Written By: - Date published: 9:01 pm, February 12th, 2008 - 59 comments
Categories: dpf -
Tags: dpf
You’ll probably know about the rumour around the traps that blogger David Farrar is running his polling company Curia out of National Party HQ. This information first came up when Newzblog blogger James Sleep posted on a conversation he had with a young Nat in which the lad in question told him that he worked on the phones for Curia and that they did so out of the party’s Wellington HQ and that in fact they are ‘the National Party’s market research company’.
Sleep contacted Davey on MSN to find out if this is true and has now been locked out of Kiwiblog. In fact the situation is slightly stranger. He can log-on but every comment he makes just disappears. At first I suspected this was a technical glitch but after Sleep gave his log-on to a mutual friend of ours to test it, it does indeed seem to be the case.
As far as I’m concerned DPF can run his business from wherever he likes and run his blog however he chooses and all kudos to him. But if he is getting his income from the National Party and is being resourced by them then he has a clear conflict of interest when he appears in the mainstream media as a political commentator.
Farrar doesn’t mention anything of this in his disclosure statement and I would suggest that if this rumour is untrue then he needs to clear this issue up as soon as possible.
Hattip: Out of Bed for the pun-tastic title.
Facebook
Twitter
Scoopit!
A little bit like you guys declaring whether or not you funded by Labour Party are being resourced by them then you have a clear conflict of interest.
Interesting to note that my posts just seem to disappear from here as well.
What a hollow pack of hypocrites you all are.
[lprent: I'm not killing them. However if you'd like I'd be happy to oblige - however it would be on a permanent basis. Please give me a reason to do so.]
Hey Whale – I thought you’d be too busy hiding under your bed from CyfsWatch to post your inane comments here. Seeing as your Davey’s best mate though perhaps you can clear up this funding thing?
I don’t hide from anyone especially anonymous cowards who bash their missus and/or kids and wonder why they can’t see them.
But Cameron, that’s not what I heard. I guess it’s fair enough you’re scared – you are getting stalked after all. Oh the irony…
So you gonna tell us about Curia?
Not what you heard huh! You must be linked to those loons huh! I always knew there was something wrong with you.
I’m not scared of anyone.
Oh nice of you to support their scurrilous, cowardly attacks….just what I’d expect from lefty coward like you.
Chris Trotter is hauled out as a “politcal commentator” and I’m sure I saw him making a complete twat of himself on stage shuffling to the Labour anthem at their conference.
Oh and just to stay on topic – I have a theory about this one. I suspect Curia is actually the outsourcing agent for the Nat’s polling division. I figure he organises the labour on a casual basis to use the Nat’s phone systems for call-out out of hours – then collates the data at home (I’d say the Nat’s research unit does the analysis). It’s probably a good wicket and would subsidise his national party blogging quite well in terms of time and income (in fact that’s probably why he’s got the job). Of course there could be an innocent explanation for it – it’s just I haven’t heard one yet…
Whale – you seem a little rattled. I don’t support their attacks by the way and I think the threats to your kids were disgusting. I do think you’re reaping what you’ve sown though. It’s just a pity your family is too.
Mike, and you’d be right.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=11457
That’s him singing away about how we will be be “Bitter off with Labour”
Oh and Robinsod, nice dodge, but how about denouncing the violent threats of the CYFSWatch nutters instead laughing and effectively condoning it huh??? huh???
‘Sod, pull your head in.
Mike, Davey has expressed his support for National many times. That doesn’t mean he can’t be a commentator. Getting paid by them (if it is true) is a different story altogether. I doubt Trotter was paid for his singing!
mike:
I believe it is fairly easy to drag Chris Trotter out on stage anytime. He likes to sing. Provide a song and preferably a beer, then stand back unless you want to see a good view of some tonsils .
Perhaps if the National or Act provided better music .
Thought I’d get into the swing of things in this post.
Tis true AG, Trotter is a sucker for a beer and a song. It’s a fine tradition, to be sure.
‘Sod, pull your head in.
I was being sincere, bro. (Gotta say it’s odd watching the kiwiblog right go each other though.)
‘Rumours’ and ‘what I heard’
Thats the standard of this post.
And……
….Sod thinks its funny that some dick is threatening to make a false report to CYPS to get someone he doesn’t like on the internets.
Nothing changes, does it?
same old, same old
Oh, but, you all got a new dog, how nice.
Irish Bill:
“He can log-on but every comment he makes just disappears.”
I wouldn’t read too much into this. I’ve had two comments now disappear. One appeared quite a few hours later, and the other (which would hardly have been objectionable to DPF) has never appeared. I’ve noticed Phillip John/Roger Nome has (apparently) been having a similar problem.
