In honor of Dave
By Antoinette
Folks, I just learned of Dave's death today. I'm so sadden by this news. However, in honor of Dave we must continue this fight against the rightwingers. He would have wanted this.
I helped him design this site, so I will continue this site. He would have wanted me to do this. But I will need your help. I'm working on establishing a new e-mail address, so for now, continue your comments.
Dave maybe gone, but I-and us-will continue his fight. I will put the fear of God on all these rightwingers. Dave knew what I am capable of and I will use my connections to expose these extremists including talkers Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the rest of these fools.
Join me in continuing Dave's work. Post your thoughts.
Folks, I just learned of Dave's death today. I'm so sadden by this news. However, in honor of Dave we must continue this fight against the rightwingers. He would have wanted this.
I helped him design this site, so I will continue this site. He would have wanted me to do this. But I will need your help. I'm working on establishing a new e-mail address, so for now, continue your comments.
Dave maybe gone, but I-and us-will continue his fight. I will put the fear of God on all these rightwingers. Dave knew what I am capable of and I will use my connections to expose these extremists including talkers Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the rest of these fools.
Join me in continuing Dave's work. Post your thoughts.
Antoinette! I'm so glad you arrived on the scene and that you're going to keep this site open. Many of us were concerned about preserving dave's words (in a searchable form, no less). I've asked about you - dave had written about you but I didn't know who or where you were.
I doubt you've heard of me, I hadn't posted on this site, but I was an online friend of dave's and read this blog all the time. You can see a diary about dave here that includes some videos of him being interviewed, and there are other diaries about him there too. Feel free to post there if you like, it's quite easy, even to write a diary.
http://www.freespeechzoneblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2973
How is it you came to find out? It's been so shocking and there's been a lot written, including on dailykos, some nice stuff and some hideous stuff-enough to have kept Dave busy writing about it for a year.
Really glad to see you.
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Dave knew the inside scoop of Daily Kos than I did. I left them months ago to focus on helping Obama's campaign. So I've been out of the loop. I had personal business to deal with and was not aware of what happened to Dave. I was wondering why he didn't answer my e-mails. I knew then something was wrong. Unlike Dave, I stay underground. The reason why is I know many people in the political arena. I also know people in broadcasting as well. I'm searching for a journalist to continue some of Dave's work. Under the circumstances, I'm unable to pay this person. But hopefully that will change in the future. Dave and I had planned to expand this site in a year. He had already paid for this site, so right now it stays. The name Davefromqueens will stay. We want his name to live on.
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Antoinette, thanks for trying to keep this site alive.
As Daily Kos meta has always been an important part of the site (and as the problems Dave identified with Daily Kos have hardly disappeared), may I suggest that you consider inviting in a couple of regular diarists to keep that going? If you think that's a good idea, I have a couple of candidates for you: Both Susan Something and Sabrina are very passionate about Daily Kos meta, and are very articulate writers--and are also fair-minded and rational (i.e. they'd be contributing quality content, not rants).
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I would love for Susan Something and Sabrina to continue the Daily Kos meta. I will have a new e-mail address for submission. Let them know.
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Thanks very much but no thank you.
But make no mistake, there are big stories here still awaiting coverage/exposure by investigative journalists.
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Hi Susan,
How did Dave figure out that MajorFlaw is Michael Fingerit and Bottles is Lloyd Lachow?
Fingerit's posts at the Democratic Underground look shady. Is it crazy to think that Fingerit might be a paid astroturfer?
In my humble opinion, concern trolls are diverting the story away from the core that Dave discovered.
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Hi Prepostericity
Condoleaser/Voila/bottle's identity had been revealed in an anonymously posted youtube video, and a link to that and a mention of the LL name had been anonymously posted on pff and immediately deleted by peeder, but it was enough for it to get out and resurface a number of times. So it was known by the few on pff who had seen it and asked for it to be deleted and uncovered before Dave utilized it in his efforts. I wouldn't know how much it was discussed in behind-the-scenes by those who are hooked up to do so, and I wouldn't know how Dave discovered that nutcase majorflaw/ugog/fingerit's name.
Dave wasn't the first to discover or write about the phony People's Movement that is the illiberal dailykos and the malicious and sadistic strategies and tactics markos employs. Dave was not the first by a long shot and knew he wasn't too. He was unique though and uniquely brave, and he went way further to fight the good fight and to reveal the story to more people. He was the first one that I know of to really focus in on the statistical bullshit that is dailykos's claims of viewership. Dailykos is dying and has very low readership for a "big blog" and Dave showed the numbers to prove it.
I agree with you that "concern trolls" of all sorts and in unexpected places are diverting the story away from Dave's work. And I think you're on the right track with many of your contentions, other ones, not so much.
