Monday, April 27, 2009

Like voting, but cheaper

Why bother having a byelection in Mt Albert when we can use the internet instead? No, I'm not referring to some new-fangled 'online' electoral system. I'm talking about "Your Views":
"Who should be the new MP for Mt Albert?"
It's not looking good for the Labour party at the moment, with National candidate Melissa Lee the early frontrunner. It's hard to argue with the experts:

Davedog (Papakura): Melissa Lee. Labour doesn't deserve to hold the seat as their beloved leader spat the dummy after getting thrashed in the election and ran off to try and impose communism on the rest of the world through the corrupt mess called the UN. This selfish career change will cost the taxpayer a lot of money, but she never cared about that did she?

Come on, people. Make your vote - sorry, post - count. If you don't sign up to "Your Views" and post a comment, the communists have already won.

19 comments:

  1. Hello. My name is James. I have nothing better to do in life than spill bile about a newspaper that is obviously far from perfect.

    I realise this pre-occupation makes me look slightly obsessed, perhaps neurotic and most definitely pedantic.

    However, it gives me a small and infinitely renewable purpose. So come back tomorrow to read something about how someone else could have written something better.

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  2. I'm a different Anonymous and I say blog
    on James.

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  3. I wonder what Anon #1's problem is. Have we found the mysterious person who selects up the YV questions?

    Or, maybe, it's just a standard miserable bugger on the Internet who doesn't have anything better to do than moan anonymously about how bloggers have nothing better to do?

    Questions questions.

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  4. I wonder how we could get a Your Views on James' blog?

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  5. Anon 1 is merely stating the facts.

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  6. Hello. My name is Anonymous. I realise this pre-occupation with this blog makes me look slightly obsessed, perhaps neurotic and most definitely pedantic.

    To be fair, there is definitely some straw-clutching here... but most of it is valid and a lot of it is hilarious. Editing The Herald has quickly become one of the most consistently entertaining NZ blogs. Sure, it ain't perfect, but it's definitely good.

    For what it's worth here's my theories on Anonymous' identity:

    1) It's Mrs Coe, disappointed that her son still doesn't have a real job and has pretty much destroyed any chance he had of working in NZ print media

    2) It's James himself trying to add a little controversy to the site to get that hit count up - the comments never usually fly this quickly.

    3) It's a gaggle of Herald journalists huddled around Pat Gower's computer in their lunch break thinking up comebacks ("Yeah, you tell 'im, Claire - 'Obsessed and slightly neurotic', nice one, that'll put him in his place" etc.)

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  7. Do you ever wonder if people like Anonymous #1 go to baking blogs and bitch about their neurotic obsession with frosting?

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  8. Anon 1 is merely stating the facts.

    Actually on second thought that is almost completely correct - except that James is neither "slightly" obsessed nor "perhaps" neurotic.

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  9. @Anonymous 1
    It's quite hard to believe that you've chosen to remain anonymous, while James stands with his name behind each of his posts. You sad cowardly parasite.

    I agree with option number 3 from gazzaj, but perhaps we might ask, "It is you Garth? or you Eloise? or maybe, just maybe, you're the retarded individual that wrote the Myspace "survey" article and to include their name?

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  10. sorry, it's early in the morning... that should read "and failed to include their name?"

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  11. While we're griping about this blog, I think Jimmy could stand to lay of YV a little. Talk about shooting dead fish in a barrel that has a gun holder at the top to secure the aim of the weapon, and clasps at the bottom to hold the motionless fish in place so that a shot fish is essentially guaranteed. This blog was built on newsrage, however ranting about YV can really only be considered idiotrage. Don't get me wrong, I laugh myself silly at these mouth breathers that Jimmy quotes in his YV peices. I just want the hard hitting rage on actual news that typified the early days of this blog.

