Lakewood Forum? What say you?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Back when we started this project, we had two forums. Lakewood and Global, along the way sub catagories were started and dropped, we are working on organizing last organization.

The early rules were, if it has something to do with Lakewood, it went into Lakewood Forum.

Everything else was Global, which we felt was just fluff.

Should we go back to two?

I put Alex Belisle's last post forward as to a perfect way to slip a non-Lakewood post into Lakewood Forum, and it underlines creativity on many levels, which we always wanted to reward from day 1.

In my view, and the view of the founders this would be a legal Lakewood Fourm subject though it did not happen in Lakewood.

Roller Derby, anyone?
http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/forum/v ... =7&t=22859

I first met these ladies at the Good Goat Gallery here on Madison and they invited me to their 1st opening game. Here's the shot they liked the best.

A simple Lakewood tie-in and call out to a local gallery, and the vibrancy of Lakewood streets.

Drops a couple great images of the event not in Lakewood and moves on.

I think it is legit, and damn good photos, a positive post, however no bonus points for mentioning hospital, or Paul Newman, but a good post.

Any thoughts from others?

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[Corey Rossen]

I think the Deck should come up with its own "Sniglet" section.

Sniglets a type of neologism, were popularized by comedian/actor Rich Hall during his tenure on the 1980s HBO comedy series Not Necessarily the News, each monthly episode of which featured a regular segment on "sniglets," which Hall described as "any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should."

First submission:

"Blorner" - noun. (1) Blind corner. (2) When a building, bushes or hedges block the view of the street intersection. Ex: I was nearly hit by a bus while crossing the blorner of Athens and Elmwood.

[Jim O'Bryan]

I think the Deck should come up with its own "Sniglet" section.

Sniglets a type of neologism, were popularized by comedian/actor Rich Hall during his tenure on the 1980s HBO comedy series Not Necessarily the News, each monthly episode of which featured a regular segment on "sniglets," which Hall described as "any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should."

First submission:

"Blorner" - noun. (1) Blind corner. (2) When a building, bushes or hedges block the view of the street intersection. Ex: I was nearly hit by a bus while crossing the blorner of Athens and Elmwood.

Never found Rich Hall funny, but loved "sniglets" I think that falls under education.


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[Michael Deneen]

Moving a post to the Global Forum relegates it to a much smaller audience.
It gets a small fraction of the traffic that the Lakewood forum has.
I admit that I very rarely ever check in there.

[Dan Alaimo]

I agree with Mike. I even stopped using another local board when they separated a "national" forum. I want to go to one place, see what's new, see what interests me, maybe post a comment, and get on with my day.

A key question is why, and the only thing that makes sense to me is if the Deck gets so many new threads a day that they don't comfortably fit on one page. If there are more than that, then it's time to think about splitting it up. Maybe that's why they did it originally - I wasn't here. Today there aren't that many posts, and there are far more than on any other local message board, including the various Facebook pages. Checking in once or twice a day, I usually don't even have to scroll down in the general discussions to see all the new topics/comments.

I look at the other Deck forums maybe once a week or less, and the first think I look at is when/what was the most recent post. It's almost always a week or so old - too long to bother with and I move along. I'm interested in global. I'm interested in schools. I'm interested in urban issues. But I won't work too hard to read opinions and comment on these subjects. To me they all relate to our general community discussion because these are local comments on these various subjects.

I say there should just be one forum unless the volume increases significantly enough to necessitate a break out.

[Lori Allen _]

I feel that anything political that does not actually relate to Lakewood should be moved to Global.

I also feel that the hospital should have a separate area near the top of the forum.

FWIW.

[Matthew Lee]

Hi Jim,

This is your baby, so you are free to do what you want.

All I know is that this forum turned from a place to actually talk about Lakewood and things going on, into a 80% "Hospital and we hate Mike Summers and his cronies" forum.

I miss the old forum but understand if others don't. Personally, I wish we would segregate all the hospital/political discussion to another forum. However, it may be too late for that.

Anyways, those are my thoughts.

Cheers,

Matthew

[m buckley]

Hi Jim , I agree this is your baby, so you are free to do what you want.
All I know is that this forum where, and allow me to reference Mr. Lee, 80% of the feedback is about the fate of Lakewood Hospital, which last time I looked was in Lakewood, and thus seems to be about Lakewood and as a result the discussion of which painfully, obviously, belongs in the Lakewood local forum .
Again referencing Mr. Lee, whether it's political thought or anything else under the sun, I'm not a big proponent of segregation. If this is a mosh pit then have at it. If you're looking for an excuse to marginalize this discussion, then just do it. But it seems to me with depositions still to be taken, with that oh so awkward, after the fact, errata provided by Mr. Summers and with the still to be decided vote on the referendum, you would be doing a disservice to Lakewood by relegating this discussion to some back channel forum.

[Michael Deneen]

The hospital is the most important Lakewood issue of a generation...and the one that will decide the fate of our city.
So yeah, I think the issue it belongs here.

There is plenty else in this forum....in the past few days there are threads on hens, streetlights, crime, the father/daughter dance, and lots and lots of photography. Everything from roller derby to nesting eagles.

[Matthew Lee]

Hi Jim,

I imagine you can run the numbers. What has traffic been like in terms of number of posters since this turned into the 80% Hospital Forum? I could be wrong, but I think the number of different posters has dropped way down. I know it is hard for some to believe but not everyone cares about the hospital issue in the same passionate manner as others. This has caused the board, again in my opinion, to lose lots of unique posters who used to use this forum.

I'm sure you can look at the numbers themselves. How many unique people have created new posts in the past 30 days? 90 days? 1 year? 2 years? Who are the majority of the posters? If this is to be a forum to constantly bring up hospital news and bash the administration, then so be it. But if this is to be actual "Lakewood General Discussion", this has been lost IMHO.

This was a great community forum that has become a shell of what it once was. Again, just my opinion.

Thanks for hearing me out. Cheers,

Matthew

[Amy Martin]

You know what they say about opinions . . . . .

[james fitzgibbons]

I agree with Buckley and Deneen and Amy.

[Lori Allen _]

I tend to agree more with Matthew on this issue. When I first joined the Forum, we had a lot more posters, a lot of interesting posts and people who seemed to get along better with each other. I do think that the hospital issue is important, but, it seems to be a lot of repeated information and some folks in Lakewood have moved on. I feel that the hospital needs it's own spot. If people are interested, they will find it and go to it. We need to bring back variety here, and then, hopefully, people will return. I have spoken to some that feel it is no longer the Lakewood Observer, but, the Lakewood Hospital Observer.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Hi Jim,

I imagine you can run the numbers. What has traffic been like in terms of number of posters since this turned into the 80% Hospital Forum? I could be wrong, but I think the number of different posters has dropped way down. I know it is hard for some to believe but not everyone cares about the hospital issue in the same passionate manner as others. This has caused the board, again in my opinion, to lose lots of unique posters who used to use this forum.

I'm sure you can look at the numbers themselves. How many unique people have created new posts in the past 30 days? 90 days? 1 year? 2 years? Who are the majority of the posters? If this is to be a forum to constantly bring up hospital news and bash the administration, then so be it. But if this is to be actual "Lakewood General Discussion", this has been lost IMHO.

This was a great community forum that has become a shell of what it once was. Again, just my opinion.

Thanks for hearing me out. Cheers,

Matthew

Matthew

The Deck, a small part of the project rises and falls for many reasons, from time of day, to season, to what is going on in town.

So it is hard to say, as we have never tried to monetize the conversations here, and we never mention them in our ad kits, we rarely check traffic. All of those ideas were left at the door step when we started. I admit Global is down, which again was merely a side note in the original to keep politics out of Lakewood Discussions.

As for mostly hospital, Matthew, have I ever told you what to post or not post? Do you think we call and ask Cory to post or he does what he wants? When you want something up you think is important, like this post. Do you want nameless people to edit it or delete it because you are not positive? I bet no.

So goes the hospital stuff. This thread is about making the board smaller, and everyone says yes, but you and two of the ones wanting it smaller wanted a category just for the hospital.

Now here is the way I see it, and Lakewood better get its big boy pants on, and grow up. In talking with numerous council members and city officials, I have asked them where Essi lied? They agree he has not. The single biggest bone of contention posted here was "ambulance services" and everyone agree Lakewood Fire and Police are top notch.

During the West End places became the West End site, during the Lincoln/Grant/Roosevelt charade, it became the "Menopausal Grant School Moms Site" according to many of the people that now post in good news leakewood

Who am I, or Raul, Dan, Meg, Tom, Heidi etc. to set tone in an honest and open discussion.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with one of the original "founders" he had heard of the new projects a couple months ago and dropped in, his comments were telling. "It would seem it is still working." You don't like hospital talk, post something else, as easy as Alex posting photos of roller derby, flowers, sports, nothing at all.

We are still the gold standard for public discourse, which is why you will see Observers in 5 new communities this summer. Everywhere there is an Observer, much like when it was started here in Lakewood, mayors, councils, school board and most importantly residents call, invite us in, and we see if they have the chops Lakewood used to have. We have been invited to more cities during the past year, then ever before, based on our handling of the hospital.

It should be remembered, the Observer was started with the Library, Schools, and City Hall wanting a place for verifiable residents to have a conversation about what is bothering them, and what they like. What came out of it, was a way to assess the mental health and the insides of a community, while creating a safe zone to talk about tough things. "Weather and sports are the fodder for fools to talk about," was one of the many comments brought forward.

In the end the Deck just is. Some of the people talking about low viewing, are some of the reasons people say they stay away. I don't believe it, because over the years many of those names have died, moved, or post elsewhere using real and fake names.

So in a project where we do not tell people to write, what to say or not say, and rely on it for nothing more than storage of discussion, what do you think should be done?

To people that think it is negative, post something positive, it happens all the time. To those that think we are too fluffy, post something harder hitting. For those that think we are hateful, bring love. But to create an artificial conversation, or table, it is just not what we are about, I hope.

Sadly, we have a lot more conversation coming about the hospital. People will get sick and board, which is too bad, it is a great civic and lesson about life.

Matthew, you have been an Observer for a long time, thanks for the post.

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[Jim O'Bryan]

I tend to agree more with Matthew on this issue. When I first joined the Forum, we had a lot more posters, a lot of interesting posts and people who seemed to get along better with each other. I do think that the hospital issue is important, but, it seems to be a lot of repeated information and some folks in Lakewood have moved on. I feel that the hospital needs it's own spot. If people are interested, they will find it and go to it. We need to bring back variety here, and then, hopefully, people will return. I have spoken to some that feel it is no longer the Lakewood Observer, but, the Lakewood Hospital Observer.

Lori

I cannot control what people think, just as I have no interest in controlling what they say.
Actually just the opposite, if you live here, are over 18, and can prove who you are, we want to hear what you have to say.

So here we are back to the beginning, who gets to decide what is said and who can post?

Who controls that in real life?

I have bad news for everyone, the hospital is not over, and it will not be the biggest problem in the city this summer.

So should I become god, and delete comments I don;t agree with? THAT I THINK ARE NEGATIVE? WTF?

If this city has fallen that far down the intelligence chain, we are screwed.

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