Over the past two years, I have gotten a steady stream of emails from people who were accustomed to reading the blog every day, some were daily commenters, who no longer received it. They complained to me on my personal email, wondering why they were blocked. Some asked if I had blocked them. I could not explain what had happened. Among those who were kicked off the blog were my partner, one of my brothers, a Regent of the state of New York, a well-known commenter “Back to Basic” (May King) who had been recognized as a hero, Gordon Wilder, and many others.
Time after time, when I heard from those who had been blocked, I wrote to the help center at WordPress, which hosts the Blog. Each time, I got a response from someone called a “Happiness Engineer” informing me that the reader had done something wrong. They touched the wrong button, they unsubscribed, they were still subscribed, they should jump down, turn around, execute a pirouette online or something. Frankly, none of it made any sense. I didn’t know how to follow their directions nor did anyone else.
For a while, I tried scanning the spam folder, but the Blog gets at least 1,000 pieces of spam daily, and I couldn’t keep it up. Soon I would spend all my time trying to rescue regular readers from the spam file and have little time to read or write.
Meanwhile, the complaints continue to come to me, and I don’t know how to stop the blocking of readers. That is why I rejoined Facebook last week after a long hiatus, so that people who want to see my posts may do so, even if WordPress has blocked them.
I have directly and repeatedly asked WP if they are sabotaging the Blog and they insist they are not. I am certain that many readers have been blocked by an algorithm or by hacking.
It is a fact. It is happening. I don’t know why. If you have any suggestions, pass them on. I’m not getting any help from WordPress.
Gordon Wilder, an 89-year-old reader who is still blocked, wrote this to me:
“I have no way of knowing for sure and I MAY be way off base but I wonder if this is not done on purpose. You have been a voice in the wilderness in education and with ALL that is going on now to squelch quality journalism, the net neutrality ending, the ability for companies to buy ALL the news outlets which results in one view, usually VERY Conservative, propaganda controlling the “news” that people get ad nauseum, this would seem consistent with the controlling of quality journalism.
“So MUCH divisive rhetoric that some, maybe a great many have lost confidence in ALL news. I find it VERY frightening when one considers that already 5 or 6 major corporations control about 80% of the “news” that people receive.
“I do not know what to tell you concerning this problem. I received some garbage which in my ignorance did not seem to make a whole lot of sense in solving the problem. Go around Robin Hood’s barn type of thing so I never followed through with it. Carol Ring forwards some of the items you post but I cannot respond to any of it.
“SAD day for democracy in the U. S. First they try to control the “truth” for adults and now they wish to control the minds of our children – charter schools and now giving a huge tax break on top of everything else to those who wish to send their children to private schools. I may be way off base but the future does NOT look promising to me. Post Truth, a new term seems to say it all in my book.
“God help us.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hi DIane Ravitch,
Thank you for the daily (and sometimes frequent) notifications. I am sad to hear that some are not consistently receiving the notices.
Best,
Dean
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Quote: “Gordon Wilder, an 89-year-old reader who is still blocked, wrote this to me:”
………
I will be forwarding this to Gordon. He is a member of Facebook so perhaps he can contact you there. Gordon lives in a suburb not far from me.
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I think this problem is being caused by hackers or deliberately by someone at WordPress. It might not be WordPress management but one or more of its employees who are a conservative tea party or Trump/Bannonist Republican.
For instance, there was a time where Goodreads was plagued by trolls that went out of their way to terrorize authors and vote down their books and/or write negative reviews for books they never bought or read. Eventually, I read that one of the top trolls worked for Goodreads in a department that allowed them to support the tribe of trolls they belonged to on Goodreads. After Amazon bought Goodreads, they cracked down on these trolls making it difficult for them to continue bullying authors and any readers that supported the targeted authors but not impossible. The trolls just reinvent themselves and become sneakier.
But I have not been blocked from your Blog. I feel neglected as if I’m insignificant and don’t count. Maybe being blocked by this alleged corporate shill, minion, Turmpist/Bannonsit supporter of billionaires is a badge of honor.
Diane, you could sell buttons that says, “I was blocked from Diane Ravitch’s Blog by a Trump or Russian hacker”.
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Lloyd, this is unlikely. Unless directed from the top, no employee would do this in her right mind. These individual hackings are easy to track down.
That some outsider hacked into wordpress just to block posts is again quite easy to detect.
I think, simply the software they use sucks more than it should. It has bugs, and wordpress is extremely slow in fixing them.
I also had some problems with posting to Diane’s blog from one of my computers, and even after I indentified the specific, rather simple problem for wordpress, it took them over a year to fix it.
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Lousy! Sorry to hear.
I know you don’t agree with them politically but Google and Twitter have been doing this to conservatives for a long time. Shadow banning.
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Not only to conservatives.
These social media places do BAN what the owner(s) don’t like.
