Am I the only one finding Time Warner Broadband to be abysmal? Second night in a row, I can barely reach sites, others don’t appear to exist, can’t get any work done. Sigh. OK, I’m done kvetching. Did you watch the “State of the Nation” address?
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{ 55 comments }
TWC been kinda sucky last few days
But it always finds ojaipost.com
message at 1-888-TWCABLE
“Our engineers are aware of a problem and are working their a**es off to correct it.
No need to stay on the line.”
(something like that)
How come LTOR gets to talk at length in a stream of consciousness style (currently at the Lost Dog site) and I don’t? I feel discrimination. I know I’ve already spoken at two other threads but this is really, really important! Why is LTOR “passionate” and I’m “boorish”? LTOR suggested a compromise which I agree with. Fine. But she does not have to compromise. Is she getting favorable treatment because she’s a favorite (and better looking)? Regardless, I accept her “second level” suggestion even though it feels like the back of the bus. Love, Denise Joy.
for crying out loud, ban this guy! reputable blogs would have done so looooong ago. he has devolved every thread on the page. bench him.
Tyler?
I’ll address the Dennis situation this afternoon. I need to work on some implementation related to it. Thanks.
Ban Dennis soon Tyler. He seems to think that it is always all about him.
I was hoping to find comments about the paralysis of TWC broadband. Any word? Is the City still negotiating its TWC contract? Feels like we’re in worse than dial-up days by dinner time, which is hardly business (or student) friendly. Back in the day, the Chamber of Commerce worked to help with such things. Any suggestions out there?
My comments and decision on Dennis -
I have put him on indefinite hiatus. I have also created a new “Ojai Bloggers” section in the left-column of every page of the website. Dennis’ website is listed and linked there, which will ultimately deliver his site more traffic than commenting here. I am sure Dennis will have plenty to say about this, so you can read his comments here: La Ojai Valley Epost
Sometimes Dennis is fine, sometimes he completely disrupts this site. He “negotiates” with himself, he “renegotiates” with himself, he uses the Post as a therapy vehicle, he rambles a thousand words at a time. He offers deals or arrangements where I would have to police and monitor him, or create links from his comments back to his website.
I slept on my decision for two nights. I don’t take these decisions lightly. What it comes down to, is I don’t want to be Dennis’ babysitter, and I don’t have time to be. I have spent way too much time trying to corral him for the sake and betterment of the larger community here, and I’m not even making six bucks an hour plus a ride home.
So my apology to Dennis and to all of you is for not having an undying commitment to finding a solution that allows all voices to participate in a framework that creates the highest opportunity and experience for everyone involved.
Please don’t be snide or mean or nasty in talking about it here. Participate if there is something to be learned or gained. Consider bookmarking Dennis’ site and participating there once and a while, or leave him a nice note on his site in light of what he will consider an undue and unfair judgment on my part.
Thanks all,
Tyler
What a great idea to have Ojai Bloggers in the left margin! Perhaps other Ojaians will like to be included here.
Tyler, I think you are very kind and thoughtful. And fair.
I would hate to pour salt in any wounds, but I have to say I agree with comment #11 with regard to Tyler’s handling of the situation.
That being said, I for one will visit Dennis’ blog periodically. Best wishes Dennis! See you around! Be well!
The Wisdom of Solomon!
I’ll just say this about the whole Dennis issue. I notice that at least 50% of the negative comments about Dennis are anonymous on any given thread where it devolves into the world against Dennis. In this relatively short thread we have two, #4 and #7. On other threads I’ve seen a whole lot more. These anonymous attacks on Dennis could be from one person or they could be from a few people who are not regular posters on the website. While I may agree that Dennis sometimes goes over the top and that he does tend to be verbose, I must say I don’t like this anti-Dennis echo chamber that gets going usually driven by anonymous poster(s). I’m saying this as someone who has publicly disagreed with him on this site more then once.
Relegating Dennis to obscurity or subjecting him to the 21st century version of Amish shunning seems a little harsh given the anonymous nature of most of his detractors. Tyler, it’s your decision to make, but I just wonder if there shouldn’t also be a policy discouraging people from attacking others using anonymous names. It’s fine to argue and debate, but when it comes down to personal attacks, people really should have the wherewithal to at least disclose their identities. Anonymity in that case is cowardice.