Instead of creating conspiracy theories, James Sleep should just email DPF (when he’s back from India) and invite him to comment.
[lprent: You mean the comments made by d4j using roger nomes alias on here? The ones here get held in moderation until I kill them. d4j is permanently banned from this site for obnoxious trolling. They are readily identifiable as roger isn't on the same IP range as the posted comments. d4j is.]
[Ah - sorry POC. I've now read the post. I thought that you were referring to missing messages on here, not those on KiwiBlog.
I see that d4j's latest message caught in moderation has an e-mail address of whale@oil.co.nz. He is a pain.]
I was the one who tested Jame’s account and a half a dozen comments didn’t stick from two different machines/IP addresses, my account worked fine from both. This only happened after James mentioned the Curia issue.
Just in case I’m wrong though Peak, have you had all or just some of your comments go?
“He can log-on but every comment he makes just disappears. At first I suspected this was a technical glitch but after Sleep gave his log-on to a mutual friend of ours to test it, it does indeed seem to be the case.”
What’s new? The “democratic” Sleep applies the same policy in his “democratic” blog: he censures every one of my postings.
How sad. The youngster can dish it out but cannot take it.
Hey Prophet/3Bags/Legio X – considering you’ve claimed you want to watch other commenters have their throats cut you can fuck right off with your self-righteousness.
Hey “Aunty Helen” – you started with abuse on Newzblog and just kept going. Take it from me mate, at Newzblog you’re banned for life (a bit like the prophet). Now why don’t you lot take your arses back to whale’s cesspit to roll in your own shit like you freaks are wont to do…
While I have no insider knowledge at all, I would say that most people in the National Party would not want to have anything to do with Kiwiblog. The only MPs I have seen blogging there are from ACT. DPF is a very good commentator, but is hopeless at politics and when he does get political his commentary suffers.
I would say that most people in the National Party would not want to have anything to do with Kiwiblog.
Yeah Kent – y’d think so but Farrar has long ties with the Nats and is mates with Bill English. I’d say Farrar’s stocks in the party have dropped since the FSC fiasco. Actually now I think about it y’d think the Nats would’ve wanted nothing to do with the brethren either…
Kent – I find that suggestion strange given National feeds Farrar his lines and puts the National Party Research Unit’s resources at his disposal…
If find it laughable that a blog that was/is funded by the Labour party but won’t admit it are slagging off a blog that they claim is funded by the National party.
You’re black – screeched the pot to the kettle!
[lprent: we were not 'funded'. Just used some resources that turned out to have been donated to the LP being used to host a number of left sites. That was freely admitted, and we moved the server after I became aware of the NZLP's name on those resources. I would have preferred to have done it later rather than sooner.
That was very good, burt - neatly skirted the edges]
um…Sod – WTF are you on about?
More paranoia?
Are you trying to provoke me?
Bit of a Uncle Tom, aye mate?
Do you really think its funny that someone is going to be dobbed into CYPS because someone disagrees with their opinions?
Says more about you than me, but.
lprent
How did the shift to linux go or are you still on a Windows server? Eitherway the response times have improved, well done. How much hardware is needed to run a blog like this? I’m just interested from a technical perspective.
[lprent:
Linux with a hosted virtual server. Shell level access + web dashboard. Resources are nothing special, something like 256MB RAM + 8GB HDD. Costs $70 per month (about the same as my DVD hires), but is upgradeable reasonably cheaply. Could have done the same thing offshore for a lower price, but decided to stay here.
Backup system running on win32 IIS on my development server, and there is a backup backup system on a old 800MHz linux box that I used to test LAMP.
The only changeover hassle was the default charset and collation order differences in the MySql. Thats on my to-fix list.]
Robinsod
On comparing DPF to the Exclusive Brethren from an association with National perspective.
So I take it that you would support an amendment to the countries electoral finance laws to stop the likes of DPF from doing his repugnant deeds. Is DPF weird and dangerous or is he a chinless scarf wearer? What denigration should we paint him with so we can squash his evil dissent?
Prophet – here’s the statement you made as Legio-X on my website:
…like maybe inviting me and your Mum round for tea and then slitting your own throat in front of us or some such then I would love to come and watch. (I like Pasta)
Just in case there is any doubt that you are Legio-x I invite the standard to cross-reference the two IP’s you’ve posted as him with on my site against their own records.
You’re scum, mate.
[Tane: I've deleted the rest of your post. As offensive as The Prophet can be we don't approve of revealing IP addresses. If you want to have this debate go and do it on your own blog. Continue like this and I'll ban you for a week]
Burt – if you mean finance laws to stop a “third-party” running acampaign covertly on behalf of a political party then yes I do. In fact I think we’ve already got such laws…
Tane – Prophet/3bags/LX is banned from my blog for life. The guy’s a creep.
