
Mark
Fred @ 71
I have a similar concern, I don’t want my work address all over out there. :(
egrigious: Thanks for that driftglass link. Great essay.
ooo, Tweety expressing skepticsm that George Allen doesn’t know what macaca means… good on Matthews!
Dale in Alabama @ 61
Strange. I’ll look into it.
Use help@thespotlightproject.org which is listed on the contact page.
mark
The Nexus of Politics and Terror http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ligvuLKCs
KO is better than OK!
“You can turn off the sun but I’m still gonna shine.”
–Jason Mraz, The Remedy
“The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light you shine on it, the more it will contract.”
–Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr
“Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.”
–William Penn
Lou Costello @ 83
I just watched that. love KO
Bustednuckles @ 79
Your email address is *only* sent if you provide when Spotlighter a blog post. Providing some or all of your contact information is completely optional. If you don’t provide it no one will know who the sender of a Spotlight is.
Having said that, the effectiveness of The Spotlight Project in greatly enhanced by providing your contact information. Doing so increases your credibility in the eyes of the journalists.
Mark
Thanks Mark.
I do have to say this is a stroke of genius.
Some way, far ahead thinkers here.
Thanks for the reply, Mark. I look forward to using Spotlight, and will keep the help link at hand just in case.
Great, great work!
How to keep trolls posing as FDLakers from sending abusive comments?
twolf1 @ 85
For those on dial up…RawStory has the transcript:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2….._0815.html
This is fantastic. I just used it to send Chuck Roberts a “way to go”. Seemed like a nice idea to start out on a positive note.
I too am getting a lot of junk characters on FDL upon my return from Spotlight.
This is very cool. I’m going to have to play around a lot before I feel comfy with it, but VERY cool indeed.
OT – NYT editorials seem to make sense and hit the right spots lately. The latest I looked at (sub req) is A Strong Objection to Horrible Judicial Nominees, “Help Wanted: Qualified Judges”.
I’m guessing they may suddenly realize that these lifetime appointments are the guys they may be running into now and then. ;)
Discussing the recent nomination of Mike Wallace,
Wallace “received a unanimous ‘not qualified’ rating from the American Bar Association” (this NEVER happens) but that well known “centrist” Specter has decided that the appropriate response is to “make the A.B.A. the focus. Disturbingly, he is talking about requiring it to divulge to the Senate the confidential interviews it conducts about nominees. “
And they didn’t forget to mention: “. . . William Haynes II, a chief architect of the administration’s detainee policies. The White House should replace those men with nominees worthy of these important posts.”
Amen – but it won’t happen – not with Specter as Committee Chair and Republicans in control of the Senate.
I just hope that George Allen makes KO’s worst person in the world tonite so I can go to sleep with a grin on my face……
How about some MUCK on Santorum? http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001348.php
Election FRAUD??? I’m appalled I tell ya…APPALLED!
beth meacham @ 91
:-(
What browser and operating system are you using?
Mark
Jane and Mark, fantastic use of technology for democracy. Great interface, well-designed. Bravo!
Is there any way to keep a running total of how many times a post has been sent? And even, sent to whom?
This is super cool, by the way. Thank you!
OT — but I am SO geeked!!!
There’s going to be a Blogger Caucus at the Michigan Democratic Party convention!!!!
Wahoo!!! And I’m going to bring up The Spotlight Project as an opportunity!!!
Virginia News
Local Links
Senator covers ass apologizes for remarks aimed at opponent’s volunteer.
RICHMOND, Va. — Sen. George Allen apologized Tuesday for remarks that offended a man of Indian descent who was tracking the Republican’s campaign for Democratic challenger Jim Webb.
snip
http://www.dailypress.com/news…..s-virginia
Brilliant cool tool .. !
I used it to thank Chuck Roberts and thereby CNN … for this first step of wiping the muck off America’s Fourth Estate.
I look forward to many more sincere apologies to the American people in the near future.
angie, I just watched it again, the repeat of the Allen Racist Fiasco on Lou Dobbs this time. Loved how it ended, the female reporter is saying critics say it’s a part of a pattern, Dobbs shoots back “well it’s certainly a part of the campaign now.” Mwahahahaa
Just think, each day we get closer to the KATRINA Racist Fiasco anniversary.
Since the lakemistresses never ask on their own behalf, may I encourage my fellow commenters to support this blog by means of the credit card or PayPal links at the upper right?
