Slashdot examines Princess Nudelman the Dead Goldfish

Slashdot ^ | Tuesday October 21, 2008 @ 03:32PM | samzenpus

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

This is really odd, and the weird thing about it is that it ran on something called "idle.slashdot.org".

I'm not exactly certain what "idle.slashdot.org" really is - in theory, it's supposed to be a dumping ground for junk stories - although I have often wondered whether it might actually be some sort of an ongoing steganographic experiment, kinda like that old Google mystery billboard campaign.

In general, you can't even see the stories at "idle":

http://slashdot.org

Instead, you have to find them at the raw search engine:

http://slashdot.org/search.pl

So most people don't even know that "idle" exists.

And I don't think I have ever seen more than five or ten comments posted to an "idle" story.

However, yesterday afternoon, some moderator at "idle" posted on Princess Nudelman the Dead Goldfish, and the resulting thread exploded to more than 140 posts:

Dead Goldfish Offered The Vote In Illinois
http://idle.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/21/1550239

Now normally Slashdot attracts a torrent of hard left kooks - a good political thread might attract 1000 or more comments, and only the anarchist/marxist comments will get modded up to the point that they can be seen [conservative comments quickly get modded down into obscurity as "Flamebait"].

But check out the moderation on the Princess Nudelman story:

Score: 2, Flamebait
Marxist Hacker 42: The Obama Campaign has been push-polling my 5 year old son, so why not a goldfish?

Score: 5, Insightful
Straif: Two words for this line of thinking: Absentee ballot. Registration fraud is not just about making it possible to walk in and vote illegally in person, it also about just getting on the rolls so that a ballot can be requested by mail. And with the minimal validations being enforced in most states, it's not all that hard to do. There have already been reported cases of dead people having already voted, both federally and in the primaries. Then of course there is the drive by voting trend that seems to be becoming more popular where people just enter a state long enough to register vote and leave (in direct violation of state voting laws). At least 14 cases have already been well documented (one an official Obama campaign worker and 13 others in an Obama associated 'get out the vote' group).

Score: 5, Insightful
jgtg32a: because requiring ID is racist

Score: 5, Informative
ArcherB: First, you can't have voter fraud without registration fraud. And once the vote takes place (ballot dropped in box), there is nothing you can do. And yes, some of the "erroneously registered" have already voted in Ohio [nypost.com]: The New Yorkers and nine other members from across the country are accused of packing themselves into a modest three-bedroom house in Columbus, waiting 30 days - and then registering, even though the Buckeye State is not their permanent residence. Under Ohio law, a person who comes to the state for "temporary purposes only," without the intention of making it the "permanent place of abode" is not considered a resident. New permanent residents must live in Ohio 30 days before registering. Four group members, including two of the New Yorkers, have already cast ballots, and six others requested absentee ballots from the county elections board. So, I guess now it really is voter fraud and NOT just registration fraud! I understand Princess the dead gold-fish did not vote, however.

And it goes on and on and on in that vein.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Folks, I just keep seeing little things out there - like this obscure thread at Slashdot [or at least what should have been an obscure thread at Slashdot] - little things which lead me to believe that a groundswell is building...

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Tech ping?

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Tech ping?

[VanDeKoik]

/. is the tech section of DU.

[Buchal]

Groundswells don’t mean squat when those charged to “faithfully execute the laws” sit far above ground and do nothing.

[pvoce]

Slashdot, aka ‘/.’ , is a tech site thats been up over ten years, and appeals to all things tech/geek/computer/I.T./any-college-c.s.-degree-program.

The sense of humor there is skewed to say the least - think Monty Python.

I’ve been a regular there for years, and believe it or not, they actually have some livewire political discussion there.

I am not surprised that the goldfish story made /., as it fits right in with sort of ascerbic sense of skewed humor that we have

[anymouse]

Princess Nudelman AKA Wanda - proof positive of voter fraud. /Python Head moce