Editors Preface-

The Continuing Saga of

The Christmas Island Coup De’ Tat

Greetings one and all from Christmas Island! Much has transpired since last we engaged in colloquy. Indeed, Porthos, Athos, Aramis, and I (d’Artagnan); have been labouring quite hard on our suntans here on Flying Fish Beach by day and of course plotting, scheming, carousing, and imbibing some of the finest libations ever concocted this side of the Large Magellanic Cloud, at the Bore’s Head Pub (which is the de facto seat of power since the initial revolt). Our economy is doing quite well based largely on the export of music, art, literature, crabs, and beer. Yes, Bore’s Head Pub beer has been discovered to not only be one of the finest beverages available but it can be used in place of petroleum to fuel automobiles with no alterations whatsoever! It has no caustic emissions, and its’ only downside seems to be that your vehicle will let out an occasional belch. Our top scientists are shown here hard at work on the next batch.

( Who is that man overseeing the beer production? Why it’s none other than Cardinal de Richelieu who has decided to cease being an adversary of The Musketeers. Monseigneur le Cardinal has even promised to contribute to propellertalk, and is often seen swashbuckling on the beach with Milady de Winter. (He keeps a low profile for now, but look for an article on this blog soon.)
It’s great to see so many of our friends propelling themselves to our island each day. Why just yesterday whilst crawling home from the Bore’s Head, Aramis spotted a ship on the horizon. It approached Flying Fish harbor under topsails, jib, and spinnaker. It was the Pharaon and it ran aground just a few yards from Flying Fish lighthouse (which is where the Musketeers have been hanging their plumed chapeaus when it is time for a little shut eye). Aramis observed the captain descending the stairs from the upper deck as he suddenly fell down all 3 sets of stairs and rolled down the gangplank. The resulting clangor was enough to wake the dead! “Yeah, what did you wake us up for?” said Athos as he and the rest of the Christmas Island Quadrilateral Commission spilled from their Hammocks. Porthos rushed to his aid. “Captain,” he said, ” did you miss a step?” “No,” said the captain, ” I’m pretty sure I hit every one! ” The captain was none other than Edmond Dantès who brought this article direct from the Isle of Elba to be published here on propellertalk. He also brought this top secret wax sealed envelope for the chef at the Bore’s Head Pub. (It’s contents are revealed here.) And now ladies and gentleman, without further sundry absurdities, may we introduce to you, our fellow Christmas Islander and guest writer, Captain Edmond Dantes aka “david_nwpa”!

Open Dialogue And Debate- Keeping It Honest

Politics and religion are two topics best left outside of bars and taverns. Generally, people tend to cling to like-minded individuals and often attack both messenger and message when bad news or ideas contrary to their own opinion are raised. Propeller is not a watering hole, which is good for me, because I come here to discuss both politics and religion. I realize not everyone agrees with my views, and that is good. Life would be incredibly boring if we all agreed.

 

 

Likewise, progress would not arise without someone, at some point, debating the topics of the day.

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF A COMMUNITY OR AN ELITIST CLUB?

Propeller, however, is a place where all should feel welcome to dialogue and debate openly. We should be more represntative of a Community than of an elitist club. Propeller includes individuals from all walks of life, who are passionately interested in a wide variety of topics, issues and personalities in a large number of countries. The perspective here is not solely limited to the United States; rather it is open to the world at large. Many of the opinions presented here are not necessarily those supported by the Bush administration or other domestic factions or even those of US allies. Yet we should, as a collective, also respect other people’s right to their opinion and their take on U.S. policies and laws.

With that frame of reference in mind, I would ask that as the political season continues, we seek to be civil to one another. We need to avoid three common fallacious arguments which neither prove our points nor uplift the site. Indeed, these three attack methods negatively impact and demean one’s point of view.

1. Ad hominem arguments. These name-calling tactics serve little purpose other than to attack the messenger and avoid addressing the topic. Name-calling is a tactic which belongs on the playground of 8 year-olds rather than within a political arena which is focussed on civil discourse.

2. Reductio ad absurdum. These arguments offer little new evidence and serve scant purpose other than to diminish the impact of the opinion being offered. For example, no ACTUAL “slippery slope” is encountered on the route to expanding marriage rights to gay couples. Some might expand this type of argument to suggest that if two men or two women can marry, then why shouldn’t three men, two cows, a desk, and a child all be married to one another? No one,  in reality, is suggesting that marriage should be opened to anyone other than  individual adults who can consciously consent. Cows, desks and children, according to these terms, cannot consent. The argument of the original premise has been reduced to utter absurdity.

