Facebook Algorithm Zaps Sarah Palin Post

By: Charles Cooper
Topics: In The News ,; Tech Talk

The guessing game continues as to why Facebook's automated systems deleted a controversial post from Sarah Palin.

The company is not commenting in detail about the circumstances surrounding the incident in which a July 20 post by Palin disappeared from the site. Palin's post, which expressed her opposition to plans to build a mosque near the World Trade Center site reappeared Thursday but it's still not clear what - or who - was responsible.

Sarah Palin

(Credit: AP)

Facebook indicated that the culprit was an automated system, but declined to get more specific than that. Citing security issues, Facebook would not go into details about how its systems work.

An official note issued by Facebook said that Palin's post did not violate the services content standards "but was removed by an automated system We're always working to improve our processes and we apologize for any inconvenience this caused."

Period. End quote.

Since bowing out as governor of Alaska after her unsuccessful 2008 bid for vice president as John McCain's running mate, Palin has regularly used social media like Facebook - as well as Twitter - as a soapbox to comment on issues du jour without needing to go through the filter of the press - which she routinely dismisses as "the lamestream media."

As such, she's managed to draw a significant amount of attention for herself with controversial posts like the one in question.

No one is disputing that America stands for - and should stand for - religious tolerance. It is a foundation of our republic. This is not an issue of religious tolerance but of common moral sense. To build a mosque at Ground Zero is a stab in the heart of the families of the innocent victims of those horrific attacks. ...I agree with the sister of one of the 9/11 victims (and a New York resident) who said: "This is a place which is 600 feet from where almost 3,000 people were torn to pieces by Islamic extremists. I think that it is incredibly insensitive and audacious really for them to build a mosque, not only on that site, but to do it specifically so that they could be in proximity to where that atrocity happened."
Many Americans, myself included, feel it would be an intolerable and tragic mistake to allow such a project sponsored by such an individual to go forward on such hallowed ground. This is nothing close to "religious intolerance," it's just common decency.

Charles Cooper is an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie.

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by alphaa10000 July 24, 2010 8:08 AM EDT: SARAH PALIN BREAKS ALGORITHMS

CBS/Cooper reports, "The guessing game continues as to why Facebook's automated systems deleted a controversial post from Sarah Palin."
---

Algorithms always have problems with null sets, and Ms. Palin is the quintessential political null set.

Presumably, even a computer can understand when her posts constitute a waste of CPU cycles.; Reply to this comment

by Ares_Ilium July 24, 2010 12:55 AM EDT

My OPINION as a service member...

The souls that died in the 911 attacks were from all kinds of faiths, ethnic backgrounds, and countries. From American to Zulu.
Any religious entity which can build a church next to, or close by, be it Christian, Muslim, Dao (you name it), has a right to do so, as long as it reflects the faiths of even one victim of the 911 tragedy.

Even though the attacks were Muslim EXTREMIST, they do not reflect 99% of real Muslims around the world. Therefor, Muslim Extremist should be considered a different faith all together. A Muslim mosque doesn't mean terrorism.

I signed up do defend the way of our forefathers, which were human, just like you, me and every religious person of whichever faith. We are not perfect, and our forefathers understood this. Just as those opposing the mosque, must understand too. We are a nation of many different kinds of people. Our strength is in our diversity. If not, we would just be another North Korea, or Al-Qaeda. Let the mosque be built in honor to those good Muslims who died there on that hollow place we call Ground Zero.?May other religions also build around the hollow grounds, so we humans of all good faiths can come together and remember those victims, and honor them heroes who lost their lives on that terrible day.

My two cents. Peace for all. War has slowed us down too many times, and intolerance is keeping us from happiness for all.

Semper Fidelis

Reply to this comment


by alphaa10000 July 24, 2010 7:56 AM EDT: Excellent points-- even Bush was counseled to avoid falling into bin Laden's "trap" of making 911 into a religious war.

According to OBL strategy, 911 was part of a campaign to inflame passions and launch a religious war which would, somehow, rebuild the "Caliphate".

True to form, the GOP bozos who post drivel associating Islam with 911 apparently do not read well enough to understand they do exactly what OBL wishes.

Or, the other horn of their dilemma-- if they do understand what OBL wants, that makes them co-conspirators.

