To me this feels like a like the record industry trying to sue their way into profits with an obsolete model rather than innovate a new way to be profitable.

Also, at least for the left wing news sites, they shoot themselves in the foot with the paywalls meaning people will not bother to click the link anyway as they know they cannot read it without paying.

And frankly, majority of the news sites offer no better product than a web blog reposting AP stories does. Get a lot of shitty opinion, but really these big news companies are not offering content that people believe has value enough to pay for anymore when other people will give it away.

Feb 4, 2021 1:36:11 GMT c said:

To me this feels like a like the record industry trying to sue their way into profits with an obsolete model rather than innovate a new way to be profitable.

Not really, this is like the way radio stations and Spotify have to pay to air peoples recordings.
What Google and Facebook are doing is like Spotify with zero royalties.
Google is doing this more often where you google a question and they give you an answer in the results without needling to click through to the site.

Well like Spotify, they money will go to the corporations and not the people actually doing the writing. So why are the corporations needed? What value do they provide if Google is doing their exposure for them and the same people who write their articles, also cover the same news on twitter for free? Royalty on the streaming model is like $20 a year or less total for all but the biggest bands.

This is just another example of companies trying to force business from people who no longer want to do business with them.

Feb 4, 2021 5:25:37 GMT c said:

Well like Spotify, they money will go to the corporations and not the people actually doing the writing. So why are the corporations needed? What value do they provide if Google is doing their exposure for them and the same people who write their articles, also cover the same news on twitter for free? Royalty on the streaming model is like $20 a year or less total for all but the biggest bands.

This is just another example of companies trying to force business from people who no longer want to do business with them.

Yeah, fuck corporations. The world needs death to corporations more than it needs death to most of the human population.

" The code would see digital giants such as Google and Facebook pay local media companies for providing their content in search and sharing their content on social media. "

I can understand why the old white men of Australian politics can see Google and Social Media as a retail store of sort, and should be paying for the stock (content) they're displaying on their shelves.

I'd personally, if I was Facebook for example, I would drop all Australian news media from my platforms and sit back and giggle at the old white men of Australian politics struggle to understand why there's a significant reduction in exposure for news sites, a reduction in ad revenue and value in ad space.

In theory if news.com.au sees a 25% decline in visits due to zero accessibility through social media, those banners at the top of the page suddenly became less valuable.

Feb 4, 2021 23:23:10 GMT NATH45 said:

" The code would see digital giants such as Google and Facebook pay local media companies for providing their content in search and sharing their content on social media. "

I can understand why the old white men of Australian politics can see Google and Social Media as a retail store of sort, and should be paying for the stock (content) they're displaying on their shelves.

I'd personally, if I was Facebook for example, I would drop all Australian news media from my platforms and sit back and giggle at the old white men of Australian politics struggle to understand why there's a significant reduction in exposure for news sites, a reduction in ad revenue and value in ad space.

In theory if news.com.au sees a 25% decline in visits due to zero accessibility through social media, those banners at the top of the page suddenly became less valuable.

Yeah, if that was the case they wouldn't be lobbying for change.
If we fail to understand how social media is affecting the public's ability to understand arguments... Then we are heading to ugly places in our "democracy"

We have got to the point where posting a snopes link is meant to shut down all debate, but most of the fact checkers these days are partisan.

Anything in the news today?

Feb 18, 2021 6:32:12 GMT NATH45 said:

Anything in the news today?

Drop Bear attacks have risen compared to last summer due to habitat removal

Feb 18, 2021 10:03:11 GMT System said:

Feb 18, 2021 6:32:12 GMT NATH45 said:

Anything in the news today?

Drop Bear attacks have risen compared to last summer due to habitat removal

If only, I could see the news via my social media news feed to warn me. 

For our non-Aussies, Google and Facebook did it. There's no Australian news sites on social media or Google.

While this should be frightening, most people find it amusing, unless you're a staunch conservative newscaster. Which makes it more amusing.