    On another note, is anyone else offended that the world latest potential pandemic is being labled as 'swine flu'? Surely we should be calling it the 'porcine flu'? Was it the 'spanish flu' that swept round the world after WWI, or was is the 'daego flu'? If it had originated in northern alaska, would we be insensitively lableing it the 'eskimo flu'? I think not. 'Swine' is a horridly offensive and derogatory term for pigs, and I for one will not stand idly by and let this language of hate continue. If all they gave us was ham, that should have been enough for our eternal gratitutde, but when you consider they have also provided pork chops, crackling, bacon, bacon, BACON and a range of other salted and cured meats, I doubt that we will ever be able to repay this noble animal for all it has given us. Can we all please agree to use the term 'porcine flu' from now on?

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  12. Anon Number 1

    Yes how dare James try to hold one of New Zealand's most important media outlets to account? They are just benign entertainers after all.

    Actually there is an argument that in the anglo-saxon nations, the media holds the largest amount of unregulated power in society.

    If James wants to have a go at your views, so what? Its generally hilarious. This is a blog after all.

    And don't you find it just a little breath taking that a literate NZer would actually consider Clark to be a communist?

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  13. I have to agree with JP_Rocks, I think James is continually hitting on a valid point with his YV coverage, but maybe that point has been made now. While the Herald is undoubtedly the mastermind behind the loaded questions posed on YV, picking apart the statements made by the 'average herald reader' is just too easy.

    Having said that, you can't argue with results. I think I would just prefer more balance between YV coverage and what's actually in the paper. That way we can focus our collective rage more on a single entity, instead of splitting it up between haterboy12, the adorable racist from Orewa and PCgOneMAd from Mt. Albert.

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  14. I vote for keeping the Your Views coverage - it's much more fun to read the highlights with smart arse commentary than it is to wade through 16 pages of poorly reasoned argument looking for the two or three bits of hilarity.

    Posting YV's may or may not have a point but from a sheer entertainment point of view it is totally worth it.

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  15. No argument here, Jimmy's viscous swipes at NZ's lowest common denominators can produce comedic gold. However, the blogosphere is full of people making fun of others who are dumber than they are, and I just dont know if daily YV coverage is in keeping with the lofty goals that (I thought) this blog was started with. That being said, any rage is better than no rage at all.

    Jimmy, if there is one thing I hate more than eskimos, its focus groups, so please dont change anything directly just because I'm whinging. Not that you would.

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  16. Speaking again of Eskimos, I was peeking at the YV on Eskimo Lollies, and fond something quite unexpected.

    "I am a kiwi living in Canada, along with about 10 others who all play rugby together at the same club. I think the New Zealand public will be very interested to know that the Canadian national Icon store, 7 Eleven, has recently launched a new energy drink which they are selling exclusively in their chain. This drink is called Inked Maori Energy Drink.interesting aye? (link attached)

    http:/www.examiner.com/x-281-Energy-Examiner~y2008m4d15-Inked-Maori-Energy-Drink

    Do you see us Canadian based Kiwis and Maoris up in arms about this and complaing to 7 Eleven and the local papers, or are we just getting on with things and not being 'd***'s about it. Get over yourself lady and find a fight more worthwhile of your time and energy, like homelessness and health concerns for your people in your own country. If you don't like what you see in New Zealand then just go home.

    FORUM EDITOR'S NOTE: See also http://www.inkedenergy.ca/"

    There's a FORUM EDITOR! You mean that 'Your Views' has been moderated all this time? Imagine the level of trash that gets caught in that guys dragnet, good grief! If James is looking for a job at The Herald, I think that's the one he should go for!

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  17. A friend of mine just raised a good point about the Maori energy drink: it probably doesn't work.

    I wonder if that would make it past the forum editor!

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  18. Well, as it seems that the Forum Editor is mainly concerned with supplimenting these posts with extra grounding, rather than censoring inappropriate comments, then I'd say it'd slip straight through. If you wrote that the Maori Energy drink may cause sporadic outbursts of violent crime, maybe he/she/it would add a link to crime statistics in NZ to lend the argument some weight?

    Having said that though, the Forum Editor may or may not be responsible for the 'd***'s bit. If so, they could have cleaned up the unnecessary apostrophes, it's a gramatical minefield.

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  19. "it's a gramatical minefield."

    Glass houses...

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