I feel better now that I have done so.
Sweet new tool, Jane and Mark. Thanks
angie @
93
Listening to the Gopers applauding Allen it’s obvious he’s not speaking in a vaccuum…
We have a long way to go
astralplame @ 97
See the Activity page at:
http://www.thespotlightproject.org/activity.php
The reporting is currently limited but a lot more is on the way.
Thanks
Mark
Hmmm, Strike through worked in preview.
Must be something I did wrong.
Shez @ 101
hoping for some reruns of Kanye West!
Rayne @ 98
So cool Rayne, do you have a link for me to read up on it at all, for more info? Thanks! And does this mean we’ll finally get to meet in person? ;)
GREAT IDEA TO PREVENT ABUSE FOR THE SPOTLIGHT PROJECT
Screen all the outgoing email. Make a written agreement not to change an email. However, if an email is “abusive” then send it back to the user and ask them to make adjustments.
This, of course, is an astronomical task and you would want to design some nifty “NSA” style scripts to do the editing. At least create a color “carding” system (like Brazilian football). Where a red flag from the screening software is read by a real flesh and blood FDL editor. Yellow and Green flags are sent to the recipient.
Just a complicated idea to make your life more difficult.
Having letter templates is a good idea too.
egregious @28 – thanks for the driftglass.
When I reached the point where drifty referred to Kristol last night, I completely understood the fire that forged such a fine piece:
Brilliant! Thanks Jane – this is wonderful. I feel exponentially empowered.
Just when I’m satiated with all of the nincompoopery and think I can’t take it anymore FDL offers me a new tool or a firepup makes me laugh or someone shares a heartfelt story about cats, dogs, birds, babies, soldiers, gazpacho… and I take a breath and the world becomes OK again for a while.
Great community – all of you. Decent, brilliant, humane, caring people.
Mark Steckel @
95
Firefox with Windows XP. I left FDL and came back, and it’s gone.
freedom @ 108
This is already on the to-do list… :-)
Mark
Many, many thanks to everyone for the new ‘toy.’ I love to write people little notes when they piss me off or make me smile. This is just a wonderful tool.
YAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!!
A little slice of heaven!
What a lovely community here…I do love to lurk (though I hate that term) and I do feel like a community member.
angie @ 93
Larry O’Dell has this report. It doesn’t mention that macaca is a French/Tunisian racial slur, or that George Felix Allen, Jr. would be likely to know this. So I don’t think Mr. O’Dell has done his job.
Mark Steckel @ 112
need volunteers?
Mark Steckel @ 112
will the staff of screeners be paid union wages?
Mr. Allen,
Your ass is on fire. Would you like a bucket of kerosene or gasoline.
-GSD
In what may be an odd historical bit of trivia. The name George Allen appears in this IMDB page, playing the role of Ode.
Because of the inflamatory title, please don’t post it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070721/
-GSD
Nice KO video. Speaking of terror alerts:
A word about avian flu. There are many different kinds of bird flu, just as there are many different strains of human flu.
Only one type, H5N1 or if you like “51″ is the kind that might possibly be a problem to humans.
A newspaper or TV story about bird flu being found in [insert troublesome election district] could be perfectly true but misleading.
Just a WAG–wild ass guess [thank you John Casper] that you will be seeing a lot of press releases about OH NO SCARY BIRD FLU MY GOD WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE between now and the November elections. Every single one of these will turn out to be: by amazing coincidence, not H5N1.
And if chickens in the middle of the United States suddenly show up with H5N1 you can be sure they were flown in from southeast Asia by [censored…V…].
*ilson46201 @ 117
We’ll come up with some clever technology solution and let the computers do all of the hard work. It wont be perfect but it should be good enough to help develop (reinforce) some community standards.
Mark
egregious @
28
Another essential piece from a voice we hear from far too seldom.
Granite – I do think you make me laugh out loud every single day!
egregious @ 118
I’m much more frightened by West Nile Virus, personally. There was a long story on a local teevee channel earlier this summer about repossessed and abandoned homes with swimming pools becoming mosquito havens, and having to be dealt with by the same public employees who spray neighborhoods in the South Bay each evening for West Nile.
Then, last night, there was a story about the 80 baby bats in rehab; they got too dehydrated to hang upside down, fly, or feed. Guess what bats eat? Mosquitos, of course.
Mother Gaia is having her revenge for being mistreated. Watch the pieces fall together….
