Building a Sandbox

About a year ago I discovered on line forums. More to the point I discovered on line forums about Winnipeg. I quickly became addicted. And I spent far too much time pounding the keyboards while participating in many varied discussions about the old home town.

When playing in those forums you "meet" many wildly different people that share in your passion for the topic at hand. Some will agree with you. Others not so much. Some will debate passionately but politely. Others not so much.

It is the not so much peeps that strike a raw nerve in my tolerating coping centre. It is those people that will more likely than not receive an admonition from this writer. More times than naught a polite admonition. Other times less so. Usually the point is made and I move on. Other times it requires more vigorous debate. Good times. Some time.

A couple of months ago the owner and moderators of a particular favourite forum went overboard (in my view) with their moderation of that site. I felt they were going too far and told them so. Long story short they temporarily suspended a particularly popular member of the forum over a rather innocuous comment. I thought the move to be heavy handed and "suspended" myself for the same period. As did other members. These members were the top posters on that site (by volume at least).

When everyone returned from suspension and self-exile the shite hit the fan resulting in many members being banned from the site. And other members banning themselves. I was one of the self-banned members.

That was the genesis of the sandbox. Jonsing over the absence of my most pernicious time consumer I created a new forum for the banned and self-exiled members. Not having any experience in building or running such places I started by creating a Goggle Groups forum. It served its purpose but was slow and clumsy and unattractive. Which led to discussions within the small but growing membership of finding something else.

One member found a free forums site that provided just the vehicle we were looking for. I tried to create our new site with that tool but was quickly frustrated. That led me to a search for similar sites. That is when I found Forumotion.com. And the rest is history.

In very short order "The Winnipeg Sandbox" was created. Let me remind you I had zero experience in such matters. But the tool was easy to use, somewhat intuitive and attractive. Other than the constant niggling a perfectionist brings to the table the sandbox has performed exceedingly well. Our membership after a month has reached almost 50 members, and growing. We are averaging 200 posts a day and have generally outperformed our competition.

And there is little to fear about the moderators and administraters becoming more than the members and their posts. We are mostly self-moderated. The members will tell those that choose to behave innapropriately how they feel. That alone is usually enough. Oh, only after creating the Winnipeg Sandbox was I banned from the other place. The reason? Advertising another forum.

If you are a fan of Winnipeg and wish to become involved in the many varied discussions about Winnipeg why not drop by. We'd love to have ya and you might well find it worthwhile. Tell them a grumpy old man sent ya.

The Winnipeg Sandbox. One month old. Drop by and wish us a happy birthday.

Addictive Web Space and The Evil Thread Monster

Let's just start off this little ditty by acknowledging I am not even close to perfect. I can be condescending and close-minded. Long winded and opinionated. Biased and temperamental. But mostly I believe I am fair-minded, respectful and tolerant.

I participate in and contribute to a web space that is mostly about Winnipeg by Winnipeggers. There are the typical trolls, funny enough most actually are ex-Winnipeggers who maybe cannot let go but take every opportunity to tell us how great their new found home is and how terrible our home is. But mostly there are an awful lot of typical Winnipeggers that care very deeply about Winnipeg in all its beauty and all its warts.

There are a vast range of philosophies, left, right and centre. Some hard-liners. A few bleeding hearts. Surprisingly enough I don't always agree with everyone all the time. Heh heh. But often enough where I frequently become engaged in animated dialog. It really is an addictive pastime.

Almost all found-ins at this site contribute meaningfully. Some have an incredible knowledge of the history of Winnipeg. There are a few terrific photographers who contribute some amazing pictures showing the best and the worst of Winnipeg. One photographer has such a great portfolio I plan on purchasing some prints for display in my home. Another poster regularly features the history of Winnipeg through his vast archive of historical images and bite-sized historic dates.

A few have special social tendencies that have led to a group of like-minded peeps adopting a north-end Winnipeg community centre.

There are a few eccentric souls and comedians that frequent that space. One might argue I fall into both categories. It makes for a lively space at times.

And then there are the evil thread monsters. One that believes it is his divine right to ensure all claims are supported by facts (reference please). And to ensure the threads stay right on tack - not straying off topic. One who probably tells us too much about his personal situation. One who's agenda is never far from the surface no matter the topic. But mostly the immature, make it personal type that hates challenges to his threads and takes shots instead of making intelligent debate.

It takes all types to make this space what it has become. Mostly though the good far outweighs the bad at this space. So much so that I've mostly ignored my own blog space. What's the difference today you ask, that I've found time to write this new post?

My favourite site is down of course.

Edit. It turns out that the web site was not down. Rather it has blocked my IP address. And at least one other regular there has been blocked. The anonymous poster in my comments area might be a third blocked IP. Note that we have not been banned from the site.

There is one common factor: at least two of us have had unpleasant conflicts with another regular there. That regular owns the web company that hosts that site. Hmmmm.

Who Says What's Right?

I've been reading, and contributing to, some interesting blog discussions lately. I'm amazed at the narrow-mindedness of some people.

