Disqus - Friends of digitalextremist

Re: About Afghanistan…

Karoli — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:21:56 -0000

I'm not a fan of crop substitution, but it's worth noting that in 2001 (when the Taliban was in power), the opium exports dropped to nearly zero. That proves to me that a strong government (not necessarily totalitarian, but strong) can influence the opium trade in a negative fashion. In a 2009 survey done in June, over 80% of Afghans said they had faith in the Afghan Army, and over 70% in the Afghan police. That tells me that there has been progress in training and raising local support for a strong government. Karzai, in my opinion, is not the strongest leader Afghanistan could have. He is, however, what they've got for the time being. The question is whether or not a counterinsurgency effort could build the Afghan army and police force to a point where, when combined with strong leadership, they could actually be successful at self-governance and eradication (or at least, strong diminishment) of the opium trade in favor of other moneymaking ventures.

I totally agree with you about the cultural aspects being important and being a strength Obama has on his side. One of the reasons I wrote this post was a) to start a discussion about the different aspects of this decision and b) to make the case that if he does choose to send additional troops, it's a decision made within the frame of a cultural understanding. He's a very intelligent man who is listening to all sides of the debate. I don't believe he will just willy-nilly send troops in there without a plan, a goal, and a timeline.

Re: About Afghanistan…

Karoli — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:06:20 -0000

My problem is that much of what has happened over the past 30 years is the clear result of a chaotic and self-serving American policy there. We support them before we don't. We neglect them before we pay attention before we neglect them again. Until 2005, we had a real opportunity there, but because the Bush administration deemed Iraq more important than Afghanistan, they simply didn't pay attention. Combine that with the commonly advanced meme that it's an ungovernable country (it's not), and confusion reigns.

Really, for me, the question is whether we can undo some of the damage done, and in the process, use leverage in Afghanistan to stabilize the region.

Re: Graphite Offers Simple Weight Loss and Exercise Monitoring Tools

giannii — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:39:55 -0000

totally.

Re: DISQUS | Service Status - Everything is running normal.

giannii — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:05:31 -0000

On which site? Can you link me?

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Dealing with Spam

giannii — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:05:15 -0000

We've found better results in our current system thus far but thanks for the suggestion =)

Re: annieisms's tumblisms, I feel like I’ve been a waste of a Google Wave...

giannii — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:25:32 -0000

How the heck did I get invited here? Is this a steriod version of icq? =P

Pop Quiz: Remember your ICQ number?!

46319817 and I can't even remember my SSN..

Re: Is Enterprise 2.0 a Crock?

jacobmorgan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:35:16 -0000

Yep that's a great point. I run into a similar conversation with folks when they say that social media should replace traditional media and that traditional media is dead. Of course, this is not the case. Social and traditional need to work together and e1.0 and 2.0 also need to work together to achieve the same business outcomes.

thanks for the comment!

Re: DISQUS | Service Status - Everything is back to normal.

giannii — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:04:12 -0000

Can you forward me a notification that went to the wrong email? help@disqus.com

Re: DISQUS | Service Status - Everything is back to normal.

giannii — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:09:21 -0000

You can find those links here: http://disqus.com/profile/connections

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Set a default avatar for your site

giannii — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:08:19 -0000

This is something we're developing. =)

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Translated in over 40 languages

giannii — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:06:53 -0000

Yeah, if you havent already go ahead and apply to the dutch translation here: http://disqus.com/translate

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Translated in over 40 languages

giannii — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:06:15 -0000

Hello back! =)

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Translated in over 40 languages

giannii — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:04:20 -0000

You bring up a good point here. Let me talk this over with the guys.

Re: Traditional Media with a Social Media Message

jacobmorgan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:16:09 -0000

I agree, they didn't do a great job at all but at least hopefully we are moving in the right direction. I think we are going to see much better attempts by companies come 2010.

Re: Are RT’s on Twitter about to lose their relevancy?

joshchandler — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:23:51 -0000

Alex,

I think you may be a little misguided if you are presuming "all our followers" are following @scobleizer and @mashable. It may seem likely, but there are many times when I see questions about "Who is Robert Scoble?" and "Why Should I Care?".

I always treat every new follower to my Twitter account as an unknown, never presuming anything!

Thanks for your comment :)

Re: DISQUS | Service Status - Maintenance window

giannii — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:42:46 -0000

Sounds like it maybe some settings on your users end as thousands of people login using safari and firefox daily. IF you want you can have them email me some information and I can look into it.

Re: Standing in the gap: Health care reform may come too late for some

Karoli — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:42:47 -0000

It's a guarantee that if something isn't done, a Republican will be in
office. The only hope for real change is to just get it done.

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Translated in over 40 languages

giannii — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:40:24 -0000

Yeah, go here: http://disqus.com/translate and apply to add the language.

Re: DISQUS | Service Status - Everything is back to normal.

giannii — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:40:01 -0000

Still having problems?

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Set a default avatar for your site

giannii — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:39:45 -0000

I have a developer on it. =)

Re: The Importance of a Social Media ROI Diagnostic

jacobmorgan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:20:26 -0000

You are very welcome, hope you found it valuable. Let me know how you progress in the ROI space, curious to hear what happens.

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Translated in over 40 languages

giannii — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:00:02 -0000

There was a day of bad spam and we enabled it for that day forgetting it was on. We're not censoring anything, don't worry.

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Translated in over 40 languages

giannii — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:13:35 -0000

I have a developer working on a interim solution for that type of stuff. Soon. I'll email all the translators once it's ready.

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Moderating comments from your Post

giannii — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:11:45 -0000

You can import your comments by going here: WP Admin > Comments > Adv Options > Import

Keep in mind Disqus must be installed for you see that.

Re: Disqus: The Official Blog - Disqus Comments: Reactions Count + Refresh!

giannii — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:49:03 -0000

It sometimes takes up to a day or so depending on our partners backtype and ubervu.