Jane-
That’s cool – Great tool. Thanks so much!
TeddySanFran @
102
Yes.
Great tool, Mark.
I haven’t asked or checked yet but wouldn’t a simple disclaimer or mission statement added to the bottom of each email that states (or has a link) to report abuse to the Spotlight program be more efficient to start off with? I’m sure they are working on it, considering I have seen first hand behind the scenes of the type of spam and trolls you can get at a Wordpress blog. It won’t take long for us to make it clear we are civil, articulate, citizens where they will become familiar with our names, and any abuse to malign the project are trolls and saboteurs.
Mark,
Kudos. Great job. Lots of thought went into this. Will require more – but that’s the fun part, no?
Ladies of the Lake,
Thanks again for your efforts. You walk the walk, not just talk the talk, like so many of the… well, see Drifty’s post today.
Digging around for that credit card now… time to feed the lake doggies again… who will join me?
for the troll factor – perhaps you make Spotlight a “subscription service”… a small charge monthly to use it – help defer the extra costs and deter the trolls…?
OC,
Gracias.
-GSD
Jane, Christy, Pach and Mark –
I don’t know which of you wizards first had this idea, but all four of you clearly ARE wizards. Your creativity in finding ways for us to discover, direct, and deploy our patriotism to the end of saving our country stuns me. Again.
History will bless your names.
Ooh, good idea, but I see problems.
Have you considered having people filtering their comments through you in which you attach some form of acknowledgement that yes, FDL routed it?
Anybody who sends a comment without your seal of approval had nothing to do with you.
Otherwise, you are going to be pegged for online demogogeryishness.
GSD – de nada…
Linda2,
Welcome to the community of former lurkers. Hope you post early and often :)
GSD @ 118
I think he’d prefer moonshine
Glad you brought this up. Bingo, here in Michigan it’s been all over our news for a couple days or so that 2 swans “may” have bird flu. Finally they have an article in the paper today explaining what you said. So between that and seeing our beloved Mackinac Bridge on CNN for a supposed terra alert this week I’m seeing they are ramping up the fear factor in our state. I feel it’s deliberate, they’re trying to get the odious DeVos of Amway in as our Gov. Grrrrrrrrr
mahaleela 110 — ain’t that the truth. AMEN!
Same and belatedly to you, Adie, for exactly-right-naming our “Mozart of blogs.”
TeddySanFran @ 102
Ditto what Teddy said. If you can, please chip in. And, awesome new tool – thanks, Mark!
egregious @28
Don’t think I’ve ever read a Driftglass post before. Amazingly powerful, right up there with some of Billmon’s more memorable posts. Oh, that last line …
Mark, a labor of love. Thanks Mark and FDL.
mh
mh @ 138
Wanna read some brilliant Driftglass? Search his (her?) archives for pieces on David “Bobo” Brooks. Never laughed so hard in my life!
lotus @ 130
Thanks for the positive comments.
But I do want to point out that The Spotlight project is not exclusive to FDL. It can, and hopefully, will be incorporated into many other blogs far and wide.
Mark
Mark Steckel @
63
Javascripts are programs that a viewer of a site allows that website to run on his computer. These scripts are able to view and manipulate the user’s data. The potential for privacy violation and fraud is increased significantly by allowing Javascript to run. Therefore, it’s a consideration. I enable Javascript by exception, and urge others to do the same. Even when I do allow a site to run JS, I limit the functionality as much as possible.
The requirement for Javascript isn’t minor, IMHO.
“That omission of attack is no longer an excuse…Bush is running on the bloody shirt of 9/11.”
Mark Green
New Democracy Project
Hardball
Wow that actually worked. Tried to stop the egregious :) use of bold by beginning my post with [/b] except using the carat signs.
“Radicals profit when their enemies are in power.”
Mark Green
ibid
TeddySanFran
West Nile Virus kills only a handful of people a year. We have much bigger fish to fry.
I speak as a public health professional who is deeply manic about preventable loss of life.
Break up or cover pools of standing water, and then rejoin the fight to save our nation.
OT, but access to a map of earmarks totaling $503,000 in the current appropriations bill:
They’re asking everyone to get on the phone to their congresspeople and find out just who is sponsoring these. I think if “they” (”they” being the dark side) can look for patterns, so can we.
