Another protest?

DeVore

I know these things are hard to organise and a big pain but I know a lot of people would follow the IOFFL banner to protest about the state of the Irish communications infrastructure.

There are plenty of IT workers in Ireland so its not like its a small subsector of industry.

I wouldnt have suggested this before but Ireland Offline has now gotten a LOT of credability and its clear that its a responsible pressure group which wont reflect badly on the people who officially sign up. I know most of the Web Industry would sign up in a flash and I'm sure you could get a lot of people out on the streets for a protest.

It might take 3 months to spread the word and organise stuff but sure we've been waiting 5 years and longer at this point...

Just a thought...

DeV.

bubbles

I think its should be something a bit more extream than the blackout you had last time, something that really makes a impact and gets peoples attention.

dahamsta

I'm in. And if I have some spare time, I'll happily donate it to help organise the event. As well as some dosh if necessary, obviously.

adam

OHP

Originally posted by DeVore
I know these things are hard to organise and a big pain but I know a lot of people would follow the IOFFL banner to protest about the state of the Irish communications infrastructure.

There are plenty of IT workers in Ireland so its not like its a small subsector of industry.

I wouldnt have suggested this before but Ireland Offline has now gotten a LOT of credability and its clear that its a responsible pressure group which wont reflect badly on the people who officially sign up. I know most of the Web Industry would sign up in a flash and I'm sure you could get a lot of people out on the streets for a protest.

It might take 3 months to spread the word and organise stuff but sure we've been waiting 5 years and longer at this point...

Just a thought...

DeV.

If anyone else but you suggested that it would have been put in the Recycle Bin. I'm not a "lickarse" but count me in too.

OHP!

molinaalexis

ONE MORE HERE

kamobe

A nice peacefull rally always makes the papers...

Urban Weigl

Originally posted by kamobe
A nice peacefull rally always makes the papers...

That is why we'll be barricading ourselves in the department of communication... Whoops I've said too much.

nahdoic

I'd have to agree. IOFFL has gotten to a stage where it could actually pull this off - and be a huge success.

I could see what we could do about getting really high quality, full color, big banners printed too.

You're talking about getting a minimum of at least 500 people out on the streets though, and net enthusiasts tend to be quite a shy bashful bunch when it comes to the real world ...

And how many people came out to support a pregnant Elena at the Black Out on Grafton street ... at the peak around 5 o'clock or so, there was maybe 10 people?

It's going to require definite numbers, from definite people well in advance.

You can count me in for definite anyway.

I wonder what's the committee's view on this ... ?

Oh and when you're setting the date for the protest, make sure you pick a dry, sunny day :P

Ste-

i actually had this idea the other day but didnt suggest it for bein pointed and laughed at but you can count me in

Dustaz

We disscussed this recently. The Pros and Cons of the idea are all here

Im still of the opinion that its not a bad idea with the caveat that there is a very definte "Good Idea". Simply marching to the dail with posters that read "Down With This Sort Of Thing" is not enough imo. There needs to be some sort of hook that the media can look at and laugh, or go 'hm, interesting' and include on page 7 with a witty caption.

The idea of handing back handsets to eircom is one possible avenue (this has the advantage that tabloids may misinterpret this as people actually cutting themselves off). Someone in a rat costume delivering something like the EircomeTribunals manifesto to a government office would also help the 'ratings'.

One thing tho, please dont post to this thread with just simply, "sounds great, Count me in". YOU dont know that you can do it yet, since theres no 'it' to do. You could be having a baby, undergoing hypnotherapy or buying a cat on that day. We know everyone wants to help already and im sure if the committee decide on something there will be plenty of notice first

DeVore

Agreed Dustaz.

From another poster:

And how many people came out to support a pregnant Elena at the Black Out on Grafton street ... at the peak around 5 o'clock or so, there was maybe 10 people?

I was there! It was feckin freezing and Elana was still standing there after 12 hours! (someone should write a ballad about that!)
I was trying to give away "Anthrax-free leaflets" which bizarrely noone wanted!

Anyway then Ireland Offline wasnt really known, even at the AGM it was only getting its name out.

But you are missing something. I'm not talking about this being an "Ireland Offline" specific protest. Cos then you are stuck with the problems of organising people etc... If you raise a general banner of "Telecoms in Ireland are bad" and have some neat hooks as Dustaz was pointing out... AND you give it say 3 months to organise, then you could easily have 1000 people on the streets.

You need people like SFA, ISA, IBEC, Open, Boards, P45.net, IIA. Online.ie, ie.comp.... all the interested parties to join in one day of protest highlight the concerns voiced here about companies not locating here and education suffering...

The secondary students of Ireland protested once about the teachers strike and jaysus how many of them turned out! They did all that with just sms messages (by and large).

All it needs is
1. a single common point to get behind.
2. time to organise and get the word out
3. cross-community support.

