How to Judge a Website

While I vowed not to post on this ridiculously inane and divisive website - the Ted Kennedy cartoon with Blair Johnson header deserves comment. You may try to frame your insipid personal attacks on the people of the Ortonville community as journalism, but it does not resemble responsible journalism as I know it. The few of you that regularly post on this forum need to take a hard look at your posts and strongly consider whether or not you really do your community any service by what you routinely write here. You pass this off as a community forum-try and do the community some good for a change. It might be better if you signed up for a Facebook or Twitter page, then you could rant, rave and ridicule all you want, at least then it would not fall under the guise of a "community forum". For the record, I am not a Ortonville resident and have never met Mr. Blair Johnson personally. A cartoon, however, equating the Mayor of a small Minnesota town, with Guantanamo and a tragic occurance involving a now deceased Senator and the death of an innocent young woman goes beyond being tasteless and goes to the core of what this forum is rapidly becoming. That being irrelevent.

Hi jorge016

I must say I agree with a lot of what you said. It seems more and more of the topics that get posted are political.

Politics are just not my thing to start with, so I watch the forum for other local news.

I sure would like to see more positive non-political topics being posted here.

For example:

Newly-improved Auto Tour re-opens in Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge

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“Any community would be envious of Ortonville for having this in their back yard,’’ said Rich Papasso, operations specialist with the refuge as he led the way recently on the 5.2-mile drive.

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even though the city is chock full of historic buildings and sight seeing destinations — so too is the story of the refuge.

Just my 2 cents...

The only way that one improves is from the kind of criticism in your post. Sometimes it is just hard to get to all of the news, good and bad.

On the other hand, do not heistate to post just like this one. It makes the site more well rounded.

Good Job, Appliance Junk!

A lot of energy seems to be spent on getting the negitive posted.

Appliance Junk you can change all of this.

However, positive change requires the exposing of the wrong. We encourage debate and in doing so there will be a natural exchange of ideas.

Here is the irony of what you say. Jorge's attack was on the Kennedy cartoon, which I obtained from an Australian newspaper. That is the perception of Kennedy in Australia and shared by many Americans west of the Mississippi.

In terms of the Mayor, I wrote just last week a very positive posts on Milbank. I did not hear you criticize that post.

The establishment in Ortonville promote an ideology that has created quagmire. Do you promote city employees out campaigning for their candidate using the cities time and money?

Do you promote cutting the police department so that the golf course fees can be reduced?

There is a laundry lists of no, no's.

Bottom line this site is there to make government accountable. We could also ask the cushy questions like, Mayor, where do you plan on having lunch, mayor, why do we need a new postage machine, mayor, why does law enforcement get police cars?

We have chosen a path to educate the public so that the right questions are asked.

Freedom of the press creates government accountability, so says Thomas Jefferson.

Sometimes you may not like what we read, but the truth hurts.

Mouthpiece you are the instigator of most of the garbage on this site. You pasted the cartoon, now take it down. And by the way you might want to check your sources of such humor -the Times Picayune is not Australian unless somehow New Orleans is now on another continent. You want to criticize the the people of the community do it constructively. You've turned this forum into your own little public podium and you don't hesitate to take people on in a very personal way. Why don't you submit editorials to the local paper? The few people who read this forum let you get away with your political crap. An educated person as yourself could certainly do better than to entertain himself on a community forum. The people of
Big Stone County deserve better.

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Bottom line this site is there to make governmental accountable.

My bad, I was thinking the "Community Forums" was for something else.

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Appliance Junk you can change all of this.

I have met with Lady Hawk & computerwhiz a couple of times to talk about the forum. This has been some time ago now.

I don't consider myself to be any type of forum expert, but I do have some experience in Forum Management, Analytics, Website Development, Computer programing, E-Commerce, Affiliate Networks & Marketing.

Lady Hawk and I talked about these thing when we met and in a few emails.

Dare I say, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

Both of you are acting like the incarnate and all knowledgeable souls. Please note that as Conseervatives I have not attempted to censor your attacks. We believe that all should be heard.

On the other hand, Fox News, similiarly has been attacked, just like we were. I am stupid because I do not agree with Jorge. Remove the cartoon because we disagree?

The difference between all of us is that I can respect a different point of you and do not attempt to censor.

The other side is good but I can agree with Appliance Junk, I am thankful for all the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech. ~Nancie J. Carmody

WE have tried to lead you to water but this is the New Media.

Despite our disagreements we continue to welcome you to our site. Let's show a little respect for freedom of the press and respect others who have a different idea on where to take this site.

