Why do people let these words offend you? You know what offends me? Farts in public. People eating with their mouth’s open, parents who wont control their kids when they are out.

Words like this only magnifies the stupidity of the opponents of Obama be it from his own party of from the Republican party.

People can either learn to be a duck and let it roll off your backs or be a bunch of 9 mos old babies and cry about trivial spilled milk.

For the record, im a conservative and won’t be supporting Obama or anyone Guiliani leftward (that includes Rudy).

Thanks to Scott Hurff at GroupVine for pointing this out.

Could your hire him? Tech Crunch really needs a new perspective on what to write about!

Regarding your question about grouping IP addresses — look into identicons.

Otherwise — I think your response was a bit over the top. You found unmoderated user content, jumped to some wild accusations (”hacked” or “rogue employee”) and then when it was correctly described as a “non-story” and “gotcha”, you accused their web guy of accusing you of “racist or some other bias,” when he didn’t.

I can tell you who doesn’t come off well in this exchange, and it’s not Obama or his web team.

That having been said, I won’t be ignoring your future writings over this one incident.

Mike Arrington you’re a blinking idiot…you’ve give TC a bad rap. You being such an idiot how can I commit to reading anything you write, technical or otherwise. I hope I never see your name as a technical writer anymore, but until then I’ll just won’t read anything you post and I hope others do the same. If you read what idiots write, then they might un/consciously influence you into becoming one too.

If TC continue to have idiots like you writing for them, then I’ll just delete bookmarks and everything an get my technical info from somewhere else. Such a freaking jackass……I never cared who’s the author of TechCrunch’s content until now.

“Further Update: The site has been changed so that groups must be approved by the campaign staff prior to going “live” on the groups search.”

While this posting should have been taken down, reviewing all group submissions is going the wrong way, Obama. You admitted to drug use. Don’t shy away from a real community with non-PC views!

Many of these comments make me wish that blogs and ’social’ sites were able to display a small badge the colour of which was indicative of the average age of the readership. Then I would be able to avoid many sites that displayed badges corresponding to a predominantly teenage or 20-something readership, at least. I know I’m not the only one heartily sick of the pointless and boring harping and cynicism of the Diggers and their ilk, people who seem grossly over-represented within that one-third of people who complain about everything all of the time.

One thing’s for sure, I find this blog a hell of a lot more interesting than the majority of ‘opinions’ posted in this thread.

Because words like that have no place in modern day society. Just because one chooses to ignore such statements does not suggest one does not find those words deeply offensive.

And by Michael echoing those statements in its entirety suggests he doesn’t care whether or not he offends people, it is simply news for him.

On a side note: does anyone know about a wordpress plugin that will group comments by IP address? If you could click on an anonymous comment and see all other comments from that IP address, it would show some very interesting data (we’ve found a lot of non-anonymous commenters also comment anonymously all the time).

That would be an excellent plug-in, especially if it renamed them “anonymous commenter #12545346″ or something.

Mike, I just wonder how old are you? The way you react shows that you are not yet mature! disgusting!

What, the great Michael Arrington can’t take a knock when he gets the lede absolutely wrong? Get over it. Mike - next time get your facts right before you publish. (Duh.)

“Oh Jesus. This is turning into a political debate. This is why I never read political blogs.”

Hang on mike, weren’t you the one who said “Obama just lost my vote”? That’s when the discussion turned political.

Good grief, I’ve stuck with reading TechCrunch over the past few debacles, but this is the straw breaking the camel’s back for me.

“When you fuck up, the best thing to do is not attack the people who alerted you to it. “

Mike, you’ve fucked up. Again. And the best thing to do is not attack the people who are alerting you to it.

“Thanks to Scott Hurff at GroupVine for pointing this out.”

