Saturday, March 14, 2009

Saturday | March 14 | Your News & Comments

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70 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  3. look, this blog/website doesn't ask for much of us.

    It doesn't ask for two confirmed sources for each alleged fact we spout - thank Gawd.

    It does't ask us to do any real hard math - thank gawd.

    It doesn't ask us to see both sides of the Gannett issue - thank Gawd.

    Shoot, it doesn't even ask us to give our names...

    So folks, give Jim and Gannett Blog a break here. We give our views, he shares what he knows. It's pretty close to real time - which is damned remarkable considering he's just one West Coaster who probably has some damn nice weather he could be enjoying instead of working this Blog.

    Every gannett staffer is scared and those of us who are Ex-Gannett but working for another newspaper company now are scared too cause we are in the same big leaky boat.

    This site is a great source of news, support and therapy.

    That's hard to come by these days.

    And overall its been pretty damned accurate on the big stuff going down with Gannett, right?

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  4. 1:45
    yep...it won't help the sillies from continuing their antics, but I appreciate reading your comments after having to ignore the first two.

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  5. Jim,

    You have gained my trust. I'm a longtime reader. I have critiques, but not about your proven journalistic integrity. I love your in-depth looks at Gannett. I love the long leash that allows for fun on the blog and don't mind when it kinda gets out of hand.

    But the gay-bashing comments, the claims of being first, or foist, to post, and similar useless stuff is annoying and a waste of a scroll onto more comments and simply adds to the argument of junk being on this blog.

    I know you hesitate to delete comments about you, and I understand. But please, you've earned the trust. Use it. Delete the crap. Keep the percentage of quality on this blog higher than the spammers are making it.

    Please. Delete more of the crap. Remember, the junk may not offend you, but it does make it harder to get to the positive stuff on this blog for those who want that.

    Thanks

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  6. 3/14/2009 1:27 AM
    You know what? I don't care if people are C M Y K or gay ....whats your point? This is Jim's blog C Y M K and or whatever!!! Morning people! GET OVER THE IT bashers, this is not the place!!!!!

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  7. To you lay off reporters> Their is a job listing for one in one of Gannett's newspaper. Contact the Mansfield NewsJournal,( look up the peoples, to talk to,you idiots after all your suppose to know how to do such things). You need a BA, and 3 to 5 years experiences, (probably working at a GCI paper were you got layoff from).

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  8. Yes, why ruin a good story with the facts! Guess that's the modern day news and information. Just post whatever you like, bitch a lot, and get that power for the people crap going. That's really going to change things. In the meantime others will attempt to do something positive. Hard to believe. But in the end the complainers will complain and the others, well, they will merely be successful and have everyone hate them.

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  10. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003951482

    Here's some information for the person who was asking about web traffic.

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  11. First, allow me to express my sincerest gratitude to Jim.

    That said, I find these admonitions from his supporters redundant and senseless. Jim has started a Web site that innately courts controversy. With that comes revilement and throngs of naysayers. Just as some of you value his work, others will be annoyed by it. Why plead with them. Let them.

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  12. I just love reading this blog. People say to stop bitching and whining and start making suggestions and such to keep this company afloat. Get real. NO-ONE in this company will listen to the worker bee. I have seen this over and over again. Only the suits get listened to, while the emperor stands there with no clothes on. The ideas that are mandated are ridiculous, but the emperor surrounds himself with people who have no cojones to tell him that. As long as THEY MAKE MONEY, they will cram their stupid, throat slitting ideas down every sites throat, while Dubow stands there like Napoleon, surrounded by his army of eunuchs. God forbid you try to tell the emperor he is naked and his wee wee is hanging out, you get written up for being too vocal, eventually being fired because you are not company, since you are not a eunuch.

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  13. It would sure be helpful if workers in the know, particularly those in HQ, would leak the company's cost-reduction plans, profit margins, hooker invoices, and talks with potential buyers and investment bankers. Get a spine and join the fray. Management treats you like scum, and your future lies elsewhere.

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  14. Actually, the "First!" thing is a blogging tradition and an act of endearment and playfulness, not one of mockery or vandalism.

