There are too many new blogs each day in SJI to keep track of and have back and forth commentary. Cut down the new blogs to one a day and also require the columnists to use their actual name (ie The Fly). Hard to take a journalist too seriously using a moniker. Have columnists who present both sides of a subject rather than the now predictable one sided left of left blogs. Maybe I am alone but I am losing interest in SJI.
#1- Steve says,
“Maybe I am alone but I am losing interest in SJI.” Nope, you aren’t alone. Between the Editor modifying our posts, omitting them all together, and these constant Metro columns, it is getting rather boring.
Your POV is welcome here, and you’re correct in noting that we’ve upped the number of blogs on SJI, and also broadened the focus somewhat. But there still seems to be plenty of back-and-forth commentary—moderating the site day-to-day, I’ve noticed more interest, not less.
As for taking sides on issues—SJI since day one has been a venue for political commentary. Nobody could honestly accuse Jack Van Zandt or Tom McEnery of being shy about their opinions. What you might be noticing are more opinions that you disagree with. I hope you can be okay with that, because we value your contributions to this discussion.
Last thing: “The Fly” is an example of a shared pseudonym—a tradition dating back to the earliest days of independent American journalism.
The only posts the editors delete are personal attacks or libelous comments (untrue statements that could cause harm to a person’s reputation). That is the job of an editor, and it has nothing to do with censorship.
And I will tell you, in the spirit of the season, and as the Metro guy who is in charge of day-to-day editorial duties on SJI, that I hope it’s possible for us to disagree and still remain friends.
I do not agree with everything you post here, but I appreciate your conviction. And you’ve got to admit, 99 percent of everything you’ve sent our way has been posted as is.
I agree with Steve that fewer articles would encourage a more interesting and in depth discussion. The way it is now, just as the conversation is getting rolling a new article pops up, everybody jumps ship, and yet another shallow discussion begins.
Kathleen, Steve, and others with similar thoughts, perhaps we should ignore the articles from the Metro.
Also, it’d be more interesting if posters would respond to comments directly addressed to them. Besides that, in face to face conversation it’s polite to speak when spoken to. Why should blog conversations be any different?
San Jose Inside is still puttng out a quality product. They do put their names to theirs words, unlike the unknown comic over at SAN JOSE REVEALED; WITH A SOUTH FLORIDA FAX NUMBER.
The blog writer sets an opinion and it is for the posters to agree or disagree with it.
It is not that I am noticing more opinions that I disagree with. I enjoy the diverse opinions. It is that that increasing the amount of blogs has diluted the quality of the back and forth between the follow up posts. Before there could easily be 50 plus posts on a subject; now it seems that 10-20 is the average.
That’s a good point. I should tell you that our development team is investigating a new blogging platform that should make it easier for us to keep a thread going. Among other things, we want to be able to “nest” comments, for back-and-forth conversations like this one. I’m hoping we can also display “recent comments” more prominently on the front page.
I’d welcome any other ideas about how we can better serve the SJI community.
San Jose is the most embarassed big city in the world. Downtown SJ is a mediocre waste of failing taxpayer’s money. The commerce is not downtown but spread throughout the city, for instance, Santana Row is located on Winchester Blvd. No major 4 league sport teams, except for the Sharks, are located in SJ. The small municipal (Mineta) airport is located so close to downtown SJ that it puts shame to San Jose by limiting the height of the buildings downtown. Most of the jobs are located in North San Jo, not downtown, so that’s why downtown is so deserted with no shopping. The situation, I promise, will never change in our lifetime. The city is so poorly planned that it has deemed to fail. No, I’m not a San Jose hater; however, I’m very realistic. This is a very, very sad and unlucky city!
I’d welcome any other ideas about how we can better serve the SJI community
I suggested this back when the site went through its current redesign.
The ‘Recent comments’ section somehow needs to be expanded. If there is a popular thread discussion going it is very easy for a comment on another thread to get ‘pushed off’, and no one is aware that the comment was made.
Perhaps changing the “Recent Comments’ section to only have the thread title, along with a number indicating the recent comments, and the time of the most recent would be better.