Put another way, it is as uninformed to believe OBL represents Islam as it is to believe the "crusading pope", Urban II, represents Christianity.

Pope Urban II, in fact, began a series of crusades which, in the name of control and because of infighting among military leaders, also attacked Constantinople, and killed countless Christians.


by Bigrod20 July 23, 2010 1:49 PM EDT: Sarah Palin dumber than a rock? Not smarter than a 5th grader? I guess that I have to take the word of you smart folks. The only thing I know for sure is that she is smarter than the Oppressor In Chief of the United States, Hussein Obama. He ain't the brightest bulb on the tree but doggone it he sure is cute. OK he ain't that either. But he was voted into office by some really smart people. OK probably not. Mostly poor people and a few really dumb white folk.; Reply to this comment


by Danr909 July 23, 2010 9:57 AM EDT: "Since bowing out as governor of Alaska . . . "

"Quitting" is the right word.; Reply to this comment

by prohb July 23, 2010 8:53 AM EDT

The most important fact about Sarah Palin from this article (and I believe a brilliant finding by the author)?..and sums up her as a politician is the following:

"Since bowing out as governor of Alaska ....... Palin has regularly used social media like Facebook - as well as Twitter - as a soapbox to comment on issues du jour without needing to go through the filter of the press.........As such, she's managed to draw a significant amount of attention for herself with controversial posts like the one in question."

This only reinforces my perception of Palin as just a media generated personality. She is a self-aggregating politician that loves the limelight (like when she was walking across the stage in beauty pageants) but with no real substance. She is unwilling to do the real hard work, the stick-to-itiveness of governing effectively and getting to real answers (i.e. she quit as governor so she could promote herself thru social media which eeevvvveeeerrrryyyyooonnneeee is doing). She is only into generating controversy and the media frenzy and hype of the moment.....where SHE stands out.

Ya know, twitter and Palin are a lot alike.....quick.....and shallow.

You betcha.

Reply to this comment


by dadirt July 23, 2010 3:33 PM EDT: Jealous or just po'd she turns up the heat and calls your president a joke. If you stand behind the dems, you don't have a clue. Open your eyes. How is that job at the big hamburger chain doing? "Would you like fries with that?"

You betcha!


by prohb July 23, 2010 7:17 PM EDT: OK dadirt, I see I have to make it a little simpler for you. SHE'S A QUITTER, pure and simple. If that is someone you want to admire be my guest, but, she is not someone this voter will listen to with any seriousness and deinitely not someone who should lead this country.

You can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. You betcha!

by omnibus66 July 23, 2010 8:10 AM EDT

I wouldn't go so far as to call her dumb, but her track record on making any unrehearsed insightful remarks is, to be generous, small. True, she is making lots of money shouting out to the tea-baggers what they want to hear. Shows that at least she now has some handlers who know what they are doing.

As long as she has notes with talking points or a teleprompter, she can give an appearance of some level of competence. But I don't believe she will ever be able to hold her own in an all out unrehearsed, extemporaneous debate atmosphere. I don't really look for her to be a candidate in 2012, but she will be able to raise a lot of money for whoever she backs.

Reply to this comment


by dadirt July 23, 2010 3:35 PM EDT: I don't understand how you can criticize her for comments that are truthful and irritating to hear for Dems, and you take all of Obama and his regime's comments as the truth when the lies are totally apparent and you ignore them. You are either a hipocrit, or just plain stupid. I would go for stupid!

by jcr103 July 23, 2010 2:54 AM EDT

Sarah Palin resembles a ****** flight attendant. I kind of like it. She's dumb as a stick, yes, but kind of hot.

Reply to this comment


by dadirt July 23, 2010 3:36 PM EDT: Truth hurts, and pea brains believe everything the drive by media has to say, and worse than that, believe the annointed one is telling the truth!

by ymchoo July 23, 2010 2:04 AM EDT

The JournoList has been copied and distributed to all governments and news agencies here in Asia. The hypocrisy and viciousness of American journalism should be exposed and despised. The American journalists pretended to believe in free speech and free press but suppress the opposing view of dissident politicians like Sarah Palin and her Facebook page.

American journalists do not believe in free speech and free press but just a bunch of racists who believe in their superior culture using "press freedom" as a lousy excuse to treat us Asian as a bunch of subhuman species to be bossed and kicked around so as to serve their needs and help them make more money.

