For those of you who are still struggling with the technology and haven't succeeded in getting a google/gmail account that works (for comments posting), I have added a new gizmo to the site to let me help you get things squared away. The Chat button will let you start a private conversation with site administration when available. If you need help getting a google account, or WANT ME TO SET ONE UP FOR YOU, I can do that now without the need for e-mail contact (thus protecting your anonymity). I can't guarantee that I will often or regularly be available, but when I am I will do what I can to help.
I also have a correction to an earlier comment of mine. I indicated that you only needed to use the base of the gmail account to post a comment. This was at least partially incorrect. If you are logged in this may be true (and you are when you first create the account), but if you are cold posting (adding a comment without first logging in) you need to use the full e-mail address (with the @gmail.com on the end). Sorry for the confusion - it got me twisted around, too.
ps. Ok, Edith, here's your chance to ONCE AGAIN tell me how stupid you think all this is. Don't let us down!
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13 comments:
Not stupid. Just thick. You managed to reduce, if not almost stop, the number of comments, by any reasonable measurable benchmark. Take a deep breath, realize you made an honest mistake and fix what you broke. Because, dear, you broke it. Count the number of comments.
Remember the good old days on this blog when we posted on matters not related to the bureaucratic missteps of the "Management" of this blog? Maxwell is breathing a humongous sigh of relief.
One last item, people are not posting on this blog because they are somehow stupid and cannot figure out the new rules. They understand the new rules. They just do not care for the new rules. How about you quit condescending down to them? We get it. Sadly, you do not get it.
Dear Edith and Hoosier,
It's a Sunday morning and instead of attending church and polishing to my soul I thought about helping the two of you redeem yourselves from the clutches of Hell.
It appears that you are emotionally tortured and intellectually challenged by not being allowed to barf in public.
In essence the curtailing of one to make comments has ripped you apart at the cerebral cortex. You make mention of this blog being ruined by the simple (and it is simple) change requiring an identifier to accompany a comment statement. Note, one can still assume an anonymous identifier, what's the big deal?
What you have to understand about the reduced amounts of comments is that the primary elections are over and the results were disappointing to most of the blog readers.
Let me add a little more to that statement, my dears. For many, many moons (a little American Indian lingo) every comment was a pejorative remark about the county officials, their dismal performance, and how releiving it was going to be once the populance voted them out of office.
Is it any wonder that the attendance is lower now? The elections didn't net any new blood to challenge the incumbents. And on top of that there isn't any new news to report from the courthouse. In other words there aren't even any new posts for the blog which is the bread and butter of why we go here in the first place. It is really all about content. Commenting is a mere residual discussion (albeit personal) of the political actions of the county officials.
There was probably a good reason for the outcome of the primaries, the fact that sticks out in my mind was the amount of people who changed their registration from Republican to Democrat. If you hadn't noticed there was an enormous emphasis placed on the affects of this primary with the national Democrat presidential nominations. Possibly several thousand Dearborn County voters decided they would rather have a say in that contest instead of the local race.
There is still hope for those who desperately want change in the county government. The general elections are this November and we can still impact those elections. Leaving out the details for later in the year, we must not assume the worst has decended upon our near perfect existance here in the sewers of our collective societal community.
We have survived intact, our enormous energy is just relaxing at the moment, we are taking a breather from the muck of politics for the time being. Most of us enjoyed the 9th inning comeback of the Reds against the Indians yeasterday.
Today we are all doing some trivial yard work and then we're going to be seen on the golf course striking that little ball with renewed vigor, because we can. This blog will pick back up - when its necessary. Not until then.
Why don't the two of you get together and just phone each other with your complaint du jour. Each time I see your names posted it looks like a little spider on my monitor and it makes me want to swat at the awful negativity you spew.
There, I feel better. I did a Christian thing and now I can get on with my daily duties. Have a magnificent day, er wait, no have a terrible day, since that is all that will make you happy!! TPH
TPH
She's taking poison and waiting for the board to die.
No. Just amazing at the dearth of posts. The lack of posts is really quite blatant. When did the lion's share of the posts come to a halt? What one factor was it? Oh well, keep clinging to your intemperate, poor decision. Just keep rearranging those deck chairs.
Well, Edith, you certainly did come through for me, as I knew you would. Had I known I was going to get a three-fer I might have stuck around a bit longer last night.
You have illustrated for everyone in the strongest possible terms what I have been saying about the changes made and the value of those changes. In former times it might have been mistakenly assumed that many people were commenting negatively. With the changes in place it becomes abundantly clear that these thoughts are merely the outgassing of a single, serial poster.
You appear to continue to believe that the most important thing is that a great deal be said, and that it is completely unimportant that the speaker actual offer something worth saying. I completely disagree.
