INTERNETTING THE DOTTY COMMOS

So WhaleOil busts open another political can of wrigglers. DOTCOMs plans are now public for all to see.

Well sort of. Bradbury has not  written a political strategy as much as he has written a very crap  comms  and engagement plan built round a launch. We don't know what the party will really do apart from fight some issues like the GCSB bill repeal and  that it wants to position itself as a political  kingmaker.

The name "internet party" reminds me of a idea a few IT peeps looked at over 13 years ago. They bought me on board to look at how we could make the idea fly. Basically it was a party where the members would vote on issues on line  and that would give their MP's a mandate issue by issue.

It was a bit before its time as social media, those days was a descriptor of a gossip columns in the local paper. It didn't get off the ground because everyone involved was short of the cash needed to pull it together.

So  maybe Kim  is thinking along similar lines. Not so much a party for the people but a party of the people

It has been interesting listening and watching commentators totally dismissing  the Internet Party. I was talking to a mate today who like me believes that no-one should write off this digital political spawn.

Its because we both see how cynical GenY are. These digital natives distrust everything and they hate most the things  which impinge   on their ability to move around on the net sucking up what the want when they want at the least cost.

The reason  we think the Internet Party has a chance is simple. DotComm literally has a big following on the net - close to 350 thousand on twitter and around 20 thousand on Facebook. He is seen by the GenYers as the man who is fighting against big business,  fighting what they see as Big Brother Governments and fighting for  their freedom in their new digital playground.

Everyday I watch in despair as young smart  men and women,  successful and educated , swear their allegiance to Dotcom.

He is the ante  hero they can identify with, a victim of what they see as  tyranny, a winner,  a master of the digital universe and irreverent. GenY struggles to take anything really seriously unless its something that impinges on what they see as their freedoms. So they revere him .  They see him as the only one who is fighting for their freedom on the net  - the place they are most at home.

DotComm knows how to deploy  the net, and that means he can harness this large group of normally apathetic voters by taking the one election issue they care about  their digital freedom direct to them - And he can talk to them on their smartphones and they can talk to him. Interactive politics has come of age.

While Bradbury may be v keen to be part  Kims party I would doubt that the paper that has been leaked is much more than a ham fisted  touting for some work.

Alistair Thompsons involvement is much more interesting. He does understand the net and his  undisguised admiration for  Dot Comm in the past means it comes as no surprise he  is jumping ship. He sees himself as a fighter for internet freedom . DotCom is his general.

I struggle to see why anyone cannot see that there is a serious possibility that after the next election - Key maybe sitting down thrashing out a coalition with DotCom. Wonder  who will be sweating then?



 

ALL BUBBLES NO FIZZ

The courageous Whaleoil was challenged by Trevor Mallard to a cycle Race and the rest, as they say is history. Despite Whale training hard - Mallard won.

We said we would put the magnum of Bubbles we were originally given as the consolation prize in the veuve competition up for the winner - we thought that Whale would win - he didnt. Cactus was happy to put up $1000.

She will be feeling the loss much more keenly than us.

So today a perky little Lambcut delivered a very big bottle of Veuve clicquot to the Duck at Parliament.

It was delivered with a note -

"Congrats on your win - Savour the Veuve now. Doubt if you will be celebrating much come November "- From the team at Roarprawn.

ALL OVER FOR ACT?

Well when people like Hooton call time on ACT - they are pretty stuffed. Hooton's face book.

Matthew Hooton

Until this weekend, I was (as an Epsom voter) a dead-cert for Brash/Banks. Now, I am a dead-cert for John Key and Bhatnagar/Simpson/Donald Duck/Goldsmith or whoever National puts up. Not too happy about this because Key is a wet and voting National means implicitly voting Nick Smith, but there you go. May even give a donation and deliver leaflets for Bhatnagar/Simpson/Donald Duck/Goldsmith.

Then there is Whale .. He thinks Act is toxic We have to agree Act is toxic as Fukishima but not likely to share the nuclear plants longevity.

No Minister is gobsmacked by their complete silliness.

And Home Paddock has taken a womans view of the ACT vileness.

