600,000 Comments
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7:28 am, August 7th, 2013 - 77 comments
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On friday I noted to myself that in our long tradition of marking comment milestones that I should write a post about a milestone in comments by the end of the weekend. So belatedly, here it is…
Eddie predicted back in December 2012 with that we’d hit 600k comments on the 6th of August 2013. He was slightly out as it was a comment by Rosetinted on the 3rd commenting about another commenter. But so far Eddie’s other prediction looks like a safe bet
The trend will see us hit 1 million August 3 2015….
Comments are the lifeblood of this site because that is what the site is designed to foster. We’re not particularly interested in being the voice of a single egotist and their sycophants like some other popular sites.
We’re interested being part of the arguments because in our opinion that fosters the crucial and required participation in the political debate. Those active discussion is often largely lacking in the political parties (and especially in their caucuses) as they tend to get over focused on the mechanics of winning elections and the short-term feedback of internal polling. They seem to fail to realise that what they want to use the treasury benches to do and communicating that, is often the key to winning the votes of the cynical citizens who usually rate politicians as less trustworthy than used car salesmen.
Critical and robust debate is also (with some notable exceptions) largely lacking in our media, who often sound very similar to a sounding board of popular myths, unthinking bigotry, and simple reflections of the PR specialists who provide it. You really only have to look at the really stupid pontificating that goes on about political polls to understand exactly how simple many of our political media are.
So most of our ever shifting body of active authors are drawn from our active and most wide ranging of our commenters. Their job is to argue their opinions. Commenters are welcome to argue for or against it or even to drift into other areas. Because that keeps the debate keeps growing and widening and teasing out the political and social options of society for our ever increasing numbers of lurkers to read.
Sure you get commenters vehemently and disagreeing with the post authors arguments and rudely refuting each other in a robust debate. It usually isn’t polite and nor is it academic. It isn’t intended to be. There are sites around that already do that in a gentile fashion. You’ll find many of them in our side feed along with the satirists and quieter opinions.
Politics is inherently about conflict and disagreement over the use everything from the way resources get used to the moral compass that society should follow. So we intend to provide a forum where people can get involved in that kind of debate. It is usually quite a lot of fun for both the participants and the ever increasing numbers of lurkers who read but don’t often participate.
This is all done within a loose policy framework that is designed to both foster robust debate and to ensure that stupid behaviour at the bounds is severely discouraged. It is largely modelled on the way that our legal system tends to operate in actual practice – clear rules but with a rather arbitrary and often unfair justice. For the much the same reasons that our citizens don’t want a overbearing law enforcement system leaning over their shoulder and watching their every move, the moderators don’t try for a sparrow’s fall style of policy enforcement. Neither we, nor the GCSB or police should try to attain that kind of community coercion.
It inhibits the open discussion that a free society needs for social change for the type of political behaviour that has ranged from abolishing the property rights of slavery to attacking brands for unethical behaviour. A better approach is to allow people to knowingly take the risks within a known framework of our local law and to take action once a actual offense is actually observed.
But I’m more of a numbers person than a philosopher, so here are some graphs explaining what it happening in comments that lead on from the graphs in my December post
As you can see, we have been doing averaging 200 odd posts (with comments) per month for a number of years. It jumps around a bit based on christmas break, elections, and when a news series gets active. This winds up as being a nice quantity of posts for the readers as it means that the posts don’t scroll out of view too fast.
But as you can see the comments per post have been rising. Compared to three years ago for instance the average post is receiving more than double the number of comments. The effect of this on the number of comments per month is striking as can be seen in the following chart.
We get some obvious spikes leading into the elections in November 2008 and 2011. But we keep rising and start routinely doing the similar numbers to election months a few years later. Like right now.
In July we got more than 15 thousand comments which we have only previously hit during the 2011 election. We averaged more than 75 comments per post on average – helped in particular by a post that had more than 700 comments. There were 5,667,036 characters types and about 922 thousand words (the algorithm used to calculate this is a bit flakey).