In Lindor Reynolds Winnipeg Free Press blog "Talk of the Town" Reynolds wrote about the death of Gage Guimond in Another Dead Child. What gob smacked me were the many who blamed CFS but absolved the birth parents of responsibility. Even more perplexing was Reynolds dismissal of those whose position was contrary to hers.

In another Winnipeg Free Press blog, Mike on Crime, Mike McIntyre opined a piece on Winnipegger Kevin Hiebert and his struggles in a Greek prison. Mr. Hiebert has many friends and supporters who are intent on getting him out of Greece and home to a nice comfy Canadian prison. Their arguments include his was an innocent mistake and if he committed his crime in Canada he'd be out by now.

Most ignore the fact that this man's innocent mistake was to smuggle two KILOGRAMS of cocaine into Greece. For the imperially challenged that is 4.4092 pounds. 70.548 ounces. Any way you measure it, it is an incredible amount of drugs.

And to top it off the Greek government had the unmitigated gall to try the man in Greek. What has the world come to? Does this man not have Canadian rights? Oops, oh yeah. Pulled his little stunt in Greece don't cha know... C'est la vie.

Much like Reynolds above, Hieberts supporters dismiss contrary opinion out of hand. What strikes me is the level of righteous indignation they display towards those that don't agree with them.

We all have an opinion, some stronger than others. I've asked the same question twice now: who gets to decide who is right?

It is time we all took responsibility for our own actions.

-jwh

Blogging Winnipeg

This sport called blogging is quite an interesting pastime. I look for Winnipeg-related posts in other blogs to see what is being said and spread around the cyber-world. It's interesting to say the least.

Several of the more interesting dynamics include rambling, going off topic, flawed logic, personal attacks, thin-skinned sensitive over-reaction and, frankly, extreme stupidity.

On the other hand there are those that can partake in this activity who provide solid reasoned commentary, who understand subtle nuances and innuendo. Who don't take valid rebuttal as a personal attack.

It pleases me that there are many Winnipeggers who are just as passionate about this city as I am. It is also interesting to hear from folks foreign to Winnipeg and their views, pro or con, on the daily happenings in my fair city.

In my search for "the rules of blogging" I found no hard and fast rules. Apropos to be sure. Rules don't really apply in blogging. There's an exception to everything and everything else is excepted. Having said that, and with zero credit to anyone, enjoy.

You're going to piss somebody off sometime. Different strokes for different folks. Others are going to get upset over the content of your posts and comments. So what? C'est la vie.

Don't get worried if somebody gets angry at you. It's not the end of the world and it's not the end of your blog. As long as you're writing and visiting/commenting/tracking honestly the vast majority of people out there are perfectly happy with you. Don't concern yourself about the ones with gentle sensibilities who can't overlook a mistake or simple lack of experience.

Keep on point. Nothing irritates more than a poster comparing apples to oranges when making a point on a topic. If'n you can't sustain your argument while staying on topic, move on.

Many bloggists and posters have little info-nuggets bouncing around in their noggins. Many post these nuggets as facts. I'm guilty of that little trap. When challenged just acknowledge the error of your ways and move on. To avoid that embarrassing problem, do a little research.

Remember. You can agree with me or you can be wrong.

cheers

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Winnipeg, Winnipeg, How I Love Thee Winnipeg

I have only recently begun to participate in this thing called "blogging". It's interesting and addictive.

Whilst I read other blogs I have discovered there are those that have something negative to say about Winnipeg and tend to say it. Incredibly, it's all too often fellow Winnipeggers that niggle at this fine burgh. Or those that have moved away, to discover utopia.

One of my passions is my home town. I'm not sure why. I do know there are many, many other Winnipeggers that share my passion. I also know there are a few that have little use for my city.

During that voyage of discovery I've found myself defending Winnipeg often. I even wrote a letter to the editor of a Winnipeg paper complaining about the propensity of negative stories featuring Winnipeg. Got published!

Remember, this is a blog about Winnipeg. My intent was to post stories that were meaningful to me about... Winnipeg. Since no city is perfect, including Winnipeg, I expect to write posts that are both pro and con.

I'd like some help. But I'll start. What I love about Winnipeg.

• Really nice warm people.
• Great small-BIG city; big enough to have all the amenities; small enough it takes no time to get "there".
• Salisbury House and Gondola Pizza. You just have to grow up with them to know what I mean.
• Great people. Mostly.
• Smog free.
• No traffic jams. Well, only a few. Not worth mentioning really.
• The Winnipeg Jets. This is the most popular non-existent sports franchises known to man.
• The Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Canada's team. Note to world: they will win the 2007 Grey Cup.
• Best Spring-Summer-Fall in the whole world. The winter is "challenging".
• Great arts community. I'm not big on Ballet, Symphonies, Choral stuff. But others are. And we gots some of the very best.
• A gud edumacation sistem. Real afordabble-like too.
• Excellent people. Real easy to meet. Unpretentious.
• Very affordable real estate. It has taken off a bit in the last 3 or 4 years, but still a good bargain can be found.
• Excellent neighborhoods.
• Oh, I should add that the people of Winnipeg are terrific.
  

There's ton's more. I'm hoping to add to this from readers of Winnipeg Dash Blog. If any.

cheers