- Victor Keegan writes quite glowingly about ORG and MySociety He points out that he hasn’t seen groups quite like these in any other country of the world. I think, after some initial reserve about their first projects, it would be difficult for me to find fault in the work that MySociety have done recently. Bravo.
- Oxbridgelife – a profoundly troubling and actually quite insulting website designed to find jobs for people from Oxford and Cambridge Note that it’s really got nothing to do with whether the people who went there were any good, just that they happened to go to a couple of universities. A solid embodiment of old boy networks…
6 replies on “Links for 2006-12-08”
oxbridgelife – yes, it’s nasty. But Facebook is having the same effect on a much larger scale, and while looking a lot fluffier.
Tom:
Could you please ask Haus to stop putting words in my mouth or assuming he knows what my thought processes are? (see the ‘Is Barbelith Dying?’ thread)
I think one of the problems with Paranoidwriter was that he didn’t really have a sense of what protections Barbelith could offer to him and what it could not without adversely affecting other people’s experience of the board [my italics]
How could Haus possibly know what “sense” I have of any situation or place? What does that statement of his actually mean?… That I thought Barbelith could protect me and my online presense in some way? What “protections” could Barbelith ever offer me or anyone else?
Seriously, I had decided to let this issue die, but I popped back because a friend said I was still being discussed and belittled, and that annoyed me. Also, Haus is a clever man and I’m sick of him attacking other people and spinning their contributions and opinions to suit his own inflated ego. The man needs to learn humility (ask Ganesh, he’ll tell you)
Seriously, if you look back over the ‘Moderations request thread’ you will see that I asked for a comment of mine to be edited and Randyo disagreed it because (it soon became clear) he had a disliking for me (for he assumed I was trying to negate the distributed moderation system, when in fact I had clearly stated my intentions. i.e. he was as good as calling me a liar). That was the start of the “Conflict and Complaint’ thread, which rapidly became my unofficial banning thread.
Thing is, I had to fight for my post to be edited, when in fact a simple approval would have not affected anyone else on your board. I was simply looking out for a friend who I believed I had let down by making an example of them in the ‘Racism?’ thread.
Sure, I was pissed off with Barbelith before that, but Haus and others wanted me out for quite a while and I merely showed them how someone could get banned without actually doing anything wrong. i.e. Tom why did you ban me? Because I asked? I think you’ll find that I did no such thing.
Therefore, as I am banned and have no other way to reply to Haus’ assumptions, surely it would be honourable if he and others just forgot all about me, instead of painting me as something I am not. Indeed, I had the decency to remove all references to Barbelith from my MySpace text, even though I still feel you acted in the wrong.
Oh, and if you like Billy Holiday, I recommend you try listening to Esther Phillips — an amazing and underappreciated talent.
Best wishes,
p.w
Those two universities are somewhat difficult to get into in the first place, so actually it is to a significant extent about whether the people are any good. Once you take into account that an Oxbrige graduate with a third or even 2:2 is likely to have trouble getting a job advertised to Oxbridge graduates, and the high standards required to get a 2:1 there, it is very much indeed about how good you are. Which is why employers target Oxbridge grads in the first place; it’s one of many ways to find good people.
Can’t see the problem with Oxbridgelife (profoundly troubling?). People network, people network on the Web, networking gets done more openly and efficiently. You could even call it a social networking site. (Admittedly I have just signed up…)
Max: “..it is to a significant extent about whether the people are any good.”
Good? The website says “the best”. That’s what they are and are looking for. “The best” looking for “the best”. Because if you’re “the best” you need “the best”. Nothing about being good at all. Only about being “the best”. Ok? That’s good..
I think everyone’s missed the most hilarious aspect of Oxbridge Life (in my view, not profoundly troubling, but more like profoundly silly): while Oxford and Cambridge are very powerful social filters, registering with Oxbridge Life requires no proof whatsoever that one has actually attended either of these universities! So the only worthwhile social function of the website is to enable people who *haven’t* attended Oxbridge to pretend they have, thereby dilluting Oxbridge’s social function. Quite subversive once you think about it….