Tim McDonald takes a moment to respond to a Huffposter’s query about why they weren’t “grandfathered in”, as promised.
Namaste. This one goes out to the disaffected HuffPosters. I know there are millions of you out there. I have seen the numbers, the numbers don’t lie. The Huffington Post lost about 7 million unique visitors from Dec. 5 to Dec. 25, 2013. It wasn’t because of the quality of their egg-nog. Many of you have gone on to other news blog discussion sites, such as The Epoch Times, Poynter, or others. Some are still on The Huffington Post, because old habits are hard to break, I’m sure. (The Grump understands. Cats are creatures of habit, after all).
I created this site primarily to help active HuffPosters adapt to the new privacy-gutting regulations. I saw how many were disappointed about selling details of their personal lives to the Facebook/HP/AOL triad, and knew they could at least minimize those risks. But they weren’t tech-savvy to know about how to fight the privacy-profiteers. So this became a home for my “Guide To Facebook Privacy“.
I tried just giving people on HP a link to an early Google Docs version of my Facebook guide. But the “modzis” would cut me off at the pass and block the information. I really hate when people try to shut me up. God didn’t give me a big mouth for nothing, you know. I distinctly remember his words were “Share it with the world, and don’t let no sumbitch try to put da clamps on ya.” So thank you modzis for inspiring me to create this site.
Sadly, it was “game over” for many HuffPosters in the HP community, when the human tsunami that is Arianna Huffington, decided to use Facebook to exploit her entire membership. Under the pretense of “stopping the unstoppable troll armies”. People who weren’t locked out of HuffPost because they did not own cell phones or could not use Facebook in their country, had to drop out for any number of other reasons. All of which were legitimate. Some stayed behind and could only watch in silent horror as their community crumbled before their eyes. Others left for greener, if smaller, pastures. Where voicing your opinion on topics of the day was still considered a personal right. Many migrated to “The Epoch Times” news blog. One of the first media outlets that started talking about the backlash against Huffington’s controversial “real names” user policy.
The disaffected HPers ended up congregating on a thread to an article where Huffington Post’s own community director, “Tim McDonald”, was interviewed. He gave carefully scripted responses in which he basically lied his ass off about almost everything but his name. Yeah, spin them platters o’ bullcrap, DJ Tim. You da man! Anyway. That thread on Epoch quickly filled with hundreds of ex-patriots from the Huffington Post community, who called themselves “Hufugees“. They are currently responsible for over 25,000 comments on that site (none of which had positive things to say about their old stomping grounds). All of those comments have been made under anonymous handles.
Yet contrary to what HP and various noodleheads try to tell us about the evils of anonymity, they are all civil and self-moderated. In fact, when it looked like a fight was starting to break out after a trollish character made brash remarks that offended a good few of them, they moderated each other, to avoid escalation. When one of them was having problems posting to the thread with their mobile, many other “Hufugees” chipped in to buy their fellow member an iPad.
I’ve been engaging in discussion forums on the net, since there were discussion forums. And even before the net existed, on local “bulletin boards”. Yet I don’t think I have ever seen a greater sense of community, than what I’d witnessed, observing the migration of excommunicated (or even banned) Huffington Post members to various squatting areas on The Epoch Times. Ironic their sense of community increased tenfold, than what it was on HP. Consider how many members Huffington lost in the last three weeks of December alone. Then factor in that there are over twice as many comments by Hufugees on Epoch’s version of HP’s “Turning The Page On Anonymity”, than there are on any current articles on HP. Do that, and it looks more like the HP community “turned the page” on the internet’s largest news blog, “The Huffington Post”. You gotta love the irony. (reg. tm.)
