Despite what I would have you think, The LiberalOC is really not a democracy. Gila has called me a benevolent dictator. And she is right, to a certain extent.
And despite what Art Pedroza (the guy who runs OJ) may want people to believe, or what his pajaritos (voices in his head) tell him, Gila and Dan do not secretly control this blog.
I have received a number of requests that we pour the Orange Juice feed down the drain. I really don’t read OJ that much, I let Sean do it so I don’t have to. But their stuff is really taxing my patience and benevolence.
So in the spirit of tax season, and the looming filing deadline tomorrow, I have put up a new poll. Tell me what you think.
Should the OJ stay, or should it go? ÂÂ
How about linking them to Janet Nguyen’s website instead?
I liked it better when the Liberal OC and Orange Juice trashed OC Blog and the Flash Report instead of each other.
Chris: I visit you guys and gals about a dozen times a day specifically because of the feed. I don’t even bother with OC Blog unless I read an interesting blog post on your feed. Same with Orange Juice, although the reason I don’t go directly to their blog is because direct access always causes my computers to crash for some bizarre reason. The Liberal OC is the only blog in Orange County that has such an invaluable feature. Kick Orange Juice off, and I’ll only visit ustedes a couple of times a day to read your stuff rather than use ustedes as a guide. Just my thoughts.
Thanks Gustavo.
That is actually my feeling as well.
I like the feed because I can see what everyone has up and decide whether or not to go there. Also, keeping the feed and the links keeps me from adding them to my favorites or typing in their url’s.
I figure since they don’t know what plagiarism is, it’s best to cut them off. If they can’t have the courtesey to link to a post here when information is directly cut and pasted and used in a post of theirs without giving credit, why should we link to their blog?
Contrary to the defense of this action, someone took the time to contact people and compile the list of delegates.
Chris,
I agree with Gustavo!
I used to use OC Blog, not because I agreed with positions but because it was the best portal to all things OC. With the Red County redesign it lost its simplicity and makes for a much more difficult navigation.
Liberal OC has become my portal of choice for all things political, yes even for the Juice. Hate to admit it but I like some of Art’s musings (chismes) when they are about Santa Ana. So reluctantly I’d keep it, but do continue to leave out the SMS junk.
Oh and Gustavo, its not just your computer. The Juice seems to be hosted on an incredibly slow site that causes delays in page navigation. Some users think its their machine bogging down, but it is the site. Think they changed their hosting and monitoring software when they made the most recent updates.
It is almost impossible to get to Orange Juice any other way. In fact I have been disappointed that the main page link is down, i can only click on the stories not the link, word Orange Juice. Dont be like Bush use dialogue and diplomacy to solve your disputes, keep the line of communication open.
Chris:
As you know, I resolved this question for OC Blog quite some time ago. I didn’t see the point in directing our readers to a blog that routinely, viciously and mendaciously trashed me and the blog I operate. Now that Art has added TheLiberalOC to his Blog Axis of Evil, I’d recommend you come to the same conclusion.
Any readers who want to keep track of OJ’s rantings can use an RSS feed.
Gustavo & just asking-
If you say so. If our feed to OJ is really that useful to so many of our readers, than maybe we should keep it on. And no, we don’t like fighting with the OJ crew. We’d just appreciate it if they don’t direct so much of their anger at us. And if keeping the OJ feed up here can help at that as well, then maybe it’s worth it. 🙂
The probem with the link to the OJ site in the launch pad is due to the way I had to set up the feed. For some reason, the option we use to set up a feed that includes the main page link doesn’t work for OJ and a couple of others.
You can link directly through the bloglink in the left margin.
If I can figure out a work around I will.
Chris,
It is clear that the OJ has taken a turn for the worst. It has become the “cuckoos nest”. Pedroza has taken to routinely attacking us, mostly me, and he only brought Sarah MS over there to do the same.
Sarah has decided to delete comments that are critical of her and of the “cuckoos nest” in general. So much for them being the bastion of free speech that they claim to be.
I think Jubal may have a point, in that why should we link to someone who is only interested in trashing us. But Gustavo also has a point and folks come here and read what we write and use us to link to the “cuckoos nest”.