3. The appeal to…. This type of argument appeals to fear, guilt, emotion, pre-supposed belief, or tradition. For example, I claim that something should be so because the (fill in the appropriate religious authority) said so. Alternatively, I claim that something is so because Dr. Eugene Smith said it is so. Perhaps, Dr. Eugene Smith is an expert in the field, but without any furtherevidence of that fact, his argument is moot.

These seem to be the three most common attack retorts one finds on Propeller. I am not suggesting that Propeller is alone in its struggle against logical fallacy. I suspect that Digg and other sites perpetuate similar problems. However, political discourse and persuasion regarding beliefs can have a profound influence on another individual’s life.

I would like encourage us all to avoid these three pitfalls and to concentrate on approaching one another with respect. I admit that I have been guilty of name calling and I know that I need to amend that behaviour. At this moment in time, if we do not work together to protect and nurture our community, this election and all the arguments related to it will render our community one ugly place until November has ended - and potentially leave bruises which last even longer..

Submitted respectfully,

david_nwpa

The Guide To Efficient Self Propulsion

Welcome to our Social News Site, a wonderful community full of many diverse characters from all over the world, from different walks of life, races and religions. Here you can participate in free speech and thought on the Web. We only ask that you abide by Propellers “TOU” (Terms of Use) and post on “threads” (stories), “comments” (opinions, thoughts or ideas) that are not offensive to members of our community. Here we have the opportunity to network and communicate with people all over the world, no longer limited to mainstream media.

I’m Eagle Eye or EE, after reading one of Propellertalk’s threads I noticed a comment regarding the possibility of adding a female touch to the group. I chirped up and offered some of my estrogen so here is my first attempt at blogging on the net (eagle blushing).

I propel myself here to catch the latest news, science, health, religion or other topics of interest. It could possibly be something different for dinner or just chit chatting with friends over good music. I’ve been around since the site came on line and have witnessed the birth of this community. You will find that we are very unique and different from other sites because we are VERY “Social”. You will also be surprised at our demographics, we are mostly middle aged here (30+), but there are times we act like a bunch of rowdy kids having a good time, (Party!!).

We know there are a lot of people that choose to just read our site. Some just look at us for entertainment and not comment; we welcome every one to try us out. All “Newbie’s” (new member) if you have a question feel free to “post” (make a comment on a thread)” and some one will either answer it or direct you to the place to ask.

Our front page is just our skin, the meat of the site is underneath in the topic categories located on the right hand side that we call “Channels”, just click on your choice. There are many different ways to move around the site besides the home page. Once you have become familiar with how the site operates, posting comments and thoughts you will find like minded people who you can become friends with. You have the choice of adding them as friends also, this way you can stay informed of their activities, comments and postings by visiting their home page.

Propeller is different because it has a full time staff of “Scouts” (employees that are like reporters or thread monitors, a.k.a. Hall Monitors) that interact with the community. This is one of my favorite things about this site because it keeps it civil and free from spam (unwanted devices to try and sell you stuff) and evil people, lol. They are located at the bottom right of the page, when you put your cursor over their “Avatar” (icon, a.k.a. a picture next to user’s name) you can go to their home page and learn more about them. Also, if you have questions they are the most reliable of sources. The Scouts are managed by “Anchors”, much like Office Managers do. They are located on the Home Page just above the Scouts and the whole lot of them is managed by the Lead Anchor James Marcus, who BTW (by the way) is an excellent writer.

Profiles are a very important part of our community; this is one of the first things we look at when you post a comment. We are a nosy bunch (at least I am) and want to know what if any thing we share in common, interests, life experiences, etc., basically where you are coming from. I suggest you look at some of our profiles to get a feel of how we express ourselves here and then write your own. If you are like me you will keep tweaking it until satisfied, but it can be changed at any time. Also on your home page you will find the controls under “Participation” to change your settings and Avatar.

An individual’s Avatar says a lot about them and not having a generic one makes you unique. After awhile we can scan a thread and know your comment by your color, outline and other stand out characteristics. I know at times it helps me go directly to my friends comments on a post and who to skip over, lol.

