I have posted a number of blogs about Newsvine, and the very suspicious activities it has been conducting in the recent past, on my Water and Newsviner Truth blogs here on WordPress.
To categorize my blogs I created a new Category in WordPress called “Newsvine”, and have tagged all my related articles with that and other tags appropriate to Newsvine and Social Media. In fact, here are the tags I routinely use for my Newsvine-related blogs:
Business
Honesty
Internet
Media
Morality
News
Newsvine
Social Media
Technology
Truth
In the past, when I’ve gone to WordPress Reader and clicked on any one of those categories, I would find my Newsvine blogs somewhere within the display of various blogs. And, there were other Newsvine-related articles by other bloggers I would also find there.
Lately in WordPress Reader, when I click on the Newsvine tag/category, not a single blog I have posted that contains the word Newsvine in the title is displayed! NOT A SINGLE ONE!!!
Could it be that WordPress is colluding with Newsvine to keep people from finding out about what’s going on at Newsvine? Is there some kind of familial relationship between WordPress and Newsvine that may be prompting this form of censorship?
col·lude (k-ld)
intr.v.col·lud·ed, col·lud·ing, col·ludes
To act together secretly to achieve a fraudulent, illegal, or deceitful purpose; conspire.
I don’t want to seem paranoid about this, but isn’t it just really weird that in the category “Newsvine” in all of the WordPress Reader there is not a single blog with the word Newsvine in the title? Not a single one!!! WEIRD!!! (BTW, that’s why I did NOT include the word “Newsvine” in the title of this blog.)
Don’t believe me? Go ahead and go to WordPress Reader by hovering your mouse over the W logo upper left, and clicking on Reader in the drop-down menu. Then, go to the right-hand side of the page in the box labeled Topics, and type “Newsvine” into the Search Box. Then press your Enter Key or click on the arrow. Then, come back and tell me how many blogs it displayed with the word “Newsvine” in the title. There should be at least twenty (20) because I know I have posted that many by myself. How many does it show you? (None with the word “Newsvine” in the title. Although I did add a new one with N*E*W*S*V*I*N*E to test my hypothesis, and guess what? I am correct. Put the word “Newsvine” in the title of YOUR next posted blog, and tag it with Newsvine, publish it and then see if it ever shows up in Reader. I dare you!!!)
More interesting stuff about Newsvine, an organization that in my humble opinion may just be the ENRON of Social Media.
One of many current Newsvine members have made this same very cogent appeal with regard to Newsvine’s recent money-grab, stealing away the member’s ad revenues so that Newsvine can keep all the money for itself!
I know many people are upset over losing their money with the switch to adsense. I myself lost about 40 dollars. People might calm down a bit if you guys somehow got us that money back.
I’ve written about the Newsvine money-grab in my previous blogs here, in which they took 90% of the ad revenues away from Newsvine members and are keeping all 100% for themselves now. (In Marshall’s case that’s about $40 a month, but when you multiply that by the thousands of Newsvine Community members, you’re talking a lot of money, perhaps millions of dollars stolen from the members by the owners of Newsvine.) As a consolation prize they gave their members the option to sign-up for Google AdSense, which apparently does NOT work for most Newsvine members. Newsvine’s offer of Google AdSense was simply Bait and Switch if you ask me.
The fact is, the Newsvine User Agreement states that Newsvine members will be paid “90% of the net advertising revenue.“ Well, the Newsvine User Agreement used to say that, at least up until January 29, 2013, when I made a offline PDF copy of it. I looked at that same Newsvine Users Agreement today, February 2, 2013, and guess what? The entire section about “Advertising Payments” has been DELETED. Yet, at the top of the Newsvine User Agreement it states clearly that the Newsvine User Agreement was “Last Updated: May 26, 2009″ My friends, that is pure Newsvine BullShit! If an entire section about “Advertising Payments” is somehow DELETED between January 29, 2013 and February 2, 2013, then the damn thing has been UPDATED since May 26, 2009. That is an indisputable FACT! Newsvine is, in my opinion, again LYING to its members. And, in some legal circles that might be termed “perpetrating a fraud.”
These are three (3) sections that are included in my January 29, 2013 PDF copy of Newsvine User Agreement.
Your Liability
You are solely responsible for your activities on our Site, including all User Content that you submit or a third party submits on your behalf or using your account. You agree to indemnify Newsvine and its Affiliates, shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, successors and assigns against any and all third party claims, actions, demands, suits and all related losses, liabilities, damages, penalties, costs and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees) incurred by an indemnified party arising out of or related to: (a) any violation of law or regulation from your use of the Site, (b) any actual or alleged breach by you of any obligations, representations, warranties under this User Agreement, including violations of our Conduct Policy; and (c) any actual or alleged infringement or misappropriation of the intellectual property rights of any third party by all User Content that you submit or a third party submits on your behalf or using your account.
Advertising Payments
Advertising Revenue. Our services may permit registered users to post User Content to a portion of our Site that is identifiable by a third level domain name selected by the user (username.newsvine.com) called a “Subdomain”. As with other areas of our Site, we may post advertisements in the Subdomain (“Ads”). In the event that we post Ads of a third party to a user’s Subdomain, we will pay users as follows:
ninety percent (90%) of the Net Advertising Revenue derived from a Subdomain that we receive from third parties (the “User Earnings”) will be paid to the registered user of that Subdomain;
ten percent (10%) of the Net Advertising Revenue (the “Referral Earnings”) will be paid to the registered user (if any) that the Subdomain’s user listed at registration or that we have otherwise identified as the party that referred the Subdomain’s user when the account was set up with Newsvine.
