The format seems to be along the lines of a high school Parent/Teacher interview, an interesting approach to information delivery what with city councillors holding court at tables ready to discuss the issues on the agenda of the day.
And while some may question the effectiveness of the project, at least the city’s elected officials are making themselves available to those that wish to drop by for a chat, a gesture that could help deflect some of the talk of an aloof council that isn’t hearing the messages from the public.
You do know that poaching is against the law in most provinces right?
Apparentley, there are no laws covering hypocrisy (See “Below the Masthead” circa 2004-2010).[/quote]
You really want to get into this do you Jimmy Olsen?
Podunk below the Masthead is but an archive of news stories from the region’s newspapers and such, items of which are all fully attributed in any item I post on my blog in the Masthead feature or beyond.
But perhaps you missed the point of my term poaching, what locked in your usual take no prisoners stylings.
I was referring to the fact that you and your new band of merry men were using my posts to re-direct traffic to your quaint little etchings.
Now I have no problem with you offering up items for commentary and or review to the fine residents of Podunk, I’m sure they find them charming.
But I find it humorous that you repeatedly use this method to move traffic to your new venture.
Especially when you consider the rather obvious disdain for my work as outlined in your previous works for other media options, as well as here on htmf, “slushies” ring a bell anyone? All in all it’s an interesting approach you take here.
With your oft stated opinions on the work of my blog , It to me seems hypocritical to use my link to redirect to your work, well actually besides hypocritical it’s a tad crass, but then we’ve been down this road before now haven’t we.
This is road is so familiar I feel safe and and wanted on it. Oh there might be a few trolls on it, but I do enjoy the banter…
Jimmy Olsen? Lol. It took me a while to clue in. I’m just not that in to Smallville.
Now I’m dumb, so please be patient. But from what I can tell, you define poaching by covenient separate terms based solely on how it relates to you.
I gather you never directed anyone to your site by using content taken from the Daily News where they could see your two pesos added on top of our content? “Oh why buy the Daily News, when I can just reproduce their content online for free.” I don’t know how you don’t call that poaching, but that’s how I would define it. Then again, my disdain for your site (countless nights tossing and turning as you might suspect) knows few bounds.
Turn about is fair play, Clark Kent. You reap what you sew.
[quote=“BakerWriter”]This is road is so familiar I feel safe and and wanted on it. Oh there might be a few trolls on it, but I do enjoy the banter…
Jimmy Olsen? Lol. It took me a while to clue in. I’m just not that in to Smallville.
Now I’m dumb, so please be patient. But from what I can tell, you define poaching by covenient separate terms based solely on how it relates to you.
I gather you never directed anyone to your site by using content taken from the Daily News where they could see your two pesos added on top of our content? “Oh why buy the Daily News, when I can just reproduce their content online for free.” I don’t know how you don’t call that poaching, but that’s how I would define it. Then again, my disdain for your site (countless nights tossing and turning as you might suspect) knows few bounds.
Turn about is fair play, Clark Kent. You reap what you sew.
Enjoy the slushies![/quote]
Ah you just don’t get it, sad that is for such a hard nosed scribe with an eye on the details.
I can’t remember ever hacking into the daily News website such as it was, nor taking out an ad in that fine publication, or even flogging a letter to the editor, striving to steer folks to my humble little corner of the wild west of the blogoshpere.
So you’re comparison is uh, what was it again?
As I mentioned earlier, in all instances of my efforts I have attributed that material from wherever it came. Even from certain acerbic correspondents, so I’m not sure how you’re tying the two points together.
My point on all of this is simple, if I was taking advertising (and if so trust me you probably couldn’t afford the holding fee) I would welcome you’re ads seeking viewers/readers to your site, but as I’m not, it seems as though if not a poacher, you are resembling that of a cattle rustler (no offence implied to any Podunkians who are not to be confused with cattle) , something that wasn’t thought very highly of in the wild west.
As for the point /counterpoint that you seem to long for, surely you have more important duties at hand for your new venture than starting a range war?
