Good Golly Graham … The President Sucks Too!
Posted on June 22nd, 2008 by Firestorm under Entrecard, Firestormed at EntrecardIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Don't forget to leave a comment. I * DO * FOLLOW so you get a link back.
Graham Langdon, The Terminator
Apparently, Graham Langdon doesn’t care for satire, humor, Freedom of Speech, thoughts and ideas … good golly, who knows what else. Shortly after The Mad Cow Report was published, this blog was removed from Entrecard. No explanation or even mention of why, but I can only assume that blaming Graham for the abuses of power in his Forum is against TOS or something.
You can in fact state your disdain for George Bush, the Pope, or God forbid … Google and still be an Entrecard blog in good standing, but Holy Moly … don’t say bad things about the Entrecard founder, Graham Langdom. My gosh, gee willikers … I’ve really crossed the line.
You Can Even Be a Splog
You can even be a completely useless splog or credit farm (site built for the sole purpose of accumulating the overpriced Entrecredits) without a single shred of content and still find a home at Entrecard.
And this one needs to have an award … my all time favorite
The above blog is simply the one page you see … not even a blog. Just a “Digital Beggar”
… and out of the thousands of blogs listed in Entrecard, hundreds, probably even thousands of these interesting, well written splogs have found a home …
But don’t say bad things about Graham Langdom or he will track you down and eliminate you immediately … because he’s …
The Terminator
Funny thing is, Graham Langdon is no stranger to bad behavior in the Blogosphere. Anyone remember when Graham Langdon sent his henchmen over to Techcrunch because they had the audacity to review Spottt and not Entrecard. Hundreds of loyal Entrecard devotees flocked over and left spam comments on the Techcrunch blog in protest and Graham requested that they do this in his forum.
Then of course there was the famous spamming of John Cow’s blog when he had the audacity to remove the Entrecard widget … and let’s not forget the comments made on the same John Cow blog that were later attributed to a drunken roommate by Graham … tsk tsk Graham. That post no longer exists on John Cow’s blog but here is a screen shot of it in Digg
You are a bad boy, Graham Langdon, aren’t you?
No worries. I’ve been a webmaster for over 14 years and am no stranger to promoting a site. This blog certainly does not rely on Entrecard for traffic and people love a good drama … hell, it might even become my most popular blog. Seems to me that a simple apology to it’s members would have been a simpler route to take, but Graham Langdon obviously feels that championing censorship is the American thing to do.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:26 am
Who said Stalin was dead, he has re-surfaced on Entrecard careful or you’ll end up in the salt mines!
Removing your blog is way out of order and if EC can’t take criticism and try to repress freedom of speech then they will end up on the scrapheap as people will be leaving in droves myself included. Great point you made about splogs, credit farms and such being tolerated as money is king but a little bit of criticism and you will be terminated!
Marks last blog post..Dubya meets Mr Bean
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:53 am
His very immature actions (and inactions) will keep this controversy/issue alive in itself. He is going to keep losing the smartest, wittiest, and well written blogs before this is over. Unwarranted censorship never wins out in the end. History has shown that time, and time again. Before long we’ll be able to refer to Graham as a true shepherd because only dull, mindless sheep will remain with Entrecard.
Monkey Tales last blog post..Bleary Eyed In The Morning
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I understand that he has the right to delete comments whenever, but an explanation would be nice.
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Ouch. A good “human contact” person might solve all of his issues.
How did I miss the John Cow incident?
VERY funny!
glams last blog post..She’s Got the Look - Summer to Fall Fashion
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
No way! He deleted the account? This is nuts.
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Graham thinks the way to censor people is by censoring them when really the best way to squash these sorts of blow ups is by trying to appear open-minded and gracious. If he would’ve apologized, 99% of this would’ve disappeared.
So does this officially mean any blog that speaks negatively of Entrecard will get banned? A site that is supposed to help bloggers shouldn’t be censoring them. (Sorry, that last sentence is so obvious I feel stupid even writing it.)
StanHayess last blog post..Common Sense v. Eric Karabell
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Firestormed, I am totally Overwhelmed by your actions!
Graham has every right to throw anyone out of his system that he wants to!
It’s Graham Langdon’s right to Create an Entrecard Martyre to the cause if he wishes. He is perfectly within his rights to yet Infuriate upset users even more!
Graham Langdon has Every right to say or do as he damn well pleases so that Stumble-Upon and Google Search will have so much more interesting news to share with the world about Entrecard.
