[Vision2020] AP Story Question of Moscow Web forum's success up fordebate

[Tom Hansen]

Thanks for the posting, Dick.

 

That reminds me . . .

 

Autographed copies of the "Tom and Keely" photo, the very photo seen on the
Lewiston Tribune website (as advertised on Comb-Over Courtney's blog) will
go on sale soon in a parking lot near you.  

 

Heck . . . for a few bucks, I'll bring a soap box, a karaoke machine, and we
can all do the Macarena to Doug Wilson singing "Can't Get Enough of that
Funky Stuff", because . . .

 

"That's the way I like it."

http://www.tomandrodna.com/Sounds/TTWILI.mp3

 

Seya there, Moscow, and don't forget to bring the seat cushions this time.

 

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

 

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in
sideways, chocolate in one hand, a drink in the other, body thoroughly used
up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO. What a ride!'"

 

  _____  

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Dick Schmidt
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 5:54 AM
To: Vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] AP Story Question of Moscow Web forum's success up
fordebate

 

I noticed several mentioning something about this article a couple days ago.
I had copied it and emailed it to my wife at work. Here it is in case some
of you didn't see it.

 

Dick Schmidt

 

 

Question of Moscow Web forum's success up for debate

Associated Press
February 21, 2006

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) - Anything is open to debate in this northern Idaho town
on an Internet e-mail list called Moscow <http://vision2020.moscow.com/>
Vision 2020 - including the existence of Vision 2020 itself.

"I believe that the most beneficial attribute of Moscow Vision 2020 is its
openness," Tom Hansen, one of the more prolific contributors, wrote in an
e-mail to the Lewiston Tribune. "It is like a community social club with the
proverbial soap box and an open mic 24/7."

On the other end of the spectrum is Doug Wilson, pastor of Moscow's Christ
Church, who is sometimes a target of e-mail posts on Vision 2020.

"I think it's an embarrassment to the community," he said.

Vision 2020 began in 1993, according to its Web site, "to encourage more
public information and debate about the future of Moscow and Latah County."

"For a while it had a great public service aspect," said Kenton Bird,
director of the University of Idaho School of Journalism and Mass Media, who
helped start the program. "For example, my cat got lost."

But it has turned into something else, according to some in the community.

"Of course, to a great degree, it's a great failure because of the pettiness
and name-calling," said Bill London, a local writer and one of the founders
of Vision 2020. "I think it really exists on its own. It's like an amoebae
scrounging around out there."

It is an unmoderated site, meaning posts that might be offensive to some are
sent, and unsubstantiated information is also put out. Topics have included
the war in Iraq, Wal-Mart super centers, local politics and religion.

What kind of influence Vision 2020 has is hard to determine. About 500
people sign up to receive e-mail postings, but only about 10 percent of
those are active contributors.

"The heart and soul of this thing is only a dozen, maybe up to 50, who keep
it going," said Bill Moore, director of technology for First Step Internet,
which sponsors Vision 2020. "It really gets to be a free-for-all. We refuse
to enforce any rules."

Moore calls the company's sponsorship of Vision 2020 a "scary," money-losing
proposition rooted in public service.

The rest of the people who sign up for Vision 2020 - called "Venom 2020" by
some - who read the e-mails but don't participate are called lurkers. How
many subscribers also lurk is another difficult number to nail down.

"I haven't looked at Vision 2020 probably since the fall of 2004, the
presidential election," Bird says. "It wasn't so much the tone of the
discourse as much as the shear volume that drove me off."

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20060224/09f1bbca/attachment-0001.htm