Of course (in another long tradition) our very success also revealed more technical issues. The volume of comments coupled with a new database caused a problem with the database not coping with simultaneous comment posting, and last months total includes 98 duplicates that I have to figure out how to clean out (without disturbing comment threading)
A pretty good effort commenting… And later this month on the 20th, The Standard turns 6 years old
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Te Whatu Ora’s bill for contracting and consulting staff has ballooned by nearly 20 percent under the National Government, breaking a promise they made during the election campaign to cut contractors. ...4 days ago
- Release: Growing pressure to scrap Section 7AA Repeal Bill
The newly released Section 7AA Repeal Bill's select committee report is further evidence that the Government should scrap it. ...5 days ago
- Government’s move to monetise access to nature a slippery slope
The Green Party is voicing serious concerns over the Government’s proposal to charge for access to public conservation land, released today. ...7 days ago
- Green Party condemns the passage of Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party condemns the passing of the Treaty Principles Bill at first reading, and is clear that the fight is not over. ...1 week ago
- Stand Up for Te Tiriti
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our country’s founding document. It forms the basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown – and the Aotearoa New Zealand we live in today. ...1 week ago
- Release: Over 15,000 sign Labour’s open letter to Luxon
As the hīkoi to Parliament continues, Labour has sent an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in a last-ditch attempt to get him to kill the Treaty Principles Bill. ...1 week ago
- Fast Track Bill threatens environment, climate and reputation
The fast-track legislation passing its second reading in Parliament is another step towards environmental ruin. ...1 week ago
- Greens join King’s Counsel in calling for Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned
The Prime Minister must answer the call from a group of senior lawyers of the King’s Counsel to abandon the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...1 week ago
- Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors
...1 week ago
- Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors
Labour joins with the Government in unreservedly apologising for the abuse, neglect and trauma including torture in state and faith-based care and for ignoring the voices of survivors for too long. ...1 week ago
- Green Party stands in support of survivors of abuse in care
Today, the Green Party stands alongside the survivors of abuse in state care and faith-based care as the Government issues an historic apology. ...1 week ago
- Green Party calls for conscience vote on Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt move to exclude journalist risks chilling effect
The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...2 weeks ago
- Without action, an apology will be empty air
For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Concerns remain over tobacco interference
Concerns about the tobacco industry’s ability to interfere in government policy making remain, despite the inability of the Office of the Auditor-General to investigate the Government’s decision to halve the excise tax on heated tobacco products. ...2 weeks ago
- Urgent wake-up call on climate
The Climate Change Commission’s latest advice indicates Aotearoa needs to be stepping up on climate action. ...2 weeks ago
- Green MP’s Meme-ber’s Bill set to save the world
Break out the punchlines and dust off your meme folder: Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill was pulled from the Ballot yesterday. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Poroporoaki: Ta Robert (Bom) Gillies
Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
- Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principles Bill
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- NZ must pursue independent foreign policy
The Green Party says the need is greater than ever for Aotearoa New Zealand to pursue an independent foreign policy. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Winston Peters must apologise
The Deputy Prime Minister should apologise to the public servant he named and blamed for something they did not do, and for misusing the rules of Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Government action provides Southland farmers more time to meet plan requirements
The Government is taking action to ensure Southland farmers and growers are not affected by unreasonable regional farm plan deadlines, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard say.“Cabinet has agreed to provide more time for farmers and growers to comply with regional rules ...15 hours ago - Bill reaffirms Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending
The Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Bill had its first reading at Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending, Minister for Children Karen Chhour says. “In recent years we have seen an unacceptable spike in youth offending. “This Bill makes ...16 hours ago
- Critical milestones for earthquake buildings review
Fairer, more sensible rules about managing earthquake risks are a step closer with the passing of legislation and the appointment of an independent chair to provide expert advice, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The Government is committed to reinvigorating our cities and regions to support economic growth, ...16 hours ago
- State of the art radiology machine for Auckland
People in Northland and Auckland will benefit from a new machine for cancer treatment installed at the Regional Cancer and Blood Service at Auckland City Hospital. The MV5 linear accelerator, or LINAC machine, officially opened today targets cancer tumours with pinpoint accuracy. Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says this new, ...16 hours ago
- Foreign Minister to visit Europe
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Europe for high-level talks with France, Germany and the United Kingdom next week. "Since taking office almost a year ago, the Coalition Government has emphasised the importance we place on New Zealand's traditional and likeminded diplomatic and ...17 hours ago
- First arrests made under gang patch ban
Police have made their first arrests under the new gang patch legislation, with two gang members arrested, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. “Just before 11 this morning, Police in Wairoa apprehended a gang member for wearing a patch to the supermarket. He has been arrested and will now face enforcement ...18 hours ago
- Better support for victims of sexual violence
The Government is proposing two major changes to name suppression laws that will put the views of victims of sexual violence first, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “We are committed to restoring law and order and these two proposed changes will help ensure the victims of crime are put at ...19 hours ago
