Note to all Mintoffjani hodor who can't write, spell or think
That includes you, Kurt
I will not be uploading any more comments sent in by the semi-literate or the sub-literate.
This site serves as a haven for those who are sick to death of the way the marmalja has gone on line to colonise other internet comments-boards, and are now trying to do the same here.
First there were elves, churning out identikit comments from deep within the Labour Youth Forum, with approximate spelling but distinguished by frequent use of the misspelled ‘tollerate’, ‘tollerance’ and ‘intollerant’.
Now even the elves have been squeezed out by the new generation of the Aristocracy of the Workers, this time armed with keyboards and a broadband connection instead of an iron bar and a chain threaded through a length of hose.
Internet comments-boards are like bars, clubs and restaurants: when the riff-raff get in and try to take over, everyone else gets out.
So I’m going to operate a door-policy – if you can’t write, spell or think, and if your idea of a comment is something that looks like a cartoon kidnapper’s note with differently-sized letters and crazy language, then don’t bother trying to join in.
If you want to see your comments uploaded here, these are the rules.
1. Spell correctly, whether you are writing Maltese or English. I don’t mind correcting the occasional spelling mistake (or missing it) but I draw the line at semi-coherent pidgin.
2. Use punctuation, if possible in roughly the right place.
3. Refrain from using multiple interrogation and exclamation marks. One is enough. If you wish to express surprise or incredulity, there are words designed specifically for this purpose. Find them and use them.
4. Refrain from slander. Slander and insults are two different things. The first is a criminal act and the second is not.
5. Try to make the occasional valid point or amusing remark, otherwise your comment is useless clutter.
6. This is not Facebook, Hi5 or a text-messaging system. Do not use ciphers or inane reflections of the way you speak, like ‘eeeeeeeee kemm int nice, hej’. Save that for your Facebook wall.
7. This is not a hanut tat-te, a klabb tal-bocci, or a kamp illegal fl-Armier. It is a site on the worldwide web and this means that a high percentage of those who read it are not Maltese or know little or no Maltese. The language of this site is English. Maltese is used for effect as and when necessary, but should be kept to a minimum. This is not a political statement or any attempt at disparaging the national language which, to my surprise, I now realise that I speak, write and spell much more correctly than the average underclass person. It is commonsense.
8. If you think that the worldwide web does not cater for your specific requirements in terms of social interaction and discussion, spend a few euros, register the domain name www.whitetrash.com, and start up your own blog.
9. Come back when you’re civilised. Until then, stick to your own kind.
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Well said Daphne, if anyone wants to be vulgar or treatening let them use Maltastar. I’m sure they’ll be more than welcome there.
Well said. There are various rubbish sites for that kind of stupidity. Definitely not here.
It says a lot that the people you are referring to never write in to comment on something that criticises the PL, Muscat or Mintoff in the articles you write for The Malta Independent and place on this blog.
[Daphne – That’s because they can’t read them, Leonard. If you go to their Facebook walls, you’ll see the discussions taking place live about what they heard about what I wrote, and about what they think I said rather than about what they think of what I said. Sub-literate morons with a vote, the lot of them – and then when I say that Labour invariably rides to power on the back of ignorance and lanzit, they go crazy. But it’s true.]
Good move, Daphne.
The initial sniggers and the mild shock on reading the messages you started publishing on the weekend soon wore off. It turned into the sad realization that’s it’s really not just the odd 1980s throwback that you have to deal with.
‘They’ are unfortunately still with us, and have spawned a whole new generation.
Definitely best ignored in my own opinion, but we did enjoy the chance to have a good laugh at them, mind you, so thanks for that!
Well said and well timed!
The uploaded comments were well past the point of being amusing and were only serving to attract the sort of people you do not wish to meet at your regular watering-hole.
I think Maltese should not be used at all.
On a different note I also abhor the fact that timesofmalta.com allows comments in Maltese – if I were to write a letter to the editor in Maltese, I can’t ever expect it to be published, can I?
Although in retrospect, this shows which blogs are a hanut tat-te (sorry to use the Maltese expression but you’re right, Daphne, sometimes you have to use it), or a squatters’ camp in Armier, and which are not.
Finally. Thank you.
Good decision, Daphne – this is your blog and you do not have to put up with certain vulgar comments.
I would place a permanent link pointing to these rules.
You are perfectly right, by the way – I consider this place as a safe haven from the ridiculous and depressing comments on other websites.
May I suggest that the Electoral Commission hand out an IQ test together with that toilet roll we all get to vote on, come election time.
Electors with a lower IQ than the sum of their fingers and toes (and here maybe the opposition leader’s father may be at an advantage) would have their vote invalidated.
Can you imagine the Labour heavies scratching their heads behind the plexi-glass in the counting hall?
Well done, Daphne, and how right you are that violence and aggression are still lurking just below the surface.
They might have got their five minutes of fame but to most of us that was an insight into the manure clogging up the Mintoffian miserable mind.
To think that many of us put our careers and to some extent our lives on hold to rid ourselves of that dreadful regime only to realise that the country is still infested with scum.
Rejoice! The army of illiterates has been defeated, and its soldiers forever banished from the Green Wich’s fiefdom. All the spell-checking may finally cease in favour of spell-casting, whose practice can now continue unhindered.
The defeated army has reportedly withdrawn back to the kingdom of Ta Times. Often blamed with allowing the rogue army to prosper, the fate of that kingdom is now unclear.
Well done, Daphne. Just in time. You have stopped your site from being monopolised by organised Labour marmalja. Many sites including timesofmalta.com have, in the misguided name of liberty, fallen into this trap.