Graham Langdom of Entrecard and Million Dollar Wiki and now Twitter has every right to add more fuel the flames, so that the Hotter they burn, the wider they spread.
Don’t Be so Critical of Graham “Million Dollar Wiki” Langdon. Or he just might apologize to numerous Entrecard Members and put this matter to rest, as he could have done two weeks ago. What fun is in that? Postings and websites like this would simply die out! The Users will stop coming to the Bat Cave! Sniff, Sob.
This constant stream of Bullshit has amused so many Entrecard Members in the Bat Cave forums ( will break 1,000 registered Entrecard members before tonight). Now, HOW many Entrecard Members are there REALLY in total ? 11,000 or so? Or if you take out the members with 20 splogs each, the dead blogs, the scrapers, the inactive users that probably only leaves…..err….1,000!
Lee Doyle’s probably crying right now and “Throwing his toys out of the Pram”. That Means more Obnoxious fun to come! Sorry Lee, we have Screen Caps of ALL your Darling Twitterfox Messages. Did this one remind you of one??
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:38 am
Removing your blog was way out of line especially with all those spam blogs out there. But I have a feeling your last suggestion of this blog going to be your most popular is correct.
Nishadhas last blog post..Get traffic and backlinks through blog carnivals
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:47 am
I have reported splogs and non-blogs but they still keep coming. I, therefore, have to wonder if the system of reporting useless blogs works at all. But then let someone have an opinion of the founder and that’s why they removed Firestorm from the system?
I don’t know how you can be so involved in social media and then take things as personally as all that.
Samsaras last blog post..Law of Attraction & Metaphysically Manifesting not “The Secret”
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I thought you were a Graham Langdon and Entrecard lover though…=/
-Mike
Mike Huangs last blog post..Newsletters For Blogging Is Winning The Game
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
WOW….If you read my blog, you know I’ve been in West Virginia rafting over the weekend. Tonight is my first serious day of dropping in 2 days. And lo and behold, what blog is absent from my Favorites? FIRESTORM!
So, naturally I come here to find out what happened, and now I know. While I certainly support EntreCard and have given them the benefit of the doubt over the way they’ve handled the forums, removing a blog that is 100% Satire because EntreCard is the subject of the Satire is 100% the WRONG response.
If I were Graham or Phirate, and saw this blog rise from the ashes, I would have taken a step back, laughed at myself, and issued an apology and tried to make an effort to be conciliatory and bring the community back together. Removing Firestorm from EntreCard is totally the wrong response, and now I predict that you’re right. This blog will take off like wildfire, because Graham just made a martyr out of it.
Long Live Firestorm!
Matt Urdans last blog post..MTMD: The Widget
June 24th, 2008 at 5:00 am
I am amazed that two words could have probably solved this whole thing two weeks ago “I’m Sorry” and everything probably would have blown over. I am afraid that if things dont start to change we are going to slowly watch EC fade away.
Joshs last blog post..How to make the switch to working online Part 1
June 24th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
1.) Those splogs you posted would be deleted in a second if our mod team ever found them. Now if you would only be so kind to provide links so we can delete them that would be awesome.
2.) If you don’t like Entrecard or our decisions, guess what? Stop using it. No one is pointing a gun to your head telling you to use, and post, and follow Entrecard. We have no intention of ever letting members or sites use our service who we feel are actively trying to subvert it, and that’s not going to change. Google bans people every day from Adsense who click their own ads, subverting the integrity of their network. And Entrecard bans blogs every day that are spam, hateful, hostile, “bashing”, or whatever.
In the end, its up to us who’s in and who’s out. Kind of like a country club. So if your local golf club won’t let you in because you walk up to everyone on the course telling them how much the golf course sucks, there’s no way they’re going to let you in. It’s common sense. But oh no! That golf course would be censoring opinion! Gasp!
June 24th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Oh awesome. We nailed the digital beggar. Thanks again for the tip off.
Grahams last blog post..1
June 24th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Thanks for the clarification on your little Country Club. Of course I realize I can leave any time I want to … it IS a free country, after all. The point is, of course, that none of us was SUBVERTING anything except for your little Scratchin Dick pet. We were stating our opinions … nothing more. That is normally what a forum is for, unless the founder has “secret” alliances with Russian comics and plays favorites … and sends all his loyal members to the dungeon. But LA TI DA and whoopy do Mr. college dropout, as you call yourself in your Twitter profile, “your opinions are not welcome in mah little cuntry club.”
