pap

Completely agree. I don't know how he expects people to spend time and money doorstepping houses without an EU referendum in the locker.

Thanks bletch, both for your words here and your encouragement and time during the development of the prototype. I'll be looking at many of your suggestions, and with specific respect to the one about working out which articles refer to the same thing, I think Google News can help us there. They do that anyway, and they normally have the url as a whole parameter on their links. Stay tuned (sorry, non-nerds).

Yup, for clarity. The program collects links. It determines if those links offer the ability to comment. The Freedom Quotient breaks down individual topic areas by dividing:- number of commentable articles / number of articles * 100 Your basic percentage crap.

I think at the very least, even in this early form, it acts as an interesting springboard for discussion. I'm really restricting myself to technical implementation for now, stuff like data collection and configuration for other sources. I've not even begun thinking about real-world applications yet.

Build it then, dude. Personally, I think the statistics in the visualisation are very telling. Freer to comment on Russia and Iran than we are our own country.

Percentage of articles you are allowed to comment on from a specific source, source typically representing a news section on the Guardian.

Where do you see the worth, then? The idea is sort of predicated on the basis that ability to comment does matter. Take that out, and what's left?

Love this. Not mine

The short answer there is "almost nowt". It's largely restricted to the "Have Your Say" section.

Ah, no worries - I probably didn't explain it that well. Will probably hook up extra nations. Each extra source is additional configuration data that has to be included tho'. I find the percentages on various news sections quite interesting. Waffle away on Russia and Iran, but expect severe restrictions elsewhere

At the moment there's no analysis of the comments themselves. The only real data I am displaying is whether you can comment or not. Moving forward, one of the key aims has to be identifying individual stories across outlets to be able to do some sort of comparative analysis. For right now, next steps will be hooking other mainstream media outlets in and saving information for trends purposes.

As many regular readers of this forum will know, I've a keen interest in the flow of information, particularly when it comes to what we see in the media. I'm working on a project, presently in a very early form, which will eventually measure freedom of discussion. It looks at Internet news outlets and determines which stories readers are allowed to comment on. Right now, it just does a bit of the Guardian. http://nocomments.uk I think it's an interesting idea because although there is a degree of editorialisation in our nation's news rooms, the general public doesn't typically see what is left on the cutting room floor. Comments are a little different, as they give an indication of what newspapers don't feel comfy letting people discuss. In many cases, there are perfectly legitimate reasons. Ongoing court cases, appeals, etc. Filter those out and the results are quite interesting. Would be interested in your thoughts and/or feature requests.

I'm surprised he is not already back with an alter ego.

I'll chortle if Marsdinho stuffs me in a clique. I see myself as a big haired lone wolf Michael Knight type character. bletch is Devon.

You know the only thing worse than dull, Guardian sandal wearers moaning about the commercial use of the war dead? The sort of fúcktard that starts a thread on an advert, then says adverts aren't really worth discussing.

I often wonder about the ol' crucifix, especially since the Old Testament God strictly forbade carving idols, etc.

Quite liked this bit from the main article.

Yeah, the band were playing "Follow England Away". The fans were singing "Fúck the IRA". According to this article, the FA phoned the band and got them to stop playing it at half time. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/18/fa-forced-to-intervene-to-stop-england-band-playing-anti-ira-songs

Are they bollócks. Birthdays are your own personal New Year.

I believe that it should be mandatory to say certain things with a Scottish accent. For example, if someone tells a crap joke, the inevitable refrain of "rib-tickling" could only be delivered in a slow sarcastic Scottish brogue. Apparently Edinburgh people sound professional. I'm not really clarifying that last point on purpose. Seeds planted, etc.

Sat and watched the England game with the resident members of my family last night. Thought there was the chance of a good game, and so it was. It wasn't really a surprise that the ref let players get stuck in, but it was quite nice to see our England cohort survive it without injury, just as it was nice to see so many former Southampton players doing a job for the team. Irrespective of any feelings that we may have for defectors, it'll be something if England get some "Made In Southampton" success. Quite possible too. Many of these players know each other's games, as Lambert's pass to Lallana showed. It could be the start of another golden generation. Early days though, yet. I'm not even going to moan about Rooney, because largely, I can't. Good performance from him last night. Might be the sort of player to be improved with the responsibility of captaincy.

Yeah, and the less government helps my people out, the more I have to find, the more I have to work and the more I get taxed. Thing is, I lose my job and everything is fscked. The model is only as good as the foundations it sits on.

I'm miffed about much of the money I give to the exchequer, largely because it's going to line the pockets of those who don't need it. More interesting question. How much money do I give away to make up for the government's indifference?

He should sign up as Sorry Banchez and see how long he survives.

I'm sure the mods have and will argue that it was his campaign of negative terror that did for him, but they let him off, imo. Would have been fun to see him eating many words over our success