History, politics, people of Oly WA
It was a pretty funny post while it lasted, but Rich Nafziger (day job: state senate Democratic chief-o’-staff) took down his post awarding Gov. Chris Gregoire a “Hoover.” It happened soon after the Spokesman Review’s political reporter noted it on his blog.
I guess it makes sense you can have a big shot Dem staffer poking fun at the Dem governor.
You can see the old post here on my shared items, just scroll down a bit, you’ll find it.
1. He’s paying attention to the right things, but the way he writes about them (not backup to his statements, writing the same post day after day just changing names) makes him look silly. I think the Transportation Benefit District is downright important, especially as it concerns the balance between impact fees and fees to drivers, but he’s making an ass out of the issue with his posts.
2. The blogger “Patrick” is anonymous. If you’re going to say something like what you’re saying, be accountable for it.
3. Your blog is called “Olympia Bulletin.” Do you really need to put a dateline at the front of each of your fake news posts? At best its amateur hour, at worst its like you know better but just don’t care. I mean, could you possibly be talking about councilmember Joe Hyer in Olympia, California?
4. He did a great thing with his blog aggregator, but by skipping over using links in his posts, he ignores the blog conversation around him.
5. Repeating #2. Anonymous blogging, especially when the wheel house of what you’re doing is ripping people down is annoying. I guess I’m ok with it when all you’re doing is attacking George W. Bush or some other distant figure, but when you’re attacking a local person, it makes you no better than “Truther.” Be accountable to your words, come out from behind being anonymous.
I really appreciate local blogging. I really really appreciate it and I’ve praised OB in the past (here and here). I’m just sick of bad, anonymous local blogging too.
At least for one comment thread, here and here.
She’s doing it right this time, simply restating the facts of the incident as she sees them, not getting wrapped around the axle. And, trying to be funny about the cookie thing.
Also, I think SMASH is joking here. He/she actually wants does want elected officials “coming around here, acting like regular people.”
I’m working on a new white paper for my good friend Ken as we attempt to use technology to leverage his Ken-ness to the world.
Here’s a new section for you to chew on while I finish up the rest of the white paper, titled “Keeping Ken Blue”:
Blogging & Podcasting
Ken Camp currently has no blog. So why should he start one? Think of it as an on-going staff meeting. Ken puts out ideas and is offered instantaneous feedback and suggestions. A blog is only as effective as the community it engages. A blog should not just be a one-way conversation or an extension of the Ken’s nasty emails. Nor should a blog be an ATM for his beer budget. The blog needs fresh content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The blog should be a team approach with at least one “front-page” author to maintain relevance and content. Examples of team blogs are Daily Kos (www.dailykos.com) and Washblog (www.washblog.com). Ken should be a regular contributor to the blog.
Ken’s friends and co-workers should be encouraged to establish blogs, in their own words, and to take time to respond to questions in the comment threads. Successful blogging is about establishing dialogue and trusted two-way communications. It is important to note that it isn’t enough to just post your thoughts and leave. Chris Bowers of MyDD (www.myDD.com) notes, “to post and not respond is the blog equivalent of ringing a doorbell, leaving a note and running away.”
Ken should be available monthly, if not more often, to take questions from bloggers via meetings or teleconferences. Make available weekly, Ken, for questioning by local and state bloggers through in-person meetings, teleconferences or the Internet.
Ken should also send daily talking points, press releases and reports to local and state bloggers for dissemination throughout the progressive blogosophere.
In addition, Ken’s website should have a “Blog News” page that aggregates and organizes discussions in the progressive blogosphere. Websites such as the Pacific Northwest Portal and Google News are good examples of this.
“A successful organizational blog expresses the needs and character of an organization, permitting people to engage beyond the talking points.”
* Zephyr Teachout, Dean campaign – Blog for America Get This Party Started: How Progressives Can Fight Back and Win (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006)
Ken also needs to be friendly to young people who are increasingly mobile. Content should not just be accessible by desktop computer or laptop, but also through RSS feeds on a PDA or on a mobile phone. Text messaging with targeted messages to voters should be explored. In addition to the traditional activists of the Ken centered world, the website needs to encourage the participation of young people. Using current and future technology will engage young people in ways other technologies have failed.