Sean – I think the policy does “discourage” people from certain behaviors. The problem (as it is with the City of Ojai for instance) is enforcement. Any policy requires enforcement. And so again, it circles back to me having to do that, which comes with an increasing time burden.
My instinct, which I feel I’ve been very consistent on, is to allow virtually any comment, and let the community react. I’m not interested in a position of greater moderation, and I don’t think it truly serves the community.
So I try to find the balance where the community understands the basic rules and can do some self-policing. If someone gets out of line, then I can talk them via the Post or even offline, which I have done many, many times. If the pattern continues, then I reserve the right to put them on hiatus or ban them.
I feel I’ve put in a tremendous amount of time trying to find the balance in this particular situation, and again, its not easy to come to the conclusion I’ve come to.
As far as personal attacks, I have never once deleted a negative comment against myself, and I’ve received my fair share on this site. Sack up.
thank you for doing this. it’s been so disruptive. i cannot speak for others, but the reason i choose to remain anonymous is because, frankly, i’m afraid of him.
Tyler, I think you may be misunderstanding my comment. I don’t want you to sit around holding everybody’s hand. We don’t need a minder. And as far as personal attacks go, I too have had my fair share and I’ve never suffered from them, at least not as much as the unfortunates who initiated them. Also, I am glad that there is room here for free speech and differing or even wildly exotic opinions. MT comes to mind immediately. I’m wondering if there can be a mechanism to help the community police itself. For instance, Dkos has is recommends +/- of comments. There are a lot of people who never comment but who read the comments. This would help them project their feelings, and it might help discourage these anonymous hatchet throwers. As far as sack up goes, watch it buddy. Just kidding.
Hope to see you at the Jester tonight for drinking liberally.
Thanks, Tyler, for doing this, and also, regarding the addition of the blog roll on the left, a number of the authors have blogs (myself included, well R.O. is more of a podcast), so how about including those?
Ty-
Don’t know if you noticed but Time Warner was down completely last night for quite awhile.
I called in and was told that their servers were “ünder attack”.
Do you know nay more about this?
Is it the latest dreaded worm/virus/trojan that is multiplying like that octuplet mom?
SPK – I’ve been percolating the idea of moving the Post to another platform at some point. Maybe later this year. Soapblox, which is the backbone of dKos, is actually my leading choice, in part because anyone can diary, and those diaries get elevated to a recommended reading list.
LS – as of right now, its for non-Post authors. The Post authors have a lot of visibility for their blogs and other projects simply by contributing to the site, where every contributory post includes the author bio link, where the author bio/profile page can contain said links. I’ll consider including Post authors in that section or a different one. Thanks!
MK – I certainly noticed. TW has been awful the last three nights. When they aren’t down completely, only certain sites connect, and at dial-up speeds. I have heard there are some DNS issues going on, which may explain why only certain sites are available. Also, my hosting provider has seen some DNS-related database connectivity issues, which we have worked to resolve.
Same thing happened to me last night. I think I even have a post somewhere on this site entitled “Time Warner Sucks.”
Thanks again, Tyler.
LS
Bad call Tyler. As a longtime, usually anonymous poster and contributor, I can’t support this. You have mistaken the source of the problem – its not Dennis. It is those who viscerally react to his existence in such a strong way that every time he says something, they immediately start personal attacks, and run crying to you to ban him. The problem is within them, not Dennis, and it will only be cured within them. Not by banning Dennis.
If you can find one instance where one of these people whose inexcusable urges you are now accommodating actually engaged Dennis’ ideas, and received some sort of improper response, show me. I’ve never seen it.
Raymond had a recent thread that exemplified the issue. He put up something about California’s budget woes. Dennis gave a passionate, substantive comment. And then the personal attacks started. Posters like mk piled on. (Another challenge – find me something worthwhile “mk” and his various pseudonyms has ever said on this Post? If you’re banning people, ban him.) Even Suza attacked. LTOR put in a fairly long diatribe to the same effect.
I responded, with a “shame on you folks.” I suggested that there were constructive ways to engage, and less than constructive ways. Using LTOR’s comment as an example, I suggested that rather than complain that “we all agree with you Dennis, but you just need to stop saying it the way you are saying it” (a nice way of describing LTOR’s diatribe – she can comment whether it is a fair summary or not), I suggested that she could have made her comment constructively by giving us an example of what Dennis was saying than she agreed with, said in a way she thought would be more effective than his version. That could have steered the conversation away from personal attacks and back to the substance of the thread. I suggested that LTOR and Suza and the others ought to apologize to Dennis.
