Inside the writers' website

Strike signs Eric Estrin, a striking WGA member, is a moderator at Writer Action, the message board where Writers Guild members hang out to float conspiracy theories, skewer the producers and rip apart the latest strike rumor posted breathlessly by Nikki Finke. Estrin also contributes here at LA Observed and posted at Native Intelligence about trying to keep the peace in a group notorious for hellacious flame wars:

I volunteered to help moderate because I wanted to give something back to the board that I�ve enjoyed so much and because I feel the service is an important one to Writers Guild members, especially at this time. There�s no official guild electronic bulletin board, partly because the one that existed succumbed years ago to problems much like the ones we face every day at Writer Action. This is a way for me to serve the guild during our strike without driving 25 miles each way from my home four days a week to the nearest picket line. (As a Ventura County resident, I�m not technically required by the guild to picket.)

Last week, with the strike having dragged through the holidays and the conglomerates still refusing to come back to the bargaining table they abandoned, tempers flared on the board over a false rumor planted on two Hollywood-oriented websites. The rumor involved a Writer Action poster, who was now understandably furious, and its dissemination included parts of messages lifted from our private board, a practice expressly forbidden. The uproar on WA continued well after the six consecutive hours I put in trying to quell it.

The next day I messaged the other moderators and administrators that I would no longer be able to put that kind of time into my WA duties. I had been neglecting the new spec I�m working on, not to mention my family and personal life. I needed some moderation of my own.

Read the rest of Everything in moderation. Also fresh around LA Observed's blogs:

Our writer helps Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley find a haven from the paparazzi swarm at Susina. (Pic is from another day.)

Jenny Price dissects the latest Sacramento health care reforms and finds them as lame as all the others.
Mark Lacter suggests you break out the anti-depressants because the business news just ain't good these days.
Could the threat of more Reggie Bush disclosures push Pete Carroll to flee USC for the NFL?
Celebrating the Aesthetics of Bacteria tonight in Echo Park.
Another lovely winter sunrise in Paradise Cove.

And finally, at brunch with the LAO team.