Thanks for the comment on quality. I think mouthpiece means well but meaning well is no excuse for poor fact checking. Meaning well can be very arrogant when it involves repeating garbage as if it were true. Posting any old crazy stuff without checking it's accuracy drives people off of forums. Pretending to represent large groups and acting as unofficial spokes person for any large group, such as "conservatives" also drives people off of forums. Why? because such things are not honest and represent a dishonest, propagandist ethic. Straight talk brings people together even if they have differences.
Taking the time to delve into the truth of matters before posting shows respect for the other people on the blogs. Bringing something true to the blog supports the community.

mouthpiece wrote:

Bottom line this site is there to make government accountable.

The bottom line of this site, the reason it was created, the reason it exists, is to promote community in allowing people to talk about whatever subjects interest them.

Mouthpiece has been very heavily focused on promoting his view on the political situations on our community, that is his right, he can share his opinions, and so can you.

Not every one agrees, not everyone will get along. All that is asked of everyone is that they be respectful.

If a person does not like discussing politics, they can choose any of
the other topics available on this forum, or create some new ones.

This forums is not all about politics (though it seems to be spotlight right now) it is about the community, the people, and what they want to talk about. What they each want to promote. In a way, it is everyone's soapbox, they are all free to use it.

I appreciate everyone's interest and participation in the forums. Thank you.

What part of the cartoon at the portal to this site is respectful? Mouthpiece contributed almost 25% of all posts contributed to this site. He contributes so much to it he now refers to the site as his site. (Note the use of "we" when he refers to the site.) You claim that the mission of the site is to promote community. How does mouthpiece denigrating the good people of this community build community? The moderators should to take a hard look at their vision for this site. Mouthpiece wants to compare this site to Fox News-is that where this site is headed?

jorge016 thanks for bringing up this thread. I have enjoyed listening to the opinons of ApplianceJunk, LindaS, and jorge016 and everyone who has contributed to this site. When one only listens to those that think like they do their veiw can become narrow. I had only given cursory attention to the political cartoon. Thanks for giving another perspective. I have taken your opinion to heart. This site is called the new media because it is addressing news in a new way. No one person can do everything. Everyone has passions. When people of both, or even more, sides of an issue talk about their passions everyone is benefited. That is the key. Multiple people talking about their multiple interests who share different points of views give people a broader perspective.

This site was made as a gift to the people of this community. People can use it to keep others informed about what goes on and share the events, activities, and interest of this varied community. It can draw people of like interest together who might not otherwise know that someone living here has similiar interests and passions. For instance last spring we found people who were interested in promoting local foods and people were starting to connect and let others know about it using this stie as one of their tools. You will see on this site that the movie FRESH is again coming to the area. News and links from the internet are brought to one site where people can pick and choose what interests them.

Many people have passions and will search the internet for information on what interests them and then want to share it.

LindaS is passionate about environmental issues and has brought up some great points and links to sites where people can go and verify information. I have many times wanted to reply to posts by LindaS but often got lost in the technical talk as I am not experienced in farm issues and could only read and ponder her opinions. In time as I learn more from those posts I will be able to contribute more to them.

ApplianceJunk is well-rounded and a real tecknick, he can talk about any subject and not only comes up with thoughtful insights but can easily make me laugh with his quick wit. I have greatly enjoyed his contributions to this site and appreciate his views and do take them to heart. One greatly benefits by having friends of different minds.

I do not no what your passions are jorge016 but if you have a passion then you can share what information you have and I am sure that there are many people who will find what you have to say as interesting. It will make this site better by being broad in it's coverage. Your contribution is welcome.

mouthpiece's passion is the political. While mouthpiece has made a vast number of posts on this site they are not all polictical. Due to the fact that right now there is an election coming up in a few weeks it is understanable that his focus is more in the political arena. It is true that sometimes people get tired of the negative things that their leaders are doing but it is necessary to keep the public informed of the actions of public servants to keep things on the up and up.

jorge016 wrote:

How does mouthpiece denigrating the good people of this community build community? The moderators should to take a hard look at their vision for this site. Mouthpiece wants to compare this site to Fox News-is that where this site is headed?

I do not know how mouthpiece has done what you are saying he has done. I have only seen opinions of actions of people who are publically responsible. Anyone is welcome to come on this site and give their opposing viewpoint. When they do so though it should be specifically done. In other words it is difficult to be talking in such genaralities. Name a specific statement of people that is in error so that others can view it and see a different perspective.

You have made a comment about Fox News. What's wrong with Fox news?

I never saw "reprinted with permission" on the Ted Kennedy cartoon, or the latest one on the portal page. Has anyone on the blog ever solicited and recieved permission to reprint a cartoon? Joelie has done so for cartoons she used in her newsletter years ago, she respects the artist. If permission is not being solicited for the cartoons then it's time to start. Soliciting permission would normally clear up the problem of New Orleans suddenly being located in Australia.

As moderator of the forum with access to the front page, don't you feel queasy about using the front page of the portal to further your own politics?

It's good to print that permission has been recieved because it reminds us that this is a capitalist society and artist's own their works.