The Field moving to Greener Pastures

[Jeff Larson]

As folks know by now, Al has moved. I'm opening up a thread in case the server for narconews gets overloaded. I had difficulty just now getting on. How is it going for others? Also, I will be posting a diary at OMS in the wee hours if folks want to discuss it there.

I don't think Al would mind if I posted his notice that shows up at his new home for The Field:

Update: This essay was published on June 11 at the former site of The Field, and was censored at 9:30 p.m. ET that evening, I was told, because it mentioned "Saul Alinsky," "Andrew Kopkind," and "Rules for Radicals."

A brief press conference now ensues:

Q. "Mr. Giordano, what is your view of such McCarthyism-style censorship?"

A. "I reject it."

Q. "But do you denounce such censorship?"

A. "I reject and denounce it. I will not be party to it. I disassociate myself from those that have engaged in it. And therefore I have moved The Field to this address:

http://narconews.com/thefield

Q. Can you tell us more?

A. On Monday, I will begin to tell all. It's really a fascinating story, and a microcosm of a much larger struggle going on in the United States. Meanwhile, bookmark this site, the new and improved home of The Field.

[kurt squire]

I got on briefly, but am having problems now. Great to have him back!

[BondiBeachViews]

Well, I've signed up for the New Field already - just waiting on confirmation.

[Xantar]

Ok...what in the world happened? I thought it was kind of strange when the Saul Alinsky post suddenly disappeared, but then people in comments start saying that Al has moved. What's going to happen to all the money that was donated to send Al to Denver?

Sheesh, it's been crazy. Just a few days ago, Al was on Rural Votes, Deb Kozikowski seemed like a very respectable politician and Tim Russert was alive. So I guess we need to change the description of the Ning network here, now.

[nihilix]

I agree that the "rural votes" part of the description should be changed, but The Field is fine.

[Land of Lincoln]

A short while ago, I was able to link to Al's New Field site and left a comment. I recognized lots of old Field Hands and felt so much better. During the last several days, when I or anyone else would inquire about Al, no answers were provided. I knew something was funny when I attempted to reread Al's now censored post last Wed. night, and it had disappeared. Then Al disappeared. Today, Tracy's post from The Back Forty appeared on the Field. Some incredulous reason was provided for this recent managerial action. Tracy's post also contained some commenter that appeared to be a troll. The commenter was criticizing Al's censored post on Tracy's current post concerning McCain. This whole experience seems surreal, including the troll that now resides at the Field! Enough said! I have bookmarked Al's new Field site and am awaiting his "smoking hot" news. So much has happened since Al went missing, but "the man" will satisfy our curiosity and write new insightful and delightful posts.

[KRK]

I'm sure this will get addressed eventually, but just to urge things along, the left-hand column on the main page for this network should be changed to link to entries at the new home of The Field, and not the ruralvotes page, since the ruralvotes page will now be populated by other people's writing, not Al's.

[Jeff Larson]

A number of people have concerns about the money raised to send Al to Denver. I want to believe that Deb K and Al will straighten it out soon next week, however as a donor you have a right to know that your money is going where you were told it would go. We need to wait and see because the simplest thing to do would be for Deb K to send Al the money (assuming Al did not have it already). If it isn't resolved then I think donors need to ask for the money back since it won't be used for its intended purpose. So be patient...

[Susan Kitchens]

tagline: fixed. Left hand col RSS feed: fixed. Link under Field Roll on right: fixed. If you see other things here that are in need of an administrator's loving, powerful, back-end touch ;), please send me a message. Thanks!

[Joshua]

I think what bothered me most, besides the disappearing post, was the lack of being forthright with what ws going on. If Deb had just said there was a disagreement and Al would be stting up somewhere else, I would have been more willing to give Tracy a read on occasion, but to put it all under the guise of a blog crossover, so that we would be better informed is insulting at best. I hope the money goes back to Al for Denver, and his writing because my donation was given under the pretext that the money was allocated for Al's Denver trip, not Rural Votes. I am glad we found the new site, though I am extremely disappointed with the management of Rural Votes as well as the communications gap and subsequent misinformation that was provided.

I just had to get that out!

[Dan Carr]

I got to post just now at the new site. I am more than a little curious to hear the story. What is the thinking behind this kind of censorship (I'm not looking for an answer from the censors). It is not inclusiveness. What will happen to all those great posts about the primary and the comments. I have several yet to go back to read.

[BondiBeachViews]

My link to the old Field now goes straight to the Back 40. At present I cannot work out how to access the old Field - guess ruralvotes was getting too much heat and got out of the kitchen.

[Jeff Larson]

bondi, interesting. I wonder what the heck they think they are doing over there. So funny that Tracy is posting a new diary but won't discuss the 384 elephants in the room.

I am now having problems getting into the narco news site. They have a user connections setting related to the "DBMS" they are using- mySQL.

I remember reading in one of his posts that Al had high confidence in his tech people at Narco News. He expects things to be rectified soon. We'll see. This is on a Sunday and I'm betting it will get pounded even more tomorrow.