wilkes

I think that some of the content should be removed, or edited. Some stuff on here is just to hurt someone, and that's all it does. I am considered a regular, it would not offend me any if I said something, just to hurt someone, if it was edited or removed. I think it should be limited to names, and direct comments on a business, and is not just an opinion but a lie.

As with any message board, forum, site, etc. it is up to the moderator, manager, creator, etc to make the rules, regardless of our admendmants, its their right to do so.
I say do what you feel is right.Just make sure you have a way of letting everyone know your choice before putting it into action.

Jason, After a good nights sleep, hope you had one too. I figured out why the thread got so out of hand. This was a topic which in the past had affected a lot of people.
Pain and emotions from the past had been suppressed for a long time. But finally the people had an outlet to air their feelings (Obiviously bad Karma) about the events leading up to this so called mass attack on the subjects in question. The post did serve a purpose to vent pent up hostilities and prevent me from listening to the voices in my head (you know the ones that tell me to stay home today and clean the guns). This forum is an outlet for many things some of which would never be brought out for fear of retaliation from others. I just wanted to let you know that I knew the kinds of dirty tricks and empty threats that I have heard from these subjects before and I knew that they would try to do convince you to cut the thread off or change policy. Being an open forum is what appeals to most of the posters and readers. Don't change policy unless in "your" judgement it is needed. Don't let the few infulence the many. Keep the faith. and again don't let the **** get you down.

PS I forgot to say that it is pretty sad when you can say that Satan doesn't give us as much trouble as some posters,with all seriousness I might add. I almost choked from laughing when I read that.

Thanks Jason, I am glad that I don't give you too much trouble. A couple of my other personalities get a little rowdy once in awhile, but I keep them pretty much under control. I hate to admit it but I think I have read almost all of the 40,000 posts. At least you have a reason to read them.

I can attest to the fact that some of the posts are delayed or flagged. There have been many times that I have written a post and it not appear for a long time. I have even made an idiot out of myself and rewritten it because I thought I had hit the cancel message button instead of the post message button. I have learned to just wait and make sure it posts later. The posts that I have had delayed, as far as I know, didn't say anything bad or p**nographic. It must have just been a word or name. Who knows? I just wanted to let everyone know that there is a delay sometimes. I am sure this has happened to more than me.

The thread about locking your doors is turning bad. I just hate to see it. I don't know who everyone is talking about. I do seem to remember a story in the past in paper, but my memory comes and goes. I also don't know the people in the wedding thread. I just really feel for them. I don't care if they started the thread or not. I doubt they did, but it is just mean to bash them like that. None of us deserve to have our name raked through the coals. I saw that thread the night it started (yes my name is weddingplanner) and I cringed. I felt guilty for being so negative and thinking it would turn bad. I thought I was being pessimistic and mean for saying anything to the original poster. I may be pessimistic, but I still think we should never, ever give someone's name on here without their permission, even a business owner. If you like your friends you won't wish them a happy gradu

I can admit it, I've been easier to offend than usual this week. Particularly negative threads have a way of doing that to me. When threads like that come up, half of my friends ignore me, and the other half want to advise me on how to correct it. Nasty emails and voice mails come in at all hours of the night, officials call and tell me that people have complained to them (but that they still support me), and every once in awhile, I'll get threats of bodily harm.

I usually take it all in stride, but this time the complainer simply took it too far. It is very irritating when I have spent the majority of my life trying to boost the quality of life and economy of Wilkes, just to realize that it only takes that one thread to undo all of the good that I've tried to do.

And I can already see that the "Lock your windows" thread is following the same pattern.

FYI, it wasn't the comment about favoritism that made me suspect you (I've been accused of that before by Typical, and I consider it subjective: I don't mean to show favoritism, but regulars have taken the time to earn my trust). Instead, it was the comment that the forum should be taken down completely; no one had ever said this to me before this week, and I'm shocked that anyone could overlook all the good that has been accomplished by it. The same comment was made to several of the organizations I work with by the woman I mentioned before.

So again, if I was wrong with my assumption, I am truly sorry.

WOW GOWILKES..I really am sorry. It is wild that you say someone used the very same comment I have made here. But I stress to you on my honor, (if that means anything to you anymore) that I AM NOT the same person.
I really hate that you have been harrassed this week...I truly didn't mean to come on here and add fuel to the fire.

Someone called me earlier this evening about the wedding thread and made the comment that if i would read back several post that I could clearly see that you showed favortism. OK so I jumped the gun on this one...I just really hate it when people do that. Im sorry..I offer my sincere apologies, and to you also Sandi...sorry dear, should get my sleep as I have been traveling for several weeks...
btw..the wedding thread, (if it is whom Im thinking it is talking about) one of them is a very good friend of mine...

OK Jason...Let me have it..I deserve it!! Flog me with a wet noodle, k?

Pepsi, I may be wrong, and if so, I apologize. I'm referring specifically to the lady that has been calling elected and appointed officials, organizations that I volunteer for, etc, complaining about the forum (yet has never called me), who coincidentally made the exact same comment that you did.

