October 27, 2009

Negative comments

Behind the scenes we're hearing from a lot of people who are "down" about the negative comments on RacinePost in the past week. Here's a few thoughts in response:

1. Negative commenters are more vocal than positive commenters. Not sure why that is, it just is.

2. Most negative comments center around money, which isn't a surprise because we're all having a tough time financially these days. Money is tight and people are frustrated to hear about tax increases and government spending. Their comments reflect this frustration.

3. We need new perspectives in the comments. Humor seems like the best tonic. If you're willing, jump in.

4. If you're frustrated by the comments, just stop reading them. They're only words!

5. That said, we're grateful to all our readers and their comments. It's a rough time out there and a lot of people are feeling stressed, worried and, well, negative. The only thing I know that helps in that situation is connection and kindness. People feel like they're not being heard ... and they're not! This is one little place where they can shout out loud and at least a few people listen. That's not negative ... it's the start of community.

6. We started a new feature on RacinePost called "Common Sense," which highlights thoughtful, funny and well-written comments. Write a strong comment and maybe we'll pick your words to highlight.

9 comments:

  1. Yes being able to vent is IMHO nice. If we walk outside and sceam we are looked at funny when we vent here it helps.

    Thanks

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  2. If I can I know many who have offered to help the city by volunteering and do not even get a return phone call. Others who have talked to The Mayor at public events and are told to come see him and those meetings never happen. Would that not upset you too?
    I say there is a lot we can do to fix this city and one does not have to have a City say so to do it.
    Work with your local Church PTA group next door neighbor

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  3. Yeah, that's frustrating. Contact your City Council member if you offer to help and don't get a response.

    I agree: There's lots we can do that has nothing to do with City Hall. Even something as simple as raking a neighbor's leaves or shoveling a neighbor's sidewalk can have a big impact.

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  4. Then it will be better to just drop this blog.

    Allen

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  5. That's not negative ... it's the start of community.

    How does that jibe with 'Positively Racine'?

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  6. Just want to add that some of the negatives happen when people feel their political views are being attacked.

    If we could all relax a little that would help. Launching insults doesn't help. That just makes me as an independent think that side doesn't have any merits to debate strongly.

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  7. We are not Positively Racine. That is not our slogan. That is Milwaukee's slogan.

    If your stuck on positive here are some words from the thesaurus on line.

    affirmative, constructive, effective, efficacious, forward-looking, good, practical, productive, progressive, reasonable, sound, useful

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  8. I think this is a terrifically helpful blog. I frequently find the comments alienating, however.

    The Racine newspaper seems to have addressed this issue by putting the comments on a different page, so that if you want to read the comments, you can just click on a link. Thus you can read the article without necessarily seeing the lovely, thoughtful, and illuminating commentary.

    Could you guys do that, too, please?

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  9. Can't we all just get along? Sorry, I couldn't resist....

    Negative is acceptable, personal attacks are not and do nothing but discredit the attacker. Fail as I will, I do my best to attack ideologies and not people.

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