You are, of course, free to continue your paroxysms of outrage against "the man". Speech is not free if it is only for people with whom we agree. On the other hand, you should, perhaps, take a moment to consider what you are doing to your reputation as a poster. One of the advantages of the new arrangement, from my point of view, is that every voice is branded and develops a reputation over time. What do you suppose YOUR reputation is by now, when fully half of many comments posted bear your moniker?
I admire your passion, I just wish it were directed at more useful pursuits.
"On the other hand, you should, perhaps, take a moment to consider what you are doing to your reputation as a poster."
One of your few posters left. Good job. Keep congratulating yourself. "Take a moment" and realize what you have forfeited. Maybe next time you can run an entire ticket of transplants who have no time for us lifers in this county. Just continue to throw us aside. By the way, has anyone here yet congratulated Tom Orshell on his win? He is one of us. Well, he is one of the rest of us. But we do not count. Do we? Even though we share your values and visions for this county. We just do not share your new found anal retentive need to place this blog on the "Agenda" system. Look at the results of what you have done. Most everybody is refusing to post here. Unless, you are suggesting only one person was posting on your blog all along. If so, what a sad, forlorn place, this blog must be. Good luck to you. Just so you know, by geography and topography, I am decades away from forced sewer hook ups. I was just trying to help my poor, unfortunate and in the direct line of fire of such forced hook ups, brethren. Keep sweeping us all alway. Many of us do not stand or risk to lose what may be just over the next rise from you.
Closing out my account.
Edith, nobody's asking you to leave, and if you do so you will be abandoning the neigbors for whom you claim to fight.
But I do have a question for you. What makes you so sure I am not also a "lifer"? Am I not neighborly enough?
Imagine I'm your neighbor, come to visit fresh from the fields in muddy boots. You invite me in to your kitchen to talk over goings ons and have a cup of coffee. How would you react if I then proceed to spit in your face because you want me to take off my boots instead of walking across the living room carpet to use the bathroom. And to top that, I keep threatening to leave then coming back in from the mudroom to tell you just what a bad neighbor you are and how your hospitality sucks. And your coffee, too. And how stupid or "thick" I think you are. And how nobody in the county will ever come visit your house, for sure. Just because you asked me not to walk on your carpet with muddy shoes.
How would you treat such a neighbor? Escort him to the end of the lane at the end of a double barrel, I think.
From my perspective, I have been more than neighborly. Nobody's asking you to get on the "Agenda", just leave your muddy boots at the door.
Dear A. Dearborn Citizen:
I for one greatly appreciate the requirement of a screen name.
Obviously I am still anonymous.
I always read and appreciate the original postings of county meetings and other valuable information that we do not get from our local newspaper.
I long ago gave up reading the comments because it was obvious that there were only one or two ‘anti-everyone’ people that kept repeating the same diatribe over and over.
It was a waste of time reading the comments hoping to find a few nuggets of wisdom or knowledge.
Now with the screen name, I can easily ignore superfluous comments.
I will even read a few from Edith to see what s/he has to say.
Thanks for a job well done.
I doubt that it was just one or two commenters. You can continue to believe that if you will. I have not bothered comment in a while nor even to read the comments. There may have been some negative and nasty comments; but, at least there was a lively and sometimes informative discussion. Now, this is virtually dead. I don't know if Edith is right or TPH; but, in the past comments continued even in low posting periods.
It appears some people have difficulty getting set up to post and others I have talked to have a real concern about retaliation.
You can presume if you wish that this is another reincarnation of Edith and there are only a few posters. However, I will largely continue to not waste time in this largely empty and dead comment space. It is unfortunate that the bad guys have succeeded in killing a once lively and sometimes irreverent discussion.
DCCitizen2,
I'm serious about this, please explain to me how anybody is subject to retaliation just because they have to get an anonymous google or gmail account?
That strikes me a extraordinarily paranoid (the pot calling the kettle black?). I mean, I don't put it past some of the folks that have been in county government to use their positions to try to squash their opposition. Heck, that's why I'm anonymous. I don't want this site to be shut down because they found something to hold over my head personally (it wouldn't work - a system is in place to hand off control if that ever occurred). But why would anybody think that an individual commenter would be a target, and even if that were true, how would anybody carry out such a persecution. If you know of a vulnerability that I don't, I sure would like to hear about it.
As for the difficulty getting set up, I will exert myself to the utmost to assist (and encourage you to do the same) to keep the interchange alive. That is why I added the chat. That is why I tried to revive the discussion board (which actually should be even better than the comments feature as it is more flexible and less easily abused) That is why I have offered to do the setup and hand off an account to any user that is having problems. I am not sure what more I can do to make this changeover easier.
If you have any suggestions (other than the obvious one) I am all ears. There is one thing I am certain of however. Wailing and pouting and tantrums aside, comments will not be turned back to their former configuration.
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