Wednesday, 2 May 2007
"He will now use this comment to write another poisonous post."
Ugh! He got me!Vision fading... flesh... chilling... find myself... unable to blog...
[reset]
Iain was taken to task about the censorship of his stat-porn and this redirection stunt yesterday.
Without me having to do anything about it, several people (including Unity) flagged his partial and infuriatingly misleading response as proof that the man has nothing to offer but clumsy misdirection.
The relevant exchange is repeated below. (Do treat that hyperlink with care.)
I could add
Scott Matthewman said...
So one referrer manages to reach no. 8 in your list, even though all clicks come from a single source (as Laurence's comment suggests).
And yet Bloggerheads, which was at no. 6 in your similar chart a month ago, has disappeared completely.
You're not being honest at all, are you?
And does it have anything to do with the fact that you're (badly) attempting to ruin the user experience of visitors to your site if they've come from a site you don't happen to agree with -- regardless of whether or not they would agree with the opinions voiced on that site?
If you want to portray yourself as a professional blogger, I would have thought a degree of professionalism would be in order. Acts such as wilfully distorting your chart figures and preventing people from linking to specific blog entries are highly unbecoming.
May 01, 2007 3:52 PM
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Laurence Boyce said...
Interesting. I’m very much inclined to think that Iain is a good egg, but there does undeniably appear to be some “dodgy code” at the start of his template. But you’d have to say that it’s not exactly very well hidden, which would be easy to do. And it’s probably not his handiwork either. Still, no need to let that stand in the way of a good story.
Iain Dale in dodgy template shocker!!!
May 01, 2007 6:14 PM
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Iain Dale said...
Scott, I have made no secret of the fact that since the March figures I have banned Tim Ireland from my site. That includes links to him. Simple as that. If you have followed what he has said about me you wouldn't be at all surprised. I make no apology for it. I'm simply not having him polluting this blog with his poison. He has plenty of his own sites to do that on.
It's nothing to do with not agreeing with him. It's about abuse. Watch him. He will now use this comment to write another poisonous post. See if I'm not right.
May 01, 2007 6:28 PM
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Scott Matthewman said...
Scott, I have made no secret of the fact that since the March figures I have banned Tim Ireland from my site. That includes links to him. Simple as that.
But you could reference where he comes in your chart without linking to him. That would be the honest thing to do, even if you don't want to link to him.
As it is, you've omitted figures and covered up that you've done so. If a Labour politician did that, you'd quite rightly be all over them. Should you not hold yourself up to a higher standard?
If you have followed what he has said about me you wouldn't be at all surprised. I make no apology for it.
You're right, I'm not at all surprised that you're not completely consistent. I've followed what he's said about you, which basically consists of pointing out things you've said, and how at times, you're not completely honest.
I'm simply not having him polluting this blog with his poison.
I've been reading this blog for a while. If any of the posts Tim has made could possibly be construed as poisonous, then there are far more noxious fumes coming from some of your regular -- and tolerated -- commenters.
It's nothing to do with not agreeing with him. It's about abuse. Watch him. He will now use this comment to write another poisonous post. See if I'm not right.
I do believe he's criticised distortion of that sort in the past. Good to know you're being consistent with your misdirection, if nothing else.
Now, can you answer this -- if Laurence's blog is private and used only by him, how can it have referred "at least 100 people"?
May 01, 2007 6:54 PM
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Iain Dale said...
Scott, I haven't the faintest idea. If it is only him clicking on it, it should be a maximum of 31. Seeing as you obviously think I have lied I would be happy to email you a screenshot from my statcounter if you let me have your email address.
May 01, 2007 7:06 PM
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Scott Matthewman said...
Fine - my email's scott [at] matthewman [dot] net.
FWIW, I suspect that whatever stats package you're using would be reporting the number of visits -- possibly even clicks -- coming from each referrer. Either of those are very different from 'visitor', which implies discrete individuals.
Don't sweat it -- I have to explain these concepts at work all the time, so I know they're often tricky for people to get their heads round. But accuracy wherever possible can, I'm sure you agree, prevent honest mistake becoming indistinguishable from dishonest distortion :)
May 01, 2007 7:54 PM
UPDATE - The following has just been added to the exchange. I await Iain's reply with interest.
Barney said...
"I have banned Tim Ireland from my site. That includes links to him."
But this isn't about links to him, is it? It's links from him. You're just trying to make it difficult for anyone to look at your blog, if they're coming from something Tim Ireland has said.
You're being really childish. It's the kind of behaviour you'd expect from a teenager who's just discovered the Internet. From a 44 year old who still seems to harbour ambitions in political journalism, it's incredible.
May 02, 2007 1:20 PM
Labels: iain dale the expert, propaganda
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