OP/ED: djohnsto77's Vision for ATSNN

Good luck in the run-off, deejster!

Well said Nerdling.

I just voted for DJ.

DJ, about posting articles, please, could we see a little more op-based material from you?

Good luck on your run.

Originally posted by djohnsto77Together, we can all deny both bias and ignorance.

Well, we find ourselves on the hotseat. Dj, I have to say, that after numerous comments on threads I, as well as other have posted, you are not unbiased. All too many times, you will jump on a thread, without anything legit to contribute, other than ostracizing the writer, for a thread that doesn't meet your standards. (Maybe in your infinite knoweledge, do something nice for a change, like show the person the ropes)

I can understand the desire to reach perfection, but at least do it with some tact. What makes this site so fantastic(and I can only speak for myself) is the vast range of views from all over the globe. All too often, I have been the target of one of your witty pursuits of perfection, IE I was upset about something, and all you had to contribute was "This really isnt the right place for this" Im sorry, but who died and made you God?
Words like that do offend, and they hurt.

If you really want to win elections, maybe you should try being a little nicer, after all NOONE wants to be ruled by Stalin, or Hitler again.

ON a deeper note, how on earth, are you going to make this place, a better one, without making it exclusive? All too often, in places like the ATSSNews sites, a person has no idea what they are doing wrong, other than the votes in their u2u, which is incredibly vague. What will you do to change this?

I really don't know what you're talking about denial28. It would have been nice for you to include a link. I can't be that mean and nasty since in my entire time on ATS, I've never gotten a red-flag warn. Just saying something is in the wrong forum, certainly isn't a personal attack.

As far as your second point, I already answered a similar question posed by 12m8keall2c:

Originally posted by djohnsto77

Originally posted by 12m8keall2c
I, personally, feel the vote up/down options are not as inclusive as necessary. If one were able to vote, with a comment to the member submitting the article, the number of submittals voted up would increase and with more credibility.

Great idea! People should be able to get more feedback from votes. I think this is a sore point in our current voting system, submitters only get generic negative feedback with no nuance, and never get notified of positive votes. This may be a reason that fewer people seem to be submitting ATSNN articles. Fixing this problem could help by providing better guidance to ATSNN contributers and cutting back on the frustration caused by never getting any positive reinforcement.

I'm a little disturbed by the drama in this thread. I am not highly familiar with what exactly has gone on between Shots and Subz, but I think it's bad form to clutter DJ's thread with this stuff. I think it would only be just for someone to delete those posts from this thread.

Anyway, I backed subz during the election, but for the runoff I think DJ's the man. This detracts nothing from Mayet, but here's what I see in DJ:

1. Like me, he sees part of a councilors responsibility as advocating member concerns in staff discussions. This is where I felt I always did the most good on the council staff, so it's obvioulsy something I like to see on a councilors list of priorities.

2. He's experienced. He was on the staff of the first council and he's familiar with what kind of inertia the council will likely have to overcome in their first job: drafting a charter and proceedures. This was a lot tougher than it sounds for the first council; to be honest, things got downright ugly for a while. I think the council needs members like DJ who've seen that and have put plenty of thought into how to overcome it and craft an effective council.

3. He's not only active in ATSNN, but he has ideas and goals for improving it. As has been pointed out in a recent staff U2U regarding headlines, ATSNN exists in a gray area- if it is ever tested as a question of intellectual property, it may or may not survive. Our ATSNN Councilor has to seriously kick butt and take names towards creating a unique role and content for ATSNN, apart from the mainstream sources.


DJ is opinionated in certain matters, and so am I; not always in the same direction. (Seems like I can't consistently agree with either conservatives or liberals) But I believe that he's got what it takes to direct ATSNN in a productive direction and not allow it to be bogged down by partisan biases (which from time to time have posed a real problem for politically charged stories, because of our voting system.)

DJ, before voting for you I asked a question regarding the possibility of seeing you post more opinion based comments along with the news items you select.

After all, everyone has an opinion and you're no different. The idea behind such a question is simple. There are generally 3 positions regarding any item of news: For, against, neutral. By posting an opinion based in fact along with a news item you are sure to generate conversation; good, bad, or indifferent.

In any case, one can generally be assured that a fairly forensic analysis will pursue which will help bring more information to the table than simply cutting and pasting then parroting news and views.

The net result is a more educated readership and higher value for all.

In short, my question is: can we hope to see you post more of your own opinions along with the news items you select?

Kindest regards.

Edited for a PS: Please forgive me asking this question twice, it was hijacked earlier because of a debacle.

[edit on 18-11-2005 by FEMA]

Originally posted by FEMA
In short, my question is: can we hope to see you post more of your own opinions along with the news items you select?

I think I generally post my opinion in the final section of the piece (which is for that purpose). The first section is not meant for personal opinion.

Or do you mean to post more OP/ED articles?

Well, you answered my question partially which brings me to the question you just asked about posting more op-ed articles. Will we see more of them from you?

Kindest regards.

I probably should be writing more OP/EDs...I'll get cracking on them soon, I have a few ideas.

Thank you for your frank and candid answer.

Kindest regards.

Originally posted by FEMA
Kindest regards.

You too, and thanks for your support!

Both candidates here would make a fine councillor. Just the fact that we're having a runoff tell us that they are both excellent choices. But this is only a vote for councilor, it is not a SCOTUS-type appointment in that it is for their lifetime, and chances are we'll be seeing other runoffs in the future. So let's keep it in perspective.

I share some of the same concerns as other members about submissions. The anonymous vote button is too vague to be useful. And another thing: if I had a submission in the pipe right now, where would I go to get a status report on it. Is it gonna live or die? I have no idea how to answer that.

I find it astounding that many - the overwhelming majority - members don't do submissions. Why is that?

Well, some people like to read and reply more than they like to write up a story. Some folks are intimidated by snipers (yep - we have them here) and some people would like to get some credit for a story but don't feel competent enough to do it. Maybe their grammar or sentence structure is not perfect.

I don't see why a novice cannot supply a lead to an expert, who can then decide to take over the story and give the novice a small credit for the lead. A 9 to 1 or 8 to 2 split of the "credit", whatever that may work out to be. With the chatter about "intellectual property", though, I doubt this idea will be given a second look.

More tutoring of new submitters would be nice.

Best of luck to you, DJ. When will we find out who won this round?



[edit on 11-19-2005 by Springer]

Originally posted by The Vagabond
I'm a little disturbed by the drama in this thread. I am not highly familiar with what exactly has gone on between Shots and Subz, but I think it's bad form to clutter DJ's thread with this stuff. I think it would only be just for someone to delete those posts from this thread.

Vagabond: I did just that, deleted every single post that was off topic, the topic being djonsto77's OP/ED NOT anything ELSE!

I am extremely upset over this debacle and one member has lost their posting ability because of this.

KEEP THIS THREAD ON TOPIC or DON'T post.

Dj... many appologies and KUDOS to you for keeping cool and gracious throughout, I doubt I could've.

Springer...

Atsnn has been a hotbed of drama in the past and now it is again BEFORE the elections are even over. (reference the disgusting behavior in Djohnsto77's Run Off OP/ED piece that I had to spend an hour deleting)

Effective immediately the election for ATSNN Councilor is CANCELED and we will select on of our Administrators for overall coordination and operational responsibility of ATSNN.

Simon Gray, Skeptic Overlord and Springer