Technology Liberation Front - Latest Comments in A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

Re: A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

Luis Villa — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:38:21 -0000

If a certain righty poster who does ad hominem all the time were included, this would carry a lot more moral weight.

Re: A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

eee_eff — Tue, 08 May 2007 21:03:14 -0000

I hope you guys (and others) will take what I have said seriously because we certainly welcome your contributions to the TLF, but I would hope those contributions would not be done in such poor taste in the future.

Exactly what are you talking about, Adam?

It seems that you are being awfully thin-skinned, and recall the rather viscous words used against me several posts ago? No one from TLF objected then, but they do now.

Re: A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

eee_eff — Tue, 08 May 2007 19:58:10 -0000

I think people are a little careless with the ad hominem label, and as Enigma has pointed out, it doesn't seem to get leveled at others who make them here. (I'm thinking in particular of a certain red-baiting commenter.)

I totally agree, and that is why I don't ever make ad hominum attacks.

Re: A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

Jim Harper — Tue, 08 May 2007 14:02:26 -0000

In the spirit of goofing off - I'd like to note that Adam misrepresented this post as brief. It's not brief. Adam doesn't do brief.

Re: A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

Scott Carpenter — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:09:37 -0000

I'm not sure how my comment qualified as ad hominem. I thought Crosbie was just being silly and having fun with the association between this site and some others, and I just picked up on that. So flame me for goofing off. I enjoy discussions here on positions I agree with and disagree with. I don't seriously think this is a honeypot site or there is some kind of control conspiracy involved, but there's no doubt a relationship between this site and the others, and I think it's fair game for speculation, tongue-in-cheek or otherwise.

Re: A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

Erik Schmidt — Tue, 08 May 2007 12:24:31 -0000

I've found plenty I agree with and plenty I disagree with at TLF, which is why I enjoy reading it so much. Free exchange of ideas without the chaff found on so many other sites is what makes it one of my favorite reads.

I don't care who is making them, ad hominem attacks are the last refuge of those who can't adequately argue a position.

Re: A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

Mark Blafkin — Tue, 08 May 2007 11:45:26 -0000

Amen, Brother.

Re: A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

Tim Lee — Tue, 08 May 2007 10:42:23 -0000

Well said, Adam. We ought to be able to discuss these issues rationally without resorting to personal attacks.

Re: A Brief Note on Ad Hominem Attacks on the TLF

Doug Lay — Tue, 08 May 2007 10:05:40 -0000

Tim isn't at one end of the spectrum. He's pretty moderate as far as copyfighters go. I'm pretty sure he believes copyright should continue to exist as a legal concept (I reluctantly agree) and he's even defended the Supreme Court's Grokster decision (I disagree on that one).

I don't think Solveig is an extremist either, at least not in demeanor. She makes her points rationally, as opposed to the sentimental tough guy posturing of folks like Patrick Ross and Chris Castle. I do think Solveig's credibility (and PFF's credibility in general) is harmed by the association with Jim DeLong, whose recent writings seem increasingly crackpot, drifting off into police-state fantasies about government-mandated deep packet inspection, which apparently the public is going to rise up and demand on an internet-wide basis. Yah right.

You are absolutely right about the "honeypot" theory regarding TLF. It's ridiculous. This is a great blog, great place for discussion.