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To fact check your claim, I Googled the topic and discovered that PragerU sued Google for censoring Prager’s extreme right, lying, conservative site.
On the 1st page, I noticed that Breitbart was supporting this alleged claim and conspiracy theory.
If Twitter censored conservatives, why does Twitter allow Trump to Tweet?
After scanning several pages on that search and finding an endless flow of extremist Alt-Right lying sites supporting this allegation, I rank your claim as BS.
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Oh, you asked Google if they did something they didn’t admit it? Shock.
Not EVERY conservative is banned but if something “offensive” is said by someone on left it’s not banned at same rate as right. You can deny it and just parrot a party line. That’s fine but dishonest and pointless.
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You allegedly love playing with my words and twisting what I say out of context or throwing doubt on what I say. Shame on you. What you are doing is exactly what extreme biased conservative sites do all the time. Ignore the message and do all they can to subvert it. Does that reveal the sites you use for your news?
I didn’t ask Google. I ran a search through Google’s algorithm: “Google censures conservatives” and came up with more than 2 million hits in less than half a second.
And what do I see: an endless list of alt-right sites bashing Google for allegedly censoring conservatives while Trump is allowed to tweet anything he wants.
Bias exists on both sides and it even exists in sites that struggle not to let bias enter in to their news.
For instance, this report from Media Bias/Fact Check
Then I changed the search to “media ranked by bias”
And found a report from the Washington Post: Ranking the media from liberal to conservative, based on their audiences.
Guess where Google News lands on that graphic from the Pew Research Center — not generated by the Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/21/lets-rank-the-media-from-liberal-to-conservative-based-on-their-audiences/?utm_term=.524db70b9094
Once again, back to my message that you keep ignoring. Coding should be an elective and not a required course.
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Twitter has no doubt banned Trump then? That’s news to us.
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Lloyd, you can’t argue with poor, powerless conservatives. They could find a liberal conspiracy in a rainbow. They are so invested in being aggrieved THAT facts don’t penetrate their persecution delusions.
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Man, isn’t that the truth?
They keep calling liberals “snowflakes,” but they are the biggest snowflakes there are. Poor, fragile little egos.
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The hate-filled, and/or racist Extreme, Far, Alt Right media machine spent decades stereotyping and demonizing liberals as nonviolent, bird brains and they have gone to the extreme and painted everyone that doesn’t think 100-percent like them as those liberals.
To those who have been infected by the Far-Right/Alt-Right media machine, they see the world as black and white with no shades of gray but clearly, most people are in the gray area.
This is the Far, Alt-Rights biggest weakness — lumping the majority into one simple misleading definition. In the long run, it will be their downfall unless they keep power and turn the United States into a brutal, Nazi-like racist country full of hate and start to exterminate everyone but them.
Then the population would drop from 324 million to about 33 million, but I don’t think that more than 290-million Americans are going to sit around waiting to be rounded up and shipped off to firing squads, the ovens and gas chambers.
If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, he would be labeled a liberal because of he was a progressive, but Teddy Roosevelt would never fit the fake definition of liberal and/or progressive the Far, Alt Right has worked so hard to create.
And I have been labeled a liberal but in no way am I nonviolent and almost half of the enlisted men in the military also do not vote conservative. In the last national election, more than two-thirds of the officers voted for Hillary Clinton and not Trump.
The flawed logic that a former Marine and combat vet (me) with his own weapons’ safe loaded with firearms and ammo would be a weak minded, nonviolent airhead is more than ignorance. It is delusional on the Alt-Rights part.
For instance, put me in a jungle to fight Bannon, and I think the odds would favor me that I would end putting him on a spit, alive, and then roasting him over a slow fire because I detest him that much. And before I put him on that spit and started to cook him alive, he’d be running in terror, a babbling idiot trying to survive.
Who would you place a bet on in that jungle arena — Bannon, a former US Naval officer who is obviously fat and out of shape, or a former enlisted Marine and combat vet who is not overweight and who exercises about two hours every morning?
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I’d put my money on you, Lloyd.
The far right, ultra-conservative, neofascists make a big mistake if they think that everyone to their left is afraid and unarmed.
There are more of us lefties who are armed than they realize. We are, and we know how to use them.
We won’t start anything, but we will certainly respond forcefully to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our country.
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I don’t know, Lloyd. Until you can put “Goldman Sachs” on your resume, I’d have to put that call to my bookie on hold.
😉
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If training from Goldman Sacks is required to be a trained killer in a bullet and bomb war, then I’m doomed.
But Wall Street and the world of finance is a different kind of jungle where the uniform is a suit and they stab each other in the back and the victim doesn’t even know it’s coming.
If I can select the location, I think I’d pick The Darien Gap.