DeV.

DeVore

ps: a petition of protest with peoples names and addresses on it collected from the Internet (and filtered for Muppet sign ups.) could be handed over! You'd need a lorry for it if you did it right and gave it time!

DeV.

nahdoic

Originally posted by DeVore
I was there! It was feckin freezing and Elana was still standing there after 12 hours! (someone should write a ballad about that!)
I was trying to give away "Anthrax-free leaflets" which bizarrely noone wanted!

Yeah I was there too. I arrived about 2:00 and it was just Elana and SkepticOne there at that time (Fergus had gone off to get some more leaflets printed)! We managed to hand out a few 1,000 leaflets though.

But you are missing something. I'm not talking about this being an "Ireland Offline" specific protest. Cos then you are stuck with the problems of organising people etc... If you raise a general banner of "Telecoms in Ireland are bad" and have some neat hooks as Dustaz was pointing out... AND you give it say 3 months to organise, then you could easily have 1000 people on the streets.

You're right. I was missing the point, then. That could definitely work.

the Guru

A rally Great But why dont we Make it different so we are not just another bunch of people walking the streets with banners holding up traffic .............. Something different so that all people (even non internet users)know the pain we are going through

There are intelligent people using this forum lets get some ideas going around and make a difference for the future.

fisty

I put this forward before but granted more people will probably get behind it if you have some big bad bastard operator from hell banging on about it...

What you need is a proper forum to put forward suggestions and ideas for what way to work it.
Hold a meeting and set up a task force, if its gonna be done it has to be done right...
Anyone here have experience in organising rallys or anything?

the Guru

Lets do it f##k the rally Organising do it along side something else big and make our selves heard just like the sex pistols there music was **** but they did stuff that made them stand out in a crowd and thats what we need publicity !!!!!!!!!

oscarBravo

Originally posted by Dustaz
You could be having a baby, undergoing hypnotherapy or buying a cat on that day.

Nah, with three months' notice I can take the day off and wave a banner with yiz!

Blade

What about widening the protest to basically just say 'Eircom you've robbed us for long enough' and include the shares fiasco? Loads of people lost their bollox on them and lots of those feel they were robbed. I'm not sayin they were robbed cause I don't know but theres enough of them who'd gladly join an anti Eircom protest. Just an idea to extend the number of protesters, if it's a crap idea please don't flame me!

Another thought: What about also joining in with people who want to protest about the cost of everything in Ireland. Theres been people at least talking about such a protest anyway.

preytec

i agree with some sort of protest
(maybe you should have ran a poll here too)

dustaz made a point, about some thing the press can use
well looking back at the best know protest ever, was for the right for women to work, they chained themself to the gates and eveything,
i know it's been done, plus if you did do it over here no one would care anyway,
but we'd need some sort of token, like drag something big around the city, or eveyone bring along their old monitors and place them outside the dail, and leave them there so they'll have to clean them up, see they don't care unless they are out of pocket,
i think if we joined up with....i don't know..let's say "the low car insurance ppl" you would get more ppl but it would take away from what we are about.
fisty was right with a task force, if it's gona happen it has to start offline

kamobe

How about a float, with a rat, throwing monopoly money about the place :cool:

mike65

Maybe some giant banners as wide as the street, could be printed up which display real eircom broadband bills and alongside real BT/NTL broadband bills. Big numbers catches ppls eyes, esp these days.

Mike.

knower of all

I maybe new but I have a most devious idea.......
well if anyone was in school back in the teacher strikes of 2000-2001
you will notice school children alyways want a reason off........ then they didnt even know why they were striking..[heck i didn't],i just wanted out of school...,.like any normal teenager
,thus if you get school students to strike...[which will be very easy]
you will get a even more attention drawen to your cause
im sure that and a rally....offline webpages and what ever you very resoursefull people can muster up will get international
attention.........

and rather then protesting out side of eircom or whatever,
maybe a politicans house.....one that is lookin for future votes......ie tony gregorys house[he has a small garden and it would be so easy to block him in muhahaha]
if you can see what im getting at
dont try for a quick fix......work at it.......count me in.........and last strike me and my mate got my entire school....and the 2 girls schools near us on strike......im sure if the idea spread....and we had a real excuse......you can get everyone in ireland to not go in
these are my taughts on this subject
[i bid you kind sir's good day]

knower of all

oh sorry to post twice....but i belive ,dustaz and co. there is your "attention grabber"
im pretty sure every secondary school child[maybe collage]
well not every one....but what would one do if there is no school.....most would go into town......enough to clog up the streets well im sure you can all figure what im trying to say out.

THEY HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE!

......thank you for reading my opinion

preytec

aa yes always good to hear a young terrorist leader is willing to lend her army to your cause, but I think that picking on Tony Gregory or any other politicians house, wouldn’t get the type of notice we want, some might even say it was personal harassment, might be better if we tried to win Tony to our side and get a voice inside the Dail,

ozpass

Maybe we could arrange for some Gardai to beat people around the head. Boosted the profile of that Reclaim the Streets rally....