One of the most interesting things to me was seeing where the dollars are concentrated and who gets the lion’s share. Now, there’s a pattern. I love it when data is displayed well :)
pitched in! hooray!
Shez — you still here, or in the next thread?
Fantastic idea!!!! So many times reading through so many smart people’s writing I think, “I wonder if anyone in the mainstream media reads this stuff?”
Ask and ye shall receive! Thank you!!!
One question: Can you just have a default that sends everything Digby and Billmon write to everyone in the mainstream press, and can you add the Democratic “leadership” to that list?
J
Prober @
53
I heartily concur. Brilliant idea and great work, Mark, Jane and FDL!
GO Firedogs!
A suggestion for using bold, italics, underline, or blockquote–
Use it in the middle not the end, or at least have a few words after the highlighted part, and preview before posting. See this good example?
That is all.
————the Font Fairy aka egr
this is absolutely brilliant!! the list of names is incredible. did i say WOW yet?
egregious prefers to be known as the Travel Fairy, which is another story over another bottle.
Slick!
Haven’t used it yet, but I’m sure I will soon. I tried changing the focus of potential recipients, from print to radio, and sure enough I got a new list with all the frequently infuriating and occasionally very good regular NPR reporters –my main radio news outlet– on it. Thanks, Mark S. for the hours and screen refreshes.
Great idea BUT:
Now that you’ve engineered a tool for spamming reporters, how are you going to stop Freepers from coming over here and turning the tool to their own uses?
It won’t be long before the FDL/Spotlight IP is on every media organization’s spamblock list if you can’t control, or at least moderate, its use.
If a million irate emails fall into the spam filter, do they make a sound?
This is just awesome…
Thanks to all who made it possible – can’t wait to try it out!
Looks like Ned needs some help:
http://tinyurl.com/hp3tp
Lamont’s staffing needs are also one of several signs that his rookie bid for statewide election is still evolving: He lacks such basic political tools as an opposition research effort to ferret out the sources of Lieberman’s campaign contributions and other tidbits that might embarrass the senator. Lamont’s communications and advance operations also need to be expanded, said Tom Swan, the campaign manager.
“There is a need for us to adjust a lot, to adjust significant pieces of the campaign and tap our thousands of volunteers,” Swan said. “Having said that, I believe we have a lot to build off of to make that easier.”
Some Lamont allies have privately expressed disdain for the idea of bringing on any outside consultants, noting that most big-name Democratic consultants had shown little willingness to help Lamont when he was an obscure businessman running a long-shot campaign.
“I don’t want to hire any of those big-fee consultant types from Washington who just want to come in and make money off of Ned,” Swan said. “We won the primary on Ned’s message; we can win the general in a similar way.”
Please, I beg of you all, make the complaints informative.
If nothing else, journalists need to be informed.
This may be a losing cause, but it’s worth a shot.
pol — interesting info. I think Lamont, as a businessman, is going to have different opinions about how to run his program than the old school Dems. If he needs research, I hope he has the sense to go to locals, like a Dem-owned law firm with good paralegal staff and marketing research firms.
And he’ll surely get help, gratis, from the netroots. I know of a few of us who are already picking away at the donations data, for instance.
This is a potentially powerful tool, and as with any power tool, safeguards must be in place to prevent injury.
Please, please, please, set up troll control and spam prevention — I’m not a programmer of computers and lack the knowledge to contribute code, but as someone who has worked with people, I know for a certainty that deluging them with adhominum attacks or clogging their mailboxes with repetitive copies of long posts will win us few friends. If there is any secure method that will allow us to email a link to the original post with our personal message. This will cut back on overloaded mailboxes and the concomitant anger of recipients at having to repeatedly clean out their mailbox.
From my experience, a carefully, eloquently and logically constructed appeal will usually convince those willing to learn to click on a direct link and read the post. Clogging mailboxes with long, repetitive, copies of the same post will only aggravate the very people (yes, journalists are people too) we hope to persuade.
FDL — This is a great idea! Media Matters has been doing it as well lately and it is one heck of a lot easier to click, write and send the well-deserved praise and/or condemnation(!)
to the various media organizations — i.e. CNN for the Roberts dig. SO, Thanks!
-S
Shameless self-promotion! You should be well… unashamed!
The problem with this idea is that reporters and commentators get lots of e-mail, lots of it. I have send notes to over one hundred reporters (in the last three years) and only two responsed.
Or, perhaps what I wrote was not important.