“Voting”, this is done if you like a story and feels it has merit enough to be noticed by other users. You vote by selecting your choice to vote or sink a story on the left hand side of the story line. If you decide later that you don’t like this particular piece or make a mistake there is a “retract” button to click on to with draw your selection.

“Etiquette”, this is very important to us here at Propeller. We try very hard to have intelligent conversations but, just like every community we have our village idiot’s, we like to call them “trolls” or “Sock Puppets”. These are users that are either off their medication or like to disrupt a thread with abusive comments, insulting remarks, or “high jacking” (going totally off topic of discussion). If you should find yourself a target of a troll or feel a comment is inappropriate, please report them by clicking on the ‘Report” button on that comment.

When posting a comment think about how you will sound, WE HATE IT WHEN YOU TYPE IN ALL CAPS that is considered yelling and offensive. Personally I find it hard to read so I skip over it. You can use caps on a WORD for emphasis, but please refrain from shouting on a thread. Also making racist, sexist or bigoted type remarks are unacceptable to the community so just remember before you hit that submit button to be sure this is what you want to say.

There are times that things are posted that we don’t agree with, and there are times things that get posted don’t mean what we think they do. Please, before attacking a poster ask them questions about what they said to make sure you understand it. That creates less grief in the community when posters have spats and long thread fights. That interrupts the flow of the thread and ruins the experience for all users.

Each comment has a row of buttons along the bottom for you to rate that comment: good, bad, block or report. Some times it’s fun to throw a few bread crumbs to the trolls, but in the end you learn not to feed them too much, if they are bothersome to you I suggest you just hit the block button and you will never see that users comment again unless you choose to view it.

There are many different methods of computer short hand since you want to get a lot into a little space, one is the abbreviation of phrases such as “LOL” laugh out loud, “LMAO”; laugh my azz off; “LOLIFOTCAHMA”; laugh out loud I fell of the chair and hurt my azz; and mine is LOLILATF, laugh out loud I lost another tail feather, after time you will learn the abbreviations.

You can also make clever and cute different happy faces with letters and symbols:

<:-)

I hope you find this helpful with your start on Propeller and feel free to ask questions, most of the time you will get reasonable and intelligent answers, but don’t believe every thing you read.

Looking forward to seeing you propel yourself on to Propeller ;>

I have become somewhat of an authority on the boorish art of racial epithets and ethnic slurs from my participation on Propeller and that dubious distinction is by no means anything to boast about. Nonetheless, it is a fact. Having reviewed other competing forums on the web, I must acknowledge that Propeller’s share of bigoted commentary fortunately does not compare. Hate-filled dialogue characteristic to these other “social” blog sites is rampant and for the most part, it goes unchecked. To conclude, however, that personal harassment and abusive comments directed at Propeller’s members is not harmful and potentially threatening to our community as a whole would be a mistake.

Since my participation commenced at Propeller (and Netscape), I have observed an improvement in how management confronts those who consistently violate the rights of others. Nevertheless, there are those — and always will be those, who learn how to violate the spirit of the rules of conduct without risking penalty. So it is ultimately up to us — or should I say it is up to me to learn how to cope with these characters. I think it would also be beneficial for each of us to ask ourselves the question: “how do I handle personal attacks?”

“Not so good!” I must sometimes admit. To correct my reactions to the scurrilous attacks of a few requires vigilance and humility. Unfortunately, I am not overly endowed with the latter virtue. Yet, there are those times that I can respectfully communicate my disapproval, release the hurt, and remain on center. There are also those rare times that I do not reply — that I simply bury the hurt and anger and must wait to expunge its unpleasant effects. During those episodes, I can easily react unfavorably to even the best-intentioned comments.

Recently, during the dialogue on a thread from a story that I posted entitled “Anti-Semitism, A Dead Issue” I sustained the usual personal attacks from my small fan club and then misinterpreted a perfectly innocent comment. Regrettably, I proceeded to lambaste that person. It was days later when I realized that I had made this mistake. An apology should be a sincere attempt to correct a wrong and to make it right. I blasted this poor soul openly on the thread and to privately send him a personal message does not cut it.

Permit me the liberty of using this forum to convey my apologies to BoxMonkey for misconstruing the following remark.