If this blog becomes more than just a home for a guide, that’s fine too. Or it may be nothing more than a temporary pit stop on the way to bigger sites. In the end, it will be whatever you make it. So if the moment permits, feel free to lay back on the couch, put your feet on the coffee table, open up a bottle of whine, and let loose on what The Huffington’s did to you and your online community of friends and neighbors. You deserve to. I won’t be nazi-ing anyone’s comments here, I can tell you that. If you need more room to lounge, click up on the right side panel, and go sound off in The Huffington Poster Forum. If you wish to do so on a news blog, you’ll see no shortage of alternatives to The Huffington Post in the right sidebar. All of which will offer greater commenting freedoms than they ever did.
and when you’re down on the bottom there’s nothing left
but to shout to the top “ – “Shout To The Top!” : The Style Council
Related articles
- HuffPost Comment System: Q&A With Tim McDonald, Director of Community (theepochtimes.com)
- New Comment Requirements on Huffington Post Riling Users; Many Are Leaving (theepochtimes.com)
- Huffington Post’s Own Editors Make It Look Like a Car Wreck (journeyamerica.wordpress.com)
- Tim Mcdonald: Turning the Page on Anonymity: The Future of HuffPost Comments (huffingtonpost.com)
- Why I Will Never Post A Comment On Huffington Post Again (stoweboyd.com)
- The Problem With The Huffington Post – New Commenting System, Media Bias (immeasurablemind.wordpress.com)
- Huffington Post Comments: HuffPost Exec Dismisses Widespread Criticism of New System (theepochtimes.com)
- Huff Post’s War on the Hp Community (journeyamerica.wordpress.com)
The Huffington Poster 
Bob D
/ September 28, 2014I dissolved my Huff account months ago, when they started demanding real identities. I dissolved my Facebook account a couple of years ago. A couple of days ago, I noticed I cannot read comments on HuffPo. I also noticed that the word “bikini” appears on the HuffPo front page much less than it used to. So why bother?
concretemermaid
/ July 14, 2014by the way,I was humaneisfact at huffpost..
concretemermaid
/ July 14, 2014i left huffpost after a decade …(almost anyways) and thousands of friends and fans.looking for new stomping grounds
richard729
/ July 1, 2014Censorship is frequent, arbitrary and brutal on Huffington Post. If you even hint at criticizing HP for any reason it gets censored even for the most trivial and innocuous comments.
I thought perhaps the Facebook format would allow a more open and free discussion but if anything it has gotten even more restrictive. Moderators/censors on HP must have a real problem with freedom of speech. They actually violate their own terms of service when they publish articles where one individual launches ad hominem attacks on another individual, so clearly they have a double standard.
Maybe this all goes back to Arianna Huffington’s right-wing roots and her alliance with Breitbart and AOL. HP has set up a speech filtering system now that would probably make Putin’s Russian media censorship proud.
forrest grump
/ July 1, 2014I have framed this comment and hung it in my office.
Hope you don’t mind.
Sharyn, the Recipient
/ January 13, 2014Forrest Grump,
Don’t ever stop writing !!
Xo,
Love,
Sharyn
forrest grump
/ January 13, 2014Thanks, Sharyn. You know I can’t. It’s in my blood. I knew that from second grade when my class told me. And when you’re ready, make a promise to yourself to start…. http://www.theghostwhowalksblog.wordpress.com
Whether its about Peeps, garbage bags going through a depression, your life as a marine, your volunteer work, or the way you and your world have changed after the hearing loss… you have a lot of stories to tell. And a lot of people that want to read you too.
Forrest.
StillAmused
/ January 12, 2014Howdy, Grump!
Nice job… especially impressed with the choice (and color) of the header font. Nothing wrong with a thumb in the eye when warranted.
Been keeping an eye on Quantcast as HP traffic goes down, down, d-o-w-n — breaking minus 25% and dropping.
https://www.quantcast.com/huffingtonpost.com/traffic
I’ve observed on a couple of other ‘exile’ blogs that, in the end, it will be HP’s advertisers who’ll be its executioners. Clicks speak loudly, especially when they’re saying “Buh-bye, Arianna!”.
OT, any wisdom on how to log in and comment on Epoch? I’m running an antique browser and OS and just can’t find the ‘register’ and ‘comment’ input fields, even in plain text view. I might be up against a brick wall until I join the rest of the world in the cyber here-and-now.
Will be checkin’ in periodically. Thanks for the effort you put into this. A lot of HP expatriates are in your debt.
forrest grump
/ January 12, 2014Howdy SA,
Glad you’re still amused. I’ve mentioned the Quantcast rankings here on the blog and elsewhere…. but not HP. Every time I try to inform Tim that his site is now behind Yelp, Pinterest and Buzzfeed… seems he doesn’t want to know. Bien sur, the advertisers always call the shots. HP is planning to hire 30 more native content advertisers in 2014. They might end up having a larger ad staff than their actual user base, if things keep up.
