A quarter million comments: who’d a thunk it?

The first comment on the blog is by me on December 17, 2008. The second is by someone named Kevin Smith the next day. He said:

Love the site and you will have to excuse Ted. He puts the very same messages on my blog concerning these issues. I will put a link in for my readers to visit here. Good site.

Early followers of the birther movement may remember someone posting as “Ted” who went all over the Internet spamming blogs with the same comments. I deleted Ted comments because they were spam, so I guess Ted may well have been the first commenter here. Kevin Smith’s own blog isn’t around any more. I preserved one of the Ted comments on my other blog, Blog or Die, from November 11, 2008, touting a YouTube video.

Since the blog’s inception, comments have been a vital part of our mission: to discuss the birthers and bring hard facts and sound argument to bear on these conspiracy theories. I collected a few of many exceptional comments on a Featured Comments page, but that hardly does justice to the full range of exceptional contributions.

Some contributors have been especially prolific and I list some top commenters here from among the 2,939 who have commented:

  • Dr. Conspiracy – 21032
  • misha marinsky – 9697
  • G – 8992
  • NBC – 8,838
  • Majority Will – 7124
  • Rickey – 6306
  • Dr. Kenneth Noisewater – 5620
  • Scientist – 5620
  • Keith – 5398
  • The Magic M – 4445
  • CarlOrcas – 4059
  • Lupin – 3961
  • JPotter – 3850
  • Arthur – 3589
  • gorefan – 3499
  • Andrew Vrba, PmG – 3176
  • Slartibartfast – 3171
  • bob – 3062
  • Sef – 2844
  • Black Lion – 2812
  • richCares – 2761
  • Daniel – 2649
  • Greg – 2635
  • Northland10 – 2344
  • donna – 2344
  • SFJeff – 2333
  • Bovril – 2157
  • Reality Check – 1959
  • charo – 1953
  • Dave B. – 1877
  • bgansel9 – 1871
  • Paper – 1801
  • JoZeppy – 1789
  • John – 1688
  • Expelliarmus – 1619
  • justlw – 1589
  • Joey – 1500
  • Jim – 1494
  • RanTalbott – 1471
  • Thrifty – 1431
  • Curious George – 1367
  • ballantine – 1362
  • Dave – 1327
  • Thomas Brown – 1263
  • dunstvangeet – 1258

We’ve also had some notable birther commenters here, the first of which springs to mine is Dr. Ron Polland, and the most recent is Paul Irey. Others include Mario Apuzzo, Miki Booth, Jerry Collette, Tracy Fair, David Farrar, Bob Gard, Mark Gillar, Rick Hyatt,  Sammy Korir, Robert Laity, Ken Olsen, Nancy Owens, Brooke Paige, Garrett Papit, Geir Smith, Lucas Smith, Christopher Strunk, Carl Swensson, Orly Taitz, Douglas Vogt and Cort Wrotnowski.

At its inception, I never expected the blog to be more than a few summary articles debunking birther rumors. My eventual corpus of 3,385 articles and 117 pages is due in no small part to the encouragement of commenters, and in many cases due to their suggestions. So thank you for a big part of my life.

Finally we arrive at the announcement of the 250,000th comment. And the winner is:

Andrew Vrba, PmG
Submitted on 2015/09/01 at 4:42 pm

I refuse to believe that john exists.

Damn, nothing is happening to that effect.
Well john, I think that proves that just because you believe something, that doesn’t make it so.

It’s interesting that we started with a comment about Ted and ended up with a comment about John.

About Dr. Conspiracy

I'm not a real doctor, but I have a master's degree.
This entry was posted in Lounge, The Blogs and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

57 Responses to A quarter million comments: who’d a thunk it?

  1. Andrew Vrba, PmG says:

    LOL! I am honored that my silly, yet accurate, comment made your milestone.

  2. Crustacean says:

    I miss reading misha’s comments. He must be doing some really deep undercover work for OARPA or something.

    Congrats on being the Quarter-Million Man, Punchmaster! And regarding silly comments, I think Paul McCartney said it best:

    You’d think that people would have had enough of silly comments.
    But I Look around me and I see it isn’t so.
    Some people wanna fill Doc’s blog with silly comments.
    And what’s wrong with that?
    I’d like to know, ’cause here I go again…

    Stay silly, my friend!

  3. Andrew Vrba, PmG says:

    Crustacean: He must be doing some really deep undercover work for OARPA or something.

    The Lobster-droids are coming along nicely.

  4. Curious George says:

    Thanks Doc for your excellent effort. Your dedication to the truth has made a difference.