[quote=“BakerWriter”]This is road is so familiar I feel safe and and wanted on it. Oh there might be a few trolls on it, but I do enjoy the banter…
Jimmy Olsen? Lol. It took me a while to clue in. I’m just not that in to Smallville.
Now I’m dumb, so please be patient. But from what I can tell, you define poaching by covenient separate terms based solely on how it relates to you.
I gather you never directed anyone to your site by using content taken from the Daily News where they could see your two pesos added on top of our content? “Oh why buy the Daily News, when I can just reproduce their content online for free.” I don’t know how you don’t call that poaching, but that’s how I would define it. Then again, my disdain for your site (countless nights tossing and turning as you might suspect) knows few bounds.
Turn about is fair play, Clark Kent. You reap what you sew.
Enjoy the slushies![/quote]
Ah you just don’t get it, sad that is for such a hard nosed scribe with an eye on the details.
I can’t remember ever hacking into the daily News website such as it was, nor taking out an ad in that fine publication, or even flogging a letter to the editor, striving to steer folks to my humble little corner of the wild west of the blogoshpere.
So you’re comparison is uh, what was it again?
As I mentioned earlier, in all instances of my efforts I have attributed that material from wherever it came. Even from certain acerbic correspondents, so I’m not sure how you’re tying the two points together.
My point on all of this is simple, if I was taking advertising (and if so trust me you probably couldn’t afford the holding fee) I would welcome you’re ads seeking viewers/readers to your site, but as I’m not, it seems as though if not a poacher, you are resembling that of a cattle rustler (no offence implied to any Podunkians who are not to be confused with cattle) , something that wasn’t thought very highly of in the wild west.
As for the point /counterpoint that you seem to long for, surely you have more important duties at hand for your new venture than starting a range war?[/quote]
Oh I’m sure we could throw the $1.29 your way for a holding fee. Not that it would be money well spent. But charity is charity, I suppose.
As far as not understanding, let me break it out real slow and simple:
When you take material that others have produced and reproduce it online, then compound the insult by making inaccurate claims about the material on your website that might be considered by some a poach. It’s a form of poaching because you used the material others created in an attempt to garner interest in your site. The fact you don’t acrue revenues from your site is immaterial. You benefited from the Daily News’ existence for some time, and while I’m sure the comprehensive reports provided by the other media in town makes up for the loss of such a tawdry institution, you cannot say in good conscience that you didn’t use our property to benefit yours.
Now, I know the podunkian website is more of a calling rather than a job. You are the priest of journalism around here. Cool. All hail the self-ordained minister of North Coast News. But you might think that someone who has an awful lot of opinions about the work journalists do around here, you might avoid innaccurate claims. You might even - gasp! – check your facts before claiming those involved in the industry don’t.
Unfortunatley that is not your style. In the past you have made some rather strange comments, not the least of which an article that involved a one John Livingston-Seagull, a well known small business owner in town. You said “leads us to think that perhaps asking for some ID next time might be an idea.” This comment lead me to believe that you haven’t a clue about what happened at the Daily News. Yet you often wrote as if you did.
No one said we didn’t like HTMF. I have never said that once and I defy you to find one comment I have made about the site itself. The comments by some posters on here, on the other hand, can leave a lot to be desired. That doesn’t mean we won’t post on here. This should be a great site for people to share ideas and even business. And I fail to see how you have any moral ground to suggest we shouldn’t.
In the meantime, paint me acerbic if you like. I enjoy the shade. Seems fitting.
Your cheque for $1.29 is in the mail. I licked the stamp myself.
Ah you just don’t get it, sad that is for such a hard nosed scribe with an eye on the details.
I can’t remember ever hacking into the daily News website such as it was, nor taking out an ad in that fine publication, or even flogging a letter to the editor, striving to steer folks to my humble little corner of the wild west of the blogoshpere.
So you’re comparison is uh, what was it again?
As I mentioned earlier, in all instances of my efforts I have attributed that material from wherever it came. Even from certain acerbic correspondents, so I’m not sure how you’re tying the two points together.
My point on all of this is simple, if I was taking advertising (and if so trust me you probably couldn’t afford the holding fee) I would welcome you’re ads seeking viewers/readers to your site, but as I’m not, it seems as though if not a poacher, you are resembling that of a cattle rustler (no offence implied to any Podunkians who are not to be confused with cattle) , something that wasn’t thought very highly of in the wild west.
