Is StumbleUpon censoring me?

I use StumbleUpon. A llllllot. Sometimes the mood strikes and I leave a comment about a site on the StumbleUpon page for it. Usually, forgetting the Thumper rule* as one does on the Internet, I only comment if the site makes me a little mad. Sometimes I use the "s" word. Once, I used the "f" word. Horrors!

Now, none of my comments show up on StumbleUpon. Even to me, even though I'm allowed to see "R rated" content. I have apparently been rated X by StumbleUpon. Don't get excited -- there are no naked pictures of me at my lumpiest on the Internet. On StumbleUpon, I'm rated X for swearing.

I suspect I was actually flagged for my rather unpopular (and frequently expressed) view that women are more than sex things. Someone reported me as X-rated to StumbleUpon, and StumbleUpon agreed to block my opinion from everyone, including adults cool with seeing R-rated content, including me. Just like that. They didn't check to see if I actually post nudie pictures or even lurid descriptions of sex acts. They just flipped a switch and one feminist shut the fuck up. Congratulations, Republicans.

I've written to StumbleUpon to ask what actually happened and how to remedy it, but really -- what a bad system! Only the blandest comments will escape the notice of mob censure, and given the nature of StumbleUpon comments I'm seeing now ("very useful", "Awww!", "awesome"), it may already be having a dulling effect. People shouldn't have to prove they're not pornographers. Complainants should really have to prove they are. It's guilty until proven innocent, and unless StumbleUpon fixes it, I'm uninstalling that addictive little button.

*If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all.

Update (2/19/08): Still no word from StumbleUpon, but I was listening to the TWiT podcast, and they were complaining about eBay. Apparently eBay bought StumbleUpon a while back, not long before they implemented a new policy of going after "abusive" users (which I am not). It makes sense to me that a Republican-run company like eBay would want to bland down its properties so as not to offend anyone with differing opinions, and the first folks to get the old ideological heave-, um, "ho" would be the feminists.

CSV to WPL

Here's my first PHP and SQL program, called CSV to WPL. It creates Windows Media Player playlists from comma-separated lists of bands.

It's a niche program that has football stadiums worth of room for improvement (it's not a beta -- it's an alpha), but I know I'll use it a lot just as it is.

Update: I did use it a lot, but I've written various improved playlist maker scripts, including a version that allows you to cut and paste a list of artists instead of making a spreadsheet of them.

SXSW 2008

I've been writing a program to take a list of artists and generate a playlist for Windows Media Player that will search your library for songs by those artists.

My little program works pretty well for me, since I know all its little bugaboos, but it's not ready to share yet. So for now, I can only share the playlists.

Here's my 2008 South by Southwest playlist (right-click and Save As... to download to "My Documents/My Music/My Playlists", then open with Windows Media Player). Because there are so many artists, if you have a massive library full of mp3s from good blogs like I do, it'll take a while to load. Watch out, though: Windows Media Player sees that, for example, Bell is playing and thinks Belle & Sebastian are playing. Sadly, they're not.

If your library doesn't include many of the bands playing this year, here's where you can find some mp3s from my favorite bands playing this year. I'll add more when I get time, but I really need to get to work to finish up that playlist program. I have playlists for each day of Coachella, too, but again. Time.

photo by john vanderslice.

Blitzen Trapper - Crazy On You [Buy mp3!!!]
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation [Buy mp3!!!]
Blitzen Trapper - 40 Stripes [Buy mp3!!!]

Jens Lekman - Washing Machine
Jens Lekman - Your Beat Kicks Back Like Death
Jens Lekman - Black Cab [Buy mp3!!!]

photo by chromewaves.

Nada Surf - Always Love [Buy mp3!!!]
Nada Surf - Where Is My Mind? [Buy mp3!!!]
Nada Surf - Popular [Buy mp3!!!]

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma [Buy mp3!!!]
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

Menomena - Cough Coughing [Buy mp3!!!]
Menomena - Wet and Rusting [Buy mp3!!!]
Menomena - Rotten Hell

photo by Pupkin.

Yeasayer - Sunrise [Buy mp3!!!]
Yeasayer - Wait for the Summer [Buy mp3!!!]
Yeasayer - Germs [Buy mp3!!!]