For centuries the lure of the unknown has attracted explorers, scientists, criminals, and other dubious characters to the Gap, a 10,000-square-mile rectangle of swamp, mountains, and rainforest that spans both sides of the border between Colombia and Panama. Plenty of things here can kill you, from venomous snakes to murderous outlaws who want your money and equipment.”
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The snowflake label is part of a general ploy to portray liberals as weak because we do not approve of using violence to achieve our ends in the world. Conservatives love to think of themselves as the tough guys when, in fact, they are motivated by fear.
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Well said, Bob
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I know, but sometimes I can’t help myself and I also think we can’t let them rant, and rant, and rant their programmed ignorance without a reply that offers a voice of reason from the other side. That was the reason for the Fairness Doctrine — to make sure that both sides were heard at the same time.
It wasn’t until after Reagan and the 1st Bush got rid of the Fairness Doctrine that the extremist, lying, Alt-Right conspiracy theory generating media machine exploded to stuff weak minds with endless, repeating toxic vomit full of hate and racism.
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I have not been blocked, so far. I do notice that if I post a live link or use too many exclamation marks, my comment goes into moderation. Or if I post a comment to C-h-a-r-l-e-s, beginning with his name, the comment goes into moderation.
Can you utilize a different more dependable blog service? Sorry, I am quite ignorant in these matters.
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WordPress offers two choices.
sign up for WordPress through their .com site and your site is linked to WordPress and their security protection.
download their blogging software through their .org site and use it for free to set up our own blog independent of their platform without the protection their .com site provides.
Here is the link to WordPress that explains the difference between their .com and .org.
https://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
The other choice I know about is Blogger.
Blogger Or WordPress – Comparing The Two Best Blogging Platforms
https://www.inkthemes.com/blogger-or-wordpress/
WordPress is still an indie company/corporation. Blogger belongs to Google. Google bought Blooger in 2003.
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Speaking of Google: This morning (1/11/17) on Morning Joe (MSNBC) they Googled the term “collusion” and came up with NOTHING. Whereas many other similarly innocuous and political terms had gazillions of links. CBK
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That’s odd, Catherine, because I just Googled it and got a fair number of news website links regarding Trump and collusion.
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Zorba Double-odd–that leaves us with this: either Joe and Misha erred in their search; OR they are lying (doubtful?); OR whoever erased the references heard what “Morning Joe” did and “refreshed” their search engine. I don’t watch it every minute, but they MAY have corrected or explained themselves later.
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Here is the essence of the problem. The “Happiness Engineer” is not a human being.
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“The Happiness Bot”
The WordPress Bot
Is human not
It cuts a lot
Of folks from spot
The reason may
Be quite abstruse
A random way
To pick and choose
PS
I can only guess at why the Happiness Bot does not cut most of my posts. Perhaps it is because it does not understand satire.
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“Happiness Engineer” sounds like someone you’d find in North Korea.
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Exactly. Very odd title.
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In the film “The Bridge over the River Kwai” the brutal Japanese commander of the prisoner of war camp tells his starving, brutalized British POWs to be happy in their work.
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Every time I post a comment I need to do a resubscribe thing.
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Yeah, me too.
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Hello Diane: IF you get this–Most if not all of your original posts keep coming to my e-mail; however, for some strange reason, the follow-up posts started to come to my “junk mail” folder. I did NOTHING to make this happen. I finally found them there, and so read now from that file.
Also, when I write a note to you, I check the “notify me of new comments” box at the bottom of the notes; but apparently each of your new posts starts a new file at WordPress? At some point (I found), I belonged to hundreds of those files, many of which had no more additional comments to it. The technology-robot suggested that I eliminate my participation in some of the files; so I spent some time eliminating some of the older file-headings that I “belonged” to. It was, indeed, a bunch of them.
I assumed (rightly or wrongly) that the elimination process I went through put me in good stead with the technology robot at WordPress?
I would NOT be surprised, however, to find that your blog was “infiltrated” by hackers or over-controlled by corporate manipulators. However, the problem MAY BE some other “too-many files” glitch in WordPress? But that’s just my experience with it.
Also, truth is stronger than what’s going on presently; and not ALL of our oligarchs are interested in killing the goose (democracy) that lays the golden eggs–I do think, if everyone stays alert and active (as you have led us to do), we’ll get through this horror in one piece. CBK
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Does it have anything to do with people who access your blog via subscription vs. those who access it directly via the web? I’m not a subscriber, I just come to your site every day and I’ve never had a problem like you’re describing. Just a thought.
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I also come to the site daily and have had some problems. I think it’s just that wordpress has more issues than it feels a need to fix. I see no grand conspiracy.
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Diane, I am in agreement that this is a hack. or at the very least a deliberate effort. to suppress voices. Honestly, I think you might want someone take a deeper look at WordPress and who owns the hosting site, then the company they may be affiliated with. It is not a stretch to think that right wing politics has entered the suppression of free speech in education realm via hacking or deliberate. We all know what happened this last election. Have any tech savvy friends, or family? Ask them. If you can’t find the problem, find a different, education friendly site to host this.
