OTHER FORUM

_lynX wrote:

Quote :

The truth of the matter is that unless you are a God hating pinko you will be subjected to the vilest insults and then banned for defending your views.

Why don't you tell them why you were really banned, Nazgul?

First, I would like to thank you for asking that question.

Judging from what you told the proles;

"In just 21 posts, he has caused a year's worth of trouble and provided more than enough anger."

I was banned for a lot of things, pretty much any opinion I'd rendered in any of the 21 posts you'd referenced. It is my opinion,however, that I was banned for questioning the propriety of a forum which had specifically rejected censorship in threatening to ban Freebird for posting his thoughts on the subject at hand. As much as posters at cyber-North Korea have heaped vitriol upon the mods at the tribune forum for enforcing their TOS, your own guidelines for posting are even more arbitrary...........pretty much whatever you dislike and since you do not list your dislikes the members have to guess what is going to get them banned. Oh, I will allow as you did issue "one and only one warning" to Freebird before,I assume, you banned him anyway, but that came accross not as an admonishment to better behavior, but as an abuse of totalitarian power within the microcosm of "boxtown inc." which you exercised with relish and wild abandon. This particular methodology is one which would afford you numerous opportunities for such displays which you aparently enjoy.

Funny how they have to come over here to defend there actions, like banning you. Kind of like when I posted about the fair and how karaoke was ran. Coshocton's forum had made a big deal about the guy how was talking over the loud speaker, and no one came to defend the poor guy. Or the fair's system.

Talk about Karaoke, does anyone know who is doing karoake at the Village Dinner? Thought I would go sing a few "Showtunes" and run everyone off. once hubby feels better. LOL Don't anyone panic, it might be awhile. Hubby is recovering very slowly and painfully.

What is up with the bottom half of the CT the around Oh is closed?

grooveykindoflove wrote:

What is up with the bottom half of the CT the around Oh is closed?

The way they are banning everybody... they might as well close the whole worthless damn thing!

How was your trip back home ,,speedy?

I figured something would happen soon..It was getting to be like a "Jerry Springer" online..

easyrider wrote:

How was your trip back home ,,speedy?

Was nice to come back and visit friends and family. Was going to stay for 2 weeks originally, but one week was all I could take of good ol' Coshocton. The more things change... the more things stay the same!
I had to get back to the South and enjoy the rest of my time off work.

And there you have it!

From today's online Tribune, From the managing editor Len LaCara:

Len LaCara posts his comments about events in Coshocton and southeastern Ohio, upcoming coverage and how other media are looking at our region.

Report item as: (required) X Obscenity/vulgarity Hate speech Personal attack Advertising/Spam Copyright/Plagiarism Other Comment: (optional) Why we closed the Across Ohio forums
Why we closed the Across Ohio forums
Posted 1/2/2009 11:46 AM EST on coshoctontribune.com
This is a preview of my Sunday column. I wanted to share it with you early to explain the changes to our Web site.


As we enter a new year, it's traditional to take stock of what you're doing and try to make things better. In that spirit, we are revising our approach to our online forums and reader comments.

A little background is in order. We have allowed reader comments on articles and run forums on our site since the fall of 2006. Most readers followed the rules we established for posting comments. Like most forums, we had four or five "trolls" on the site -- people who felt the rules didn't apply to them and were abusive to others. Since their numbers were low, they were fairly easy to deal with.

In May 2008, we set up a new system for comments and reader forums. As part of the change, we set up a forum called "Across Ohio" that was accessible to users of the 10 Gannett Web sites in Central Ohio and The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Most users of the Across Ohio forum followed the rules and engaged in robust conversations. But instead of having five trolls to deal with, we now had 60. Trying to police them became a huge drain on our limited resources.

After months of fighting a losing battle with them, we shut down the Across Ohio forum on Friday. That should eliminate most of the abusive behavior. Our local forums remain, and you are welcome to continue debating issues of the day there.

Now, this is the point where people scream that their right to free speech is being stifled. Sorry, that's not true. You still have the right to say what you want about the government on a street corner, in your own blog, in your own pamphlets and on any number of online forums. I know of at least two forums that were founded by former trolls on our sites. Our editors are regularly criticized there in obscenity-laced tirades.

Think of our forums as a sandbox we set up for people to use. When people help each other build castles and have polite conversations, everyone in the sandbox benefits. Bullies who yell and toss sand in people's eyes are asked to play somewhere else.

Our Terms of Service state in legal language what behavior is allowed on our Web site. To make things a little easier to understand, we have condensed our terms into eight rules of engagement:


Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material are not acceptable.
Comments that include ethnic slurs and/or epithets, sexist language or religious bigotry are not acceptable.
We use language-filtering programs to block certain words. We also will manually delete posts that contain offensive language missed by our filter.
We expect and encourage heated, robust debate, but comments should be civil and free of threats.
Photos that contain nudity, violence or sexual innuendo are not acceptable.
Comments should be limited to the topic of the original posting. This is not the place for private conversations of any type.
We may opt to not add a comments section on some stories that aren't likely to generate a quality discussion. We also will remove all comments from a story if it becomes apparent that posters aren't willing to follow these rules.
We require everyone who comments to register and provide a real e-mail address. No exceptions.