In the event that a referring party is not identified, Newsvine will retain the Referral Earnings. For purposes of this User Agreement, “Net Advertising Revenue” means (a) the amount actually collected by Newsvine from a third party for each page view or impression of an Ad, (b) less any allocated overhead costs, commissions, fees paid to third parties, taxes, bad debt, returns, discounts, royalties, credits, and any other costs and expenses arising from the sale and placement of such Ads.
Payment Terms and Conditions. Within 45 days of a user’s request, we will pay the User Earnings and Referral Earnings that have accrued to a user’s account for any period in excess of 30 days. In other words, a user is not eligible to receive payments for an Ad displayed in a Subdomain until at least 30 days follows the display of the Ad and we receive payment from the advertiser for that Ad. Further, we shall have no obligation to pay User Earnings or Referral Earnings until and unless such earnings exceed $10 in the aggregate. All payments will be made in U.S. dollars by PayPal where possible or otherwise by check or other method selected by us. Checks will not be issued for amounts less that $50. As a condition of payment, you agree that if you fail to cash any check or otherwise collect any amount payable to you within one hundred eighty (180) days of the date payable, then our obligation to pay such amount shall be void and such amounts shall vest in Newsvine. You should regularly access and review your account to monitor accrued and payable amounts.
Only active user accounts are eligible to receive payments. If a user does not log in to his or her account for a year or more, the user account will be terminated and any accrued earnings will be forfeited. If a user terminates his or her account for any reason or if we terminate the account for cause (including violations of this User Agreement or our Conduct Policy), any accrued earnings that the user has not yet redeemed or requested for redemption will be forfeited. Once an account is terminated, any correlation between the terminated user account and any other existing user account is terminated so no further Referral Earnings will be paid.
No Guarantee. Newsvine does not guarantee that any user will receive any minimum level of payment as a result of the placement of Ads on our Site. Newsvine has sole discretion as to the selection and placement of all Ads and the look and feel of the Site, including any Subdomain. Earnings are paid as an incentive for the continued use of our Site and are not in consideration for the submission of any User Content. We reserve the right to add, remove, modify, rename, move, delete or discontinue the Subdomain or any Materials or User Content therein at any time in our sole discretion. We further reserve the right to change or discontinue the payment of Earnings or Referral Earnings at any time. Your continued use of our Site and maintenance of an account with us after any such change will constitute your acceptance of the new terms. In the event that you do not agree to such change, your sole and exclusive remedy is to cease using the Site and to terminate your account with us. Any such termination will not alter any of our rights under this User Agreement, including our license rights described above.
Trademarks and Service Marks
“Newsvine,” “Newsvine.com” and Newsvine’s logos are trademarks, service marks or registered trademarks of Newsvine or its suppliers and licensors, and may not be copied, used or imitated, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of Newsvine or its suppliers or licensors. You may not use meta tags or any other “hidden text” using any of the above-referenced marks without Newsvine’s permission. Additionally, all page headers, graphics, icons, and scripts are service marks, trademarks, and/or trade dress of Newsvine, and may not be copied, imitated, or used, in whole or in part, without Newsvine’s prior written permission. All other Newsvine names or logos mentioned on the Site, or any other trademarks, registered or otherwise, are the property of their respective owners. Reference to any products, services, processes or other information, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof by Newsvine.
As you can clearly see, the “Advertising Payments” section is right there after “Your Liability” and before “Trademarks and Service Marks”.
Note the “Last Updated” date (which today is listed as May 26, 2009)
See if YOU can find the section titled “Advertising Payments”. (It should be on page 3 of 8, but you won’t find it, because it’s not there anymore. Newsvine DELETED it!)
As I said, I have copies of the Newsvine User Agreement I captured in PDF format on January 29, 2013, and the one I captured today on February 2, 2013. When I compare the two, the entire section labeled “Advertising Payments” on page 3 of 8 has been completely DELETED in the February 2, 2013 version, which, I remind you, states it has NOT been changed since May 26, 2009. Oh, and by the way, the previous copy was 8 pages, but the February 2nd copy is only 7 pages. Is Newsvine telling yet another lie to its members? Is that a FRAUD!
But why would Newsvine do such a thing as to lie to its own members? Perhaps this comment from another Newsvine Community member may shed some light on this shadowy activity.
There is an agenda – and it doesn’t include what the long time users want. I’m beginning to think that the powers that be are happy to see a lot of us go.
Since the Newsvine Powers That Be just increased their own ad revenue income by 90%, by stealing it from the members, as even Marshall James realizes, then Newsvine can literally AFFORD to let “a lot of members go!” They just gave themselves a 9 to 1 revenue increase by stealing all those ad revenues from their members. They, Newsvine Powers That Be, can literally afford to let 9 out of 10 Newsvine Community members get pissed-off at the new changes and leave. They don’t care. It not about the members. In my opinion it is all about the MONEY.
IS THERE A LAWYER IN THE HOUSE? Do Newsvine Community members and former members have a Class Action here in which to sue Newsvine, Inc. I would really like a legal opinion on this if you have one.