So in other words, a representative of a company that makes social networking software that was NOT used for the Obama Campaign created that group just showcase this “bug”. Yikes!

good as techcrunch is, the number of big blow ups that seem to happen, techcrunch uk and whatever else. it all seems a little over dramatic for a tech blog!

hey Mike,
you should run for President - but bring a big shoehorn so in case you win, you can squeeze that ego of yours into the oval office.

wocka wocka wocka

P.S. stop being such a whiny little bitch and take the high road for once - retract this dumb story, apologize for being a poon, and write about the stuff we actually come to the site to read about!

Saying that you’re not going to vote for a candidate because of the response of one of his staffers is a juvenile response. You’ve just pigeon-holed the entire Obama campaign based on a response that offended you, and not even from the candidate himself. Your attitude is is an example of EXACTLY what’s wrong with the American voter these days: Too many big decisions made based on 15 second soundbites, and no real effort to find out what an individual stands for. God forbid anyone gets their feelings hurt in this ass-backwards, politically-correct society. A good man gets pushed to the wayside because his “computer guy” offended your delicate sensibilities. Boo-freaking-hoo!

An in just under 18,000 years, Obama (or most likely one of his descendants) has some supporters! A recent group: Supporters for Obama, 20003

I don’t see what the big deal is out this software, it’s really not that impressive.

I CANNOT BELIEVE MICHAEL ARRINGTON HAS NOT TAKEN THIS STORY OFF HIS BLOG???

What is your goal? For this story to be picked up by Fox News or CNN so that your name can be spread around mainstream media? You are not doing any service to the political debate in this country or the more important issue of establishing a fair platform for discussions of important issue.

YOU CONTINUE TO SPREAD THIS HATE AND SLANDER TO GAIN ATTENTION FOR YOUR BLOG. SHAME ON YOU, ARRINGTON.

I think the readers of TechCrunch should do something to hit Michael where it hurts for continue to leave this story on his blog.

DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OF HIS ADS. DO NOT SUPPORT HIM FINANCIALLY.

‘Joe - way to reach out to the community. When you fuck up, the best thing to do is not attack the people who alerted you to it. Why in the world you allowed something like this to happen is beyond me. Why didn’t you just hard code the example into the page? It would have been easier and this wouldn’t have happened.

This isn’t Washington DC politics, and you shouldn’t assume I have some racist or other bias against your campaign. We’re a tech blog and I pointed out what looks like a rookie mistake on your site that caused some embarrassment. Most of our readers (me included) are going to be inclined to be on your side. But Obama just lost my vote, because of you.’

no wonder American politics is in the state it’s in, because of morons like you going to the polls with fickle judgments like that. This is the first time i’ve posted on this blog and probably the last.

Just read through this post and comments.

I think everyone has blown this out of proportion. Micheal, I didn’t think Joe Rospars came across as condescending. He only exposed his need to try and brush this off as a non-issue.

However, I have to say that I see his reaction as impulsive and close minded. There is always room for improvement. Perhaps he was offended by your guess at what caused the problem (lack of security or rat within)

I disagree with Joe’s request that tech bloggers like yourself ignore glitches and mistakes for the benefit of the furthering someones political campaign or any other objective for that matter. I read this blog to learn. Quite often that means means learning from the mistakes of others.

To a novice like me, with the benefit of hind sight and a live example, it is now clear that using the most recently created group to demonstrate an example of a well formed group name is a bad decision.

I will apply this lesson one day and will have you to thank for it.

Michael
A while back you introduced TechCrunch20 while at DEMO. Due to the timing and method of your announcement, I questioned whether you and your partner could be impartial and suggested that you allow your readers to suggest a list of qualified people to vet the presenters. Your reaction and decision not to vote for a candidate based on a perceived insult gives credence to this concern.
You are a poster child for blogging and due to that success, have an obligation to act professionally and prove that blogging is more than a gossip rag for techno-geeks or an outlet for your ego.

Weird thing about websites that allow user input. It ends up on the site. NIGGA! That was a test.

OMG Randy just discovered a serious glitch in TechCrunch, I better go post this on newsvine.

Michael, when you fuck up, you should shut up and excuse.

A “bug” is generally a defect in a program’s design.

