(Political comments guidelines": http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/04/sandboxblogs-note-from-nanny-some.html)
"Rules and Regs"
"SandBox Commentators is a regional news summary blog, posting daily and allowing anonymous commentary ability. We also specialize in following patterns of news topics and commentators as they thread their way into the public eye.
Founded on the reader's reality that biased and censored journalism is being practiced by some news media outlets in Colorado, a small group of individuals teamed together and decided to show that reality to interested citizens. By daily posting, in one format, various articles from outlets throughout the region (sometimes national and international) that small idea has become a very popular daily stop for many.
By showing the different standards and ethics practiced out there in side by side format and tracking strong stories and news points, readers of all media benefit.
Very often here on SandBox, between the side by side comparisons and the reader's comments, important facts and truths that people should be made aware of as they trust news media's journalistic integrity come to light. Sobering to think the readers have to be the ones to make that happen. Overall, the experiment of SandBoxBlogs has been a huge success.
Thanks for joining us, here are the Rules and Regs:
"Rules and Regs"
"SandBox Commentators is a regional news summary blog, posting daily and allowing anonymous commentary ability. We also specialize in following patterns of news topics and commentators as they thread their way into the public eye.
Founded on the reader's reality that biased and censored journalism is being practiced by some news media outlets in Colorado, a small group of individuals teamed together and decided to show that reality to interested citizens. By daily posting, in one format, various articles from outlets throughout the region (sometimes national and international) that small idea has become a very popular daily stop for many.
By showing the different standards and ethics practiced out there in side by side format and tracking strong stories and news points, readers of all media benefit.
Very often here on SandBox, between the side by side comparisons and the reader's comments, important facts and truths that people should be made aware of as they trust news media's journalistic integrity come to light. Sobering to think the readers have to be the ones to make that happen. Overall, the experiment of SandBoxBlogs has been a huge success.
Thanks for joining us, here are the Rules and Regs:
We do not require registration nor do we track your specific IP.
We do use analytics for obtaining general information that assists us in bettering our site.
We do not care what you call yourself or how many times you change your handle. We could care less who you are, where you hail from and why you are voicing an opinion online.
We believe in not only free speech, we also believe in the power of a single voice raised.
From mobiles to the dining room table and corporate boardrooms, what used to be a single voice alone now joins the power of social networking. Avatars in commentary have used the power of the blogosphere to bring positive and global change to all levels of human existence.
The folks have something to say and are no longer repressed into believing there is only the way of power demanding front and center presence before them to achieve getting their opinions heard.
At the same time, the watering hole never completely turns anyone away. Everybody gets a chance to gather. Like any social order one can count on Darwinism to keep the peace.
Where news media fails miserably in the world of online commentary is the attempt to control Darwinism.
What happens when you tell someone to not do something, not read and to conform? Why, whatever you are trying to hide becomes the worst kept secret or cause in the world.
Rather than allowing human nature to keep the watering hole in order they resort to moderation, censorship, ban practices or gluttony by forcing payment for online subscriptions while at the same time drawing in paid advertising off traffic.
For media that is in the biz of making money by what they print and how that content is accepted by readers, these types of practices will certainly end up dealing a mortal and fatal blow to success.
What happens when you tell someone to not do something, not read and to conform? Why, whatever you are trying to hide becomes the worst kept secret or cause in the world.
Rather than allowing human nature to keep the watering hole in order they resort to moderation, censorship, ban practices or gluttony by forcing payment for online subscriptions while at the same time drawing in paid advertising off traffic.
For media that is in the biz of making money by what they print and how that content is accepted by readers, these types of practices will certainly end up dealing a mortal and fatal blow to success.
But, “they’re out of control!!” – “Completely unmanageable asset!!” – “What’s next? Fire-bomb the newspaper press??!!” - "Babysitting is what we're having to do!"
And Nanny’s all-time favorite: “If they have something to say, write a letter to the editor so we know who they are!!” (..a command that doesn’t change whether you buy a dead-tree subscription or not..)
Really? So that someone who buys ink by the barrel and refers to fellow human beings with such prejudice and ego arrogance as calling “them” “they” can know where “they” live??
Or maybe reader confidence really does go through the roof when readers are threatened to either conform, be banned or socially ridiculed? By someone who buys ink by the barrel, has social power in the community along with investigative reporters running around too??
Our question is simple: "Why are you trying to manage free speech?"
Or maybe reader confidence really does go through the roof when readers are threatened to either conform, be banned or socially ridiculed? By someone who buys ink by the barrel, has social power in the community along with investigative reporters running around too??
Our question is simple: "Why are you trying to manage free speech?"
Here’s the way it works in SandBox:
You're welcome here. Until you give a reason that you shouldn’t be. You’ll know when you do, because your fellows will make sure you know.
There is a Nanny. She does have the power to ban you if you are an outright bully who just does not get the message from your peers. It takes an awful lot to find yourself under Nanny's personal scrutiny. You must have done something really over the top if you land there. Nanny knows you were raised better than that and she trusts that you know better. SandBox Nanny also fiercely protects her time and her privacy. She would by far prefer to see happy kids playing well together than expend her energy getting in the middle of bullies and victims.
With that said, Nanny does watch over how well everyone is playing in the SandBox. Please follow the few rules we have.
Here is how you can get along well with SandBox Nanny:
Nanny does not like unwarranted personal attacks, though she recognizes that there are some individuals who simply never will get the point unless they are spoken to in a way that they can hear. Nor does she like endless rants that have nothing to say and border on the offensive. She also finds arrogance that is not satire or strong, firm and necessary to topic moderation; especially distasteful.
