AirAmericaTALK.com

[zaj]

Hey all...

I thought I would stop in an invite any of the fans of AirAmerica Radio to stop in and check out AirAmericaTALK.com.

I've tried to create a site where thoughtful liberals and conservatives can talk about political issues, and fans of the show can hang out.

Funny thing is that the most outspoken posters to date are primilarly conservative posters.

I thought this might be the right place to see if anyone is interested in providing a little a balance to our community.

Stop by, say hi, and speak your mind.

http://www.AirAmericaTALK.com

[Wonk]

1. You know at least 2 AAR shows have their own open blogs already, right?

[zaj]

4. I'm not a fan of the blog format...

It way too cumbersome... hundreds of continuous, disconnected topics. I tried following that, but I much prefered the message board format.

So I started my own site.

[benburch]

2. Ummm....

I do hope you have permission from Air America to use their trademark.

[zaj]

5. They haven't said anything so far. We'll see.

If they have a problem with it, I'm sure they will let me know. I'll be happy to oblige.

[benburch]

29. I wouldn't wait for the papers to be served.

My suggestion; Move the site to an URL that does not infringe before you need a lawyer.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Wonk]

8. ROTFL! Did you notice how it looks almost exactly like

that other board, y'know, the CUmstains, as well? Purely coincidence? :shrug:

[moof]

10. No, you mean it looks like the Con underground?

Never went to the CU & have only been to free republic once a loooooong time ago.

[parasim]

20. Or perhaps, it's because

it's a phpBB board, one of the more common messageboard outfits out there? and is the same one that CU uses.

[zaj]

9. Man, I'm not sure where you got that impression...

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience.

My goal isn't to create another safe place on the net, absent of any discussion. I want to create a place where people can debate the issues.

The funny thing is that the first complaint I have ever had came from one of the conservatives because one of the liberals was getting into personal attacks. I didn't ban them, but asked them cut it out, and they agreed.

I was going on vacation a week after starting the sight, and picked 2 mods... one liberal and one conservative... strangely I didn't know the liberal at all... but picked him only because he was posting regularly. I picked the conservative because I knew him from another message board.

For the most part the Mods have worked out very well.

Feel free to stop in again, if you are so willing. If not, so be it.

But be sure of this... AirAmericaTALK.com is not "a stealth freeper site".

[moof]

13. Thanks for the confirmation.

While it may seem nice & fair minded to include a "conservative"
point of view, There is no shortage of the conservative point of view anywhere in America & if you had not noticed "their" leader drew a line in the sand a couple years ago & if you are not a conservative
as far as conservatives are concerned you are the enemy. It is one thing to tolerate conservatives posting on your board , it is quite another to make one a moderator no matter how well you know them. If you think people that have been as disenfranchised as liberals have been over the pass three years appreciate having to explain the constitution & the bill of rights to people that have little or no idea of the concepts they represent you are either out of touch or an agent of free republic ilk. At least here at DU there is never any doubt on who is on who's side if push comes to shove & at best moof knows that most everyone here is a pal at heart.

[zaj]

16. The thing that is lacking in this world is open discussion...

There are plenty of people blindly advancing ideology on both sides of the debate. My goal is to try to foster real debate.

A lot of people around here, know their stuff. I invite them to share their stuff and help elighten any conservatives.

There are plenty places that are intollerant of dissenting view points (too many of them are in the media and in political office).

I don't see a problem with creating a truely "fair and balanced" environment.

[indigo32]

26. Problem is

we've completely forgotten how to talk to eachother. Even when we do get on a board together... it's all talking past eachother and scoring points on eachother. This is not "open discussion"

I'd LOVE to see open discussion going on in the right forum. But it's very hard to come by.

[zaj]

49. Well, I'm working on it.

You sound like someone I should strongly encourage to visit our site.

Please do stop by, and bring your notes and thoughts!

www.AirAmericaTALK.com

[Misunderestimator]

45. OOhhh... stealthy... you gave your conservative self away there, bud n/t

[zaj]

46. Damn, what is up with a few people around here?

Is this total paranoia? No dissenting views allowed?