This was a feature of the program. Maybe on that should be modified to avoid the appearance of an endorsement but only the most reprehensible type of journalist would make it a story. Like some one with the NYT, maybe.
No… standards would prevail.

I also believe that the Joe Rospar’s comment here was comprehensive and articulate. I can’t believe Mike was offended by it… but Mike probably wanted an “atta boy” for helping out the campaign. Mike’s just that kind of guy. The likelihood of Barach Obama getting Mike Arrington’s vote seems highly unlikely in any potential future… atta boy or not.

Let’s see how long this post stays up without editing out the graphic that’s a snapshot of democracy at work… in all it’s raw potential. The “bug” rolled off the page in a few minutes… this page has intent. Linking the candidate with an obnoxious group.

(I’m going to save this comment… they always seem to disappear after I post them… could be a bug… or a feature).

Community sites often need moderation and editing… Comment pits do not.
Especially when the edits are intended to protect the owner from harsh judgements.

“Obama just lost my vote, because of you.” Deep thinking you shallow, vindictive little shit.

I can’t believe this post and the graphic haven’t been replaced yet. Reporting a bug my a$$, all you want is a little more page views at the expense of a black candidate and the African American community. Why didn’t you send a private email if you sincerely want to report a bug? Have you thought if it would hurt someone? Jumping right into “you fuck up” after a properly handled post by Joe? and you talk about condescension?

The best thing you should do is to take it down and apologize.

Wow. Lots of anonymous posters with big mouths screahing about politics - go figure. Maybe the screahers are part of the problems with today’s political dynamic in America.

Michael found and exposed an interesting tech issue. It’s his site and he can post whatever he chooses. If you don’t like it, then don’t come here.

Stop throwing around comments like “SHAME ON YOU, ARRINGTON.” Please, get a life. Shame on the people in power who let kids in America go homeless and hungry. Shame on our “leaders” who keep sending young adults over to Iraq to stand in the line of fire for no good purpose. Shame on the people who work like lemmings on campaigns for candidates who will never change these conditions and who only exist to perpetuate their own political careers and personal fiefdoms.

Shame on Arrington? Sorry pal, try again.

BTW, web2point0critic, I’ve been a visitor here for well over a year and today you inspired me, for the first time, to click on some of Michael’s ads. He thanks you, I’m sure.

First, there’s basically no way to guarantee that something is hard coded when you’re the client, PHP could have grabbed it from a database and formed it into some HTML and sent it off.

Second, outside of smearing Obama, I see no rational behind publicizing it when just a friendly e-mail would do the same. If you intended to smear Obama, then whatever, it’s your blog and you have to take into account who your audience is and what they are looking for.

Techcrunch seems to becoming a tabloid of Web 2.0 Blogs, making R/W Web look like the NYTimes

Well at least he is allowing open debate, you have to give credit where credit is due.

hahaha.. arringtonsucks.com creator.. you’re awesome!!

Ben, you’re completely correct. Arrington’s assumption that it’s hard coded is completely asinine and and tech savvy person should know that the markup on a PHP page is often, if not always dynamically generated. Use your head Arrington, before jumping to conclusions.

I don’t know why I keep dropping by TechCrunch… but frankly, this is rediculous Mike. You’re on such a ego trip. Frankly, in his position, I would have almost certainly said the same thing. This story was link baiting at best, and you absolutely deserve to be taken to task for it.

I unsubscribed awhile ago, and now I’m even more sure that that was the right decision. You really don’t deserve the attention you get.

Funny seeing the hub-bub about this minor hiccup - the Kerry Campaign and the Bush Campaign went through situations similar to these when they faced the challenge of giving publishing tools to others - Bush with the capability of creating your own Bush/Cheney handouts with your own content, Kerry with the Kerry Core fiasco where people put Saddam and Obama on the sites.

It happens. You deal with it. You move on.

Kind of like an exploit. I imagine the person who created this group knew what they were doing.

Good post!

good work…………….

GROW UP YOU GUYS EVEN IF OBAMA LOST JAY VOTE HE WOULD HAVE WONE NOMATTER WHAT