- Government moving forward with Regional Deals
Cabinet has agreed to invite all regions to submit proposals for Regional Deals between central and local government that drive economic growth and deliver the infrastructure our country needs, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop say. Inviting all regions to propose a Regional Deal that boosts ...19 hours ago
- MSA pilot participant update
One of the ten young men selected to participate in the Military-Style Academy Pilot has allegedly reoffended. Children’s Minister Karen Chhour is disappointed but says it would be naïve to think that none of these young men would reoffend. “I’m saddened that this young person has not taken this opportunity ...20 hours ago
- Attendance rates increase, again
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that school attendance is continuing to rise. In Term 3 of 2024 51.3 per cent of students attended school regularly, an increase of 5.3 percentage points from 46 per cent in Term 3 of 2023. “This Government has prioritised student attendance and it is ...22 hours ago
- Improving the lives of young New Zealanders
Ensuring New Zealand is the best place in the world for children and young people is the vision at the heart of the Government’s new Child and Youth Strategy, Child Poverty Reduction Minister Louise Upston says. “Childhood represents a huge opportunity to set people on a positive path towards living ...1 day ago
- Government continues work to reinstate livestock exports by sea
The Government is reinstating the trade of livestock exports by sea while ensuring the highest standards of animal welfare, says Associate Minister of Agriculture Andrew Hoggard.“The Government will introduce legislation changes to reinstate the trade, enhance oversight, and strengthen requirements for exporters to identify risks and manage the welfare of ...2 days ago
- Speech to the National Quality Forum 2024
Tēnā koutou katoa – it is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the important leadership role you all play in ensuring a quality health system New Zealanders can trust. There is enormous clinical expertise in this room covering a wide range of disciplines. ...2 days ago
- New Zealand’s COP29 National Statement
Tēnā koutou katoa. Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. New Zealand, and all nations represented here today, are already dealing with the impacts of climate change. Our households, businesses, and economies are bearing the costs of its effects. The choices we make now will shape the severity of these impacts for generations ...2 days ago
- Latest Quarterly Investment Report released
The Government has released its second Quarterly Investment Report (QIR) which shows substantial work still to be done by agencies to improve investment reporting and meet the Government’s expectations, Infrastructure and Acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “New Zealand has significant infrastructure and investment needs. The Government is determined to get ...2 days ago
- New Zealand supporting loss and damage fund
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced New Zealand will contribute NZ$10 million to the new Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage while at the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. “New Zealand is joining the global effort to address the significant challenge of responding to ...2 days ago
- Gang crackdown begins at stroke of midnight
The free ride for gangs is over when the clock strikes midnight tonight, with tough new laws officially coming into effect, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell say. “Gang patches will no longer be able to be worn in public. To earn the right to wear a ...2 days ago
- LGFA increases borrowing capacity to support high growth councils
The Government is welcoming the decision by the Local Government Funding Agency to increase access to financing tools for fast growing councils to support greater investment in critical infrastructure, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown says.“Communities across the country are facing an infrastructure deficit and significant population growth is projected in ...2 days ago
- Temporary Traffic Management costs revealed
The Government has revealed that over the past three years, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has spent an eyewatering $786 million of taxpayers’ money on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“When I became Minister, I was surprised to learn that that NZTA did ...2 days ago
- Jurisdiction of Disputes Tribunal to double
Legislation that will double the financial jurisdiction of the Disputes Tribunal from $30,000 to $60,000 has passed first reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith. “We need to improve court timeliness and access to justice so that Kiwis and get on with their lives. Court delays affect everyone, the ...3 days ago
- Protecting New Zealand from foreign interference
Legislation that will specifically criminalise foreign interference and strengthen espionage offences has passed first reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “It is normal and appropriate for states to interact and work to influence one another. This encourages cooperation and can have mutually beneficial outcomes. “However, the reality ...3 days ago
- Significant milestone for Canterbury Road of National Significance
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed news that the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board has approved funding towards pre-implementation and early works on the State Highway 1 (SH1) Belfast to Pegasus Motorway and Woodend Bypass Road of National Significance (RoNS). “Reaching this significant milestone is a reflection of our Government’s ...3 days ago
- Health survey results to help drive change
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says findings from the annual Health Survey highlight the need to continue driving better health outcomes for New Zealanders. The New Zealand Health Survey is an annual snapshot of key metrics measured from July 2023 – July 2024. Findings released this morning include: In 2023/24, ...3 days ago
- Final push needed to get to Smokefree 2025
A renewed effort to get people to quit smoking will build on what has worked to date and target the groups who most need support, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said today. “The latest New Zealand Health Survey results show the daily smoking rate at 6.9 per cent and we ...3 days ago
- New diplomatic appointments
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced four new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign ...3 days ago
- Next steps for Regulatory Standards Bill
