I don't make Pawlowski's day. Probably, at most, I'm a minor thorn in his side. Being an equal opportunity basher, I have also alienated people at The Morning Call; Most of my criticism of Allentown is only read on this blog. Occasionally, Gunther Walsh is kind enough to voice one of my diatribes on WAEB radio. This brings us to the issue of blogging and comments. All bloggers, myself included, prefer more, than less readers. Advice articles on blogging emphasize the importance of comments for increased readership.
Allow your readers to interact with your blog. Respond to all their comments. Last night I received the following comment on the
Tea Leaves post. Read the Sunday paper to see what kind of scum bag mayor and city council we are dealing with. With these unethical and amoral idiots at the helm there is little hope for Allentown.
And biblical principles. Pawlowski might think he is the Antichrist but too many people hate him. Wonder why.He and XXXX XXXXX can retire to XXXX and develop their spec properties. Maybe they will take XXXX XXXX XXXXX with them. Another one of their scams.
Even though I am opposed to the Mayor's plans concerning the sports palace complex, and many other programs, and often address City Council, I have never used or felt the above adjectives and adverbs. Although I do not believe that bloggers own, or are responsible for the words in the comments, they can undermine a mission.
I see this blog as a tool to help effect some change in Allentown. Consequently, do not expect submitted comments, as above, to appear on this blog. I appreciate your readership, but will not compromise my community efforts for the sake of increased circulation of this blog.
I don't make Pawlowski's day. Probably, at most, I'm a minor thorn in his side. Being an equal opportunity basher, I have also alienated people at The Morning Call; Most of my criticism of Allentown is only read on this blog. Occasionally, Gunther Walsh is kind enough to voice one of my diatribes on WAEB radio. This brings us to the issue of blogging and comments. All bloggers, myself included, prefer more, than less readers. Advice articles on blogging emphasize the importance of comments for increased readership. Allow your readers to interact with your blog. Respond to all their comments. Last night I received the following comment on the Tea Leaves post. 
Aside from the crude language, the author is spot on.
ReplyDeleteThe ship that is Allentown is being piloted by insane pirates.
anon 3:57, although i have my differences with city council and the administration, and although I feel city council failed to perform due diligence on the arena and evaded the intent of the sunshine law, these are the people i must appeal to on various issues. also, it is interesting that the Morning Call today raises these issues, long after the horse has left the barn. never the less, the key word in your comment is anonymous. you cannot approach city council after calling them insane pirates, much less the terms used in the commentreproduced in this post.
ReplyDeleteIn my humble opinion your comments, Tribune, mark the end of the beginning stage of the evolution of blogging in America.
ReplyDeleteAs with any new invention, people scramble as to how to use it. Some use it to vent the frustrations built up over the years of being powerless. Others see blogs as an opportunity to visit history and better days. Still others see it as a platform to improve society.
I applaud you position. Yes it will cost you the readers who need to vent their anger. Yes it will cost you readers looking for others to affirm their prejudices.
That being said, you will continue to have a blog both you and many readers will be proud of and will look forward, every day, to reading and posting on occasionally.
You are and continue to be the "Tribune of the People!"
gary, thank you for the compliment, please try and remember it next time you're annoyed at me, which probably will be soon enough. yes, blogging is a very flexible medium. an anonymous blogger, who is not active in the community, can certainly host about any comment on his blog, with no consequence.
ReplyDeleteif for example, i'm to have any success getting the city to allocate funds for the WPA, I must monitor against unnecessarily insulting remarks directed at those who make such decisions.
It is good to see proper decorum being emphasized on your blog. I think you are correct in doing so. I must confess that I was thinking of some really nasty words when I read this mornings story on the Arena project. What I was thinking is not worthy of print.
ReplyDeleteThe polity of the valley will benefit from your view, Molovinsky. Thanks for taking the high road and resisting the temptation to publish the voices of frustration and anger and general meanness.
ReplyDeleteWe have all been at the meetings.
ReplyDeleteThere is no approaching these bastions of society.
Maybe not insane, but absolutely non-responsive, arrogant, unhearing, cold, aloof, calculated, and I stand my my term pirates.