  5. Dr. Kenneth Noisewater says:

    Is that my total including when I was posting under Bob Ross?

  6. Rickey says:

    I;m surprised to see that I am #6 on the list of posters. All I can say is that I have learned a lot on this blog!

  7. Slartibartfast says:

    I miss Misha (and G) too. I would like to tell him that I just found out that I was Jewish.

    I guess with over 3,000 comments, I’ve put a significant chunk of my time into this place as well.

    Thanks Doc!

  8. Curious George says:

    Off topic, my apologies: Deposition Update

    Court notice of depositions (hat tip to Tes at Fogbow) as of September 1, 2015 in Melendres v. Arpaio:

    Still no Zullo ..

    NOTICE of Deposition of Bill Knight, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of Travis Anglin, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of Stephen Fax, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of John (“Jack”) MacIntyre, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of Jonathan Knapp, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of Joseph M. Arpaio, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of Brett Palmer, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of Mike Olson, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of Joseph Sousa, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of Brian Sands, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)
    NOTICE of Deposition of Brian Mackiewicz, filed by Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, Velia Meraz, Manuel Nieto, Jr, David Rodriguez, Jessica Quitugua Rodriguez, Somos America. (Wang, Cecillia) (Entered: 09/01/2015)

  9. Slartibartfast says:

    I beg to differ. I was looking at Doc’s inaugural post for familiar names, the first one I recognized was a comment from Tes. She’s been here from the beginning too also.

    Curious George: (hat tip to Tes at Fogbow)

  10. Keith says:

    Well I might have to file a law suit for underpayment of wages. You’d think that someone in the top 10 contributers would get paid what you promised to pay, yet I’ve only ever received about half of what I’m owed.

    Whom do you think you is anyhow, 7-Eleven?

    7-Eleven: wage fraud cover-up from head office

  11. justlw says:

    Wow, I made the top 45! And I figured my status was somewhere around “glorified lurker.” Stuff adds up, doesn’t it.

    And yeah: Misha, you are missed.

  12. RanTalbott says:

    Curious George: Still no Zullo

    Not too surprising: the deposition notices are all from the plaintiffs, who would be primarily concerned with (mis)conduct that directly affected their clients.

    This does raise the question of who would normally take up an issue like the defendant trying to mess with the judge. Judge Snow did some of his own inquiring during the earlier hearing by directly questioning witnesses who’d already been called by one of the parties. But I’m not aware of judges calling witnesses, themselves, except in cases like coroners’ inquests. Is a contempt hearing handled on a similar basis?

  13. Lupin says:

    I miss Misha and G too. Good times.

  14. The Magic M says:

    The Magic M – 4445

    More than I thought. Then again, it’s been 6 years at least, but that’s still almost 3 comments a day? I thought my daily average was below 1.
    Made the top 10? Wow. 🙂

    RanTalbott: Is a contempt hearing handled on a similar basis?

    As a layman, I would assume that “contempt of court” is something that the court has to be interested in pursuing, even if the plaintiffs don’t, as it goes to the heart of the justice system.

  15. Keith says:

    A little recognition for those posters who have been relegated to the naughty corner from Michael Leunig, Australia best loved ‘topical’ cartoonist:

    http://www.leunig.com.au/cartoons/recent-cartoons

    You need to scroll to the ‘toon for Wednesday, September 2, 2015

  16. Keith says:

    And yes, I miss Misha too.

  17. roadburner says:

    last time i saw anything of mischa online was just before i sent him a message with advice on sidecars, and he dropped off the face of the earth not long after.

    i’ve sent out a couple of messages to see if i can find out what’s happened to him.

    if i get any replies, i’ll let you all know

  18. Yoda says:

    Damn, I gotta step it up

  19. Keith says:

    Yoda:
    Damn, I gotta step it up

    If it makes you feel any better, I suspect that more than my share of posts are virtually content free.

  20. We’ve learned a lot from you too.

    Rickey: All I can say is that I have learned a lot on this blog!

  21. alg says:

    Thanks Doc, I have very much enjoyed reading your articles and their accompanying comments by the many participants here. A well done contribution to truth, justice and the American way!

  22. Lupin says:

    On the plus side, the nauseating Falcon aka Birdbrain seems to have vanished from Gerbil Report.

  23. Punchmaster via Mobile says:

    Lupin:
    On the plus side, the nauseating Falcon aka Birdbrain seems to have vanished from Gerbil Report.

    He’s still there but he posts maybe once a month now. I think he’s broken, now that A/Z day is cancelled, and no longer has the same fire he used to. Mmmmm crushed birther dreams! Soooo good!

