Always curious -- do these 'safety devices' padlock the anus and mouths of these poor set-upon females as well??? IS NOT THIS A RESTRICTION OF TRADE'??? OR RATHER JUST A RESTRUCTURING OF ACCESS??? [Please ask E-L-I-O-T, E-L-I-O-T the SPITZER about so-called 'safety devices' - didn't he have his membership cut off from one of these pritannical padlocks???]

along with that hunk of metal on your evil nether lands...we'll have to strap an iron mask on your head to put an end to your happy endings....

bad masseuses! bad! get back in you training crates!

god I love mockery.

The first person to put on my kill list would be brightstar.

I could really do with out his comments.

they're hurtful, and it's depressing to read them.

I mean it's hard enough going day to day having to feel like I'm some sort of misfit for being a teenage woman....but it really tops it off to read that someone really hates women and believes that all feminist are monsters.

I have a loving family, that includes loving men who would never say anything to that length.

but it makes me wonder...how many people like him are out there.

I don't hate people or the world...i choose not to hate. I used to choose to have the innocent mind of a child and be oblivious to the evil world.

but that's hard.

so hard.

all you have to do is turn on the television.

The problem with kill lists is that you still get the context: people replying to the trolls. But it's better than nothing.

I personally would eliminate the red stars altogether. People can read, and consensus flows indicate who's shifting the tide of the argument.

I'd give -you- a red star for your post, though.

Yes, two:

1) Enable kill lists, now that we have mandatory monikers, like we used to have on usenet back in the day. That means, if I put you on my kill list, I never have to read your crap again. It is a pretty serious punishment, which requires no moderator time at all. Back in use-net days, it sort of worked, too.

2) Fix the red star system. Right now, my best guess is that the author tags posts they like, if they feel like it. Some hand them out like candy, others almost never. Moderating and policing commentary threads is a horrible, tedious, thankless, and in every way possible an awful task. Having a second set of eyes enforcing some continuity and consistency on awarding "editors' choice stars (rather than warning/banning people) strikes me as being a lot easier. Kind of like digging, except you moderate the diggs, not the posts.

This would elicit howls of outrage of course.

Good.

Canuckistan Bob, I totally sympathize with you. I actually stopped posting a while back and the reason being that Salon doesn't moderate their threads very well, so trolls end up overtaking the place. I don't expect to see any intelligence here because first of all, who in their right mind is going to want to contribute when half these comments are nonsensical, mean spirited asshattery.

As you've probably noticed, trolling on feminist and women's sites are among the worst. I have my theories as to why (one of which is there's just a glut of highly uncreative douches out there who like to blame their mommies and non-existent girlfriends for all their problems in life, including their inability to attract a member of the opposite sex, and they wonder why) Give these trolls any bit of the truth and they come right back at you with even more douchery...there's just no sense in dealing with 'em. Nonetheless, the trolls here are well known among the blogosphere, and Salon is complicit in this for failing to police the threads, thus you end up with the type of conversation you see here and on most BS posts: very few serious posters with well thoughtout responses, too much trollery with all the typical troll cards being played i.e. intentionally inflammatory posts, derailment of conversation, ad hominem attacks, circular logic, no logic at all, etc. I don't have any expectation that the trolls will stop or go away, because they get off on destroying good conversation, furthermore, when you try to point out that their trolling is childish and immature they will respond with little more than "your momma smells". They don't give a damn, so what's the point? Anyway, many people have stopped posting on Salon because of the poor quality in comments. (Actually, I feel bad for the few people left who in good faith post thoughtful responses despite the low quality of other comments on this site.)

Only when Salon increases the moderation on it's threads will more sensible serious intelligent commenters return. Until then I expect nothing from posters here and the trolling will continue. Sad, but what can any of the serious commenters really do? Got any ideas Bob?

(I told myself that I would stop reading these comments, but for some reason I clicked on this thread, just out of curiosity, to see if anything had improved. You can guess the answer to that question)

Why not they think about fitting the belt and lock on the private parts of their male customers?

If you're going to channel Pat Robertson's list of grievances, you forgot the witchcraft.

My pagan friends are all feminists.

among other benefits it protected the girls from being accused of cooperating with the customers in the commission of forbidden activities.

That isn't the way GPS systems normally work. If the GPS is trackable by an outside source, they are on constantly. The button would primarily be there to indicate the wearer needs help, not to activate GPS. And an ankle bracelet? Really? You're being attacked by someone and you need to reach your ankle to press a button?

Uh, wasn't that an S&M bar??

there was actually a strip club in portland where the girls did lap dances this way.

You're missing the point. A tracking bracelet lets the cops know where you are at all times. A GPS system only does that when it's activated. The poster's point was the TCF framed the concept as an Orwellian imposition, not instead of the lifesaver it could be.

Compared to your analogy, it's the difference between pulling the trigger, and not. All the difference in the world.