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Unless WordPress has been swallowed by a bigger corporation, I think it is still an independent company that has refused to sell out to a bigger one. But Blogger, the other big blog platform, was bought by Google in 2003.
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No problem here. I access via the web and The WordPress mobile app. Recommend others do the same.
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(I work in IT for the US Government, at the Pentagon). I had your website http://www.dianeravitch.net run by our IT professionals. It came up very “dirty”, with a lot of problems, and I reported this back to you.
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The WordPress platform is a garbage fire, but it sounds like the people who are being “blocked” are having email issues rather than being victims of a conspiracy.
(comment goes into moderation)
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Diane can’t be expected to deal with a flood of emails about minor access issues.
On the bigger question, surveillance and control of media are becoming huge problems. Check this out, from Wired magazine:
https://www.wired.com/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/
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According to the Wired article, the purpose of that Data Center is to keep permanent copies of all electronic communications in the country, and President Obama had his Justice [sic] Department write a memo saying that it wasn’t surveillance until people actually looked at a given piece of data.
He sees you when you’re sleeping. . . .
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I don’t think the government is the one we have to worry about the most. It’s the billionaires and corporations collecting all that data on each of us and selling that data on the open market to boost their wealth and profits.
As long as the U.S. Constitution keeps working, the people should be safe from the government, but the U.S. Constitution wasn’t written to protect us from billionaires and corporations or someone like Trump.
“Modern computer chips are typically designed by one company, manufactured by another and then mounted on circuit boards built by third parties next to other chips from yet more firms. A further firm writes the lowest-level software necessary for the computer to function at all. The operating system that lets the machine run particular programs comes from someone else. The programs themselves from someone else again. A mistake at any stage, or in the links between any two stages, can leave the entire system faulty—or vulnerable to attack.”
https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21720268-consequences-pile-up-things-are-starting-improve-computer-security
Weakness found in common computer chip
“Researchers from Binghamton University — State University of New York and the University of California, Riverside have found a weakness in the Haswell central processing unit (CPU) components that makes common computer operating systems vulnerable to malicious attacks.
“Computer hackers could take control of individual, company and government computers if a weak point in address space layout randomization (ASLR) software is exploited by manipulating a CPU’s branch predictor, a piece of hardware designed to improve program performance.”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161025110419.htm
I read that the only way to stop this is to get rid of every computer on the planet and replace them with new computers designed to protect us from info gatherers and/or hackers.
Just having a devide with a chip linked to the internet puts us all at risk.
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Lloyd: In an quasi-oligarchy, “the government” belongs to the wealthy. They own it. But I have wondered about L. Graham and his total switcheroo–if someone has threatened his family.
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I agree with both you, it’s not either/or, it’s both plus other nations and non-governmental bad actors everywhere.
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Don’t ask ‘Alexa’.
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Who is Alexa?
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Duane, Alexa is the “voice” (and the “ears”) of Amazon Echo, which you can connect to numerous things in your house.
I wouldn’t have one of those devices in my house for all the tea in China.
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Yeah, I’d prefer the tea. At least I could make some money off of it!!
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Alexa is the avatar, akin to Siri, who answers when one’s use Amazon Echo and similar devices in one’s home.
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You would absolutely D-E-S-P-I-S-E Alexa, Duane.
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Tsk, tsk, tsk. Too many dashes. You get the idea, though…
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I am willing to risk nut-case status, because I have had so much personal experience with this sort of thing. Anyone who wants to, can look up the names Beth O’Malley or the Post Dispatch, and Ddierker who is in charge of the forums. I have total freedom on the forums at the PD, but Ddierker explained to me some of the ways in which facebook can block viewers from seeing what I post after stories and editorials, without my knowing about it, unless friends express puzzlement, or I doublecheck at the library on a computer without identifying myself. Beth O’Malley? one day….wanting the full glory making me shut up:
joe prichard @kjoe77
Jan 24
@ErikaMasonhall facebook blocks me from commenting after stories in the Post Dispatch. Help!
Beth O’Malley
@PDBeth
Jan 24
@kjoe77 @ErikaMasonhall Facebook didn’t block you. I did, after you posted repeated insults in violation of the @stltoday terms of service.
My best guess…facebook can be a tool for Beth to use, but I do not rule out that she is can be pressured by people who are offended by ninety percent of what I post about: Privatization of public education—it would be horrible if it was done honestly and openly……but it is not. It is as sneaky as they can do it. Public radio also bars me, but more openly. Stephen Singer knows a lot about this….to the point he might consider what I have posted here irrelevant………but—my nut-case territory—I am beginning to believe privatization of education forces play an unusually enthusiastic role in this sort of thing.