Man, I'm a registerd democrat, but I vote for the candidate/issues not the party, so I don't vote strickly along party lines.

Does that make me a freeper?

Serious question, what IS a freeper anyway? I've heard the term, but get the notion, but have no idea what it litterlly means.

Does the use of "Fair and Balanced" in a mocking sense expose someone as a conservative?

This is really weird.

[krkaufman]

22. Agreed, again. A conservative moderator is antithetical

Agreed. It's a fine thing to create a site for mutual discussion, but having a conservative moderator is antithetical to the concept of "Air America Radio" -- and so the site name is misleading (both in theme and official affiliation).

[stewert]

51. Agree With Moof........

Lose the Nazi moderator or nobody will post there.

I know I will not post there as long as you have a freeper for a moderator.

[NuttyFluffers]

14. then get different or more moderators

if it wasn't for left_the_right and other liberals that can be counted on one hand it seems like a completely dominated freeper site. it's really quite embarrasing. that small handful can still bat around the conservative's arguments because the conservatives there just have no capacity for real intellectual discussion. not as bad as freeper-ville, but needlessly flooded by their filibuster.

in my take it's not fun to deal with that. it's just a waste of time. there's not enough facts and real debate being encouraged, i was turned off quite rapidly. i have no desire beating back streams of nonsense and standing tall among the critically thinking challenged. it's boring.

ground rules aren't a bad thing, i suggest a few to elevate the level of conversation. and banning isn't inherently evil. be judicious in its use, but don't ever shelve the option into de facto nonexistence.

[zaj]

18. I did most of my political talk...

...on a football board dominated by conservatives.

When I started the site, a few of them came over upon my invitation. They've stuck around, and enganged in the debate. I'm definately interested in getting a little more outspoken liberal representation or I wouldn't have started this thread today.

[krkaufman]

21. Thanks for the viewpoint.

I was wondering if that weren't one of the dangers of the sites that are springing-up. Aside from the watering-down of participation by spreading a finite number of people over a growing number of sites.

Why not just post to DU?

[zaj]

25. There are several reasons...

There are a lot of places on the net I could post to talk about politics and be around liberals and liberal view points.

1)This place doesn't have an AAR forum
2) I come to DU to get the liberal viewpoint and the latest info not being covered in chase-your-tail media, but this place has about as balanced a representation of views as a Rush Limbaugh message board.
3) I don't really like the format for posting and reading here... its different that what I have grown accustomed to. I don't like the threaded format, I much prefer the quoted format. That's a big reason why I don't like the AAR official blog sites.

And that's the main reason I started AAT. As a place for people who prefer the phpBB or vBulletin format, and still want to talk politics. It's also my personal preference to engage in real discussion. Patting on the back (while it has its' place), too much gets boring, IMO.

[zaj]

50. Wow, I don't remember who/what this post was...

Does anyone know why it was deleted?

[rucky]

6. Oh yeah, please lemme sign up on a board where the moderator...

is a conservative who tells liberal posters that they "scare" him. I don't get enough of that on the rest of the internet & mainstream media. :eyes:

WTF are you guys up to? this doesn't seem like something AAR would launch. If it's independent from the network, then I suggest you make that clear pronto to avoid any legal snafus.

[zaj]

11. It's totally independant.

[Lex]

7. Isn't there already a

messageboard http://www.airamericaplace.com in existence?

[Lefty_the_Right]

12. Holy mackerel!

Thank you?

I was wondering where the heck all the liberals were at!

I'm the lone liberal that Jaz spoke of.

Yes, I got very abusive over there, and I shouldn't have.

It's a very dark place right now, and it got really old explaining over and over again that Saddam didn't kick the inspectors out, he doesn't have any WMD's now, but he did when Reagan and Bush the first were in charge, and that the mass graves were also a result of Reagan Bush policies.

