It’s a time of global warming, shrinking oil reserves and online communities.
Online communities?
By now we all know what a powerful tool the internet is. We can communicate with anyone in the world with an internet connection. Online communities have sprung up everywhere. It probably started to get big about 10 to 15 years ago when AOL started their chat rooms. I know people that used to meet every day in their chat room to share a laugh, tell stories and feel connected, all without ever meeting the people they were chatting with. Businesses use online communities to link their employees from across the country or across the world. You can take online classes and never meet a single person in your class. Some people have gone so far as to create an online identity for their role playing game and lead a double life; serving burgers and fries by day, virtual nightclub owner with virtual fancy cars and virtual houses by night. It’s a bizarre world sometimes.
Like every new technology, there is good and bad that it brings. We’ve seen that in our own community.
The Open Doar blog was a virtual community. In it was good and bad. Many great ideas and information sharing happened there. The underlying reasoning for having a town blog was for that very purpose and I believe Mr. Doar did the best he could to keep it on track. Unfortunately, under the guise of free speech, many people simply attacked others there, bringing the whole thing down.
So what kind of behavior should we expect from people in an online community? I believe the same behavior that we expect from people in any community, that we treat others with courtesy and respect. That doesn’t mean everything has to be all rosy all the time. We should still try to hold our town officials to a higher standard of behavior or call them on it when they don’t live up to that standard. We should still call others on behavior that is hurtful to our communities. We are bound to have different ideas and opinions and we are bound to not get along sometimes. We should still expect people to disagree without being disagreeable.
Len Greaney wrote a letter to the editor that was also posted on TRR that said the problem is because people post anonymously. I disagree. The problem is when people don’t display acceptable public behavior, regardless of if they reveal their identity. I know being anonymous makes people more likely to misbehave but if you read the Open Doar, you saw that there were more anonymous poster there that behaved like responsible citizens and called for acceptable behavior than their were those that acted unacceptably. BTW, although I may disagree at times with Mr. Greaney’s opinions, I have always respected the way he has conducted himself publicly. That hasn’t always been the case for other people at public meetings
There has been a lot of noise made about people needing to know who is posting or on certain sides of an issue. Why do they need to know so badly? After all the reputation ruining, name calling and public bashing that has gone on, why wouldn’t people want to remain anonymous? Trust is very low in town right now and it’s going to take some time before it’s built back up. Some in town appear way too anxious to find out who has different opinions than them so can attack and harass them. I don’t need that behavior in my life. If in some small way this site helps heal the town and contributes positively, I don’t need that credit either. It would be enough just to see it happen.
Oh and BTW, we do have an identity, even if it’s an online one. That identity is the Rumford Free Press which values responsible free speech and open communication. Everyone that shares those values is invited to join us here at this online community. Stay tuned, we’re working to make it even better.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
10 comments:
There is nothing wrong with anonymous postings. However, you should require registration of some type, so that the anonymous posters can at least be identified by a common name over the course of numerous postings. It makes it easier for the person reading to gather a "track record" of a particular person, and their slants.
I must disagree with your statements about anonymous posters. If the Open Doar had required people to identify themselves, the discussion would never have sunk to the level it did. Being accountable to someone for what you have said about them changes behavior. Under the free speech model when person "A" says something about person "B", they can walk past that person on the street without concern of person "B" knowing it was him/her who made the comment. Person "A" can also walk in public without being judged by society for his/her comment. Meanwhile, the rumor mill has taken the comment and made it 100 times worse and ruined the reputation of person "B" without justification.
Without anonymity, people are more careful about what they say. If they make a comment, they know they can be held accountable for that comment both legally and by society. I have made a few mistakes in my comments, but most times it is due to having relied upon the wrong people for information. I make an effort to be certain that what I say is either proven or clearly identified as my opinion. Having done so, I have come under attack by the anonymous posters, who have attempted to assassinate my character. I tell it like it is, and those who are up to something don't like that. They don't like my public agenda of eliminating hidden agendas. They can't argue the facts, so they go after the messenger.
We all have our own opinions, but we will not come to a solution by arguing. We need to be able to discuss our opinions like adults, and not throw stones at each other.
I think the point Dave was making is that you can keep your anonymity and adopt a user name (ie. John/Jane Doe) which makes the blog postings much easier to follow than wondering which anonymous poster replied to which anonymous posting or did the said poster reply to himself anonymously or was he regarding that third anonymous post? It also makes it easier to address someones point such as I am doing now. I too have my opinions and try to be careful to state them as such and put them across in a way that is not considered hostile. I am also open to any information that may change my opinion, I think that is what makes myself and many of the others who are posting here different from the likes of TRR. We want the whole story, we want to see both sides so we can better stand behind our opinions. My user name allows me to state my opinions without having to censor them because the person I do business with might feel I'm out to get them or a person I may in the future want to work with may frown upon my views or think me disloyal to a certain group of citizens. I have no desire to be crucified under my own name for asking the wrong questions or having a less than popular opinion.
Hi Kevin,
I’m sure you have strong feeling on this subject. You’ve been attacked about as much as anyone. We’ve seen numerous examples in town illustrating that there are some people out there that just aren’t very nice.
I partly agree with you. Like I said in my original post, being anonymous certainly makes it easier to post attacks from the perceived security of the internet. My original post also makes the argument that people behaving badly, whether anonymous or not, is the crux of the problem. You have also been treated very poorly by people that have signed their names on their comments, maybe even had been friends to you, all because you didn’t agree.
You’ve been to a lot of town meetings. People have behaved badly there at times also, all because someone may have a different opinion. A few examples have been nasty comments yelled from the audience towards people on their way to speak, accusations made towards people, verbal harassment after meeting are over, even challenges to fight during meetings. None of those were done anonymously. Some were even on camera.
C had a really good point in her comment. If you had a really good job you loved but knew your boss had a different opinion than you, would you risk your job to be able to express your opinion? What if that was a relative? Your friend? Your next door neighbor? What if it was simply someone you go to church with that wants to argue with you at the end of each service? Most of us probably don’t go to work, family functions and especially church to argue politics.
Kevin, I read what you wrote on your website about not wanting to try to destroy everyone that you may disagree with and how that caused a split from the group you had been associating with. While that must not have been very much fun, I had enormous respect for it. I’m sure others did as well.
I don’t always agree with you politically and I’m thinking we could have some great debates. That’s what makes life interesting. I’m glad you weighed in. You are welcome here anytime.
RFP
Hello Rumford Free Press. I wish you luck with your new venture. Your openness is refreshing. Here is my two cents worth regarding anonymity: Personal, obscene, slanderous, libelous attacks should be deleted whether they are made anonymously or not. Ideas, opinions, positions, and facts should be heard whether they are expressed anonymously or not. The identity of the poster should be irrelevant.
Thank you T. I think your "two cents" are words to blog by.
I visited The Rumford Reporter this evening and noticed that the "staff" has removed the ability for readers to comment, or am I missing something? The Rumford Reporter would not post my comments anyway. I disagreed with them on many issues and took exception to their libelous remarks (my opinion), so it's not a concern for me. I did note, the other day, that only one person in a month and a half had commented. Does The Rumford Reporter not want the opinions of the citizenry? Interesting...
They seem to dislike anonymous comments, even though 1/2 of their posts are anonymous.
I like the idea of being able to voice my opinion but I find your blog dificult to find new blogs. Can you do a daily sheet so we can tell what's new . Thanks for all you do.
I enjoy your bolg and like being able to get my two cents in from time to time. I do have a problem finding the newest entries without going thru the whole list. Thanks for doing what you do .
Post a Comment