This is not new news [ anti-semitism ] . In Ridgewood a communitty that borders Queens and Brooklyn, there are many Jewish cemetaries that have been vandalized throughout the years. Tombstones that date back to the 1800’s. Anti-semitism is alive in all communities I’ve visited . Most recently exploited in that movie ” Borat ” . And although the Jews get the most attention when the word Holocaust is used , let’s not forget the Armenians , Kurds , Somalians and many other religious or nationalities that have faced similiar consequences that are not publisized by the press .

For failing to cope with abusive remarks from a few other participants on the thread, I completely misunderstood his commentary. “This is not new news.” Under normal conditions, I would understand that remark. Yet at that moment, it sounded to me like a criticism and then I anticipated another insensitive or callous remark to follow. In addition, I read the words, “And although the Jews get the most attention…” my defenses went up. “Here come the stereotypes“, I muttered to myself. My ability to read the comment objectively evaporated on the spot. I hope this truthful explanation and apology will be accepted. If I could take back my criticisms of his remarks I would.

Have you ever lashed out and displaced frustration by attacking an innocent participant on Propeller? Well, I have done it more times than I care to admit. How do we cope with our own shortcomings and mistakes when they hurt others? Do we care enough about the other member to apologize or do we forget about them and just move on? I have seen enough members leave Propeller simply because they could not cope with their own mistakes or the persistent harassment from other members. I believe the best thing we can do when any of us reach that jumping off place is to share it with someone you can trust. That never fails for me.

Most of us enjoy exchanging controversial ideas without dialogue riddled with personal attacks. In cyberspace, even on Propeller, we encounter those who only want to hurt and disrupt. Coping with these disruptive influences takes some of us practice. It does for me. Rest assured, there will be those who give us more than enough opportunity to learn.

For anyone submitting contentious stories, such as topics on radical Christian fundamentalism, to not expect passionate debate would be foolish. Most Propeller heads have routinely witnessed malicious personal attacks that accompany these stimulating discussions.

Coping with bigotry, racism, and anti-Semitic remarks can sometimes be a painful experience. For the most part, when I recognize that I am a member of a community with many allies that share my distaste for this kind of conduct, I can maintain a more even temper. To all my friends, I must extend my gratitude to them for expressing their views and for not remaining silent in the presence of these unpleasant demonstrations. It is a testament to the best of our community to acknowledge that these members make up the vast majority. Having witnessed other communities disintegrate because of rampant displays of racism, oppressive misogyny, and anti-Semitism, I think it is imperative for those of us who value the freedom that we have on Propeller, to do what we can to protect it. When we treat others with the respect and dignity that we all deserve, we make Propeller a safe and fun place to share important ideas.

Part 3: THE JOY OF BLOGGING

Preamble:

After the great pieces by RFE and Bkumm and the lively and very friendly discussion they engendered I had some trepidation about coming on last till I realised that the last act has to be the starring one and then I REALLY got stagefright and the Universe started to create obstacles - a train home which broke down - that was a first in this country - fatigue, persons and dogs desirous of company and time and pleasure. And then procrastination…

At my boarding school in England I was the one who didn’t START writing till the last deadline was past and I had received special dispensation to complete by MIDNIGHT. But midnight would be when I started because I knew they wouldn’t look in the mailbox till 7 a.m. By midnight we were already locked down of course and any visible light would create catastrophe, including a whacking. So I would grope downstairs in the dark, hide in a cupboard with no windows, breathlessly write like a fiend of the night, one giant gobful of breathless prose, barely paragraphed - of course no computers, no re-writes, no corrections - and win prizes. Like the “Lamb Essay Prize” [Charles Lamb, “Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare” was a former pupil and the “house” that I lived in was also named after him], for an essay written by a hundred kids in one great hall, under exam conditions, which also created that “just do it” atmosphere. The title “I would rather be a square peg than fit in a pigeon-hole”. So that’s gamahuche’s MO and if you give me deadlines I’ll test them and if I give myself deadlines I mostly ignore them.
Plaudits for RFE, Bkumm and Neo and YOU!!:

(see The Launch Of Propellertalk)

I could simply say: “I agree with almost EVERYTHING that my virtual colleagues said. Didn’t they do well? Let’s give them a big hand!! And you were a TERRIFIC audience! Thank you all for coming to the show and please tell your friends!” Make a bow, acknowledge the applause and simply step out of the limelight [my 15 mins - fortunately at my advanced age one can EXPECT a second or third helping] and wait for all the rumoured fabulous changes at propeller to occur. The sock-puppets to get socked, the spammers to scuttle back into their underground holes like roaches when the light’s turned on, and for all of you wise and intelligent Propeller-ites to look over your shoulders EVERY time you even THINK of voting on a story blindly or on an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine basis”. [Knowing that the FOUR musketeers, including the so-far invisible but for us very significant colleague and technical wizard, neophile, are looking over your every vote and recording every incident of deviance in our little black book..] Not! - but sometimes I’m surprised by the perpetrators!…

However:

I would kick myself if I didn’t make the most of this moment!