Regulation Minister David Seymour has today announced the next steps in the Government’s plan improve the quality of regulation by opening consultation on a proposed Regulatory Standards Bill. “New Zealand's low wages can be blamed on low productivity, and low productivity can be blamed on poor regulation,” says Mr Seymour. ...3 days ago
- Red Tape Tipline goes live
Minister for Regulation David Seymour has today announced that the Ministry for Regulation’s Red Tape Tipline is now live. “We want to hear about your red tape horror stories. From today, New Zealanders will have a say on how they are regulated through an online portal,” says Mr Seymour. The ...3 days ago
- Youth Parliament 2025 announced
The Minister for Youth Matt Doocey has today announced the eleventh Youth Parliament will be taking place in 2025. “Youth Parliament offers a unique youth development opportunity to young people from across New Zealand to experience the political process and learn about how government works,” says Mr Doocey. “The two-day ...4 days ago
- Police stats show promising change
After nearly a year in Government, Kiwis have seen significant change across law and order with promising early results shown across some Police statistics, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. “In August 2023, I told New Zealanders that if they had not started to see a change in public safety within ...4 days ago
- Better coordination of anti-scam efforts
With the launch of Fraud Awareness Week, the Government is committing to new coordination efforts across industry and government to combat online scams, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Online financial scams are a growing problem for New Zealand. New data released today shows that Kiwis lost nearly ...4 days ago
- Minister to consider 7AA select committee report
Minister for Children Karen Chhour will consider the recommendations made by the Social Services and Community Committee in its report back to Parliament on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill. “I want to thank the people who made submissions and those who appeared before the committee in ...4 days ago
- Defence Minister to attend ASEAN meeting
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Vientiane, Laos. “We need to take every opportunity to engage with our international partners, given the increasingly unstable geo-political situation,” Ms Collins says. “New Zealand has a long-standing commitment to this ...4 days ago
- Launching the White Ribbon Ride
The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Karen Chhour, was on hand to wish riders well at the start of the North Island leg of the White Ribbon Ride in Whakatāne this morning. The ride helps mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, ...5 days ago
- Construction to begin on next stage of Papakura to Drury
Construction on the next stage of the SH1 Papakura to Drury project will begin early next month, with the contract for works awarded to Fulton Hogan, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. "SH1 Papakura to Drury is a key project that will drive economic growth and productivity, reduce congestion, and enable people ...6 days ago
- NZ signs trade deal with Costa Rica, Iceland and Switzerland
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has signed a pioneering trade agreement that prioritises New Zealand’s sustainable exports at a ceremony during APEC in Peru today. “The Agreement on Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS), between Costa Rica, Iceland, and Switzerland was concluded in July of this year and opens up significant ...6 days ago
- Government and iwi work together on aquaculture
Five new Aquaculture Settlement Areas will help ensure Ngāi Tahu shares in the opportunities aquaculture offers for Southland’s economy, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. “The Aquaculture Settlement Areas (ASAs) I’m announcing today set aside space so the Crown and Ngāi Tahu can assess their potential for aquaculture development. ...7 days ago
- Government launches review to ensure electricity market is fit-for-purpose
The terms of reference for a review of the performance of the electricity market have been released. The review, initiated by the Coalition Government during the power crisis in winter will look at whether current regulations and market design support economic growth and access to reliable and affordable electricity, Energy Minister ...7 days ago
- Speech to Social Investment Hui: Jack and his whānau need our help
Kia ora koutou katoa. Nau mai, haere mai, piki mai. Ki te mihi atu ahau, ki te manwhenua nei, Te Atiawa, Ngāti toa rangatira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you, Andy, for your introduction. Let me acknowledge you as the new Chief Executive of the Social Investment ...7 days ago
- Minister of State for Trade heads to Brisbane for PACER Plus meeting
Minister of State for Trade Nicola Grigg has travelled to Australia to attend the PACER Plus Ministers Meeting in Brisbane. “Trade plays a critical role in driving employment, economic growth, and improving the standards of living in the Pacific Region. The Government is strongly committed to supporting Pacific Island countries ...7 days ago
- Proposals to modernise conservation released
Toitū te taiao – Our environment endures The Government is consulting on proposals to modernise New Zealand’s conservation management system, aiming to protect relevant natural areas while supporting sustainable growth in tourism and regional economies, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says. “Today, the Department of Conservation – Te Papa Atawhai is ...1 week ago
- Knowing superstitions aren’t real doesn’t stop us behaving superstitiously – why?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Gomes-Ng, Senior Lecturer of Psychology, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Former New Zealand prime minister John Key has three white rabbits painted on his helicopter, a nod to his “massively superstitious” habit of repeating “white rabbits” three times at ...2 hours ago - Government slammed for pushing ahead with boot camps while trial still under way
The coalition has "absolutely no intention of listening to the evidence that comes out of their experiment", Labour MP says. ...2 hours ago - Smoke and mirrors in heated tobacco debate
Labour claims Government is ‘cherry-picking’ smoking trends data to hide decade-first increase in daily smokers The post Smoke and mirrors in heated tobacco debate appeared first on Newsroom. ...2 hours ago - Treasury bangs the drum on ‘unsustainable’ superannuation
The Government’s economic adviser is sending a message it doesn’t want to hear – superannuation is increasingly unaffordable The post Treasury bangs the drum on ‘unsustainable’ superannuation appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
- Victims of sex offending welcome shift on name suppression laws
A man abused by a former political figure is "immensely relieved" at a government proposal to end secrecy around sex offenders' identities. ...3 hours ago
- This week three parties stood together – can they withstand the storm to come?
