>> I never have quite understood what exactly they are trying to say.

Me, neither! Been reading and commenting, asking for CLEAR positions for 8 years, but no answer. They have mantras instead: “better business model” means content producers must accommodate unlimited piracy, and “free speech” means links to infringed content, besides whatever else wanted.

>>> A lot of it seems to be obvious to the regulars here, but not so obvious to me.

Yeah, me too. The fanboys all seem to KNOW every detail, though it’s never stated explicitly. The fanboys handle all complaints and defend the site with seeming authority, as this topic shows (so I suspect some are sheer astro-turf). There’s no bullet-point list for anything: I’ve asked. The fanboys will state Techdirt/Masnick’s positions, but I’ve never seen them direct from the alleged source. My conclusion is that Techdirt’s true positions will forever be hidden. You cannot get The Masnick to state clear position on copyright, or what changes it might wish: just endless kibbitzing on the alleged horrors of trademark, patents, copyright, in the sixth-decimal place compared to the daily good. But Techdirt defends every “pirate” site from Napster to Megaupload, and every corporation that relies on someone else making content that can be scraped, Aereo to Google.

>>> I think you guys could draw and retain a larger crowd if you were less subtle about your criticisms, and just voiced them, rather than disguising them with humor.

Well, there I disagree with you. (First, set aside Geigner’s incompetent attempts at “humor”.) If actually stated a position, The Masnick would lose all appearance of objectivity and be seen as klepto-economist. He’s never for producers, only for those who simply take intellectual property and monetize it, like The Pirate Bay: all profit with no costs. He claims to be an Ivy League economist, you know, and perhaps is just a hopeless academic. On other hand, he always sides with some mega-corporations. — Well, I’ll just stick to trademark, but Techdirt favors certain corporations and never criticizes their actual monopolies. Take the Copia link to see his sponsors. — Anyone else even hinting at corporate sponsorship is viewed by fanboys as a shill, but Masnick puts the graphic and never a peep about it.

Techdirt is the WEIRDEST site on teh internets. Enjoy it for hoots, but for your own sanity, don’t think to find anyone reasonable here. At best, you’ll be worn out responding to fanboys, but it’s solely to wear you out.

I like your questions technique, but assumes anyone wants to or can argue anything other than by assertions. It all goes to premises: yours are for production, but Techdirt simply ignores the law on intellectual property from Constitution down: the fanboys simply want endless FREE content to fill their empty heads. That’s the only way I’ve ever understand them, and you are right that they’re FOREIGN in that sense. They don’t want to make products, only to smoke pot and watch video or play games.

And you will NOT flush out The Masnick or minions for substance, that’s been tried every way possible. — Beware The Masnick, though! It’s expert at quote-and-contradict dodging, giving the appearance of answering.