Now the thing is, apart from Homepaddock who doesn't left the house without blue nana knickers on, the rest of us in the VRWC had a fondness for ACT. We liked them because they could chuck a bit of borax at National if they went a bit wet.

But it looks like again we are all thinking the same thing. Sadly, it seems apart from Cactus, - who if she is wearing knickers at all , they will be yellow with blue lace, is still in there supporting ACT. National are too full of economic pussies for her. But we reckon even she will be pissed at Brash - she will be keen to see the party get back to its core messages around tax, and law and order and reduction of business costs.

So its clear to see that the VRWC has lost patience with ACT.

Brash is simply a fuckwit.

And in the nicest possible way thats what Rodney Hide called him on the Tele tonight as well.

Come back Rodney - all is forgiven!

STOP THE LAW BREAKING

Ohh Cool! Labour launched a campaign, it was highjacked. They did something illegal. They claimed the law was an ass. The were forced to remove the signs. They looked silly. And in true Labour form they blame someone else for the failure of their poorly executed idea. But the people who took the piss didn't break the law. They didnt make a pigs arse of the campaign and they didnt blame someone else for their cock-up.

TV3 reports that they have had to remove their signs from the main road to Wainui.

And they blame it on some group called "Right Wing Bloggers"

Hail to the Whale and the Kiwi, the Hong Kong Queen of Mean and Keeping Stock.

Let the Game begin.

UNSTOPPABLE CLUSTER F**K

We have had one eye on Labour rather juvenille Stop the Asset Sales campaign using a replica of the Stop sign used throughout the country.

However the whole campaign has been highjacked and is now a farce.

First the website could be easily manipulated and replica stop signs with anti labour messages were spawned on the site. They went viral in social media sites everywhere and the original Stop the Assets Sales site became a farce.

Next the campaign ran for a a couple of weeks with committed Labour Party types taking to the streets with there signs to promote their cause.

Sadly their actions are illegal. The signs are not permitted to be bastardised in anyway for very good reasons.

Labour has goofed in the worst way. They have lost control of the campaign and they broke the law.

A huge pinko failure of EPIC proportions. Well done Whaleoil, Kiwiblog and Keeping Stock. The VRWC lives on.

THE LAST OF THE WILD WEST?

We think so. Today is probably more of an historical moment that many realise. Up until now the online media has been a free for all and no-one was just to sure where the boundaries were. So we, as bloggers, all tested them from time to time - some more than others and no-one more than Whaleoil. His personal crusade on name suppression has crossed the media channel divide between online and mainstream.

Every journalist worth their salt, while not agreeing sometimes with the way that Whale ran his campaign, believes in the principals behind it. If they don't then frankly they should go find a job writing slogans for greeting cards.

Whale has today been found guilty of breaching name suppression. And faced some hefty fines to boot. If the mainstream media had any conscience at all they would be chipping in to pay his fines.

We need laws in this country that are fair, just without a nod to race or status. But the support for Whales dogged campaign and the growing unease in the way that suppression was being granted showed that the law was indeed not being applied even handedly. Justice was peeking under her blindfold and depending on what she saw, she made a biased call on when veil of secrecy was applied.

Whale has done his bit. He showed courage when the mainstream media did not.

He should be applauded and supported for that.

BUSTEDBLONDE GOES GLOBAL

OHH my Busted Blonde has been interviewed by Wine Spectator - in the Wine gossip column called Unfiltered..

It has a lovely picture of the Busted One adorned with her Maori Portholes..

cheeky bint...

Update : Peter Salmon has a scholarly dissection of the issue

BUSTED BLONDE'S THREE MINUTES OF FAME

Silly bobble head..... but we still love and miss her...

DISSECTION

One of the lessons of the past week and the great Veuve Clicquot scandal was that it showed what an incredible force for communication and change that the social media has become.But you have to know h0w to use it as it is a pretty unruly and hungry beast with a very short attention span.

This is best exemplified by just who ended up carrying the story.

