Gizmodo: banhammer

Notes: Banhammers Locked and Loaded Or Whatever

Brian Lam — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:35:45 EDT

The majority of the comments have been great on Giz lately, but there has also been a surge in bad ones. Maybe it's spring fever. Just wanted to give those of you on the fence the heads-up that all eds have been instructed to clean house a bit. Keep it on track, people, while I'm away in Brazil. We did a group of interviews with the local press about Giz and all people wanted to talk about was CES business. Pretty interesting conversations, and some of the smartest journalists I've interfaced with in a long time.

Sorry Guys

AddyDugdale — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:23:00 EDT

We've banned everyone. Even Strider. Have a quiet weekend folks.*

*This may not be true. I think we're having technical whoopsies on the comment front. Normal service will be resumed, etc, etc.

Obama Would Make Chief Technology Officer a Cabinet-Level Position

Benny Goldman — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:15:00 EST

In preparation for his visit to Google headquarters today, presidential candidate Barack Obama released a nine-page statement outlining his plan to improve technology (if elected). His first order of business would be to appoint a Chief Technology Officer, a new government official who makes sure Obama's ideas are put into action.

The CTO would have a much different agenda than the head of technology under the current administration, the "cyber-security czar". While that post is concerned with preventing cyber attacks, the CTO would concentrate on critical issues facing the technology world as well as maintain an open line of communication between the government and the American citizens by using—what else?—the internet.

The rest of his outline includes plans to provide broadband access to areas lacking it, open up the 700MHz wireless spectrum so smaller carriers can compete, and create a federally-backed, $50 billion venture capital fund for the development of more environmentally-friendly technology.

Obama also wants a transparent government, where meetings between Cabinet officials and government executives are streamed live, and the public can comment on legislation on the White House website for five days before it is signed into law. Giving the public wide access to the policy makers is a radical step from the closed governments of the past. Though it kinda takes the term "commentard" to a new level. No word yet on Obama's banhammer, but we guess it will be as swift and merciless as ours, democracy be hanged.

Other proposals in Obama's technology manifesto include reforming the patent system to provide better security to important innovations and decreased protection for trolls, and regulations on network neutrality. Overall, Obama's plans seem very advanced, open-source and engaging to the community, things that any technology buff can appreciate. OK, Hillary: your turn to network with the nerds. [Venture Beat]

Banhammer IV: The Redeadening

Adam Frucci — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:15:03 EDT

Hey, look, I found the Banhammer under my bed, and it's all dusty and unused. Today I will clean it off by making an example of one Jumpking04, who made two mistakes. His first was writing near-unreadable comments, as excerpted after the jump, and his second was linking to his MySpace page in his commenter profile. Nice dog, Jumpking.

ZOMG thats crazy. I wan2 do that. I would love to do that. WWII Nazis aint got nothing on them XD Dam and i think its dangerous enough walking with 10 dudes through Hunts Point in the Bronx. BRONX and NY FTW lolz. (Dont live @ hunts point) Parkchester area FTW. XD

You'll go blind before you ever see Angelina Joeli's Sex tape o.O

We type like big boys here at Gizmodo. In our attempts to keep the level of discourse relatively high here at the Giz, we sometimes need to weed out illiterates like our friend Jumpking here. You can avoid the painful wrath of the Banhammer by taking a few precious seconds to think before you type and spellcheck before you submit. Don't fall into the same trap as our puppy-loving friend, because we take no pleasure in these public bannings. OK, well, maybe a little bit of pleasure.