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A new wave of Sound Off
I have previously owned up to the fact that I opposed for many years adding a Sound Off column to the paper before I was overruled and then became a fan. Like raising an energetic child, Sound Off is high maintenance but can be immensely rewarding in an unexpected instant with one fresh comment or delightful observation.
I have recently also become a fan of another anonymous form of opinion that I previously objected to -- comments posted on our Web site to stories and opinions.
Our previous Web site platform required comments to be approved before posting. This slowed the process and forced the reader of a story to wait a day or so before seeing what others had to say. In our new and approved Web site unveiled a few weeks ago, comments post immediately. There are filters to keep out profanity, but if someone wants to criticize his neighbor, there's nothing to stop it until we catch it and remove it from the site.
I was unsure about this freedom to comment anonymously without control, but I was assured that it provides a free and open forum for people, and they react with energy and enthusiasm.
Today's 34 comments to a story about a bus stop in Limerick have proven the Web gurus right and me wrong.
Granted, I get three to four "Abuse" reports in my email every other day or so, but we take care of the offensive comments by immediately removing them.
This is the interactive portion of the Internet that has become so popular, and in the case of commenting on local stories at www.pottsmerc.com, it is the best of both worlds -- marrying a discussion by citizens with community news reported by a credible newspaper.
I have an editor's directive here in the newsroom that reporters have heard often: I want local voices in stories. I want to hear the words of local people on issues and events that are important to their lives; I want to see their faces in photographs, revealing the diversity in opinion and background of the people to whom we write our newspaper. The Web site comments give me that diversity and those voices right from their own mouths, er, laptops.
We hear the perspective of a teen-ager who waits at the bus stop, parents who drop their kids off there, other parents who recall longer waits and walks when they went to school, and many observers with hard-headed opinions about children, parents, schools, buses, sidewalks and the world in general.
The comments are enlightening and fun.
On a more serious note, the comments last week reacting to the death of a young mother at the hands of her estranged husband painted a poignant portrait of the tragedy of domestic violence. The comments taken together told a story of Amy Camacho-Marchionne, as her family and friends would like her remembered. The comments provided so much insight into the victim's life that we printed them in The Sunday Mercury alongside a followup story to Amy's murder.
As a writer and editor, the comments on our Web site also help me understand how readers view our reporting. I especially appreciate the reactions, both pro and con, to the Opinion editorials I write.
Your comments are delightful reading.
And, like with Sound Off, I'm hooked.
I have recently also become a fan of another anonymous form of opinion that I previously objected to -- comments posted on our Web site to stories and opinions.
Our previous Web site platform required comments to be approved before posting. This slowed the process and forced the reader of a story to wait a day or so before seeing what others had to say. In our new and approved Web site unveiled a few weeks ago, comments post immediately. There are filters to keep out profanity, but if someone wants to criticize his neighbor, there's nothing to stop it until we catch it and remove it from the site.
I was unsure about this freedom to comment anonymously without control, but I was assured that it provides a free and open forum for people, and they react with energy and enthusiasm.
Today's 34 comments to a story about a bus stop in Limerick have proven the Web gurus right and me wrong.
Granted, I get three to four "Abuse" reports in my email every other day or so, but we take care of the offensive comments by immediately removing them.
This is the interactive portion of the Internet that has become so popular, and in the case of commenting on local stories at www.pottsmerc.com, it is the best of both worlds -- marrying a discussion by citizens with community news reported by a credible newspaper.
I have an editor's directive here in the newsroom that reporters have heard often: I want local voices in stories. I want to hear the words of local people on issues and events that are important to their lives; I want to see their faces in photographs, revealing the diversity in opinion and background of the people to whom we write our newspaper. The Web site comments give me that diversity and those voices right from their own mouths, er, laptops.
We hear the perspective of a teen-ager who waits at the bus stop, parents who drop their kids off there, other parents who recall longer waits and walks when they went to school, and many observers with hard-headed opinions about children, parents, schools, buses, sidewalks and the world in general.
The comments are enlightening and fun.
On a more serious note, the comments last week reacting to the death of a young mother at the hands of her estranged husband painted a poignant portrait of the tragedy of domestic violence. The comments taken together told a story of Amy Camacho-Marchionne, as her family and friends would like her remembered. The comments provided so much insight into the victim's life that we printed them in The Sunday Mercury alongside a followup story to Amy's murder.
As a writer and editor, the comments on our Web site also help me understand how readers view our reporting. I especially appreciate the reactions, both pro and con, to the Opinion editorials I write.
Your comments are delightful reading.
And, like with Sound Off, I'm hooked.
posted by Nancy March at
4:02 PM
3 Comments:
I would like to kow why the people of
Stowe have to continueously have to put up with the racism of the police department. My son was one of about eight kids who were skateboarding down on the trail when they veered off the trail about 150 feet onto the old Flaggs site for which they did not know that they were on Flaggs property because there were no signs posted where they were to let them know that they were entering the Flaggs property. One of the children who happens to be white was dropped off at his parents house with just a warning and yes he was white but my son who is of african american decent who has never even as much as has a run in with the police but to say hi was cited with tresspassing and citation. I feel after all that we as parents of a local troubled bar have helped the police department try and clean up the troubled bar would have gotten a break considering the boys did not know that the property was Flaggs or they would have not been on it and they went as far as to apologize to the police and say they would never go there again. The troubling part of the hole thing is that the police officer is known as the most fairest police officer on the force and he was just completely out of line on this matter and held the boys of color to a higher standard than the white ones and this needs to be addressed by the chief . I can almost gaurantee you that the chief will do nothing to the officer as he usually does. Th public needs to stand up here and aks for an apology from the chief and officer or the resignation of the chief because it is time for him to step down and make way for one who is going to be fair to all people no matter the colr of thier skin.Because now these boys are having to go in front of a judge and xplain thier issue to the judge since they ere cie for tresspassing and disorderly conduct which together the fines could easily total $375.00 for one little mess up. This is not fair to the boys who will now have records and it will be held against them when they go look for jobs or try to get into college.
Ok. Like you african americans don't get away with other stuff. So what. You get away with playing your music so loud that we hear vibrations from a mile away. You can call each other the N word and we can't even think it without you all ganging up on us attack. You can run a red light or stop sign and get away with it and when us white folk try it we get pulled over and ticketed. You people can park in a no parking zone and not get anything for it but when we try it it's parking cops all over the place. When you don't pay for parking on High Street nothing happens but when we go over the meter by 1 minute we get fined. Get over it. It's only a stupid citation. It's about time you african americans start getting the same treatment as us.
This is in regards to the Spring_Ford High Schools yearbook staff, A good friend of the class of 2011 Matt Wesolowski lost his life in an automobile accident on Feb. 14, 2010. We wanted to have his picture put in the Senior yearbook, we were told by the yearbook staff because something was in yearbook last year, that they would not put it in. It was school policy. What kind of policy is this? The boy would of graduated with the class of 2011..Shame on you Spring-Ford!
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