I had hoped to publish a triumphant ‘WOOT WOOT! We Just Reached One Million Views’ post today. Saturday, as I was speaking to a Barre citizen’s group about the Chronicle, the one-millionth view of 2023 occurred – about two weeks sooner than last year’s record Seven Figure View.
Alas. Today’s Letter from the Publisher is a little less triumph, and a little more snafu – a World War II GI acronym meaning, in language I’d use with my mother, “Situation Normal, All Fouled Up.”
At mid-morning, I started receiving a slew of emails from longtime commenters complaining that comments weren’t posting because an “Invalid Security Token.”
I know what an invalid is. It’s someone who is too sick or injured to move.
I know what security is. Rent-a-cop, right?
And a token is a fake coin that gets onto the subway.
But “Invalid Security Token” is, I guess, Geekspeak for “we’re not letting you comment.” Whatever else it might mean, and more importantly how to make it go away so that everyone can continue to comment, I and my crack team of fellow IT know-nothings are trying to ascertain.
And we will. We’ll fix it. When you think about it, it’s pretty amazing that we’ve gotten this far.
But back to a happier subject – the One Million Views. We (meaning the huge family of VDC readers) hit 1,000,000 on just the second day of December, about two weeks ahead of last year’s record. So from us to you – thank you!
Looking ahead to 2024, we want to reach a million in November or even sooner. To do this we need everyone’s help. Improving performance doesn’t come free. Whether you’ve been a Sustaining Subscriber for years (like my buddy Doug in Underhill, one of the very first), or have yet to join the dedicated, generous team of readers who make it possible for the rest, I ask you, I urge you, to please contribute either one-time or every month.
The sad truth is that like every army, our corps of Sustaining Subscribers will grow smaller unless new blood joins every year. People die, people move, people’s interests and life circumstances change.
We need your help.
To contribute $9 per month on a recurring basis, please click here.
To donate online on a one-time annual basis of $108, please click here.
If online giving isn’t your thing, or if you wish to give either more or less than the amount above, checks (suggested annual contribution of $108) may be mailed to: Vermont Daily Chronicle, P.O. Box 1547, Montpelier, Vermont, 05601. Your support is not tax-deductible.
Thank you one and all for making 2023 the most memorable year ever.
Free Speech Forever,
Guy Page, Editor and Publisher
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Categories: Letter from the Publisher
This is a test.
Congratulations VDC! Well deserved.
Viva La Free Speech! A revolutionary concept in the 21st century.
Hi Guy,
I’m not sure you understand how vital and important this news site and the open commentary truly is. When I got the multiple “Invalid Security Tokens” my first thought was, “I’ve been banned again”. Then I thought well maybe the forces have taken over his project and they are censoring what is going on.
Twitter is not a completely free space, but perhaps the most open of any out there. When we had our campaign for the Green Mountain Party, we were censored and not allowed to post on multiple state formats. We could not use the name of our party on True North Reports, it automatically removed any post.
On VT Digger, we “moderated” off the platform, specifically told we could, I could not talk about the political party. Though I could talk about any other party, mostly positive things about the VDP….otherwise “moderated”. LOL>
When we go on Face book, we could post, but we could not push or advertise on any of their platforms. They claimed we were not a legitimate political party; they could have cared less that we were registered with the Vermont Secretary of State.
The press is almost completely controlled. I suspect why we don’t have more growth is you are being moderated behind the scenes.
If you are still printing hard copy, I’m open to spreading them around my area, as done in the past. Hard copy may be the only way to advance at some point.
The issues the plague us in Vermont are not going away, because they are hard wired into our governmental system.
The truth scares the hell out many, many people. This is clearly evidenced by our campaign…clearly evidenced by the massive propaganda going across our country in lock step. I can appreciate how many would think this can’t possibly be happening, it just can’t. But it is. The Smear by Sheryl Atkisson reveals much. When you watch the news and every news caster across the entire country, talks about the same news AND uses the same words you have confirmation of complete propaganda.
Guy, thank you for having the courage, wisdom and honesty to go a different path. God Speed.
Over the course of several years I have seen about half of my posts unfairly censored on both “liberal” & “conservative” sites, including this one and VT Digger. I am reluctant to use my real email address because I don’t trust people who practice unjust censorship. I also think it’s deceptive for VDC to conceal the fact that all comments are held back for manual moderation (and the approval delay tends to stifle debate, which is really against free speech.) But even if the ethical issues that encompass this covert censorship are of no concern to the publisher, this secret moderation queue is clearly confusing to readers like yourself —and that confusion is understandable because it’s NOT how web forums typically work (except those in China). The lack of transparency is at best abusive & disrespectful, and at worst a form of fraud.
So far as these networking issues are concerned, WordPress is known for concealing the flaws of its anti-spam and security products that often block legitimate traffic in a sloppy, ham-handed fashion without explanation. The company is compelled to cover up those flaws and exaggerate the quality of its services in order to remain competitive in a cutthroat market where price is king. So we are also dealing with a web site hosting & commenting platform that is run by people who likewise misrepresent their services in ways that sometimes amount to fraud, and they conceal incompetence or dishonesty in various cases by censoring customer complaints. I daresay there is a sort of karmic justice here. 😉
I believe AI which is supposedly being used by so many companies, is none other than computer run censorship. They are surely building profiles of people, just like facebook, etc, while many for business use, much for control use.
Control of thought, control of population, control of money.
Knowing is half the battle, sadly. 80% of Vermonters have no idea how pervasive the censor ship truly is.
You can see where others and myself are questioning the moderation on this site at times, though it’s perhaps 1 out of 50 comments and I’ve no idea what triggers it.
test
hmmm
some things happen faster than others……the online AI needs to take a speed course in reading….
still waiting…..
Congrats
Digging a hole to put the diggers in…Bravo Zulu.
Congrats Guy!!! this means that one million people are getting the true facts!!!!
mass murder will all be exposed no one will go to jail tel lie vision is your god go back to sleep get the booster you will feel better tomorrow this information on the kill shot was known three years ago the dead bodies are increasing every day tel lie vision will bring fake news every night enjoy
all channels on the tel lie vision say the same thing…must be true
television…….programs are…..made to program…..your mind….
Congratulations on the milestone.
More importantly, keeping the comments section going is a huge plus. I read VDC daily, as well as Vermont Digger to get two different perspectives. Somehow, the Digger has decided to discontinue their comments section so there is really no way to question what they print.
The Digger “can’t handle the truth!”
Proud to be among the million!