    Check out the comments sections on all the most read blogs, huffington, eschaton, etc, and it goes on regularly. It's a badge of honor among the blog commenting community and the fact that the tradition has arrived at Jim's blog means that Jim's blog has achieved some higher level of prestige, though that's an odd word to use to describe it.

    It's understandable that older readers, many of them anal-retentive editor types, might find it bizarre and annoying, it's actually a sign of a more mainstream acceptance in the online community.

    Strange but true.

    FRIST!

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  15. It would sure be helpful if workers in the know, particularly those in HQ, would leak the company's cost-reduction plans, profit margins, hooker invoices, and talks with potential buyers and investment bankers. Get a spine and join the fray. Management treats you like scum, and your future lies elsewhere.

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  16. Jim... what's your take on the delayed proxy release? Surely not because of this blog's interest in its contents.

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  17. 3:40 and 10:40: You both make compelling points. I'll try to figure out a good compromise on the Foists/Frists (something I didn't know until after I deleted this morning) and other stuff.

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  19. 9:49

    Give an example of a good idea you had that management ignored.

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  20. 11:03 am: We don't know whether the proxy has been delayed; it may simply have been scheduled for release later this year than it has historically been released in the past.

    The annual shareholder's meeting is April 28; I suspect that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules require proxy reports be published a minimum number of days in advance of such meetings.

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  21. "Jim knows about those things, too."

    just because Jim's gay doesn't mean he's kinky.
    – kinkybutnotgay

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  22. OH GOD! WHERE DO I START! I COULDN'T BEGIN TO ENUMERATE ALL THE SUGGESTIONS THAT HAVE LAID OUT ON THE TABLE SINCE I STARTED IN THIS COMPANY IN THE EARLY 90'S! Hey, my verification word is pinch. Now that is hilarious!
    MiMI

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  23. 8:07 a.m. - First, no one in their right mind would intentionally work at Mansfield Ohio. It is a pathetic little paper run by a clueless publisher and a tobacco-spitting screamer of an ME.

    It IS bizarre that in today's Gannett layoff culture that they would be hiring at all. That is ONE paper then needs additional cutbacks, not more staffers!

    Anyone out there have something positive to say about that rag???

    Thought not.

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  24. When upper management gives you AN ORDER to do a task a certain way, and with the equipment you have IT WILL NOT WORK, you try to tell the idiots this. They sit there with this stunned look on their faces, after the meeting your immediate boss comes and reams you a new behind because YOU DARED QUESTION THE EUNUCHS! You must say OKAY MASSAHH, and then WHEN IT WILL NOT WORK and they clear their throat and say well let's do it another way, WILL NEVER LISTEN TO WHAT YOU, WHO WORK WITH THE EQUIPMENT DAILY, KNOW ITS LIMITATIONS, have to say, AND TRY SOME COMPLETELY ASININE SOLUTION THAT DOESN'T WORK EITHER! COMPLETE AND UTTER MORONS!
    Mimi

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  25. Jim
    Have you noticed there is a dramatic decrease in journalists who are actually INVESTIGATING stories? You seem to have that job skill down pat, but unfortunately, I do not see that skill in the younger people today.
    Mimi

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  26. People need to grow up. What does a person sexuality have to do with anything?

    Some of us came to this blog when there was no where else to turn to get information or just vent afer losing our jobs.

    I wish some people will stop the foolishness and get on with their own lives.

    Thank you, Jim. I have not been able to donate anything to you because I am barely making it after losing my job. But I promise, I will make it up when I get back on my feet.

    Please continue to do what you do. It is a great service to many of us.

    For me, it was a great stress reliever and life saver coming on here when I was first laid off in December.

    Thank you!!

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  27. 10:40 a.m. Thanks for explaining that.
    I was starting to think that no one here has ever read another blog in their life.
    Heck, I stay up late just so I can be...











    wait for it...















    FOIST

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  28. 12:02 pm: I can given an example of a suggestion management ignored. And I can detail it.

    It was July 1995, during an on-site meeting in Boise that included Sue Clark-Johnson and more than a dozen other employees. I asked Gary Watson, then the head of the newspaper division, whether it was wise for Gannett to continue concentrating so much of its capital in newspapers and other traditional businesses.

