Life keeps getting busier. NewsOverCoffee is the place where neighbors connect to share news and information about Nazareth, PA.
In short, it is where Colonial Hospitality meets information technology to ensure an even better community.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Coffee House Issue
My apologies. Despite changing the settings to anyone can post, the Google Groups still requires a log-in which pretty much defeats the purpose.
I'll go back to the drawing board and in the meantime enjoy the nice weather outside!
Ross, I won't speak for others. But I miss the interactive comments. It brings a site to life. Those who supported your decision have not been willing to make comments under your new format. I think we all miss out. Yes, there are problems with anonymous comments, but I think having no comments is worse. That's just my opinion and this is your blog.
I know we have agreed to disagree on this point and I appreciate the feedback as I have from others as well. My goal is to continue with the site while providing an alternate means to express one's comments in a more "conversational" way without registration .
It also needs to be pointed out that I've done nothing to prevent comments, nor have I stopped anonymous comments. The request for registration is one small way I can help to provide a safer environment.
Registration only requires a valid email address and it does not have to be made public.
I am working on a forum (the google groups was more of a list serve and I should have studied it closer before launching, but hey not every idea I've ever had has worked and nor do I expect them all too) and I think that will help give the conversation some folks are seeking.
The value of the "Readers' Digest" format of getting all the Nazareth news and information in one place remains. So too does providing a place for organizations and groups to spread the word about themselves, their activities, and their events. While I don't have the reach of a print publication, there is no cost to get the word spread for these groups and money is tight for everyone.
I guess in the end I'm trying to be as responsible as I can given my personal time, the technology, and people.
Again, thanks and for anyone who hasn't been visiting Bernie's blog there have been some very interesting posts in the world of politics that have a huge impact on who is elected locally. Very much worth reading and something I'll have as a stand-alone post once we get closer to fall.
As a person who runs a forum in my spare time for one of my hobbies, I can tell you from personal experience that a forum is much harder to maintain than a blog. The automated spambot programs that scan the internet for forums can easily register and post porn links, viagra prescription links, etc.. These programs make the management of a forum a lot more time-consuming than you think.
With that being said, the silence on this blog has been deafening since you required registration. People clearly don't want to register and are making a statement as such. If the lack of comments during the past month or so is any indicator to the general readership's views, I don't think a forum will generate more community discussions unless you eliminate the registration requirements to post topics or comments. While I applaud your time and effort to keep this blog going, your ability to censor comments does more harm than good. I would imagine that most of the readers of this blog are adults who can disseminate between comments that add to the conversation and posts that should be ignored.
The forum format won't work because even if you allow anyone to post they still need to have at least a name and often an email. People don't want to register at all. So that concept won't work.
Regarding some of your observations, I don't think you can make the reach that the people who comment reflect the readership, because most readers never post a comment even when there was no registration requirement.
On a "good" day if there are 30 comments there might be 20 individuals (probably less) making them, while there are 400 unique visitors to the site on that day. It is a small amount of people who do comment. Do some people read for the pending car-crash? Yes, I'm sure they do, but most read to quickly find out what is happening.
I have always had an ability to censor comments by way of the trash can delete function and I've done that with regularity. Asking that someone register by providing a username (which is visible) and an email (which may or may not be) is not censorship.
Discriminating between posts that are worthwhile and ones that are not by the reader is only one part of the equation.
I recognize that I have a higher standard than what most other sites have, but my name is affiliated with this and that makes it of personal interest to me that it does have a high standard.
In a placeblog, you are writing about the place in which you live. The people you interact with daily as well as those who interact with your family will know what you are writing, what is being posted to your site, and what if anything you are doing when inappropriate material is being posted. For these and personal reasons, a high civility standard is important to me.
If the NOC home and Sports & Activities site are the place for news and information, then I do believe the high standard should be applied. The idea for a forum or place to talk about whatever, the CoffeeHouse, was created to accommodate the people who want it the "old way".
The simplest solution will be to set up another blog and link to it with the disclaimer that it will not only allow anonymous comments, but it won't be regulated and readers must understand this.