In the previous blog I speculated that Newsvine may have LIED, CHEATED and STOLEN ad revenues from its members, to keep the money for itself. That would be the the 90% of the ad revenues its own User Agreement says will go to its members. (See my prior blog for a UA quote on that.)
On February 7th Newsvine is releasing a new facelift of itself, after some 7 months of Beta Testing. How did they pay for all that new development. Well, in my opinion, it’s possible that it may have been financed by all that money they may have stolen from their Newsvine Community members. That’s the same 90% that used to go to the members automatically, but now ALL 100% goes to Newsvine, since Newsvine changed the rules (but not the UA) as of December 31st.
In fact, in my opinion this very recent comment below from Newsvine employee Luke Dorny even seems to support that notion.
Luke Dorny, an Official Newsvine employee, just like Mark Budos, Lance Anderson, Tyler Adams and Sally Chamberlain, posted this comment recently, concerning the new Newsvine rollout…
Newsvine is a free website that provides a community for those that would like to write, share, and discuss news. Advertising helps pay for this service. There are many, many, many reasons why the old Newsvine is going away. But the “service” that Newsvine provides will remain free, thanks to advertising.
If you haven’t experienced the new Newsvine, hold your opinions until you’ve at least sat in the driver’s seat and driven a block or two. We aim to continue making Newsvine into what you love. This step is many years in the making.
NOTICE the two lines I BOLDED about “advertising”.
Advertising helps pay for this service.
But the “service” that Newsvine provides will remain free, thanks to advertising.
This seems to support, and in my opinion even confirms my suspicions that Newsvine grabbed that ad revenue away from its members in order to keep it for itself. Because the Google AdSense option that was supposed to be a replacement to the members for their suddenly lost revenue stream, doesn’t seem to work for most Newsvine Community, and the Newsvine official employees don’t really seem to give a damn if it does or not. Ask most Newsvine members and they will tell you that Newsvine officials have been far less than helpful in trying to resolve the Google AdSense problems.
Wake up Newsvine Community Members! You may have been screwed, blued and tattooed by Newsvine on the ad revenues because they may have STOLEN that money from you! It’s Bait and Switch! A pig in the poke! You may have been taken to the cleaners!
In my humble opinion the whole new Newsvine format ruse may just be a subterfuge to take Newsvine Community Members minds off the fact that Newsvine just stole their ad revenue money! But, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong. (But, I am probably not.)
In my humble opinion, Newsvine has Lied, Cheated and Stolen from the very people it refers to as its Newsvine Community Members. Here’s why I think that…
Even if you are a Newsvine Community member, and you have not yet read that article, you should do so first. You may not be fully aware of the “new-and-improved” ad revenue program Newsvine Management and Tyler Adams, Newsvine Director of Community, are so generously providing to you, because they really didn’t do much to announce it or make the full “Newsvine Community” aware of the change. I only found out by accident myself.
HERE’S A Tyler Adams’ QUOTE from that article:
“We’ve wired up a new-and-improved method of earning money from your Newsvine column. If you click the ‘Newsvine.com’ tab on your account page, you’ll see a new link on the left-hand side:Google AdSense.” – Tyler Adams, Newsvine Director of Community, November 16, 2012
New? Yes
Improved? Not hardly! Many, if not most Newsviners who have tried to sign up for Google AdSense have been rejected! Now, in 2013, they get NOTHING from the previous ad program’s ads that still appear on their articles. Just read the three pages of comments on the article: Newsvine Now Supports Google AdSense – Newsvine Blog
(NOTE: The supposedly “new-and-improved” program is called Google AdSense. The former program was always shown on the pages as “Advertise/AdChoices.)
HERE’S ANOTHER Tyler Adams’ QUOTE from that article:
“UPDATE – 12/19/12 – We’ve founda solutionfor users who had trouble both with rejected applications and registering at all.Read about it here.” — Tyler Adams, Newsvine Director of Community, November 16, 2012
So Tyler Adams and Newsvine admit there are serious problems with the new Google AdSense program that Newsvine and Tyler have been so kind as to give to their minions. Wait a minute! How could there be problems with a “new-and-improved method”? Oh, but there are and Tyler Adams said Newsvine found a solution to the problems some were having when signing-up for Google AdSense, right? And it’s right here at this link, a solution right?
Go ahead and read all about it, but be sure to read at least some of the 288 comments from some really very unhappy Newsviners who realize the truth and feel they have been screwed by Newsvine and lied to by Tyler Adams.
By the way, when you read those comments you’ll probably notice that as of the date of this blog/article (January 29, 2013 here on WordPress) the LAST TIME Tyler Adams addressed any of the issues in the original Newsvine … AdSense article (that were brought up by Newsvine Community members asking for his help with Google AdSense) was December 19, 2012. How’s that for RESPONSIVENESS from the DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY? His boss, Mark Budos, made a couple comments on November 17 & 18, 2012, and his co-moderator Sally Chamberlain made a few comments on December 7, 2012. Those are the LAST DATES that Newsvine Officials seem to have officially responded to the complaints and queries of their own Newsvine Community members in that original article. In my opinion, that’s a pretty obvious tell that Tyler, Mark and Sally don’t really give a damn about their Newsvine Community members or their ad revenues. All Tyler, Mark and Sally seem to be concerned with is making sure Newsvine now gets all 100% of the previously shared ad revenues for Newsvine, and ONLY Newsvine! Screw the members!!!