    At the time, the commercial Internet was growing like gangbusters; Netcape was about to launch its famous IPO. Gannett, meanwhile, was buying Multimedia for $1.7 billion, picking up Asheville, N.C., Montgomery, Ala., plus nine other papers as well as five TV stations and other businesses. In other words, more of the same.

    Responding to my question, Watson could barely conceal the scorn on his face as he told me that newspapers were the company's future. It was clear that there was to be no further debate on that point.

    I suspect that scene was repeated over and over during other on-site meetings. Pretty soon, the message would have been clear to everyone: Don't question management. Don't dare to offer new ideas.

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  30. I'm reposting this comment by Anonymous@12:32 p.m., after removing it by mistake:

    Did you give him a reacharound when you made the suggestion?

    Don't underestimate your creepiness, Jim.

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  32. People bitch on this site because they are frustrated with the direction of the company. As a former GCI employee, I and others offered many suggestions that were ignored. So this argument by the trolls that posters should stop complaining and make positive suggestions rings hollow.
    Many employees would gladly support the company and its direction into the future if they could really believe it. But how can they follow ContentOne if top executives cannot explain what it is. Yet this seems to be the company's only touted growth strategy aside from Moms and Me and Metromix, which don't seem to be working.

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  33. Jim 12:30 p.m. MY POINT EXACTLY! If you are not one of the eunuchs, YOU DO NOT EXIST! Have you ever gone to one of those "meet their own employees and the public dinners"? What a hoot! They stand there like royalty having to meet the peasants, looking down their noses at you, cannot relate to the worker bee, counting down the minutes until they can go to take a shower!
    Mimi

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  34. Hey, what's up with the ad reps? They seem to have immunity from everything. Sure, I know the economy is in the tank, but it seems to me they would be trying that much harder to sell. Not so. They spend all their time giggling, tanning, playing games on their computers, updating their facebook, shopping, etc. and not one of them have been laid off. I don't get it. If they are not pulling in the revenue, kick their lazy asses out the door. But instead they are treated as queen bees. Why work hard when you get a salary, who cares about the commission? Just show up for work for 30 minutes, leave the office, do whatever you want, get paid for a full days work when you do nothing constructive, and when you do sell an ad, don't bother with sending anything remotely resembling a layout or complete information. It might interfere with your tanning bed appointment.

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  35. Can a Gannett employee who accepted a buyout qualify for unemployment at the end of severance? I hear differing answers.

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  36. "So this argument by the trolls that posters should stop complaining and make positive suggestions rings hollow."

    How about if you just start making sense? Most of the people here cannot express a coherent thought.

    How did you get hired to be writers when you cannot even form a complete sentence?

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  37. Why assume everyone that posts on this blog is/was a writer?
    The majority of GCI employees do not work in, sometimes even near, a newsroom.

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  38. 1:23 PM
    In New York you can collect from the time you took the buy out. The first week is a waiting period. Do it now online (easy) and you will be eligible for 59 wks. including the emergency benefits allowed till early next year 2010. Good Luck...

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  39. 1:37 pm: you are correct. Companywide, newsroom employment totaled 10%, or about 5,000 a few years ago.

    The informal "Where do you work?" survey in the blue rail, to your right, shows that 20% of the respondents on this blog are newsroom employees.

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  40. Jim, FWIW, I find the anti-gay cracks to be offensive, and I'm not even gay. I know you don't want to seem thin-skinned by removing those directed at you, but I ask you to reconsider. I think they cause an insidious danger and hurt to any bullied minority group.

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  41. enough gay-bashing. I don't want Lutheran-bashing, alcoholic-bashing or veteran-bashing - kill all of it pls. Jim.
    Geez. I need this blog to help process the end of my newsroom career.
    unpost these messages pls.

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  42. 2:10 pm: Thank you. I am always reviewing my guidelines on removing comments.

    Generally, I try to avoid deleting comments, especially when they direct criticism at me. I rely on my audience of professionals to behave like aduts. A small number of readers now and the abuse that trust, unfortunately. But I won't let them ruin this site

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  43. Rick's Cabaret is worth almost twice as much as A.H. Belo - the owner of the Dallas Morning News and 3 other papers. The market values a chain of strip clubs to be worth twice as much as the Dallas Morning News.