You know, all the things that are general knowledge to anyone that bothers to use more than the eating and breathing portions of their brain.

And there are some true freepers types over there.

I figure I can't abuse them on freekpublic, and I don't want them here to pee in our punchbowl on a daily basis, but I still want to engage them.

I hope Jaz is telling the truth and not running a stealth freep board.

So far it seems on the up and up.

But it would be very much like a Freeper to do something exactly like it.

[zaj]

15. How exactly would a stealth freeper sight work?

And what exactly would be the value in creating one? I'm missing something with this theory.

[Lefty_the_Right]

17. I don't know

Wouldn't someone running that site know quite a bit of information about the people that register, for one?

[zaj]

19. Almost nothing...

I think the only information that is required is an email address, but I guess that's some information. But that's about it.

[krkaufman]

23. some thoughts...

- dilution of left-of-center discussion boards (preventing or delaying the development of critical mass participation)

- occupy left-of-center resources with mind-numbingly-ignert arguments (wash-rinse-repeat), precluding participation in pursuits more beneficial to The Cause.

- theft of IDs and passwords (since many people reuse both across boards)

[zaj]

32. Not in anyway my intention...

I won't force you to join... I will wish you the best in your experience here at DU or wherever else you choose to spend you time.

[stewert]

52. Hey zaj.........

Here is some advice:

1) Dump the freeper moderator.

2) Get a different url before you get sued.

3) You can let conservatives post on your board, but none of them should ever
be a moderator. When people see the airamericatalk.com url they assume it's
a liberal message board. Then they look around and see a freeper moderator
and they leave. That is why you are having trouble getting liberals to post there.

It's false advertising, and I sure as hell will not post on a message board that has
a freeper for a moderator.

4) Create an open debate forum and let the freeper moderate that one forum.

Only liberals should moderate the other forums. It's insane to have a freeper as a
moderator for the O'Franken Factor and the other liberal radio shows.

Don't you agree ?

[zaj]

53. Not really...

If you draw the line at posting on a site based on who the moderator is, then I'm guessing we are apples and oranges (you and my site).

I left days after I created the site, I needed to pick a couple of mods to watch out.

I picked one from each side of the asile to maintain the balance that I believe I bring.

Both people have since done a great job of being tolerant and engaging(even better than being given the responsiblity).

I might eventually take into account some of your suggestions, but for now I'm happy with what they are doing, and how things are working.

...

On a side note:

I do think its funny that people around here have so strongly objected to an AirAmerica website that encourages both liberals and conservatives to participate equally.

If you have listened to much AirAmerica Radio, you would realize that conservative rhetoric and engaging conservatives in open discussion is the central theme of the network.

Al Franken has his daily ditto head segement with one of his very closest friends (who is a ditto head).

My site was designed in that spirit.

[krkaufman]

24. Agreed, hate the blog format for discussions, but...?

Blogs are fine for an individual posting their commentary, but are horrible for multi-person discussions. Ditto for chat rooms.

As for your new discussion site, welcome to the list of sites competing for the AAR crowd.

See:

Official:
http://www.ofrankenfactor.com
http://www.majorityreportradio.com
http://forum.therandirhodesshow.com

Unofficial:
http://www.airamericaarmy.com
http://www.airamericaplace.com
http://airamericatalk.com
http://www.majorityreporter.com

[robbedvoter]

28. AirAmericaPlace seems official enough. Rachel Maddows posts links

Shows' interns post stuff.
Yoiur membership gets you access to clips - it's the AAR board, all right and we should patronize it more!

[zaj]

31. You might have missed this...

"This site (AirAmericaPlace) is in no way affiliated with Air America Radio or Progress Media, Inc."

[robbedvoter]

38. Producers obviously read it - unlike your freeperish trap

So, if people want their comments to matter, and not be censored by dittoheads....

[zaj]

40. What are tyou talking about?

"Censored by ditto heads"?
"Freeperish Trap"?

Man, you are approaching Terry Holt-like status with you labling.

