So Many Comments

The Mother Lode never ceases to amaze me in its diversity from the valley to the mountains here in the foothills we are a blend of conservatives and liberals with a lot to say!

As you know we have opened our arms to comments but unlike most news outlets we gently enforce our rules with pre-moderation. Our comment sections are free of spam and profanity and direct personal attacks. While we can not please everyone all the time, we manage as much civil debate about current topics as we can.

Wow has myMotherLode been buzzing this month! Here are some of the highlights and notes on the most popular conversations this month:

• Obama: We Should Increase Oil Production 71 comments, gas prices matter greatly to the local economy.
• Reaction To Bin Laden’s Death 69 comments, a tribute to vets and our frustrations as a country to support our National Policies
• The merits and evils of WalMart, “Walmart Tops Fortune 500” Including 44 comments on a theft at WalMart. Some comments could not be approved because they were too personal and details need to be brought forward in court before they are made public.
• Then there are 41 comments questioning an Environmental Impact Report for Cooperstown Quarry.
• And what should be done about a new street drug, in “Street Drug Causes Hospitalizations“
• 47 comments on “Reaction To Prison Ruling” (Supreme Court’s ruling that the state is providing inadequate medical care for inmates and must release or transfer about 33,000 inmates)
• 31 on the “Update On ATM Fraud Reports” myMotherLode can’t ensure the accuracy of comments, people posted theories. myMotherLode is not the place to post public accusations toward local businesses, but people were concerned and wanted to share their experience to help put an end to the fraud.
• To the most recent “Camping Restricted at Cherry Lake” with 10 very heated comments.
• Most notably there are the three dispensaries being shut down and investigated. It is the first news story to break 100 comments “Clinics Pot Raid Update“

The first marijuana news story got 33 comments before the first update story. Two comments violated the comment rules either being off topic or personally attacking another commenter and using bad language. The comments on the 2nd pot story had me moderating all afternoon! The heat and aggravation from the first news story continued due to many unknowns about the arrests.

The energy behind the issue felt as if it could manifest in a rally, meet up or protest. We knew that the bickering would increase and the final round of moderation was going to leave a lot of people unable to have their say until the morning.

Clearly the community wants to speak out and the place for a much more free exchange of opinions and ideas is in our forums. Our forums have been around for over 15 years as the place to speak out and really debate. Forums are better suited for interaction and discussion and offer more features including being able to talk directly to another person by private message.

We do want everyone to feel that they can speak out and voice their opinion. The Pot Raid Update comment section was closed to direct the conversation to a better platform in our forum where the thread and post Marijuana- Pot Clinics Raided was created at about 5pm. I approved a few on the New “Sonora Pot Raid Update” before I left and then had 30 that I approved first thing in the morning with not much bickering.

Yes there has been quite a bit of frustration as people from very different backgrounds justify their opinions and speak out against other ideas. Yes comments have been deleted or modified because they were rude or nasty. Despite your anonymity when commenting or posting in our forums if you wouldn’t say it in front of your Mother, Grandmother, Pastor etc. don’t post it publicly!

Comments are not posted because anyone here favors or agrees with what is said, everyone has an opinion and we let you say it. A well worded opinion or rebuttal is priceless and I have had countless laughs and learned quit a lot moderating.