No room for rancor in online forums

The discussions on the Topix boards can get rambunctious but are generally fun and sometimes informative. This is in contrast to the so-called Honolulu Advertiser Discussion Forums (http://the.honoluluadvertiser .com/board/) which have degenerated into an embarrassing and juvenile forum for offensive posts, replete with porn links. That forum should simply be merged with the Topix or eliminated outright.

NOTICE OF INFORMATIONAL MEETING - KAUAI

DATE: Sunday October 21, 2007 TODAY!
TIME: 2:00p.m.
PLACE: King Kaumualii Elementary School Cafeteria
4381 Hanamaulu Road. Lihue

COME OUT IN FORCE AND SUBMIT YOUR TESTIMONY.

MAHALO!

Silly rabbit, cut and paste is for kids.

As one of the original participants on discussions on the World Wide Web, I've always maintained that not allowing anonymity was the key to ensuring responsible and accountable free speech.

The old media model is based on the anonymity of speech as its foundation and value (rumor and gossip)-- while the new media model, has its integrity based on people being well-known (documented) for who they are. That's the very reason new media is a superior platform for information in these times of overabundant information (often of dubious purposes and intentions)-- that one person (identified as who they really are and allowed to speak for themselves (unedited and unmanipulated)) cannot tell one thing and something else entirely under many different identities -- protected as free speech.

The protection of free speech is that one does not need to fear saying what one does WITHOUT the need to hide their identity. The old media is defending anonymity as the strength of its information -- rather than the validity and credibility of it -- and that's why it becomes increasingly useless.

That does not mean to say that all online forums are equally valid and credible; that's what each forum has to do -- or not. If you don't, then you get the kind of garbage in -- that is often published widely in the old media, which undermines it further.

There's a reason investors are panicking out of newspapers and going into the Googles and Baidus of the world. It's not that all blogs are better than newspapers -- but all blogs are not the same as all newspapers, which are being run like every other one. That's the weakness of the newspapers -- that they all adhere to AP style and convention, whereas blogs range from the best to the worst sources of information -- and one has to develop the skills to distinguish that.

The comments in discussion may go overboard at times but they do give a better feeling for what much of the public relaly feels than does the mediocre and inept official coverage of the corporate press. Let us not censure one of the few avenues the public has to express itself.

In smaller citys in europe, never that I have seen in America, at sundown, people gather in the squares and talk of the days current events. here in America we sit on our okoles and type

Interesting that the HA editorial board is taken aback by the content on the Topix boards but hasn't noticed that the general HA Discussion Forums have become an offensive cesspool for the last year or two. CatManapua is right - either deal with it or shut it down entirely.

The Topix boards in contrast generally stay on topic, as heated as people get in expressing themselves. The diversity of opinion is healthy, and many times newsworthy stuff gets said that the HA or SB can't/won't report.

I heard Christie Wilson went on vacation.

The reader you quoted in the last paragraph is 100% correct.(It happens everywhere). Rather than pull the entire blog, why not just yank the inappropriate comments immediately?

People that post stuff like are like graffiti "artists." They do it to have something to brag about and to get a response from people.

If you yank their garbage immediately, just like aggressively cleaning graffiti, it will go away.

Then perhaps the constructive people can help solve the problem.

If the HA does not provide a forum for such discussions, another saavy person will create one - causing the HA to miss out on another opportunity to be the place where people come to discuss what is important to them and their communities.

In my view, the HA would be silly to withdraw on the grounds discussed by the editor. Economically, it doesn't make sense. Humans will find a way to express themselves, regardless of whether or not the HA is the place for doing so.

Having been part of the Washington Monthly's blog "The Political Animal" since its inception, I have observed that the majority of the abusive comments offered by posters come from a relative small but vocal and determined handful of malcontents, whose aim is not to move discussion forward, but to derail it.

And let's face it, there is no quicker way to preclude rational dialogue from taking place, than to casually impugn someone's character and integrity on a very personal level, or to disparage someone's race, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion (or lack thereof), physical appearance, sex or sexual orientation. It's a most crude form of intimidation, short of actual physical coersion, and as such it is a direct assault on our First Amendment-guaranteed right to free speech and has no place in the public forum.

And while we're on the subject, "Lingle Loves the Ladies" -- the disparaging reference in your on-line handle to the governor's alleged sexual orientation was wholly unnecessary, and only further proves my point.

Donald wrote:

Having been part of the Washington Monthly's blog "The Political Animal" since its inception, I have observed that the majority of the abusive comments offered by posters come from a relative small but vocal and determined handful of malcontents, whose aim is not to move discussion forward, but to derail it.
And let's face it, there is no quicker way to preclude rational dialogue from taking place, than to casually impugn someone's character and integrity on a very personal level, or to disparage someone's race, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion (or lack thereof), physical appearance, sex or sexual orientation. It's a most crude form of intimidation, short of actual physical coersion, and as such it is a direct assault on our First Amendment-guaranteed right to free speech and has no place in the public forum.

Right on!

Donald wrote:

And while we're on the subject, "Lingle Loves the Ladies" -- the disparaging reference in your on-line handle to the governor's alleged sexual orientation was wholly unnecessary, and only further proves my point.

Some people find it easier to throw the insults than to think about the issues. Without the insults, they have nothing to say.

Donald wrote:

And while we're on the subject, "Lingle Loves the Ladies" -- the disparaging reference in your on-line handle to the governor's alleged sexual orientation was wholly unnecessary, and only further proves my point.

What alleged sexual orientation??

no know fo hau wrote:

<quoted text>What alleged sexual orientation??

Are you kidding? One can never tell here.........

NOTICE OF INFORMATIONAL MEETING - MAUI

DATE: Monday, October 22 2007 TODAY!
TIME: 3:00p.m.
PLACE: Baldwin High School Auditorium
1650 Kaahumanu Avenue. Wailuku

COME OUT IN FORCE AND SUBMIT YOUR TESTIMONY.

MAHALO!

So, some of the content may be crap, but at least one redeeming view point is that it can serve as a barometer on the level of visceral response out there. And it would probably be good for the powers that be to go forth and ask and listen more when this barometer reaches these heights.

HA,
Take a poll. That should resolve this issue once and for all. Ask how many are in favor and how many are opposed. I'll bet that far more are in favor of Superferry than are opposed.

Decider wrote:

HA,
Take a poll. That should resolve this issue once and for all. Ask how many are in favor and how many are opposed. I'll bet that far more are in favor of Superferry than are opposed.

A poll. Which will resolve this once and for all?(HA!) You bet more are in favor, huh? OK, I bet more people live on Oahu than Kauai. I bet Oahu gets only benefits of ferry, while neighbor islands get brunt of impacts. You win one, I win two.(HA!) Oh, wait a sec...