wilkes

I dont know what the original intent was of this website was, I do know that you can't and won't change people. Where some may change thier ways and attitudes, there will always be another to fill thier shoes. There will never be all positive or all negative posts. We are all to divers for that. Thats what makes the world go around.
User, I understand your intent wasn't negative. It would be great if there were more postive posts, and a way to take out the name calling. I wish you well on your quest.

As put to me in a pm - Jason has said his peace and things are not going to change - not that I expected change to come from Jason - if you read my original post - it was the hope that people used this site for positive things. I truly hope that my little posts and the negative things that is going to be posted as a result of it will somehow encourage others to post positive things that affect the community at large rather than one or two people. Thanks Jason for allowing me the forum and freedom to post.

NO no no - i need to set things straight - not a topic of service - just a group of people - i should not have said "service" - that would be inaccurate - a group of people there.

You know what amazes me? The simple fact that this website was the topic of a service. The only reason anyone would have a complaint would be if they were not getting the publicity or feedback they desired.

I dont need to go into the fact Jason does an outstanding job. The fact that feathers ARE being ruffled, says that he is doing an outstanding job. It shows that he isn't bent or persuaded by politics. It shows that there IS a fair amount of views and types of people portrayed here.

While no I didnt care for a few of the threads on here as apparently some others didnt, the simple fact they were ALLOWED to be here shows that this website is fair and based in the community. It shows that it is not a representation of one sector of people.
Jason, lol I said I didnt need to do this, but you do, do an outstanding job. Thank you!

I do read. And no, I know hits on individual threads don't count- it's hits overall - which is what I am saying - it doesn't matter that I do or don't read the negative threads - my visit to the site is still counted even if I don't visit those. I hope that you keep up the good work with keeping everyone informed, but I just don't think that I am the only one out there who doesn't want to see it abused by people who have their own agenda. Who knows though - maybe I am - you never can tell.

User, I think what tripped people up (at least, it tripped me up) was the comment that people coming to the site are supporting negativity in some way. This implies that people should just stop coming altogether.

Maybe we just misunderstood. Are you just trying to say that people should stop posting negative threads, and be more positive?

User, I'm a little confused. Why do you think I'm interested in the hits? True, when we approach advertisers I show the total number of unique visitors, but I fail to see how this implies that you, or anyone else, supports any negative threads. It's not like we sell ads on individual threads.

In fact, we had just as many advertisers when we had 10,000 visitors a month as we do now that we have almost 30,000 a week. The website isn't driven by ads, that's just something I offer to help alleviate the expense, and to help local businesses to grow. It's driven by my own personal money, and by my desire to help the county that I love.

I didn't take your post as offensive at all, but I do hear this same argument from people on a regular basis. In the majority of those cases, the people say "I don't read it, but I've been told..." I'm a firm believer that if they did take the time to read it, they would realize that there is no reason to complain.

well i tried to be as nice and positive as possible - congratulated and encouraged and all- guess he comes the can of worms though......

Geesh - sorry Jason - just wanted to see positive things.

Jason


I like this site just the way it is .You have done a great job,better than anyone else could.Leave your site the way you feel and dont worry about anything else.This site doesnt cost anyone any money its free to use.You are the one who spends all your time babysitting alot of people on here and trying to keep this site clean and the best it can be so I say Kuddos to Jason and stop crying all the time.Theres more postive on here than negative.Make your own decisions on whether or not what you read.Gossip is everywhere regardless if its this site or not.I like this site and its helpful and I have gotten really good advice and made some good internet friends.So again Thank you Jason ...

Keep up the good work :D :D

Jason, I am glad that you have an area that has good and bad about the community. I like reading the good things and the bad. I know that ppl have the say on what they want to read and dont. I feel that if they dont want to read the bad then dont. Its their choice and not urs. Keep up the good work.

Jason,

I in no way meant any disrespect to you or your site - for the most part I enjoy it. Unfortunately, even if I choose to ignore the negative threads you still get to count my hits as supporting your site,and I don't want to support those. I do, however, want to support the good and informative things that come out of this!!

User, I feel very compelled to respond to this.

I have similar discussions with leaders of the community all the time. The simple fact is, people see what they want to see. Those that complain that the forum is all negative tend to pick out the very few negative threads, and selectively ignore the hundreds, even thousands of positive threads.

For instance, one such leader was concerned before Christmas that people were complaining about a specific coach. They felt that the thread was an attack against the children (which it was not). Because of this thread, they felt like the entire forum should be taken down, and even went so far as to mail a letter to me demanding that I do so.

Here is a portion of my response:

It is my sincere belief that an extremely small number of people only choose to recognize what they consider to be negative content, and focus on it. I'm sure that no one called to tell you about a thread called "A Friend in Need." The story line is that a lady lost her job and can't afford to buy Christmas gifts for her 3-year old son. Her friend posted online, hoping that someone can help her by donating gifts. In less than 24 hours, 36 replies had been made of people offering to bring toys, clothes, food, etc; they then established a drop-off point.

I'm sure you've also not been told about the thread "Baby Blanket Lost." The story line is that a mother lost the her child's baby blanket, and the child has not been able to sleep without it. She said that they have bought 6 other blankets, but the child still won't stop crying. Her hope was that someone had found it, or knew where she could buy one like it. This post was made at 8:30am; by 10:30am, someone had replied saying that they had a blanket identical to what she was describing, and would

i think there should be a personal topic site. i think it might help people to get others opinions. you never know when something you've said might help someone. i know advice from others helps me.

I suggest two different sites..
-politics and business, ect.
-personal topics

I had the opportunity tonight to attend a service where gowilkes was the topic. People there were somewhat mixed on their feelings of this site. Some were positive, some were negative, and some wish it was used for what it was meant for (this part I had not heard before). Basically people were saying that by visiting this site now we were supporting the negative parts of it because you get to count the hits. However, many people commented on what they thought this site was designed for - to uplift and inform people about the community (not individuals and their personal business - i.e. "rumor vs. truth". "homecoming queens", etc. ) Most of the discussion centered around the fact that they thought this site was to encourage open discussion on things like politics, businesses, and other things that affected the community at large. If that is so, I say let's get back to the basics. This is a great opportunity for that! If not, I say those of us who are tired of hearing about who slept with whom and such make your voice heard - we all know Jason is interested.

Now, for those of you who are going to come on here and bash this post for it being something you would call "calling for cleanup or censorship" I say POINT MADE.

I am in no way bashing Jason or the job he does - I simply think that some of the posts really have no place for the general public at large.