For example;
Recent Comments:
Rants and Raves (10), last 13:15 on 12/21/08
Another thread_0 (9), last 12:08 on 12/21/08
Another thread_1 (4), last 23:43 on 12/20/08
Another thread_2 (7), last 03:19 on 12/19/08
#4- Eric,
A couple of things:
For years, many folks have come on SJI and made some very harsh comments to and about SJI, Tom, and Jack, but they never blocked or altered those posts because they get that people have a right to state their opinion without censorship. That is why this blog has been so sucessful, and has had a very faithful following, unlike other failed blogs.
Prior to the Metro merging with SJI, we have all, at one time or another made comments about news medias we don’t like or agree with. That doesn’t make it a “personal attack or slander,” as you put it. I think you are stretching the definition of “personal attack” here because a few of my comments have been directed at your media, the Metro. You have altered my posts, and even chosen not to post them simply because you are defending the Metro. My comments were not in violation of SJI’s commentary policy, nor were they slanderous. By censoring mine and others posts that are directed at the Metro, you are indeed censoring us. I honestly do not believe that if someone walked into the Metro, the Merc, or any other media and censored you for what you wrote, that your attorneys would take that lying down. You’d be as angry as I am about it.
People, besides me, are trying to tell you the truth about where we stand on issues, The Metro, and changes you are making, so try to be open to those suggestions, instead of stone walling us. You are after all coming onto a pretty conservative blog with some very liberal columns, written by some very, shall we say different writers.
My suggestion is that you just come clean with us about the new direction in which you are taking SJI and leave us with the choice of whether or not we wish to continue to participating on SJI. No harm no foul.
As to coffee, sure. It would be interesting to meet the face behind the censorship pen. My email address is posted.
#5- John Galt,
“Kathleen, Steve, and others with similar thoughts, perhaps we should ignore the articles from the Metro.”
I can’t believe I’m saying this John, but I don’t think that is a wise idea. Please know I’m saying this with all due respect to you, but I’m too stubborn to allow opinions and columns on SJI that mislead people to have the floor to themselves, and I hope you won’t either. ;-0 If SJI becomes a blog that is only posting Metro columns, well then I just might change my mind. I can pick up the Metro anytime, so I don’t see the point of reading a blog that posts the same articles.
I do like the new addition of Joseph Di Salvo. Education is a topic that is vital to discuss, especially with the new cuts taking place. Some of the other columns have some interesting points too. Having an open mind is important to me, and so is challenging my own belief system, and that is why I have stuck to SJI for years. You know I’ve been on the opposite side of you and others many times, but I’ll tell you I’ve learned a lot! And I thank you for that! Merry Christmas John! Hang in there!
First, I know for a fact that Kathleen has included only facts in her posts, not anything that could be considered “personal attacks or libelous comments.” Everything she has said about the Metro in her posts, things you have ‘censored’, are facts that anyone could verify just by picking up the Metro and reading it.
I think you have a tough job. On one hand, you have to take direction from Dan Pulcrano/your supervisors at the Metro as to which direction they want SJI should go. On the other hand, you have Tom McEnery’s original vision for SJI, and your “customers” – the bloggers, who expect the same quality product they have gotten for years, and will not settle for less (as seen in many posts on this thread). Unfortunately, unless you allow these people to post their opinions, and acknowledge their points without judging them, you are fighting a loosing battle.
I just received this from a friend of mine. We are on the opposite side of the fence on politics, but even I had to chuckle at this one! Enjoy!
Letter from the Boss
As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to
the fact that Barrack Obama will be our next
President, and that our taxes and
government fees will increase in a BIG way.
To compensate for these increases, I figure that our clients will have to see an
increase in our fees to them of about 8%, but since we cannot increase our fees right, now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn’t know how to choose who will have to go.
So, this is what I did. I strolled thru our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper
stickers on our employees’ cars and have decided these folks will be the first
to be laid off. I can’t think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These
folks wanted change; I gave it to them.
I think it‘s good to see a variety of opinions. It was getting kind of stale with three members of a single political dynasty and a couple members of their ethnic clan (plus a token Italian American thrown in). Education columnist Joseph Di Salvo has been a good addition. And the news updates by Fly are taking it in a newsier direction. I look forward to the day when I don‘t have to read a newspaper at all because SJI has so many posts it covers all the logical beats.
When we were first informed that SJI was partnering with Metro, I wondered in a post how long it would take for Metro to assume full control of SJI.
Well, now we know. Jack Van Z is gone, and we haven’t heard from Single Gal of John McE IV in several weeks.
