Are OTHER people allowed to guess as to his identity?
And why do I figure this has something to do with bare knuckle North Minneapolis blog wars?
For the record, I guess he has the initials “D.A.”
@John, nope, he’s not affiliated with North Minneapolis, but he does share many of D.A.’s traits.
Maybe he needs an rss feed on his alias name in order to find this posting, eh? I’d add my guess but that will just make it easier for him to see the bigger picture where his pantaloons are showing.
Glad it’s not me.
Why do we need to know who Jim Bratz really is, Ed?
@Rat, let’s just say that it’s “grassroots coalition” reality check.
I was wrong when I guessed D.A., but the “same traits” thing comes through loud and clear. I can hardly wait for the outing! Hurry! I’m in suspense.
I always suspect Astroturf from the outset. It saves time. I don’t need to know who Jim Bratz is. If you want posters on your blog I don’t know why you need to threaten their anonymity if they’re not doing anything out of line.
It’s fine to be anonymous (like me and Rat) when you’re (i) not pretending to be someone else (I’m sure there really is a Jim Bratz somewhere); and (ii) not pretending to be independent when you really aren’t. If “Jim Bratz” has a financial interest in the new stadium or the Vikes or a paid advocacy group, and “financial interest” includes being an employee or paid in some other way, then he’s misrepresenting himself to manipulate the public debate and he (she) deserves to be outed.
@Rat, Barry nailed it. Creating fake personas in an effort to influence public policy and public spending is borderline criminal behavior, in my opinion.
I don’t know about “criminal” but definately lazy and not worth the credibility hit you take if someone is able to pull back the curtain on the Great and Powerful Oz.
If grassroots public support for an issue can influence public policy (I think most would agree that it can) then manufacturing the illusion of grassroots public support should be illegal.
Are OTHER people allowed to guess as to his identity?
And why do I figure this has something to do with bare knuckle North Minneapolis blog wars?
For the record, I guess he has the initials “D.A.”
@John, nope, he’s not affiliated with North Minneapolis, but he does share many of D.A.’s traits.
Maybe he needs an rss feed on his alias name in order to find this posting, eh? I’d add my guess but that will just make it easier for him to see the bigger picture where his pantaloons are showing.
Glad it’s not me.
Why do we need to know who Jim Bratz really is, Ed?
@Rat, let’s just say that it’s “grassroots coalition” reality check.
I was wrong when I guessed D.A., but the “same traits” thing comes through loud and clear. I can hardly wait for the outing! Hurry! I’m in suspense.
I always suspect Astroturf from the outset. It saves time. I don’t need to know who Jim Bratz is. If you want posters on your blog I don’t know why you need to threaten their anonymity if they’re not doing anything out of line.
It’s fine to be anonymous (like me and Rat) when you’re (i) not pretending to be someone else (I’m sure there really is a Jim Bratz somewhere); and (ii) not pretending to be independent when you really aren’t. If “Jim Bratz” has a financial interest in the new stadium or the Vikes or a paid advocacy group, and “financial interest” includes being an employee or paid in some other way, then he’s misrepresenting himself to manipulate the public debate and he (she) deserves to be outed.
@Rat, Barry nailed it. Creating fake personas in an effort to influence public policy and public spending is borderline criminal behavior, in my opinion.
I don’t know about “criminal” but definately lazy and not worth the credibility hit you take if someone is able to pull back the curtain on the Great and Powerful Oz.
@Matt, an astroturfing company was successfully sued by the state of New York in 2009. And, a company has fined and demoted its own employees for astroturfing.
If grassroots public support for an issue can influence public policy (I think most would agree that it can) then manufacturing the illusion of grassroots public support should be illegal.