io9 
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San Francisco, 4:05 AM
Sun Nov 29
10 posts in the last 24 hours
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07/07/09
That must truly suck coming back from a point-blank bunker explosion, but it makes you wonder why there aren't hundreds of him by now, if each individual chunk that gets cut off can regenerate into a full and healthy Jack.
Of course, maybe they can, and Captain Jack has a secret sex dungeon somewhere where all the other Jacks are locked safely away for when he feels like a bit of Jack-on-Jack-on-Jack-on-Jack action. :)
07/07/09
Torchwood's always worked best (IMHO) when the antagonists are clearly humans and interaction with aliens/alientech is kept to the minimum. It will be interesting to see if they can keep it up as the 4-5-6 actually get more involved in the story.
07/07/09
My biggest worry is that RTD will provide us with four episodes of massive build-up and then whiz the entire project down his leg by making the 5th episode nothing but long drawn out overly-emotional farewells between the main characters as they set off on various "certain death" missions, then cap the whole thing off with a weak deux-ex-machina resolution.
My second biggest worry is that the 4-5-6 (who, if I remember correctly, are supposed to be rendered entirely in CGI) will end up looking just as lame as Species 8472 from Star Trek: Voyager, thus completely blowing four whole episodes of massive build-up.
07/07/09
07/07/09
I'm sure Jack is fine, but their pet flying dinosaur is pretty much toast, along with the bodies of Ianto, Tosh, Susan, and everyone else they have stuffed in the torchwood morgue. That place is going to reek for a long, long time.
07/07/09
07/07/09
Sorry, I mean Owen. I was thinking about Ianto losing the car, and I mistyped.
Hee Hee... "But it's triple locked!"
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
What does LifeHacker have to do with io9, besides being in the same Gawker blog chain?
07/07/09
Every night I get on my knees and pray to the trees and the stars that someday, someday, they would grant my wish that a day might come when io9 started wielding the ban-hammer with the same efficiency and ferocity as other parts of the Gawker empire.
Not because the quality of the comments here necessarily required it, oh no, but just because I have such an irrational lust, nay, love for banhammering!
Like Thor upon his mountain top! To see the hammer in the sky, lightening cascading all around it! Before it crashes down with a force that shakes the earth and cracks the comment threads.
And finally, my nightly prayers have been answered!
If my love for you all could grow any more it would!
*sigh*
07/07/09
This isn't to say I might do that, I don't have the need to hate so much, but some crazy asshat out there might be. Is it just an auto-ban?
And not to be an asshat myself, but I have to say the True Blood spoiler was completely devoid of sense at the end. Just sayin' an update would be awesome, if you guys have the time.
07/07/09
As for the True Blood spoiler, it was indeed a typo. The end of season two takes place just two weeks after the end of season one.
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
The banhammer is my pe***.
07/07/09
07/07/09
Sure, for the Obama administration maybe. 'Round the nets, we're used to a little bit more first amendment in our talkback forums. Besides, even the harshest comment I've ever read here was a far cry from the standard fare on sites like 4chan and Aintitcool, so it's not like the crackdown was in desperate need.
One might also do well to remember that the web traffic is what pays the bills here. Autobanning users without warning, explanation, or appeal (or notice of increased scrutiny, for that matter) is a sure fire way to give the place a police-state feel, and drive web traffic away.
07/07/09
1) The Gawker media empire isn't interested in a lot of comments per se, just comments that are funny/interesting/add something to the discussion. It has always been that way.
2) Therefore, if you are looking for a forum where "First!" is considered an exciting example of expressing one's first amendment rights, you may want to look elsewhere. I suggest YouTube for example. Or Aintitcool, as you, yourself, proposed.
3) The general rules, as well as the doctrines of disemvoweling and banhammering, are not new. They are old and well-established. And, as any experienced user of the internet - such as yourself obviously - knows, you learn the rules of the board before you set up your soap box on the corner...of the board...okay, that mixed metaphor is a mess, but whatever. You get the point.
4) You are correct, web traffic pays the bills. But! (And this is where it gets interesting...) Comments =/= web traffic. And, in fact, crappy comments really =/= web traffic. In fact(!) they come closer to = less web traffic. As it turns out, quantity comments generally are a much poorer indication of the health of a website than one might expect. And than those of us who are addicted to commenting and think of commenting as a community would like to believe. However...perception also =/= reality.
5) This is not 4chan. Nor does anyone want it to be. Nor will it ever be. 4chan is not a useful comparison.
6) Some of us find autobanning fun. It actually contributes to our enjoyment of the site and the likelihood that we will return. Perhaps (although I have no basis for this) for every viewer lost via autobanning you gain two! Or three! Or 735!
7) First Amendment, public forum, private companies, when it applies, blah, blah, blah. We all know the drill on that one.
I hope this has been helpful!
06/16/09
(Yes, I'm far too into everything in the Whoniverse--it's an obsession built into me from earliest childhood)
06/16/09
06/16/09
06/16/09
There was the year of torture aboard the Valiant, the centuries buried underground, the loss of 2 beloved members of his team. When does Jack get to slow down enough to wallow in his epic mental anguish?
06/16/09
06/16/09
06/16/09
/fixed
05/29/09
05/30/09
obv the only reason i watch this show ;D
(not really, but, yeah...)
05/30/09
05/29/09
I'm going to miss Tosh and Owen though.
05/29/09
05/29/09
Don't miss live or dead Owen, but wish they'd killed off Gwen instead of Tosh.
06/01/09
05/29/09
05/29/09
05/29/09
If they'd all stop and then STFU, it would be awesome.
Maybe one day a week? Then we grownups could go to movies and fancy restaurants without being annoyed, go on airplanes (the airlines would make a fortune on those days). Let parents have a life 1/7th of the time without worrying about toting the brats around -- they could eat and see movies and travel; it would be so much easier to load the kids on the plane while frozen, have them sit there unmoving, wheel 'em off, then they wake up at Grandma's.
05/29/09
Glad your not my mum!
05/29/09
Hell, I'd be willing to pay extra if they could do that for me now! No waiting in line, no worrying about squishing into the plane, just POOF you're there.
05/29/09
05/29/09
05/29/09