Take for instance this tweet

latest: JancisRobinson @bustedblonde Congratulations! Social media have the power to leech multiple kilos of Veuve C from tight fists. bit.ly Retweeted by you less than a minute ago

Thats gold in social media. Jancis Robinson has 40,000 followers on twitter. They are all people who have a serious interest in wine and food around the world. And she likes New Zealand and New Zealand wine.

So who were responsible for the story gaining a foothold in the social media. At the core were the bloggers. Whaleoil ( who started and led the whole campaign , his ability to get stories into the mainstream media is now well established), Kiwiblog, and Cactus and a host of other bloggers who quickly followed suit, were central to the story getting legs. They all have considerable weight in social media, while for the purposes of this campaign BustedBlonde just has the weight!

Many of them twitter and facebook as well. So its about using multiple channels and quickly.

You have to be bloody nimble and it helps if you have a core team as we did.

So did we have a plan? Nope not really. Just some ideas and some tactics. Its very organic and you need to have faith in your intuition.

Then came facebook. That cant be underestimated and its like an infection and of course there is Twitter. If you want to get your message out quick and it gets onto someone site who has 40,000 followers like Jancis then you have critical mass very quickly.

Take for instance this.

August 26 at 1:03pm

I see NBR finally responded!
I briefed a US mate of mine, Colin Clarke, who is commentator on social media strategies and he wrote this, I should let him know NBR has made a move. Well bloody done you. http://marketingsense.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/when-a-social-media-campaign-goes-bad/

When A Social Media Campaign Goes Bad « Marketing Sense

marketingsense.wordpress.com

An interesting case study has recently emerged in New Zealand that underscores the power of social media… and how it must be wielded CAREFULLY.

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So this happened two days ago and and already the analysis of the clicquot competition and the social media response and its impact are flying around the world at lightening speed.

And then there were the emails. And by all accounts there were a few direct to NBR ( we have seen some). And of course TV3.

It defies all the old rules of PR. Its not about planning its more about plotting. n.

So whats the damage to NBR? - bugger all we reckon. As soon as they made amends and publicly people were heaping on the praise for the putting right.

And Veuve? Well the damage might last a bit longer. They were involved in a competition that was supposed to be all class.

I havent seen the winning entry but I bet its all lovely and worthy and romantic . It will tick all the brand boxes for Clicquot.

However the competition was so badly designed and executed that it ended up being all about ass. It provoked crassness. Then when the judges got crassness and not just from our entry but dozens of others as well, things went pear shaped.

For us Champagne is all about fun. And for the last couple of weeks we have had lots of it.

And we have learnt quite a bit as well.

MAIN STREAM MEDIA PICKS UP THE VEUVE STORY

TV3 checks out the Veuve story

WHALE LIFTS THE LID ON ACT DEBACLE

Well, well, we thought as much.. We have met few people we have loathed as much as Simon Ewing Jarvie.. He is a prize prick and as Whale has now shown - a duplicitious arse with an overblown sense of his own piss and importance.

He doesn't have much cred in Defence circles either..

Heather Roy had aspirations above her station and may well have been seduced by SEJ macho politiks. His fawning will have engorged her ego.

Kiwiblog has, as usual an insightful analysis of the Defence paper and the caucus speech at the heart of the issue.

Rodney has not handled the aftermath of this all that well but as Whales info has shown - he is definitely not the villain of the piece.

Politics is a brutal business. And tough talking, tension and full and frank discussions can be found in all parties. ACT is no different in that regard.

However, we are not sure they can come back from the brink. We hope they can. We like the fact that they put a bit of steel in the economic spine of the country.

THANKS FOR VOTING FOR BUSTEDBLONDE

She has recorded an astonishing 1072 votes to 839. She has promised that she will use the bubbles for a good charity if the judges agree with the public..

Thanks to all the great people who have supported her!

We will keep you posted if she gets the nod from NBR.

WHALES TALE

Bustedblonde has been a mate of Whale Oil, Cameron for quite some time now. She has told us that Cameron is a unique individual whom she proud to call a mate.

Now we don't know him that well but BustedBlonde has asked that we re -post Cactus Kates column about the shock blogger and his current troubles. BustedBlonde says many people who have a tough exterior, also have big hearts and that's Cactus to a T. She has written a poignant post about Whale.