(On the other article that Tyler claims is “a solution” to the Google AdSense problems, Tyler made a few comments on December 19 & 21, 2012, and only one comment in 2013 on January 10th (as of the date of this blog/article that is). That’s it, and still Newsvine Community members are having problems with Google’s AdSense program, but Tyler, Mark and Sally apparently just don’t give a shit about their problems.)
And:
HERE’S JUST ONE MORE Tyler Adams’ QUOTE from that November 16, 2012 article:
“November is the last month Newsviners will receive the traditional 90% of ad revenue generated by their column. Newsviners must cash out – or donate – their earnings by Monday, December 31st.” – Tyler Adams, Newsvine Director of Community, November 16, 2012
But guess what? Since December 31st, did any of those Advertise/AdChoices ads STOP automatically appearing on the new articles and seeded links members of the “Newsvine Community” have published since then? Nope! Those Advertise/AdChoices ads are still automatically added to all new articles and seeded links, yet they (the members) don’t get any revenue from those ads. The Newsvine Community members don’t get a dime from those ads. The same ads they used to get 90% of all generated revenue from.
QUESTION: Guess who’s now getting 100% of ALL the ad revenue generated from those Advertise/AdChoices ads?
ANSWER: Newsvine! (The members aren’t getting a single damn cent!)
In my humble opinion, the Newsvine Community members have been LIED to by Newsvine and Tyler Adams. And they are being CHEATED out of the 90% ad revenues they once received, because Newsvine is STEALING their 90% by taking ALL 100% of the Advertise/AdChoices money that the Newsvine Community members once were guaranteed to receive per the Newsvine User Agreement, which states:
ninety percent (90%) of the Net Advertising Revenue derived from a Subdomain that we receive from third parties (the “User Earnings”) will be paid to the registered user of that Subdomain; — (quoted from: Newsvine Users Agreement, Advertising Payments section.)
Nope! The Newsvine Community members aren’t getting a dime from those ads anymore, because Newsvine Management and Tyler Adams have given their members a “new-and-improved method” of earning money from their Newsvine columns and articles, except that that “new-and-improved method” is really the broken Google AdSense option that doesn’t work for many if not most of the members anyway.
The New Newsvine Ad Revenue Reality is this:
In my first two and a half years of being a Newsvine Community member I earned a grand total of $1.23, and I donated that all to the American Red Cross for Super Storm Sandy Relief on November 10th . That’s about the time I first found out there even was an ad revenue program! Then on December 27th, just before I got kicked off Newsvine, I checked again and found out that in my last month on Newsvine I earned $53.81, which I went ahead and had transferred to my PayPal account. (They charged me $1.86 fee to do that transfer. So now I have a balance of +$51.95 in my PayPal account which frustrates me, because I can’t spend it on Amazon.com, but that’s a different issue.)
Anyway, if you figure I could make almost $54.00 in one month, and that was supposedly 90% of the ad revenues those ads on my Newsvine articles were earning, then when Newsvine took that money away from hundreds of other Newsvine Community members, maybe even over a thousand, and kept ALL that ad revenue for themselves, they made a huge killing!!! It’s like Newsvine invented its own little GOLD MINE!!! And all Newsvine really had to do was LIE to their users and STEAL their ad earnings from them, and CHEAT them out of future earnings by forcing them to use Google AdSense. Still those Advertise/AdChoices ads are still being automatically added to members articles and seeded link pages. And remember, Newsvine now gets 100% of ALL the ad revenue generated by Adverstise/AdChoices ads that the Newsvine Community members MUST allow on their pages no matter what.
In return what did the Newsviner Community members get to replace that lost revenue source? They got the “new-and-improved method” Google AdSense program, which has turned out to be total NONSENSE and even Non-Cents to most who tried to sign-up for it but can’t!
Just read this comment #64.1 about this ”Tyler Adams dubbed IMPROVEMENT” from the so-called “new-and-improved method” ad program:
I would think most folks will agree with crazyrooster1946, that Google’s AdSense is NOT much of an IMPROVEMENT at all, as far any logic is concerned.
In my humble opinion, Newsvine and Tyler Adams seem to have LIED, and seem to be guilty of THEFT as well. That is, in my humble opinion anyway. You work out the logic and decide for yourself.
How do you like Newsvine now???
I wish someone could pass along some of these comments regarding the Newsvine AdSense NonSense to the article written by Neron Kesar: Are you happy with Newsvine?
I am sure it would generate quite a lot of debate.
My blogs below detail the story of how I was banned from Newsvine for allegedly posting unattributed copyright images to Newsvine and violating their Code of Honor as well as unidentified copyright law.
In fact here is what Newsvine Moderator and Director of Community Tyler Adams wrote to me about that very issue:
Tyler Adams: Hello Bruce,
Your ban was a due to an egregious #5 violation: posting an article consisting mostly of unattributed, copyrighted images, apparently to celebrate a return from suspension.
That was in his email to me on January 7th, 2013, AFTER I emailed Newsvine and asked them to delete all my content off of Newsvine. (Tyler’s full email is shown in my previous blog below.)