But we are bombarded ceaselessly by Fly, Raj Jayadev, Gary Singh, and other Metro-ites. Soon the only reason to pick up a Metro will be to Se DeCinzo, since he’s been axed from SJI.
At the time of the SJI/Metro merger I expressed concerns here about too much local media being consolidated into one organization.
We had previously seen this happen with Media News buying the Merc, the community newspapers and most Bay Area newspapers. We were, of course told that the consolidation would only make SJI better. (That’s pretty much what Media News said after the takeover, but before the layoffs.)
Now, judging from the comments here, we are seeing these concerns come home to roost.
SJI seems to be moving away from it’s role as a forum to discuss local issues. Instead it now seems to have evolved into what is largely an on-line version of Metro, with the subsequent discussion being driven by Metro articles.
When Jack was here SJI still had some semblance of independence. I hope I am wrong, but that independence seems to be gone.
Perhaps Eric can spell out who is in charge of what these days at SJI, and the the role of Metro in SJI content?
A 47-year-old San Jose woman walking with her 14-year-old son was struck and killed Friday night by a truck that ran a red light, according to San Jose police.
The woman, Deborah Parsons-Mason, was taken to a hospital, where she died of her injuries.
Gilberto Vasquez Reyes, 63, was arrested at the scene and charged with felony drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter
Editor,
Whoever put up post #22, has signed my name to something I did not post. I am NOT running for City Council in 2010, nor did I put that post on SJI.
JMO-
You may have already read this, but I am posting it to share with you that times have changed, and “welfare” is no longer what it once was. Hard working folks who lost their jobs, and paid into the system are now having to depend on assistance to feed and house their families.
There is defintely something we have to do about the identity game. It has happened on all of our blogs, and frankly, chaning the name to make it even more of a nasty attack has been done by the best of us.
There are too many new blogs each day in SJI to keep track of and have back and forth commentary. Cut down the new blogs to one a day and also require the columnists to use their actual name (ie The Fly). Hard to take a journalist too seriously using a moniker. Have columnists who present both sides of a subject rather than the now predictable one sided left of left blogs. Maybe I am alone but I am losing interest in SJI.
#1- Steve says,
“Maybe I am alone but I am losing interest in SJI.” Nope, you aren’t alone. Between the Editor modifying our posts, omitting them all together, and these constant Metro columns, it is getting rather boring.
Steve,
Your POV is welcome here, and you’re correct in noting that we’ve upped the number of blogs on SJI, and also broadened the focus somewhat. But there still seems to be plenty of back-and-forth commentary—moderating the site day-to-day, I’ve noticed more interest, not less.
As for taking sides on issues—SJI since day one has been a venue for political commentary. Nobody could honestly accuse Jack Van Zandt or Tom McEnery of being shy about their opinions. What you might be noticing are more opinions that you disagree with. I hope you can be okay with that, because we value your contributions to this discussion.
Last thing: “The Fly” is an example of a shared pseudonym—a tradition dating back to the earliest days of independent American journalism.
Kathleen:
The only posts the editors delete are personal attacks or libelous comments (untrue statements that could cause harm to a person’s reputation). That is the job of an editor, and it has nothing to do with censorship.
And I will tell you, in the spirit of the season, and as the Metro guy who is in charge of day-to-day editorial duties on SJI, that I hope it’s possible for us to disagree and still remain friends.
I do not agree with everything you post here, but I appreciate your conviction. And you’ve got to admit, 99 percent of everything you’ve sent our way has been posted as is.
We ought to get a cup of coffee sometime.
I agree with Steve that fewer articles would encourage a more interesting and in depth discussion. The way it is now, just as the conversation is getting rolling a new article pops up, everybody jumps ship, and yet another shallow discussion begins.
Kathleen, Steve, and others with similar thoughts, perhaps we should ignore the articles from the Metro.
Also, it’d be more interesting if posters would respond to comments directly addressed to them. Besides that, in face to face conversation it’s polite to speak when spoken to. Why should blog conversations be any different?
San Jose Inside is still puttng out a quality product. They do put their names to theirs words, unlike the unknown comic over at SAN JOSE REVEALED; WITH A SOUTH FLORIDA FAX NUMBER.
The blog writer sets an opinion and it is for the posters to agree or disagree with it.
