About discussions of Michael Jackson

[Skinner]

On Friday morning I gave the moderators the following instructions:

Some general guidelines about Michael Jackson threads:

Michael Jackson threads should not be in the General Discussion forum, UNLESS they are discussions of related political/social issues (ie: Race, pedophilia, criminal defense for rich defendants, constitutional questions, etc.)

If a Michael Jackson thread is started in the GD forum, you should move it to the lounge.

Michael Jackson news should be allowed in the Latest Breaking News forum, ONLY IF it is BIG news. For example:

"70 police officers raid Neverland Ranch" = big news
"Tito tells Larry King Michael is innocent" = NOT big news

General complaints about the suffocating media coverage of Michael Jackson should be limited to one thread at a time. Additional threads should be locked and linked.

So, please don't start frivolous and space-wasting Michael Jackson threads. And in particular, don't do it in the GD or LBN forum.

If you see a thread about Michael Jackson, please hit the alert link so the moderators can deal with it. DO NOT post a screed about what a terrible job the moderators are doing.

These guidelines can be applied to Kobe and Scott Peterson discussions as well.

[DemExpat]

1. For those interested....kick

DemEx

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. oh thank you skinner and mods..may budda bless you!

[MrPrax]

3. Kicked...

This form of censorship I can live with...
More a form of 'protest' against Media and IMHO people tend to come here to get 'news' and 'opinion' they wouldn't normally get from Media© anyway...
and the MODs are doing a great job -- esp. jumping on this one early (man there is still a trial, att'y Press Conferences, lawyer scrums, teary witnesses, family and fan testimonials, !!--by the end, the living will envy the dead)


Only These Moonwalks Allowed--it's a Kennedy Thing

[Deja Q]

4. Thanks!

Celebrities' situations have nothing to do with current political issues and are, in fact, taking attention away from real news stories. It's a disgusting unfunny joke that celebrities (accused of a crime or hocking their latest warez) get more screen time than issues which affect hundreds, thousands, millions, or billions of people.


I speaketh of the media, DU isn't quite as bad in that respect, but few want to see it turned into a celebrity lovefest. :-)

[kyrasdad]

5. Thank you Skinner and Mods...

If I cared one bit about Jackson, Bryant, Peterson, whatever, I'd watch Hard Copy... you guys rock...

[newyawker99]

6. kick

:kick:

[peekaloo]

7. no, watch 'Inside Edition', they've won two Peabody awards!

;-)


a big ole :kick:

[Padraig18]

8. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

I could almost :puke: when I see a MJ thread, any way.

[goobergunch]

9. Official Goobergunchia Seal of Approval

[TahitiNut]

10. Go Blue!

(kicking)

[DemBones DemBones]

11. MANY thanks! eom

[Cocoa]

12. DU should treat the phrase "Michael Jackson" as a profanity

see those words, lock the thread.

Every new year, Matt Groening used to do a "Forbidden words of the new year" we should do that with Jackson.

[Oracle]

13. Your a funny guy Skinner,"Tito tells Larry King Michael is innocent" =

"NOT big news"

Poor Tito, always getting the short end of the stick.

[johnfunk]

14. "'Tito tells Larry King Michael is innocent' = NOT big news" - but what if

Rick James tells Bill O'Reilly "He's a super freak! Super freak! He's super-freakin'! Ow!"?

[liberalhistorian]

35. LOL!

And he wouldn't be too far off the mark, now, would he? I had a college roommate who just loved Rick James and who played that damn song over and over and over and over and over and over and over, and when she wasn't playing it, she was humming it. It drove us all absolutely nuts.

[brainshrub]

37. LOL! That would qualify as news to me. (nt)

[ComerPerro]

15. Would this qualify as big news

Tito tells Larry King that Michael Jackson is innocent as Tito and Larry King raid the Neverland Ranch

[NicRic]

29. Big news Micheal is Peter Pan ,flies away !

.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. Can we assume this will be a general guideline for future

stories of a similar nature? (i.e. the political issue is worth discussion but whether Micheal is really black, La Toya, or rolls in flour every morning is not an issue sufficient to grace the pages of GD or LBN?)

[Skinner]

31. Yes

This is the general guideline for celebrity news.