Let me know if you have an opinion regarding whether Ddierker’s explanation about facebook maneurverin or Beth O’Malley is closer to the truth on how I am being treated.
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what are criticizing at the post dispatch that’s getting you barred.
So much to work with there starting with governor who fired the commissioner and then the board members to control the state board for charter and gop cronies
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I have asked. Sometimes, when I am really feeling looney, I wonder if they are uncomfortable with someone whose family includes two nationally published writers, and I sometimes ask difficult questions. Like this morning…now that governor Greitens has admitted to an affair in which involved taping his partner up and photographing her without her permission…….was he the one able to blackmail her….instead of her blackmailing him? He was getting ready to run for governor, and had hopes of becoming potus. Was it just his threat to ruin her marriage by releasing the photo? or was it something just a tad bit more threatening than that……what could a former navy seal come up with?
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I asked Diane for help in exposing some of what goes on in Missouri….she connected me with Jeff Bryant…whose article about st. Louis was published in the Washington Post….I wrote to him and told him about the latest stuff (before this mornings news about the affair and blackmail) and he gave me permission to quote his reply:That’s quite a scandal. Is “Reporter Erickson” with the Post-Dispatch?…. then later: “Governor Greitens is showing the same level of non transparency that charter schools have become famous for. Missouri families and voters deserve real democracy instead. You can quote me.” that was regarding why we were unable to learn whether he still intends to hire this hot shot Zeff to replace the pretty blond lady he had removed…….(maybe she had guts enough to tell him no, when he asked a favor)
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While I still receive each and every post that Diane writes, I no longer receive a Mercedes Schneider’s posts. I used to receive every single one into my inbox. A little over a year ago this stopped. I am still subscribed to her blog, but for some reason they no longer come to me in spam, junk, or regular email. I live in suspicion. This has motivated me to follow up with WordPress.
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Pretty sure I read recently there have been attacks specifically on WordPress to tamp down dissent, especially towards progressive voices.
There have also been reports of attacks using WP plugins to create digital currency, specifically monero.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/massive-brute-force-attack-infects-wordpress-sites-with-monero-miners/
This may explain what is going on. You can try reloading your blog or giving it a new url while removing any plug-ins.
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This is just a taste of what’s coming now that Ajit Pai and the rogue FCC turned the internet over to big business.
It would be interesting to run a large scale test on this issue, maybe using the NPE email list – ask people to subscribe and post a comment to the blog. There could also be some kind of criminal or civil violations here.
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Good thinking, Jake! And well said.
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I recommend you find a different organization to blog from. I haven’t been blocked but whenever I try to comment , it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Either my password is “not valid”or the comment goes into a black hole. WordPress appears to be a very poorly run organization- I have tried communicating with them regarding the password problem and it’s pointless.
Because of the problems with your blog, I avoid any blogger connected with them.
Sincerely,
Marilyn Harriman
PS: if this gets through it will be a miracle.
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Diane,
I recommend you find a different organization to blog from. Ever since WordPress became your source, I’ve had nothing but issues trying to contribute comments, so it’s all one way communication. This company doesn’t have a communication system to respond to people with issues getting logged on, failed passwords, etc.
If this comment finally gets posted, it will be after 15 minutes of trying to get into comments section.
Marilyn Harriman
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I have problems several places in St. Louis, none at all at the Washington Post, or here….but….I wish you had an edit feature.
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Seeing the posts here has never been a problem for me, but about half of the messages I submit inexplicably disappear and never make it to the discussion board –which is always frustrating since crafting them is so time consuming. I wondered why that happens so much lately with WordPress –definitely more often than in the past. If no one is screening posts, which is not hard to imagine in these times, then maybe there’s a rabbit hole or an Internet equivalent of sock heaven for blog posts.
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While we like to avoid “conspiracy theory” interpretations such as a platform provider blocking content of particular political/social views, it does happen. I think of the saying, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re *not* after you.” 🙂
One practical approach would be to see if other WP blogs that also cover hotly discussed topics have encountered similar “technical” issues. The presence or absence of a pattern could increase or reduce the likelihood of there being some intentional action on WP’s part.
Also, does WP have a user forum? If so, you could post a question there asking if other bloggers have had issues with legitimate subscribers being blocked; it doesn’t have to be expressed in a suspicious way like, “Are they sabotaging your blog?” It could be expressed as just the result in purely technical, “Has anyone else been having repeated issues with subscribers losing access?” or something like that. If WP doesn’t have a user forum, the question could be posted on other social media where WP bloggers are likely to see it.
I hope this is helpful.
>
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Beat me to it.