What happened? Raymond threw the baby out with the bathwater. Claiming he would not support ugly personal attacks on Dennis, he deleted all the comments – including Dennis’ – within an hour or two of my post!
The answer I think is pretty clear, and easier than your solution. Don’t ban Dennis. That’s misguided. It will only bring you more of the same “problem.” And don’t let people who may have forgotten their meds this morning (or missed their yoga or cup of coffee or whatever), or otherwise have their panties or tightie-whities in a twist waste your time with their misguided complaints. Just give them a stock response, which I’ll even write for you right now, and plug it automatically to post whenever someone sends you nonsense with “dennis” anywhere in it. Here you go:
“Dennis is a longtime contributor to the Ojai Post and a valued member of our community. If you will follow our guidelines and avoid personal attacks, you will find that you can respond to anything substantive he says and you might just end up with an interesting conversation. If you are unable to do that, or don’t want to do that, remember: You don’t have to read Dennis! Thank you, and enjoy the Ojai Post.”
How about it?
“If you can find one instance where one of these people whose inexcusable urges you are now accommodating actually engaged Dennis’ ideas, and received some sort of improper response, show me. I’ve never seen it.”
If you would be so kind to identify yourself, I will do a little research early next week and cite some examples.
Thanks for the thoughts, anonymous.
My actions are not knee-jerk, and I’m not just responding to one side of the story. As much as anyone, I think I have a sense of the dynamics between individuals and groups that play out here on the Post.
I’m not going to have some sort of auto-disclaimer message that pops up every time the discussion centers around Dennis. You’re making my point exactly – quite frequently when Dennis has participated, it hasn’t been about the topic, its been “all about Dennis”.
Anyway, Dennis was quite gracious and magnanimous in his reply to my decision (which is not banning, it’s indefinite hiatus).
Why don’t you go engage with him on his blog? And participate here? And bookmark and communicate on 15 other sites you love?
I’m standing by my decision, and I made it with the best intentions for everyone involved.
“we all agree with you Dennis, but you just need to stop saying it the way you are saying it”
Nope, sorry that is not an entirely accurate assessment of my “diatribe”.
Since I write on Word initally and then paste onto the OP, I still have what I wrote:
Dennis,
In the past few years, I have done everything from debate with you, rail against your words, joke with you, try to steer you in a better direction, empathize with your situation in life…but now I just feel compelled to implore you to step back and think about, not only what you are saying, but how you are saying it.
First off – crying censorship in this country always gets me riled up. Do you even have an inkling of understanding of what the word implies??? Numerous investigative journalists have recently been shot to death in Russia. THAT is censorship. Anti-government bloggers in China are routinely denied access to the internet. THAT is censorship. Newsmen in Venezuela have their offices raided and shut down until they “behave” in Venezuela. THAT is censorship. Women can be officially whipped for wearing make-up or not “properly” covering up in Saudi Arabia; oh, yeah, and they can’t vote either. THAT is censorship. Get my point?
Now, yes…of course we all know that, in the United States, we do live under a veil of “soft” censorship because of who controls our media. The vertical integration that cumulated in the nineties, conglomerate-ization of most of our information sources and the constant craving by “the masses” for entertainment does totally F-up our ability to easily access an unbiased version of the “news”. (We’ve all known that for the last 10-20 years. You’re late.)
But on an internet blog like this where I could scream “GEORGE BUSH IS A TERRORIST AND SHOULD BE SENT TO THE HAGUE AND THEN STRUNG UP BY HIS TOES!” if I wanted to and nothing would happen to me – to cry censorship is pathetic! (I could also write “Tyler, you suck!” if I wanted to and he would let it fly.) So, censorship???? I think not!
Look – you have gotten flack here for a very simple reason – you exhibit several characteristics through your writing that OP readers just don’t respond well to: as Leigh writes – you can be obnoxious. You don’t have an intellectual grasp on the ideas that you are trying to get across. You have been caught naively falling for internet crackpots, so your judgment is suspect. You reiterate the same themes over and over again ad nauseum. You have become increasingly rude. And, I am sorry to have to write this, but you have literally become – boorish. (And that, in my opinion, should qualify as a “ban-able” offense).
