Flyposting

[Guest]

Having vacant shops on the High Street is bad enough, but they look ten times worse when they are flyposted. My guess is that some of the people responsible for this are local. Perhaps some of them are forum users? Flyposting is an offence and I really wish these groups would find other ways of communicating their message. It's not that I necessarily disagree with what they have to say, I just don't think they do their cause any good sometimes.

I've heard the arguments. These groups can't afford corporate communication. The end justifies the means. Maybe what we need is a communal billboard space where everyone can post? Would the flyposters then leave the vacant shops alone?

[Guest]

Not sure I agree with you Bob. Like you, I know all the arguments, and the zero-tolerance line is pretty compelling. But flyposting is basically a fairly anodyne form of vandalism. and the very illegality of it is one of the reasons why it is used - by giving the club/band/whatever an underground, slightly dangerous profile.

BTW: before anyone else jumps in and quotes me, yes I know. Anodyne or not, vandalism is vandalism

[Surrealist]

Gee whizz Bobby-o, are you bored or something?

I think I've mentioned it before, but this reminds me of the Victoria Wood joke about the old lady who steadfastly ignores the couple copulating in her train compartment, but is quick to complain when they light up cigarettes afterwards......

[Guest]

[Epykat]

[Surrealist]

Maybe I should form the Locomotive Procreative Action Group and campaign for the right to b*nk in train compartments.

I promise not to flypost for our first public meeting.

And I *mean* "public meeting" - we'll be pairing off on a route to be announced shortly before the meeting so as to stop the transport police interrupting our fun.

All copulators must, however, have valid tickets. And I hope the inspector is careful with his/her clipping tool - ouch!!

[Guest]

[Cynthia]

another empty shop - shame on the superstore developments that made this happen and let's hope another superstore doesn't cause all the other shops to close - we'd have a street full of empty shops with similar creative literacy on them!
can't comment on creative fun in trains but have no objections at all providing they renationalise the railways ofcourse -

[Guest]

[Surrealist]

[Surrealist]

[Guest]

[Surrealist]

[Guest]

OK - that was funny

[Guest]

Formerly the Carpet Shop at 113 Portobello High Street, now another eyesore.

[Guest]

Formerly Marks sandwich bar at 169 Portobello High Street, now another eyesore.

[Surrealist]

Formerly an Iraqi maternity hospital - now another eyesore.

[Guest]

So can't we care about the people of Iraq AND our immediate environment? Or are the two mutually exclusive? In any case, this is about flyposting, not politics. The fact that the posters in question clearly emanate from local left wing groups is irrelevant. I don't want ANYONE to flypost Portobello, whatever they are advocating.

Just because I agree with the views expressed in these messages doesn't necessarily mean I agree with the means of communication. How about those responsible agree to remove the mess? I'm serious, I'm willing to help out and I'm sure Robert Davidson, our local Task Force Manager would provide support. Any more volunteers?

[Surrealist]

I'm sure that during the days of the civil rights demonstrations in the US there were people who complained about the litter that the marchers must have left.

Maybe Bob's conscious mind thinks he is against the Iraq war, but his reaction to the realities of conducting a campaign against it spells out what his unconscious mind is saying.

You are what you do, not what you think.

By being a member of an organisation whose leader authorises dropping TNT on children, Bob has a difficult enough time justifying his supposed opposition to this conflict. But criticism of those who share his view and are actually doing something about it whilst remaining in said organisation crosses the border from mere hypocrisy into cognitive dissonance.

That would be funny, were it not so decidedly unfunny.

[Guest]

[Surrealist]

[Cynthia]

[Guest]

Carla - I quite agree that this thread is not the place for a discussion about politics. In fact the subject in question is flyposting, or at least I had thought this was the case. I have already made it clear that what I object to is flyposting per se. It just so happens that the only examples I could find locally are of a political persuasion. City-wide I would agree that the problem is more often posters for bands, gigs, clubs etc.

The purpose of this forum is to facilitate discussion on matters of local interest. If people want to debate world politics then perhaps they should start a forum of their own. On the other hand I believe in free speech, which is why I tolerate Surrealist.

Of course I don't equate the war in Iraq with flyposting. At the risk of repeating myself, this thread is on the subject of flyposting. If anyone else has views on flyposting this is the place to post them. If you wish to discuss Iraq, Nazi Germany or any other subject then you have come to the wrong place.

Surrealist - I think you are becoming a little hysterical. I like you better when you are being funny.

[Surrealist]

Heheheh.

So it's only because Bob believes in free speech that I am tolerated? That's fascinating in that it means that, on a whim, Bob could decide to start censoring people on the board.