    A. H. Belo Corporation (NYSE: AHC) headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a distinguished newspaper publishing and local news and information company that owns and operates four daily newspapers and a diverse group of Web sites. A. H. Belo publishes The Dallas Morning News, Texas' leading newspaper and winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes since 1986; The Providence Journal, the oldest continuously-published daily newspaper in the U.S. and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes; The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), serving southern California's Inland Empire region and winner of one Pulitzer Prize; and the Denton Record-Chronicle. The Company publishes various specialty publications targeting niche audiences, and its partnerships and/or investments include the Yahoo! Newspaper Consortium and Classified Ventures, owner of cars.com. A. H. Belo also owns direct mail and commercial printing businesses.

    Rick's Cabaret International, Inc. (NASDAQ: RICK) operates upscale adult nightclubs serving primarily businessmen and professionals that offer live adult entertainment, restaurant and bar operations. The company owns, operates or licenses adult nightclubs in New York City, Miami, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis and other cities under the names "Rick's Cabaret," "XTC," "Club Onyx" and "Tootsie's Cabaret". Sexual contact is not permitted at these locations. Rick's Cabaret also owns the adult Internet membership Web site, couplestouch.com; a network of online adult auction sites under the flagship URL naughtybids.com; ED Publications, the national trade magazine and convention for the adult nightclub industry; and Storerotica, the national trade magazine and convention for the adult product and intimate apparel industries. Rick's Cabaret common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol RICK.

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  44. "I'm reposting this comment by Anonymous@12:32 p.m., after removing it by mistake:"

    Very passive-aggressive, Jim. That mental care could do you good.

    Maybe some other members of the Limp Wrist Society could point you in the right direction.

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  45. "Rick's Cabaret common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol RICK."

    Jim's Cabaret for Guys trades under the symbol XXX. Joel Grey!

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  46. "I think they cause an insidious danger and hurt to any bullied minority group."

    Aw, what's the matter? Little bitty anonymous poster can't handle it when people fire back?

    Go cry someplace else, pussy.

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  47. I dont mind the Firsts, don't care but don't mind. But I really am sick of slogging thru the homo crap. I come here to be informed, or to vent or hear others vent about alarmingly similiar conditions to my own dysfunctional newsroom. I come here to find if our pensions will be safe, if our benefits will be reduced, if properties will close.

    I think Jim has the patience of a saint to endure all the tiresome and sad insults. I have an idea, Jim. You moved Jersey to its own thread, which has cut back on the idiotic Jersey bashing, at least from the outside. How about starting a thread for the homophobes? They can gay bash all they want, quote Rick Warren at each other, and you can pretend to read it, and the rest of us can get thru these threads faster.

    PS. Thanks, Jim for all you do. I admire your ability to withstand the morons.

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  49. Jim said, "Generally, I try to avoid deleting comments, especially when they direct criticism at me."

    Please don't avoid deleting offensive, irrelevant comments just because they're directed at you. They are likewise directed at and offensive to the other readers of this blog, who spend an inordinate amount of time slogging through and responding to them. Your professionalism is appreciated, but neither you nor your readers need to waste their time with abusive posters.

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  50. "Your professionalism is appreciated, but neither you nor your readers need to waste their time with abusive posters."

    So leave and don't come back. No more time wasted. Problem solved.

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  51. So...gay-bashing is still in among the older generations, eh? If someone is gay, does that somehow negate their opinion, or information if said information is correct? What point is there in bringing such a topic up? Stop behaving like you JUST discovered that some people are different from you. If you wish to bash people based on gender, sexual orientation, religious orientation, political affiliation, race, or whichever hand is dominant, please, feel free to mosey on over to the prevalent hate sites online. Please do so on company time as well.

    Jim, I am all about free, RESPONSIBLE speech. Delete fools whose only goal seems to be to prove exactly how childish they can be.

    To those who have an idea to help Gannett, please state it. We all are clued in that the suits read this blog. To those who just need to vent here, please do so and I hope you feel better for it.

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  53. The double entendre jokes that poke fun at Jim aren't even that clever.
    Amateurs.

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  56. Also, Gannett staffers are experts as being amateurs. That's why they are on the verge of unemployment, if not already there.

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  58. And the guy he abused regularly now posts about Gannett managers at a blog.

