Arrogance,Waukegan and the Internet

[sailor72]

Easy there Danno, just meant in terms of finding a new mayor as the waukegancrew.org site seems to be geard for. That's all.

[Immigrant Daughter]

I participated on ORG and now, WT - I'm not putting down these boards. I've learned more about Waukegan than I ever could have because of these forums. Thanks again to all the folks that make it possible. And thanks to the COSLA folks, esp KA, who work tirelessly towards improving Dist. 60. I'm indebted to you as a parent of public school children.

As far as CREW, I will make my own determination about this group as it moves forward. Like Sailor, I'm intrigued by the purpose of their forum...which at this point appears to be identifying a viable candidate for our next Mayor. If this is a ploy and they already back one of the existing candidates - well, I'll form my opinion accordingly.

btw...the moderators/administrators do identify themselves by name within the CREW forum, they are not anonymous

[JeffK]

Kellyanne walks the walk...a good citizen.

[kirsty]

Actually, before you slate WaukeganCrew, I would love you all to take a look. Furthermore, if the word 'arrogance' is to be banded around, then feel free to use it towards me, preferably face-to-face rather than in an internet forum. I am the one who wrote the copy; I stand behind my words; I believe that Kelly Ann and Jeff K knew that I was involved in this. I do not hide behind a screen name, and I never will. I was as open on the Town site as I will be in this site, and the Waukegan Crew site. All I want to do is to do my part in making Waukegan better. Being informed is part of that process.

The purpose of crew therefore, is as it states: to act rather than to talk. Just to be clear, WaukeganCrew is not a cover for Chris Wakefield or any other candidate. From my point of view, I am unable to vote as I am not a citizen. This also means I cannot collect signatures on ballots, for Chris, Sam, Mayor Hyde, or any other. Moreover, Chris, like all the other candidates, have their own forums for that purpose. Nevertheless, I invited a few Waukegan-ites over to my house a couple of weeks ago to meet Chris Wakefield and to hear what he had to say. This was done with a view of inviting all of the candidates, one by one. Since my house is not big enough for a larger group, and my children need to get to bed without hearing 'adults' shouting at the candidates, we decided to invite the other candidates to a public venue so that all interested citizens have an opportunity to hear their platform. Once all the candidates have had a chance to speak, WaukeganCrew will get behind one of the candidates. That's it.

I appreciate all of the work that the people at Town have done, particularly with regards to the School Board. I also appreciate this forum; in fact, any forums that facilitate open discussion on matters pertaining to Waukegan are a good thing. But just to get the facts straight, WaukeganCrew is not a faceless, arrogant, elitist site. Anyone is free to join. Just as I was asked to register for this site, and Town, the same is true of WaukeganCrew. Any subject is up for discussion - the only difference is that we want to keep the topics focussed on Waukegan, and not matters such as Sarah Palin's childrearing abilities, or savings at food markets. Those topics are better discussed in other forums. But within the topics of Waukegan, anything is up for grabs. If you hate all of the candidates for example, then you can use our forum to discuss it, no holes barred.

I hope that you will join us in our efforts.

Kirsty Booden

[Blackdiamond]

You're not a Citizen? Where are you from, and do you plan on becoming a Citizen? (Just curious) I'm talking about an American Citizen.

[kirsty]

I am from England. I am currently a legal, permanent resident and I pay taxes. Yes, I plan on becoming a citizen in the near future!

[JeffK]

Kirsty does more for our community than the majority of "citizens" in Waukegan. She understands the basic tenets of our country including citizen involvement in our political structures and changing the community for the common good. I, for one, would very much welcome Kirsty as a citizen to our country and its democratic traditions. Also, Kirsty and her husband are professional, well-informed, kind folks--the kind of demographic that we need more of in Waukegan.

[kirsty]

Jeff,

Thank you, and the same generous comments are true of you! I know you are very dedicated with regards to trying to change Waukegan for the better. I've said this before but I truly believe that you should run for office in some capacity: Waukegan needs the likes of you to push it forward in a positive direction. I hope you take up the challenge, preferably sooner rather than later, please!

[kellyann1293]

Actually, before you slate WaukeganCrew, I would love you all to take a look. Furthermore, if the word 'arrogance' is to be banded around, then feel free to use it towards me, preferably face-to-face rather than in an internet forum. I am the one who wrote the copy; I stand behind my words; I believe that Kelly Ann and Jeff K knew that I was involved in this. I do not hide behind a screen name, and I never will. I was as open on the Town site as I will be in this site, and the Waukegan Crew site. All I want to do is to do my part in making Waukegan better. