LENIN'S TOMB

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Bloggery posted by Richard Seymour

Just to point out, I figured out that the best way to overcome the problem with the comments was to shift to a new domain. If you recall, the issue has been caused by the fact that Google insisted on introducing new country-specific URL codes for Blogspot blogs, ending in .co.uk, .co.ca, .co.au, etc., depending on where you accessed the blog from. This meant that an individual post might have several URL codes. Disqus, the comments service I use, would then treat each version as a separate article with a separate comments thread. There's no good reason that I can see for Google having imposed this change without allowing any opt-out. But that's what you get with a free service. So, the solution I have decided upon is to purchase a new domain, www.leninology.com. From now on, you should in theory find yourself being redirected to this domain if you try to access via www.leninology.blogspot.com, but it would be easier for you just to bookmark the new URL. This does involve a 'year zero' for comments, until I can get Disqus to 'migrate' the threads. But in the long term it will solve the problem with the comments thread and also give us internet 'personhood' about ten years after everyone else.

Labels: bloggery, comments, everyone is banned, lenin's tomb

Thursday, December 01, 2011

That's a nice blog you have there. Shame if something were to happen to it. posted by Richard Seymour

You all know what this is. Christmas time, when you're allegedly in a more yielding, generous mood - so I'm shaking you down. Listen, I haven't been able to persuade more than one person to donate to this blog on a regular, monthly basis. That person knows who he is, and he should also know that he's the only one. Feel good about yourselves? Eh? Eh? Eh?

Flattr didn't work out at all either. Donations last month were in the euro cents. So they've devised a system whereby people wanting to 'flattr' you can actually insult you with small change instead. Now, listen. I do understand. Everyone has their hand in your pocket. Prices are going up, wages are coming down. Living standards are stagnant. And besides, it's not like you pay for anything else on the internet.

But it's because of this failure to generate a sustainable stream of income that I have to come back and subject you to a new round of moral blackmail. And believe me, if you force me to, I'll ham it up so much you'll think you're watching a fucking NSPCC commercial. Then I'll ban Christmas, again. And then I'll shoot this wuvvwy puppy. So, let's try to avoid all that, eh? We're all civilized human beings here, apart from the ones whose comments are still being pre-moderated, and they're at least en route to civilization. Here's the deal. You can see I work hard on my material. There is a lot of labour time congealed in this blog. And that's time that most male bloggers spend stalking rivals, wanking and trolling (not necessarily separate activities). And the time, I like to think, is reasonably well spent. Evidently I'm on your reading list, because you keep coming back. This blog has had over 5 million unique visits. Now, if I had a pound for every time someone visited my blog... it would make no difference whatsoever, because I would still have spent it all on books. But the point is, I'm not asking you to make me a millionaire, just to consider paying a small sum toward the reproduction of my labour power. Regularly if you can, an unreasonably huge lump sum now if you cannot. And if you don't, so help me, I will shoot this blog. I will execute it. I will take it out and shoot it in front of its family, as Clarkson is my witness. So, please, let's not have any scenes. Donate to the church of leninology, and have a Merry Xmas.

PS: Thanks to guidance from a number of readers, I have been able to set up a 'Subscribe' button. This means if you want to make a monthly donation, you can. I have to set specific subscription amounts, but if there is an amount that you feel you can donate that is not covered in the options, please let me know and I'll see if I can add it.

Labels: bloggery, blogging, donations, lenin's tomb, lenin's tomb bans christmas

Friday, March 11, 2011

The Lenin's Tomb appeal posted by Richard Seymour

Dear readers. I would like, if I may, to button-hole you. Like a 'charity mugger' but without the put-on charm and breezy, outgoing demeanour. Or like an alcoholic evangelist without the sartorial elegance. I am currently in the business of writing my third book (you'll have to wait for the details). When that is done, I intend to write a fourth book, distributed as an ebook via this site - essentially, you'll be able to download it for free then pay what you like for it, if anything at all. Then there'll probably be a collaborative effort. In the meantime, I'll be working full-time on my PhD. And of course I'll be doing innumerable talks and events, two of which are coming up next week. Now, this is where it gets tricky. As a full-time student, I can neither work full-time nor claim any benefit. I must depend to some extent on what funding I may win from the Department, in which regard I have reason to be grateful this year. Yet, still here I am, still balling, and still broke. So, I'm throwing caution, pride and clothing to the wind, and launching an appeal. I'm not setting a target with one of those 'thermometer'-style meters advising readers how generous or mean they're being. I wouldn't embarrass you like that. But, just on the down-low, if you do happen to have a spare fiver, know how to use Paypal and know what's good for you, I will consider it a magnanimous gesture on your part if you'd subsidise my labour on this, your favourite political blog. If it helps, remember all the good times you've had here. Remember when I banned Christmas. Remember when I banned you all. Remember when I deleted your comment, assuming you were a troll when you only wanted to start a debate. Remember when I used to swear a lot more than I do now. Remember when I used to blog drunk on a Friday night. And, suitably intoxicated with nostalgia, give.