In fact, the title of my email to Newsvine was: REMOVE/DELETE all Bruce-1628250 content from Newsvine
How much more clearly could I have stated that? Well, I am glad you asked, because in the body of that email I sent to Newsvine I wrote this:
From: Bruce-1628250
Subject: Please REMOVE/DELETE all Bruce-1628250 content from Newsvine
Date: January 3, 2013 3:09:49 PM PST
To: Mark Budos <Mark.Budos@msnbc.com>, Lancen Anderson <lance@newsvine.com>
1. Newsvine has no intention of explaining to me, or anyone else, why I have been “permanently suspended” as of December 26, 2012.
2. Newsvine has no intention of restoring my access to my column page, articles, seeds or other content I created.
3. Newsvine has no intention on following through on Sally Chamberlain’s edict to the user known as Future History, who violated her edict (see below) no less than 12 times, and yet is being allowed continued access to Newsvine.
4. Newsvine has, in my opinion, and based on existing evidence, acted unethically, and therefore I choose to no longer be associated with Newsvine in any way.
Therefore,
I request that all my content, including: articles, seeded links, comments, profile information, column page, user login and any and all other information I contributed, be DELETED from the Newsvine permanently, as I have been told is usually the normal routine in cases where users are “banned” as I have been.
Even though Newsvine chooses to call my situation a permanent suspension, and keep the reasons for it as a complete secret from me and every other user on the Newsvine for whatever reasons, the fact is I have been banned. Why Newsvine chooses to hide that fact from the rest of the user base is a mystery to me an others. It certainly bring the Newsvine’s ethics into question and doubt.
I request my content be DELETED immediately, as I know Newsvine has the capability to do so, since we all witnessed how quickly all of the content of bill bob philly was deleted, and never fully restored.
If my content is NOT deleted, I request a full explanation as to the reasons why.
Thank you,
Bruce-1628250
I did NOT mention the copyright issue in my email, because until January 7th they had not charged me with that as yet. Tyler’s response to my January 3rd email (four days later) FINALLY charged me with Copyright Infringement, as did the comment he posted publicly on Newsvine also on January 7th to finally announce my ban as shown here:
Bruce-1628250banned, took me this long to find an article where they weren’t violating #4a – they came back from a suspension with an article almost entirely comprised of unattributed copyrighted images.
So Tyler and Newsvine have SPECIFICALLY charged me TWICE for Copyright Infringement. (By the way, even though in one comment Tyler claims I violated Newsvine CoH #5, and in the other he says I violated Newsvine CoH #4a, both call me out for allegedly violating copyright laws.) So I looked into that and here is what I found:
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
If content available by means of the Website infringes one or more of copyrights, the web site owner is required by law to disable access to the allegedly infringing content.
I do NOT believe I violated Copyright Law, but Tyler and Newsvine do. That is a FACT.
I have asked for Newsvine to DELETE my content from the Newsvine site which would end further alleged Copyright Infringement. That is a FACT.
Tyler Adams, and Newsvine have refused to DELETE my content from the Newsvine site. That is a FACT.
If my content is as egregious as Tyler Adams and Newsvine claims it to be, then by Tyler and Newsvine refusing to delete such content from the Newsvine site in accordance with the DMCA requirement that “the web site owner is required by law to disable access to the allegedly infringing content.” it therefore appears for all intent and purposes that Newsvine is clearly and blatantly currently willfully Violating Copyright Law.
That seems to be a FACT! (In my opinion.)
Or, maybe it means that Tyler’s and Newsvine’s copyright violation charges against me were LIES in the first place. Either way, in my opinion, Tyler and Newsvine are doing something wrong here. They are either violating the DMCA and U.S. copyright laws by keeping my allegedly copyright infringing content on full display and available for others to read on Newsvine, or they lied about me when making their false charges against me, which is called liable and defamation. Either way, logically, Tyler and Newsvine are wrong about something here. Which is it? They are absolutely guilty of something, that much is for sure.
COMMENTS?
Note: Additional information researched for this blog was derived from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) enforcement team, United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington.
I was lurking over at Newsvine the other day, checking up on my friends who are still there, and reading comments they’ve posted in honor of me and my unfair banishment from Newsvine. That’s when I ran across a comment made by Sally the Moderator, that made me recall the bad old days!
BTW, here’s the link to the article one of my friends put up in memorial to my unfair demise:
You should check it out. Read some of the comments and see what they are saying about me, even though I’ve been unfairly banned from Newsvine since December 26, 2012.
Here is just a sampling of what my Newsvine friends and acquaintances are saying about me on that article:
I recently visited his column with a heavy heart having heard rumours of a more recent suspension to leave a cautionary note in his comment box ~ Seems his mouth has since run away with his keyboard. Too bad, he had a great sense of humour. Guess it’s time to lower the flag!
When bill was suspended, Bruce was outraged. Bruce wrote articles and comments that probably pissed off the moderators. I know he also emailed TPTB which probably brought more heat down upon himself. But, eventually, the moderators listened to Bruce. They finally admitted their mistake(s) and reinstated bill (although bill’s stuff is still in the Bermuda Triangle).
The moderators probably got pissed at Bruce for criticizing them and telling them what to do. The fact that Bruce was right, probably pissed them off even more. But whether they liked Bruce or not, they got rid of the most prolific writer on this site. Without content this site has nothing. They should have made Bruce a moderator instead of getting rid of him.