If everyone follows these simple rules, we can continue to have a place where people feel welcome to share their opinions without feeling intimidated.

In the spirit of new beginnings, I'm offering a second chance to users who have been blocked for violations. If you would like to be considered for reinstatement, copy these eight rules and send them to me in an email with your promise to follow them. Sign it with your real name.

I still believe in the power of forums to inform and shape our communities. Our goal is to create a place where people can discuss issues civilly. I urge you to join us in that goal.

As always, your comments are welcome.


Comments (0) | Permanent Link

"I know of at least two forums that were founded by former trolls on our sites. Our editors are regularly criticized there in obscenity-laced tirades."

Hey CoshoctonTaxpayer and Lead... are you guys one of the troll's he is referring to?

"I still believe in the power of forums to inform and shape our communities. Our goal is to create a place where people can discuss issues civilly. I urge you to join us in that goal."

Well, to be more precise, Len believes in the utility of forums to enable Gannet to,not necessarilly inform, but certainly to shape our communities.

That "accross Ohio" forum was probably the most sucessfull thing they'd done last year so,of course, they pull the plug on it. It's no wonder newspapers are all tanking in readership and advertising revenue. What should be an unbiased source of news is instead a propaganda pipeline, a "tool" for "shaping communities". Will they cotton onto the fact that people aren't all that eager to pay to have their communities "shaped" by giant corporations like gannet?

One area where I might,reluctantly, agree with Lenn is that some of the discussion over there was just gratuitously nasty. Still, there's nothing you can really do about that...........nasty people,nasty comments.

speedy911911911 wrote:

easyrider wrote:

How was your trip back home ,,speedy?

Was nice to come back and visit friends and family. Was going to stay for 2 weeks originally, but one week was all I could take of good ol' Coshocton. The more things change... the more things stay the same!
I had to get back to the South and enjoy the rest of my time off work.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your stay here any more than you did. I wouldn't want to live right in Coshocton where you have to pony up 1.5% of your income for what amounts to nothing in return but it's a good area for raising kids.

I'm actually kindly surprised I wasn't branded a troll and banned. I tried to maintain a civil tone but that doesn't cut much ice with a lot of people who are going to hate you for expressing any kind of support for our traditional culture and the wisdom of our fathers.

I find it funny when we know the facts before they do on there own articles and we discuss these facts on there own forum and when we do they just close it. I also like it when I would start my own thread on the thumbs down on there old forum I would get attacked and nothing was said. I used to post there alot but what is the sense of it when you just don't know if it will be deleted or not.


Frequently, someone who has been labeled a troll by a group may seek to redeem their reputation by discrediting their opponents, for example by claiming that other members of the group are closed-minded, conspirators, or trolls themselves.

He should look in the mirror before he calls anyone a Troll. Its funny how much of a hypocrite he is. He doesn't want name calling on his forum but he turns around and calls us Trolls.

CoshoctonTaxpayer wrote:

He should look in the mirror before he calls anyone a Troll. Its funny how much of a hypocrite he is. He doesn't want name calling on his forum but he turns around and calls us Trolls.

You're a fucking TROLL CT...
Crawl back under your bridge Troll!

hahahahaha........dammit......... i am a fucking troll........but at least i am not a fucking douche bag like some newspaper editors

The administrators over there have aparently re-considered their free speech policy. I would like to say that Boxtown is now a place where you may express your beliefs and whatever is on your mind without being banned. The "North Korea" phase seems to be over and it is now a genuine free speech zone.

speedy911911911 wrote:

And there you have it!

From today's online Tribune, From the managing editor Len LaCara:

I still believe in the power of forums to inform and shape our communities. Our goal is to create a place where people can discuss issues civilly. I urge you to join us in that goal.

As always, your comments are welcome.


Comments (0) | Permanent Link

ROFL!!!! I bet Len also believes in Fairys??!!

If he wants to see trolls and nasty mouthed people he should sign up on Boxtown. The only rule is you can't threaten anyone unless it is someone that the mods don't like. Then its okay.

attack-cat wrote:

If he wants to see trolls and nasty mouthed people he should sign up on Boxtown. The only rule is you can't threaten anyone unless it is someone that the mods don't like. Then its okay.

lol, oh now come on............someone there piss in you cheerios already?

No pee in the cereal but they have a way of making the milk curdle in the fridge! LOL

lol, I guess it's all in what you are used to(imo) I try to ignore posters who I dont like and just associate with the one's I do like. Some of the peeps there are kool, others I never liked from the "other forums" and wished they'd stayed "home"..........lol.

I honestly try to get along with everyone I can. "IF" I think you're a dickhead I will tell ya; " you're a dick "...........lol.....so on and so forth, you get the pic I am sure. (no I don't think you're a dick , so don't get upset here....lol)

anyhow, have a great day everyone !!!!

PEACE.....