Labels: appeal, comments, lenin's tomb, lenin's tomb bans christmas, money, the complete and utter works of richard seymour

Friday, February 18, 2011

Petit bourgeois vermin of the week posted by Richard Seymour

You will forgive me this detour into hate-mongering, I hope. Normal service will be resumed shortly. It's just that I read this tale of a minor attempted theft, in which a worker tried to take his boss, owner of a small flooring company, to the tune of £845 by writing a company cheque out and trying to cash it at Cash Converters. For non-UK readers, Cash Converters is one of those predatory loan shark outfits that are proliferating across Britain like the plague. I feel it's important to underline that it was an attempted theft, as the press aren't making that distinction. The worker claims he was owed the sum he attempted to steal in wages, which the boss denies. And the boss, when he suspected the attempted theft, had the worker beaten up and falsely imprisoned with the assistance of three other men, then frogmarched the worker down to the police station with a sign around his neck reading "Thief". The newspapers tend to understate the physical violence that accompanied this act, but the bloke ended up with bruises, rope burns and a black eye, so at the very least you have false imprisonment and actual bodily harm. The worker was cautioned by police, as a court case in such circumstances would have been a complete waste of time. It is unlikely that even a fine would have been imposed. The people who beat up and falsely imprisoned the worker, on the other hand, were fortunate that prosecutors decided not to pursue a case of false imprisonment. Instead, the worker rightly pursued a civil case, seeking compensation for the humiliation and distress caused. He got £13,000. The boss, one Simon Cremer, still refuses to admit that he did anything wrong, and is now bleating to the press that he'll have to sell his house to pay for the compensation. And that's why Simon Cremer is the Lenin's Tomb 'petit bourgeois vermin of the week'.

Labels: capitalism, lenin's tomb, petit bourgeoisie, poujadism, working class

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Comments policy posted by Richard Seymour

Just a quick note on the comments policy poll below. JS-Kit and Disqus have come to a near draw, with Disqus ahead by two votes. 64 prefer JS-Kit 'Echo', 66 prefer Disqus, and 53 people prefer Blogger. So, given your inability to make a simple decision, the big daddy has to come along and make it for you. In the long run, I can't stick with Echo, as it is pricing average users out of its service. The 'promo' service is still available to me for one more year, at $12. But the subscription costs rise to $120 a year after that - more if useage exceeds 100,000 page views per month. The explicit rationale for this is that what used to be Haloscan, a 'free' service for casual users, is becoming a high grade service for premium business users. Frankly, I think there are too many problems with Echo to justify this extraordinary price rise. And I'm not overly fond of their condescending, dismissive approach to customer service - least of all their practise of keeping a retinue of "JS-Kit Champs" in service. These are basically people who aren't officially employed by JS-Kit, but who spend most of their time perusing the threads on JS-Kits customer queries page, engaging in nerdish, fevered apologetics for the company and all of its works. This means that while the official employed staff provide incomplete or misleading information in curt answers, the the "champs" are at greater liberty to engage in more elevated polemics. Those challenging the extraordinary price rise, for example, were treated to a 'Tea Party' treatise on capitalism and the free market by one of the "champs". Given all this, I have to start to migrate to another system. So far I think Disqus works fine, contrary to some of the whinging. The one drawback is that it does not relate threads pre-Disqus to the relevant posts. Therefore, I'm sticking with Disqus, but I'm prepared to pay the $12 fee for one more year's use of the 'promo' version of Echo, which will work as an archive of past comments until we can get something better worked out. That is all.

Labels: bloggery, blogging, comments, lenin's tomb, leninology

Friday, November 19, 2010

Comments policy posted by Richard Seymour

Okay, there's only one way to settle this. To decide which comments system to use, I will rely on a poll of readers. You've got until the end of the month to vote.