Furthermore, podcasting should be available on the website. Podcasts provide an excellent means for sharing interviews, speeches, and answering questions or addressing issues. They personalize Ken in ways a written message cannot, and provide another means for getting out his message.
Podcasting might be considered this era’s counterpart to President Roosevelt’s “fireside chats.” Direct contact, whether verbal or visual, provides a far greater bond with the recipient that email or a web page. Given the mobility and work style of so many adults today, podcasts provide not only a means for citizens to download and listen at their convenience (“on demand delivery of content”) they can be easily shared on a web page. Most recently, podcasts can be streamed to mobile telephones, a popular trend with the youngest members of the Ken supporting citizenry.
Seriously though Ken, you really need to start blogging more often. At your own blog.
Jeff Kingsbury updated his status on Facebook during a city council meeting Monday night. It depends on your opinion on whether what he wrote or whether he wrote it at all matters.
I think updating your status, twittering, or blogging from council chambers is ok. I also think Jeff should have written more (not less) about what he was hearing. In this case, providing fewer details upset some people.
Here’s the original Olyblog post.
Here are the multiple threads at Olyforums (here, here and here). You probably need to be a member at Olyforums to read that last one.
Here’s the Olympian story and the comment thread for it at Haloscan.
In regards to how this even started, the Olyblog post was probably put up by someone who isn’t on Jeff’s Facebook friends list anymore. Facebook is assumed to be a somewhat private forum, and they have some very explicit rules to that regard.
From Gelf:
Q: Is it permissible to share content taken from Facebook?
A: No. Facebook released a statement regarding Caldwell’s actions saying, “Facebook users agree in the sites terms of use and policies that they will not reproduce other user profiles without permission from the user in question and Facebook. Permission was not granted in this case, and Facebook has disabled the offending account.” Caldwell broke the site’s Terms of Service when she reproduced a screenshot of Giuliani’s profile on Slate. Facebook is not looking to take legal action, and Caldwell has expressed no regret over her actions, despite being banned from the site. The question isn’t so much whether or not it is permissible to share personal information taken from Facebook, but whether it is ethical.
And:
Q: When is it OK to share information gained from Facebook?
A: When it’s justified. The status of information placed on Facebook is murky because it is neither entirely public nor private. That being said, if the information is particularly newsworthy, like the MySpace page of the Virginia Tech shooter, then it should be shared.
Sometimes, Facebook can reveal an interesting take on a tired story, like when friends of members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team jokingly called the players “nappy headed hos” on their Facebook walls during the high-pitched Imus controversy. However, the political leanings of a presidential candidate’s estranged teenage daughter should not be making the rounds in the respected news media.
I believe the reason for the coverage, and therefore the blame, comes from the source of the story. Slate is one of the foremost respectable internet publications, and holds itself to journalistic standards typical of print magazines and newspapers, not political blogs. Many sites take cues from the way Slate reports on the internet, and their coverage of this nonevent resounded in the mainstream press. This type of material is posted all the time on many political blogs, particularly Wonkette, which posted a follow-up article with pictures of the underage Giuliani drinking at a party. The reason why these articles are generally unreported in the mainstream press is because they come from the world of blogs, which the mainstream press is still not entirely sure how to deal with. Those unconscious quotation marks, in print or in tone, are readily apparent in news from “the blogosphere.” It is inevitable that the two will grow closer together, as blogs like DailyKos and Gawker have become their own miniature media empires, and respectable news sources now regularly feature blogs on their site. One can only hope that this will result in higher-grade reporting from blogs, and not lower standards of news journalism in the mainstream press.
Olyforum notices the original post, and responds:
Here, all opinions are welcome, despite whether you agree or not and are never shut down. The ONE thread that did get shut but was never deleted because the poster verbally abused others. It wasn’t just MY decision, it was put to a collective vote and ultimately, the final decision to lock the thread down and leave it that way wasn’t even mine, it was somebody elses. (I love getting all the credit for their decisions though!) Another reason that thread was locked down was because we actually have real advertisers here and I didn’t want the locked down thread reflecting on their businesses.