  24. Dr. Kenneth Noisewater says:

    I think I posted as Bob Ross for the first year or so. So I wonder if that was inclusive or that or just under Dr. Kenneth Noisewater.

  25. bovril says:

    Punchmaster via Mobile: He’s still there but he posts maybe once a month now. I think he’s broken, now that A/Z day is cancelled, and no longer has the same fire he used to. Mmmmm crushed birther dreams! Soooo good!

    And like The CandyMan, mention his name and he pops up, on the latest pile of merde at Birfoon Report mostly whining about the Ebil Wikud Scott who makes mock of him and in any case he’s a poopy head and I never said the Jade Helm was a plan to round up Gud ‘Merkans and send them to the Walmart ovens..n’uh huh

    Or something……

  26. Benji Franklin says:

    Curious George: Court notice of depositions (hat tip to Tes at Fogbow) as of September 1, 2015 in Melendres v. Arpaio:

    Still no Zullo ..

    No surprise really. Imagine Zoo Low being questioned officially, under oath and the penalty of perjury, about what his REAL activities were in the CCP!

    ‘Mr. Zoo Low, WHO and WHAT were you investigating? How were you investigating it? What were your findings? What chargeable crimes did you find evidence for? What did the appropriate governmental law enforcement agency say about your ‘evidence’. Why have your public statements about your possession of ‘universe-shattering evidence of criminal activity not resulted in criminal charges or indictments? During your investigation and contact with Monty Gummery, did the subject of ‘Birthering’ play ANY part in determining the course of any CCP investigation?

  27. Pete says:

    Punchmaster via Mobile: He’s still there but he posts maybe once a month now. I think he’s broken, now that A/Z day is cancelled, and no longer has the same fire he used to. Mmmmm crushed birther dreams! Soooo good!

    I suppose two things keep the conversation alive at this point, long after anyone dreamed that anyone would still be talking about birthers.

    1) The insane birther hope that something will eventually happen to validate their idiotic beliefs keeps the birther side on life support, and

    2) The ongoing schadenfreude of watching those insane hopes be slowly and irretrievably crushed beneath the slow-motion steamroller of reality keeps us here laughing our derrieres off.

    And then there’s watching the lawless Sheriff Arpaio and those around him, hopefully, finally get their due in a court of law.

  28. I think that Donald Trump is largely to credit/blame for the ongoing birther movement, for his publicizing it in 2011, and his renewal of birther themes in 2015.

    Without Trump, there would have been no release of the long form, and the resulting cottage industry of incompetents claiming it was a forgery, and without the long form there would have been no Sheriff Arpaio/Zullo/Cold Case Posse investigation.

    Pete: I suppose two things keep the conversation alive at this point, long after anyone dreamed that anyone would still be talking about birthers.

  29. I rolled up the Bob Ross numbers for your total.

    Dr. Kenneth Noisewater: I think I posted as Bob Ross for the first year or so. So I wonder if that was inclusive or that or just under Dr. Kenneth Noisewater.

  30. Andrew Vrba, PmG says:

    Pete:

    And then there’s watching the lawless Sheriff Arpaio and those around him, hopefully, finally get their due in a court of law.

    All of their big tough heroes turned out to be paper tigers.

  31. Arthur B. says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: I think that Donald Trump is largely to credit/blame for the ongoing birther movement, for his publicizing it in 2011, and his renewal of birther themes in 2015.

    I would love for the opening question at the next Republican debate to be “Raise your hand if you believe President Obama was born in the United States.”

  32. AgRod says:

    I have been a lurker since the begining but wanted to thank everyone on this blog for the vast amount of well researched information. How can any reasonable man take a look at this blog and say gerbil report and conclude that birthers are actually human beings?

  33. bob says:

    Arthur B.: I would love for the opening question at the next Republican debate to be “Raise your hand if you believe President Obama was born in the United States.”

    Repeated tactics like this, I believe, will eventually clear Trump from the playing field. Don’t treat him like a serious candidate if he believes in unserious ideas.

  34. Arthur B. says:

    bob: Repeated tactics like this, I believe, will eventually clear Trump from the playing field.

    I would like to believe this.

    But I suspect that the responses would be accompanied by a lot of quick sideward glances. Trump has been avoiding the question lately, and while I think he’d go birfer given a binary choice, I’m not certain.

    And given the poll results showing how many Republicans are in fact birfers, I wonder how some of the other candidates would respond.