Labels: bloggery, blogging, comments, lenin's tomb

Monday, November 15, 2010

Comments policy posted by Richard Seymour

JS-Kit, who run the Echo comments sytem that succeeded Haloscan, has informed me that my license expires on 29th December. I am now considering alternatives to Echo, and would appreciate input from readers. There is presently a Disqus commenting system on this blog, which you can experiment with by clicking the link below the post (see "0 comments and 0 reactions"). It might replace Echo in future, but I will consider other possibilities and I'm open to staying with Echo.

Some background. Initially, Haloscan was a free service. But it allowed you to pay a one-off fee to upgrade to their 'premium' service. Despite some occasional complaints, it was a clean, fast system. Then it was taken over by JS-Kit in 2009, and the new owners demanded an annual payment of $10 to continue the service. The upgrade came with some improvements, and some problems - the latter including people finding their comments disappearing, log-in not working, repeated periods of down-time. Some functionality for admins has also been lost. Still, it's reasonably user-friendly, and the 'promo' version appears to still be available for $12 a year for the time being - after which, it'll be $10 a month. But if there's a functional system that will work as well or better for free, and which will allow us to import all previous comments, then it would only be sensible to test it out and make the move. Your feedback below, please.

Labels: bloggery, blogging, comments, lenin's tomb

Friday, January 08, 2010

Approbation posted by Richard Seymour

Aaron Swartz:

The Liberal Defence of Murder

This book is like a little miracle. I’m not even sure how to describe it, except to say that it turns one’s understanding of history completely upside-down.

Infinite Thought in German newspaper Taz:

K-Punk and Richard Seymour of Lenin’s Tomb are excellent sources for serious political debate outside of the mainstream media, and quite a lot of what I might say about any issue will be on these sites (and better phrased) before I’ve worked out how I might put it.

Yay.

Labels: lenin's tomb, the complete and utter works of richard seymour, the liberal defense of murder

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

SWP 2.0 posted by Richard Seymour

The Socialist Workers' Party has a new website, which looks a lot more attractive than the old design. More importantly, it is a lot more user-friendly. The three main party publications are clearly displayed and promoted, as are the campaigns supported by the party. And all necessary resources for members, interested observers and batty Kremlinologists alike are available in a very direct and accessible way. Now, I'm far too curmudgeonly and shiftless to engage in a thoroughgoing re-design of the Tomb, especially given the fright I got when I saw the new Echo comments system, but I would like to point out that if you wished to fund such a venture, you can still donate to LT via the paypal link in the sidebar. You could also ensure that every member of your extended family has a copy of Liberal Defence. Come on, do your part: don't make me ban Xmas again.

Labels: internet, lenin's tomb, lenin's tomb bans christmas, panhandling, socialism, socialism 2.0, swp, the liberal defense of murder

Monday, March 09, 2009

Advertisements for myself posted by Richard Seymour

This ghastly parade of images is what happens when I am set loose with Photoshop and Powerpoint. Any better ideas would be welcome, even if it must be a lolcat image.

Update: The very talented graphic designer Noel Douglas was so pissed off by my drivel that he decided to contribute his own ideas. Here is a suggested banner and two ads:

Entschwindet made this:

Comments Policy posted by Richard Seymour

Labels: comments, lenin's tomb

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Bloggery posted by Richard Seymour

A few quick notes. The Lenin's Tomb mailing list has about 160 subscribers, who receive some irregular notice of posts I want to draw attention to. It is not a discussion forum, although people very occasionally use it to pass on information about campaigns or whatever. And it can be quite useful for spreading info. It can easily handle more subscribers, so feel free to sign up using the box in the sidebar to your right if you want.

The second thing is, the Sitemeter at the bottom of this page is inaccurate, and not in the good way (ie, it doesn't inflate the numbers). I've only recently discovered that Sitemeter and other similar services have a reputation for seriously undercounting visitors. It is true that another service that doesn't appear on the site gives me an extra hundred unique visitors a day, Google Analytics ditto, and a system that used to exist but went out of business gave me a couple of hundred more. However, some say that no free service really tells you how many page views, or unique visits, you get. The professional services that you pay for, or get free with certain packages like Wordpress, apparently describe five or six times more unique visits. Now, since I don't have advertisements on the site, I would generate no revenue from having five or six times more visitors - this is entirely an ego issue. As such, I'm not going to change the hosting service or pay for some package or other. But I am going to piss and moan about it. And perhaps find some way to get a proper counting device free.

