We are SOOOO BAD!

[spousestonethrow]

warriorpride said:

justme said:

It's just odd that his last post was at 6:22 am on April 18, the day after the election. ED was posting several times a day prior to that. Strange and more than a little disappointing.

There have been plenty of people that have stopped posting on this forum for periods of time. Perhaps ED is out of town, or has other priorities right now? Nobody is obligated to post on a daily basis here. Honestly, there's not much to discuss here right now, either. What's interesting and NOT surpising is that a few people that joined during the push to the election (February), and clearly had candidates that they were supporting, have not even signed in since the election.

The point is where is ED, the administator of this board, not someone who just posts to this site. Sounds like somebody is trying to cover his tracks. Perhaps ED's wings have been clipped.

[bob]

Cover his tracks of what?

[momto4]

momof3 said:

Interesting that the DH continues on their anti-blog tear while the Naperville Sun, Chi Tribune, Chi Sun Times, etc. embrace the blog. Maybe it is a perceived threat to business? Why be on top of a trend when you can just try to make it go away? I guess the DH's next great business venture will be buggy whips or dinosaur harnesses.

ETA - Interesting also that this writer relies solely on heresay for his story...?

I agree. I was halfway tempted to write something to this guy (from my own e-mail that uses my own name, I have nothing to hide!!!) but I decided I'd rather not spend my energy on that.

[Arch]

spousestonethrow said:

warriorpride said:

There have been plenty of people that have stopped posting on this forum for periods of time. Perhaps ED is out of town, or has other priorities right now? Nobody is obligated to post on a daily basis here. Honestly, there's not much to discuss here right now, either. What's interesting and NOT surpising is that a few people that joined during the push to the election (February), and clearly had candidates that they were supporting, have not even signed in since the election.

The point is where is ED, the administator of this board, not someone who just posts to this site. Sounds like somebody is trying to cover his tracks. Perhaps ED's wings have been clipped.

Last time I checked, being administrator of this (or virtually any other board) is not a paid position and one's effort is usually reflective to the free time they have to devote to it.

So, forgive me for asking, but: What the heck are you talking about?

[gatordog]

Lets get back on track to discussing newspaper coverage and commentary.

Some of us have been pretty critical of newspaper coverage, but I want to offer some praise. I think the Beacon News has done a good job recently covering 204 issues in a fairly thorough and balanced way. Its interesting to compare their coverage to the Naperville Sun...They are in the same corporate family of newspapers, and share the same reporter resources, yet the Beacon editors have done a better job in writing headlines, not being front-page sensationalists, getting facts right, etc.

A few years ago, I was getting quite discouraged in the Beacon News coverage of DuPage portion, far east Aurora. Things such as local election coverage, WVHS sports, local happenings, were really deficient in my opinion. However, a new editing team took over and they have really stepped up their coverage on this area. i applaude them for that. I am really glad I stuck with my subscription.

In my opinion, ranking papers in decent coverage of 204, I rank Beacon first, Sun second, and Daily Herald distant third.

The Sun gets points for quantity of coverage, but lots of deductions for quality. I think that almost all of the Sun 204 stories also make their way into the Beacon. But the Sun offers more editiorial and letters to editor on 204, which makes it of interest. (ETA: and also an attraction of the ire of some of us!)

[Arch]

gatordog said:

Lets get back on track to discussing newspaper coverage and commentary.
...
The Sun gets points for quantity of coverage, but lots of deductions for quality. I think that almost all of the Sun 204 stories also make their way into the Beacon. But the Sun offers more editiorial and letters to editor on 204, which makes it of interest. (ETA: and also an attraction of the ire of some of us!)

You're right... sorry.

The Editorials and LTE's of the Sun make it more 'printed entertainment' than 'news' to me.

[momto4]

gatordog said:

A few years ago, I was getting quite discouraged in the Beacon News coverage of DuPage portion, far east Aurora. Things such as local election coverage, WVHS sports, local happenings, were really deficient in my opinion. However, a new editing team took over and they have really stepped up their coverage on this area. i applaude them for that. I am really glad I stuck with my subscription.

It seems like their coverage of stories relevant to 204 is usually delayed from the Sun by a day or two and that makes no sense to me. I was happy to see the story about the sale of land by MVHS show up in both the Beacon and the Sun on the same day.

There are very few LTEs and maybe no editorials related to 204. Due to lack of readership in DuPage Aurora, or what?

I did not think their election coverage was that stellar for our area this time around. They printed an Aurora Election Commission sample ballot, which covered Kane County Aurora, but they never gave us any info as to what to expect on our ballot other than SB and alderman. I don't recall seeing anything in there about the COD election, the DuPage Co. Forest Preserve last time around, etc.

I would like to find ONE newspaper that covers what's going on in my city, county, and school district rather than getting one delivered to my house and reading one or two others online.

I don't think there was anything in the Beacon about the NCLB meeting held this past week. This is a huge issue in Aurora as our city has many schools that are not meeting the requirements of NCLB. Personally I don't think NCLB is the answer and is only causing more problems than solutions.

[proschool]

We should just launch this website into an online newsletter for things pertainant to this area. I think advertises would prefer it to print media because they can link directly to their websites.

[ric]

spousestonethrow said:

justme said:

Where is EagleDad these days?

I am wondering the same thing.

