Bean Dip of the Apocalypse
Posted by Sam at 9:37 PM | tags: sambot, blogging

Conspiracy theorist, blogger, and advocate of the anti-corn movement, Nacho Intolerant, writes, "Could you have been flagged...This is a relatively new feature on blogger. I have not employed it, and frankly, have no idea what sort of events it puts into motion." She goes on to speculate that "the Freemasons and Clear Channel may be invloved." I wonder if her doomsaying has any legitimacy to it? After all, it was sam bot dot com, in all it's controversial glory, that put me on the National Do Not fly list (unconfirmed... but what else could it be? I'm a threat to the establishment. That's so punk rock!).

Blogger hasn't responded to my whining... and I doubt that they will. But here is what Blogger has to say about the "Flag" button: "This feature is called "Flag As Objectionable" and it's accessible via the Blogger Navbar. The "Flag?" button allows the blogging community to easily note questionable content..." Questionable content? Blogger, oh please... What could possibly be considered questionable about the Gwar post? Satan vomiting on Conan the Barbarian? That's not questionable. Tasteless, perhaps... but definitely not questionable.

What's questionable is Blogger's inclusion of such a feature* (ummm... hello? Freedom of speech?). But who knows? Maybe I haven't been flagged. Maybe it is a blatant act of censorship, as the Nomad suggests. Jim, however, has experienced similar annoyances (Jim, what do your two disappearing posts, and my Gwar post have in common?). He recommends reposting from scratch. I'll give it one more try.

Hmmm... so what could it be? Could the culprit be the Freemasons? No, they've got secret organizations to run. Clear Channel? Those monopolistic good ol' boys have a populous to manipulate... sam bot dot com speaks to the underground! I'm no threat to them... or am I?

Okay. I know what's really going on here. Someone on the Blogger team got fake blood in their eye at a Gwar show. Ever since then, they've sought to destroy the blogs of those who endorse Gwar and support the Scumdogs of the Universe.

I can see through the lies... and the truth ain't pretty. Ain't pretty at all.

* To their credit, Blogger does put the following opening statement in front of their Flagging info page: "The Flag button is not censorship and it cannot be manipulated by angry mobs. Political dissent? Incendiary opinions? Just plain crazy? Bring it on." It's comforting to know that Blogger is on the side of the "just plain crazy." If that's truly the case, sam bot dot com will always have a home at Blogger.

Comments: 5 | Post a Comment | Permalink

The Flag button doesn't seem like that big of a deal...and I don't think that its the source of your current problem. There would have to have been a lot of people who were offended by the Gwar post for the flag button to work. Even then the worst that would happen would be that Sambot.com would not be listed on the Blogger homepage...big deal! Like you get that many hits from there! I still say that Martha Stewart is the most likely culprit.

Comment By TheDarkLordDerfla on November 17, 2005 10:15 PM

Sadly you know that my company owns Clear Channel.

I feel so dirty.

Comment By Dr. Kennedy on November 18, 2005 12:07 PM

Oh, also, the flag button is only for blogs HOSTED by blogger.

You have no blogspot account, therefore you have no blogspot tool bar, therefore you have no flag button.

It was probably because blogger is a piece of shit.

Comment By Dr. Kennedy on November 18, 2005 2:09 PM

My vanishing posts have nothing in common with yours.

Except that yours are witty, well written and insightful, and I wish mine were. Other than that, I'm in the dark.

I doubt it's the blogger flag, though there might be some fundamentalist head case out there who's targeted you because of the satan face picture.

Comment By Jim on November 18, 2005 3:13 PM

Dr. K... not entirely true. Whether one's blog is hosted at Blogspot or on their personal server, Blogger members have the option of using the Blogger tool bar. Some bloggers like it because, among other things, it adds a "Search This Blog" feature to their blog. Whether one can or cannot "Flag" a blog not hosted on Blogspot still remains unanswered. Blogger's help page doesn't really go into that.

Anyway, I haven't exactly found the culprit yet... but I couldn't imagine that sam bot dot com has been flagged. I'm harmless.

Comment By Sam on November 18, 2005 3:19 PM