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The TPM Strike Starts NOW!
[ed. note: Funny thing. I actually started this strike Friday. Made a sign, walked up and down 6th Ave. in Chelsea, looking for TPM Headquarters. No one knew what I was talking about...I think it's because I forgot to post this.]
The TPM Strike Starts NOW!
Here are our GRIEVANCES:
1. Deplorable Working Conditions
Last week, my neighbor was doing construction -- hammering, sawing, drilling. I had to go to Starbucks and do my blogging. Starbucks! Noisy, smells like coffee, tons of people around -- who can work like that?
2. Deplorable Work Schedules
Way too often, we bloggers stay up late, blogging into the early morning hours. That leaves far too few hours for sleep -- it is a grind that is wearing down the constitution of the blogging class.
3. No Recognition For Our Work
Last week, I wrote a post that was very well received, both here at TPM, and across the blogosphere. Was I thanked? Did Josh Marshall send me an email and thank me for bring attention to his web site? For getting people talking about TPM? I don't think so!
There is an historical precedent here, my friends. Are the conditions we bloggers today must endure that much different from the conditions that faced the working class 100 years ago?
Are these not the kinds of conditions that lead to the Pullman Strike? The Haymarket Riot?
Is this not The Jungle all over again???
My friends -- it is time. It is time to declare a strike. It is time to take what is rightfully ours!
We grind out post after post after post, while Josh Marshall and Andrew Golis and the rest of the TPM BOURGEOISIE sit in their ivory tower on 6th Avenue, with their FLAT PANEL TV monitors and their fancy HIGH SPEED COMPUTERS!
THE TIME IS NOW!
Who is with me???
We strike!
We strike, for all those who blogged before us!
We strike, for all those who will blog after us!
WE STR.....
ARGH! That drilling is starting again!!!
Do you SEE what I mean???
Who can live like this??????
Comments (43)
I am on strike, and will not be responding to comments.
(Unless they are good ones.)
March 17, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe this is just tongue-in-cheek, but just in case...
I guess you'll just have to start your own site. Conversely - if Josh hadn't started TPM would your post have been as well circulated from most other sites? One of the reasons for my TPM participation is that NORMALLY the discourse is a little better than many others.
March 17, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your first inclination is correct.
CSCS is making fun of the "diarists strike" being talked about on DKos.
March 17, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kos diarist strikes????
Gotta link??? This has comedic material written all over it.
March 18, 2008 8:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Holy smoke, tpartier! cscs's posts are unserious about 50% of the time. When he's funny, he's damn funny. Lately, it's the only time ALL of the bloggers here can get together and commune in harmony. Enjoy.
Remember: when you see one of cscs's posts, there's a good chance it's party time!
March 17, 2008 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Crap. I just referred to cscs as "he." cscs's gender is unknown.
Sorry, cscs!
March 17, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think CS needs the "It's Pat" avatar from SNL.
March 17, 2008 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK, now you're no longer being funny.
:-)
March 17, 2008 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're ok...it's "he."
You can't tell by my masculine typing style?
March 17, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
CSCS is our Norma Rae!
March 17, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn straight.
March 17, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think we should post no blogs .... till the old ones come back!
What happened to your promises, tpm??? We have not forgotten! We, who held forth at the old tpm cafe and got no warning to save our blogs. and were promised they'd come back, and were promised edit functions.
It's the sweat shop mentality! Write and write and write and write. With no saving of the old blogs! And no editing of the new ones!
Yup... a strike it is!
March 17, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just getting the old blog posts isn't enough for me anymore.
I want economic justice for all bloggers everywhere!!!
That, or one of those flat screens we always see in the pictures of TPM HQ.
Either one works.
March 17, 2008 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're so selfless!!!
♪♪♪
March 17, 2008 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
We need justice! So adding to our list of demands must be some compensation for the toxic working conditions. It is a well documented health hazard - migraines from trying to carry on logical conversations with republican trolls, spewing Bill O'Really justifications and sporting avatars shaped like ice cream cones. How much mental anguish must we endure?