If this was a community forum, the decision to censor would be taken collectively, if at all. Forums are a great tool as they enable you to have interactive polls in which each registered member gets one vote.

Thanks for informing me of my hysteria - in my opinion I am positively euthymic!

[Cynthia]

[quote="Bob"]Carla - I quite agree that this thread is not the place for a discussion about politics. and my (Carla) quote " How about a proper political debate here instead of a verbal punch up? personally I think there are very few views about life that can be expressed that do not have a political bias - the honest thing is to declare your political bias and then we can have a proper debate. "

Bob how do you read into my quote that this is not the place for a discussion about politics? This is precisely what you are introducing with your singling out of anti war posters and not any of the other community creativity that I have seen around our dear Porty - including the half a sentence of poetry at Kings Rd roundabout, the boarded up shops, the 'Discount Carpet' shop, circus posters, slimming clubs, lost dogs, jumble sales, benefits, gigs, bands, nail bars you name it - do you only see what you want to see? or am I seeing things? I don't think so. The way to improve this is to revitalise our community and its shops - oppose large scale shopping developments that suck the life out of small shopping areas etc etc

My point is that as this is supposed to be a community forum, there's nothing wrong with a debate about politics providing that one train of political thought is not the only one that is considered right. I appreciate that the forum is run by volunteers, but it does receive money from the Community Council, which presumably means it should not favour any one particular grouping above another. (with the exception of racist, sexist, homophobic or disablist postings/organisations which I would hope none of us would want here and would be against the law anyway) so why is only one political party listed in the groups on the front page? and guess which one - it would be fairer to allow all groups to be listed, wouldn't it? or take off the one singled out for favour - I would prefer all political parties (except racist ones)to be on - and I agree with surrealist, it should not be up to one person to decide what is ok on this forum - a community forum should be run by a community and not by one person or a group of people from only one section of the community.

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

Not exactly on-topic either, but I too like the idea of subverting the message and I differentiate between this and mindless graffiti. More of this sort of thing at http://adbusters.org/creativeresistance/

Congratulations on posting the 1000th message by the way!

[Surrealist]

Bob

Good grief - you begin the thread by decrying "leftist" flyposters (and the anti-war message is actually adopted by many people who would laugh at being called leftist - see antiwar.com for example) - and you end the thread by a homage to, er, adbusters - the spiritual home of the political flyposter?

Have you ever thought of a career as a double-agent in a counter-intelligence agency (like Kim Philby, your job would be to hunt yourself!) as you seem to have a talent for being on two sides at once.........

[Guest]

I think adbusting is a very interesting concept. My bookshelf includes copies of ‘No Logo’ and ‘Fast Food Nation’ along with everything Michael Moore has written. It’s not difficult to work out where my sympathies lie. Nevertheless, I do not want Portobello High Street flyposted by anyone, irrespective of their political leanings. I don’t see any inconsistency in this.

So, how about a communal tolerance zone? And how about some volunteers to help clean up the mess? Any takers?

[Guest]

Just for the record, the photograph of the former carpet shop portrays posters advertising a James Connolly march. The circus posters were indeed sellotaped to the outside and will be easily removed next time I'm passing. I discovered recently that an elderly neighbour had flyposted a street lamp with a 'Say No to the Superstore' poster. I also know him well enough to know that he will remove it when it is no longer required.

[Surrealist]

I promise to remove all posters in Portobello which reference the war in Iraq as soon as the allied troops withdraw.

[Carol]

If there is talk of removing topics from this Forum Board then Favourite Takeaway should be the first to go. Why single them out? It's just free publicity.

I often wonder if the posters get larger portions next time they go in because they have flattered (and advertised) the establishment "on the computer". None of them ever say exactly how much their food cost either and when did sharing the same eating venue as Susan Deacon and Lawrence Marshall become something to broadcast to the community?

It has become a name-dropping, ....-licking topic and should be removed from the board long before any important political subject.

Takeaway the building at the Foot of Bath Street - is more like it.

p.s. That Surrealist really gets me going

[Surrealist]

[Guest]

OK, I have now officially given up trying to instill some thread discipline on this particular topic! You're just a bunch of tangential anarchists!

Carol, I don't think anyone is talking of removing topics. The 'Favourite Takeaway' thread, as the stats show, is one of our most popular and I think we need some lighter topics to balance the more serious stuff. Do you really think we could negotiate special rates for forum users in exchange for a mention? OK, here goes:

The 108 is the one we rate
The food is great
How about a discount mate?

Yep, that should do it - cut price singapore noodles all round! Or perhaps not.