Cactus and BustedBlonde may not always condone what Whale has written but I am pretty confident they will remain forever loyal to him.

BB says that what Cactus has written is very true.

You will find it here

with a growing number of comments.

And Kiwiblog has some comments

as does Keeping Stock

And here Cactus's post for you to read as per BustedBlonde instructions .

HoS appears to have been reading the sad plight of my mate and the mate of many bloggers, Whaleoil aka Cameron Slater.

Today is probably the most truthful article yet on Whaleoil because it was written with cut and pasted words from his wife and best mate aka Spanish Bride from his blog.

I've only known Cameron for a few years and all the time I have known him has been under the mantra of Whaleoil. Unlike SB, I have not known him as Cameron, before his spiral into depression.

I don't know all the background of his fight with Fidelity and what led up to his depressive state, because I wasn't there. SB was. She remarks that he was a different man before the events leading to his illness. I believe that now totally.

There is no one else I have ever met quite like Cameron as Whaleoil. His behaviour is outrageous. Friends compared notes and said that this is just him. It is not. What makes me astonished though with Fidelity's conduct is that they do not seem to have at any stage lead him to get help. That is medical help and counselling for rehabilitation. It used to be humourous watching Whaleoil be outrageous. It is now not so fun anymore once everyone has worked out he has a genuine problem.

The answer with Doctors has always been to prescribe more bloody pills. Whaleoil is on more pills than patients at mental homes. I know this because unknown to him I checked his dosage on his pillpackets and asked someone I know who works at an actual mental hospital. He is sedated by a cocktail of these pills which leave him tired, moody and disconnected with the world. When I realised his dosage, I knew the seriousness of the black hole he had fallen into. He's tried to come off the pills, that too has had bad consequences.

I hate pills as a solution for depression. They are not and they are over-prescribed. I hate watching all too many friends zombie around on them. They are not real people while sedated under the latest and greatest profit minded cure to make everyone "happy". The underlying problem still remains and I can't see any joy on being reliant on a pill to be happy, or even stable enough to get out of bed. It takes away the human nature of being happy and sad and managing both states.

Whaleoil does not think consequences, SB has highlighted that all too clearly. He will be fine sitting with you in a bar watching you drink (contrary to popular opinion he does not drink regularly and I've only seen him drunk once) then the slightest irritant across the bar and he will be talking about smacking another person's head in. Change the topic and his attention away and he's forgotten five minutes later of even being angry.

While medicated and unassisted emotionally with any form of therapy, he simply cannot work. The easiest question for doubters that he can be integrated into the workforce for a 40 hour week is this: would you want Whaleoil working in your office? Five minutes with him and any HR representative would instantly dismiss his job application. Fidelity's treatment has turned an otherwise creative, intelligent mind into a zombie who now firmly believes he cannot work. At the moment I am on the side of stating that he cannot.

Whaleoil is a great friend because he cares about his friends, but an unreliable one. That is, even the slightest task you know he may not do it on time. As the reliable party in the relationship you have to organise everything around Whaleoil not being able to perform his part. This frustrates him when he realises what has happened.

Insurance companies are not paid to care. I feel however they are paid to follow contracts and assist their clients back into the workforce so they are not made to rely on payouts. There's no doubt in my mind that Cameron Slater as Whaleoil is one of the most clinically depressed people I have ever met. While the original event leading to this depression may have been minor in the scheme of things Fidelity and the medical professionals who treated him from that point in time have failed miserably and created Whaleoil as we all read him today on his blog.

Fidelity created the monster that is Whaleoil. There is no doubt about that after watching him the past few months. Even when Fidelity were still paying him, the posts were written when he wasn't actually getting better. On a few good days, a Whaleoil post can be brilliantly coherent, well-reasoned and rational. On a bad day a Whaleoil post can be the most offensive thing on the internet.

There is only so much that friends and family can do for Whaleoil. The frustrating thing is that no one can wave a magic wand and make him better. It has gone past that and I've seen everyone try. His close family we can see have tried everything. His wife and kids are amazing in the circumstance, their love is unconditional.