Bruce (Muckibr) is truly one of a kind, I’ve called him a modern Don Quixote to his face (so to speak) and it’s true. He was almost as upset about my banning as he was about his own “permanent suspension”, and he’s just too damned principled to re-reg like all of the Trolls he loves to revile, who love to revile him. A sad day for News Vine.
Anyway, getting back to the reason I’m writing this new blog…
I don’t know what possessed me to do it, curiosity I guess, but I started searching other articles and found this comment from Sally the Newsvine Moderator. This very recent comment of her’s just confirms my earlier assessment of her lack of fairness and my opinion of her basic incompetence at performing her job.
(I should explain, that as a Newsvine Moderator, Sally Chamberlain quotes the offending comment, indented, then adds the name of the offender with her comment and the punishment she metes out to the offender. In this case there were three offenders, but Sally chose only to punish two of them. Now I hope her comment below makes better sense to you.)
“Just because your mother and daughter charge all the homeless men $5.00 for a headjob in the alley behind the 7-11, would they be asking for it if one of those homeless men wanted more ?”
Three people here are obviously guilty as sin of violating the Code of Honor. All three have made personal attacks, and yet Sally decides to suspend only two of them: For The Gander and DrAlchemy . Draconian gets a FREE PASS! What the hell is up with that? If three people are guilty, then to be fair all three should be suspended. But, as I have pointed out before, in my opinion Sally has her own ideas about what is fair, and it’s not always fair or even logical.
But this isn’t even the biggest thing that got to me about Sally’s latest venture into “playing favorites!” She did it to me before, and what reminded me of it was this line in her current comments. Sally wrote:
“Draconian, don’t respond like this to a personal attacks. Ignore and report please.”
I am sorry, but in my opinion and based on my past experience with her, that advice coming from Sally Chamberlain is a load of bullshit, or horseshit if you prefer.
You see, I had a stalker troll following me, and grenade trolling me for months on Newsvine. His name there is Future History, and I reported him to Sally over and over and over again, all the while I was ignoring his harassing grenade troll comments. I followed the advice Sally just gave to Draconian, even though she never gave such advice to me, and what did that get me from Sally, for following the same exact advice? NOTHING! Nothing but grief that is.
“don’t respond like this to a personal attacks. Ignore and report please.”
That is EXACTLY what I did for more than a full month! What it got me from Sally, when Future History finally crossed the line again and kept on stalking and harassing me, was this nasty little comment from Sally:
I WAS ALREADY IGNORING HIM. He, Future History, was stalking me. He, Future History, was trolling me. He, Future History, was harassing me. I WAS IGNORING HIM!!!
I had been ignoring and reporting Future History for over a month, and submitted at least two dozen reports about his trolling and harassing me. And, I never posted a single comment or any damn thing on any of his articles, but he posted a lot of his crap on mine!
I had been IGNORING every comment Future History had made to me, and about me since October 23rd, 2012. I was following the exact same advice Sally just gave to her friend Draconian, the only one of the three who she did NOT recently suspend, while she went ahead and suspended the other two.
But here Sally lumps me in with Future History and tells me to stop trolling him, and I wasn’t! The only troll was Future History, who I had ignored and who I had reported for stalking me, harassing me, and grenade trolling me at least two dozen times, and she did nothing at all to stop Future History based on my reports, except for this nasty message that makes me look as guilty as him.
Damn was I insulted by that, but that’s still not the end of that story.
You can see that Sally’s specific edict to Future History was to NOT post any comments on my articles, at all. But you know what? He did!
But did Sally finally suspend Future History for violating her command?
No! She did not!
You know what Newsvine did instead?
They DELETED my article, and all the 2,339 comments it had accumulated, including the 12 harassing comments from Future History in violation of Sally’s command.
(Notice: Usually when I provide links to Newsvine comments you can click on them and go right to the source. However, if you have tried these or even the link to my BALONEY article, you will note they only take you to a page that says “Oh my. There doesn’t seem to be a page here anymore. - Sorry about that!“ That’s because, in my opinion, Newsvine DELETED THE EVIDENCE! Kind of reminds you of Watergate and Nixon, doesn’t it?)
In my opinion, I would guess that Sally had Newsvine DELETE my article so that there would be no EVIDENCE that Future History violated her orders. Without the evidence then she wouldn’t need to follow through on her threat to ban him. And, to this date (the date I published this blog) Sally has NOT banned Future History for disobeying her command. Double-Standard?
Well, I guess DELETING THE EVIDENCE is a pretty good plan on Sally’s part, except for one thing. I have pdf copies of that article and all those 2,339 comments, including the 12 that Future History posted in violation to Sally’s edict of Wednesday, December 5, 2012. I HAVE THE EVIDENCE!
So there you go! I followed the advice that Sally just gave to Draconian on Friday January 11th, to “ignoreandreport,” yet Future History didn’t get banned, but I did. Go figure!!!
Well, maybe somehow that’s consistent with Sally suspending two people out of three now for violating the Newsvine CoH, and giving her buddy Draconian a Free Pass, just like she apparently gave her buddy Future History a Free Pass too.
What a crock!
