Don’t Go is a Republican-Libertarian-led effort to force Congress to act on offshore drilling and energy. (tip) They missed getting a vote before summer recess, but they may have created a larger movement in the process. They provide a list of names and email contacts but have no easily found statement of purpose on the site. The domain WhoIs record is masked by OODADomains.com (NV) / Wild West Domains, Inc. (AZ) Creation date: 4 August 2008. IP Location: Dallas, 209.62.36.16.
Talk Straight has two sections, one for Barack Obama and one for John McCain, but the site is clearly a McCain supporter (hint: it’s selling NoObama t-shirts). It’s also “anonymous” — that is, there’s nothing on the site about its writers or founders. But there’s a huge TIP button! The domain WhoIs record is masked by Spot Domain LLC of Denver; creation date: 11 July 2008. IP Location: Dallas, 74.53.149.88.
8 replies on “Political Activism: Don’t Go and Talk Straight”
Hi, Tracy:
My point was not to “research” either site … but to analyze what was *present* on the site.
Please note that I did not say that “Talk Straight” was a Republican site, I said it appeared to be a Pro-McCain site based on the “No Obama” t-shirt for sale.
Finally, one thing that I forgot to mention in my first post — “Tip Jars” are a standard way of raising money in the blogosphere. Your “TIPS” graphic looks like a “Tip Jar” not a “give us tips” path.
There’s my own personal blog. Research me to your heart’s content. TalkStraight is brand new and we are still getting things underway — but I’m glad you checked it out. Please continue to do so for more information.
Oh, and I’m not a Republican either. I’m Independent, but I was actually a delegate for Hillary Clinton, and voted Democrat in every presidential election since Dukakis ran, with one exception: I voted for McCain in the 2000 primary. I voted for Hillary in the primary this time because I so adamantly am opposed to what a dirty politician Barack Obama is (and I have done my homework). By the time the primaries came to Texas, McCain had won. I still had a lot of respect for Hillary, but I no longer have any for the DNC at all now.
Hi, Eric:
Thanks for writing. Apologies for calling you a Republican. Given how I found your site (Ruffini), I thought it was another Republican effort.
See my comments to the TalkStraight folks about credibility … http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/evaluate.html
Website reviews are conducted based solely on the contents of a website. They aren’t interviews.
In response to TalkStraight.org:
Hello, aakbar … thanks for writing.
It’s good that you have an “about’ page. It would be helpful if it were easily found on the home page. I looked for it again after you gave the link, but I don’t see a link to an “about” page on the home page.
The about page (your iink) says: “We plan to follow the dollars, expose Obama’s character, reveal his lies, tackle his policies, and debunk some rumors.” Sounds like a McCain site to me … given that the other content category on the home page is McCain.
The “TIPS” image (large) appears immediately above a “donate” button and a drop-down donation form with “$10 – donation” as the default. There is nothing, interface-wise, to suggest TIPS is a clickable button. Design-wise (proximity, color) it’s married to the call for $.
Oh, and the about page says nothing about “give us info (tips)”. Here’s how to get involved:
FightTheSmears.com is an official part of the Obama campaign (ie, it resolves to the Obama campaign website). I’m not sure why you are referencing it in your comment.
Hello, Tracy, thanks for writing.
What names? These “articles” (http://talkstraight.org/obama/, http://talkstraight.org/mccain/) have no byline. Nor is there anything on the site telling me who the people are who are running it. Even your “about” page tells nothing about the people behind the site. That information is a key factor in judging any website’s credibility.
When I look at the home page, I see a lot of small chunks of information — and no visual clue that anything is a link to “more” information. Now that you’ve told me that there are, somewhere, articles with bylines, I have discovered that each object that appears to be text is, instead, a graphic that links to an article. And yes, those articles have bylines — but again, a name w/out any other identifying information.
If these were a test of website credibility, it would not score well. I suggest y’all look at resources like this one: http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/evaluate.html
Funny you should mention that you don’t know who the site is “by” consider each article has author’s NAME on it. And it’s pretty obvious it’s both a pro-McCain and anti-Obama site — the two aren’t mutually exclusive. SOMEONE has to tell the truth about Obama, and the MSM isn’t doing it. You’re obviously one of the sheep in the herd, so I doubt this will even be published, but on the off chance that it is, my name is here, I’m one of the writers (and the editor) and part of the core group of TalkStraight.Org. Come visit, one and all! Discover for yourself the TRUTH about Barack Obama. And don’t just visit once; visit on a regular basis so you can watch us follow the money and expose Obama’s dirty politics.
Regards,
Tracy Karol
TalkStraight.org
1) If you would have bothered using the contact form I could have helped relieve some of your confusion.
You say “Republican lead”. I’m actually a Libertarian.
2) Again… The contact function is an amazing feature.
Domain owner: Eric Odom
That’s some kind of investigation work you did there.
Seems to be an Obama ACCOUNTABILITY site in my humble opinion.
The TIP is for Content TIPS. But Nice try. Also it’s been widely publized that I’m the Publisher of the website.
Since you can use a WHOIS request – Try googling Ali A. Akbar.
http://TalkStraight.org/about – there’s our purpose. Thanks?
Obama’s FightTheSmears.com has a larger section to collect information.