Drapery latest: Offend the bloggers at your peril

Iain Dale has discovered a spoof site called Labourist which mirrors Draper's LabourList content in every last detail, only with decent design and functionality, and free comment.

Do, do check the Labourist WHOIS entry @ http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=labourist&tld=org

It gives the site owner's address as 10 Downing Street.

Then there's the Labourist 'About' page (NOT copied from LabourList) - it's truly excellent:

We are, however, uncomfortable with the close relationship between LabourList.org and members of the Labour establishment. Its editor, Derek Draper has a long and colourful history with leading Labour figures, consequently independence from the Brown government unlikely. There is something deeply troubling about this quasi-official site, where content is provided by members of Labour Government, edited by a former Labour party employee and where comment is encouraged and indeed allowed only by the chosen few.

The purpose of reproducing the LabourList.org content on LABOURIST is to ensure that the public is provided with an open forum where the heavily spun output of LabourList.org can be debated free from biased comment moderation and censorship. At LABOURIST, we believe the press should be free from political interference.

You know, this may be an all-round blogwars first. Let battle commence.

Congrats to the Labourist creators - and do get yourselves a lawyer.

Dolly, all you have to do is stop calling your advertising website 'a blog', and stop telling the world it's open to all. And don't mix it with big bloggerboys like Tim Ireland.