It is your call in the end. I take one for the team by reading the “cuckoos nest” and reporting what lunacy they are spreading today, but if you don’t want to link to them, don’t.
Sean-
Good points. I find it ironic how the supposed “bastion of free speech” that is OJ has become nothing more than a big example of hypocrisy run amok. And really, I find it sad that the few voices of reason there (like Claudio) are getting drowned out by the Art-SMS crazy train.
So on one hand, I can see why some of our readers want the OJ feed dropped. That site is mostly just personal attacks on you, me, Chris, Dan, Gila, and pretty much everyone else who writes & comments me… As well as attacks on any and all Democrats that Art & SMS don’t like.
But OTOH, I can also see why many of our readers want us to keep the OJ feed up. They probably appreciate the legible stuff there. And yes, I must admit it’s sometimes funny just to see what crazy s*** Art & SMS have posted (like today, when Art called you something silly and SMS labeled me a “flip-flopper”).
In the end, I guess I’ll just have to go with Gustavo & just asking. If enough of our readers like the OJ feed and find it useful, then it’s worth keeping. And hey, why deprive our readers of a chance to take a peek at the crazy train? 😉
Hey if you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been linking to your posts now and then, we’re not all just Art and Sarah over there you know! Some of our latest posts deserved notice over here, and would have been of great interest to your readers. FOR EXAMPLE:
If you-all didn’t notice, we had the most thorough coverage of the HB God Imbroglio (which’ll be coming to all of your towns soon and is basically another GOP dirty trick) http://www.theorangejuice.com/2008/04/jill-and-debbie-shine-in-hb-god.html
We consistently have the most thorough coverage of the Debbie Cook campaign, which is THE most exciting Congressional campaign in this county:
http://www.theorangejuice.com/2008/03/mayor-cook-vs-dana-volley-1-iraq.html
You should have noticed we had the most useful and thorugh link for yesterday’s delegate caucuses, WHICH ALSO MENTIONED Dan, Andrew, and your blog positively (albeit in fine print) :
http://www.theorangejuice.com/2008/04/pick-yer-obama-or-clinton-delegates.html
Plus didn’t you notice Obama endorsed us the other day?
http://www.theorangejuice.com/2008/04/obama-endorses-orange-juice.html
So, go ahead and blackball us because Art and Sean have a feud and Sarah copy/pasted what looked like a public-service announcement from y’all without attribution. It’s your readers who will lose out!
Say what you will about Matt, but if you post a comment on his site and keep your language clean and leave a personal attack out, the comment is posted and not deleted. And likewise, he writes what he wants here without fear of censorship. Its called spirited debate.
Vern,
I will agree that it is not all Art and SMS over at the OJ. Unfortunately your stuff, which is for the most part good and credible, is getting drowned out by a flood of nonsense.
The OJ feed is live and I believe many of our readers have clicked over to read your stuff.
As I said earlier, I like having the liberal launching pad. It was an idea that Mike Lawson and I came up with a while ago and as far as I know, we are the only political blog in OC with such a feature.
Chris,
Don’t know about the space suit. I get seasick on boats. I can’t imagine how sick I would get in space!
That aside, I have always appreciated the RSS links you provide on your site. Like Gustavo, I visit your site many times during the day, when able to, sometimes just to peruse the other blogs. I wish I knew how to add this feature to my blog. I will have to look into it further. Our software is not much fun to deal with, FYI.
I don’t have anything against you or any of your bloggers. Sean and I take our whacks at each other, but that is because we so often disagree on the issues nowadays. I have nothing against him on a personal level. I remain disappointed that he went over to Pulido’s side.
I realize you guys have issues with Sarah. Duh! I think she has added a lot to my blog and I appreciate her contributions. Same for Vern. He has been absolutely terrific.
I am disappointed that so many of your bloggers are trying to cast aside all of my work as being crazy. That simply is not true. The fact is, I don’t bend knee any of the local parties. In fact most of my writers are a pretty independent-minded bunch. Obviously that is going to anger folks who are partisan, regardless of whether they are red or blue.
The irony is that I am in agreement with much of what you and your blog espouse. Where we differ is that I don’t give free passes to Democrats. But to be fair I don’t do that for Reeps either.