[Daphne – Liberty of expression means that everyone is free to set up their own blog and express themselves. It does not mean that everyone has a right to post comments on everyone else’s private property. More people need to understand this before more good internet forums sink under the weight of organised ignorance, leaving no space for anyone else. ]
What amazes me is the lack of ‘Netiquette’ or the consistent disregard of basic net manners by those who resort to that kind of communication.
All it takes is a quick Google search on the subject, or a simple spell check, but they are normally too busy building farms and bitching on Facebook.
What they fail to understand is that it only helps to push your point home – in that, they are pissed off about something that you write, as opposed to simply disagreeing with it, but are too weak to compete on a level playing-field with you.
When people resort to violence, be it written, verbal, or physical, it’s because they have either nothing left to say or they lack the ability to counter argue in a civilized manner.
Netiquette? If they people do not have an idea of what etiquette and good manners are all about, how they can have an inkling of what netiquette is?
If they justify what happened under Mintoff’s “reign”, why would they care about netiquette, even if it leaped out of their computer monitors and jumped and screamed up and down on their keyboards?
I’m glad that Daphne laid down the rules, as it were, for this blog.
It was high time and, frankly, I do not read the comments on timesofmalta.com because I find them too inane and puerile to be worthy of any consideration.
Sometimes, I wonder how people manage to find so many things to say about a non-event. I have to say this blog is my mental refuge where I feel that, after all, I’m not alone.
So, thank you, Daphne, for laying down these rules. I wish we could also lay them down for the whole country.
Well done.
I do hope they find someone who can explain the rules to them especially no:8. I can imagine Helen Cutajar asking on Facebook what domain name means.
Thanks and keep the ball rolling.
Thank goodness.
All those obscene words and frank threats were severely disturbing to see even when merely glanced over.
It makes one quite ill to know that so many of these people still exist
Phew ! thank goodness for that D. It depressed me no end seeing those monkeys trying to put a few words together.
Daphne, you rule the roost on this blog. Naturally, it is your own.
Can I make a humble suggestion ?
When you get hold of a genuine five star hamallagni whether it is in pidgin English or hopeless Maltese reproduce it for the attention of all and sundry.
The harm this inflicts on these morons’ cause is immeasurable
I still think you should “name and shame” when you receive a particularly vulgar or threatening comment.
It’s the only way to put these people in their place. Knowing that you won’t publish them will only encourage them to send you more – at least for a few days.
[Daphne – Actually, they’ve sent none. The minute I began uploading their IP numbers, they ran away. The age-old principle applies: bullies are cowards and when dealing with them, you have to bear that in mind.]
Glad to hear.
but … but ….. whitetrash.com is already registered !
Are you having us on?
Well done Daphne.
Zero tolerance.
Of course they ran away. That’s because at first they thought they were untraceable.
Anyway, I’m leaving this comment just to tell you Daphne that I really appreciate your work and find your blog really interesting. We need more people like you.
The ignorant insult you and tell you that you look like a witch and everything else but quite frankly I think that you’re a really attractive and classy woman. A perfect combination in my point of view.
At last no more “hamalli” with nothing between their ears.
At least, it would be interesting to read of reaction (if any) to the rules you so rightly laid down!
Mela isma din Daphne. Din se tinzillek ghazel zgur! Guvni rqajjaq ikun idur madwar Malta ibiegh is-santi.
Jigi mwaqqaf minn mara u din tibda tghajjat hafna hafna.
Ghal bidu hsibna li qed tiggieled mieghu, izda morna mqarrqin. Din riedet santa ta’ Patri Piju jew ta’ Santu Spirtu. Il-guvni ma kellux u tghidx kemm gergret.
Bdiet tgemgem wehidha li marret tiehu is-79 prima ghax f’dik is-sena hadna l-Helsien. Gergret ukoll ghax il-lottu jieqaf sad-90 u ma setghetx tiehu id-94 prima, ghax daqshekk ghandi Mintoff qalet.
Lil tal-haxix qaltlu li n-Nazzjonalisti qerdu l-qoxxra, ghax Dalli biegh il-Mid Med Banu u San Luqa (l-isptar l-antik nahseb riedet tghid).
Imbaghad ghadda guvni bil-mobile phone f’idejh u regghat ilmentat mill-fatt li t-telecell qeridha!
Ta’ fuqha idoqqilha t-telecell u hi bhac-cuc (dejjem qed nirrakkonta kliemha) tmur tiftah il-bieb u ma ssib lil hadd, ghax it-telecell tahsbu l-qanpiena tal-bieb ta’ barra taghha.
U wehel Eddie fuq din ghax hu giebhem Multa! Qerduha Multa dal-qabda glekkijiet u ingravuti!
Min jaf tafx li spiccat it-TeleMalta? Minjaf tafx li Gonzi hu l-prim u mhux Eddie? Imma zgur taf li Mintoff hareg mill-isptar ghax marret tixtri santa biex titlob fuqha.
Issa din ghandha dritt taghzel liema logo tal-PL (MLP) thaddan?
Tghid jirnexxilha tibghat l-SMS?
Thought you already had such a policy in place. Unfortunately open comments on the net attract a lot of flies.
How do you manage to do keep track of all these things and work, Daph?
[Daphne – Because I’m self-employed and vote PN.]
Maybe you should also consider not allowing the use of nome de plume (hope I got it right). I think that when you hide behind a nick you are a coward and say things you would otherwise avoid.
If you have something decent to say then say it and sign it with name and surname if you are ashamed of what you are saying then you shouldn’t say it in the first place. I always use my name and surname and wish that others would too. I want to live in a country where men and women are willing to stand by whatever they say with conviction.
Finally…
To be honest I was losing interest in this blog as it was degenerating into a senseless read. The fifteen minutes of fame/bravado from single-cell organisms does not exactly float my boat, so thanks again for realizing that and taking the steps to keep your usual readers in a good mood.