The third matter is the breakdown of visits that are picked up. Over the last month, according to Google Analytics, the numbers of people visiting the site from from the US and the UK were almost identical. Canada was the third largest supplier of Tombsters, with Australia, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Sweden picking up the rest. I am surprised by the ratio of American visitors, since in the past the main readership has been British, but you are all welcome as long as you leave your guns at home. The next step is to conquer China and India, both of which need more and better Leninism. According to sitemeter's continental breakdown, only 6% of my readers are in Asia (3% from Israel, if you can believe that), and only 1% in Africa (almost all Egyptian readers). I am a bit tied up at the moment, but clearly an intercontinental push is called for. Fourth, the comments facilities continue to be moderated, which is a mild pain in the arse, but it does prevent those rapid-fire comment-wars that usually degenerate rather quickly, and it weeds out trolls who make the comments unreadable. For that reason, until I can come up with a better solution, moderation has to stay on. As the amount of recent pro-Israel bile indicates, this doesn't mean that political adversaries are unwelcome. But it does give yours truly a tiny sense of what it's like to be God (a lot more boring than people imagine).

And the final point is on submissions. Yes, it's time you did your fair share, you bastards. Ask not what your blog can do for you, ask what you can do for your blog. If you have something to get off your chest that isn't a sticky residue, then why not send it to the Tomb (e-mail in the sidebar) as a candidate for a guest post. We've had guest posts from 'elpresidente', Guy Taylor, 'Strategist', John Brissenden, Leon Kuhn, K-Punk, Andy Zebrowski, Gareth Dale and others on topics as diverse as the environment, the Cairo Conference, the teachers' strike, mass protests in Mexico, etc etc. They have all been well-received, and often provided info that wouldn't be available through the corporate media, so it's an important part of Tomb culture and I want more of it. Don't make me send out a requisition for it.

Labels: bloggery, comments, guest posts, lenin's tomb

Thursday, January 01, 2004

About Lenin's Tomb posted by Richard Seymour

This site has existed since 2003, and is run by Richard Seymour. Not the billionaire American footballer. Not that guy. Stop sending me fan mail for that guy. I am available for children's parties.

Contact: I'll take feedback at leninstombblog[at]googlemail[dot]com. But if you have an idea for an article or an appearance you'd like from me, you can email me. If you want me to write a book for you, please contact my agent, Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown, karolina[at]curtisbrown[dot]co[dot]uk.

Donations: I work on this website for free, but I do solicit donations. Please donate.

Comments: The 'below the line' culture of this website is, quite unlike that of most of the internet, entirely free of racism, homophobia, sexism, and bullying. That's because I know how to use the 'delete' and 'ban' buttons.

Short bio: Born in a Hun enclave of Northern Ireland in 1977, I was raised by wolves and Protestants in a town called Antrim. I moved to London in 1996 as a student, worked for some years as a market researcher, before finally quitting to pursue my dream of unemployment. I can resist anything except temptation (because I lack discipline), flattery (because I'm vain) or money (because I'm usually broke). I am an author, occasional columnist, obsessive neurotic, and PhD candidate at the London School of Economics. Hobbies include referring to myself in the fourth person. My wiki page contains some background on my written work. You can also check my pages at The Guardian, Verso and Amazon.

Labels: bloggers, bloggery, blogging, lenin's tomb, the complete and utter works of richard seymour

About Lenin's Tomb posted by Richard Seymour

This site has existed since 2003, and is run by Richard Seymour. Not the billionaire American footballer. Not that guy. Stop sending me fan mail for that guy. I am available for children's parties.

Contact: I'll take feedback at leninstombblog[at]googlemail[dot]com. But if you have an idea for an article or an appearance you'd like from me, email me. If you want me to write a book for you, please contact my agent, Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown, karolina[at]curtisbrown[dot]co[dot]uk.

Donations: I work on this website for free, but I do solicit donations. Please donate.

Labels: bloggers, bloggery, blogging, lenin's tomb, the complete and utter works of richard seymour

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Warn Friends and Family About this Evil Website posted by Richard Seymour

You came here by accident, or were lured by some unscrupulous HTML. And you found yourself surrounded by horror. Beneath the chipper facade and primary colours lurks something truly monstrous. You must warn others about this site!

(Don't forget to put the site's URL in the 'Comments' field).