That is most likely the route I'll take now and we'll see where it leads. I'm really not that concerned because I don't see it as critical, but supplementary.
4 comments:
Ross, I won't speak for others. But I miss the interactive comments. It brings a site to life. Those who supported your decision have not been willing to make comments under your new format. I think we all miss out. Yes, there are problems with anonymous comments, but I think having no comments is worse. That's just my opinion and this is your blog.
Bernie,
I know we have agreed to disagree on this point and I appreciate the feedback as I have from others as well. My goal is to continue with the site while providing an alternate means to express one's comments in a more "conversational" way without registration .
It also needs to be pointed out that I've done nothing to prevent comments, nor have I stopped anonymous comments. The request for registration is one small way I can help to provide a safer environment.
Registration only requires a valid email address and it does not have to be made public.
I am working on a forum (the google groups was more of a list serve and I should have studied it closer before launching, but hey not every idea I've ever had has worked and nor do I expect them all too) and I think that will help give the conversation some folks are seeking.
The value of the "Readers' Digest" format of getting all the Nazareth news and information in one place remains. So too does providing a place for organizations and groups to spread the word about themselves, their activities, and their events. While I don't have the reach of a print publication, there is no cost to get the word spread for these groups and money is tight for everyone.
I guess in the end I'm trying to be as responsible as I can given my personal time, the technology, and people.
Again, thanks and for anyone who hasn't been visiting Bernie's blog there have been some very interesting posts in the world of politics that have a huge impact on who is elected locally. Very much worth reading and something I'll have as a stand-alone post once we get closer to fall.
As a person who runs a forum in my spare time for one of my hobbies, I can tell you from personal experience that a forum is much harder to maintain than a blog. The automated spambot programs that scan the internet for forums can easily register and post porn links, viagra prescription links, etc.. These programs make the management of a forum a lot more time-consuming than you think.
With that being said, the silence on this blog has been deafening since you required registration. People clearly don't want to register and are making a statement as such. If the lack of comments during the past month or so is any indicator to the general readership's views, I don't think a forum will generate more community discussions unless you eliminate the registration requirements to post topics or comments. While I applaud your time and effort to keep this blog going, your ability to censor comments does more harm than good. I would imagine that most of the readers of this blog are adults who can disseminate between comments that add to the conversation and posts that should be ignored.
The forum format won't work because even if you allow anyone to post they still need to have at least a name and often an email. People don't want to register at all. So that concept won't work.
Regarding some of your observations, I don't think you can make the reach that the people who comment reflect the readership, because most readers never post a comment even when there was no registration requirement.
On a "good" day if there are 30 comments there might be 20 individuals (probably less) making them, while there are 400 unique visitors to the site on that day. It is a small amount of people who do comment. Do some people read for the pending car-crash? Yes, I'm sure they do, but most read to quickly find out what is happening.
I have always had an ability to censor comments by way of the trash can delete function and I've done that with regularity. Asking that someone register by providing a username (which is visible) and an email (which may or may not be) is not censorship.
Discriminating between posts that are worthwhile and ones that are not by the reader is only one part of the equation.
I recognize that I have a higher standard than what most other sites have, but my name is affiliated with this and that makes it of personal interest to me that it does have a high standard.
In a placeblog, you are writing about the place in which you live. The people you interact with daily as well as those who interact with your family will know what you are writing, what is being posted to your site, and what if anything you are doing when inappropriate material is being posted. For these and personal reasons, a high civility standard is important to me.
If the NOC home and Sports & Activities site are the place for news and information, then I do believe the high standard should be applied. The idea for a forum or place to talk about whatever, the CoffeeHouse, was created to accommodate the people who want it the "old way".
The simplest solution will be to set up another blog and link to it with the disclaimer that it will not only allow anonymous comments, but it won't be regulated and readers must understand this.
That is most likely the route I'll take now and we'll see where it leads. I'm really not that concerned because I don't see it as critical, but supplementary.
Thanks for the note and have a great week!
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