As for the point /counterpoint that you seem to long for, surely you have more important duties at hand for your new venture than starting a range war?
Oh I’m sure we could throw the $1.29 your way for a holding fee. Not that it would be money well spent. But charity is charity, I suppose.
As far as not understanding, let me break it out real slow and simple:
When you take material that others have produced and reproduce it online, then compound the insult by making inaccurate claims about the material on your website that might be considered by some a poach. It’s a form of poaching because you used the material others created in an attempt to garner interest in your site. The fact you don’t acrue revenues from your site is immaterial. You benefited from the Daily News’ existence for some time, and while I’m sure the comprehensive reports provided by the other media in town makes up for the loss of such a tawdry institution, you cannot say in good conscience that you didn’t use our property to benefit yours.
Now, I know the podunkian website is more of a calling rather than a job. You are the priest of journalism around here. Cool. All hail the self-ordained minister of North Coast News. But you might think that someone who has an awful lot of opinions about the work journalists do around here, you might avoid innaccurate claims. You might even - gasp! – check your facts before claiming those involved in the industry don’t.
Unfortunatley that is not your style. In the past you have made some rather strange comments, not the least of which an article that involved a one John Livingston-Seagull, a well known small business owner in town. You said “leads us to think that perhaps asking for some ID next time might be an idea.” This comment lead me to believe that you haven’t a clue about what happened at the Daily News. Yet you often wrote as if you did.
No one said we didn’t like HTMF. I have never said that once and I defy you to find one comment I have made about the site itself. The comments by some posters on here, on the other hand, can leave a lot to be desired. That doesn’t mean we won’t post on here. This should be a great site for people to share ideas and even business. And I fail to see how you have any moral ground to suggest we shouldn’t.
In the meantime, paint me acerbic if you like. I enjoy the shade. Seems fitting.
Your cheque for $1.29 is in the mail. I licked the stamp myself.[/quote]
Jesus you must be the stupidest person to ever be given a laptop, I never said you didn’t like HTMF, I said and these are quotation marks in case you don’t recognize them " rather obvious disdain for my work as outlined in your previous works for other media options, as well as here on htmf," That would mean your occasional drama queen like tirades about MY material here, never mentioned your thoughts on anyone else that may offer an opine on htmf. But don’t let the facts get in the way of pretending you know what you’re talking about.
Though come to think about it, I’m sure someone here will find something that you’ve said in the past, there among the volumes of forums you’ve shared your wisdom on and call you on your holier than thou posting decorum.
Cripes everything you read seems to revolve around your prism and your pretentious prattle disguised as some kind of high calling.
At any rate I’d discuss the rest of your tiresome treatise, but there’s a football game on TV I’d rather fall asleep to.
By the way keep your 1.29 wouldn’t purchase a vowel or a consonant I’m afraid, after all I have some standards to keep on my blog.
That’s how the internet works. More than the sum of its parts. Are you working at the muskegnews site now?
How much does the muskegnews.com site gain from links on HTMF? What do we get in return? We get links to news stories. Which is fair enough, but certainly seems one-sided. How much are you charging for those ads that are shown to people being sent there from here?
Perhaps the muskeg guys can start posting a paragraph or two of their stories so people can decide whether to follow the link or not. That would even things out a bit.
But you know what would really even it out? How about a front-page link on muskegnews.com? I’m sure we send more traffic your way than vice-versa, since there’s no links to HTMF on your site at all.
I just checked, and the Podunkian sent 6.78% of our unbookmarked traffic in the month of August. 768 unique IP addresses. That’s how the internet works.
That’s how the internet works. More than the sum of its parts. Are you working at the muskegnews site now?
How much does the muskegnews.com site gain from links on HTMF? What do we get in return? We get links to news stories. Which is fair enough, but certainly seems one-sided. How much are you charging for those ads that are shown to people being sent there from here?
Perhaps the muskeg guys can start posting a paragraph or two of their stories so people can decide whether to follow the link or not. That would even things out a bit.