No one would do our jobs for the pittance we are receiving. (Though the flat screen plasma might woo me)
March 17, 2008 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
My shoulder sometimes hurts when I'm at the computer for a while. I forgot to mention that one....
March 17, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah. Toxic working conditions. You must know something about my house. I'm OUTRAGED!
March 17, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I find little difficulty refraining from contributing, since I find little to say to the emptiness that is blog limbo. A typical 1-hr. visibility slot is not encouraging. A fighting-words headline, like "Clinton Sucks!" or "Obama Kool-Aid Served Here!" might get enough recommendations to last a day.
Ever noticed the grocery store rearranging the shelves? A more logical system is not the goal---rather, it is your now-longer search effort, that yields a few more purchases, which managers seek.
It takes considerably longer to find anything one has already commented on, so that goal is met. Perhaps higher rates are possible for ads, which I don't dispute as necessary. If this more-than-one-month shakedown is accidental, I sure hope Josh et al get a whopping refund. If it is intentional, I resent being kept in the dark on its progress. I recently invited Andrew to post an update. He responded via email, but has not found the opportunity to let folks know what the **** is going on.
There is one mode of business which discourages informing customers, on the theory that admitting confusion, or mistakes, degrades the brand. I had hoped this venture was operating on a different model.
March 17, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I second that. I hate it when they rearrange the grocery store.
And I hate trying to find old and new comments.
It is all about the page views these days...
As for the process of change - TPM has shown a certain desire for playing this one close to the chest. Odd for what is often trumpeted as a community driven ecosystem.
Open up guys. Let us know what you are fixing, what a vague time line might be. Give us your impression of the changes you have chosen as well as what you have eschewed and why.
This is a blogging site for chrissakes. Blog about it.
March 17, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is that mushroom feeling growing?
March 17, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
eliottness,
Indeed, but I wouldn't bet on it.
From what I have seen so far, the general modus operandi is Nixonian anti-transparency and/or Leo Strauss type whispering. Kind of hypocritical for self-proclaimed "muckrakers," would you say? Yah! It's the same method that all the muck makers use, i.e., you plebes have no idea how hard it is to run this big empire, how complex it really is, and we don't want to bother you citizens with how hard it is in the center or power to keep this community running, "mistakes were made," leave it at that, the rest is nothing you would care about.
In emails (reproduced elsewhere because posting them here, they would scroll away fast and be hard to find, or be ignored like this user's recent post and many other complaints by commenters within threads just shove it under the rug of the fast scrolling, hope none of the other confused see it,) it is implied that the majority is making do with the system as it is, why don't you complainers do the same.
:-)
P.S. A related question: Would a muckraking blogger let a MSM outlet get away with ignoring a similar complaint from a former columnist to this one, sour grapes though it may be, would a a muckraking blogger let a MSM publication get away with pretending it's not out there at another publication?
P.P.S. I like your user name, it seems quite appropriate to your insight.
March 18, 2008 3:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
One more thing: while I praised your insight, elliott, I must toot my own horn on this front as well: I raised a Dana Perino comparison back on March 4, pointing out a Feb. 2 promise that the classified documents would be dumped "in the next few days." :-)
March 18, 2008 3:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
You guys are all talking about kitty cats and gum drops. Small time stuff. We don't need these petty little victories like blog editing functions. We need to seize TPM media! By force! CSCS, you name a time. Then we rally the troops outside of TPM headquarters and take what's rightfully ours!
March 17, 2008 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn straight.
You and watching John Adams last night's got me all fired up!
March 17, 2008 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
What shall I do if all the TPM Cafe bloggers strike? Don't make me go out there... into the sun! Argh!
March 17, 2008 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
You'll be forced to read the Weekly Standard.
Or Free Republic.
Or you can pick up a David Brooks book -- he's always so insightful.