“I have a dream” has already been taken and “Change” is too nebulous a concept to run on here, so I’ll start with describing the genesis [sink opportunity, RD!] of this collaboration of ours. Conception was on a thread of Spadecaller’s, from about 2 weeks ago: “Stereotypes and Prejudices at Propeller.com”, a MASSIVE thread (181 votes and 594 comments), filed in full here with the actual labour and birth on the thread starting precisely here.

The infant initiative “No Content = No Vote” [baptised by Bkumm] was born swiftly, very much alive and kicking, with four fathers but alas, so far motherless.

Yes that IS an invitation! Female input is needed, required and desired - and definitely NOT for taking out the empties; we’ll use some sock-puppet “volunteers” for that. Do I see any socks in the air?

And then to the creation of a nice CLEAN blog-site - so far without any offers for breast-implants for robots - which is beautifully and patiently managed by neo, with the knowledge, but not the connivance of the Propeller.com powers-that-be, and to this series of articles. Access to the blog is available to you, gentle reader, as a facility to discuss all issues relevant to propeller and our use and experience of it. You’ll find it at propellertalk.com

We are NOT a faction of politically correct clones or busybodies or seeking to promote any other agenda than the “Joy of Blogging” and all the ways in which that can be protected, supported, enhanced, nourished and cherished.

We will invite creative and informational input from the Propeller management and staff but we are not beholden to them or anybody else, nor for sale at any price. [Well a few million and a quick getaway to a secret computer-free destination MIGHT create some temptation..Hint for EXTREMELY wealthy sock-puppet-masters - I LOVE islands, esp. ones that come with boats!]

Re relations with “Head Office” I have had nothing but good experience and some very nice unsolicited feedback, even when I’ve erroneously got my knickers in a twist through a miscomprehension. Yesterday to Bkumm’s thread one whom I had never encountered before (Shay) posted the following:

“I’m with you on this and, IMO, this story and the feedback it’s getting is what makes propeller such an awesome site. You only see real members commenting right now because we real members are the ones who care for this site and where. And I hope that everyone here will advice of the article and leave adolescent behavior for myspace and facebook.”

I could not agree more, especially about the “real members” aspect! Where were the “others” last night and on RFE’s thread? At the very end of last night one did appear - one that I’m not familiar with, who made a short pitch which provoked perhaps the only neg on the thread, apart from Bkumm’s inadvertent neg of RFE! [sheesh - with friends like these who needs enemies :)]

We four [so far] PUG’s [propeller user’s group - NOT pug-nacious b**tards, nor to be confused with re-pugs] do all know each other, only virtually, so far; we definitely all respect each other; personally speaking, especially since a lot of my “work” work is solitary [not as in confinement, nor as night-guard at the municipal parking-lot] so working with colleagues like these has been a joy for me.

We are also a varied bunch in terms of geography, life-experience, interests but I believe I can speak for all of us in saying that we all share the desire for propeller to be a safe, healthy and above all interesting and entertaining environment because we want to hang out here, make friends, and ESPECIALLY natter about almost anything under the sun and till the cows come home and write hideously turgid prose full of mixed-metaphors and wild non-sequiturs and purple passages of alarming shades.

Well that’s my take and I must admit to not having authority to represent all of us on the precise details. Dark beer or light? Can I say BOTH, guys?

Anyway they’ll have their chance in a while when this gets posted and they can descend like vultures and pick the carcass of my effort to pieces. As can you! I already know the time of the slow train to Siberia. It hasn’t changed since Communist days. BORING it must not be! nor dominated by one kind of thinking or any kind of political correctness.
Lively debate, rapier-like wit, sense and empathy, tolerance and acceptance are all highly encouraged. Antagonism and hostility are not to be frowned on but creative put-downs are so much more elegant and potent than the “that’s horsecrap” variety.