By the way, in case you were wondering where all this stuff got started between me and Future History, here is the last comment I ever made to the guy, as I said – on October 23, 2012. From then until I was banned on December 26th I never made another single comment to him or posted a single reply to any of the nasty harassing comments he made to me. I ignored that troll Future History for over two full months, but I am the one who was banned from Newsvine, and that troll is still posting his narcissistic garbage on Newsvine, all apparently under the protection - in my humble opinion - of his “Guardian Angel – Sally”,.
Here’ my final comment ever to Future History. Note the date!
It’s part of NBC’s internet presence, formerly a part of MSNBC which is why it’s physically located in Seattle, Washington. It’s CTO is a fellow named Mark Budos, and he has a couple Moderators working for him who are charged with monitoring the users to make sure they abide by the terms of the Code of Honor.
This blog here is specifically about Newsvine’s very enigmatic Moderator, Sally Chamberlain who is charged to determine which comments are okay with the Code of Honor, and which aren’t. That’s what she’s supposed to do anyway.
In my opinion, it sure seems as if Sally has a really flexible interpretation of the rules, perhaps to suit her own purposes to protect her vine friends, and punish the rest of the rif-raf she may not care for. That’s just my opinion though. I’ll let you be the judge by showing you all the suspensions Sally issued around the same time she suspended me.
Oh yes! Sally suspended me! For what? Hang on, I’ll tell you! How long did she suspend me from Newsvine? I’ll tell you that too. But first…
What was that video all about? You’ll see.
Now, please allow me to show you, by actual examples, how Sally meted out Newsvine Code of Honor justice during the same time she suspended me. By the way – these are actual quotes of Sally Chamberlain’s job performance taken directly from the pages of Newsvine. (Fully credited, of course! See copyright notice below.) There are only 16 Sally comments to follow, but that’s more than enough to get a sense of her … style?
And you are worthless do nothing POS with a NOBRAIN at all. You pathetic brain fried drug addicted godless liberal idiot. Get a job and stay off the bong moron.
Now, for a QUICK RECAP of the violations and punsihments above:
THESE COMMENTS EARNED a ONE DAY SUSPENSION from Sally.
are you just PMS’ing today?
flaming hateful ignorant imbecile
whiny, little b_tches – and – you’re an a$$hole
pound sand in your dumb azze head
suck his dick
little Libbies panties in a bunch by exposing your hypocrisy
F U C K you ALL!
THESE COMMENTS EARNED a ONE WEEK SUSPENSION from Sally.
What’s wrong fatso, a little thin skinned because it’s stretched so tight? How can you type with a sandwich in each hand. Commy.
you must ALL be black
fingering yourself.
why, nit wit? (nine collapsed comments, all personal attacks)
Obama’s goo left on your chin
Wish my penis could throw up in your mouth
And you are worthless do nothing POS with a NOBRAIN at all. You pathetic brain fried drug addicted godless liberal idiot. Get a job and stay off the bong moron.
Comment # 20 deleted, racist remark
THESE 2 EARNED a ONE MONTH SUSPENSION from Sally. (And notice that on both of these month-long suspensions Sally made the special note “Last chance” meaning that if they screwed-up again after coming back from a month of suspension, they would be suspended forever. REMEMBER THIS “Last chance” comment of Sally’s!)
Imagine your surprise when I walk up to you, take the gun out of your hand and beat you senseless with it.
turds…Ive already flushed but they keep swirling around the bowl…!!!
Then there was this comment that Sally also decided to suspend the commentator for…
Given the pattern of how Sally Chamberlain has assigned suspension periods for various violations as listed above….
HOW LONG DO YOU THINK SALLY CHAMBERLAIN SUSPENDED Bruce-1628250, BECAUSE OF HIS “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!” COMMENT?
Would you be surprised to learn that I, Bruce-1628250, was suspended for a full week, for just posting “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!”?
Were you aware of what a vile and nasty comment that reference to the TV show “The Brady Bunch” really is, as far as Sally Chamberlain is concerned? Apparently “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!” is even worse to Sally Chamberlain than the use of “F U C K you ALL! “ or “PMS’ing” or “b_tches” or “a$$hole” or even “suck his dick” as noted above, all of which Sally Chamberlain punished those particular violators by suspending them for ONE WHOLE DAY!
But that’s NOT the whole story.
Are you curious as to why I posted such a vile, disgusting and nasty comment as “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!”?
Well here’s why.
My comment was posted immediately after this one, by a guy named Marshall James.
That was Marshall’s comment, baiting me with “bruce bruce bruce”. (But that wasn’t the first time he tried it, because he’d posted a similar comment in message #12.13 at 12:44 AM EST.) Ten minutes later I replied with this…
I mean Marshall! This article is all about you, and you trying to get attention. And, it’s working! You should be proud! You did it. This time. But soon people will tire of you again, and you’ll need to toss up another piece of whatever for people to comment on. Come on. admit it, you like the attention this article is getting for you. Just be honest.
