You won’t believe this: Another Times Employee Leaving Easily Traceable “Anonymous” Comments
LA Times employee follows Michael Hiltzik’s foolish footsteps and fails to erase them as well
A commenter called “Masha” left this nice message on Patterico’s blog today:
If it were up to you, I’d know nothing but your idiotic propaganda. You’re all worse than Pravda.
Guess where Masha works? Yep, the Los Angeles Times. What’s next, fish in newspapers being left as warnings to back-off?
From Patterico:
The comment was posted from IP address 144.142.21.5, which comes back to The Tribune Company, The Times’s parent company. More specifically, it is an L.A. Times IP address, one that is “registered to lye1.latimes.com and is shared by multiple users.”
What’s more Masha has been a regular commenter. Here are some more of their words of wisdom:
“I think Hiltzik is right on. You and Hewitt and those Powerline guys — you’re fascists. ”
“…as much as you fascists love your supposedly benign dictators.”
“…because you’re morons who go slack-lipped at the slightest whiff of approbation from an authority figure, you can’t stop sucking up.”
Masha sure reminds us of commenter we had here last week. Remember these?
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“Boy, you guys are stupid.” (”NoFanOfCableCos” aka Michael Hiltzik)
“Geez, get a clue.” (”NoFanOfCableCos” aka Michael Hiltzik)
“…just shows you’re a dupe. Very sad.” (”NoFanOfCableCos” aka Michael Hiltzik)
“…your apparent campaign to attach a real name to my comment and link me to one of your pet targets just because I disagreed with something you wrote, I gather that this commitment in your privacy policy is bullshit:” (”NoFanOfCableCos” aka Michael Hiltzik)
You would think that an LA Times employee that is familiar enough of Patterico’s blog that they’ve left comments there many times would know that at the root of this issue was Patterico’s and Independent Sources‘ ability to see IP addresses. We normally pay zero attention to this however when we were called “stupid” by someone we suspected to be Michael Hiltzik, we were not surprised to see that the comment was coming from the Times. When Patterico got a comment ringing praise for the Los Angeles Times and attacking him, he checked the IP address and it too was LA Times. That company is seriously in need of a “no commenting” policy until its employees get a little more net savvy.
tags: michael hiltzik hiltzik los angeles times
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April 21st, 2006 at 10:26 pm
[…] blog today: If it were up to you, I’d know nothing but your idio… Trackback by Independent Sources — 4/21/2006 @ 11:02 pm She posted from an LA Time […]
April 22nd, 2006 at 4:54 am
But anonymous commenting is fine. It’s the multiple identities that play off each other that’s the problem w/ Hiltzik. If LAT employees want to leave comments here, we won’t out them — unless the same person fakes an argument with themself or pretends to be more than one person.
April 22nd, 2006 at 12:54 pm
I think if someone comes on here defending the LAT, calling you a fascist and an idiot, from an LAT computer — and doesn’t say they’re from the LAT — then it’s perfectly appropriate to say that the comment came from an LAT computer.
But I think it should end there. I disagree with some of my commenters who want Masha/workingjournalist’s identity revealed. That’s going overboard. It’s enough to reveal her to be a Times journalist. I think my readers were entitled to know that, given the loopy-lefty and incredibly insulting things she said to me, in defense of (what she didn’t want to say is) her paper.
P.
April 22nd, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Agreed. In addition to your reasoning who has the time to track where comments are coming from and who wants to chase off people contributing to a debate (with the caveats previously discussed)?
Off topic but based on the comments that come from the Times organization they sure must have spirited lunch time conversations. I wonder if they talk in the halls like the way they talk on our blogs. For example…
“Boy, traffic was bad today. All of those FASCIST SUV drivers guzzling up oil. The dupes have no clue!”
“Want to go to the Lakers’ game tonight? Of course tickets will harder to get than finding an unbiased thought on Patterico or Independent Sources. Those dumb FASCISTS are so stupid that it’s SAD!”
“Where is the #@$#@#@ FASCIST elevator?”
“#@$#@#@ FASCIST budget cuts!”
April 22nd, 2006 at 9:12 pm
I know that IP address (144.142.21.5). It does indeed come from the Times. Some engineer named Dilbert.
April 22nd, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Official have had some really good stuff lately, starting with the Charlie Sheen conspiracy post and it’s follow-ups, and running up through the entire Michael Hitzik scandal (also here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, andhere). Full Disclosure I have posted on Independent Sources, but not on these two subjects. I will be working on a conspiracy post with Insider and SAO soon. Not that the amount of traffic I get here will seriously impact their stats.
April 23rd, 2006 at 6:05 am
“until its employees get a little more net savvy”? How dare you criticise G*d almighty himself …. what nerve! Bwaha haha ha
L.A. Times! - huh- yeah-
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
L.A. Times! – huh – yeah-
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again y’all
L.A. Times! – huh – good G*d
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me…
April 23rd, 2006 at 7:38 am
I’d disagree with you that it’s good for nothing and yes it is more valuable than just for doggie newspaper. With the exception of some much-needed editorial balance, a few unhinged columnists, and a Business Section that is simply subpar, I don’t think the paper is that bad. If it was we wouldn’t link to it so much.
Just travel to cities like Phoenix and you see the daily paper isn’t much more than a coupon shopper with a few AP stories. Of course there are hundreds of things the Times could improve upon but even without these I wouldn’t drop it to the level of “absolutely nothing” though perhaps you were exaggerating to make a point (as I was with the “net savvy” quip).
The real issue is how newspapers are going to redefine themselves in the Internet age (and I don’t mean today but tomorrow’s always-on ubiquitous connectivity world). I used to think it was just an issue of business models, but watching the miscue’s on Hiltzik’s blog shows that even something as simple as letting storied columnists maintain blogs can be challenging for a major media company. But now I’ve somehow strayed way off target.
April 23rd, 2006 at 4:20 pm
I’m no stranger to other major metro papers. If the NYT’s contained zero political items, I’d find it quite pleasant (even excellent). But I’m unable to get past the blue state blood that pulses ever constant through it’s veins. And well, I just feel so dirty afterwards. The SJ Merc, another stellar paper. But, like a very long list of has beens, proudly wear their politics on their sleeve. They all just do not get it, haven’t even the faintest clue. And, I don’t have much faith they ever will.
And even e-commerce may relegate the atomic paper to the circular file, not just news/political content. One need only look back say five or six years to see how eBay has decimated the classifieds. Both L.A. dailies’ classifieds are now almost exclusively an adfest for area new car dealers. With a smattering of real estate. Nothing more.
The heart and soul of many once respectable papers has been stomped with a steel toe boot. Of their own wearing. Good riddance I say.
April 23rd, 2006 at 4:36 pm
P.S. I’d ad that the Times does indeed still serve at least one purpose. As a shining example of how far a “news” organization can go in betraying the public trust. I had read the Times almost daily for over thirty years (most all of it as a liberal), taking up the habit in junior high. But the rush of Arnie’s bum a few days before the Gubernatorial election, was beyond all belief. And will never be forgiven. Credibility once lost, is never regained.
April 24th, 2006 at 3:36 am
jeder Mensch eine zweite Chance verdient und ich denke, Hiltzik, der über 20 Jahre für die L.A. Times tätig war, ist erst einmal gestraft genug. Der daraus entstehende Imageschaden für die L.A. Times ist allerdings noch nicht abzuschätzen. DieHexenjagd hat ja jetzt erst richtig begonnen. Was meint ihr? Ist die Supendierung gerechtfertigt?