Tokyo Police Club - Citizens of Tomorrow (Space Ballad Version)
Tokyo Police Club - Nature of the Experiment [Buy mp3!!!]
Tokyo Police Club - Your English is Good [Buy mp3!!!]

photo by chona kasinger.

The Blakes - Two Times [Buy mp3!!!]
The Blakes - Pistol Grip [Buy mp3!!!]
The Blakes - Don't Bother Me [Buy mp3!!!]

White Denim - ShakeShakeShake

The Presidents of the United States of America - Kitty [Buy mp3!!!]
The Presidents of the United States of America - Peaches

photo by imjustincognito.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder [Buy mp3!!!]
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Underwater (You and Me) [Buy mp3!!!]
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Love Song No. 7 [Buy mp3!!!]

Yo La Tengo - Nuclear War

The Clutters - Oh [Buy mp3!!!]

Basia Bulat - I Was a Daughter [Buy mp3!!!]
Basia Bulat - Snakes and Ladders [Buy mp3!!!]

Diplo - Work Is Never Over

photo by johnnyalive.

The Black Lips - Not A Problem [Buy mp3!!!]
The Black Lips - Buried Alive
The Black Lips - Dirty Hands [Buy mp3!!!]


Laura Gibson - Hands in Pockets [Buy mp3!!!]
Laura Gibson - Come by Storm

photo by jessicalea.

Greg Laswell - Girls Just Want To Have Fun [Buy mp3!!!]
Greg Laswell - Sing, Theresa Says [Buy mp3!!!]
Greg Laswell - Days Go On

The Kills - Love Is A Deserter (Simian Mobile Disco Mix)
The Kills - Fuck The People
The Kills - No Wow

photo by 'Lil.

Mark Kozelek - What's Next To The Moon [Buy mp3!!!]

The Raveonettes - Love in a Trashcan [Buy mp3!!!]
The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song
The Raveonettes - Here Comes Mary

White Williams - New Violence

photo by savemejebus.

The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover [Buy mp3!!!]

Capgun Coup - My Tears Cure Cancer [Buy mp3!!!]
Capgun Coup - Bobby Chops and the Do-Gooders

photo by vern.

The Cribs - Men's Needs [YouTube][Buy mp3!!!]
The Cribs - Hey Scenesters! [Buy mp3!!!]
The Cribs - Another Number [Buy mp3!!!]

Division Day - Enjoy the Silence
Division Day - Every Shining Time You Arrive

photo by mediaeater.

British Sea Power - Tugboat

Asylum Street Spankers - You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch [Buy mp3!!!]
Asylum Street Spanker - Beer

Bodies of Water - These Are The Eyes [Buy mp3!!!]

photo by akmal-naim.

Foreign Born - Union Hall [Buy mp3!!!]
Foreign Born - The Nights Tall
Foreign Born - Don't Take Back Your Time

Cloud Cult - Alien Christ
Cloud Cult - Car Crash
Cloud Cult - Living On The Outside Of Your Skin

Zookeeper - Tax Collector
Zookeeper - I Live In The Mess You Are

Richard Thompson - Dad's Gonna Kill Me

photo by bumpershine.

The Weakerthans - Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure [Buy mp3!!!]
The Weakerthans - Plea From A Cat Named Virtute [Buy mp3!!!]
The Weakerthans - Night Windows [Buy mp3!!!]

Simian Mobile Disco - It's the Beat

Black Mountain - Tyrants [Buy mp3!!!]

Handsome Furs - What We Had
Handsome Furs - Dead + Rural
Handsome Furs - Snakes on the Ladder

The Low Budgets - Caveman

The Album Leaf - Always for You
The Album Leaf - Writings on the Wall
The Album Leaf - On Your Way

An Albatross - The Revolutionary Politics of Dance

The Cave Singers - Seeds of Night

The Two Man Gentlemen Band - William Howard Taft

The Stills - Still In Love Song
The Stills - In The Beginning

Throw Me The Statue - Yucatan Gold
Throw Me The Statue - Conquering Kids
Throw Me The Statue - About to Walk

Passengers - Miss Sarajevo

Man Man - Black Mission Goggles
Man Man - Van Helsing Boombox

The Minutemen - History Lesson - part II

The Swell Season - Cactus

The Strugglers - The Cascade Range

Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen

Sean Hayes - Same God

Born Ruffians - Knife
Born Ruffians - I'm One of Those Girls

Jenny Owen Youngs - Fuck Was I