I will gladly show my face and wave a banner, once a date has been set. The likelihood of me having a baby is (thankfully) remote and I'm perfectly satisfied with my current cat.:)

knower of all

her?.........for god's sake.......*sigh
at least say he/she &or he/her and so on........
well we could get as many ppl to send politicans letters
,say if so and so fixes it we will vote for them?

or swamp some rally and keep bringing up the topic
we can say telecom payed Mr ahern off[they probibly did]
"if he fights back well say he's ghey"...


well its alyways fun to do stuf like that



if you wanna be wild....?
get a pice of paper write ireland off line on it[about 3 inches long]
and attach it to your pen?

Delphi91

Originally posted by knower of all
...or swamp some rally and keep bringing up the topic
we can say telecom payed Mr ahern off[they probibly did]
"if he fights back well say he's ghey"...

well its alyways fun to do stuf like that

if you wanna be wild....?
get a pice of paper write ireland off line on it[about 3 inches long]
and attach it to your pen?

Think you might be MUCH better off to stay in school and catch up on your spelling and also on the laws of libel!!!

Mike

knower of all

I see the comprenshion of a joke is lost to you then?


As for the spelling ,sorry my bad.

oscarBravo

Originally posted by ozpass
The likelihood of me having a baby is (thankfully) remote and I'm perfectly satisfied with my current cat.:)

...and if you need hypnotherapy, I'll be there on the day.

OHP

[/i]Originally posted by Delphi91 [/i]
Think you might be MUCH better off to stay in school and catch up on your spelling and also on the laws of libel!!!
Mike

Is there a rule or some laid down law on the boards that 'If you cannot spell properly or do not use a spellchecker then do not post here?' Personally speaking, spellings don't bother me because I use IRC a lot and you know the way everything is spelled there :rolleyes: But if there is any reason for one to Dot the I's and cross the T's before posting here tell me so I can start using a Spellchecker ok


OHP

segadreamcast

roflmao, an excuse for more students to get off?

Honestly- I'd prefer any protest I'm involved in to have a shred of credibility, if we made kids just get a day off school for a cause they didn't believe in, we'd have none.

What's the official stance on the protest? I'm veeery interested in joining in.

sceptre

Originally posted by OHP

Is there a rule or some laid down law on the boards that 'If you cannot spell properly or do not use a spellchecker then do not post here?

Of course not.:)

TBH, generally a case can be made far better in an argument by someone when the spelling is up to par (allowing for typos which everyone makes).

I'm generally very particular about my own spelling and get annoyed when I look back over my own posts and find that in the heat of the moment I've typed "there" instead of "they're". With regard to posts from other people as long as it's intelligible it doesn't really bother me.

That's on a personal note.

On a moderator note, if people can get spelling in order, great. If they can't so what as long as people can understand it? Not everyone can spell well. I know some extremely intelligent people who can't spell for toffee. Many of them are technically minded (as you might expect). Dustaz has pointed out at least once recently that this is the IrelandOffline forum, not a spelling bee. Everyone brings something to the table regardless of their spelling abilities - an argument stands on its own merit not on how well it's spelled.

Anyone who has big problems with a particular user's spelling, take it to PMs. Look at your own shortcomings before you do though.

(comments on libel law are deserved though - careful now)

knower of all

as a great man[me once said]:
if you can correct it,i got my point across.
as for my spelling...
it happens,sorry

OHP

Thank you for clarifying that sceptre
/me puts his Spellchecker back in his Holster

(comments on libel law are deserved though - careful now)

I agree notice I never mentioned it

OHP

Delphi91

Originally posted by knower of all
I see the comprenshion of a joke is lost to you then?
...

Yes, totally - the inclusion of the at the end of my comment was probably the result of a spelling mistake on my part!

My original comment was intended sarcastically. I'm rather surprised at the level of discussion it generated

Mike

scojones

i haven't read all the posts so i'm sorry if this has already been mentioned. Anyway what about setting up a little stand/stall thing in your town square/street with information handouts on how we are so behind, basically detailing everything, the dark fibre just lying there, why no flat-rate and so on. I'll be happy to contribute whatever i can to the cost and content of these handouts.

Tom Dunne

How about we all dress up in drag and march to the tune of "I want to break free...".

Any excuse to do it in public...:D

On a more serious note, some type of stunt like this would be the 'hook' the media might warm to. Thirty or fourty Freddie Mercury lookalikes marching down Kildare Street...it would get IOFFL the attention it deserves.

scojones

DeVore, don't let this thread die!!

Beruthiel

Devore, I believe it would be no problem to get a 1000 people out on the day, everyone of us here knows a few people who we can bring along, count me in to arrive on the day.