This behavior also clearly indicates that retribution towards any of us angry peons foolish to leave a name will be sure to follow - as has happened to me several times.
That being said, I appreciate the forum that you provide and take no offence if you don't post my comments.
old dutchman, this blog has, and will continue to publish the voices of anger and frustration, it's the unnecessary insults i seek to avoid.
ReplyDeleteanon 7:48, as a landlord, i understand your concerns, and i am uniquely vulnerable to retribution. therefore, i permit anonymous comments, but some lines must be drawn, for reasons outlined in the post.
From Urban Dictionary:
ReplyDeleteS*** Bag:
A person of poor judgement and no class. A person with no sense of propriety, decency or discretion.
Not the literal translation.
Anyone with any perception can see the missteps taken by the current administration but few really are aware of the impact it can have on individuals lives.
Not all are aware of the behind the scenes tricks and personal attacks that are sometimes perpetuated as strategy.
Nor are we aware of the devastating personal impact this can have on an individual. Directness is always easier to deal with especially with thick skinned people.
Would not be too offended by the outburst however I would be concerned since it might be someones last gasp as they experience the death of outrage.
Remember if someone does not like your position they will always find someway to negate you. Nasty words or not.
Did you hear Hanover Avenue needs to be repaved? The quality of the paving materials is cited as the cause. One can only wonder how a city that can't get a roadway paving project properly completed is now going to underwrite the building of an arena within a tight construction schedule. Perhaps your readers can inform us what actually will happen if the city doesn't complete the arena by the 2013 hockey season? What happens to this project and the destruction of multiple city blocks? Who picks up the pieces?
ReplyDeleteThe article in today's paper is an obvious attempt to convince its most loyal readers that payment for an online subscription is reasonable. Assad's work is great, but it is too little, too late. If only articles like this were printed periodically from the beginning of this arena debacle.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of this blog, I know better than to try and tell MM how to run his own blog. I am a grateful reader, and I'll read and appreciate what Molovinsky chooses to write and host. However, I will say that Molovinsky clearly has a conflict of interest here. You cannot cooperate with the same folks you criticize publically, at least not easily. This will be a difficult balancing act for Molovinsky - I am very interested in seeing how this is managed. And of course, I fully support Molovinsky doing what HE thinks is best for HIS blog. I do appreciate Molovinsky's commitment to honesty and integrity, and I thank him for consistent and candid principles.
Personally, I think bloggers are responsible for what is hosted - even if they didn't write it. I do agree that offensive and unnecessarily caustic remarks should be removed if the blogger himself (or herself) is offended.
PS - A full reading of the Lehigh Valley's blogging history is reason enough for me to continue my anonymity, so I have no intentions of changing that element of my remarks here or elsewhere.
monkey momma, you need not worry, real diplomacy is a trait i will never process. my only intention is an attempt to make sure that this blog is not associated with statements considerably more caustic than my own. i agree that the Morning Call article is too late to be pro active. myself, and others, questioned the lack of due diligence and conformance to public input before and during council's involvement. only jeanette eichenwald voted no. i wish ray o'connell had come to his current revelation sooner.
ReplyDelete"Did you hear Hanover Avenue needs to be repaved? The quality of the paving materials is cited as the cause." October 9, 2011 8:16 AM
ReplyDelete/
Ditto the repairs done to the Tilghman St/ Union Blvd bridge.
Lots of rusty rebar showing after only a year or two.
Allentown is simply Chicago 'east' and the Morning Call is just like mamma bear, the Chicago Tribune. They will never dare do their due dilligence when it comes to protecting their masters in Democrat politics. A follow-up story should trace the 'connections' of the financing authority. Seeing a Gross listed surprised me not one bit.
ReplyDeleteanon 1:40, in fairness to kraus and assad, they wrote the following
ReplyDeleteJohn "Jack" Gross: Lawyer with Gross McGinley Attorneys at Law, which does work for Allentown. Gross is a member of the board of directors of the Lehigh Valley Red Cross and Casa Guadalupe, and is the son of attorney Malcolm Gross, who managed Mayor Ed Pawlowski's first election campaign.
that's pretty straight forward