The rules that Propeller already has should be respected because by becoming a member one is contractually agreeing to abide by those rules. And those laws of human intercourse are valuable. Even virtual corpses need proper burial and I’ve seen a very few instances of virtual assassination..
Commercial Break:

[btw the following happened a while ago and has now disappeared - sorry to disappoint you]
OH MY GOD! I just flipped to the prop front page and the top story as of this moment is
“NEW HOT !! dana jacobson sex tapee” [sic]
posted by the redoutable
dfgsdfgser
assisted by his friends:
jioshwejndfsm
swlskdoje
sdfpsjdklf
sdpfjsdk
sdflpowej
spdofjksl
dfgoishdfj
lasopkjeur
sdfpolwjei
dskfjijlkfd
fsiuhsdkhk
sdfjilske
kijlreso
lopashett
dfgsdfgser

Sunk, so far, by me and Oscar, with whom I seldom agree but who posted some wonderfully moving posts about eagles a while ago..
Oh and my inbox just offered me a weight loss program.
Enough said..

Or perhaps I should end with the words which a good friend in London, an anarchist, dope-smoking and very respectable -seeming MD, put on a banner outside his house at election time: DON’T VOTE: DON’T ENCOURAGE THEM. THEM as far as Propellertalk is concerned means the people who don’t contribute anything TO Propeller except mawkish or misbegotten or half-baked junk or plain bs. with the sole purpose of personal financial gain.

P.S.:

Votes are free, votes are easy, votes cost you nothing but remember that whenever you vote for garbage the jewel of your being shines less brightly. We want you here in all your humanity; the time that you waste in voting for people who could care less about you removes you from the very community in which you have chosen to be. A virtual fight with your Propeller nemesis is more worthy than surrendering to the blandishments of the people who vote and virtually NEVER comment!

Thanks for your time! Thanks for being here!

If you love it or hate it let us know and lets look forward to some great stories, some great discussions and some great friendships.

Let me tell you about a typical day for me in the wonderful world of cyberspace.

After my morning walk (the last exercise I’ll get all day), I turn on my computer and check my e-mail. Do you love spam? I know I do. I especially like the hour or so it takes me each morning to go through my e-mail and delete the messages I get that tell me I can have a bigger penis or that bignipples26 wants to be my friend on MySpace or that for just $199 a week I too can learn how to make money off the Internet. Sure I can. All I have to do is get a couple of bozos to send me $199 a week for a list of e-mail addresses and I’m set.

Better is when I go to Propeller and find that my PM box is full of messages from people begging me for votes on such salient topics as, “How to make your beer cold in five seconds or less!” and “Naked Jessica Alba Pictures!! HOT!!”. Now, I don’t know about you, but I need cold beer in five seconds or less. Planning ahead to have cold beer or just putting the beer in the freezer and waiting fifteen minutes isn’t going to cut it. I need it cold NOW!!! And while I wait that five seconds, I can spend some time ogling Jessica Alba. Thankfully, there are a couple of stories right there on the front page of Propeller that will give me what I need and I can vote for them too. Good for me!

Then of course, there are the fifty or so messages I get each day from people I’ve never even heard of with such great screen-names as, “Pleasevoteformystory123” and “Nocontent54”. These are my favorite, because all I have to do is vote for them and my latest submission, “How To Get A Story To The Front Page Of Propeller” will get votes out the wazoo. “Nocontent54” is sure to vote for my story if I’ll just vote for his. Ah, the wonderful world of reciprocal voting.

By this time, I’ve been on the computer for two hours and have accomplished basically nothing except to go through my messages from my e-mail and Propeller. Now, I can get down to the serious business of reading all of the fantastic content in the stories that I’ve voted for, commenting on them and generally enjoying the camaraderie that I’ve come to enjoy and expect on Propeller.

But, I start to get down a little after I check out “Nocontent54’s” submission. It sounds like a great submission, which is why I voted for it. I mean, who doesn’t want to be informed about great pictures of Bill Smith’s back yard. It’s something that has always fascinated me, so I’m on my way to the story to check it out. When I get there, though, I notice something strange. First of all, there’s only one picture of Mr. Smith’s back yard and it’s not even a good one. If I want to see an old beat up pick-up on blocks I’ll look in my own back yard. And really, there isn’t a second of all because the rest of the site is nothing more than banner ads, Google ads and links to more sites which I’m sure have similar fantastic content.

