Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Follow up

Dear Anonymous -

Please refer to my response to Mayor Shaver as to my thoughts on making public the names of those that post here.

The intent of the topic of the week was to get the lay of the land. Not to reach an agreement on making this information known to all that visit this site. Don't worry, the day that happens is the day I turn in my webmaster hat and seek life elsewhere.

By Coyote

fun to tweak them anonymously

... evil ones always wanted other people to post in their own names...it definitely is more fun to tweak them anonymously...they don't know, that way, whether they are contending with five or six people, or a whole community.

anon allowed..yes

First, I was webmaster of this site from 2000 until just recently, I can tell you that we wrestled with the ''anon'' poster issue more than one time over the years. I can also tell you that we only deleted items two times. One deletion was a webmaster decision after the direction of one posting was way over the line. A medical issue was ''announced'' by an anonymous poster regarding an elected official and this person, who had his privacy truely invaded, asked us to remove this posting for privacy reasons. We did, but after a day, the person with this privacy issue contacted us and asked us to restore the original postings, which we also did. It was a controvesy for some time.

Second was when an anon individual posted an assertion about an elected official, and that official threatened to sue. The poster contacted pata and requested that the assertion be removed from the discussion area on the advice of their attorney and the posting was removed which satisfied the elected official whose threat to sue did not materialize.

I am quite sure many people post comments anonymously for very good reasons, and if their identity was not protected, they would not share their opinions. This would diminish some of the exchange of ideas on the web site, which I think would be a loss to the community. However, there is the opposite effect of the truly negative posters, which we have seen a lot of lately, whose comments do drag down the level of exchange sometimes to the point that it is sickening...all a part of the territory I am afraid and also used as a weapon by them to reduce your viewing pleasure for a reason. so I agree with Closet Philosopher, do not take it personally, either side I will say...and you will not be poisoned...it is a reflection of the individual poster and their issues.

Also rest assured that your IRL is logged by the host Neighborhoodlink, and could be subpeonaed in any legal action so you would be identified in that manner. The local webmasters cannot log your URL, only the host. Early on when few people were registered on the web site, it was very easy to do an educated guess on who a particular poster was, and in some cases be 99% sure. That is no longer the case as over the years the readership and registration list has grown a lot.

Character issues


There is a long history of people using pseudonyms when writing letters or political broadsides. Many of you missed my point. I could care less about the anonymous people who use the forum to express political views. What I find disturbing is the choice many people make to use a potentially useful tool to make irresponsible and childish personal attacks.

The decision to engage in political discourse is to be encouraged. This should include a discussion of criticism of policies and legislative action. The weakest form of argument is the ad hominem attack. The attack does nothing to further the argument and simply lowers the discussion into mudslinging.

I have made many mistakes in my life, both personally and as mayor. Those who wish to cast stones at my personal life should first examine thiers. Would they become involved in politics if by doing so they would subject thier families and friends to humiliation because of mistakes they have made. I entered politics knowing that my life was not perfect, but yet I felt that I could contribute to making this city a better place. Despite savage intrusions into my personal life, I will continue to contribute.My concern is that many other people who could help this community are afraid to speak out because they do not wish to be subjected to the scorn and riducule of an irresponsible few.

Policy decisions are always subject to deserving criticism. They are always ways of doing something better. If any of you have suggestions or criticism of the direction we are taking the city, I would welcome your comments.

If it makes some of you feel better about yourselves to attack me personally, go ahead. I will tell you in advance that I forgive you. That is what my faith has taught me to do. Life is too short to harbor animosity towards people.

We should, hwever, be striving to be a positive community where we can engage each other without rancor and where open discussion is not an invitation to invective.