But you know what would really even it out? How about a front-page link on muskegnews.com? I’m sure we send more traffic your way than vice-versa, since there’s no links to HTMF on your site at all.
I just checked, and the Podunkian sent 6.78% of our unbookmarked traffic in the month of August. 768 unique IP addresses. That’s how the internet works.[/quote]
Commercial break on the football game.
I’d ask for the same from Mr. Bakerwriters portal of prattle, but you know LOL, somehow I just don’t see that happening for my site!
Yeah, I agree and the damn quote after quote after quote uses up more space than the topic itself! Get over yourselves fellas and put the egos away for a bit. You all do good work so there should be room for everyone, Rupert is not exactly a major metropolis with lots happening ! Yikes !
These sessions are about as useful as having intestinal parasites. It’s more like being invited to a public showing of family and vacation photos.
Is there any chance of getting to the real issues or is this just some smoke and mirrors?
[quote=“dabbledon”]These sessions are about as useful as having intestinal parasites. It’s more like being invited to a public showing of family and vacation photos.
Is there any chance of getting to the real issues or is this just some smoke and mirrors?[/quote]
Thursday’s sessions were not well attended. I am not sure if it was the topics (mainly on zoning, downtown revitalization), insufficient advertising (without Anna’s post I probably wouldn’t have been aware), the nice weather we are having, the “what’s the point; they don’t listen anyway attitude”, or a general disinterest in the city.
I was there and the city staff probably outnumbered us regular folks. But I found each of the three tables that I visited worth the 15 minutes I spent there. Parking seemed to be a real concern, not sure why. It was the first table I went to and when the 15 minutes were up, I moved on but several people stayed behind to discuss the topic further. Muskeg News was at that table and I would like to read their account, but for some reason,their site disappears a couple of seconds after I go to it.
At the other two tables we discussed downtown revitalization (staff showed us what other cities have accomplished) and how the city will try to get owners to upgrade their buildings.
One person expressed the concern of how we pay for revitalizing downtown. Will it be at the expense of residential taxes, a cut in services or something else. I had to leave before reaching the table where Dan Rodin might have clarified that for us.
I am not saying that it was barn burning entertainment or that great things were accomplished but I found the 90 minutes I was there, worthwhile. And I am sure that the councilors (unfortunately only two were there) were prepared to listen to any other concerns that we might have had.
The next session deals with Vandalism and Public Safety which might bring more people out. Recreation is on the agenda for a future meeting.
Some of us have criticized the city for hiding behind closed doors. They are out now. Maybe it is smoke and mirrors, but I am giving them the benefit of the doubt. We have the opportunity to tell them what we want and demand answers of our questions. If they choose to ignore us, then we know what to do in November 2011.
[quote=“dabbledon”]These sessions are about as useful as having intestinal parasites. It’s more like being invited to a public showing of family and vacation photos.
Is there any chance of getting to the real issues or is this just some smoke and mirrors?[/quote]
Thursday’s sessions were not well attended. I am not sure if it was the topics (mainly on zoning, downtown revitalization), insufficient advertising (without Anna’s post I probably wouldn’t have been aware), the nice weather we are having, the “what’s the point; they don’t listen anyway attitude”, or a general disinterest in the city.
I was there and the city staff probably outnumbered us regular folks. But I found each of the three tables that I visited worth the 15 minutes I spent there. Parking seemed to be a real concern, not sure why. It was the first table I went to and when the 15 minutes were up, I moved on but several people stayed behind to discuss the topic further. Muskeg News was at that table and I would like to read their account, but for some reason,their site disappears a couple of seconds after I go to it.
At the other two tables we discussed downtown revitalization (staff showed us what other cities have accomplished) and how the city will try to get owners to upgrade their buildings.
One person expressed the concern of how we pay for revitalizing downtown. Will it be at the expense of residential taxes, a cut in services or something else. I had to leave before reaching the table where Dan Rodin might have clarified that for us.
I am not saying that it was barn burning entertainment or that great things were accomplished but I found the 90 minutes I was there, worthwhile. And I am sure that the councilors (unfortunately only two were there) were prepared to listen to any other concerns that we might have had.