    But, if the results were anything but unanimous, it could elevate birtherism to a major issue in the nomination fight. How I’d love to see that! And how would it get resolved? I wouldn’t expect Democrats to jump in and argue the anti-birther side. Can you imagine what the exchanges would be like between birther and non-birther Republicans? No matter how it went, I can’t see it emerging as a settled issue in the current climate.

  35. Northland10 says:

    roadburner:
    last time i saw anything of mischa online was just before i sent him a message with advice on sidecars, and he dropped off the face of the earth not long after.

    i’ve sent out a couple of messages to see if i can find out what’s happened to him.

    if i get any replies, i’ll let you all know

    I have it on good authority that he still does comment at other places from time to time, including recently. I do miss his comments here.

  36. RanTalbott says:

    Arthur B.: Trump has been avoiding the question lately, and while I think he’d go birfer given a binary choice, I’m not certain.

    I’m also not certain, but on the opposite side: I think his avoidance is the product of an awareness that he’d be branded a loon, and be pressured to release the still-hidden findings of the PIs he allegedly sent to Hawaii. Which might embarrassingly reveal that they either:
    a. didn’t exist, or
    b. reported that there was no “there” there, making his subsequent birfering a foolish bluff.

    Arthur B.: And given the poll results showing how many Republicans are in fact birfers, I wonder how some of the other candidates would respond.

    Me, too. And I’d also love to watch the fun that would ensue as the candidates agonized over whether to pander to the crazies in the GOP base, with the almost-certain knowledge that it would kill their chances if the general election margin were close, and the small-but-real possibility that not doing so would kill their chances of nomination.

    Aside from the amusement value, it would also be a good test of whether they have ability a president needs to tell the public unpleasant truths.

  37. Rickey says:

    Northland10: I have it on good authority that he still does comment at other places from time to time, including recently. I do miss his comments here.

    I’m happy to hear that, because we know that he had (has?) some health issues.

  38. bob says:

    RanTalbott:And I’d also love to watch the fun that would ensue as the candidates agonized over whether to pander to the crazies in the GOP base, with the almost-certain knowledge that it would kill their chances if the general election margin were close, and the small-but-real possibility that not doing so would kill their chances of nomination.

    I think for some candidates (e.g., Bush, Walker, Rubio), the smarter play is to run as the electable person, which includes doing things like calling Trump on his nonsense.

    At this point, I think the GOP’s financial backers are trying to gauge how much they need to spend to sink Trump; if he’ll do it on his own, then there’s no need to waste good money.

  39. RanTalbott says:

    bob: I think for some candidates (e.g., Bush, Walker, Rubio), the smarter play is to run as the electable person, which includes doing things like calling Trump on his nonsense.

    In a sane world, definitely. But look at the crosstabs on that PPP poll: while there are smaller percentages of crazies among their supporters, they’re not insignificant, and the lessons learned by Perry and Graham are still fresh.

    On the plus side, the new Des Moines Register poll says there are fewer birfoons among the Iowa electorate, but they still only got only 42% “Yes, he was born here” responses.

  40. Congratulations Doc. The number of comments is a tribute to the quality of the blog you created and maintained. I always look forward to reading your articles and the comments they generate. It will be sad to see it all end next year but life moves on and the ultimate Birther failure will be consecrated on 1/20/2017.

  41. Sluffy1 says:

    Thanks Doc… and all the usual suspects too… you guys done good.

  42. JayHG says:

    Some contributors…..where’s my name….lol??

  43. jayHG – 576 (+ 1)

    JayHG: Some contributors…..where’s my name….lol??

  44. Curious George says:

    Benji Franklin
    “No surprise really. Imagine Zoo Low being questioned officially, under oath and the penalty of perjury, about what his REAL activities were in the CCP!

    ‘Mr. Zoo Low, WHO and WHAT were you investigating? How were you investigating it? What were your findings? What chargeable crimes did you find evidence for? What did the appropriate governmental law enforcement agency say about your ‘evidence’. Why have your public statements about your possession of ‘universe-shattering evidence of criminal activity not resulted in criminal charges or indictments? During your investigation and contact with Monty Gummery, did the subject of ‘Birthering’ play ANY part in determining the course of any CCP investigation?”

    And last but not least, “Were you running a scam on the American public ?”

