I just received my daily email links to the Lake County News - the largest online news publication focused primarily on my county here in Northern California. An article about Halloween activities caught my attention. Since I recently received those Ryzer to-do-list boards and have them being circulated through two locations throughout the county - a dentist office on the North side and a convenience store on the South side - I thought I would post a comment following that article about it and some other things I am doing. But, why stop with just me? Ryzers around the world should also comment - especially if you are one of the folks on that to-do-list board. So, here's the link - Lake County News. Go for it! Subscribing to the newspaper is absolutely free. It really does not matter that you were not an advertiser on that board. You can still wish folks a Happy and Safe Halloween. But, the fact that you are taking the time to do this and don't even live in the county is significant. It sends a powerful message that YOU CARE! And, that's a message folks in this county need to hear. They need to see there is value in the "Social Media Space." Who better to tell them than a Ryzer? In fact, if you happen to moderate a Ryze network, why not include your network link in your comment to the newspaper article.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
(707)709-8605
Need PR?...Call Lamar!

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 707-709-8605

My friend in Canada, Sherry Simoes just tried to post to that link. (By the way, I have set up a budURL for it. This may be easier for some folks. You can just use - Harvest Party News). Anyway, Sherry is a subcriber and had posted to the newspaper in the past. But now, all of a sudden, she discovers she is blocked by the administrator. Why is this being done? Could it be the administrator discovered she is not a local resident? No, she lives in Canada. Could it be that the administrator of this newspaper does not want outsiders to comment?

Well, here's what I told Sherry to do. And, if others of you are blocked, I offer you the same solution. Just send me your post via private message here on Ryze. I will post your comment on your behalf to this thread. Of course, the administrator may end up deciding to block me. But, if he does, I will write a news story about it and post it to the San Francisco Examiner.

I have freely contributed a lot of articles to this publication over the years. If the newspaper is going to censure feedback from the public that is not a wise move in my opinion and they need to be held accountable for such behavior.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
(707)709-8605
Need PR?...Call Lamar!

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 707-709-8605

Private Reply to Sherry Simoes

@Sherry ..

Were you blocked from logging in to the newspaper or just blocked from commenting?

Bestest.

Teddy Towncrier CPP Towncrier-Media.com Supercharging Your Visions.

Teddy,

Aren't you subscribed to the Lake County News? If not, I encourage you to do so and comment on that article about Halloween events. Wish these Northern Californians a "happy and safe Halloween."

If you, like Sherry, have already subscribed to the paper and can no longer post a comment, I need to know. I am not looking for a fight here with the Lake County News; but, if this paper is engaging in censorship, I need to know. One has to wonder if this newsaper would deny you the right to advertise online too - for no other reason than because you are not an American citizen...or worse, you do not live in Lake County, CA?

I am going to be running an ad with the Lake County Record-Bee. This is a printed competitor to the Lake County. I will be running a quarter-page ad created with the help of Eileen Brown next Thursday. We could run the same ad in the Lake County News (no doubt for more money). Do you think the Lake County News would refuse my money because someone who was NOT LOCAL was somehow involved with the ad's production?

What's going on here? We can only go physically to Wal-Mart to purchase most retail items locally. Most of the stuff Wal-Mart sells comes from China. If Wal-Mart can sell locals Chinese products, why can't anyone post to an online newspaper that is locally created?

Everybody, please go to HarvestParty and try to post a comment. Remember, you have not subscribed to the paper, you need to do so. But, there is no fee to subscribe. Please help me find out what is happening here. No newspaper that is publicly accessible on the Internet should discriminate among those who subscribe. To do so because someone is not a local resident is really ridiculous - especially in light of the explosive popularity of social media!

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
(707)709-8605
Need PR?...Call Lamar!

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 707-709-8605

Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer

Kurt,

Here's the problem. Sherry was initially allowed to subscribe. Then, she was allowed to comment. But now, all of sudden, she cannot. What's changed? Do these filters go into effect after-the-fact? Or, does someone manually decide by looking at comments made? So, for example, someone posts a comment and signs it, "Sherry Simoes of Canada." Then, someone reads it and decides to remove her from the subscription list and ban her from being able to subscribe. How does the system work?

Some of the articles on Lake County News do not even allow for comments. But, some do. To me, that means they actually want feedback. The paper by way of its very operation shows it wants feedback, but then, kicks people off that provide it. Why not just eliminate the feedback altogether? If you want it, does it make sense NOT to allow it from certain people simply because they are not local to the area? Why not simply make the online newspaper a Yahoogroup? Wouldn't that solve the problem?

Can you imagine the Post Office not delivering your Christmas cards simply because you decided to mail them outside the county where you live? I just don't see the logic here. If you see the logic, please enlighten me.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
(707)709-8605
Need PR?...Call Lamar!

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 707-709-8605

Private Reply to Scott Wolpow

Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer

Kurt,

The blog belongs to you. Question - who does a public online newspaper belong to? Answer - the publisher. If the publisher invites the public to comment on newspaper articles and his intent is only to have "the locals" comment, shouldn't he at least make that known? Why allow people to freely subscribe, freely post and then suddenly deny them access with no explanation? Does that not strike you as a little odd?

I will grant you that such action is par for the course around my neighborhood. I got kicked off twice from my local community's website because the webmaster did not like my comments. He did not tell me that either time he kicked me off. The first time I had to call him to find out what the problem was. The second time, I just stopped using the site.

This is a gate-keeper's game. It's power for the sake of power. Doesn't really accomplish anything for anyone beyond the possible stroking of one's ego - which in this particular case is an IT guy who likes playing "gate-keeper." He does not even abide by the rules which he expects everyone else to comply with. It's really quite amazing to watch this all play out. Believe it or not, this guy was told by his boss to join Ryze. I was in the office when the instruction was given. So, guess what? He goes and joins Ryze and quickly "privatizes" his page so no one can contact him about HVLA.com, where he is the webmaster.

In other words, this IT guy goes counter to his boss's own instructions to utilize Ryze to make his employer better-known to the world. The IT guy does not want Ryze to benefit his own employer in any way. That is the local mentality of what I live. Keep outsiders...out! And, that's a very weird attitude to have when you consider the number one industry out here is real estate.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
(707)709-8605
Need PR?...Call Lamar!

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 707-709-8605