The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Let’s Not Go Lefty Over Technology

Posted on | September 22, 2011 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

Twitter is cool. You should follow me. Also, you should follow Ladd Ehlinger, a cat most cool, who shared a tidbit about Twitter:

Multiple conservative Twitter accounts are complaining that they are spontaneously “unfollowing” other conservative Twitter accounts. I’ve had it happen to me, where my account has “unfollowed” people without my consent or knowledge. Simple bug? Maybe.
An anonymous source, who claims to be with Twitter, contacted me today claiming that there’s a “hacktivist” on Twitter’s payroll who’s having a little fun at the expense of his ideological opponents. I can’t confirm this as just a simple rumor or hoax, since the upper
management of Twitter is beyond impossible to contact.

I’ve been hit with this, too. However, I’ve also been surfing quite close to the ‘follow limit’, which seems to be around 91% follow/following, as far as I can tell.

Could some smarmy Lefty be playing tee hee hee games? It’s not impossible, but what would you do? There is no evidence, and, even if you had some information, would there be a court case? I haven’t read the Twitter service agreement either, but I’m confident the service is made available on an “as is” basis.

Should we be upset? Let me say that I have been tinkering heavily with software across all operating systems and licensing regimes for a decade, and I say: no. We’re capitalists, and we’re getting what we pay for. If a free service is sucky, then it bespeaks a business opportunity. It’s actually feasible to acquire some hardware, load some open source software, arrange for internet presence, and set up shop. Oh, staffing, funding and eyeballs? Let’s go back in time and locate rich parents.

Are we willing to pay for some service level guarantee? I might not mind, but the value of Twitter diminishes as people eject in favor
of FaceBook.

As with YouTube, conservatives need to put a bit of thought into the value of the political expression under consideration, and be willing to pony up some treasure to protect it. It starts to sound Lefty if we get screwed with by the hypothetical tee hee hee employee and then whine as though some entitlement had been tarnished.

Category: Ladd Ehlinger, Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

Comments

7 Responses to “Let’s Not Go Lefty Over Technology”

  1. Joe
    September 22nd, 2011 @ 6:12 pm

    You can become paranoid if you question everything, but Reagan was right with “trust but verify.”   Keep your eyes open and call them on it when you see something unusual. 

  2. Joe
    September 22nd, 2011 @ 6:13 pm

    Someone should engage Ladd to be doing an Obama attack ad once a week.  Talent like that should not be allowed to go to waste. 

  3. GAHCindy
    September 22nd, 2011 @ 6:36 pm

    It happens to me all the time, and only with people I really interact with a lot. I think it’s a bug. I’m not important enough for it to be on purpose.

  4. Adjoran
    September 22nd, 2011 @ 7:09 pm

    I have enough Twits to deal with in everyday life, thanks.

  5. Anonymous
    September 22nd, 2011 @ 8:21 pm

    Tee Hee lefty fun should be a capital offense, plots within plots I tell you.
    Hacking and especially electronic theft should be a capital crime, hang’em, an hang’em high.

  6. Anonymous
    September 22nd, 2011 @ 8:24 pm

    Plots within plots don’t be complacent.

  7. DaveO
    September 23rd, 2011 @ 12:25 am

    Did anyone ever take a survey of conservative/GOP-supporting/not-Democrat websites/MySpace-Facebook-Twitter/email/Android accounts that were hacked in 2008? In 2010?

    IIRC, there were a number of times Michelle Malkin, Breitbart, PUMAs and others received DDOS from Progressive-Paulian hacktivists.