Eric #3,
It is not that I am noticing more opinions that I disagree with. I enjoy the diverse opinions. It is that that increasing the amount of blogs has diluted the quality of the back and forth between the follow up posts. Before there could easily be 50 plus posts on a subject; now it seems that 10-20 is the average.
Steve #9,
That’s a good point. I should tell you that our development team is investigating a new blogging platform that should make it easier for us to keep a thread going. Among other things, we want to be able to “nest” comments, for back-and-forth conversations like this one. I’m hoping we can also display “recent comments” more prominently on the front page.
I’d welcome any other ideas about how we can better serve the SJI community.
San Jose is the most embarassed big city in the world. Downtown SJ is a mediocre waste of failing taxpayer’s money. The commerce is not downtown but spread throughout the city, for instance, Santana Row is located on Winchester Blvd. No major 4 league sport teams, except for the Sharks, are located in SJ. The small municipal (Mineta) airport is located so close to downtown SJ that it puts shame to San Jose by limiting the height of the buildings downtown. Most of the jobs are located in North San Jo, not downtown, so that’s why downtown is so deserted with no shopping. The situation, I promise, will never change in our lifetime. The city is so poorly planned that it has deemed to fail. No, I’m not a San Jose hater; however, I’m very realistic. This is a very, very sad and unlucky city!
I’d welcome any other ideas about how we can better serve the SJI community
I suggested this back when the site went through its current redesign.
The ‘Recent comments’ section somehow needs to be expanded. If there is a popular thread discussion going it is very easy for a comment on another thread to get ‘pushed off’, and no one is aware that the comment was made.
Perhaps changing the “Recent Comments’ section to only have the thread title, along with a number indicating the recent comments, and the time of the most recent would be better.
For example;
Recent Comments:
Rants and Raves (10), last 13:15 on 12/21/08
Another thread_0 (9), last 12:08 on 12/21/08
Another thread_1 (4), last 23:43 on 12/20/08
Another thread_2 (7), last 03:19 on 12/19/08
etc.
#4- Eric,
My email address is posted.
A couple of things:
For years, many folks have come on SJI and made some very harsh comments to and about SJI, Tom, and Jack, but they never blocked or altered those posts because they get that people have a right to state their opinion without censorship. That is why this blog has been so sucessful, and has had a very faithful following, unlike other failed blogs.
Prior to the Metro merging with SJI, we have all, at one time or another made comments about news medias we don’t like or agree with. That doesn’t make it a “personal attack or slander,” as you put it. I think you are stretching the definition of “personal attack” here because a few of my comments have been directed at your media, the Metro. You have altered my posts, and even chosen not to post them simply because you are defending the Metro. My comments were not in violation of SJI’s commentary policy, nor were they slanderous. By censoring mine and others posts that are directed at the Metro, you are indeed censoring us. I honestly do not believe that if someone walked into the Metro, the Merc, or any other media and censored you for what you wrote, that your attorneys would take that lying down. You’d be as angry as I am about it.
People, besides me, are trying to tell you the truth about where we stand on issues, The Metro, and changes you are making, so try to be open to those suggestions, instead of stone walling us. You are after all coming onto a pretty conservative blog with some very liberal columns, written by some very, shall we say different writers.
My suggestion is that you just come clean with us about the new direction in which you are taking SJI and leave us with the choice of whether or not we wish to continue to participating on SJI. No harm no foul.
As to coffee, sure. It would be interesting to meet the face behind the censorship pen.
#5- John Galt,
“Kathleen, Steve, and others with similar thoughts, perhaps we should ignore the articles from the Metro.”
I can’t believe I’m saying this John, but I don’t think that is a wise idea. Please know I’m saying this with all due respect to you, but I’m too stubborn to allow opinions and columns on SJI that mislead people to have the floor to themselves, and I hope you won’t either. ;-0 If SJI becomes a blog that is only posting Metro columns, well then I just might change my mind. I can pick up the Metro anytime, so I don’t see the point of reading a blog that posts the same articles.
I do like the new addition of Joseph Di Salvo. Education is a topic that is vital to discuss, especially with the new cuts taking place. Some of the other columns have some interesting points too. Having an open mind is important to me, and so is challenging my own belief system, and that is why I have stuck to SJI for years. You know I’ve been on the opposite side of you and others many times, but I’ll tell you I’ve learned a lot! And I thank you for that! Merry Christmas John! Hang in there!