I heard from the editor of a newspaper in San Diego the other day, who was all proud of the fact that his news site was a mess of trolls, and he Facebooked everyone like HP did. But when I went to his site, I could not find one damn comment on the articles. It was just like HP Maghreb – a desert. I know its supposed to be the new way of the internet, but I’ve yet to hear of a successful transition like this.
I have no plans currently to add any more articles to the blog, though I still update content from time to time. I just don’t know that there’s anything I can add to what has already been said.
I’m not sure what problem you’re having registering with Epoch. If its easier, you can go directly to disqus.com. Top right, it says Login. Click that and one of the buttons will be “Create Account”. You register through that. Then, you will currently find most Huffies on this page:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/439511-the-public-square/#
At the top of the comments toward the right, click Login and you should be good to go.
BlueEyedBull
/ January 11, 2014Hi Forrest. I would like to see you become a blogger at ET. I think you have a lot more to say and not just about HP. I don’t know if that is something you would even want to do. Let me know.
forrestdgrump
/ January 11, 2014Hi Bluey. “Chez Moi” was mentioning that on the forum. I don’t feel that I am a news blogger, but you should really read my response to her, from earlier today. And you can comment on that on the forum if you’d like. (link at top left) As I was saying in my response to gmb007, it’s pretty private in there! So it seems to me a more appropriate place to chat about stuff like that, than “The Public Square” at Epoch Times (adorned by what looks to be an entrance to a Roman gladiator forum). If for any reason you need things to be even more private than that, let me know, I’ll arrange for an email exchange. See you at the games!
BlueEyedBull
/ January 11, 2014Darn it, I don’t know how to find my way back to where I originally posted to you. You know Forrest blogger just post whatever they want. It doesn’t have to be news. It can be an opinion about something you read. You know people adore you and would read your blog at ET.
forrest grump
/ January 11, 2014Thanks Blue. I decided to post my response to you on the Huffington Poster forum. It seems a more appropriate place, and it feels like its too personal an issue to discuss on Epoch.
BlueEyedBull
/ January 11, 2014Here is the information in case you change your mind. There are so many of us that would love to see you blogging at ET.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/the-epoch-times-contributor-guide/
matt t
/ January 11, 2014There might be a “movement” starting today which purpose is to see you blogging on ET.
Kazi59
/ January 10, 2014http://wp.me/p3IYvm-3p Here are my comments on HuffPost’s bullying of its netizens.
forrestdgrump
/ January 10, 2014Thanks, Khazi. “US: The right to be anonymous” is a great article. I knew not that there is a battle going on now by the world’s superpowers, with each wrestling for control over freedom of expression on the internet itself. I hope people get to read it. I’ll make sure to work the link somewhere in one of the articles here.
onemorethought
/ January 9, 2014Wow, this is really great. Nice job!
Danorano
/ January 7, 2014I always thought saying something online, when you wouldn’t say it in person, was a mistake. However, I spent about 6 months anonymously posting on HP and it made me realize that yes, without my anonymous posts, I would not have said anything at all. All my comments made me think critically about how I feel on certain issues, and not having to hold back helped. Anonymity may be the future of the web, but it certainly has it’s drawbacks in my opinion. I deactivated my Facebook and HP and account, never connected the two, and never will. Goodbye HP, hello NPR and HuffPoster.WP.
forrestdgrump
/ January 7, 2014Thanks, you illustrate a good point, Danorano. I relate it to what Jimmy Soni of HP said about how posting under your real name will create a “gut check moment”, that will make you think twice about what you’re posting. And it is. Except not necessarily about whether it will be offensive, as he was implying. But about whether you wish to share that thought with the entire world, for the rest of all time, accessible in an instant by anyone doing a search on you. Not being able to share these things in the places that we congregate is making us less human. If you ask me, the 21st century has been hyped a little too much.
termgirl
/ January 6, 2014Hello, Forrest.
Kudos to you for fighting the good fight at HP.
In spite of growing disenchantment with HP, I hung in there until the latest debacle.