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I wonder if there is a correlation of those who are blocked all having the same email service? I know I once received daily emails from your blog but I don’t now. I can’t recall if I did something. I have gmail and they somehow organize incoming emails and I don’t fully grasp how some things go to inbox and others to spam and promotions and whatnot. I do know that sometimes I have to look around for lodging confirmations in numerous files. I am glad you have returned to facebook. I usually just type your name in my browser to get to the blog and no concern about email. Being on facebook makes it likely I will see a post when I don’t thing to look. Facebook helps me to organize all sorts of incoming items from media as well as friends and organizations.
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Come on, somebody out there should be the techie who can salvage, solve, expose, this apparent censorship of the educational voice of reason. Free Diane!
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Like Dienne77, I just log on directly to your site daily. No problems. In general, I don’t subscribe to sites for updates/posts, just memorize their URL and go directly. Saves a lot of hassle.
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Me too.
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I’m still here receiving all of your postings.
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Dear Diane Ravitch: I have not been blocked … thank goodness … hope it does not happen. The reason I’m writing is because I’m in the process of collecting data (primarily from your blog) that I’m hoping to analysis both statistically and qualitatively for an article on PRIVATIZATION. 40+ years ago I completed a Master’s Degree Thesis at (UNO) the University of New Orleans within the College of Urban and Public Affairs on Privatization in Education. My thesis was not in the College of Education – no one in education then was interested in the topic. Title: “Education Vouchers: The issue of family choice in American Education.” You were one of my primary sources. Analysis was done regarding the (1) history of vouchers, (2) legal implications, (3) economic theory and advocacy, i.e., Milton F. (4) Discrimination and use of “vouchers” to defeat desegregation court decisions, and (5) the “few” voucher experiments that existed at the time 40 years ago. My “economics” chapter utilized theoretical public policy & economic analysis -I was an Econ major- … and, I’m hoping to return to that analysis in the context of today’s controversies and conflicts now 40 years later. I’m hoping to make it to NYC for AERA this year, however, my paper will be scheduled for 2019 if this works out. Thanks for all of your posts on Word Press and now Facebook. My major professor was Ira Bogotch at Florida Atlanta U., formerly at UNO. My doc. is in Ed. Leadership, admin. and policy. I’m not in a university, however. I work for a rural school district in CA and will be retiring this year with a final semester stint as the district’s grant writer. I just left a teaching position 8 years, and admin. position 8 years due to health reasons. I sincerely hope your posts continue – they are very important in the RESISTANCE. Best, Monty J. Thornburg, PhD, Mariposa County Unified School District. Hope to see you on Facebook.
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There is definitely something odd about this. I can recall having written a few comments I REALLY took a lot of time to write. They were thorough and I was looking forward to hearing comments. When hitting “post comment” my comment didn’t show up and when I hit “post comment” again it would let me know I had already posted it! It seemed like it was very particular commentaries. So, yes… I do think something is very odd.
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Disappearing comments has been my problem with this blog server.
I used to use edublogs .org to post all the nonsense I was required to post for school. It’s free and easy to use, but I never tried enabling comments so I don’t know how well it works. “Edublogs” seems appropriate for you, Diane. There are plenty of other sites too like squarespace and weebly. Informing everyone of the change would be difficult, though, if you switched hosts.
Now, let’s solve this conspiracy versus glitch question. We, as an online “community”, know many bloggers. Do people like Peter Greene have the same problems with other sites like blogspot? And do people like Mercedes Schneider have the same problems with WordPress as you? What about bloggers who discuss less political issues? Here’s the thing: if it’s common to WordPress or to all blogs, it’s a glitch. But if the problem is doesn’t arise when people are just blogging on WordPress about pictures of puppies and kittens, it’s a conspiracy. Ask around.
If it’s a conspiracy, I am not surprised. Controlling public opinion was a stated goal of our corporatocracy during WWII and the Cold War. Why would propagandizing stop just because the Berlin Wall fell? And if it’s a conspiracy, what should we do about it? Nothing. Dare not speak against it.
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It’s much easier to post a comment on Dr Ravitch’s blog than Peter Greene’s.
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Glad to see someone else finds posting on Curmudgucation puzzling – I still haven’t figured out how to do it.
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Thanks. Agree.
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My email blog notices from you suddenly stopped before Christmas. I signed up again using a different email last week and am getting them again.
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In the past, I have read this complain from some other readers. Now, it has happened to me about 10 months, since April 2017.
I wonder what is happening!
All simple expressions are fine, but there is problem with any complex or simple arguments – disappeared without a warning!
I well prepare to write on word, sometimes, then keep re-copy my argument – but it keeps disappearing, ha ha ha. Frustration due to no time to play around with machine. Yes, I gradually give it up – my argument. Back2basic
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Hey–Charles–we all know now where you work!
So, let’s quit ribbing him as being a “charter school troll” or someone who works for Betsy DeVIL. (Or…are you a different Charles than the guy who’s been posting?)
But–have to say–fascinating that you “work in IT for U.S. Government at the Pentagon.”