Yes, I do honestly admit I foolishly replied with “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!” just to be funny and to let him know that I knew exactly what he was saying. And I wasn’t the only one. Because there is this guy on Newsvine who, in my opinion, thinks of himself as some kind of self-appointed Hall Monitor. He is frequently telling others what they did wrong and yet he is not an employee of Newsvine, he is not an official Newsvine Moderator like Sally, he is not even an official Newsvine designated Volunteer Guide. He is just, in my opinion and that of others, an unofficial busybody-buttinsky. But even he got the inference by Marshal James, because this Unofficial Newsvine Nanny, who so pompously calls himself Sir Richard Owen, posted this comment…
The line was orginally used is the hit TV show The Brady Bunch. The character Jan was complaining Marsha, her sister, was getting all the attention at a party and got so upset that she whined “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!”
Primary definition: A whiny dramatic response by someone who is jealous of another person. The name Marsha could be changed with the name of any person you’re mad at. — Urban Dictionary
Use the “Stop Tracking” button at the bottom of the page, if you don’t like the article. No one is twisting your arm to force you to come back here.
Please note the last part of his “Primary definition:” quote from the Urban Dictionary, wherein it states:
The name Marsha could be changed with the name of any person you’re mad at. — Urban Dictionary
And that is what Marshall did was to replace the name “Marsha” with the name “bruce.”
And please note that comment was posted by Sir Richard ‘Pompous’ Owen MORE THAN 2 DAYS BEFORE Sally suspended me for a full week, for doing what Marshal James had already done using “bruce bruce bruce” in two separate comments BEFORE my comment.
Did Marshall James ever get suspended for his two (2) “bruce bruce bruce” comments? NO HE DID NOT!
How is that for Newsvine Code of Honor — DISHONOR?
But that is still not the total end of the story, because of this comment I made to Marshall long before the “bruce bruce bruce” and “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!” comments were ever made.
”you are hilarous man..you honestly had me laughing.”
I have been nothing but courteous and respectful to you, and you come up with this truly childish, rude and uncalled for nonsense. I believe you do this because you see I am right and you are wrong, and the only way you have to fight that fact is by being purposely rude and foolish.
This is why I believe that probably most people wish you well when you leave Newsvine, just as long as you do leave Newsvine.
”I do not want to be around a bunch of people who agree with me…that is one of the reason this pisses me off. I do not want to hang out on libertarian sites. I feel no need to sit around a bunch of like minded people so we can agree with each other.”
You don’t want to be around people who agree with you.
You don’t want to be around liberals who disagree with you.
You don’t even want to be around conservatives who try to support you, when you spit in the face of none other than Oliver Closoff #13.12 who came to support you.
You don’t want to be around anyone Marshall, so why don’t you just go away?
What is your point in staying here if all you want to do is antagonize people. I am sorry, but that seems like trollish-behavior, and not much else, if you dislike everyone and just want to cause trouble.
I’ve published quite a few articles on trolls, that you may want to read if you have any trouble understanding this comment.
And as regards your first line above
”Imao”
of which IMAO is “In My Arrogant Opinion” You certainly seem to have the “Arrogant” part quite right!
I don’t know what your last line is supposed to be
”@!$%#.”
But it must be the victim of the Profanity Filter, and that always means I WIN this debate. Because the Rule is: When one party resorts to the use of profanity in their response, that means that party is the automatic LOSER. I cover that in the following article I wrote, that perhaps you would be wise to read.
This was in response to Marsha’s, I mean Marshall’s first “bruce, bruce, bruce” comment #12.13, at 12:44 AM. You see, like I said to Marshall
“I have been nothing but courteous and respectful to you, and you come up with this truly childish, rude and uncalled for nonsense.”
And, Marshall felt the need to resort to the use of profanity,
”@!$%#.”
because even he knew I had beaten him in the debate portion of our exchange.
Yet, he felt it necessary to start the rude childish crap, and I fell for it, and Sally punished me while allowing Marshall go absolutely scot-free!
Marshall baited me with the “bruce bruce bruce” comment, not once but twice and I should have just let it go, but I didn’t. I fell for it the second time, and yet I was the ONLY one to be punished for doing what Marshall had already done first and what he had done TWICE.
And that, my friends, is an actual documented proven case of how Sally Chamberlain, Newsvine Moderator, is, in my humble opinion, completely incompetent at performing her job at Newsvine with any sense of fairness. In my opinion, decisions like her’s have made the Newsvine Code of Honor a JOKE.
It’s not just that she gave me a full week suspension for something as stupid as “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!” but it is also my considered opinion of the apparent scatter-brain suspensions she handed out for other far worse violations of the Newsvine CoH, as I have documented above.
AND, remember that “Last chance” comment that Sally made on those two (2) “month-long” suspensions? Well guess what! Two days after I came back from my one-week suspension I was “permanently suspended”! I was never given a month-long suspension, and I was NEVER GIVEN A “Last Chance” by Sally or Newsvine. How about that for FAIRNESS!!!
But, YOU decide for yourself. Go to the links. See if what I am saying is actually there. See that I am telling you the truth and that I am being HONEST with you. Then you will know the incompetence that seems to be running rampant through Newsvine, where good viners who try to obey the rules are punished, while malcontents and trolls are protected and allowed to attack others with impunity, feeling the safety of knowing that the Newsvine Moderators are there to protect them the trolls and punish all others.
The real BOTTOM LINE for me on this whole matter is that …
Newsvine is a complete and total waste of time and effort for anyone who has an ounce of honesty and integrity. I say, leave it to the trolls. The trolls really like it there, and they seem to be running it anyway. If you are a troll, you will love Newsvine! But, that’s just my humble opinion!
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