The American Mind

I really don’t get why they’re so tolerant of trolls at the official blog. They contribute nothing to the discussion. The Obama and Clinton blogs don’t put up with trolls. I don’t know if you allowed it at Fred’s blog, but the trolling is f’ing annoying, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who avoids blogs where trolls are allowed to run the place. If people would quit allowing that crap, maybe trolls would find something else to do with their lives. And see, it looks like McCain gets all the trolls, because the Obama & Clinton campaigns (and supporters) don’t allow it. It makes McCain look hated, and they look like they have no strong opposition. Or maybe it’s just that conservatives don’t troll and libs do all the time. I don’t know.

Another thing: I’d take Malkin off the blogroll, because she’s constantly ranting about him. Why link to that hateful stuff from his blog? And Andrew Sullivan, the Obama sycophant? WTF?! It shows how little attention is paid to the blog, to say the least.

Also: LINK TO POSITIVE BLOG POSTS. You know, like y’all did at Fred’s blog, and Jon did at George Allen’s blog. When they write something at Powerline or Hot Air or whatever supporting McCain, it NEEDS TO BE LINKED from the official blog. It’s mind-boggling that it isn’t.

Beth,

Monitoring comments is all about having the manpower available. At the Thompson campaign we had a multiple layers to limit trolls. We didn’t have to ban many because I think they knew someone was watching, responding, and willing to take action.

You’re remark on linking is dead on. Links are currency in the blogosphere. They indicate a post has value and should be read. It’s an acknowledgement to the writer that what they wrote was important and vital. Linking to positive posts will send traffic which should inspire more positive posts.

As for linking to opposing weblogs I don’t have a problem with that. In a way it reinforces the independent, straight talk brand McCain has. What I would do is make an effort to link to Malkin when appropriate. See how a “kill them with kindness” approach would work. There isn’t much of a downside.

I don’t want to blame Matt Lira, Michael Palmer, or Patrick Hynes for the current situation. It’s not a question of eCampaign talent. It’s about campaign priorities. I know what it’s like to want to do stuff but not have the manpower and funds to do it. Sadly the campaign doesn’t consider the internet to be as important as I think it should be. When you don’t put in the effort you end up with a bad product.

[…] Sean Hackbarth, the Fred Thompson campaign’s former blogger, advises the McCain campaign on how best to use the medium: Last week, after Newsweek put out a highly biased piece on the upcoming Obama-McCain battle Salter fired back. He was eloquent, bruising, and effective. Salter should have posted something like that on the McCain weblog with the communications shop pushing reporters and webloggers to link to it. That would have brought a ton of people to the website. Some of them would have signed up to get e-mails. Simply e-mailing Newsweek was a lost opportunity. […]

Sean they need you on the payroll!! You did an awesome job with Fred’s campaign!! It was the best run site that I have seen in the primaries & you really got the support base involved with his campaign!! I am certain that if McCain’s folks were to talk to any Fredhead they would have the same response about what an asset you were to Fred’s online efforts. Feel free to pass this along to any folks in John’s Campaign Staff because they could really use your experience over there.

Oh, I don’t mean to demean anyone doing the work either, esp. Patrick. He in particular has done a fantastic job. I agree, it appears to be a simple matter of priorities. Three (or whatever) people can’t possibly do it ALL.

You’re right about linking to Malkin’s blog, of course - it just sort of irks me because she’s SO vicious and writes about stuff that’s just plain wrong (i.e. no conservative bloggers invited to the blogger calls - that’s flat out silly - and how she says JM is for “open borders”). She gets people all riled up for nothing.

[…] Sean Hackbarth has some wise ideas for additional changes to go with it. Got ideas? Sean wants to know. […]

They absolutely should put you on the payroll, Sean. Your efforts at Fred’s site is what got me so involved in his campaign. And of course, I then got others involved via my own blog and was able to enroll friends and solicit campaign donations.

Several people I know said they donated to Fred’s campaign through my cyber efforts and they had never given to a presidential campaign before. That is because I was inspired to get involved through the efforts of Fred’s online community. It was solid.