Russ Steele
I was trying to be helpful in the comments on Jeff Pelline's column, Preparing a newsroom for disaster this morning, and the results were not as I expected. The local anonymous cowards took this opportunity to attack my friend and colleague George Rebane. Soooo Nevada County, attack while hiding behind the Union's curtain. Please take note that most of the conservative blogs in Nevada County take responsibility for their words.
Now to the point. Retired people and entrepreneurs who are thinking about coming to Nevada County often subscribe to target community newspapers, or go on line, to capture the flavor of the community. Read the comments on Jeff's article here and think about the image these comments have created for our community. Pretend for moment you were considering a move to the foothills. After reading the comments would you want to make Nevada County your new home? Is this the community you would like to start a business in, where anonymous people can attack you in the newspaper because they disagree with your politics, or because they are jealous of your achievements, your hard earned wealth, or just because it is the local sport. I think not.
My guess is that most of the anonymous attacks would stop if the Union required people to use their own names or a real e-mail address in there profile. I allow people to use handles on NC Media Watch with an e-mail address. The e-mail address is used to get to know those who comment so they are not anonymous. If their comments are too far off the reservation, I delete the comment and then remind the commenter about the posting rules. But, knowing the rules, and that I know who they are, we do not have many problems here. The Union could take similar preventive measures.
I note that some people have profiles and some do not. General J. and yellowdog do not have a profile. How unfortunate,we could find out who they are and give their crass remarks some context. I am not sure why some people have profiles and others do not. Are the non-profile people insiders? If I do not log in I cannot comment. Hummm.