More subtlety and homework might be required though when throwing out such combustible questions and accusations. :)
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Thanks for the info, Susan.
I agree that amateur internet sleuths need to be careful in distinguishing between fact and opinion. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done.
Dave was always willing to make a retraction.
Coincidences do happen. We need to be careful to not take finds at face value. We need to confirm and confirm again just like journalists do.
Dave did a brilliant job in piling up a lot of important information and putting it into perspective.
My take on FSZ is that it is more entertainment than substance.
One reason I think it may be controlled opposition, is that they keep directing the readers to click on Daily Kos. It may be necessary to do that at times. They seem to be doing it too much, reinforcing the myth that it's good to spend a lot of time there.
I think Dave scared Kos and the groupthinkers, because of his real world accomplishments, i.e. gravitas. Would any of them ever have had a big shot politician write them a eulogy? No way.
I look forward to reading yours and others' posts explaining Kos, because quite frankly, I think it is a boring place I don't want to investigate. I can try to share my efforts done at uncovering inconsistencies with other domains. It's good to find kindred spirits who appreciate consistency. We needn't explain everything as individuals. We can share knowledge. It takes a village and whatnot.
I think it was Alexa stats, not sure, which has indicated a 62% drop in Kos' readership over a three month period. That is a huge drop that can't simply be accounted for by the end of the election cycle. Or perhaps that is what Kos will eventually become, only somewhat significant during elections. And even then, perhaps only to see who they are promoting.
A disturbing trend is that amateur internet sleuths are being painted as stalkers, mentally unbalanced, obsessed, and other not so nice notions. Also, if we are not a front pager, then it seems we are not worthy. Where is the democracy on the internet? Perhaps that is what ultimately links those who admired DFQ. Hypocrisy is bad. Censorship is bad. Freedom of speech and association is good.
Maybe Kos thinks nasty comments will increase his readership. I don't think it does. Maybe short term.
Folks may want to check out Dredd's blog. He was one of the original BradBloggers. But he had gotten fed up with the hate that has infested most of the "progressive" blogosphere.
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com
I think good people will find a way to saturate the net with pockets of awareness. But it's going to take time. We must think in terms of months and years rather than days.
Peace out.
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Hi Prepostericity,
Got a nikname? lol
So much that you wrote-i wouldn't know where to start right now. And I'll tell you, this is all stuff that means a whole lot to me, and is worthy of discussion, but there are so many people watching, and I'm not really one for the limelight. Unless I get mysteriously inspired to start blabbing, I usually feel inhibited by the thought that people are reading me. And maybe I'm getting better at that, but it's also the case that this type of info might be unwise to discuss in public, here, now.
I think I need some time-dave's death has really thrown me.
You'd be wise to avoid fsz. It's pretty much a waste of time for someone like you, and it's not the kind of place that would respect you or the things you want to talk about enough to make your time there worthwhile. There isn't a vibe there for serious projects.
I'm really quite exhausted from all of this. I look forward to finding a place for myself one way or another 'round these parts and talking with you more. Antoinette has me intrigued.
Abbeysbooks needs to come back soon. She was pretty devastated too and it surely had to mean the world to Dave that she was here consistently posting. I know it meant a lot to me to see her here regularly and read her posts.
Glad to have met you Perpostericity.
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Hi Susan,
That makes sense. Ye were all close to Dave and witnessed what he went through. If his death shocked someone like me, who didn't even know him, then I can only imagine how difficult this is for those who bonded with him.
I'll try to chill out more. There's no need to figure everything out all at once. Perhaps this could be a time for newbies and fence-sitters to do some catching up.
This Peeder guy, he wrote something very fishy at MyLeftWing a long time back. He actually said a good idea for Kos would be to develop a separate "sewer" forum where all the banned could congregate, where flame wars could be taken elsewhere.
Then I see he has deleted his website. I can get to a few front pages, but the comments are missing.
I also read that Peeder might have been anti-Obama. I've been burnt so many times, that I am reluctant to put any faith in him at all, considering there's no way to even read through the political flesh feast website.
And he really didn't attack Kos too much,imho. He reminds me of the folks who were late to the anti-Vietnam War outlook, the ones who never could understand that the war had been outright immoral to begin with, but whom were anti-war simply because it was no longer economically feasible or winnable. So I see that this Peeder was anti-Kos, but only in that he felt Kos was destroying the business. Maybe he also attacked Kos' morals, and how Kos is bad for democracy, but I don't see any of that. I also do not like a lot of the crowd who ended up as his bloggers. I do like you and a few others.
