re: #6 marjoriemoon

As to the article, I’m confused. He seems to be saying that the UAE academics, those who have been writing recent articles about the protests in Egypt and those who supported the killing of OBL, are speaking out against the Muslim Brotherhood, yet many of them are actually members?

Yeah, I was kind of confused too about who is/isn’t supposed to be a known MB member.

Another interesting point. the MB has gained hold in areas where there is a lot of poverty (Egypt, Gaza, Jordan) but not so much in the wealthy states of the UAE.

I wonder though since the UAE is primarily ex-pats (some 80%?) I wonder how that influences things. Or is that just Dubai.

Good question.

As to the weirdo Twitter stalkers, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ABOUT. I’ve had 3 of them try to follow me, one twice. I thought if you block someone, they stay blocked? Whatever. I don’t have time for their ugly BS.

LOL, they’re persistent, I’ll give them that. I’m not sure why they keep trying since only a few people are actually interested in their rantings. Go figure. *shrug*

Anyway, they should stay blocked after the first time you block them, but sometimes they’ll open another account under a different nic. If you’re using Tweetdeck, keep in mind that the global filter doesn’t actually block anyone, it just filters out all their tweets—i.e. if you leave Tweedeck and and use the Twitter web interface, you’ll see they’re still following you (and you can see their tweets).

Once someone is actually blocked they can’t follow you, but they can still read your tweets if they go to your Twitter page. They can also mention you in their tweets, but you won’t see them unless you go to their Twitter page or do a search of your nic (not recommended as it can get ugly). Was that about as clear as mud? :)

I keep a running list of everyone I block and a word or two about why I blocked them (stalker, possible stalker, wingnut, spammer, etc.) Every once in a while I also proactively block people, meaning I check the followers/following lists of people I’ve already blocked, and then add anyone who seems especially loathsome. Searching for @Lizardoid or #LGF also usually provides an abundance of spewers’ nics to add to the list.

Maybe I’ll do a page on Twitter someday soon with screenshots & everything.