Reply to this comment


by alphaa10000 July 24, 2010 8:16 AM EDT: LATE-BREAKING NEWS FROM THE PRC

ymchoo said, "The JournoList has been copied and distributed to all governments and news agencies here in Asia. The hypocrisy and viciousness of American journalism should be exposed and despised..."
---

Say hello to Xinhua, for us, Ms. Choo.

Speaking of hypocrisy, the PRC is the rogue state which censors internet traffic, and imprisons political critics.

Sarah Palin is anything but supressed. But your advocacy and defense of Sarah Palin is a bit off-course, if you inject the term "racism". Palin is fully capable of prejudicing her own comments, without the prejudice of others.

By the way, can we Americans post on Xinhua's forum-- or does it even have a forum?

by ymchoo July 23, 2010 1:53 AM EDT

Another closely coordinated attack by the JournoList Mafia to destroy their opponent in order to protect their Democrat political Dons....

The list of known members to date of the left-wing now-defunct JournoList listserv. Spread the word.....
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=413168890945

1. Ezra Klein
2. Dave Weigel
3. Matthew Yglesias
4. David Dayen
5. Spencer Ackerman
6. Jeffrey Toobin
7. Eric Alterman
8. Paul Krugman
9. John Judis
10. Eve Fairbanks
11. Mike Allen
12. Ben Smith
13. Lisa Lerer
14. Joe Klein
15. Brad DeLong
16. Chris Hayes
17. Matt Duss
18. Jonathan Chait
19. Jesse Singal
20. Michael Cohen
21. Isaac Chotiner
22. Katha Pollitt
23. Alyssa Rosenberg
24. Rick Perlstein
25. Alex Rossmiller
26. Ed Kilgore
27. Walter Shapiro
28. Noam Scheiber
29. Michael Tomasky
30. Rich Yesels
31. Tim Fernholz
32. Dana Goldstein
33. Jonathan Cohn
34. Scott Winship
35. David Roberts
36. Luke Mitchell
37. John Blevins
38. Moira Whelan
39. Henry Farrell
40. Josh Bearman
41. Alec McGillis
42. Greg Anrig
43. Adele Stan
44. Steven Teles
45. Harold Pollack
46. Adam Serwer
47. Ryan Donmoyer
48. Seth Michaels
49. Kate Steadman
50. Matt Duss
51. Laura Rozen
52. Jesse Taylor
53. Michael Hirsh
54. Daniel Davies
55. Jonathan Zasloff
56. Richard Kim
57. Thomas Schaller
58. Jared Bernstein
59. Holly Yeager
60. Joe Conason
61. David Greenberg
62. Todd Gitlin
63. Mark Schmitt
64. Kevin Drum
65. Sarah Spitz

Sources:
(http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/25/the-death-of-journolist-does-privacy-end-at-the-edge-of-your-th/)
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20086.html)
(http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2010/06/after-journolist)
(http://hotair.com/archives/2009/03/17/politico-the-secret-liberal-journalist-cabal/)
(http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/kausfiles/archive/2009/03/26/journolist-revealed-inside-the-liberal-media-email-cabal.aspx)
(http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/03/who-doesnt-love-the-journolist.html)
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/jun/25/usa)
(http://www.frumforum.com/the-inside-scoop-on-journolist)
(http://twitter.com/TimFernholz)
(http://twitter.com/DanaGoldstein)
(http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/9/22/142845/064?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime+%28TalkLeft%3A+The+Politics+of+Crime%29)
(http://www.frumforum.com/responding-to-john-hawkins)
(http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/21/obama-wins-and-journolisters-rejoice/)
(http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/21/a-few-excerpts-from-journolist-journalists/)
(http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/20/documents-show-media-plotting-to-kill-stories-about-rev-jeremiah-wright/)

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by tiredofeverything July 23, 2010 5:46 AM EDT: Congrats on accomplishing absolutely nothing


by starving1968-3 July 23, 2010 10:28 AM EDT: You're trying to demonize the most respected journalists, reporters, and news people in America today?

Good luck with that!!!


by jxknowles July 23, 2010 12:51 AM EDT: This woman is like a soiled diaper, she stinks. If there is a God, she will get the GOP nod in 2012 so we can have four more years of strides to peace, recovery and middle-class respect with our current President.; Reply to this comment