There is plenty yet to play out, but the next election is at this rate shaping up as trio versus trio, writes Toby Manhire. A subplot of this week’s historic hīkoi mō te Tiriti has been the sight of the three opposition parties presenting a unified front. Te Pāti Māori ...3 hours ago - All 33 malls in Auckland ranked from worst to best
From the low lows of abandon empires to the high highs of a mall done just right. This is the second in the Malls of New Zealand series, where we rank the malls in major centres. Next week: Wellington. A note from the editor: This is the hardest ranking we’ve ...3 hours ago
- The cost of being: A clothes-mad 20-something who walks everywhere
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a 27-year-old apartment-dwelling marketing exec explains her approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here. Gender: Female. Age: 27. Ethnicity: Pākehā. Role: Marketing exec at ...3 hours ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 22 November
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 22 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
- Daily crossword, Friday 22 November
The post Daily crossword, Friday 22 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
- China likely to strengthen regional relationships in response to another Trump term
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Opinion: The immediate horror of nuclear weapon explosions – the blinding flash, crushing blast wave, and radioactive inferno – is well documented.But what nuclear-armed nations either don’t grasp or won’t admit, is far more chilling: how their weapons could devastate even countries thousands of kilometres from any mushroom clouds.The collapse ...3 hours ago
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After about two and a half years of planning and waiting, New Zealand’s last elephant has moved to her new home at Monarto Safari Park in South Australia.Burma and her “human herd”, that is, her keepers, arrived last week, and she’s settling in well, according to Auckland Zoo’s Andrew Coers.“Something ...3 hours ago
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Senior ministers in the coalition suggested NZ’s membership will be re-evaluated if it restarts offshore oil and gas drilling The post NZ’s membership of Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance in jeopardy appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon did not meet the Treaty Principles Bill hikoi crowd, sees “nothing” of merit in the Act-proposed law but the Parliament his Government dominates will spend six months debating a “divisive” measure.That’s because he has accepted there needs to be “aeration” of people’s views on the Treaty, ...3 hours ago
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Bidder Whakapapa Holdings walked away from the sales process last year, but says it’s now ‘95% there’ on a purchase agreement – so who blinked first? The post Taken to the brink, Govt is now close to selling big Whakapapa ski field appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
- Watts nears a landmark deal on global carbon trading
A framework for global carbon trading under the Paris Agreement is finally nearing completion at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan after years of halting talks.Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is one of two ministers tasked by the COP29 hosts with landing a long-sought deal on Article 6 of the climate accord, ...3 hours ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Richard Marles is an ambitious man who hasn’t given up the dream of one day reaching the top job. But, despite being deputy prime minister, his profile is much lower than that of Treasurer Jim ...9 hours ago
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62% of respondents support the extension of the OIA to cover MPs’ spending, compared to just 13% opposed and 24% were unsure. ...10 hours ago - The House: Meanwhile, a week of passing law
The political week has been packed with worthy distractions, but all week Parliament has focused on passing new laws. Here are the highlights. ...11 hours ago
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Analysis - The diversity of voices during the hīkoi was noticeable - from tangata moana to young immigrants to elderly Pākehā from the South Island. ...12 hours ago
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When the bill to restore NZ citizenship to some Samoans passed this week, Parliament's galleries were full to the brim with members of the community. ...12 hours ago
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Women’s Rights Party Co-leader Jill Ovens says the Ministry has put New Zealand children at risk by continuing to allow “off-label” prescribing of puberty blockers at far higher rates than other similar countries. ...13 hours ago
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That is despite two papers from police that raised the matter with him. ...14 hours ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Bill Shorten has declared himself “a proud moderate” in a valedictory speech declaring parliament has the responsibility to ensure the extremes of left and right do not set the terms of political debate. Shorten, ...14 hours ago
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- ACT leader David Seymour raises doubts about Waikato medical school
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- National’s Erica Stanford allegedly calls Labour’s Jan Tinetti a ‘stupid bitchR...
The Education Minister has apologised in Parliament for her remark. ...16 hours ago
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The alternative to policing by consent would be a police state, which New Zealanders don't want, the party says. ...17 hours ago
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Hikoi mō Te Tiriti has come to an end, going down in history as the largest march to Parliament in Aotearoa. ...18 hours ago
The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
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Yes and critical and public debate is crucial to democracy – which is indicated in Lynn’s post but not said very directly.
And the milestone was reached with a wry comment from Rosetinted.
Hey I was leaving room for the commenters…
… and at 0500 I was more interested in the numbers…
I didn’t mean that as a criticism. I was saying a big “yes” to your strong focus on the importance of open and critical debate to politics and society.
+1 Karol
I agree that public debate is essential for informed opinions as part of the democratic process. What is often left out of the picture is the role of the rule of law within a democracy. The rule of law is what sets democracy apart from majority rule. In NZ civil society a perverted version of the rule of law is applied so it’s a good idea to apply due diligence as to what the rule of law actually is if you’re planning on this blog being a model of real democratic process.
Congratulations LPrent and everyone else involved in making this the preeminent online discussion forum of the left. I barely have time to read it all nowadys, let alone make comments of my own. And the writing is often so good, praising authors for excellence has become too time-consuming in itself.
Another heartening development has been the increasing numbers of other quality, online political sites of the broad left.
I enjoy the breadth of viewpoints expressed here, and find it breath-taking that anyone reading TS could come away believing it to be an homogenous Labour Party site. I can only assume that those still saying it is, don’t actually read it.
Btw LPrent, being somewhat lazy I’m glad to find I no longer have to fill-in the name and mail fields when I do visit and comment, but somewhat surprising given I’ve never actualy been able to log-in.
The power of cookies.
??
js, I think Lynn is responding to this:
Btw LPrent, being somewhat lazy I’m glad to find I no longer have to fill-in the name and mail fields when I do visit and comment, but somewhat surprising given I’ve never actualy been able to log-in.
Your computer’s browsers remember who you last were when you used the site and send it in automatically as a HTTP cookie. Which means the fields are automatically filled in for you.