It led to this being published so that's one positive.

Paul Murray and Peta Credlin survived the cull.. meaning they're not real journalists.

Facebook must think they're both satire.

Feb 19, 2021 6:11:29 GMT @admin said:

It led to this being published so that's one positive.

It seems to be the trend to paint your enemies as pure evil.
The coalition make a lot of mistakes and I find Scotty lacks conviction, but still more electable than the Labor rabble.
Anyone who starts making sense there gets booted off the front bench.

Do you think they can win the election with the anti coal lefty agenda they're currently pushing?
I'm not saying that in an emotional way, I just don't see a way for the current path to win, which seats are they going to win? How many in Queensland?

Scotty could be one of the most tone deaf leaders this country has had. And that's saying something, forcing bush fire survivors to shake his hand, when it's been documented he's been holidaying overseas during a natural disaster. Then recently having to ask Jenny if rape was bad.

I like the way you present the caricature version of what happened.
On the rape thing, I agree it was the wrong time for the folksy father type angle, but it was clear that he was deeply personally troubled by the allegations.

The whole rape thing bothers me, by law you should have to go to the police before making allegations on national TV.
I also want to see the rape laws revised in this country, if this woman was assaulted while unconscious then that's a shocking situation and the guy needs to face the full weight of the law... But when two people are drunk and consent is murky it's not quite the same as assaulting someone in an alley, we need different levels of rape.

There's a massive debate that usually opens up on that topic. In lieu of the #metoo #speakingout issues, the definition can change. Rape and sexual assault is awful and should be taken very seriously. Regret is another. And often a bad experience or something in hindsight that feels like a bad experience is enough to warrant allegations.

Feb 19, 2021 23:09:45 GMT NATH45 said:

There's a massive debate that usually opens up on that topic. In lieu of the #metoo #speakingout issues, the definition can change. Rape and sexual assault is awful and should be taken very seriously. Regret is another. And often a bad experience or something in hindsight that feels like a bad experience is enough to warrant allegations.

This is a subject where c, excels but the main issue is that memory is not nearly as reliable as people assume it is.

Just because someone is saying what they believe to be true, does not make it fact.

I think when you factor in guilt, shame and regret due the the slut shaming in the West then you create a pressure cooker environment where people's memory of events is affected.
I really don't like the "I came to the realisation" comments.
It's why we need better rape laws

The sexual assault stuff is a weird fucking mess. The concept of consent itself is great in theory but 99.9 percent of the time consent is not asked, and not asked in the legal manner that the law says it should be. A totally legal sexual encounter under a strict read of rape law says each separate action needs individual, verbal, consent. So ask if you kiss someone, then stick in your tongue, then take off their shirt, touch their breast, ect. This is now how people operate. Because you can revoke consent at anytime even giving people a list of actions they are ok / not ok with fetlife style would not work.

Things get weirder when you look at corner cases. What happens when both people are drunk? Even if the guy forcablly rapes the girl, technically she also raped him since he could not consent to the violent action he started. The law pretty much defines this as the victim is whoever gets to the cops first.

What happens if someone does not want to have sex but does it anyway. They consent verbally, but their body does not consent often itself which would be a non-verbal revocation.

Then you get weirder stuff like where is the line for coercion? If you fuck a homeless person in exchange for a place to say, would that be taking advantage of them to the point it becomes sexual assault? Does this change if it is your ex who's new boyfriend just kicked her out?

Dug deep into all of this years ago and what it comes down to is the definition of sexual harassment and assault depends on construction that occurs in the victims mind. Violently grab your wife, tie her up and fuck her hard while she yells stop is a fun game for many. Do that to the girl you are taking home for your third date and you will end up behind bars.
Talking about how hot your boyfriend is and how you just want to rip his shirt off and lick his body all over is totally fine. Say that about Steve in accounting and that is a lawsuit waiting to happen. In cases likes these your actions can be identical but because of the way they are perceived, can be different legally even if you do not know, or are incapable of knowing how the person perceives things.