So, reality check Dennis! You are NOT the keeper of the great truths of the Universe whilst the rest of us are just “uneducated” “sheeple” walking blindly into the evil lair of corporate/government/media corruption. We GET what you are trying to say – we agree with SOME of the themes you try to pound over our heads day after day (many of us have instinctively known this stuff since the 10toh grade for goodness sake) and we disagree with many others. If you were able to debate in a more constructive, productive and intelligent way, you might find an audience more eager to engage. You have a lot of good things to offer this community, but of late, unfortunately you are in sore need of a virtual Attitude Adjustment.
So, take it or leave it…but please do not try to imply that I said “we all agree with Dennis”…
I still stand by the basic intent of my words – though my comment about banning borishness was more tongue in cheek than an actual call for “banishment”. Could I have been a touch “gentler”? You bet, but I have a long history with Dennis on the OP – trying to logically “debate” with him, joking with him, trying to be “constructive” and steering him in different direction, trying to be kind and asking about his welfare when I wasn’t sure if he was ok or had a roof over his head, etc. But frustration builds, my friend…
Tyler gave a brilliant analogy of how and why people react to Dennis’ style of “communicating” and trying to get attention at any cost..
I apologize to Dennis for going over the top in my rhetoric. I’m sorry if I hurt his feelings in any way. (But then again, he has been known to make sweeping judgments about the intellectual ability of ALL of Ojai, so when you want to dish it out, you’d better be able to take it.) But I do not apologize for feeling the way I feel about how he has conducted himself here for the last three years. Sorry…
LTOR
Aha! I went for a walk and realized who Anonymous is. No need to reveal yourself, my friend, if you prefer to remain anonymous.
Sorry, I shouldn’t have taken the bait and added more fuel to the fire. I wish Dennis the best of luck…
Tyler, please feel free to delete my post. I reacted emotionally to Anonymous’ words when (for Dennis’ sake) I should have just let it go…
Sorry…
I think Dennis is happy in his new diggs. We just left him a nice message. It’s perfect he has his own blogg, with lots of breathing space, and no pesky editors to limit his word count. What a lovely win-win solution!
The shunning continues. Suza, who was the anonymous poster? I think I know, but I wonder.
The shunning continues.
With all due respect…
Tyler obviously spent much time and soul searching to come up with a fair and generous solution (one in which even Dennis seems at peace with). To keep stirring the pot here by challenging Tyler’s decision (and those of us who agree) – and getting little digs in – will only add to pain and embarrassment for Dennis. Tyler doesn’t seem to be suggesting he is going to change his mind – why not let sleeping dogs lie. If you want to show Dennis support – leave him a kind message, or go visit his site? Why try to bait those of us who feel strongly about the situation? Frankly, if your concern really is for Dennis – why choose to go this route? You’ve been here long enough to know how this will play out. Spare Dennis and let it go…gracefully.
is Tyler Yaweh? and denise james JOB or Denise James Yaweh and tyler JOB?
Ojai, my old stomping grounds. Tyler, you handled this with the utmost class and decency.
Every once in awhile I check in on Ojai and see how things are going. It’s a running theme that this Dennis guy pops up everywhere and takes over a thread, blog or topic! Now, I surf into this discussion and see it’s same old same. Nuttin’ changes. Good decision and fair move. Posting is a privilege… akin to being in someone’s home. Keep up the good work.
been away for a few days …
as to this subject, of closely-quartered, ‘one-Valley-ed’, Ojai family … personalities …
’tis true … playful, ‘idio-syncretic’, oft-lost … emotions are the rule.
the solution, discussed, is transient song …
and evolutionary,
and honoring.
as are we …
Dennis is done posted out of town … marshal’s got his six shooters ready should he come wandering back hereaways.
Anyone ever read “Warlock” by Oakley Hall? Loosely based on the events in Tombstone Arizona of the 1880s.
Its easy to post someone out of town. But after he’s been figuratively gunned down and a little time passes, you start to realize you sort of miss the guy. And then even the cheerleaders who posted him out begin to wonder, was he really all that bad?
They even start to think, who are we to post him out? By what divine right did we appoint ourselves to say who’s in and who’s out of this little town?
But of course its too late then.
Next thing you know, someone else is getting posted out.
Town’s getting smaller.
#36 = Denise James Joy Leary
make no mistake about it
i’m outta here and outta town
Wrong again mk.
