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Vision supporting blog goes quiet while anti-Vision tweeting is turbo-fuelled

February 7th, 2011 · 17 Comments

I feel obliged to note for the record that the blog Civicscene seems to be in a coma. No posts, no tweets since Jan. 6. The blog, written by ommunications guy, sometime Liberal campaign organizer Jonathan Ross, made a few headlines last fall with news reports that he seemed to be getting paid for the blog by the same communications firm working for the mayor’s office.

I have no idea what has happened. Perhaps Jonathan can elaborate.

On the other hand, the anti-Vision Citycaucus blog, run by two people who worked closely with former mayor Sam Sullivan, seems to be going wild for tweeting. More tweets than most journalists I know who work full-time at this stuff.

A quick count in the last four days shows 23 tweets in the previous 24 hours, 18 tweets on Sunday (I know that seems like an overlap, but that’s how Twitter labels them), 28 on Saturday, 27 on Friday, and a startling 75 on the previous Thursday. (There was a going-away thingie for Gordon Campbell, plus news tidbits emerging out of John Furlong’s new book accounting for a large chunk of that.)

Sounds like someone is going to be ready for the civic election.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • Max

    Vision’s anctics do provide a lot to ‘tweet’ about, however, not all tweets on the CityCaucus blog are about Vision.

  • Mark Allerton

    For my sins I follow Mike Klassen on twitter and he tweets the same stuff over and over – he’s posted the staff turnover link at least four times already. I suspect this behavior accounts for much of the volume.

  • IanS

    People like to bitch. CityCaucus is a good place for that.

  • Max

    @ IanS 3

    No different than here.

  • Chris Keam

    There’s a huge difference between the quality of comments and the tenor of the discussion here as compared to CityCaucus.com.

  • Max

    @ Chris Keam #5

    Yet, it doesn’t keep you away.

  • Chris Keam

    One of the differences being the ability of Bula posters to stay on topic and refrain from getting personal with their comments.

  • IanS

    @Chris Keam #7,

    Shut up, you big jerk!!!

    Oh.. wait… 😉

  • David Hadaway

    About a year ago I put a comment on civicscene suggesting the blog would be greatly improved if JR would post all the comments he received rather than just those that agreed with him. It’s still ‘awaiting moderation’.

    CityCaucus’s problem in the commentary section seems to me to be mostly caused by one or two monomaniacs who tend to swamp discussion, like pub bores. If I were Mike Klassen they would be disciplined, it’s to his credit and their shame that they aren’t.

  • Michelle

    David Hadaway @ 9
    Your second paragraph is truly pathetic.
    Sometimes you don’t make sense either, hon!

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought of The Night

    “Someone is going shopping! Different stores, different management styles, checking the customer satisfaction surveys, and comparing prices. A Retail insider would call her…the Secret Shopper.”

    For someone whose blog inserts are printed out and circulated around the City Hall’s Horseshoe Table, it only makes sense to post browsing impressions. Not since Monet’s Sunrise breakthrough, have I seen such a subtle way of reporting of what direct competition is doing, in of course, a ‘non-political’, civically driven comment.

    ‘Civicscene’ was always a covert (and now failed) Vision propaganda blog, let’s be candid here, stillborn. ‘Citycaucus’ may be an NPA propaganda blog. They never said they weren’t. But they, at least in most cases inform, and…whistle blow. Question is, which one is Fabula’s? From what I’ve read on here, and from other stuff posted in the past weeks, the irony it’s not lost entirely, when one will realize that despite this blog’s ‘Nun’ aura, it has in fact stumbled by ‘accident’ right in the middle of a Bachelor Party…only, as the main attraction.

    Now, that’s what I’d call… a Vision!

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • ThinkOutsideABox

    Who’s doing the conversation mining now? I take it the contract did not get renewed.

    Alternatively, I wonder if we will see a clowny rumours-of-my-demise-have-been-greatly-exaggerated post.

  • Brian

    City Caucus, or the Vancouver Tea Party as I like to call them, definitely have a better handle on the tools and methods of social media and conversation shaping. Mike “Glenn Beck” Klassen and co regularly serve up focal points for the two minutes hate session and the comments brigade follows suit. It’s a really well-executed strategy that has been toxic for discussion of civic issues, but with some people it’s just all about getting into power, no matter how many James Greens it takes.

  • David Hadaway

    Michelle.

    Four posts on two blogs within half an hour! Your work ethic is truly…impressive!

  • Ned

    Tz, tz, tz David H.
    First you suggest Mike should start censoring his blog, then you patronize others into not commenting, and now you are ‘stalking’ Michelle in the blogosphere. Whatever her or anyone is doing at 8.00 PM has nothing to do with work ethics. And BTW, it’s not your business! Or is it?

  • David Hadaway

    Well, my friends don’t think I’m a truly pathetic, censorious stalker. Or at least, if they do they are kind enough not to tell me or the police!

    As for patronizing, nobody could ever think that! BTW, Ned, you should have written ‘she’ in place of ‘her’.

  • Michelle

    David,
    Check this one out. Two posts on this blog in five minutes.