A dead fish’s reputation washed up on the shores of Australia last week.
Carol Cross is a friend of mine.
She drives me crazy at times with her repetition. But, then again, I irritate people too. 🙂
I allow anyone to post on FranchiseFool. Carol tells me she is still banned from contributing at the FranchiseeFishNet.org.
This is unacceptable to me.
Carol cannot even see The Fish on her computer: that’s right, she’s that blocked. This is wrong on so many levels.
It’s not wrong because she’s my friend: It’s evil because she is a person. Plus a citizen of the greatest democracy on earth. A veteran’s wife. A former franchisee invest0r.
This is offensive to anyone that ever believed in the right of free speech, natural justice, military honour, the rule of law, democracy…
If you feel you “have to” block, censor, gag or burn books, you better take another look at your business model.
And, I suggest, the “friends” you have as advisors.
Any industry that can be shown to be fascists by an little old lady isn’t deserving of any investment, let alone respect.
PS: I was stopped for a day (Nov 12, 2009) as a registered contributor to The Fish last week. I’ve put up with 1,001 cheap shot comments for a full 3 years (459 points) now. I have no fishy, behind-the-scenes telephone calls: I never explain or complain or apologize. I had to post as a Guest and was reinstated for a day.
My offense? I wrote and posted a very valid post (I think) about economic fascism (Arguments in the Service of Power (subjective truth)) that was clearly addressed to Ray Borradale in Australia. I intentionally hid the Hitler, Goebbels and Mussolini quotes. I wonder when the post will be deleted? Good thing I captured it beforehand.
If anyone else alive or brain-dead took offence to having their behaviour compared to fascists…well..if the show fits…
Then the fish goes ahead and wears it.
That post and and 16 McLuhan quotes were thrown into the fish’s text ghetto: Ranter’s Soapbox, Way Off Topic Posts. This is where all politically honest objective truth posts are put.
I was reinstated and my posts exist (for now). Some old lady named Carol is still is banned from the fish. I tested the waters, intentionally, one day after Canada’s Remembrance Day. My parents both fought and my Uncle Neil died resisting historical Nazis in WWII. I was not going to be bullied by a Guest troll.
You decide if totalitarianism is alive or dead in franchising today. Who is crooked, misleading and/or tyrants?
Either way, your comments are welcomed.
FranchiseFool.com 
Les:
Comparing the banning of Carol Cross from BMM (I was a little slow getting the reference, I must admit. I actually looked for FranchiseeFishNet.org. FYI: the domain’s available!) to the Nazi book burnings is a bit extreme, wouldn’t you say? Amusing, but extreme.
I have fought perhaps harder than anyone to defend Carol Cross’ right to maddening & tormenting others via free speech. I even gave her her own designated area on UnhappyFranchisee.com. Offline, I spent hours trying to give her guidance, warnings, tips, pleas, etc. on delivering her message more effectively via the blogs. Finally, I got worn down… though I never banned her.
Respectfully, I submit that BMM’s Carol Cross banning is motivated by a desire to preserve, not diminish, freedom of speech. We all want diverse, lively discussions that lead to more traffic, more comments, and higher search engine rankings. The problem is that CC kills conversations by posting repetitious generic boilerplate that diverts the focus from the specific (and interesting) to general (uninteresting, repetitious). So every thread she enters becomes about Carol Cross.
I am happy to see her all-Carol-Cross, all-the-time blog which I implored her to start. However, she has failed to put in the time (as you, I & the fish have) to learn how to grow it. If she wants to be a good and effective propagandist, she needs to seriously grow her own blog and build her own conversations & traffic. But she will have to come to grips with what Don “The Fish” and other successful hosts have come to understand: that she needs to learn how to converse, not pontificate, if she wants to engage others in a meaningful way via blogs.
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Sean,
Your points regarding Carol are very well taken and I think I may have t-shirts made up: “I blog but CarolCross.fran won’t”. Appreciate the effort but, sadly, everybody’s got their limits and I hope I’m as driven @ +80 as Carol is.
The problem is this stupid general ba in politics that keeps nagging at me. But I’m in several 12 Step programs to get over that revulsion toward ideology and propaganda thingee (totalitarianism).
I remember too many of the wrong things, I guess.
Less
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I had no idea Carol was 80+. Some comedian said that to an 80 year old, there’s no such thing as a closed door. Good for her.
To her credit, I have to say that I do admire her spunk and relentlessness. She is the Energizer Bunny of franchise blogging. She is the feisty terrier with a mouthful of franchising’s pant leg. In an industry that prompts and rewards conformity and compromised principles, her passion and integrity seem to balance some of her other tendencies.
You do make valid points. Should we tolerate the participation of kiss-asses, venomous slanderers,pirates and believe-and-succeed cloud merchants… then banish Carol Cross?
She’s still welcome to comment on http://www.UnhappyFranchisee.com and my other blogs. I hope she’ll post more often on http://thegreatfranchisingrobbery.blogspot.com/ and build her traffic.
I commend you for sticking up for her, Les.
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To my good friend, Sean, and to Les Stewart, teacher and mentor, I thank you for criticizing me and NOT my message, which is the truth.
While both of you may not mind the LIE of the FTC Rule, my goal is to expose the lie with the hope that this will put pressure on The Congress and the FTC to do something about the ugly FLAW in the FTC rule that is known to all but “franwads” who are calculated sacrifices to the exploitive business model of franchising which is rationalized as serving the “greatest good” —etc…
I haven’t been banned from “Business Week” blogs but I suppose it is only a matter of time. I truly believe that immoral regulation has a price that will be paid in greater suffering for all in the long run and maybe someone with clout will think about the long-term consequences of these policies that solve only the short-term problems —usually just for those on the top of the pyramid of capitalism.
Shame on you, Les, for exposing my age. You know this is bad manners to talk about a lady’s age and her bladder, as was done on Franchise Pundit. But, actually, I am old enough and secure enough that I don’t mind and maybe my “age” and condition and position in life is what pushes me to write about franchising whenever and wherever I find the opportunity. I continue my march! We live on the government “tit” so to speak as my husband, who is a retired Vet of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, and we survive. It is because I love my country that I want my government to fix the flaw in the FTC Rule so that others are spared pain and suffering —especially those VETS and their families who are now targets of The Patriot Express Loan Initiative that is said to “honor” them for their service.
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Carol,
Your are absolutely correct about what you talk about especially my bad quantitative manners.
I don’t talk about the FTC and the pain that perversion has caused as it has been copied around the world. We both gotta pick our fights; knowing that when you stare into a pit, the abyss stares back.
You are not free-loading: every nickel has been earned and paid-forwrard in a way that seems foolish or stupid when compared to the self-interested sewer we had the misfortune of stumbling in.
Carol: it’ll wash off us when our work is done.
Your friend, Les
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