Hard News: The Solemnity of the Day
146 Responses
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It really just comes down to Public Address Rule One: Don't be a dick.
Which is what it all comes down to anyway.
I don't have comments anyway, so its not so much of an issue for me. But I won't be blogging about politics on the day (though I might do a post about my voting experience), and I won't be tweeting about it either. This will be helped significantly by my rule about Not Blogging On Weekends.
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Thanks for not closing things - I'm traveling overseas on a slowly lengthening business trip and PA's been so useful to help me keep getting my political junkie fix the past week or so ....
Why not open the thread on polling experiences now? I voted before I left (no second thoughts yet) ... I'm sure others have too ... it was easy, quick managed by a bunch of wonderfully polite and helpful poll workers (who were probably bored out of their trees hoping for a customer)
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But that would disable discussion on thousands of topics, the vast majority of which have nothing to do with the election.
I wonder if the Electoral Commission's advice is based around the misconception that "blog = politics". If someone has a food blog, are they realistically going to get any comments on election day about politics? Not likely.
It really just comes down to Public Address Rule One: Don’t be a dick.
Hell yes. A few days ago, I saw a guy on Twitter talking about how he was going to use a proxy to tweet about his political party of choice and I just told him not to be a dick. Because doing that really is a dick move, and if you actually think it's going to sway voters, you're even more of a dick.
It's nice to have a day away from the barrage of political coverage, and it's also a fun challenge talking about stuff without saying too much.
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I will open a new thread for people’s polling-day experiences – I think voting is an important and exciting experience and it’s good that people should be able to share it in a place like this.
But what if people's polling day experiences suck?
"It took an hour and the polling clerk was rude" might discourage voting.
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Cue comments on food sites eg: "Kids! Don't forget to eat your greens today!"
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I hope Twitter doesn't go silent - I'll be scrutineering, and I need something to read on my phone during the boring bits.
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p.s. advertising for other sites which may have (even old) election-related stuff is also a no-no.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
It’s nice to have a day away from the barrage of political coverage
As Idiot/Savant, I think, put it beautifully: Election Day isn’t about the media or the politicians. It’s belongs to the rest of us from midnight on Friday until the last polling place locks its doors.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
p.s. advertising for other sites which may have (even old) election-related stuff is also a no-no.
Good point. I'll make sure Scoop Media take house ads out of the rotate.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
I hope Twitter doesn’t go silent – I’ll be scrutineering, and I need something to read on my phone during the boring bits.
I think you might want to leave your phone in your pocket and on silent. I must own to a touch of scadenfreude when a scrutineer for another party was politely but firmly told to leave the polling place if she needed to make a phone call. :)
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Emma Hart, in reply to
I'll be scrutineering, and I need something to read on my phone during the boring bits.
Is there anything but boring bits when you're scrutineering?
I have to have my phone off from 8am to about 10pm. I dunno how I'm going to cope. I need someone to sneak me count updates from Ohariu.
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Graeme Edgeler, in reply to
“Kids! Don’t forget to eat your greens today!”
That's probably fine. "Greens" isn't the name of a political party "The Greens, The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand" and "Green Party" are names of a political party, but "greens" is not.
"Mana" (not "Mana Party") is the name of a party, however, so people voting in Mana probably won't be able to talk about their experiences. I'm pretty sure the town will cease to exist for 17 hours.
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BenWilson, in reply to
"I saw red all day"
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"After a productive day in the garden I tried to get my wonderful greens back into the house but, labour as I might, I couldn't. My key was bent."
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Rich Lock, in reply to
I'm pretty sure the town will cease to exist for 17 hours.
Nek minnit...
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Am I Blue? Am I Blue? Are these tears in my eyes telling you?
(Make the act to) tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree...
When [Jacinda]'s walking down the street I see red, I see red, I see red
For United we stand, divided we fail
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It's interesting that they are applying the same rules to the referendum too, given that postal referendums are carried out without such restrictions. Is this a tacit acknowledgement that referendums at the ballot box are more important than ones carried out by post?
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Where did this law come from? Was there widespread intimidation of voters before?
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Graeme Edgeler, in reply to
Where did this law come from? Was there widespread intimidation of voters before?
I can find it pretty similar antecedent in the Electoral Act 1905, but didn’t see one in my quick look at the Electoral Act 1893. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that there was.
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Graeme Edgeler, in reply to
But seen as how I have my speedy vote card, I can’t imagine anything particularly remarkable happening.
Be careful who you show that speedy vote card to, if it has the word "Mana" on it.
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Graeme Edgeler, in reply to
Is this a tacit acknowledgement that referendums at the ballot box are more important than ones carried out by post?
Well, they are, but probably not. It's mostly an acknowledgement that 19 hours of limits on free expression might be okay, but 19 days would not be (and would indeed be counter-productive to democracy).
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It really just comes down to Public Address Rule One: Don't be a dick.
Oh great, I've been reading this site for over a damned decade and now you finally tell us what Rule No One is! :) #attemptstodeleteallpreviousposts
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Pete Sime, in reply to
Oh great, I've been reading this site for over a damned decade and now you finally tell us what Rule No One is! :) #attemptstodeleteallpreviousposts
Well, rule 34 can be so much more interesting than rule 1.
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Graeme Edgeler, in reply to
#attemptstodeleteallpreviousposts
Yeah, Russell, aren't you being a little bit Facebook-y if when we delete our accounts, you still keep a record of everything we've done here, and it's still here for the world to see?
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Martin Lindberg, in reply to
I can find it pretty similar antecedent in the Electoral Act 1905, but didn’t see one in my quick look at the Electoral Act 1893. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that there was
Thanks Graeme. Do any other countries have laws like this?
I don't mind admitting that I find this law in the same category as laws banning the riding of moose down the wrong side of the road between 4am and 6am. They probably made sense when they were drafted in response to particular circumstances.
But now?
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