  45. The Magic M (not logged in) says:

    I suppose Zullo is frantically rehearsing counting to five so he can plead the respective right. 😉

  46. Keith says:

    The Magic M (not logged in):
    I suppose Zullo is frantically rehearsing counting to five so he can plead the respective right. 😉

    I don’t think his knowledge of the Constitution goes much past “When in the course of human events…”. So why would he need to know how many fingers he was (probably) born with? 😎

  47. The Magic M (not logged in) says:

    Zullo: “I take the… waitaminute, Shurf Joe told me what it was, number of fingers on one… first, second, thumb… wait, I got this… force fist?”
    Arpaio (muffled): “*Ahum* Fifth! *ahum*”
    Judge Snow: “I heard that!”
    Arpaio (apprehensive): “Who said that? Is that you, Jesus?”
    Atty Iafrate: “Your honour, we move to call Jesus The Lord Saved Her, uh, Saviour, to the stand! He can testify as to Your Honor’s bias towards our client because he is omniscient.”
    Plaintiff atty: “Objection! This witness was not properly served.”
    Arpaio: “Yeah he was. I just said a prayer.”
    Judge Snow: “You are in contempt of reality. Guilty!”

  48. G says:

    Just wanted Doc & everyone else to know that I do still check in here from time to time and catch up on reading articles. Other things in life have kept me busy and as I am usually “not current” when getting around to reading here, I’ve simply gone back to “lurking” as I did in the early days instead of participating. Usually by the time I get to see an article or read its comments – either the comments have been closed or pretty much anything I thought to say has already been said by the clever and talented group that frequents this place.

    Congrats on the milestone Doc and on the always excellent blog… and yeah, I miss you guys too! 😉

    ..Can’t believe I posted that many comments here and am still that high in the rankings…even after being “quiet” for so long… ROTFL.

  49. charo says:

    Hi G, Charo here. We could always have a few laughs. My son showed me this, and I believe you are a commenter who would appreciate the “illumaniti” video. The link length was horrible so I used tinyurl. I hope it works! You have to watch it through to get the full effect.

    http://tinyurl.com/o89pw3c

    wow- I started to do the math for how much of my life I spend posting comments here but decided against it. I was a rare commenter elsewhere during the time frame so there’s that. 🙂 Life does march on. My son is now a junior and has been recruited by a college for lacrosse. He was in 6th grade the first time I offered my first awesome comment. haha

  50. dunstvangeet says:

    *sniffles* In last place…

    I’ll have to do better if I want to qualify for that O-Bot bonus that George Soros is handing out.

  51. G says:

    Hi Charo! OMG…that “Illuminati” video was hilarious! It was worth the “2 bad puns”. 😉 Thanks and great to hear from you too! Wow…your son is now a Junior in HS!!! How time flies! Hope everything else is going well.

  52. Slartibartfast says:

    Hi G! Good to know you’re still around! I don’t think I have a good email address for you anymore, can you drop me a line at (first name)@(last name).net?

    Kevin Kesseler

    G:
    Just wanted Doc & everyone else to know that I do still check in here from time to time and catch up on reading articles.Other things in life have kept me busy and as I am usually “not current” when getting around to reading here, I’ve simply gone back to “lurking” as I did in the early days instead of participating.Usually by the time I get to see an article or read its comments – either the comments have been closed or pretty much anything I thought to say has already been said by the clever and talented group that frequents this place.

    Congrats on the milestone Doc and on the always excellent blog… and yeah, I miss you guys too!

    ..Can’t believe I posted that many comments here and am still that high in the rankings…even after being “quiet” for so long… ROTFL.

  53. RanTalbott says:

    dunstvangeet: *sniffles* In last place…

    Hardly: you’re #45 out of 2,939 posters. That puts you in the top 2%. Even without counting all the lurkers who never posted at all. So stand tall, and be proud: you’re in the OCT version of Mensa 😉

  54. G says:

    Hey Slarti! I sent you an email.

  55. Slartibartfast says:

    Didn’t get it—did you spill my last name right? (There’s an “E” before the “L”)

    G:
    Hey Slarti!I sent you an email.

  56. Lupin says:

    G:
    Just wanted Doc & everyone else to know that I do still check in here from time to time and catch up on reading articles.Other things in life have kept me busy and as I am usually “not current” when getting around to reading here, I’ve simply gone back to “lurking” as I did in the early days instead of participating.Usually by the time I get to see an article or read its comments – either the comments have been closed or pretty much anything I thought to say has already been said by the clever and talented group that frequents this place.

    Congrats on the milestone Doc and on the always excellent blog… and yeah, I miss you guys too!

    ..Can’t believe I posted that many comments here and am still that high in the rankings…even after being “quiet” for so long… ROTFL.

    Welcome back! It’s good to know all’s well!

  57. Doc waves.

    G: Just wanted Doc & everyone else to know that I do still check in here from time to time and catch up on reading articles.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.