Well, now I’m starting to get pissed, but I persevere, noting that my great submission about getting a story to the Front Page of Propeller is picking up votes from all kinds of people, like “BannerAdsBoy” and “AdSenseRocks” so, in an effort to be nice and share the love, I dutifully check out their submissions, after voting for them. Surprisingly, “BannerAdsBoy’s” submission about “Fantastic New Bras” is a five page ad for his? new bra line. I figure I’ll have better luck at “AdSenseRocks’s” site. I mean, how could we go wrong with a submission like, “Funny Duck Pictures”? Well, we can. I get to the site and it’s ONE funny duck picture and six pages of AdSense ads about ducks and duck related items. Really.

Okay, that’s it. Now its lunch time and time for me to give my aching voting finger a rest. So, I make a sandwich and fortify myself with Coke for the afternoon. So far, it hasn’t been a great day on Propeller, but the afternoon submissions have to be better and with all of the voting I’ve been doing for my “friends” I’m sure to have a ton of votes for my submission as well.

Back on the computer after a twenty minute break and I’ve already got fifteen new e-mails informing me that if I’ll help Mr. Ongo’s widow get the money from his estate in Nigeria by simply handing over my social security number, my home phone number, my bank account information and passwords, I’ll receive a portion of her $120 million inheritance and I can STILL get a bigger penis if I’ll just act now. All they want me to do is write my name and address on a piece of paper, throw it away and send $50 a month to an address. Sounds fine to me.

Back on Propeller, I’ve got ten new PM’s asking me to vote for really important submissions from my new friends, “SpamMakesMoney”, “NoContentAgain55” and “SockPuppetsforCash12”. I note that they’ve already voted for my story, which is now on the front page, so I vote for theirs. Fair is fair. But, the disappointment continues when I note that the total amount of content on their twelve submissions is less than this sentence. But, there are a ton of great ads!

Finally, I get down to the serious business of commenting on a submission about evolution from my friend EvolutionRocks, where I’m roundly attacked, vilified and submitted to accusations about everything from my character to the content of my mother’s boudoir. Fun times and really what I live for. I keep checking my submission and note that it’s climbing the Front Page faster than, “Bush Authorizes Military Junta For US, Elections Postponed”. Which is good, because who really cares about the Constitution anyway?

By this point, I’m starting to get a little worn out and I realize I forgot to put my beer in the refrigerator and so I follow the instructions from “How to get my beer cold…” And instead of waiting the required five seconds I wait almost TEN seconds, so my lips should freeze to the beer can, right? Wrong. Damn thing is still warm and the naked pictures of Jessica Alba turned out to be a couple of pictures from a movie she did showing her ass. Great.

Warm beer in hand, I spend the next couple of hours voting, commenting and checking out story after story, hoping that I can sift through the chaff to find an important story or two. By the time I’m ready for bed at midnight, I’m half pissed up on warm beer ( I keep forgetting to put them in the fridge and the stupid “Cold Beer” submission is a bust) but at the end of the night I note the stories on the Front Page before I head off to blissful oblivion.

News “How To Get A Story To The Front Page Of Propeller” (I ROCK)

Pets “Funny Duck Pictures”

Food “How to get your beer cold in five seconds or less!!!”

Celebrities “Naked Jessica Alba Pics. HOT!!!”

Science “Evolution Rocks”

Politics “Bush Authorizes Military Junta For US, Elections Postponed”

Celebrities “Bill Smith’s Backyard Pics”

Money “How AdSense Made Me a Million”

Religion “Jesus Loves Me, But He Can’t Stand You”

Do No Evil “Whitetail Deer Refuge”

Humor “Lost Parody”

Health and Fitness “Drink Beer and Lose Weight”

Gadgets and Tech “Microsoft GP-36×9kl$@@L Software Patch”

Sports “Packers Win Pennant, Advance to World Cup”

News “Iraq War Ends”

Religion “Was St. Paul Real?”

Politics “Democrats Declare Victory in Canada”

Food “I Love Tomatoes”

Do No Evil “My Mommy Loves Me, Please Vote For My Story”

Autos “Cars That TALK!!!”

Money “No Content New Money Maker”

Family “Dale’s Backyard Weed”

Popular Videos “Loch Ness Monster and Big Foot Song”

Men “Want a Bigger Penis?”