It was difficult pulling the plug, after six years, over 4600 “fans,” and great admiration for so many wonderful commenters. It just became increasing frustrating having comments held up or deleted for no good reason, and the ID requirement was the final straw.
It’s great seeing so many of the HP family here.
signgrrl
/ January 6, 2014ok, did i do that or did you do that ?
forrestdgrump
/ January 7, 2014I did. I’m maaaaaagggic… Nah, not really. But you can go here to register your avatar on any WordPress blog: http://en.gravatar.com/
You have to click “create your own gravatar” and open an account.
Problem solved!
signgrrl
/ January 7, 2014thanks ! i feel lost without my trusty anaconda avatar.
Aquarius 1027
/ January 6, 2014Great place you have here, Forest! – Nice to find another site that describes more about the BS that happened at HP and provides a forum to vent. Lost so many friends at HP. – A special thank you for including the news blogs alternatives as well. 🙂
matt t
/ January 6, 2014Nice article, I will add that this community at Epoch continues to grow.
signgrrl
/ January 6, 2014Robin S
/ January 6, 2014Of all the articles I’ve read since this debacle, this is probably the best yet.
PlumStChili (@PlumStChili)
/ January 6, 2014Thank you. Forrest.
Jasmine
/ January 6, 2014I heard about you on the ET thread from your friends, and I must say you live up to the hype—such a great piece!
LOL– I think even you picture of Timmy above responding to queries…tells it all!
May 2014 be the year they bottom out :). Great to see such wonderful people fighting that monster…no ones going down easy. There will be a time to move on, but not yet….HPoop is feeling the heat, think twice about how you treat people.
Thanks for the new place to vent and reconnect Forrest 🙂
Namaste~♥ ~
forrestdgrump
/ January 6, 2014Thank you, Jasmine. In truth, no one could live up to that kind of hype. But then, if I didn’t pay people to say those things on ET, I would never be able to get people to come to my blog. So. It all works out. For me, when its no longer fun using HP’s site as my personal litter box, I’ll move on. I don’t like people trying to force the community’s hand on this. Everyone needs to do this on their own time, at their own pace. It’s a very therapeutic process. I’ve had a look at the comment numbers on some of the other HP sites around the world, and the results there are even more depressing than the US site. I mean depressing to HP, of course. To me, they’re very encouraging. (Although I do feel bad for any communities destroyed on those sites as well). They’re not going down easy, you’re right, but they are feeling the heat. Here’s to the HP Titanic, sinking in 2014! (clink)
epazote
/ January 6, 2014I’m so happy to have found your website !
This is going to be a very popular hangout
Thank you so much, Forrest
Unlisted2u
/ January 3, 2014^5s
dvncmdy
/ January 2, 2014Good work Forrest!
signgrrl
/ January 6, 2014your name sounds familiar ?
Ranchero42
/ January 1, 2014Nice to see another site I can find friends on. Are we free to post links as well? Strange how I’ve been encountering so many people with a lot on their minds … may I call you * F. *?
forrestdgrump
/ January 1, 2014Hi Ranchero,
You’re free to post any content related to the subject of this blog. It is your blog too, as the sub-heading says, “a resource for disaffected HuffPosters”.
You may call me “F.”, so long as the “F.” stands for “Forrest” and not “Fred”! (I don’t know who “Fred” is).
smitthy3
/ January 1, 2014Hello Forest… from a disenfranchised former HP member. ( I wonder if I will be able to delete my HP account.) I was trying to post a comment to a NEW article ironically titled “11 Reasons you should quit Facebook in 2014” (I kid you not) when I discovered I’d been away too long and major changes have been implemented. No good changes. All I could do was log in to “Fave” all the negative posts talking about the HP and irony of this article. Maybe the whole thing was a ploy so that HP can (say) “See, we do allow you to criticize us”.
About a year ago I deleted my HP account in personal protest to the unfair moderation practices… complete w/ an email telling HP why I was breaking up w/ them. No response, and no surprise. Way back then I reveled in finding “Banned from HP” blogs… while I wasn’t banned, the heavy handed censoring and being unable to post for some unknown arbitrary reason such as “the moderator must not like me”. But I returned like a fool for more… for the privilege/hope of exercising my free speech and sharing. But HP has made it easier for me now. I will not be creating an FB account just so I can post there.