Please be advised that she also has an inherent zero tolerance quirk that champions an underdog.
Simplistically, play nice when you are here or you are going to find yourself pulled aside for a chat with Nanny.
We’ll talk about you and what might be going on in your world that is at the root of your behavior.
Make a plan for the future and discuss the possibility and need for you to get a life.
Basically amounts to an individual time-out with the end result being a mutual agreement to do better or leaving you free to go elsewhere.
We’ll talk about you and what might be going on in your world that is at the root of your behavior.
Make a plan for the future and discuss the possibility and need for you to get a life.
Basically amounts to an individual time-out with the end result being a mutual agreement to do better or leaving you free to go elsewhere.
Nanny has also been known to call global time-outs on hot and sensitive topics. Put the brakes on comment ability for a piece and suggest everyone go take a little nap, maybe a meditative walk in the woods, have a beer and a shot or a fortifying cup of tea.
Sometimes, Nanny will steer and offer input into a thread. Usually because she has seen something in her daily reads that is relevant to the direction the thread is taking. Her avatar is ‘ab22’. Sometimes ab may just serve as a reminder that ‘by now’ commentators should know the sensitivities of their fellows and not squeeze what should not be squeezed.
You will find a higher level, for the most part, of grown-up dialogue throughout SandBox.
More often than not, that dialogue will show up as mixed in with satire, pointed words and seemingly nonsense bantering. After awhile, you will, just like any other social order, get to know the thought processes and ways of your fellows. Therein, revealing the success of the SandBoxBlogs format. Darwinism at its finest. Here’s to the little guy. Let freedom ring.
More often than not, that dialogue will show up as mixed in with satire, pointed words and seemingly nonsense bantering. After awhile, you will, just like any other social order, get to know the thought processes and ways of your fellows. Therein, revealing the success of the SandBoxBlogs format. Darwinism at its finest. Here’s to the little guy. Let freedom ring.
Worth:
News media has a point that it costs them money to put on an online edition. They also have a point that they own the site.
Where they again fail, is in the logic that they need the additional compensation of online readers being paid subscribers. The fact is they’re already making money off your traffic. They are selling banner advertising that gets viewed every time you go online. Advertisers are buying the visibility ahead of their sales.
If they were only doing what blogs and some other domains are doing in just using affiliate marketing banner ads, then they may find success in asking for paid online subscribers. The double-dip is what online junkies disagree with. Even more so when said media claims they are going for paid online subscribers in order to clean up commentary. There goes that social arrogance and power/control thing again.
Eventually, maybe they will get it figured out that there is great business success to be found online if one doesn’t insist on trying to put a square peg into a round hole. Say thank-you to Microsoft and Google for changing the way the world thinks.
Here on SandBox, we do not sell advertising. We only use affiliate marketing where we are paid a commission on every sale you make with the companies we represent. Affiliate commissions and sales are anonymous. We have no idea who buys or what they buy. We get paid after the fact.
It is an exceptionally competitive world out there in affiliate blog marketing. If every person who faithfully follows SandBox would buy their daily coffee or tea from one of our affiliates, we would be recieving modest pay for the time in.
Please think about that if you like the site and come here often. When you check-in, please remember that this is hard work out here and your purchasing what you need from our affiliates is a great way to say thank-you. If you would like to just make a donation to our time in, then feel free to email Nanny and she will tell you how you can do that. commentator999@gmail.com
It is an exceptionally competitive world out there in affiliate blog marketing. If every person who faithfully follows SandBox would buy their daily coffee or tea from one of our affiliates, we would be recieving modest pay for the time in.
Please think about that if you like the site and come here often. When you check-in, please remember that this is hard work out here and your purchasing what you need from our affiliates is a great way to say thank-you. If you would like to just make a donation to our time in, then feel free to email Nanny and she will tell you how you can do that. commentator999@gmail.com
Our theory is simple. We hold the fully unique content of our avatars in commentary. Please join us and become part of that unique content. We welcome you here. Welcome to the SandBox."
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"Troubleshooting, training your volunteers and consulting over specific media commentary problems"
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"Troubleshooting, training your volunteers and consulting over specific media commentary problems"
"With the onset of commentary in online news media, the face of politics has changed forever. Anyone with a computer and online access can voice their opinion.
Politicians, in this day and age of instant gratification, all make the same mistake when unfavorable comments are published. They sanitize their responses. In the glitz of old politics, that worked. In the age of social networking, the common person, holding that one vote you want so badly to be yours isn't buying.
The answer is to respond to them within their environment. Not ignore them or insult their intelligence with a sanitized version of your platform.
The power of the blogosphere is tremendous. Every small town, every metropolis has numerous communities of online commentators. These are individuals who engage on a 24/7 basis with their fellows. Debates can become heated, views and opinions are strong. Even the shy and reclusive feel confident in raising their voice.
These are the people in the majority. Not the minority. And you need their vote.
Just like any other healthy debate, we suggest engaging. One of the problems facing politicians in this day and age of technology giving everyone access to them is what to do about keeping up.
Many have risen to acknowledging the power of the blogosphere by hiring staff and creating their own blogs. Sometimes when the going gets tough in public opinion even personally jumping in with random comments in local forums.
The rest of the solution lies in developing a relationship with the forums you desire to cultivate. Local and regional supporters make wonderful online commentators. They often know the avatars they are engaging with and respect their individuality.
When done with our coordinated effort, the end result has the potential to turn what used to be your greatest headache into dynamic marketing and proactive individual involvement with the people you are asking to represent.
A Ray of Light Publishing offers freelance consulting and troubleshooting aimed at improving your relationship with online news forums.
Innovative solutions and sound counsel for improving your image to the individual voter."
