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Election 2016

Notice Regarding Election 2016 Commenting

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
July 18, 2015
Filed under
Notice Regarding Election 2016 Commenting

Keith’s note: In the past week I have posted two items about election 2016 – one mentioning Ted Cruz, the other mentioning Hillary Clinton. I have had to delete several dozen comments – nearly all of them under imaginary user names – that were posted/submitted which were utterly off-topic and/or made unsubstantiated personal attacks on the candidates or other individuals. I have had to shut off commenting on both posts. I am tired of this. If you people are going to turn NASAWatch into a place where people who are afraid/unwilling to even use their own names and engage in this behavior then I will not allow comments on these posts and will start to ban repeat offenders. I am not going to warn you again. Grow up or go away.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

24 responses to “Notice Regarding Election 2016 Commenting”

  1. RocketScientist327 says:
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    It’s a shame it came to this. Zealots acting stupidly. In a time whend it is so incredibly difficult to get meaningful commentary on space policy it’s just a shame “the management” has to lock threads.

    You might be on the left or you may be on the right – but it is not difficult to focus on the comments related to space policy.

    Keith – I truly hope some of us will be allowed to stick around.

  2. Todd Austin says:
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    An atmosphere of polarization and demagoguery pervades the Internet these days. The page I am typing on is filled with ads pushing half truths, innuendo, and fear.

    We have a long way to go to attain a level of civil discourse in this country and that path is trod one small step at a time. Thanks for being uncompromising, Keith.

    • Daniel Woodard says:
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      If we cannot even maintain civil discourse in a small discussion group like this I’m afraid we have little or no chance of chance of actually influencing policy.

    • PsiSquared says:
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      It also pervades our government and far too many facets of society. It’s hard to imagine such a problem going away at any time in the near future.

  3. BeanCounterFromDownUnder says:
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    Hi Keith. This is unfortunately not surprising. Hopefully you’ll keep this blog unlocked as there are a number of posters who make useful comments.
    Cheers
    Neil Shipley
    Perth, Western Australia

  4. Matthew Black says:
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    Well done, Keith! But as you know; ‘haters gonna hate’. I am two minds about Candidates talking about Space – I’m not even an American voter, by the way. However: it seems nobody’s going to be pleased with any quantity of political discourse on the subject. If you diss Space exploration as fantasy or money-wasting, then you annoy the ‘Space geeks’. If you celebrate it and advocate a goal, you open yourself to being pilloried, as Mr Gingrich was. How do the Politicians reach a balanced point of view on this subject?! 🙁 Matt Pavletich, Auckland, New Zealand.

  5. Bernardo de la Paz says:
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    That is unfortunate. The discussion and links provided by ThomasLMatula in the ‘Clinton’ thread in particular were starting to get interesting and I was actually learning something from it. After all the usual complaints about government “getting in the way” of establishing a commercial space business, it was informative to see some actual concrete examples of that really being the case, as opposed to the usual sour grapes over which contractors get what share of the NASA budget that most such claims typically amount to. It would be nice to see that discussion continued in another thread, if possible, please.

    I hope the discussion on Presidential candidates’ space policies will be continued as well. With something like 20 or more candidates now and things seemingly pretty up in the air, it would be nice to have some idea about what more of these candidates think (or don’t think) about space policy. (Might I suggest staying away from the global warming issue in this context- that is a topic on which reasonable, intelligent people can hold opposing views, but which has little to do with most of what is of interest in space policy and seems to have been a source of diverting the conversation.)

    • Yale S says:
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      I disagree quite strongly with your suggestion to avoid the topic of climate change. It is, contrary to your statement, absolutely central to the space policy debate. Keith and Marc would have to delete a major number of their blog’s entries if it were to be avoided.

      • Bernardo de la Paz says:
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        My suggestion was to avoid it in this context. There is quite a lot of the space policy debate that is interesting to many readers here which is not related to the climate change debate and it seems to have been a lighting rod for some of the more disrespectful comments (from both sides of the debate) that derailed previous threads.

  6. John C Mankins says:
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    Keith: directly on target…!

  7. Michael Spencer says:
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    “Grow up or go away’!

    I can think of a million places to use that phrase.

  8. MarcNBarrett says:
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    One idea, that popped up a few years ago and then disappeared, would be to move NASA to a multi-year budget, like the NSA and other government agencies enjoy. This would eliminate the year-to-year problems that plague the agency right now.

    • Byron Hood says:
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      MNealBarrett, US Rep. John Culberson has advocated that very idea for several years. I suggest that you contact his office, as well as that of your own Congressman and Senators, and speak of your support for this idea.

  9. eddrw2014 says:
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    Keith what do you mean “you people”!?

    LOL. Just kidding.. 🙂

  10. Wendy Yang says:
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    Children, children!

    (*Says the person that can’t vote due to citizenship and age*)

  11. Michael Spencer says:
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    I’d urge you, Keith, to stay the heavy hand; folks are
    generally passionate about politics. More than once I’ve seen some of the residents here ‘shoo away’ those who get a bit crazy, only to welcome them back, manners re-discovered. That’s how it should be.

    Those who post here regularly know where many of the others stand politically. And heck, sometimes I even learn something from those on the right. Yep, actually happens 🙂

    Personally I like it kinda edgy. Reminds me that those of us blessed by the true knowledge of the left aren’t always correct. Annoying but true.

  12. Hug Doug ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ says:
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    It goes to show that there are people interested in space from all political parties. Really, we shouldn’t be fighting amongst ourselves, making trivializing or generalizing remarks about any party are inaccurate and inappropriate.

  13. Yale S says:
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    I wish people would try to stay civil and reasonably on topic. Making it necessary for Keith to close a comment section is a bummer.
    On a personal note on where this pinches – Normally, when someone challenges a point I make, I spend a great deal of time and effort composing a detailed and hopefully tightly reasoned reply buttressed with referenced quotes, images, and links .
    Twice in recent weeks, after putting in the effort creating complex responses, I found I could not post them. bummer
    Its a pain 2 ways. One, wasted effort, and two, leaving a challenge just hanging out there without recourse to respond.
    So, please, if you’re tempted to flame or go way off in partisan extremes off topic – don’t

  14. mfwright says:
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    “imaginary user names” I wonder who these are as it seems almost all posts are by the same people I’ve seen before. Regarding space policy, I am in no position to set policy but most comments on NW have been insightful that gives me better understanding or better use of terminology when I write my opinions to NW, other forums, or occasionally to elected officials.

    • Paul451 says:
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      “imaginary user names” I wonder who these are as it seems almost all posts are by the same people I’ve seen before.

      Pseudonymous users. Like RocketScientist327, TheBrett, PsiSquared, majormajor42, Publiusll, BeanCounter, Cessna_Driver, Hug Doug, Saturn13, Jafafa Hots, SpaceMunkie, DTARS, etc.

      And, of course, me.

  15. Neil.Verea says:
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    Keith I whole heatedly agree, yet even on this thread, despite your admonition, I see “advice” coming from the very ones who posted very “partisan” comments on your “Clinton Talks Space in New Hampshire”. I think each should remove the plank from their eye before helping others remove the sawdust out of there’s (Very wise teaching passed down over millennia on judging)

  16. David_Morrison says:
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    Good for you Keith. So many discussion sites are ruined by trolls posting ill-informed, irrelevant and sometimes abusive comments. Filtering from you will help keep NASA Watch on target.