Cyclone Sidr: Death Toll Now Exceeds That of Sept 11 Attacks

Well, the latest stuff I have I just uploaded to Flickr yesterday. Its a few days old - I haven't been in the field since then. They are attached via crowd sourcing to this article. If everything has gone correctly - my latest YouTube video should also be attached to this story.

Thanks guys :-)

I hope its not a problem that I mentioned the contest where my YouTube videos are nominated for being spotlighted. The nomination alone has increased my subscribership by four-fold. If the NowPublic community wouldn't mind voting at the poll at PhillyD.tv - I'm sure I'd be a shoe-in for the spotlight

I don't have a problem with it, as the nomination is based on the story itself, it isn't the reason for the story. If that logic makes sense.  Maybe if you posted it with every article we might get snippy. But so far, I think you're deserving of any awards headed your way, so I'm going to vote!

The 9/11 and Iraq war death toll is absolutely unrelated....

The "shameless plug" should not be tolerated as it is definitely spam, even if not intended, and is not related to any part the story.

We disagree that contextualizing the death toll with an event that people are familiar with is unrelated. 

And we don't take issue with uncultured linking to a page to support his cause and is not considered spam as defined here.

Hi BreakingNewsOn, I was using 9/11 and the Iraq War death tolls as a way to depict how immense this tragic loss of life has been in a way that is both contemporary and relatable to a global audience.

And the comparison is intentional. I've witnessed this tragedy first hand. I've seen the blank-stare that only shock can cause as a father tells me he's lost his baby. I've heard a little girl talk in an almost robotic voice as she tells me she's just lost her mother. The only other time I've seen this - in recent memory - has been on TV when watching news reports about 9/11 families and/or families that have lost a loved one due to the Iraq War.

I can also respect your concern for spam. Please note that all my work (photos, videos, blog, NowPublic articles, etc) currently pull in zero income. I am not doing this to make money. This link ("shameless plug") in no way financially benefits me. I also have no intention to make a habit of such links (its also not everyday I'm nominated for some sort of recognition and/or award).

Hope you understand. Best regards.

Forum spam as described on wikipedia: "Spam posts may contain anything from a single link, to dozens of links.
Text content is minimal, usually innocuous and unrelated to the forum's
topic."

I don't have any problem with someone looking for support of his cause, but not in the article. It's not news related and also not related to this article.

I wouldn't consider it as spam if he asked something like, "vote for me as best contributor of this website". Additionally, your page does not "define" spam as claimed. It only reads: "don’t post anything that could be interpreted as porn, a sales pitch or an ad." Obviously, the text as posted by uncultured is interpreted as an ad.

About the death toll; if the death toll was compared to another disaster in the country, or to another cyclone, it was related. Comparing this natural disaster to a terrorist attack in another country and then compare it to a war, also in another country, is not related in any way.  Would you consider it related if I wrote the following:

"The death toll of a deadly bus crash in China on Tuesday exceeds the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia. The toll rose and now stands at 8. On February 1st in 2003, 7 people died when Space Shuttle Columbia exploded."

If I wrote this it would be related:

"The death toll of a deadly bus crash in China on Tuesday rose to 8, officials said. Road accidents are common in China. Last week, a bus carrying 25 people flipped over and killed 7 people while injuring many more."

Sorry if this upsets uncultured, which was not my intention. 

I also do not like the tone of ryan nadel when he "informed" me that my comment is "not welcomed" because it was "attacking", according to him. This was never meant attacking but rather my opion stressing that it was considered as spam and unrelated by me. He also said that the removal of my comment was "appropriate", which I then compared to censorship. Are only positive comments allowed on NowPublic?

I think that NowPublic is a great idea, and with the right leadership it can become a great site.

This comment was edited by BreakingNewsOn after posting...

Please read the reply I posted above.

Also, this was not meant attacking towards you personally. I like the posts you posted but NowPublic should make their rules more clear. And your article should not be defined as a "news" article but rather a blog article, which is ok to me. Perhaps NowPublic should add a category named "Witness accounts" or "Blogs".

"Spam: Just like the fake ham, we can this stuff faster than you can
say, “Delicious!” Spam has a distinctive aroma; we’ve all had a whiff
from time to time, so we know it when we smell it. If you want to
ensure your content doesn’t get wiped out, don’t post anything that
could be interpreted as porn, a sales pitch or an ad. Oh, and don’t ask
us to send your Nigerian cousin $5000…we won’t fall for that one again."

This is how NowPublic defines spam.. we smell it? 

Good Stuff! In so many cases when a disaster happens, people forget so quickly. It is important to keep the issue in the "limelight" as you have.

meant to mark this as good stuff.

These are only my opinions and I am not employed by or affiliated  with nowpublic I am only a part of the community.

I this would not be the best place to take up an issue with Nowpublic if that is what the comments were meant for. I also think that it is a shame that one person has stood up, and is
trying to do the right things and someone can tarnish the story by
posting issues they have with the site.

In my opinon Uncultured has provided orgiginal content here with links back to his sources. He is promoting a good cause and does not stand to directly make any money from the links he is providing. if for some reason he does make some money, It would probably make up for the money he has speant to travel to the places where he goes to volunter his time and money to help those less fortunate.

I do think it is important to compare figures to others so that people can get a full grasp of the attrocities of a disaster. But we can disagree on that. Comments such as this are welcome.

Once again,  this is just my opinion and I hope we can aggree on this.

"I wouldn't consider it as spam if he asked something like, "vote for me
as best contributor of this website". Additionally, your page does not
"define" spam as claimed. It only reads: "don’t post anything that
could be interpreted as porn, a sales pitch or an ad." Obviously, the
text as posted by uncultured is interpreted as an ad."

While it may be interpreted as an ad by you, it's been stated a few times that in this case we've allowed it. This is certainly the exception rather than the rule, but if you see the work he's doing I think we're all obligated to do as much as we can, be it through our own charity work or donations, or even something as simple as voting him up so he gets more attention to this issue.

"And
your article should not be defined as a "news" article but rather a
blog article, which is ok to me. Perhaps NowPublic should add a
category named "Witness accounts" or "Blogs"."

I'm confused, because to me this is exactly what the very best news is: in-depth, first-hand coverage of a major disaster. The fact that he is doing it all himself shouldn't lessen its worth, if anything it makes it all the more impressive. And what is news but a series of 'witness accounts' anyway?

This story is a shining example of citizen journalism. 

Way to go uncultured.

All else aside, it is obvious that you are genuine in your efforts and I think the more people that notice your articles, news posts and videos ... the more people who will become aware of the problems that you bring foward and the help that is needed.

I agree, this is Citizen Journalism at it's core!

When Anderson Cooper started out his news career, he went on his own to dangerous, war torn, and post-disaster zones to make sure that people saw the news first hand, and the state of the world from the ground level. The reporting done by Uncultured is exactly what I saw on CNN during Katrina. Call it a blog if you will, but it's all about how you see this site. We see it as a portal for witnesses and citizens to spread the news and reveal the true impact of events in our world. If you see this as his opinion, so be it.

I say: Right on, Uncultured... go, and do, and be what we'd all love to. This is my kind of news reporting.