The cookies I set here have quite a long lifetime and reset each time you make a comment. So provided you leave an occasional comment, your browser will keep saying who you are.
There are also browser tolls that will do much the same thing for you – for instance google chrome does a pretty good job of transferring that kind of information between my many many systems for me, along with my bookmarks.
Mmmmmmmmmm…yummmmm…me NSA LIKE…
Yeah. But when I really want to keep things quiet then I either use tor or I vpn out somewhere else in the world where they have effective privacy laws. And I use a much dumber browser that only runs on that interface. And just to make the hypothetical observers work harder, I always have a number of processes that always use those interfaces for no particular reason other than the fulfillment of the 5 eyes.
But for my day to day stuff the boon of having my bookmarks transferring to whatever system I happen to be using at the time is pretty efficient. These days that includes my linux server and desktop at home, my linux desktop at work, my nexus 7 and soon to be retired iPad1, my android phone, my linux laptop and it’s vista dual boot, the (urrggh) windows work laptop, the mac work laptop, and my parents laptop in rotorua. It is a *lot* of devices that I use at one place or another. I used to hellishly lose links all over the place.
Fortunately Lyn doesn’t let me touch her gear, and I don’t use a browser for anything except debugging on the multiple virtual boxes running variations of windows, the mac mini, or the debian linux devices I use at work. And the res on HD is too low to be bothered putting browser pages up on the TV (and it knows about youtube anyway).
I’m a geek – what can one say…
Ahhhh………
Thankyou. Nice cookie.
Speaking of comments..
Having been keeping an eye on a few of the American MSM so called , news blog comments, there seems to be a notable ramping up in awareness of the banking scams, and who are aware of the so called war of terror, and that government, or more accurately the power behind government are the true terrorists!
While many of them are still stuck in the sham GOP v DEM argument, thee is a theme of understanding, that either way, the results are the same, common denominator = government, hence those behind it!
I was just going to ask what stripe lurkers might likely be, they can’t all be clutching metal briefcases with a pie and magazine in. The Standard probably has a direct feed into Waihopai by now anyhow.
Just Saying is probably like many–time stretched. Daily Blog and The Standard are my two regulars and check out half a dozen others once a week. Kiwi Politico and several small left groups etc.
Congratulations to LPrent and the team of contributors you make a major contribution to political discussion, and hopefully participation in this country.
I get my news mostly from this site. If Stuff start charging there is no way I’m going to be paying to support that – they restrict commenting on stories which I take as an insult to democracy (particularly when it is political stories this tends to happen on) Long live The Standard!
lprent good stats thanks. I am going to set up a payment, haven’t done this enough. This is a place where I can find people who are really using those little grey cells. With Poirots guidance we may find the truth and the best political path and method. Wait for the end of the story when all is revealed to the characters in the story! What an occasion of celebration that would be.
I found stuff won’t let you comment unless you agree to receiving stuff from them. I was having difficulty with them or one of the commercial news purveyors, so I withdrew. I need to limit the amount of sales bumf that comes at me, have all I can cope with now.
600,000…That’s a whole lot of crazy.
I think you should thank CV for clocking up 400,000 of those.
[lprent: He is the largest commenter, but only in the order of 27k odd. I’m at number 4 with 11.5k, and you.. well.. oh dear 153 with 0.8k comments. So much for monkeys – obviously no endurance. 😈 ]
Wonder how much if the 600k was discounted for trolls attempting to derail threads.
And McFlock and CV staying up in the wee hours arguing.
🙂
@ King Kong
CV is a very astute and intelligent and knowledgeable commentator King Kong….and YOU are just an amusing diversion!
CV makes up less than 5% of comments… Still well ahead of Draco and felix (2nd & 3rd) in the most total comments numbers though…
Over 2600 named commenters have made >= 5 comments. That’s a lot of people getting involved.
Let’s play Jeopardy.
“I’m in the top 3 commenters of all time on the Standard”…”Things middle aged losers who still live with their mum say.”
KK
Are you one? The answer must be yes. We are all losers in this present world environment.
Saying it is sad and scary, but then going to the dentist, or having a limb off if your diabetes has gone bad is too. Doesn’t matter whether someone is a ‘loser’ (based on what scale of winning?) and lives with his mum. He/she can have a valid viewpoint and throw light on a better way. Mum might know some good ideas too.
36% of 18-31 year olds in the US now live with Mum and Dad
Slow grinding economic collapse in progress…
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-02/all-time-high-21-million-young-adults-now-live-their-parents
And in “godzone” we have people living in garages, families sharing homes due to huge rents, and no doubt monkeys (KK) needing to share trees as well.
I have an enormous and beautifully renovated Thorndon Villa, though there are some nice native trees in the garden.
Explains why you think you are a king I guess.
You could be an “early Roman king”….”They’re peddlers and they’re meddlers, they buy and they sell.
They destroyed your city, they’ll destroy you as well.
They’re leacherous and treacherous, hell-bent for leather.
Each of them bigger than all men put together.
Sluggers and muggers wearing fancy gold rings.
All the women going crazy for the early Roman kings.”
And that’s the key right there, Fender.