Robinsod
So is DPF a “third-party”? Is the standard a “third-party”? Are you? Am I?
Benodic and Robinsod,
I have no evidence that links between DPF and the Nats is anything more than circumstantial or anecdotal. He has more links with ACT. Because he was a former employee of the Nats does not mean that he is still in their food bowl nor does it mean that he is any good at politics. How successful were the Nats during Farrar’s employ?
As one of you has pointed out being involved with the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) immediately puts DPF out of connect with the Nats because it is a political third party. For the sake of internal integrity, members of any political party avoid affiliations with other political groups, regardless of the ideology of the Nats vs the FSC.
DPF has a problem in that his role as ‘commentator’/'journalist’ conflicts with his political opiniations. There is also the problem of lack of conviction evidenced in his lacklustre role as spokesperson for the anti-EFB march in Welly -again where he was joined by an ACT MP. (A Nat MP only turned up to give the Nat perspective, not as a protest member).
I think that some of you guys need to revise your view of DPF’s connections with the Nats. If you were wanting to be the next Govt. would you affiliate yourself with someone like DPF? If one or two Nats, such as Bill English are still friendly and loyal towards DPF, does that somehow make Kiwiblog an official mouthpiece for the Nats? In terms of mouthpieces, 10 secs of Key on TV News is far more effective than a whole year of Kiwiblog.
A remarkably lame counter-smear attempt after the standard was rather publically associated with Teh Party. I don’t think we will see this one on the TV News Bill, sorry.
Really, I think you guys do better when writing your own material than simply making up DPF rumours. You just devalue your brand further (if that’s possible).
As for poor sleepy, he’s probably on auto-moderation or some such, as you are happy to do when it suits (e.g. 2 or more external links is it?), so I hardly see that as a big deal. Even Mickey is banning folks from his blog I see, so the high moral ground is getting pretty low now.
[lprent:
Yes - Bill English certainly helped our sites visibility. Traffic just keeps rising, especially the lurkers. I'd thank him myself, but I suspect that you could do it more easily. We aren't into marketing, branding, or anything except our posters and commenters opinions. You sound like you have a copy of the EFA sitting next to you?
Auto-moderation used to be 2, I increased it a while ago to a fairly high value as it was not required with the number of moderators keeping an eye on the site.
There are currently two people targeted for moderation. d4j is on a permanent ban and quite unhappy about it. And Kimble has been just placed in moderation.
]
10 secs of Key on TV News is far more effective than a whole year of Kiwiblog.
I’d disagree with that as I constantly see KiwiBlog lines turning up in the MSM – I also see them turn up in National Party media releases (often after they’ve been on the bog). I don’t think the Nat’s are using Davey to create their line because they’d be mad to do so given his lack of skill at it. That means either these situations are huge coincidences or Dave’s getting briefed on Nat lines and running with them or testing their lines for them. Or it’s all just a coincidence. I’m sure DPF could tell us.
Burt – here’s a hint. Third parties are defined in the act. The FSC has registered as one (although if it’s founder is funded by National it might need to be counted in their spend) perhaps you should try reading. You can read can’t you Burt?
I’d disagree with that as I constantly see KiwiBlog lines turning up in the MSM
I think in terms of the Nats getting their message across, Kiwiblog would register at about 0.0. That there is some similarity between some of the things said on the site and Nat policy is due to overlap of interest. The actual value of the discussion and the people making the discussions on Kiwiblog is not high. This is demonstrated by the lack of advertisers willing to put their money there, despite all DPF’s supposed high flung connections.
DPF could have for himself a high value media site with advertising, multiple bloggers, multiple purposes, but he has chosen to keep it a small time personal opinion soapbox. That’s his choice. Any idea that the Nats are behind it is conspiracy theory.
captcha: localized Rev (erend) = parochial, I believe
Robinsod
Maybe he gets his talking points by reading the National media releases and and speeches, and tends to agree with them. They are public information after all.
Lprent – I’m disappointed that you are buying into Porton’s rather tedious claim that I’m associated with the Nats in some way.
I’m not.
Honestly, it’s not rocket science to see what the likely position from The Nats or Teh party is on any particular issue.
I am having trouble separating your role (supposedly sysop) from that of the bloggers here “we aren’t into…”
You do seem to provide de-facto editorial comment which is rather odd. I don’t think I’ve seen another blog where the technical staff feel the need to spam their opinions all over the comments.
[lprent: welcome to a new experience]