#4 – Eric Johnson,
First, I know for a fact that Kathleen has included only facts in her posts, not anything that could be considered “personal attacks or libelous comments.” Everything she has said about the Metro in her posts, things you have ‘censored’, are facts that anyone could verify just by picking up the Metro and reading it.
I think you have a tough job. On one hand, you have to take direction from Dan Pulcrano/your supervisors at the Metro as to which direction they want SJI should go. On the other hand, you have Tom McEnery’s original vision for SJI, and your “customers” – the bloggers, who expect the same quality product they have gotten for years, and will not settle for less (as seen in many posts on this thread). Unfortunately, unless you allow these people to post their opinions, and acknowledge their points without judging them, you are fighting a loosing battle.
#11- Blue Fox,
EXCELLENT Idea!
I just received this from a friend of mine. We are on the opposite side of the fence on politics, but even I had to chuckle at this one! Enjoy!
Letter from the Boss
As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to
the fact that Barrack Obama will be our next
President, and that our taxes and
government fees will increase in a BIG way.
To compensate for these increases, I figure that our clients will have to see an
increase in our fees to them of about 8%, but since we cannot increase our fees right, now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn’t know how to choose who will have to go.
So, this is what I did. I strolled thru our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper
stickers on our employees’ cars and have decided these folks will be the first
to be laid off. I can’t think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These
folks wanted change; I gave it to them.
If you have a better idea, let me know.
Sincerely,
The Boss
The posters have a right to be concerned, but as far as many people think, SJI seems to be jumping the shark with writing about so much about itself.
I didn’t know this was a “liberal” or “conservative” blog. Thanks to those who have decided to label it for me. I never would have known otherwise.
I think it‘s good to see a variety of opinions. It was getting kind of stale with three members of a single political dynasty and a couple members of their ethnic clan (plus a token Italian American thrown in). Education columnist Joseph Di Salvo has been a good addition. And the news updates by Fly are taking it in a newsier direction. I look forward to the day when I don‘t have to read a newspaper at all because SJI has so many posts it covers all the logical beats.
When we were first informed that SJI was partnering with Metro, I wondered in a post how long it would take for Metro to assume full control of SJI.
Well, now we know. Jack Van Z is gone, and we haven’t heard from Single Gal of John McE IV in several weeks.
But we are bombarded ceaselessly by Fly, Raj Jayadev, Gary Singh, and other Metro-ites. Soon the only reason to pick up a Metro will be to Se DeCinzo, since he’s been axed from SJI.
At the time of the SJI/Metro merger I expressed concerns here about too much local media being consolidated into one organization.
We had previously seen this happen with Media News buying the Merc, the community newspapers and most Bay Area newspapers. We were, of course told that the consolidation would only make SJI better. (That’s pretty much what Media News said after the takeover, but before the layoffs.)
Now, judging from the comments here, we are seeing these concerns come home to roost.
SJI seems to be moving away from it’s role as a forum to discuss local issues. Instead it now seems to have evolved into what is largely an on-line version of Metro, with the subsequent discussion being driven by Metro articles.
When Jack was here SJI still had some semblance of independence. I hope I am wrong, but that independence seems to be gone.
Perhaps Eric can spell out who is in charge of what these days at SJI, and the the role of Metro in SJI content?
My thoughts and prayers to this family.
A 47-year-old San Jose woman walking with her 14-year-old son was struck and killed Friday night by a truck that ran a red light, according to San Jose police.
The woman, Deborah Parsons-Mason, was taken to a hospital, where she died of her injuries.
Gilberto Vasquez Reyes, 63, was arrested at the scene and charged with felony drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter
#22
Going negative already? You lost my vote.
Editor,
Whoever put up post #22, has signed my name to something I did not post. I am NOT running for City Council in 2010, nor did I put that post on SJI.
Comment deleted.
#22- The REAL Christian Hemingway did not post this comment. Stealing someone’s identity is a serious crime.
http://www.identity-theft-awareness.com/punishment-for-identity-theft.html
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208802209
JMO-
You may have already read this, but I am posting it to share with you that times have changed, and “welfare” is no longer what it once was. Hard working folks who lost their jobs, and paid into the system are now having to depend on assistance to feed and house their families.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11291133
There is defintely something we have to do about the identity game. It has happened on all of our blogs, and frankly, chaning the name to make it even more of a nasty attack has been done by the best of us.