Sean likes to say I am a shill for Supervisor Janet Nguyen, but I have taken her to task more than a few times. She knows she cannot control what I have to write and she doesn’t even try to. Besides, Sal is a shill for his team, isn’t he? So isn’t this a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
At any rate, we appreciate the links and we appreciate what your blog contributes to the OC blog mix. While you all seem to have a mad on for me, I remain a fan of all of your work, including Sean. I am sorry that the well has been somewhat poisoned. But I still heart you guys even if the feeling isn’t mutual.
Art,
Your buddy Sarah MS said, “I’ve been personally rejecting the comments to this post accusing me of plagiarism.”
She is openly admitting that she is limiting free speech over on your alleged “bastion of free speech”. You always claim that you only reject comments if they involve vicious personal attacks or contain profanity.
It looks like Sarah has taken it upon herself to change your blogs position on editorial content. You booted Tim Whitacre for doing the same. What are you going to do about it in this case?
You gonna take away administrative powers? You gonna boot Sarah from the blog?
As long as she continues to selectively post responses I think we should think about limiting the linkage to the “cuckoos nest”.
“Where we differ is that I don’t give free passes to Democrats” Sorry Art, I missed the part where we give free passes to Democrats. Folks here routinely criticize what needs to be criticized regardles of party. We certainly go after Republicans, usually praise Democrats, and while you may ‘heart” us, there’s a funny way to show it.
And if you think some of your bloggers aren’t openly partisan on the right, they you aren’t reading your own blog, just counting hits (which add up if you have to go in and approve each comment right?).
I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the animosity between the blogs. I think I got a bit peeved when SMS blatantly admitted to lifting original content but didn’t understand that implications of doing so. And I don’t quite understand what LOC “owes†her.
Ultimately, it’s just blogging people! Granted, I think the issues we discuss are far more important than any of us are and there is hopefully a value in attempting to highlight those issues.
“I don’t quite understand what LOC ‘owes’ her.”
According to “her” we owe “her” an awful lot. She claims we used “her” to get ratings. That is damn funny!!! LOL…LOL…LOL
Does she not realize that her ridiculous rants were driving people away in droves? Banning her has helped our ratings, not allowing her to rant.
I use the Launching Pad feature many times a day. The LOC is my central hub for OC political news, not only because I am a democrat, but because it is so darned easy to link to articles in the Register, the Weekly, Calitics, Red County and OJ. I also like reading about what folks of various political persuasions are thinking. I like to keep up on the opposition shenanigans.
That RSS feed is such a great feature. Convenient. Saves loads-o-time. Thanks Chris.
I do feel that as of late, many OJ posts have taken on an increasingly sensationalistic, bombastic, tabloid-esque quality. I wonder if some OJ bloggers are just being outrageous in order to bump up hits (and ad revenues?) or just to pump up egos. What used to be lively and often quite heated political sparring has morphed into bizarre personal smackdown rituals.
Sometimes when I visit OJ now, I feel like I am rubber-necking past a car wreck.
I look but it creeps me out.
Keep OJ (for now) that’s my vote.
I go to the blog that lets me link to all the other blogs. That used to be OC Blog; now it’s you guys. And I read all your stories along the way. Please keep OJ so I don’t have to spend time looking for it elsewhere. And Art does run some interesting stories about Santa Ana (and did some good ones about the Debbie Cook case).
Mark Rosen
The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn from the crow-Blake. Arts crowing is the stuff of the OC neanderthal knee jerk mindset, Keep the Crow! Hes really funny and SMS is a wacko smokerette! But Vern abandon ship[ they be CWAZY!
I vote to ditch the link to OJ. Art is clearly unbalanced and I get tired of his attacks on, well, nearly everyone but Janet Nguyen. I also get tired of his lies, rumor-mongering and hateful rhetoric. There is such a thing as stating an opinion but most of Art’s posts amount to nothing more than journalistic masturbation aimed at some perceived enemy. If I am going to read fiction, I prefer to buy the good stuff and stay away from Art’s manic-depressive sideshow.
Keep it up! It’s a little like Obama and Hillary- fun to watch, interesting dialogue, no one really hurt, good sounding board one off the other, and we all have a drink when the other wins.