Odd that you think it’s ok to subvert Techcrunch’s network and John Cow’s network by sending over your hencemen to leave hateful, hostile comments when they don’t give the appropriate amount of love to Entrecard and bow down to the Entrecard God … but don’t say anything bad about Graham or Entrecard … who died and made you King? Unfortunately, you are just a little Silicon Valley Wannabee without the maturity and expertise to run an operation like the big boys.
And do you really think I care that this blog was banned from Entrecard? It’s traffic has increased drastically since you have done so and Google is devouring it’s pages. This is satire Graham …. get it, satire.
As for “following you”, you did ask me to
Latest buzz
@ 6/23 16:54 Follow Entrecard founder Graham Langdon on Twitter
June 24th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Oh, Graham. PS on the splog issue. I don’t work for Entrecard. You do. I have in fact used your Report Blog button over 3 times just this week to no avail. The splogs still remain active in my drop list, so somebody isn’t really paying attention here.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I think what we are seeing is he doesn’t value his members or their views.
StanHayess last blog post..F-Hert
June 24th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Yeah, just like I didn’t value bloggin-ads view that he should be able to script drops and cheat the system to gain credits.
Just like I “censored” his “freedom of speech” to tell everyone that Entrecard officially moved their forums over to Entreforums.com
Grahams last blog post..1
June 24th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
How odd you would compare script dropping to what occurred in your forums. No comparison at all. Forums are for discussion. We were discussing. Little did we know that your Russian Web Comic was working with you and baiting us into the opinions that got us sent to a dungeon in your forum. We were then attacked by your pitbull, Lee Doyle, accounts locked, no apologies whatsoever to how you have treated members that have devoted quality content and hours of their time participating in your network. It’s pretty obvious from the comments on this site that most feel unvalued by you, lied to and deceived by you. And what’s sad … you just keep on with these lame comparisons and don’t really give a shit how your members feel.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” — Republican President Theodore Roosevelt
StanHayess last blog post..The Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame, Closers
June 24th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Graham said:
“Google bans people every day from Adsense who click their own ads, subverting the integrity of their network. And Entrecard bans blogs every day that are spam, hateful, hostile, “bashing”, or whatever.”
The obvious response is this: does Google ban everyone who talks badly about them? Even the thought makes me laugh hysterically. How silly to use that as an analogy. Google bans people for CHEATING. Not for TALKING.
Also, LOL, forum discussion is subverting your network? Criticism of your methodology is something you should learn from, not try to stop. Ebay and Amazon know this, which is why their forums are filled with criticism, and lively discussion.
As to whether a blog who is critical of you should be deleted, how little foresight you display. You will end up losing any blogger who values their writing, and their freedom to write it. The blogs that will be left will be the scrapers, the splogs, the writers of pathetic random stuff, or the “shopping” blogs and pay per post blogs.
Not an attractive network, nor anything to be proud of.
glams last blog post..Men’s Fashion Trends 2008: The ManBag
June 24th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Oh dear, where to start?
First, I think Graham is like 22 years old which means that he’s going to have 22-yr old moments. In 20 years, he’ll start to have senior moments but, for now, he has 22yr old moments. That isn’t meant to disparage him in any way. It’s to say that he’s accomplished more than most people his age and demonstrated a level of professionalism generally not found in his age group.
Maybe it’s because I’d spent many years in a very successful family business since I was age seven, experiencing and understanding the adversity associated with it, that I appreciate how far he’s come and, therefore, am willing to cut him some slack regarding such incredibly minor transgressions.
(I think I’ll have to blog about this… a comment section is just not enough room…)
In a nutshell, if you’re going to ROAST the forum owner, perhaps it would be wise to notify him in advance as a friendly buffer, of sorts, whereby you say something like, “Hey Graham, every enterprise needs a good drama. I’m planning an Entrecard critique blog that might get a little heavy sometimes but the upside is that it will actually bring a lot more traffic and attention to us both and if you think I’ve said something too over the top, I’ll definitely take it into serious consideration.”, etc etc…
Doesn’t have to be that but, perhaps, something like that.
As for the rest of this blog post:
a) who gives a shit about TechCrunch;
b) splogs are like parasites; everybody’s got some… everybody;
c) the timeliness of splog removal is a valid discussion point but you’re using it here to attack, not discuss…
d) What happened to John Cow wasn’t out of the ordinary. Some of it was passionate disagreement and, naturally, you’re going to have some mean-spirited comments find their way in, too… it happens and is not unique to Entrecard
e) the traffic you get from this matter is nothing to be excited about. I understand and have studied ‘controversial marketing’ for quite some years now and you have, unfortunately, “mopped yourself into a corner.”