The KK’s of this world, are too scared to understand the obviousness, that they are also losing, perhaps not as blatantly as those they spit on, right now, or next week, but the mathematical certainty means it’s landing on him, and his family, it already has!
KK, you’re a winner!
That would indicate that the extended family social format that we evolved in is making a comeback.
That’s fine if it suits and is by choice, rather than out of necessity due to exorbitant cost of living.
@ King Kong re “middle aged losers”
…..Actually this is false, as most of what you say is false !….
A TRUE BED TIME STORY FOR YOU…(.it is not to late for you to move back with Mum and mend your ways)
I know a very intelligent person who lived very frugally without alcohol with his Mum and Dad for years( while everyone else was out partying and having children and getting mortgages) ….despite his Mum’s cacti encroaching up to his waterbed from the outside conservatory(…. was this a hint from Mumsy or what?)
…..And he saved enough for a freehold many acre native bush block in the heart of a major city ….. And then while still living with his Mum …he built his own freehold castle on his freehold realm .
……And then, when he was mature and sensible ….he invited a beautiful mature maiden to live with him …happily ever after ….a happy multi millionaire and a “middle aged winner”…and a socialist in political sympathies ….
“……And then, when he was mature and sensible ….he invited a beautiful mature maiden to live with him …happily ever after ….a happy multi millionaire and a “middle aged winner”…and a socialist in political sympathies ….”
– Who will never be able to look back and smile about skinny dipping in his 20’s with smoking hotties in the Med whilst off his chops on Bolivian marching powder.
@ King Kong ….He had fun alright! ….just not at home with his Mummy in a waterbed surrounded by cacti….( I am pretty sure he would have gone skinny dipping and did some other stuff which I doubt you did!…..but didnt go “off his chops”…. if you can call that fun!…dont think it sounds much fun to me ….especially if it was Bolivian)
….Also I reckon he is probably much RICHER than you with your big villa in Thorndon…. and ain’t that a cruel cut ….a socialist being richer than you!?)…not that being rich should be measured in money of course…it is measured by what is in one’s psyche or soul
ALSO….this is the BIG LESSON!…He never ever owed the greedy capitalist banks anything in interest!!!!!….Hear yeh!?….(that is how he got rich living at home with his Mummy….saving his money and not paying interest)
..It is the banks that stop us getting rich and warp the economy!,….I think in the recent international domino banking collapses ….it was the Muslim banks, who dont charge interest and dont play funny money games , who came out unscathed. I bet some of those greedy Capitalist Western banks wouldn’t mind taking them over now….
KK
Yes CV +++1…… 😀
“So much for monkeys – obviously no endurance”
To be fair, if you didn’t keep banning me, I might have been able to make a better fist of it.
*grin* that was the bite about endurance…
Well you haven’t been rising to my moderator mode attention nearly as much recently.
Go on, you can say it. You love me really.
A million comments in August. Wow, we are a gabby bunch aren’t we? Personally I like the easy way that we can ‘get it off our chests’ and have others with the same /similar / completely differing view points, that can be debated rigorously, with a minimum of disruption from Trolls. Congrsts on 6 years long may we comment.
[lprent: August 2015. We have an election to take first. ]
I miss Santi’s awesome wit.
[lprent: always nice to see a boy with ambitions. 😈 none else ever seemed to detect this ‘talent’ ]
Huge thanks to you Lprent and authors for all the time and energy that you put into this site. It’s been essential reading in these hideous years of the Key regime, you’ve helped keep me sane. The authors do a great job of untangling the lines of spin fed to the Nation and laying bare the truth. Its not just all about shonkey and his merry band of fools though, they are a side show (albeit a disastrous one) at this point in our history, and with hope, their regime will self destruct (unfortunately leaving a trial of destruction in their wake). It’s also great to see articles about climate, environment and work rights. Helen Kelly’s articles in particular have been appreciated. May your voices continue to be heard loud and clear long after the last stinky whiff of the Key era has vanished.
Not to mention “identity” issues…..
God how I hate that word. Can’t someone coin a better term?
The word “identity” has individualist connotations that members of the groups encompassed by the word, don’t deserve at all.
Hell, most people have ‘identity’ issues 😀
“We’re not particularly interested in being the voice of a single egotist and their sycophants like some other popular sites.”
– Don’t you mean he who must not be named?
I left it deliberately ambiguous. Read into it whomever you wish. 😈
I’ve always thought that most of the posters on here look like either Dumbledore, Harry Potter or Ron Weasley
Yeah and all you righties must look like Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and those other Slytherin bad guys!
I look (or more like built) more like Kramm but hey its ok if you’re a ginger, well its more than ok if you’re a ginger girl in fact its quite fetching
No, I played Rugby league and smashed the shit out you Kings boys when we played Rugby or cricket. You can’t pigeon hole the left whereas its easy to do it to the right.
The Jokeyhen whine as reported on 20 Aug 2007. It’s all negatives based on, akshually I expect, Helen Clark actually governing the country and setting parameters for sensible behaviour trying for a well-ordered and civilised, healthy, economically sound happy society.
