Tsk tsk tsk
I’ll start by saying that I know exactly what sort of pressure the timesofmalta.com moderators work under. Moderating hundreds of comments a day is a mind-numbing, spirit-draining exercise that quite often strips you of your faith in the human race and, more particularly, your compatriots.
If only more people who can think, spell and punctuate would write in, you say to yourself, as you prepare yet again to slit your wrists.
So I have every sympathy with the moderators who are chained to their computers uploading the thoughts and views of people who look at life as one big Lidl raid, hour after hour.
But to let through a comment like this, which currently appears beneath The Times report on a playground for dogs…well, tsk tsk tsk. The asterisks are mine. The comment uses the full expletives.
Charmaine Marmara
@ Mr F J Brincat
Today, 13:30
If you don’t like it just don’t go. Bit tired of people like you always whining and bitching about dogs. F**k off and die you c**t.
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And as per current trend, let’s make it a point we love dogs more than humans. If somebody does not like dogs, he deserves death apparently.
Yes – weird, isn’t it? I am no animal hater, mind you, but the priorities of certain people are just not right…
It’s not a question of priorities. It’s a symptom of zoomania (excessive fondness of animals).
True. Everyone wants to dictate to the law courts these days too, when it comes to acts of cruelty on animals (vile and cowardly as tey are, lest anyone jumps on me here!), .
The online comments underneath tnews reports often verge on the hysterical. They call for anything from life imprisonment, solitary confinement, hard labour, torture, crucifiction, public execution, or ‘all of the above!’
Then when the courts mete out a sentence, only according to its legal statutes, there’s yet another outcry.
I would think it better to correct the post because the mistaken impression is given that the comment is by this said Mr Brincat, whereas it was simply directed at him by a Charmaine Marmara’.
It’s still there, without the final offensive sentence, so you can confirm.
The Times DID however moderate my comment which included mention of my sniper rifle.
Who is this specimen of a man replying to ? What is it with certain people that they have to be rude to reply to people who do not necessarily share the same opinion. Is this some new fad – i.e. one has to resort to vulgar language to make one’s point.
Actually it’s a specimen of a woman.
This doesn’t take anything away from what you said, of course.
Oh we’ve seen much worse on this blog, Daphne can confirm, and that time we were not talking about a dog. All the hideous creatures crawled out from under the stones and carpets to sprawl their insults. It seems to some get their courage only when they’re hiding in anonymity.
My sympathy with the moderators vanishes when I remember that people writing sensible, intelligent and grammatically correct posts are often given a hard time before their posts are published at all.
So frankly, I’m not at all surprised that the comment quoted here made it through.
And there I was, worrying about repetitive spelling mistakes, incorrect grammar and incomplete sentences in the Times reports!
Now the depths the Times has descended into, is much deeper than I ever thought possible.
However on the other hand, the moderators there seem to get overly cautious if one comments about some unwarranted criticism of the government by the usual writers who seem to have unrestricted access to the paper in order to express their distorted, politically motivated diatribes.
The latter part of Charmaine’s comment seems to have been removed.
The real issue is that minorities’ rights are being giving too much weight at the expense of the rest.
Mr. Laiviera added his two cents’ worth:
“Victor Laiviera
Yesterday, 16:34
“The dogs’ park will feature playing equipment for dogs including tunnels, hurdle jumps, hoops, weave poles and see-saws.”
Someone should tell the bright spark behind this idea that dogs only use such things when forced by their owners. Left to themselves, they would only use them for one purpose – which involves lifted legs.”
I’m surprised Victor Laiviera did not complain that “this is just another goNziPn vote-catching initiative directed at the underdogs.”
Actually he DID ask if dogs had votes in another posting on that particular thread.
That there are thousands upon thousands of people with mental health problems is an incontrovertible fact..
In the UK it is estimated that the figure hovers around 25% of the population in any one year.
I am not sure whether it is wise to prevent such a huge number of individuals to express their honest opinion in public fora.
The fact that the “doggy playground” article on timesofmalta.com attracted 213 comments, whilst this article http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120214/local/former-nurse-used-hospital-information-on-children.406791 attracted only 30, despite its nature, should give one an idea of the mentality of the people commenting.
Joseph Muscat’s father’s nickname is Id-Doggy.
And Joseph Muscat is the UnderDoggy.
The following was Mr. Vella’s comment with regards to the article ‘Entering law course is set to get tougher’ in today’s timesofmalta.com.
“Victor Vella
Today, 10:43
Ara meta kien hemm tifel tat-tifla fejn in-nannu kien wiehed mill-oligargija ta` elitizmu l-Universita nehhiet il-Malti biex jidhol huwa imbaghad regghu ghamlu il-Malti obligatorju. Dan il-pajjiz tnehhilu il-hmieg ma jibqalghu xejn hlief Mafja pulita li lanqas il-Mafja ta` l-Italja ma tibda maghna.”
I responded to Mr. Vella’s comment with the following, but wonder of wonders I was censored.
Sur Victor,
Min ma jafx li dik hi familja tal-allat ta’ Malta. Mhux ghal xejn ghandhom daqshekk prosopopea u aspettazzjonijiet ghaliex kullhadd, milll-KBIR saz-zghir, jinkina u jitkaxkar quddiemhom. Forsi xi darba ghad tohrog l-istorja kollha, dettaljata, u tonqsilhom xi ftit is-superjorita falza li ghandhom.
It would be better if Allied spent more money on recruiting people to staff its website than to produce magazines no one asked for, delightful as the TV Guide is.
That comment is a breath of fresh air. It genuinely made me smile and laugh. I can’t stand timesofmalta’s readers’ comments.
I feel apathy and sickness inside whenever I read them. I genuinely feel like crying and smashing my head against a wall. It’s like reading the thoughts of pretentious, self-denied conservatives, with the use of very diligently-put language.
I swear if I was a timesofmalta comment moderator I would consider suicide.
I have been buying The Times and The Sunday Times for longer than I care to remember.
Now while having my first coffee of the day, I browse timesofmalta.com, this website, guardian.co.uk, La Stampa’s site and Sky News, and check my emails.
So do I really need to buy the print edition of The Times when even the obits and the classified are available on line?
The editorial slant taken over the last year or so has begun to really irritate me: the anti-Arriva crusade and pampering Franco Debono as the best politician on the island. Then there are the comments left by readers.