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Casino related blogging issue moves from sidebar issue to center page5/5/08 Readers may not have bothered reading last weeks sidebar (The Fruit Hunters, left). The sidebar is where I publish peripheral stories that don't directly relate to the casino's coming to Middleboro. I just added a line to the title. If you haven't read it, I suggest you take a look (HERE) because it describes my own experiences some years ago running a website with a controversial message board which received national attention. This being said, most readers of this and other casino related websites know that there has been an ongoing online debate where conflicts between pro and anti casino posters sometimes went from engaging in civil discourse to acrimonious, sometimes down right nasty if not slanderous postings. I have not followed the message boards closely so I will leave it to those who have an accurate record of all or most of the questionable postings to decide who said what, and to reach a conclusion about whether certain individuals are responsible of stepping over the line between civil but spirited debate which might be construed by objective observers as slanderous. The Taunton Gazette has published a lengthy story about a well known casino advocate, Michael Quish, otherwise known as Mr. Limo ("Limo owner harassed for casino support", HERE) . This article has gone out on The Gatehouse News Service so it may be picked up by other newspapers. The article begins:
The general public knew little if anything about the message boards and blogs where casino issues were being addressed since the summer . Now they do. There is a quantum difference between posting negative messages on a local interest message board about individuals who live and make their livings in your community and posting on a national board about politicians and celebrities. Well known writers like Maureen Dowd and Arianna Huffington have helped make the word "snarky" a commonplace descrption of writing that target individuals with ironic and sacrastic barbs. I do this myself on Capitol Hill Blue where I write a political column regular read by several thousand people. Even there I monitor the comments section closely and delete any attacks, no matter how mild, made by one commenter against another. I would hope and expect that given what has transpired locally, those who host message boards here henceforth focus on issues and eschew personal attacks. Those who think that what they publish online is funny and amusing to those who agree with them ought to recognize that their targets might not be amused; and in fact that they may suffer emotionally and have their reputation damaged. I am scheduled to discuss hurtful Internet posting on Adam Bond's radio Show, Coffee Shop Talk, on Thursday, 11:00AM (May 8th) on WXBR at 1460AM on your dial. Please call in with any questions.
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It's real. It's serious. But because Middleboro almost certain to host a resort that is also a major casino, we should learn the basics about this psychiatric disorder.