And here’s how Key opened his speech:
If National put this stuff to music, it could be their campaign song.
‘ It usually isn’t polite and nor is it academic. It isn’t intended to be. There are sites around that already do that in a gentile fashion. You’ll find many of them in our side feed along with the satirists and quieter opinions.’
I’ve always thought the Standard to be far more cosmopolitan and inclusive than those other sites …
I love this site, and while I don’t comment every day, I visit every day and read nearly everything. It’s the high quality of all the authors and the comments from the likes of Puddleglum, CV, McFlock, OAK, Felix, Anne, KJT, Blue Leopard, Draco T Bastard, Weka, Prism (Rosetinted), Rhinocrates, Blip, Fatty, Rosie and so many more (my brain is hurting trying to remember all the names of the excellent, intelligent ones) that keep me interested and returning every day.
Well done Lprent and co. long live thestandard!
I’m going to regret starting a list (I’m no Blip!) but I can’t forget to include Pascal’s bookie.
Ditto to all the above.
And many more. But I’m not going to be so crazy as to try and list them all…..
fender +1 and karol who is gold too.
I agree, was including her in the “high quality of all the authors.”
and Olwyn.
and ALL the authors – even of you don’t always agree with them. That’s what makes the Standard such a stimulating place…
Thanks Anne 🙂 I agree. Even if we you don’t agree with everyone, it is a joy and a relief that such a discussion can take place. So thanks to everyone who contributes to the TS conversation as well 🙂
I find The Standard’s articles and comments an invaluable and inspiring source of information. Also it’s comforting to find NZer’s who are not greedy, selfish, ‘aspirational’ dullards.
Hi all, trying to donate to the standard, when I hit the paypal donate button I just get sent to the paypal home page. What is the email address for donating to? Thanks
gorj
What about doing it using the on-line banking number on the Donate site? Goes only for NZ expenses, but that’s no problem is it?
We effectively only have NZ expenses these days due to the joys of Kiwibank’s visa debit cards.
The easiest place these days is to simply send to direct to the bank account.
This goes directly to The Standard’s bank account that gets used to pay for the servers and any plugins required.
No-one was using paypal and I think that they deactivated it. I have now killed it off the donations page.
You can either email thestandnz at gmail.com or me directly lprent at primary.geek.nz
lprent I don’t do my finances online. What bank is it? I can go to bank and transfer by way of cash.
Kiwibank (what else).
Thought as much. Thanks. I’ll get around one day to transferring to KB. Yeah. I’m lazy.
I love The Standard – thanks to everybody for the hard work in maintaining and continually improving the site. Kia kaha.
‘
Nice work “The Standard” and thanks lprent for all you do, plus the authors.
Testing 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . .
EDIT: Drat, still only the 1% are allowed to illustrate their comments ; )
Less than 1%. Currently has to be a admin with basic HTML. I could look for a plugin. But then I’d have to find a scanner for the nasty header tricks.
‘
All good. As it happens, our resident chew toys take up more than enough space (usually at the top of the comments threads, have you noticed?) so I would hate to give them any further tools of mass distraction. I’m just happy that there’s a captcha device which allows multi-links through. An elegant solution for OCD list-makers such as myself. Cheers.
blip
‘mass distraction’ cutting edge wit, wot?
What percentage of comments are basically “David Shearer must go” and “+1”?
Deduct them and you’d be averaging about three comments per post, I reckon.
ooops
Note to self: only have open ONE tab for The Standard when commenting.
I did some analysis of rough average word counts and characters per comment over the years as well. From memory (it is at home), it doesn’t vary much. Between 60 and 72 words per comment on average on a monthly basis and something around 300 chars average per comment. I have some rough numbers for the frequency of 1-4 “word” comments (ie including the +1 style comments), 1 “line” and 1 “paragraph”, and the number of quoted (ie “, italics, or blockquote) comments for quoted/content ratios. The frequency of those hasn’t changed that much over time either.
If I ever get time to cleanup the rough-as word counter (mysql doesn’t have one damnit) with a c or c++ external for the db then I’ll publish them.
Early to mid 2008 was the nadir of the short silly comments. Now (according to my stats), the home for that in political blogs is at whaleoil and trademe (I also watch some of the other blogs using a mixture of RSS and curl).
BTW: My MBA is in operations. I statistically watch anything that could indicate problems on the site because it a hell of a lot easier doing and nipping things in the bud, than relying on gut reactions and having to do some horrible cleanups afterward (which is what happened in 2008).
An MBA of some actual real world use. Nice.
It was purely by accident. Family has tended to run factories in recent generations (and my sister still does). That was what I started doing after my first degree (earth sciences). But I got irritated arguing with accountants and did a MBA to get the language. Instead I got reinfected with computers after stumbling over PC’s in the Otago’s MBA computer lab in 1985.
I don’t have a degree that I actually used professionally for any length of time (just a lot of post-grad papers that I lean on heavily). However they are always useful, even the arts courses.
Good to see sites that offer free public debate and reasonably objective reporting gaining in popularity as opposed to the manufactured news we have all come to know and hate.