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Diane: I haven’t been blocked in any way, and have had no problems getting to your blog or leaving the occasional comment. I too have a WordPress blog; in general, I’ve found WordPress glitchy and inconsistent, and I don’t really trust it. I’ve been paying for a premium account for three years, and have published a sufficient number of posts to make a transition to another platform–or so I imagine–cumbersome.
That said, there are plenty of alternatives out there, and I’ll wager that at least a couple of them are superior to WordPress. The question is, can you transfer your massive backlist of posts out of WordPress and into a new environment without it turning into a huge project?
Anyone more tech-savvy (and that’s just about everybody) than I know the answer to this?
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Diane,
My wife had a nice WP website set up for her by a friend for her small business. After about a year, it started getting hacked. At first he would make some fixes and things would be fine for a few months. But then it started happening more often and my friend started a very demanding new job.
She hired someone to help out, but always with the same result: more hacking. It got so bad that the perpetrators would leave their “signatures” to let others know who’d done the dirty deed.
My theory is that my wife’s site became a training zone for hackers. I did some research and found that WordPress is more prone to getting hacked than other platforms. You really have to stay on top of things.
Since hiring a pro who uses something other than WP, we haven’t had any issues at all with the website. None.
I know it’s invasive, but I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape about it, personally. It’s not about our country. It’s about our planet. Those really smart small and big town troublemakers now have a much, much, MUCH bigger playground to roam around in. Somebody who doesn’t like your work might be messing with you. Why not set up something more secure. Email me, if you’d like. The person we use is very, very good.
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A website host cannot change a person’s incoming mail preferences. The fact that people are finding several different reasons for missing email points to individual error.
If WordPress is blocking WP subscribers, they may have done something at another WP site to cause that. One of the most heard statements in tech support is “I didn’t do anything,” while most issues can be traced to simple user error.
WordPress can be used anywhere. If their hosting platform isn’t working for your needs, it might be worth hiring a consultant to move the blog to another hosting service.
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Now, let’s solve this conspiracy versus glitch question…
Beyond venting, does name calling change the master-client relationship?
Is name calling a threat to the PTB?
Does ganging up on Dienne(77), Charles, or Tim, change the balance of
economic, political, or social power?
Does damning tests/scores while giving/using them, change state-selected
domains of reality?
Does division along linguistic, tribal, title, party lines, negate “divide and rule”?
Does proofing the discourse with historical antecedents (Dewey proclaimed,
the Founders said or meant) change the transfer from the many to the few?
I doubt the PTB would conspire to disrupt the myopia…It’s a glitch
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To NoBrick:
If my argument is wiped out, then I will keep re-copying to make my point and to answer all of your questions.
Over 5000+ years, the strongest, the smartest, the most devilish, the most gullible and the most angelic, all have their moment of being egoistic.
It takes lots of courage to self-admit that we make a grave mistake. It is much harder to rectify any grave mistake like in WWI & II. This will be the clear answer for all chaos in the world.
In this information age, the term “glitch” is abuse to cover the evil deeds without the need to apologize for the moment of being egoistic.
Here is some common wisdom for all imperfect human beings:
People simultaneously pursue two rabbits, will catch neither one. (Material and spiritual lifestyle)
i- dont desire what is beyond our reach.
ii- don’t calculate the unknown.
iii- don’t expect the impossible.
iv- do what we know best.
Chaos in the world are from people who are egoistic and DO NOT have the courage to admit or to rectify. They love to cause chaos through their ignorance. Back2basic
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I was a technology director for a small school district for 17 years. I’ve found that rarely is an email or a post on a blog blocked at the source but are blocked at the destination. In other words, I doubt WordPress is blocking anything from being sent but I think various organizations using their own programs to protect their own email users from hacks and spam are blocking the emails using their own algorithm that changes occasionally as hackers and spammers become more specific.
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I was a technology director for a small school district for 17 years. I’ve found that rarely is an email or a post on a blog blocked at the source but are blocked at the destination. In other words, I doubt WordPress is blocking anything from being sent but I think various organizations using their own programs to protect their own email users from hacks and spam are blocking the emails using their own algorithm that changes occasionally as hackers and spammers become more specific.
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Diane,
I have some technical advice that I won’t share publicly, but as a software engineer I am aware of how easy in the past that to gain privileges in WP in order to become a moderator or even an administrator. Vulnerabilities in WP have been reported at my institution a number of times. I would recommend using a different platform (host provider) and a different application for your forum.
In short, hacking or ineptitude are the likely culprits at the bottom of this. You can contact me via my website.
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Ted,
I wrote you at UI website.
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I have responded privately.
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“hacking or ineptitude are the likely culprits”
That would seem to cover the waterfront.
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“hacking or ineptitude are the likely culprits”
That would seem to cover the waterfront.”
Does cover a lotta ground, doesn’t it?