I appreciate your insights and think you are right ‘on the money’… too much love of which changes things.
forrestdgrump
/ January 1, 2014Hi Smitthy,
Nice of you to stop by. I’m so outraged by the “11 reasons to quit Facebook” article, I was just about to sit down and write an article about that article, on my blog. HP did not post that to say “See, we do allow you to criticize us”. Because every time I did try to criticize them for that article, they wiped out my comment. Finally, I posted a comment telling them they were intellectual cowards for wiping out people’s criticisims of the Facebook article. THAT they posted! Go figure. If you quit a year ago on account of the moderation, you should see it now. Its like the f’ing gestapo up there now. Up to 90% of comments are getting deleted; and NOT because they are “vile” or “trollish”. I couldn’t even post a poem, who’s theme was in defense of the HP community. I also used to think ” the moderator must not like me”. But then, me and my big mouth are both used to getting banned on forums. However, when I heard from truly nice, polite, reserved, totally social and civil people saying the same thing about how the moderators must not like them…. then you realize they treat everyone that badly!
If you haven’t checked it out yet, you have a lot of kindred spirits at certain articles in “The Epoch Times.”. Check out the link at the right. Its a news blog site created by Chinese, in response to the extreme restrictions of free speech. So yeah, the Chinese believe more in the concept of free speech than The Huffingtons.
FOUR EYED PIPER
/ December 31, 2013Allow me, Sir Grump, to pile on the praise!….8-)
beatlex
/ December 30, 2013I salute you Mr Grump! Stick it to ‘Em!
Bebe
/ December 30, 2013Excellent, a big fan of yours. Some might know me as Gypsy in the other site we won’t mention.
thedood
/ December 30, 2013Hi Forest! It’s The Dood/Eldooderino2 from HP. A little birdie at Jacks pointed me here! Running out for a bit but I’ll be back for sure! Good to see you!
majorwiblit
/ December 30, 2013Thank you Mr Grump,,,and have always enjoyed your thoughts and comments over
in “Sensitive in Nature” land,,
There are so many X-Huff&Puffs out there,,myself included.
Good Luck!,,and well done!!
Canukistani
/ December 30, 2013I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks for speaking so tirelessly for those of us who’ve been cast out for being unwilling to surrender our personal information to the HP/FB money making machine. By standing up to the you’ve been a shining example to all of us.
geezer56
/ December 29, 2013Thank you, Mr. Grump!
FOUR EYED PIPER
/ December 31, 2013You too, geezer!!..All I could do was f&f at the end..nothing got through..and I’m never goin’ back..Nice to S33 you again!….8-)
Lynn C
/ December 29, 2013OMG, thank you for this!!!!!!!!!!! I have been banned from Huffington
Post. Apparently it is against their rules to mention The “Reverend” Al Sharpton in any comments. Not that they have admitted that that’s why they banned me. They haven’t responded to any of my requests for an explanation. So happy to be here!!
Forrest Grump
/ December 30, 2013They only ban the best, babe. That’s how you know. I’ve been banned from HP more times than i care to admit. (Actually, I just don’t remember). That’s why I have several accounts there now, so that I don’t have to waste another 5 minutes opening up a new account. Their bans are like their moderation: completely arbitrary, rash and probably triggered by some mod’s emotional crisis the night before. Have you met Sharyn G. above? She’s with the banned. I believe the trigger was talking about how they were in bed with Facebook. Some of them don’t like you talkin’ smack about TIm McDonald, with some its Al Sharpton, others its Edward D. Wood, the Starland Vocal Band… you never know with these people.
PlumStChili (@PlumStChili)
/ January 6, 2014HuffPoo only bannled me once. I got time offs a couple of times. I closed my account because I got tired of their whole act.
escapepa
/ December 29, 2013Awesome to have a place to get away from there and be able to comment like real adults.
IlRagno
/ December 29, 2013thumb up and tons of kudos Monsieur Forrest Grump
matt t
/ December 29, 2013Maybe you can live up to the name, although you might not remember a reply you once made. good work.
