How Free is Now?

Published by Toronto Mike on December 3, 2007 @ 09:01 in Miscellaneous

mouseThose of you who also frequent freddiep.ca know there have been technical issues over there since Thursday. I knew there would be a natural curiosity as to what the heck was going on, so I tried to keep everyone up to date with this posting. Now it's time to tell the rest of the story.

The first sign of trouble was November 29 when CGI scripts at freddiep.ca wouldn't execute. To a visitor that just means you can't leave comments. For Fred, that meant he couldn't publish new entries or edit existing ones. I wrote the hosting company to complain about the issue, assuming it was a permissions thing that the hosting company could remedy in seconds, but I was told it was far more serious.

Freddiep.ca was under attack! The hosting company shut down the CGI scripts and eventually the entire site until we could determine what the cause was or what was being exploited. This is standard practise and I don't judge them for it. I started investigating and wondering who would have motive to instigate a Denial of Service attack and then it occurred to me that Fred writes very opinionated entries daily. He takes a public stand on just about everything, and it's often controversial. It's very likely a number of factions would want Freddiep.ca offline. Fred's even been threatened for what he's written. An easier question might be "who doesn't want Freddiep.ca offline?"

When life gives you lemons, it's best to make lemonade, so we took this opportunity to give freddiep.ca a new home and update his version of Movable Type to 4. Propagation started yesterday afternoon and by now most of you should be seeing the new site when you hit up freddiep.ca.

They say there's freedom of speech on the world wide web, where you can speak your mind, but I'm not sure it's as free as it should be. I suppose we'll soon find out. Fred's back blogging.

Permalink Entry Permalink Comments 10 comments

10 Responses to "How Free is Now?"

Trish
December 3, 2007 / 10:19

Hi Mike. As you know, there was a very heated discussion on the subject of Stephen Harper at Freddie's site last week. The person/persons who are responsible for the attack are a bunch of spoiled brats, screaming because they can't get their way...

Toronto Mike
December 3, 2007 / 10:23

The web is full of conservative bloggers and liberal bloggers. I find it hard to believe political affiliation would be enough to provoke that kind of a response.

I suspect it's something else... a stance on a more politically charged issue... But the timing sounds right for this entry to be the cause: http://www.freddiep.ca/2007/11/quite_the_response_to_yesterdays.html

Jason | GetYourOJ.com
December 3, 2007 / 10:39

Very weird I look forward to hearing Fred's posting to all this. Are you the new son and heir to the the disguised Reform party though?

Frankly I like to hear, read and see opinions from the other side of the fence because, as John Stuart Mill said, everyone should be heard even it's just so we can all decide that the opinons in question are stale double-speak.

That said, thanks for the name drop. I'd be flattered other than that fact that there was no ryhme or reason to it. I mean.. unless you're a hypocrite and want to silence MY opinions. There's no OJ crusade I have better things to do despite how good I am at making it look like I don't. Cheers.

Toronto Mike
December 3, 2007 / 10:45

Jason, you'll confuse everybody. The OJ crusade name drop was in the previous entry.

As for me, Fred and I are political opposites and I'm working very hard to give him a forum. I encourage opinionated entries, even when I passionately disagree with the viewpoint.

As for silencing your opinions, have I ever edited one comment you've left on this site? The answer, is no... and that crusade crack is about a certain radio station you no longer like people listening to.

Mike from Lowville
December 3, 2007 / 10:47

On looking back at that entry, I don't remember seeing this type of script.
( joke – they’re )

Trish, I really don't think it was any of the posters who commented even though we are a bunch of spoiled brats.

Toronto Mike
December 3, 2007 / 10:50

I'm fixing that now Mike... that's an encoding error in the comments where apostrophes, dashes and quotation marks are showing up funky.

Andrew
December 3, 2007 / 11:11

It really is a sad state that Fred can't express his views (even though they are really flawed when it comes to Harper!) without someone trying to shut him down. I just don't get it. If he was spewing racist comments or supporting hate and intolerance I would understand but he's just a Conservative. There's lots of those (unfortunately).

Jason | GetYourOJ.com
December 3, 2007 / 11:19

It would have been totally inappropritate to comment on the subject matter I covered here the entry below, IMHO.

I didn't mind your comments about me but I also thought better of commenting back about the OJ crusade on a posting mainly about someone's personal battles.

Besides, no one listens to that particual radio station anymore as far as I know anyway. The last time someone approached me about hearing something great on the edge was likely the new years countdowns back when they still played more than one piddly song per album. The last time they did that was years ago.

All they have left is the fact that they make a small effort to find, help, and promote new bands. Sort of.

All I have ever accused them of is narrowing their playlist and catering to advertisers. Is that not true? I don't think I ever specifically told anyone not to listen, I merely asked why the heck anyone would.

An iPod shuffle has more variety in it's playlist than the Edge.

Andrew
December 3, 2007 / 11:29

For such disdain of The Edge, why do you link it on your own blog?

If nobody listens to it, why link it?

Jason | GetYourOJ.com
December 3, 2007 / 12:04

Disdain?

Somewhere along the line I was misquoted, misunderstood, who knows.

I link it so my readers can see what different cities have to offer. We have The Edge and CBC 3.

Here's what I'm really saying, OK? Let's not pick on The Edge. After all, it isn't fair. I mean, every single major Toronto radio station is guilty of this narrowcasting stuff.

My Aunt says it about CHFI, my mom says it about The Mix, and people in other cities say it about thier stations!

I maintain the fact that there is no reason anyone really wants to hear the same 40 songs over and over again but the suits at the radio stations and their advertisers want to make you think that you do so everything runs smoothly for them.

In other words, here's the formula we are going to use, and let's go with it. Then they all agree and shake hands.

The thing is, I find this sad. Shouldn't they be encouraging people not to abandom FM radio? The Edge had this rich history of being the one station where you could hear all sorts of new material that the other stations wouldn't touch.

I had a soft spot for the edge. I wanted it to maintain some integrity and respect, that's all.

Hell, the Apple commericals do a better job at finding the hot new bands than most radio stations. Apple has used Feist and CSS in their ads. How come the Edge can't be as on top of things?

Do 13-29 years old really want to hear the same 40 songs and not be exposed to new music? (How many new songs a week does the Edge add to its playlist?)

Do you realise I once interviewed Alan Cross and in that interview he said the youth don't need to be told what to listen to, they will find it on their own.

If he truly belives that, why doesn't he try to do more about the fact that most people in general are craving something more than Nickelback, Sum 41, Creed and Outkast.. and the old 15 year oldgrunge tune.

The answer is the people running all this shit have about as much clue as the top brass at record labels. It's over.

You want to get in your car and listen to the edge, please do so. Just don't try telling me it won't be the same 40 songs that you hear.

Stop a 13-29 year old on the sidewalk. If they are listening to music it will probably be on an iPOd. Likely a band you'll never hear on The Edge.

Like M.I.A., Jamie T (the edge finally plays one song)or some one legged cambodian bass player's solo album.

Music is so accessable that radio stations are irrelevant territory. I hereby give up the crusade... there never really was one... I just find it a shame... what it is VS what it could be. The choice is yours.

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