You need to update your avatar, FLERP!. That computer terminal is way obsolete. You need a flat screen with a couple of club wielding corporate suits standing over it.
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gitapik: lol
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Dear Diane,
I read this post by searching your blog on the web—as I now try to do 3-4 times a week during what I think of as Diane moments. As you know, I’m one of the people who stopped receiving your blog months ago. My own blog lists yours—and several others I follow—as active, but I don’t receive any of them any more. Not yours, not Mercedes’s, not Jersey Jazzman’s, not a blog posted by a friend and former USAToday war correspondent. All are blocked. Maybe the non-ed blogs have been swept up in a big education-hacking sweep. I don’t know. Would be great if someone tech-savvyier than I could figure this out. Thanks, though, for trying to keep us informed of these vital issues. Meanwhile, I’ll search for you on Facebook.
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WP is popular because it’s inexpensive and easy. But that comes at a price, ime. Might be time to invest in a good webmaster, Diane. I know I already said this, but you’ve gotten pretty popular…and earned yourself some adversaries at the same time.
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I too have to manually locate Diane’s blog. I was unable to
fix the problem at Word Press, which happened about two years ago.
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Diane, please don’t adopt the blog systems of Jersey Jazzman or Bob Braun. They are great guys and have good web sites, but……………….. Every comment is under moderation and it can take days before a comment is even posted. So there is no spontaneity or real discussion between commenters. The most comments that these 2 men get is about 5 or six per “article,” which is rare; it’s more like 0 comments or 1 or 2. They only post one or two articles per month. I am not knocking Bob or Mark Weber since they are very smart and on the side of the angels, so to speak, but they produce far fewer blog posts than you do. It’s just a fact. You are in Asia and yet you can still find time to post articles and opinions with many comments. Kudos!
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Welcome to the Panopticon!
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“……if someone has threatened his family.”
Maybe, but I have wondered if there is some blackmail going on. Could someone have some incriminating photos, video, or recordings of him doing something his constituents would strongly disapprove of?
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Zorba It seems so bizarre–what WOULD make someone do that, especially since Graham MUST know the hypocrite it makes out of him; and he cannot be unaware of how incisive the Press is about such things. But I think we are but one step away from how Russian leaders respond to those who “speak to power.”
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Well, what are the possibilities?
He had a complete change of heart- I kind of doubt it.
That leaves:
Bribes (not necessarily money, but more like political favors)
Extreme push-back from the Trump people
Threats against his family or him
Blackmail.
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I’ve wondered about Susan Collin’s flip flop on the tax bill. It was so unpopular with her Maine constituency but she voted for it, anyway with a verbal promise to address her issues later.
Regardless of what we think of him; Trump is no lightweight when he wants to get his way. His practices here in NYC are a testament to that.
But it’s all conjecture, and not anything new, really. Politics can get dirty.
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Zorba In any case, he definitely drank the poison.
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_Unified_School…
“San Diego Unified School District (also known as San Diego City Schools) is the school district and a land investment corporation based in San Diego, California …”
While San Diego does have a delightfully personable supe, her COS is running the district into the ground, the very ground they plan to sell off.
These people are ruthless. I haven’t had a secure personal computer since 1999, when I published a concern about the “reforms” and have been called “crazy and hard to work with” ever since, according to my reference checks and employment history.
http://www.fno.org/apr02/leaderreview.html (near to the end, these folks cite my post)
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I am having trouble getting anything to post here. That’s just happened in the last couple of days.
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This is off topic but worth repeating.Trump needs to watch more Star Wars movies so that he can learn about how to defend this planet. What a moron.
………………………………..
Trump Boasted About Selling ‘F-52’ Plane That Only Exists in a ‘Call of Duty’ Video Game @alternet
President Donald Trump this week boasted of delivering “F-52” jets to the Norwegian government — however, it turns out there is no such thing as an F-52.
As the Washington Post reports, F-52 jets are fictional planes that are only found in the video game “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.”
“In November we started delivering the first F-52s and F-35 fighter jets,” Trump said this week during a press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. “We have a total of 52 and they’ve delivered a number of them already a little ahead of schedule.”
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-boasted-about-selling-f-52-plane-only-exists-call-duty-video-game#.Wljd1ZhdQSI.gmail
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I’m no IT person, but I have banged my head on the wall at the IT department of my kid’s schools for years trying to help with their technology. If you are having issues receiving notices (e-mail from the blog), I would check with your IT department to make sure the website and domain have not been put on their black list which would prevent it from getting to your inbox or spam folders.
The list they use should be periodically updated. If DR.net has been listed as “dirty”, it may end up there by default unbeknown to anyone.
If that is the case you will need to request that it be put on their white list. Sometimes they will, sometimes it isn’t worth their effort.
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This Blog is not hosted or connected to my university and no IT person there advises me.
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