HeyJude
/ December 29, 2013You are a hero, Forrest Grump! I can’t tell you how much it meant to those of us locked out to have you and the others stay there behind the enemy lines on the TTP site to continue posting. Please know that the information you were getting out was a lifeline. People just seemed to “know” to watch that page, I know I did, and others arriving at TET have said the same. For 3 days, I had that page up, and only that page up….looking for the way out. I finally caught Sharyn’s clue before it was removed, and Friday the 13th was my lucky day. You will always be held up as one of the best on the front lines, I salute you Mr. Grump!
HamletsMill
/ December 29, 2013American history is a continuous never ending series of generational voyages of many hapless Pequods with many hapless Ahabs pursuing many Great White Whales to mind bending obsessive compulsive military organization and corporate business organization catastrophe. Such will now be the fate of the once great and mighty Huffington Post that has now gone to those strange latitudes of total shipwreck and mind bending ruin. Apparently Arianna Huffington, Tim Armstrong, Jimmy Maymann, Jimmy Soni, and Tim McDonald have never read the Great American Prophet of American Cosmic blindness – Herman Melville. I guess they had better things to do at MBA and New Media Mogul Summer Camp.
And so the runes of many Seers are now being cast out on that deck below the slowing creaking masts – all foretelling utter doom. So shall it be on all those deranged Ahabs who seek the Mystical Great White Whale of total control of the Internet.
My cast of the rune stones spell out a mystical slowly forming word pattern of… “MySpace”…
MagnaDave
/ December 29, 2013You’ll have to get in line and it’s a very long one!
Ranchero42
/ January 1, 2014Oh, it’s only remaining -long- in our minds, Dave.
wolfsden6lynn
/ December 29, 2013Hi there! I just sent a message to my fb account. Thank you for being here. I have always enjoyed your comments. There are many, still at hp, who have not heard about Epoch. I want to take my friends there…with me, but, any post I make re EpochTimes, gets, well, flushed down the moderation crapper. I will keep trying! 😉
Forrest Grump
/ December 29, 2013Hi Wolfie! I certainly know what you’re going through. It was cat and mouse with me trying to get my Facebook guide past the modzis. Now this entire website is in every one of my posts there, right under their big noses. I would try this: refer your friends not to Epoch (by name), but your own personal web site, or whatever you can think of. Then use a shortened URL of Epoch site. I like the “tinyurl” service. That will hide the address. I’ve gotten these past the mods in my comments a few times. They have millions of comments to process. I don’t think they are taking time to check links. And their stupid “Julia” bot hasn’t been taught what a url alias is yet. Score one for the rebels!
Bebe
/ December 30, 2013Have we met ???
FOUR EYED PIPER
/ December 31, 2013Hiya, wolfie!!..4_EYES here!..XO..I dumped HP after they cut off friends..I hang out at jackholes when I’m on..S33 ya..XO….8-)
Richard M
/ December 29, 2013Well played, Grump. Thanks for carrying on the resistance fight, behind the Huff Curtain!
classicalgastoo
/ December 29, 2013Bravo, Mr. Grump!
Bebe
/ December 30, 2013Hello lovely CG
classicalgastoo
/ December 31, 2013Hi there, sweet Bebe!
RF Dude
/ December 29, 2013Great work, Forrest!
Bebe
/ December 30, 2013You lead and i follow you dearest RF.
Gin 1234
/ December 29, 2013Hey Forrest. This is awesome. Thanks for taking time to think of us, in between your punches at HP.
Sharyn G
/ December 29, 2013I love you Forrest Grump!
=.)
Forrest Grump
/ December 29, 2013Me too. Well… I don’t mean *myself* of course. I mean… well, I’m not saying I don’t love myself but… well anyway…. As you can see, when a door closes, a window opens.
I was reading about you in an article on one of these news sites today… Poynter maybe? It’s official, you’re a star. They talked about how you were booted for implying the move to verified Facebook accounts was a profit-motivated one, and how HP begged you back in an email. Twice.
So you may think I got preferential treatment, because I said the same thing you did numerous times on HP, and I haven’t been banned (yet). And its true, I’m as mystified as you are about that. But, I’ve been banned many times on HP in the past. I *never* got an email begging me to come back. Or even one telling me to leave. So that was impressive.