March 17, 2008 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is a place of refuge:
http://forum.projectlucidity.com/
So need to go out in the cold. Join tpm refugees, till the strike is over... and beyond!
March 17, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are scabs posting all over the place.
March 17, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, including the OP. So hard to get a good striker these days.
March 17, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey -- my strike, my posting policy.
You want your own posting policy? Start your own damn strike.
March 17, 2008 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Man, I'm all inspired. Breaking out in verse after verse of "The Internationale," I am.
March 17, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!
March 17, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bravo CSCS
I didn't realize it, but I guess I've been on strike myself. I miss the html editor. I know just enough html to write in italics and boldface. All the cool bulleted lists and indents and links I used to be able to do . I suppose I could learn a bit more html...but hey, I'm an old guy.
I miss the ability to rate posts. I wanna give you fives, bud, all fives, and I want to thwack trolls with numbers, rather than snarky or rude retorts. I had hoped in the name of participatory democracy to be able to toss a few numbers at the paid elite (they are paid, no? Fives for Jared, tinier numbers for one or two who I refain to name.
So I'm on strike for the old format, the old editor, and a chance to see my old TPM friends in more congenial surroundings. I can't even proofread things any more. I cud bee meaking lost of tieping miztakes and I can't perview them.
Thankee for standing up for us. Hi to all the other oldtimers I see in the comments column. I miss ye.
aMike
March 17, 2008 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please email Andrew Golis---
andrew@talkingpointsmemo.com
Let him hear from more than just me and few other dinosaurs. Seems like more than a month should be long enough to fix some stuff.
And drop by Eric Stepp's blog for TPM refugees---
http://projectlucidity.com/forum/index.php
March 17, 2008 8:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
5!
March 17, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm now all misty-eyed. The old site did have a homeliness that has been lost.
Like you, I'm trying to get used to the new surrounds, but it sure as heck ain't a coffee house. Just hoping that after we've broken in the furniture, played with all the gadgets and dropped some food on the carpet it will begin to look a little more familiar...
Whilst the idea of a strike is interesting, I'm thinking trollish civil disobedience might be more effective... it's just that the old crowd simply wasn't like into that sort of thing, it's one reason this has been such an awesome site to contribute to.
March 18, 2008 7:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Am I a scab for posting a comment?
March 17, 2008 9:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
No comments are on the right side of the line.
March 17, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aaaaaaaaandrew...
We all want the old TPMCafe back. I'm sorry I have to say it so bluntly. We've been trying to like this new site but it's bothering us.
March 17, 2008 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
What, are they selling DVD's of TPMTV?
Two and a half cents, buddy. Is that too much to ask?
I'll bring the donuts.
When the blogosphere's version of the Oscars comes around, they'll fold like yesterday's newspapers. (Remember them?)
Seriously, though, the new site ain't that bad. I miss the ratings and the preview option, but I've read some great stuff from TPM bloggers that I would not have seen otherwise.
March 17, 2008 11:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Uh,,I don't know how to say this, but....I have a flat screen monitor. And, Josh and I are on daily conversing terms....and, I'm quite happy with my pay. (I'm already in the witness protection program, so I can safely say this.)
March 18, 2008 12:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn’t it was part of your plea agreement that you do not mention anything about your former criminal activity including the terms of your plea agreement? You don’t ever see the other participants in the witness protection program who comment here mention it now do you? Not one of them. So no more talk about this or you’re back in the general population.
March 18, 2008 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's McDonalds now Cscs.
Supersize that nothing in the mail?
"Blogosphere." It's a discriminatory word created by the journalist man. See, as their market share burns, they want everyone thinking of the blogosphere as "lightweight" and "airy" with holes in the ozone. Meanwhile, and this is in my Ted Knight voice, JOURNALISM is the earth.
If that's true, no wonder there is so much space exploration. Everyone in the democracy wants to make good in that promised high-tech, high-touch future of Mr. Naisbitt.
Good ideas? Thanks. Now get out.
March 18, 2008 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
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