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  61. I greatly appreciate the let-the-Web-be-the-Web attitiude, and Jim has certainly tried to follow that, the only exceptions being personal attacks and the like.

    But there comes a point where the lunatics take over the asylum, and that's pretty close to what's happening here.

    I would strongly urge that Jim:

    -- Delete aggressively far more of the posts that do nothing but waste everyone's time. (So-and-so to the rescue, etc.)

    -- While we appreciate Jim's reluctance to delete posts that criticize his sexual orientation -- they do sort of speak for themselves and the hate gay people must deal with daily -- many of us find those posts TOTALLY unacceptable. They belong in no public discourse.

    -- This may be controversial, but it is time to do away with "Layoffs will be announced tomorrow. I hear 15%'' type posts. Sorry, but those have become hysterical and constant, and they actually scare too many people.

    Yes, of course there HAVE been layoffs, and likely will be more, but we all at this point know that. To have infantile people posting the equivalent of bomb threats by predicting layoffs, has run its course.

    Enough.

    What's valuable at this blog is Jim's reporting, the smart debate by members here and the crowd sourcing about what is going on across the company.

    But for people to keep blindly predicting layoffs, furloughs, freezes, etc., is becoming just noise.

    Real information is the key. Jim, by cutting down on all the alarums you could calm down the blog and maybe draw out more people who have actual information or views.

    (I'd also add that while I don't doubt some 'company' people try to attack Jim and this blog, I doubt very much they are planting false alarms to scare people off. Trolls here are doing that).

    So yes, ignore the trolls and all, but the time has come to take back control of the blog, Jim. If someone has nothing to back up a claim, delete it. Such posts won't be missed, and it will sharpen the focus here.

    Because as of now, there's a danger of this blog becoming irrelevant due to all the anger, mischief and total crap being posted here by thos enjoying the pain and anguish in the company.

    It's not censorship, nor is it silencing the crowd. it's editing and common sense. And many of us here would appreciate if we could trust what's being posted here just a little bit more.

    Thank you for listening.

    A worker on involuntary furlough.

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  62. 7:01 pm: I just got through removing a slew of comment garbage, and was going to write a note, outlining new, more-restrictive comment guidelines, when -- bam! -- you did it for me. Thanks!

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  63. I'm fairly confident that I now recognize one of these recent abusive posters. Assuming I'm correct, this person is not in management, and doesn't work for Gannett.

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  64. Interesting context for the situation that we in newspapering find ourselves in...

    http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/03/newspapers-and-thinking-the-unthinkable/

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  65. At this time, ad sales reps, their managers and the directors should all be taken off of salary plus bonus and put on straight commission based on what they sell and get paid for. This would take care of the gravy train mentioned here earlier on this blog.

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  66. Help! Has anyone ever heard of not being able to collect unemployment payments because of taking a lump sum payout from a pension? Did I make a huge mistake in getting my pension in a lump sum or in not filing for unemployment back in December? I waited because I didn't need the unemployment until the severance ran out. Thought I was doing the prudent thing. But recently, I finally got my GCI pension payout and now I am wondering if that payout has somehow canceled out my unemployment claim.

    I finally applied for unemployment after being laid off from GCI along with lots of folks in December. But when I went to make my first weekly claim online tonight, a message came up saying I had "no more weeks" remaining. Because it's the weekend, I can't call the state unemployment office.

    Now I am in a panic that I won't be able to collect unemployment, which was approved for 26 weeks in a notice I got from the state last week, but for some reason, now I can't complete the transaction after receiving my PIN and going to the site to file.

    Jim, do you know anything about how pension payouts effect unemployment claims? If I can't receive weekly unemployment checks, I am totally screwed.

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  67. jim - can you link that CNBC editorial "don't cry for newspapers." it is up on CNBC site now.
    do you have a pet - show video of the pet.
    I do not want to see gerbils, however. they're creepy.

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  68. Has anyone ever received a clear answer why the credit centers do not have to take a furlough week like the rest of us?

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  69. 7:01 I thought Jim's blog was stupid at first, and I would only read it occassionally. But, I would like to know when I'm being laid off, and not shocked like some people were when they returned from a week furlough and was told they were being let go..I want to know a head of time.
    7:01 If your finances are in such great shape, that you could care less about "crap layoff trolls" then good for you.

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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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