The next session deals with Vandalism and Public Safety which might bring more people out. Recreation is on the agenda for a future meeting.
Some of us have criticized the city for hiding behind closed doors. They are out now. Maybe it is smoke and mirrors, but I am giving them the benefit of the doubt. We have the opportunity to tell them what we want and demand answers of our questions. If they choose to ignore us, then we know what to do in November 2011.[/quote]
Well it’s good to get the thread back on track.
I tend to agree with you that at least the council members are a little more accessible in a face to face environment, the sessions as I can figure them out anyways, at least provide the opportunity to offer up questions or concerns, not sure what happens when someone asks a question not on the agenda for each meeting, imagine they have to cobble together some kind of a response.
But still, learning more about the workings of the city probably can’t hurt, and the opportunity to provide them (or at least those council members that attend) with feedback will give them some kind of guideline as to whether they are actually on the same page as the electors.
As for the attendance from the public, maybe as they move into October the weather will provide the impetus for indoor visits, they ran into a rather strange situation for Rupert this past week what with summer like weather, don’t know too many people willing to sacrifice a clear sky evening for time in a gyn, give us a monsoon and maybe the crowds will increase.
Most likely one large public session at the PAC like our election debates of past might have brought in a larger crowd, though if memory serves correct some of those meetings are hard to keep on focus, still if folks were to get heated up over such things as the pulp mill land debate, taxes and such, that probably would make for some interesting theatre.
Regardless, even with this version of the interactive council, they at least should get an inkling as to what folks are thinking heading into next years election cycle.
A less than scintillating topic list and a less than stellar turnout by councilors does not demonstrate confidence that the City cares. Authoritarian organizations take great care to control what can be discussed. And 15 minutes per discussion is ample time to…what? Listen to a prepared spin?
Not trying to be a negative nelly. Honest. Just wishing they’d try a little harder and do a little better.
[quote=“dabbledon”]A less than scintillating topic list and a less than stellar turnout by councilors does not demonstrate confidence that the City cares. Authoritarian organizations take great care to control what can be discussed. And 15 minutes per discussion is ample time to…what? Listen to a prepared spin?
Not trying to be a negative nelly. Honest. Just wishing they’d try a little harder and do a little better.[/quote]
First of all, the first set of topics were chosen due to concerns brought forward to council by both business owners and others regarding downtown. The other meetings that are planned have topics that have been chosen for the same reason, because people came to us with their concerns, specifically vandalism, policing, public safety, recreation programs etc.
I agree that it is unfortunate that not all of council was able to attend. Unfortunately the mayor was in Alaska for the Southeast Alaska conference, Councillor Kinney was ill, Councillor Bedard was away for work, and I believe Councillor Thorkelson and Councillor Gordon-Payne had unexpected work related reasons. I am confident that everyone will be there for the next meeting.
There also seems to be some concern with the format we are using for these meetings. Many formats were discussed before this method was chosen. This type was chosen to allow everyone to find out information on all the topics they were interested in, to allow discussion, instead of simply question and answer, and to allow everyone a chance to have their say, which does not happen in town hall type formats.
Topics were limited simply to allow for more meaningful discussions. People have the option to stay at the same station the entire time, as many did the first evening. The time lines were simply to allow everyone to get to every station if they wished to do so. The information presented at each station was to give people some basic background on the topic and is generally brief. After that the time was for discussion. There was a general information station as well, where people with different questions and concerns could go.
If you have ideas about how this could be done better I would be happy to hear them, after all, as far as I’m concerned, that is what these sessions are about, helping us improve and letting us know what you are concerned about.
Also, if anyone has ideas for other topics that should be discussed, then please bring them forward. There is time before and after the sessions, as well as at the general information station where councillors and staff will be available.
Also, as I’ve said before, if anyone has questions, comments, suggestions and/or concerns then please contact us. We have email addresses, and we can all be contacted by phone, or you can come to a council meeting. Or, of course, you could come to one of the community meetings.
(See “Below the Masthead” circa 2004-2010).
(See “Below the Masthead” circa 2004-2010).[/quote]