If Emmett wants to make an example of something, he should think it through and know all the facts before he goes off and ruins his own credability. I’ll pray for him at church this morning.
Say, think & write what you want, in the end, I know the truth and that’s all that matters to me!
M’eh, I knew there was a reason I didn’t put it up over there in the first place:
I read it. I thought it was rude, and posting it on a blog was mean.
The discussion on moderation over at Olyforums continues here:
I’m doing what I can. If I take stuff down I get yelled at. If I don’t take stuff down I get yelled at. If I say I’m trying to keep things flowing, I get yelled at.
Let’s talk because I’m getting pissed.
A great local blog that I failed to read for the last year or so because my blog reading habits revolved around google reader.
But, for some reason I checked over there tonight, and guess what: Flummel, Flummer, Flummo is now with rss.
I was a lazy comment moderator when I had the power at Olyblog, but I sure did respect those who did wade into the fray to try to keep things civil. And, I rolled my eyes at the folks who claimed bias on the part of the moderators (imperfect as they were).
JstPlnOnry (just plain onry) was one of those who chafed at moderation:
I just figure I’m an adult, no matter where you are, you’re going to run into somebody who says it like it is whether it’s a heated comment or moment or not! I can choose to engage or choose to walk away! Here, I can choose to engage or choose not to respond!
I guess because I am an adult who knows how to make wise choices, deleting posts and banning people from commenting really saddens me. They have a right to their opinion just as much as I have a right to mine! I’m not always going to like their opinions but it doesn’t mean I have to silence them over it. And I certainly wouldn’t like being silenced for my opinions! (Which is why I call Aaron Mason out for his stupid ban button and criteria so much!)
A handful of the folks who didn’t like the moderation policies at Olyblog went off and started their own effort. Hurray for them (though I still hate not having rss feeds over there), but it looks like JstPlnOnry is learning that life is hard as the moderator, even if Olyforums has a more wide open set of rules:
In my defense, and I stand by my decision, I did not “prevent” you from posting. I prevented you from verbally abusing & belittling other posters here. Your original post is still up, but your ability to continue to post your anger at those who didn’t respond to you has been shut down.
If somebody would like to respond to you, they are more than welcome to PM you. Had you not attacked non-responders the way you did, the ability to comment would still be available.
Started a list of blogs at the Olympia wiki. This is essentially my effort to chart the olympiablogosphere and to remind people that the wiki even exists.
So, if you have a blog, list it there please.
Got started this morning and was basically able to outline two big categories: community blogs and individual blogs. I think this is an important distinction because the first group the places I would suggest people to go if they wanted to participate directly in a community, the second, for one on one conversation with a blogger.
I was only able to list two blogs in the individual blog list before I got called away, so since this is a wiki, feel free to add to it.
more animals
Yeah, really he’s not.
Olympia Online RSS is a sweet idea.
A bit… uh… janky, but it does the job ok. Its basically a feed aggregator for a handful of blogs in Olympia, a lot like feedtacoma.com, but that website is less on the janky side.
The arrival of Olympia Online RSS is hilarious because of Jason (enpen)’s reaction to a similar effort by Rick over at Olyblog. Read here.
S6 over at Olyforum does a really good job at not really getting it here as well.
The whole thing drives off the RSS course very quickly into Rick and Jason’s personal issues with each other, but Jason’s initial point of “using my rss feed on your site is wrong” is very wrong on its own.
It is not stealing content. There are spam blogs out there that blatantly copy content from rss feeds, but neither what Rick is doing at Olyblog nor Olympia Online RSS are doing that. They’re linking. Automatically linking, but linking in any form is good.
From cluetrain:
Thesis 7: Hyperlinks Subvert Hierarchy
The ability of the internet to link to additional information – information which might exist beyond the formal hierarchy of organizational structure or published material from such an organization – acts as a means of subverting, or bypassing, formal hierarchies.
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