[robbedvoter]

27. Thanks for the phony board! I found about AAR place because of it

See? You provided a service in spite of you. Now, go back outside and keep looking in. Not interested in "arguing" with you....

[zaj]

30. What are you talking about?

Seriously... What is "phony"?

[robbedvoter]

33. Misusing Air America's name to promote a freeper board

Why can't you name it Dittohead city?

[zaj]

34. Wow!

This is insane.

I've spent the last 3 years fighting with conservatives and ditto heads on a football board. And you are calling me a "dittohead"?

I promised a regular poster orginally from DU that I would work to attrack a additional liberal voices, and somehow it is now a "freeper board"?

If you don't like the idea of open disucssion (my goal for the board), then feel free to not join, but what's the point of disparaging it?

[robbedvoter]

35. Why an Air America board controlled by conservatives?

Are you trying to stack the deck for the audience? You even stole the domain name before they had a chance - to attract naive people. Why not stick with the foorball board? Why steal the name?
Come home kids - for all your Air America talk
http://www.airamericaplace.com/

[zaj]

36. Ahhh! I see... board rivalry...

AAT is controlled by ME. Notice the sub-title: "Challenging Rightwing Rhetoric since 2004"? That's exactly the kind of environment I want to foster. That's the sprirt of AAR.

It is starting to look like you are just conducting board rivalry, and lableing my board as the enemy. Does that tactic sound at all familiar? Seems strangely like something the RNC would pull.

If you are pissed that I have started a different board (different from your prefered AAP), that's fine. But don't start acting liking like a RNC puppet, attacking anything you view as a threat.

That's bogus, IMO.

[robbedvoter]

37. Frankly, I found out about AAR place from this thread

I registered, visited, liked it. I also resent what you are doing. One cannot debate with thugs. That's why we needed AAR.

[zaj]

39. Fair enough...

But let me ask, have you visited and engaged anyone on my site? What name did you post under?

The closest thing we have had to a "thug" was a couple of posts that Lefty made that went over the line. But Lefty has become of our best posters.

AAT isn't about allowing thuggary. It's about informed debate. Debunking rhetoric.

I'm not asking that you agree with my vision of the board... You are welcome to disagree, but to attack it and lable it like you have done is hyprocritical for any liberal to do.

Enjoy your experience at AAP. I'm sure it is a great place, just slightly different than AAT. We can live in peace, and stand side by side with pride.

[robbedvoter]

41. Nope. Not going to freeper places.

My time is too limited to expose myself to the same BS Faux, NYT, CNN. Limpballs fart non-stop. I am on the internet (and AAR) to keep my sanity.

[zaj]

43. That's the same mentality that brought Rush Limbaugh so much success...

But I wish you the best.

[robbedvoter]

47. Nope. I am not stalking people, throwing acid in waitresses faces

or mocking teenage girls. For you to tell me that I am like a freeper shows me how much you miss the point and why your board is a waste of time.
Facts vs unadulterated hatred. The two shall never mix.

[zaj]

48. Strange that you fall back on "facts"

... when just a bit ago you said about my site:
- a "freeper place",
- "controlled by conservatives",
- a "phony board"
- a "freeperish trap"
- "censored by dittoheads"

and then you admitted that ("Nope") you had never visited the site.

Now you are saying that you choose "facts vs unadulterated hatred"?

I'm not trying to win you to my site at this point, you aren't looking for the same thing that I am trying to create... and that's fine.

But look at yourself objectively. You attitude and behavior is identical to a lot of reactionary, intollerant ideologs in the RNC.

For a liberal to act that way is total hypocricy.

It's ridiculous.

[Snoggera]

42. Hope it works out

With the polarized views in this country today, it is difficult for those from different perspectives to come together.

[zaj]

44. Its a tough thing to balance...

That's why I have resisted broadly publicizing the site... I don't want to attrack the trolls, I'm just trying to let it grow "underground".

All it takes is 10-20 good members, to create a great board environment that will dictate the tone of those who contribute.