David Spalding

Authored Comments

Memo from the Dept. of Underwhelming:
“Tell your congressmen you want them to be pro-internet.”

Um, yeah. Right, Mark. While you're at it, let them know you don't vote, either. Ought to realllllly get their attention ... <strong>Not</strong>. Those calling their representatives need to be direct and concise, e.g. <em> "I'm calling you regarding the upcoming vote for SOPA/PIPA. I'm a constituent of yours. I am deeply concerned about this proposed legislation. If you vote in support of it, I will vote against you in the next election. Clear enough?" </em>

I continue to be disturbed that media groups that represent vendors of media, for whom we are all customers, spout tut-tut trivializations like, "just wrong," "irresponsible stunt," "abuse of power," etc. Um,... exercising our free speech rights, and communicating with our elected representatives, is NONE of that. And we're not just citizens. We're voters. Clear enough, Mr. Leahy?

And we're customers. I'm still boycotting Sony (all products) over that rootkit "stunt" a few years ago, it wouldn't take much for me to cease buying other conglomerates' wares. There are plenty of really neat products out there chasing my dollars, I don't have to send them to sellers who hold my citizen's rights in such contempt. RIAA and MPAA mouthpieces should be more judicious in how they rebut public response to their lobbies attempts to redact the Bill of Rights.

I'm like Susan, I really enjoy updating and correcting articles with information that falls within my expertise (and can cite), or that which I <em>don't</em> know but can source and cite to Wikipedia's standards. When I have time, I like to correct the formatting of citations and other formatting issues, making any particular article, and by extension the entire work, more authoritative and usable. Is it hard? Heck no. Is it technically complicated? Only initially (and there are tools that can help). Does it feel good? Oh boy does it.