[Noordam]

17. Why are ppl kicking a Pinned thread????

:crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy:

[DemExpat]

18. lol...initially it was not pinned!

:kick:

DemEx

[imax2268]

19. Good...great...glad to hear that...

How about doing the same thing with all the candidate threads...Dean this Dean that, Kerry this Kerry that...etc...etc...My candidate is better than your candidate...you get the picture...

[Skinner]

32. No, we're not going to do the same thing with candidate threads.

Because the Democratic primarly actually is important.

[Myra]

20. Yeah Skinner!

Good policy.
Give us tough love; we need it.

Well, I'm heading over the the lounge now
so I can dish on Jackson's nose.

[LuCifer]

21. my thoughts

This is nothing more than an orchistrated DISTRACTION. Gee, odd how this all comes to surface THE SAME DAMN DAY that Mass. gives the OK to gay marrage, ain't it? I mean, the don't care, they will do ANYTHING. In addition to which, how many soldiers etc. have been blown to bits over in Iraq? Or wherever? Like, say, Istanbul? Damn! Mean to tell me that our "IRAQ LIBERATION" war has uh...gone to HELL? Hmm. Well well well...you mean to tell me that if you invade a country that hasn't done crap to you...then crap hits the fan? DAMN! Let me stop, and write this done so I DO NOT FORGET! 'Nam Part 2...anyone? Why the lack of critical thinking anymore? Anyone? Sickening.

Lu Cifer

[ibegurpard]

22. I am breaking my pledge to not reply to Michael Jackson threads

in order to say THANK YOU for this one.

[Cronus Protagonist]

23. Yeah but did Micheal do it or not?

Inquiring minds want to know





*yawn*






(good work Skinner)

Click Here To See Fair & Balanced Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[JohnLocke]

24. Kick

: Kick :

[terrya]

25. If I want to hear about MJ, or Kobe,or Scott Peterson, there's Larry King

There is FAR more important issues in this country right now.

Thanks for the guidelines.

[liberalhistorian]

26. Excellent, thank you!

The only real issue that concerns me about this whole Jackson distraction is that of, as Skinner mentioned, criminal defense for rich defendants. If he was a Joe Shmoe from Kokomo, not only would no one give a shit about either him or his accuser, he wouldn't get anywhere near the level of legal counsel and representation that worth-half-a-billion-dollars Mr. Jackson will be able to buy. He'd be lucky to get a public defender who isn't grossly overworked and overloaded, and no one would care anyway.

[johnfunk]

27. Seeing as this Jacko thing is now a law enforcement matter...

...maybe Skinner should temporarily replace this



avatar with

[Jacobin]

28. Thank you very much for this

and I apologize for my screed earlier this week to the mods.

GD is literally one of the last places where serious political issues can be discussed and it pained me to see it polluted with MJ blather, knocking excellent threads into oblivion.

Thank you again for all the good work you do.

[wegottem]

30. I thought

I thought this was politicial, I thought Swartwhatever would want to appoint him in charge of elementry schools in Calif.

[janx]

33. Thanks so much! As an aside, when I was listening to NPR

the other night, it proclaimed itself (or the Minnesota segment at least) an official Michael Jackson-free zone.

[Dr Fate]

34. Great rules- no need for DU to become an arm of Bush/media

...let the other "news" outlets cover that crap- it's not even INTERESTING anyway- I'd much rather hear about Rush...

[eleny]

36. I'm waiting for the Michael Jackson Cable Channel....

since the coverage has gotten so smothering. Therefore, I appreciate your rules on this topic. Thanks so much!!!

[[e-mail]]

38. Media Loves Michael

He's the worlds easiest target!

[Hubert Flottz]

39. "GOOD"

Funny how Jackson's arrest happened to dominate the airwaves and completely overshadow the massive protests in England! Did someone in DC pull Arnull's chain to get the Jackson case to develop right when Bush needed it to?

Overkill on the Jackson issue on DU, is like we're playing ball with KKKarl Rove and taking our eye off the ball! I just put DU on ignore for about a week until we got back to bidness!

[VelmaD]

40. Oh gee thanks...

clutter up the Lounge with that crap. ;-)

[0007]

41. Thank you man!

[FuriousMNDem]

42. Kick

:kick: