Lakewood Buzz
Moderator: Jim O'Bryan
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Tracy Jones
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2005 12:26 pm
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Kenneth Warren
- Posts: 489
- Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2005 7:17 pm
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Lynn Farris
- Posts: 559
- Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:24 pm
- Location: Lakewood, Ohio
- Contact:
Does the Lakewood Observer affect China?
http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Ftoday.reuters.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticlenews.aspx%3Ftype%3DinternetNews%26storyID%3D2006-10-23T055633Z_01_PEK127187_RTRIDST_0_OUKIN-UK-CHINA-BLOGS.XML%26WTmodLoc%3DTechInternet-C1-Headline-9
The Internet Society of China has recommended to the government that bloggers be required to use their real names when they register blogs, state media said on Monday, in the latest attempt to regulate free-wheeling Web content.
The society, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Information Industry, said no decision had been made but that a 'real name system' was inevitable.
http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Ftoday.reuters.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticlenews.aspx%3Ftype%3DinternetNews%26storyID%3D2006-10-23T055633Z_01_PEK127187_RTRIDST_0_OUKIN-UK-CHINA-BLOGS.XML%26WTmodLoc%3DTechInternet-C1-Headline-9
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." ~ George Carlin
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Charyn Compeau
- Posts: 324
- Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:11 pm
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Bob Ignizio
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:41 pm
- Location: Lakewood, OH
- Contact:
Here's my two cents. I've been doing the message board thing since about 1984. I think Compuserve might have been around by then, but I was just logging on to free Bulletin Board Systems at the time. Pretty much everyone on BBSes used a pseudonym, including myself (I was Metal Warlord... waits for the laughter to subside). And along with the pseudonyms, most of the people generally created some sort of alternate personality to go with it (what do you expect from a group of predominantly nerdy adolescent and teenage boys?).
On the plus side, this freedom resulted in some entertaining writing and creativity. It also resulted in a certain amount of morally questionable activity going on (software piracy, text files containing tips on how to get free phone calls, etc), and some undisputably bad stuff as well (there was at least one sleaze bag pedophile I know of who used these old message boards to troll for victims). All that aside, very little of a constructive nature ever got accomplished. By the end of the eighties my Commodore 64 had died, I had discovered girls and rock n roll, and I got out of the online world for a while.
But that's just one little clique of people, so you might not think it applies here. Well, I eventually got back online in about 1995. I frequented newsgroups and message boards on several subjects. Some geared towards technical things, some dealing with music, some dealing with TV shows, etc. These groups generally allowed pseudonyms, but by this time I decided to just be myself. Occasionally I will use the name Bob Noxious, but since that is my professional name that I use as a performer, I'm still putting myself out there.
For the most part, I was having fun interacting with people online once again. However, I quickly noticed there were two things which could kill a message board in a heartbeat. The first was an overzealous moderator stepping in to censor or ban posters for what often seemed to me rather minor issues. It's their board, of course, and they have that right. But that sort of "rule with an iron fist" approach to running a message board has a tendency to chill the conversation and drive some people away entirely. That does not seem to be an issue here at all. Jim may spout forth his opinions which some may take issue with, but he doesn't censor criticism of his opinions or anyone elses.
The other thing I noticed which could turn a thriving message board into a ghost town overnight was when some anonymous troll would swoop in and start spewing stupidity. It could be a sexist/racist/homophobic rant, it could be a personal attack on another user's mother, or it could just be garden variety spam. Regardless, the sort of people who do this generally don't use real names. Cleaning up the mess these posters leave behind can be very time consuming for a moderator, and in the meantime all it takes is one especially offensive post to drive a sincere and productive poster away from the board.
On a lesser scale, even some of the well behaved posters using fake names have a tendency to fall into the same kind of posturing I recall from my early BBS days. I'm not saying everyone who uses a pseudonym is prone to this, but I've seen a fair number who clearly have some idealized alter ego that they become when they're online. There's certainly a place for that on many message boards, and in general I don't have a problem with it. If I'm on a message board discussing horror movies or rock n roll or computer geek stuff, I expect it and embrace it. But on a message board dedicated to real civic issues, I can see how such silliness could quickly lower the level of discourse.
I would agree that China is using the real name thing as a means of control, but America isn't a police state (yet). If anything, The Observation Deck is doing the good old fashioned free market thing. They've decided how they want to do business, there's a "competing business" who does things differently, and people can make a choice as to which they prefer, or even to utilize both if they so desire.
One point I will concede - Charyn mentions how having to stand behind one's words could cause problems personally and professionally. This is true. For instance, in some of the threads about various businesses, it's possible an employee of such a business might have something to say that would be damaging to his or her employer. This information could very well be of interest to many on the Observation Deck, but without the protection of anonymity that person will most likely remain silent. This is a valid concern and the one real drawback to the real names only policy. Perhaps Jim or Ken can offer some suggestions as to how someone might be able to work around this obstacle should such a case arise.
BTW, I have no beef with The Lakewood Buzz myself. In fact, their music writer just did a feature on my band at this page. So the Buzz is fine by me. I haven't checked out their message board, and in all honesty probably won't since I'm already wasting too much time on boards as it is when I could be writing "real" articles or selling ads so that Terry would have more businesses to boycott.
On the plus side, this freedom resulted in some entertaining writing and creativity. It also resulted in a certain amount of morally questionable activity going on (software piracy, text files containing tips on how to get free phone calls, etc), and some undisputably bad stuff as well (there was at least one sleaze bag pedophile I know of who used these old message boards to troll for victims). All that aside, very little of a constructive nature ever got accomplished. By the end of the eighties my Commodore 64 had died, I had discovered girls and rock n roll, and I got out of the online world for a while.
But that's just one little clique of people, so you might not think it applies here. Well, I eventually got back online in about 1995. I frequented newsgroups and message boards on several subjects. Some geared towards technical things, some dealing with music, some dealing with TV shows, etc. These groups generally allowed pseudonyms, but by this time I decided to just be myself. Occasionally I will use the name Bob Noxious, but since that is my professional name that I use as a performer, I'm still putting myself out there.
For the most part, I was having fun interacting with people online once again. However, I quickly noticed there were two things which could kill a message board in a heartbeat. The first was an overzealous moderator stepping in to censor or ban posters for what often seemed to me rather minor issues. It's their board, of course, and they have that right. But that sort of "rule with an iron fist" approach to running a message board has a tendency to chill the conversation and drive some people away entirely. That does not seem to be an issue here at all. Jim may spout forth his opinions which some may take issue with, but he doesn't censor criticism of his opinions or anyone elses.
The other thing I noticed which could turn a thriving message board into a ghost town overnight was when some anonymous troll would swoop in and start spewing stupidity. It could be a sexist/racist/homophobic rant, it could be a personal attack on another user's mother, or it could just be garden variety spam. Regardless, the sort of people who do this generally don't use real names. Cleaning up the mess these posters leave behind can be very time consuming for a moderator, and in the meantime all it takes is one especially offensive post to drive a sincere and productive poster away from the board.
On a lesser scale, even some of the well behaved posters using fake names have a tendency to fall into the same kind of posturing I recall from my early BBS days. I'm not saying everyone who uses a pseudonym is prone to this, but I've seen a fair number who clearly have some idealized alter ego that they become when they're online. There's certainly a place for that on many message boards, and in general I don't have a problem with it. If I'm on a message board discussing horror movies or rock n roll or computer geek stuff, I expect it and embrace it. But on a message board dedicated to real civic issues, I can see how such silliness could quickly lower the level of discourse.
I would agree that China is using the real name thing as a means of control, but America isn't a police state (yet). If anything, The Observation Deck is doing the good old fashioned free market thing. They've decided how they want to do business, there's a "competing business" who does things differently, and people can make a choice as to which they prefer, or even to utilize both if they so desire.
One point I will concede - Charyn mentions how having to stand behind one's words could cause problems personally and professionally. This is true. For instance, in some of the threads about various businesses, it's possible an employee of such a business might have something to say that would be damaging to his or her employer. This information could very well be of interest to many on the Observation Deck, but without the protection of anonymity that person will most likely remain silent. This is a valid concern and the one real drawback to the real names only policy. Perhaps Jim or Ken can offer some suggestions as to how someone might be able to work around this obstacle should such a case arise.
BTW, I have no beef with The Lakewood Buzz myself. In fact, their music writer just did a feature on my band at this page. So the Buzz is fine by me. I haven't checked out their message board, and in all honesty probably won't since I'm already wasting too much time on boards as it is when I could be writing "real" articles or selling ads so that Terry would have more businesses to boycott.
"This is my happening and it freaks me out!" - Z-man, 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'
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Jim O'Bryan
- Posts: 14196
- Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:12 pm
- Location: Lakewood
- Contact:
Rick Uldricks wrote:Lakewood Buzz - Democratic board
Lakewood Observer - Republican board
How on earth did you dream that one up?
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Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
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DougHuntingdon
- Posts: 527
- Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:29 pm
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Rick Uldricks
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DougHuntingdon
- Posts: 527
- Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:29 pm