But I did just try to visit and post a copy of the above comment on Dennis’ blog to say hello – and you know, he’s got some registration thing going on there. Dennis, open up your blog! You can always delete obnoxious trolls, if they come.
By the way, Dennis’ writing is some of the best in town. (In my obviously whacked out, soon to be posted out opinion.) Check out his blog.
Hey, all you “Citizens Committee” folks, can you post that Kelly Feser Eeler out of town while you’re still in this business?
No MK you’re wrong. It ‘aint Dennis and I ‘aint tellin’ who it is. But I will say that Dennis had started to be a detriment to rational discussion on occasion–but he’s not alone. Just the most visible.
I called it a shunning. A Shunning doesn’t just pop out of the blue, usually there are reasons behind it. I’m talking to you LTOR. Read closer and remember your sense of humor. I never placed a judgement on whether or not the shunning was needed. Besides, I was making a pop culture reference to an episode of The Office(US).
he was too much of a distraction, so is this, move on
Funny, but anyone else notice comments on the rest of the threads are either no comment, “welcome” or one-liners about Twitter?
Dennis, we already miss you.
What’s the temp down where you are anon?
“A Shunning”
starring:
Jack Nicholson as The Shunned
Meryl Streep as The Shunner
Robert DeNiro as The Shunnee
Jackie Chan as ShunShun
loosely based on an almost true story by Denise Joy Jesse James Leary
Is it set in a spooky lodge on the border with Canada in winter?
sometimes the OP almost makes me “plotz”
(Yiddish word for “to burst”, as “to explode with laughter”)
Hey! It’s easy to sign up to leave Dennis Comments.
But in case you can’t figure it out, I posted all your comments on
La Ojai Valley Epost
Thanks Trixie
that’s important work you’re doing.
but since they haven’t yet appeared on La Ojai Valley Epost. i guess Denise needs to “approve” them
Thanks, mk, for checking it out,
They are in the “secret” Comment Box under Dennis’s current most recent Post, #40, on Joy.
Here’s a direct link:
http://laojaivalleyepost.blogstream.com/v1/pid/373859.html?CP=&HP=1#TC
Sitting here scrolling on a Sunday, sorry to say, bored on the Post. Went to Dennis’ blog, and what do you know, he gives a recap of what’s on the Post that not only would have saved me much time (if I had read it first), but was far more trenchant, and amusing.
Check it out folks, at the link.
Once again, I’ll say it: Posting Dennis off the Post is a big mistake. You are losing one of this town’s best writers, and sliding further down the path to pabulum. The Ojai Post needs Dennis, if only for counterpoint.
(Pissing into the wind BTW because it looks like Dennis likes this arrangement better, with his own blog and not getting deleted at random. And maybe it is better – Dennis if brought back clearly should be an author, as his talents are better exhibited when he is not confined to responding or commenting on the posts of others, but able to offer his own ventured views. In fact Tyler – that’s a hell of an idea. Look at Dennis’ blog and see if you don’t agree – perhaps the problem has been misdiagnosed. Dennis should be an author, posting his unique take on all things Ojai. I bet he’d agree to limit articles to max one per current homepage.)
Meanwhile Dennis, if you still monitor this, see if you can get your son to revamp that blog so people can comment without registering. Much better that way.
Anonymous # 49 has some good ideas.
Maybe the whole Author/commenter configuration needs to be reconsidered, as I think Tyler suggested at one point he was considering.
The truth is that Dennis’s writing has taken a great leap forward on his own blog. Much more entertaining now that he can be his unedited self. And what great pre publication publicity! To be banned (actually it’s just a hiatus but “banned” sounds much more exciting in his pre publication publicity). It’s only a matter of time before some agent discovers this underground Ojai guru and lands him a big fat book advance.
if you don’t like it here, go see Dennis and stop harassing
What a great irony — Dennis gets banned and thrives as a result.
Maybe it’s what he was after all along.
There is a deep lesson in this.
There are no plans to make Dennis an author on the Post. Nothing pleases me more to hear that he has fans who feel he has found his voice on his own blog. Great – support him there, comment there, engage him there. We’ll continue to send him traffic via the link in the left column of every page on this site. It’s a scenario that I feel is best for everyone involved, save a couple of concerned, anonymous readers.
Dear so what(Comment #52),
No harrasment intended by Comment #51.
I agree with Tyler’s well-considered decision.
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