Forrest
Yes we have noticed it and dont feel you should be critised for bringing it to the attention of others.
You should be thanked.
No idea. Perhaps a computer thing but its good to know we have a person like yourself who has to me- what I call a normal interesting mind.
I like OLO and would hate to see it changed.
Although I think the Government along with a few others are going to try to control forums.
Well I hate to be a bore and bring up the same old subject but speaking of controlling comunications etc Did you hear the Government are giving Optus and elders a billion dollars in grants towards their programe.
That would be Off Shore Optus and Elders.
Elders the Live Animal Exporters. Live Exports takes our jobs off shore and creates unbelievable suffering for millions of Animal Each year.

Is it any wonder Animal Welfare groups have been "ignored" along with the RSPCA regarding Live Exports.
huh!
Speaking of plots.
The plot thickens.
Anyway Thanks Forrest.

Forrest,I feel privledged if this is so,however it made little difference since very few posted a comment on my article "Why the Battlers etc"

I doubt that it is a conscious effort by OLO at a subtle effort at censorship but more the luck of the draw depending upon how many articles they have to process.

BOAZ_david,

Sorry for the delay in acknowledging your encouragement. There were things I had to put in place first, before the posting limit intervened. In answer to your first question: not to my knowledge, and if notwithstandingly it is so, I don't have any access key to my pay account! As to my background, just in case I am unknowingly on the payroll, I would have to say that I would blend into it, if I was any good, wouldn't I? Nevertheless, it is surprising the trail of clues that litter the wake of OLO users as they transit through cyberspace. I feel it best that the credibility of a user rests upon the verifiability of the things posted, rather than credibility derived from claimed background. One is, after all, always free to build one's own speculative picture from the litter.

ChrisPer,

I don't have a very wide experience of forums in general, Chris, so I'll take your word for it as to how OLO stacks up against the rest. As you can see, I agree that it is a pretty well run forum.

PALE,

Thank you for your support. Its nice to have someone else drawing the flak for a change, isn't it? (Sorry, couldn't resist that one. I have observed some of your duels with higher authority in the past.) Our interests may not always coincide, but we all need a level playing field, at least here on OLO. Scrutiny is how you help ensure you get it. Just like in elections.

Arjay,

Your thread provided a good benchmark in the comparison of the other two. The two screenshots of the recency flag on your thread showed that the OLO posting clock was keeping correct time, rather than running uniformly somewhat fast. Don't be disappointed with the (in your view) small number of posts to your thread; they were all good ones, and I was sorry I hadn't been able to post there myself when I clicked through. Australia having to lead too much with its chin, alright!

In relation to the general subject of digital security (or the difficulty of obtaining it), I mentioned in a previous post the exposure of the centralized computerised electoral roll management system of the Australian Electoral Commission to digital manipulation or interference. This is a link to a list of submissions to a Parliamentary Inquiry into the 2004 Federal elections: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/em/elect04/subs.htm . Submissions 123 and 161 have a lot to say about how that system may be operating. This link was posted in error to an off-topic post to the topic "The Last Refuge of the Intellectual Weakling", from which it may have been removed.

I've just noticed a neat little feature of my screenshot program, KSnapshot. If, when trying to look at some of the awkwardly oriented tables in those two submissions 123 and 161, I take a screenshot, I can use the screenshot program to rotate the table 90 degrees, and then zoom in or out. Saves twisting the neck!

Another little correction I should make is to my previous reference to OLO user ID 'whitlam'. I should have checked the OLO users index, not gone from memory. It is in fact capitalized. My apologies. It should have been 'Whitlam'.

I also note that I never seem to see an article come up on the index with zero comments. How does an article get its first comment, and where on the site does this happen? I know the answer must be staring me in the face somewhere, but can anyone help?

If it is of any help to OLO administrative staff in checking out this differential post recency flagging, could I suggest that the apparent discrimination as between users may alternatively be a discrimination as between particular threads or topics?

It could well look like particular posters are the targets for discrimination, when in possible reality it may be the subject matter, the thread, that is the target. By making the thread appear relatively less active, it might be thought that further comment may be somewhat reduced or discouraged. I know that in suggesting this there is implicit acceptance of a number of underlying assumptions as to why posters comment in the first place, and one of them is obviously that comment attracts comment. I don't know whether that is really valid; I'm just tossing it up for consideration.

I have been watching the posting clock on a number of individual postings, and without being able to determine whether there has been any discrimination as between threads or posters, it does seem as if the red flagging switches off a little earlier than the actual expiry of two hours after the OLO time stamp on the post. Its a little difficult to pin down, but I think that is what I am seeing.

And now, on the lighter, or, more likely in Oz, the darker side, some little glimpses of the broad sunlit uplands of digitized democracy in the land of the brave and the home of the free. Suck this and see: http://homepage.mac.com/rcareaga/diebold/adworks.htm (Dedicated to OLO user "Quick Response", who has advocated an advanced variant of this milieu for Australia.)

Yes, I know, but ONLY in America? I bring you the Diebold Variations. Enjoy.

PS If the corporate identity seems somehow familiar, viewers may note that some ATMs of some banks (which bank?) are manufactured by this firm. Proof of just how good they are at issuing the right amount of 'paper'.

Congratulations OLO! The posting clock appeared to keep perfect time, and ran for sure up to at least "last post 117 minutes ago" for the 11th post to this thread. I can't confirm that it remained in the red until 119 minutes from posting, as there seems to have been a bit of site congestion right at that time when I was attempting to refresh pages. (I've screenshotted the timeout messages I got in each case, and will email these in to OLO in due course in case they have anything to tell re this problem.) As far as I am concerned, on this occasion the clock worked perfectly.

However, if you were to have been watching the topic "If there were no secrets...", you would have observed that at 1021 or thereabouts the flag had already changed to "2 hours ago". The third post to this topic bore the timestamp "Posted by DEMOS, Monday, 3 September 2007 8:38:38 AM". At around 0951 OLO time this topic was showing the red flag "74 minutes ago", on a page that had only just been refreshed and upon which I took a screenshot while monitoring the Technical Support thread. 120 minus 74 leaves 46. As at 0951, "If there were no secrets..." should still have been showing red for another 46 minutes. It had already changed to "2 Hours" by 1021, at least 18 minutes early. There still exists a differential clock on the site!

Einstein was right: we are seeing time dilation in action. You saw it first on OLO!

And thats another thing. Although not directly related to subtle censorship, I seem to observe that some new article topics enter the index other than from the top. Why does this happen? I sense that it may be related to my issue of not seeing topics come up with zero comments, so I am probably only digging a deeper hole for myself by asking. But hey! What else is a dinosaur to do? We need pretty big holes! This could be a matter of grave importance.