Have you truly not figured it out

Notice how this board responds to that question

he is still around.......just not as an eagle or a male

[bob]

Ric, I hope you didn't drop your diversity concerns. I have been waiting to discuss this further.

[pink]

I am posting this because I know all of you always want to be informed. In my opinnion this explains Eagledad's absence. As far as him still being "Around", if he is posting under another name it is very telling. He must have something to hide but is still curious as to what is going on here AND as he, in the past, has "warned" others about doulble posting he should follow the rules he has tried to enforce . One last point, if CV had sent the same e-mail on election night to anyone, there would be no tolerating it. Why the double standard? Because it was someone from this board it was considered to be in jest? Unbelievable.


Dear Friends:

Once again, misinformation is being circulated which needs to be dispelled. Please know that the email incident recently reported to police was neither considered a joke nor a matter to be taken lightly by me, my husband or other family members. We have little knowledge about its author.



On the eve of Election Day shortly after midnight, I received what appeared to be a threatening email authored by an individual under the guise of a cartoon caricature. In fact, this same person has been heavily involved in spreading libelous information about me and others. I believe the intent and purpose of these actions is to harm the reputation and character of those intended. This same person has been a moderator and administrator of an allegedly “unbiased” political web blog. Additionally, I have been privy to information which confirms that this same individual utilized similar tactics to taunt and intimate other non-incumbent candidates as well as various personal acquaintances of mine. (To those friends this occurred to: My sincere apologizes for this inappropriate behavior!)



Prior to filing the police report, all past and present incidents were reviewed and considered by my personal attorneys. This included various email communications written and forwarded by officials, ex-officials, identifiable and anonymous individuals and web postings. Although I have received hateful and bitter emails over the course of my board tenure—some demanding my silence; others my acquiescence with the majority and yet others my immediate resignation, etc.--this was the first time I ever felt potentially threatened. I note that some of the anonymous posters on the website also authored these harsh communications.



While we are all certainly entitled to our opinion, in my mind it becomes an entirely different matter when negative communications are written to insight hatred, hostility and fear mongering against those intended for the purpose to promote particular political agendas and desired outcomes. One example which comes to mind is a recent pre-election email authored by an ex-school board member chock full of negative spin-doctor with the bottom line basically inferred that I and others have agendas that will “hurt our kids and the district”. As you know, this has never been nor will ever be my intention nor do I know anyone with these intentions in mind!



In light of the nature of events, their undertone, potential safety concerns and the unascertainable intent of the email message, at the advice of legal counsel this incident was reported to the Aurora Police Department. It is presently being considered for further action by the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.



I sincerely appreciate your continued support and friendships. Below is an excellent editorial which appeared in the 5/6/07 Sunday edition of the Daily Herald written by Editor John Zimmerman. It is well worth reading and I certainly appreciate the time and attention the Herald has given these untoward matters. www.dailyherald.com/search/searchstory.asp?id=310008 .





Christine Vickers

5/9/2007


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Arch]

I'm confused by this....

Calling out and giving an opinion about one agenda as potentially hurting kids and the district is bad but calling out another agenda and saying it will hurt the kids and the district (specifically w/ regards to higher taxes, etc) is not bad...

The door swings both ways, I'm afraid.

[gatormom]

I am glad that CV found the editorial by John Zimmerman to be excellent and the attention the Herald gave to this issue appropriate.

I wrote to John Zimmerman this week regarding that editorial and he called me yesterday to follow up. We spoke for quite a while. He told me that no, he had not viewed this site before writing that editorial. It seems his experiences in blogging were with some pretty out of control blog sites.

I have to give him credit. He called me and probably regrets not viewing the site first but in the end, he did cut and paste the parts about this blog from two other reporters. While he felt he was able to justify his stand, I had to disagree with him on several points. That is called a discussion.

[doctorwho]

gatormom said:

I am glad that CV found the editorial by John Zimmerman to be excellent and the attention the Herald gave to this issue appropriate.

I wrote to John Zimmerman this week regarding that editorial and he called me yesterday to follow up. We spoke for quite a while. He told me that no, he had not viewed this site before writing that editorial. It seems his experiences in blogging were with some pretty out of control blog sites.

I have to give him credit. He called me and probably regrets not viewing the site first but in the end, he did cut and paste the parts about this blog from two other reporters. While he felt he was able to justify his stand, I had to disagree with him on several points. That is called a discussion.

While I also agree with the reporters right to write to his commentary, because it is his opinion and we are all entitled to that, however I think the use of it to characterize this particular board is misplaced. The writer it appears did not visit this site - and while I cannot speak for him, his comments appear more towards blogs in general as the info on this board was not first hand.

Now I used to be part of a Yahoo Finance board that covered my company - and I understand what he is saying with some blogs. You would think a finance board about a major corp with be an informative place for investment info etc -- yet the board members talked about basically everything BUT finance. The cussing and swearing was out of control - extreme statements about basically any people / religion / group imaginable -- I left after a while also because it was horrid. The archives are here, that is not what this board is about.

[wvhsparent]

FYI.

ED is not posting under another name. (we have the abilty to remain invisible if we so choose. That goes fr anyone here)
I am sorry CV feels the way she does. She is, as is anyone else, open for their own interpretation of things. One I differ with. She reported what she regarded at a threat, and it is being checked out.
As far as the Zimmerman OpEd being excellent....again a matter of opinion.
I learned that JZ did not properly visit our site BEFORE writing his piece. After he did, he saw this was not such a bad place.