4theForum, let me stress to you that I have in no way been influenced by the people you're referring to, and every elected official that I know has told me that they support both GoWilkes and my decisions in moderating it. I'm more concerned with the overall impact to the county; like a good friend said today, I would hate to think that a business would consider not moving here because of the very, very few bad threads.

Again, though, when I talk about changing the policy, I'm talking about a very subtle change. Over 2 years, I can count maybe 100 posts (in 4 threads) that would have been better off removed. These types of posts are very few and far in between.

After thinking about it, though, if I can release the new website this weekend, it may solve the problems without a change in policy. Three Strikes, the more I think about it, the more I agree with you. So, I will not make any changes at this point, I would rather see if the problem solves itself.

I dont think you should change your policies or discontinue the site......I think that the people in the forum which you have flagged just got p***ed because it turned on them when they were trying to blow thier own horn and instead all the truth about them came out. Had the discussion bashed the other parties, the couple would be in full supoort of it...it is just your typlical case of jealousy and spite..all over again....they want to be special...well they have turned out to bejust that. Jason, dont let them and their (so called) political connections sway toyou to change...

GOWILKES my dear.you ARE wrong. I have not been causing you trouble any this week...as this is the FIRST time I have posted here in several months....so don't start blaming until you have your facts, ok?

Sandi, I'm pretty sure I have you figured out. I've read all of your posts, remember? ;-)

Oh yeah, Jason, although we've met I'm sure you'd probably be suprised at who I am. LOL, maybe I'll let you know one day who Sandi is on here! You doing a great job, BTW.

Pepsi women, well you are the one who started trying to slam me in message 22. So I had to correct you on your mistake. Did you actually tell me to shut up?? How old are you again? Seems like a very childish remark for someone over the age of 5.

It seems to me like you are the one on here causing all the trouble and then whining about it. Not the same person, yeah right!

Pepsi, of course I take up for the "regulars." They have all had a hand in making the forum successful, while a lot of others come and go after a week or so. But I'm very open to who I consider a regular. Post for a week and give me no reason to worry about you, and you're great in my book.

To my knowledge, I've never met most of the regulars. Connie, Sherrie, Rainbow, Satan, Alex, Curly, Happytrees, Jason N... I have no idea who these people are. Yet they give me no reason to worry, so I don't worry about them.

However, I'm almost certain that you (Pepsi Woman) are the one that's caused so many problems for me in the last few days, so I'm really taking your comments with a grain of salt. I personally believe you should be ashamed of yourself for complaining to everyone EXCEPT for me. The forum isn't going anywhere, and neither is the company.

I've said before that I'm the only person in the world that can honestly claim to have read all 44,860+ posts that have been made, and I know for a fact that the wide majority of them are NOT gossiping.

Uneasy, I do have a lot of posts on a delay, but it's generally flagged by certain words in the post (racist words, certain names, etc). This is what I've done to the other thread; I set it up so that all posts are sent to me for review before posting. That's the first time I've ever done that to an entire topic, though.

Regarding whether posts are truly anonymous, your friend is wrong. Yes, they are completely anonymous. I don't know anything about you that you don't freely tell me.

Now, there are SOME things I can figure out. We do have an access log which collects information like your IP address, so I can figure out how many unique visitors come to the site. I can see what time you made a post, and look at th

Now Sandi dear...did I call any names....hmmmm, seems like you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about then...lol, anyway, shut up!! I am NOT the same person as the other you have mentioned either...shows how much you know huh...

how about adding a date to the posts that way we could see if a thread is an old one that has popped up again or something new just a thought

pepsi woman, I said I know them through business relations (or something like that) basically I see them at a few of the Chamber of Commerce functions. I have spoken to both of them and found them to be very nice easygoing people. That is about the extent of how I know them.

The "regulars" that you see on here that you are saying "run the site" are the ones who do not insult people and have intelligent conversations without stooping to that level and we take alot of abuse from other people (without all the whining that some of you do). By what you are saying about not liking the gossip it seems you'd be nice to us for being the nice guys.

Jason, we have had a few bad apples lately, but don't give in to people like pepsi woman and uneasy (probably the same person). I've got an idea for you two, boycott the forum. Don't read anything on here or post anything ever again. You'll show us!!!

I to love gowilkes; however i know people who have been attacked on here, and 99% of the stuff that was wrote about her and the church was a lie.

I'm sure he can check the IP address, but not the ID of the person themself. Correct me if I'm worng.

Simply removing a name without removing content does not protect individuals. You show a disclaimer which states that there may be a three hour delay before messages show up in a thread--that would be a wise move, but does it ever happen? Do you ever screen messages, particularly on the "hot topics"? There have been a couple of new ones started lately which cannot have any redeeming social value except to rake someone's past over the coals. I really pity these people whether or not the allegations are true. The anonymity afforded by the web just eggs on the baseness of the attacks.

One question I do have, Jason. I was told tonight that no post on Gowilkes is truly anonymous because you have the ability to check the computer id of each and every poster. Is this true?

As to the name: Forum. I find it somewhat ludicrous. I know you attend forums hosted at the library and I am sure you know that the topics allowed are pre-approved, properly screened, and rarely, if ever, allowed to sink into the mire of social decay. I'm aware that you must attract readers in order to attract advertisers, but what exactly what are you attracting?