Wilson Daily Times Forum Down

[manyhawks]

From the website http://www.wilsondaily.com/Opinion/Editorials/Story/Personal-attack-forces-closing-of-forum--

It's a shame that a few users felt it necessary to post names of people in the community. It was the last straw which caused the WDT to shut the forum down.

Personal attack forces closing of forum

In its heyday, more than 2,000 years ago, the forum was the center of the Roman Empire.

It served as the city's central hub, and was where the people of Rome gathered to discuss the issues of the day and transact much of their economic and political business.

It was, on most days, a wild, bustling, wide open area that awed first-time visitors and showcased the tremendous diversity of people, thoughts and beliefs that was the hallmark of Rome.

What made it work, was that everyone understood the rules, often harsh, under which first the Republic and then the emperors allowed the business of the forum to operate.

That bustling, wide openness of the Roman Forum was the same quality that we hoped to create at The Wilson Daily Times when we launched our forum on wilsontimes.com more than a year ago.

We hoped that it would serve as a meeting place for people in the community to be able to able to gather and discuss the issues of the day.

It was launched because we believe, and still believe, that this city needs a place where people can share their opinions about news and issues and debate their opinions with others.

The Internet has given everyone who wants it the chance to voice their opinion on a subject in a way that was never available before.

And, for a time, the forum served that purpose.

As one reader of the forum said recently, it "had a life of its own."

That person said "it provided an open channel of communication between people in Wilson who may otherwise never meet or be able to discuss the local issues/stories. It also kept others who had moved away informed about the goings on. There were discussions about the elected representatives and our local economy. Many questions were asked and answered right there on that forum."

The problem is that it also served as an avenue by which some users felt they could attack other users.

That same reader also noted that it seemed to be the mission of some people "to bully and intimidate anyone who disagreed with their way of thinking. Many of us stayed away from their posts, but then they started interfering with and ruining other threads. Most of us tried our best to remain tolerant and ignore as best we could but that became difficult or impossible."

While we did our best to try and moderate the forum and set down rules that we hoped everyone would follow, we do not have the same number of legions that Caeser Augustus had.

Last weekend, we shut down the forum because posters had started a personal attack on a member of the community. It was not an opinion about how a public official was doing his job, it was not a comment on a specific issue, it was just an ugly personal attack.

That we could not tolerate, or, we realized, could we prevent it from happening again.

I am sorry for the many people who enjoyed using or reading the forum and did it responsibly.

If you wish to comment on a specific story, you still may do that through the comments section that we attach to the bottom of each online story.

But until we figure out a better way to stop the forum from becoming a place that people dread going to, we will not bring it back.

Some in the community may disagree with that decision, but I know at least one person who doesn't.

[manyhawks]

I see that a couple of the main people responsible for getting the WDT forum shut down have made comments after the editorial in the WDT. In those comments they place the blame on others. What a shame.

Que Sera said...

Obviously this anonymous editorial writer didn't have a clue about what was really going on in that forum. One or two users were being banned and returning over and over to attack a few of the Liberal posters on there. These same banned users were calling the boss and others at the paper to whine and complain. These same two (and their friends) refused to allow criticism of the Status Quo in this Town. They must have had connections with the paper because when someone pointed them out by name on the forum they shut it down. Sad. The community and free speech suffer because of fear and favoritism.

Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 8:49 AM

Kay Hannaford said...

I certainly did not get an opportunity to meet with you (as I requsted in my e-mail) before you wrote this opinion. I will leave my comments at that for right now....I am so totally disgusted and might say more than I wish to at this time.

Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 9:58 AM

AlwaysAtWork said...

A better way to stop the forum from becoming a place that people dread going to would be to contract in some outside moderators, or to take volunteers to assist in moderation of the forums. It isn't that complex. With the number of responsible unbiased users the forum had, it shouldn't be that hard to find a dozen or so volunteers to moderate the different boards on the forum. WDT has to make the best decision for WDT. They are a business, and they have to protect that business. My humble suggestion would be to sponsor the forum, with no direct ties, contract an administrator and take volunteers to moderate the forum. Structure it so that there is no favortism, and keep it a seperate intity from the WDT business. You would still get the advertising and feedback that you need from promoting the community forum. With an unbiased Administrator and Moderators, the rules and regulations can be enforced, and those that enjoy the forum, can do so without the threat of intimmidation and harressment that they experienced. Just a humble suggestion.

Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 2:02 PM

[manyhawks]

It looks like another member of the WDT forum who was part of the problem added her comments after the editorial. I think Que Sera and MarciaZernico are the same person; the one who posted on the WDT forum as elcid.

MarciaZernico said...

The two people (One in particular) who logged on over and over using an alias and Stalked members of that Forum are the reason it was shut down. The Wilson Times people know who they are.

Monday, November 24, 2008 at 11:45 AM

[hucklebee]

The editorial now has 18 comments and one that signed their name jamarule2 is saying this site is a fake site that is being run by stalkers from the WDT forum. I think you are right about those other 2 comments manyhawks. I wonder if jamarule2 is the same person too. All 3 seem to be paranoid.

[manyhawks]

I imagine it is the same poster. From what I saw on the forum it is my opinion that at least two WDT employees were a part of the problem also. One in paticular was directly involved.

[hucklebee]

Why do you think that a couple of WDT employees were a part of the problem?

[manyhawks]

The forum, in my opinion, was mismanaged. Favoritism was shown towards a couple of liberal posters who constantly attacked members who posted opinions that they did not agree with. These personal attacks were not dealt with and remained on the forum.

The WDT employee who was directly involved was the member mattshaw. He tried to reveal the identity of another member on the forum. His post was deleted then he started another thread joking about the matter and ridiculing that member. That was very unprofessional conduct for an employee of the WDT.

The straw that broke the camel's back was when the members alwaysatwork and equal started threads using names of two members of the community and ridiculed them. The community service that the WDT supplied was shut down because of the direct actions of these two members.

[manyhawks]

Que Sera, aka elcid, is at it again on comments section of the editorial concerning the closing of the WDT forum. What is well know is that the administrator and a member of the proboard forum posted names of two members of the community and ridiculed them. Pathetic.

Que Sera said...

That forum address being supplied by a few of posters below is a scam. You will not be anonymous if you register there. The Wilson Daily times in posting that link is endorsing that site. That is very foolish, since it is well known to most everyone, including them that it was created by one of the people who posted the REAL names and identities of 3 Forum users and their place of employment.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 3:00 PM

Another question is how did the people who disclosed names and places of employment of forum members get that information? Is there a leak at the WDT?

The editorial states the reason why the forum was closed:

Last weekend, we shut down the forum because posters had started a personal attack on a member of the community. It was not an opinion about how a public official was doing his job, it was not a comment on a specific issue, it was just an ugly personal attack.

[hucklebee]

I agree with the comment that MaryContrary made.

"... I do no believe the WDT forum enforced the rules of the forum equally or properly, which would have prevented many, if not all, of the problems that occured. I believe that most forums work on the premise of anonyminity. Whether this is good or bad, it allows people an opportunity to take part in a community without regard for social standing or political clout. I believe that is a good thing. What happened on the forum is regrettable for everyone who wanted to participate in civilized discussion and debate. There's plenty of fault to go around, so pointing fingers at this point is futile. However, I believe the forum could still play an meaningful role in the community if properly moderated."

[manyhawks]

I just read the statement that the admin made.

...I have noticed that "Que Sera" has never made a positive comment after any column in the Wilson Daily Times.

He has Que Sera pegged. I have no doubt now that she is elcid.

[hucklebee]

I see KH has sent a letter to the WDT about the WDT forum being shut down. I don't understand why she sent it as the WDT has already explained why the forum was shut down with an article that was printed in the paper. The link is posted at the top of this thread.

It is my opinion that she and elcid helped get it shut down by having to have the absolute last say on every debate or topic when someone posted something that they did not agree with.

[manyhawks]

You hit the nail on the head about KH and elcid. Some people are just not happy unless they are complaining about something.

[manyhawks]

I agree. And the nuts who got the forum shut down are the ones who are screaming the loudest about bringing it back. I think they love the words "status quo".

I see on the proboards forum that alwaysatwork and equal take responsibility for having the WDT forum shut down.

By the way, the administrator on the proboards forum writes on his forum that their forum was not started until after the WDT forum shut down. That is BS.

[hucklebee]

One can see why the WDT forum was shut down by the comments made after the KH's letter to the editor. Fred Mertz has them all dead to rights. I think the person that he is referring to in his comments (MZ) is definitely elcid.

[manyhawks]

Here is the link to KH's letter to the editor. Read how she is beating a dead horse. http://www.wilsondaily.com/Opinion/Letters/Story/Times-should-bring-back-the-forum--

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