Whaleoil needs serious medical attention from medics without a conflict of interest from working for an insurance company or more medics who border on being criminals in my view - the depression script writers. They should be given Oscars for their script writing abilities. He needs a time out, away from the stresses of modern life getting back to basics of routine and normality. But most of all he needs help and therapy to re-connect with himself, his old self. The one that his wife speaks of but most bloggers would never have seen.

Cameron Slater.

Heard that he is a fucking great bloke.

If Fidelity Insurance found that bloke, I'm sure they would have a case closed and not look like the bunch of cunts they will be made to look like when it is disclosed they haven't done a single thing, other than medication, to try and find him.

Busted reckons that Cactus is on the button.

BLOGGER BUDDIES

Wow, we posted on an attack on Roarprawn over the use of the word Mistressology. We came out fighting  but so did the rest of the NZ blogosphere.  Thanks to Whaleoil    Cactus  who will put the fear of death into the poor woman , Motella, bless his cotton sheets ,   the effervescent Home Paddock  and the lovely boys at No Minister for backing    us up..  And all the lawyers who offered us support and advice.

However we are a bit miffed at being called large by Whale Oil - we would have preferred  biggish... and after two weeks running around an island every  night for 5 hours up hill and down dale we are a little less biggish.

Here's a very old photo of someone we all love and know well  who is doing what Whale said.  Just to show that its for real like.... 

 So in tribute to the fine work of the NZ blogosphere  we will write about mistressology  when the mood takes us .

And real mistressology  not some new age cosmic get in touch with your aura  pommie clap trap.

WHALE DESERVES THE SUPPORT OF EVERY KIWI PARENT

We have been open in supporting Whale Oil in his bid to get some movement on the laws governing supression. They are being misused. We are sure of that. And last week a case which saw a judge put a blanket suppression order on a citizen who has downloaded kiddy porn shows that it really is time for the government to sort this issue out.

The Manawatu Evening Standard has socked it to the Judge for being a liberal wanker and protecting a criminal.

What ever happened to protecting society???!!!

And today the Maori Party came out against the Judges ruling.

We agree and its time to lend support to the Site that is central to the campaign SHAME

we have put a widget up linking directly to SHAME - we urge all bloggers to do the same...



Hail to the Whale!!!!

WHALE NEEDS TO LEARN TE REO

We thought this was a lovely story this morning , the language that was used in the blockbuster movie Avatar was in fact partially based on Maori.
We think that's very very cool. It will help promote the language - which tourists who come here love to try out.
So we reckon that Whale has been playing with his dork - and unlike most of his yarns he got a serious fact wrong. Hana O'Regan is a woman and as a dusky mate of our said - a bloody stroppy one at that. She is a staunch advocate of Te Reo - a keeper of the linguistic fires of our people and we have enormous respect for her in that regard.

So she will not be a lone voice - in fact she echos the growing chorus of young Maori who look for new and innovative ways to preserve the Maori language which can now be translated by Google.

That James Cameron chose Maori as the basis for the Avatar language is something all New Zealanders should be proud of.

The tourist spin off for Aotearoa from this movie have yet to be exploited but any exposure will increase opportunities.

So Whale -tēnā rūkahu tēnā, you are wrong - there is no shame in the world doing a little korero Maori.

We will all be a little whakapai for it.

DPF FEARS NO COMPETITION

Now david p farrar aka Kiwiblog seems to be a happy soul and at his age being a happy soul means you are well feed, well watered and well laid.

So it was with great interest we read this story about a girl drought on Great Barrier Island, one of Mr Farrars hidey out places.

So we can come to one of two conclusions..

• David has secured a permanent bit of island crumpet which must piss off some of the crusty old dispairing dogs who call the place home.

• Or David the uber politico geek is the girl magnet we suspected some time ago and he is finding easy pickins on the hippy hidey away..

So Whaleoil can play with his dork as his on site popularity grows but he is beached in the sexy stakes- its DPF who leads that race.

WHALE HAS CRASHED

Just to update everyone - Whale Oils site has crashed - it has NOT been taken down. Cameron says it crashed as soon as Stuff referred to the story on their front page.