Initially, other inevitably disgruntled users will frequent this place, but they will ultimately have to make a choice - to remain in concentrated negativity like an isolated Neo-Nazi clan, or to go off and find something productive to do with their time so that they and their children may have something other than a fake centerpiece on the dinner table.
f) This blog is like Palestine. With Israel, it has a purpose, twisted, but unifying nonetheless. Without Israel, they go back to killing each other.
I hope you find peace within since Entrecard is one of the only places that actually delivers what it promises… and without hype. And that’s a recipe for success.
Sam Freedoms Internet Marketing Controversy Blogs last blog post..Make Money Online - Should You Take Weekends Off?
June 24th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Graham said:
“In the end, its up to us who’s in and who’s out. Kind of like a country club. So if your local golf club won’t let you in because you walk up to everyone on the course telling them how much the golf course sucks, there’s no way they’re going to let you in. It’s common sense. But oh no! That golf course would be censoring opinion! Gasp! ”
All businesses receive criticism. Your’s is no exception, and no matter what you do, you have to learn to have a thicker skin. It is a fact of life. Banning people, censoring them, only makes the criticism more virulent. I have never seen the owner of any company behave in the manner that you have. I hope you don’t live to regret it, but sadly, I feel certain that you will.
Stan, that’s one of my fav quotes, and it is so true.
glams last blog post..Men’s Fashion Trends 2008: The ManBag
June 24th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
lol @ Sam. Nice post and thanks for stopping by. Graham of course wasn’t just hit with this all of a sudden. This sort of became the only venue for us to vent about the entire Firestorm debacle, since Firestorm was shut down almost as soon as it was created.
June 24th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
@Firestorm - first, thanks for allowing my comment to go through. Second, I should be clear, I’m not unsympathetic to those who get banned. I’ve been banned from many-a-forum since I tend to use words like “bonehead” and “idiot” more than I reasonably should.
However, while I personally prefer to err on the side of freedom of expression, I do realize the right of an organism to defend itself from what it perceives as a threat. In some cases, like rheumatoid arthritis, the defense is a mistake that ends up inflaming the whole system so it’s incumbent on both parties to
a) at least make a case for not being as threatening as perceived… and;
b) be a little more cautious when dealing with angry members, for they really ARE one of a businesses’ greatest source of feedback…
I always find it so odd that these misunderstandings happen. After all, we all really want the same things - security, respect, understanding and a little extra money to put in the bank. If only one, or both, parties could just “stop” first and say, “What would be an enlightening solution to this? What would lighten everything up a little and offer a route of reconciliation rather than more bitterness and resentment?”
Maslow wrote a piece about that called, “The Enlightened Manager.”
Anyways, I wish you success in your positive adventures
Sam
Sam Freedoms Internet Marketing Controversy Blogs last blog post..Make Money Online - Should You Take Weekends Off?
June 24th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
That is just it Sam. I think we have tried to talk to Graham but he just ignored us or has made comments like the above. He doesn’t want a discussion. He just wants us to shut up and go away.
Rachels last blog post..Smoke on the Water
June 25th, 2008 at 5:20 am
@ Rachel - please, forgive me in advance for not immediately taking your position - I have learned that when someone owns something, or is the king of a country, the wise folk realize it’s incumbent upon them to establish the owner’s level of being and then adapt to it… only, in this manner, can one assimilate the event and move beyond and above it; otherwise, one is assimilated by it.
Ok, in other words… it’s like my father used to say me, “It’s my business. And if I want, I can go down there and throw barrels through the windows all day…” - not that he did but his point was that it was his venture to do with as he pleased.
Ok, IN YET OTHER WORDS… NO ONE SAID LIFE WAS FAIR… DEAL!
If you want some wise and friendly specifics on how to best deal with this situation, please invite me to do so, and, however briefly, I shall. Otherwise, if you keep doing what’s been doing, you’ll keep getting what you got and when that happens, our shortcomings always need a villain onto which we can project them.
Sam Freedoms Internet Marketing Controversy Blogs last blog post..Make Money Online - Should You Take Weekends Off?
August 24th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Too funny. Seems the post I wrote on JohnCow about Graham was removed indeed, by the new owners. Graham tried to get me to remove it at the time, even offered me money for it. I refused, why blog your thoughts in the first place if you’re going to delete them later on?
Not Cow Anymores last blog post..Suicide Tip #10, A Paintball Gun Won’t Do The Job