I guess I am saying that my theory is that we are caught in a catch-22. By investigating Kos, we are actually promoting folks to click on his website. Or maybe not. I just don't want people to waste time reading thousands of posts which are merely flotsam.
I can understand your shyness. A bunch of folks seem to want you to become a leader, to as Maynard says in the Tool song, "Mom's comin' round to put it back the way it ought to be."
Dave was a great guy, no doubt.
You could call me Broc, I guess, I started out as Broccolli at HuffPo during the Plamegate, though the archives are no good for checking out comments. I used to hang out in some Cindy Sheehan blogposts and tried to bash the trolls. For Arianna to let Cindy get so viciously attacked, just like Kos allowed that kind of thing, I started to realise the net was steeped in legitimation crises.
Prepostericity is the pseudonym I used at DU, then Kos, then at FSZ. I am done with FSZ for sure.
I have used the name socrates, but unfortunately the nickname for that would be too close to sock, as in sock puppet, one thing I do not believe in. I think zombies can be moral, but sock puppetry can never be justified.
Take care. It'll get easier. Death is one of the toughest things to come to terms with. Peace.
p.s. The world needs your voice, so don't be shy. You needn't feel the burden to be a leader. Just be you. Just contribute what you can.
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Thank you, Antoinette.
It is really sad how so many have disrespected Dave, even after he died.
He was not mentally ill. Dave was a great activist and true hero.
There are a lot of nonsensical lies floating around about Dave. He was not a stalker. In addition to being a lawyer, teacher, and wonderful progressive, he was quite adept at being an internet sleuth. He never put Barbara Morrill's family at risk. Ugh, I get so mad when I see people like Michael Bouldin spreading lies about him. Michael Bouldin needs to be exposed as the nasty man he is. If that guy ever runs for public office, the voters need to be informed of his bullying, grade school level tormenting towards DaveFromQueens.
Dave uncovered an astroturfing ring, plain and simple. He was so effective in this endeavour, that insidious fake progressives are now trying to rewrite the history. Since this site is not going to vanish, such self-centered cretins are not going to be able to get away with their outrageous lies and behaviour!
I was ready to go away but not now. I will stay humble and follow others' leads and simply try to be another good Democrat like Dave would want all of us to be.
One last point. This Michael Fingerit who ran the UGOG website admitted to also manipulating freedom of speech and association at the Democratic Underground.
It's unfortunate that many of us were too late to help Dave vet through his finds in real time.
Antoinette, I think you should consider finding a writer/journalist to help piece together this story.
For a long time many of us on the net have sensed it's predominantly rigged and gamed. Dave did the virtually impossible. He proved it.
Thank you for not allowing his fine efforts to go down the memory hole. I only just met this dude and can only imagine how sad his friends and family are. I feel awful myself. How often do any of us feel sad for someone we hardly even knew?
Thank you Susan Something and the politician from Pennsylvania and everyone else who has fought to make sure the truth of Dave's legacy will not be perverted.
The astroturfers are not going to get away with it. Now everyone with an open mind will eventually realise that Dave's latest research had been of the same caliber of all his other efforts.
Fingerit, Lachow, Bouldin, Morrill, Markos Zuniga, and many others picked the wrong patriot to mess with.
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Thanks for your comment. Like Dave, I'm straight to the point.
I'm not familiar with the DK characters. I left the site many months ago.
As for the rest of the DK gang, they've been exposed by Dave. I don't know much about them, however others do. I recommend posting comments on what these guys are doing.
I told Dave that I plan to utilize videos and audio on the site. Also, this site will be interactive. I will call on everyone to participate in exposing the lies of the extreme right. Dave has done this in the past and I will continue it.
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Thanks for the response. Sorry I tend to be a bit wordy.
I have been cyberstalked and smeared also. I am seeking attorneys, journalists, honest law enforcement, anyone who can help bring the perpetrators to justice.
The problem is that the internet is seen as being a wild, wild, west. The abusers don't think the law pertains to their activities.
I am not a conspiracy theorist. I have an M.A. in Social Theory. I have been studying internet astroturfing for the last several years.
In short, democratic processes are being manipulated. We do not have freedom of speech and association on the web. There are truly gatekeepers of major domains who have methods to suppress authentic grassroots from forming.
I've uncovered a few stories. But like Dave was, I have been pushed to the fringes of a seemingly contrived zeitgeist. I am very curious how Dave figured out Fingerit's and Lachow's names.
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Thank you keeping this website going.
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"so I will continue this site."
This the first real good news I have had in years.
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Thank You Antoinette!
I'm glad to see someone keeping the flame here. I think alot of what is here is very valuable and needs to remain even as part of history.
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