Women “Why Women Want Men to Have a Bigger Penis”

Look, Propeller is currently one of the more respected social networking sites because of the great content that is available. It isn’t that we can’t or shouldn’t submit our own content to Propeller, but if we’re going to we should try and at least make it relevant and more than a couple of lines of content and five pages of ads.

This is meant to be funny and I hope it is. But, as a person who has been with Propeller from nearly the beginning I’ve noticed a substantial decline in the quality of submissions. And you know whose fault that is? Ours. The users of Propeller. It’s our community and if we want to keep it relevant we can’t let it turn into a place where spammers post garbage submissions with no content. If we don’t vote them up, they’ll go away. If they’re not making money, they’ll go away.

So, if you like a submission’s content (not just the headline) please vote for it. If you know a person or two that you can count on to submit good content, vote for them. But, as Propeller People let’s make a resolution this year that can be summed up in four words:

No Content = No Vote

NO CONTENT = NO VOTE

Don’t Be A Blind Voter!

Propeller is a unique social news network. Like any good community there is a great deal of diversity and though passionately held views are bantered about sometimes, the vast majority of comments remain amiable and tolerant. Ideas are debated and considered, though sometimes skirmishes flare up, for such a diverse community the majority seems able to freely express themselves without resorting to clawing, scratching, and personally attacking those with divergent views. Everyone posting here has a stake in the community, after all, if we didn’t like it we wouldn’t be here. Keeping Propeller a high quality social on line community is each of our responsibilities.

Newer members- the best way to have a great experience on Propeller is to participate in the threads, as you encounter people who post things you find interesting or commentary you enjoy, add them to your friends list. To keep the value of our community high, select your propeller friends based on a shared interest, respect for their submissions, or because you enjoy their comments. Please do not pick them randomly only to vote for your personal submissions. For instance if you post an article about Britney Spears don’t ask someone who never visits celebrity posts to vote for it unless you really think there is something in it that would interest them. This isn’t Digg. If you have a blog yourself, before you submit your blog as a story on propeller, please be sure it has enough content for members to bother with.

I get private messages every day from people I’ve never conversed with who ask if I will vote for their story. but when I look at their story it’s merely one or two sentences, or maybe a picture of a cat. This is not a credible submission. The blog is often loaded up with ads but little content. I love personal blogs, but some have nothing to say and are obviously attempts to garner some income through advertising, and nothing more. This is a type of spam.

On some social news sites, this may be an acceptable approach to getting traffic to your story.

It may be the norm. Our network of friends on propeller, at least in my experience usually is based on something more than “I voted for your story now vote for mine”. What has made Propeller different from other social sites is that it neither suffers from heavy handed editors-censorship; nor has it been overrun with trite articles voted up without consideration for content. Judging from my inbox, and the front page of late. This is changing.

Everyone- The front page has been having an awful lot of these “game” articles appearing with no content to speak of. A number of people are voting for articles without actually visiting the sites. Please consider your vote a recommendation, an endorsement of the article. If there is only a sentence on the blog, it is poorly constructed and loaded with ads, what does this say about your integrity? Look I’m guilty of this also, someone sends a recommendation about how to buy a watch, in an effort to be “friendly” I voted for it only to discover there was only a sentence written and a bunch of ads for watches, wrinkle removers, and penis enlargers.

I have voted for stories because there is an attractive photo of a pretty female as an avatar (It’s not unlikely the submitter is actually a balding old man in a mustard stained wife beater tee shirt guzzling beer). I was wrong to do this. It dilutes the strength of the community ’s merit. If enough people vote blindly, a picture of a cat becomes the top news story. I have vowed to stop this blind voting and I hope you will consider doing the same. We are not talking about any particular viewpoints, or subjects merely the lack of content. If for instance Mary812 sees some intriguing posts by Philmackracken 666, and decides to see what articles Phil voted on, will she find more stories of interest? Or spam and wasted space?

 

 

EE-YI EE-YI OH!
Old MacDonald had an ad farm…

I sincerely hope we all consider whether or not a submission is merely spam masquerading as an article. Anytime a valueless spam article makes the front page, the experience of everyone on our site is diminished. Not only that, but the success of one spammer encourages more.

A little thoughtful discretion will go a long way.

Help keep Propeller the best social news community on the internet! Be a good citizen.

Don’t enable spam and certainly don’t submit it!

Remember…No Content- No Vote !