This creates a weird area where actions are both legal and illegal in cases of things like reluctant sex. Did the person consent despite not wanting to have to sex or did you just rape them? If a person has the option to change their mind about consent at anytime, then after saying no several times they could decide what the fuck better a minute of this pig flopping like a fish than an hour more of lame sexual advances.

And yeah, if it is based solely on internal perception of the victim there will be cases where at the time they consented but reconstructed the memory to no longer consent as their representation of the memory changed. So while the act was legal in the moment, it becomes illegal after the moment.


It will be nearly impossible to do anything about the laws though without harming victims given the nature of consent in sexual activities. Well until we can record mental states as they happen and replay them Strange Days style.

Still think Joe Hildebrand is a decent journalist/human being iNCY?

He's been an unfunny piece of shit for years.

Mar 7, 2021 2:11:06 GMT @admin said:

Still think Joe Hildebrand is a decent journalist/human being iNCY?

I think the grab you posted is sensationalist by the editor because it doesn't reflect what the article is about.
I do think Joe was way out of line with the tone of the article, he could have conveyed a similar sentiment much more gently, so yeah I give him a big fail on this one

But he's not alone, the ABC, Labor and the Greens should hang their head about how they handled this situation.
We cannot have people being tried in the courts of the media. The reason the police stopped the investigation was because with the woman dead, there is nothing to investigate.
The situation is tragic and the woman was obviously troubled and if Porter did the wrong thing, I hope he ends up getting justice one day. .. But until then we have to respect the rule of law.

Are any of y'all being affected by the floods? How are things?

What a fucker of a year. This time last year, the continent was on fire. Then the pandemic hit, and now flooding.

That, and our government can't go a day without embarrassing itself.

Mar 24, 2021 18:28:25 GMT Gyro LC said:

Are any of y'all being affected by the floods? How are things?

Stuff got wet but not at my house, so all good.
The main issue in the country is the treatment of women, aparrently they don't like sexual assaults... Who'd have thunk it?

William Clayton has the best words to deal with those women.

“Rape is kinda like the weather. If it’s inevitable, relax and enjoy it.”

If it helps can also inform them, in the words of Jodie Laubenberg:

“In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits, where a woman can get cleaned out.”

Mar 24, 2021 18:28:25 GMT Gyro LC said:

Are any of y'all being affected by the floods? How are things?

I’m ok but the area I’m in got flooded in some parts,
though not as bad as other areas that look like the lost city of Atlantis
www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/7175677/nsw-floods-the-day-in-pictures/

In 2015 my workplace flooded and had to be shut for a few days thought the same was going to happen again.

www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7180379/flood-test-for-testers-hollows-underwater-road/?cs=12&utm_source=website&utm_medium=index&utm_campaign=sidebar

Also this location flooded in 2007 & 2015 and they vowed to fix it in case it happened again.
2021 and it’s flooded again as they won’t be finished fixing it until 2023.

Always wild to see other countries actively talking about using CCTV. In the US if a story was framed this way it could cause riots because people would freak out that they were being spied on, even though know we also actively use this tech.

Also wild that you all are tracing the spread of the virus to this degree. US was like the virus is here, may the odds ever be in your favor.

Jun 22, 2021 4:06:53 GMT @admin said:

Gladys doesn't panic despite the wailing of the professional bed wetters.


It's always the public servants and academics crying for Lockdowns. I say if a state Lockdowns public servant wages should be cut like private industry.

iNCY, personally I think if another unnecessary lockdown occurs, businesses that close should be either reimbursed or a deduction made from next year's council rates (if they are still in business) 

And the an interesting thought, I can't wait to see people's thoughts on tax-returns in the next few weeks - considering a large part of the work-force worked from home. Are they now eligible to claim every ounce of data they used using their own internet and mobile phones from home, the electricity bills that kept the lights on while working from home? I would think, maybe.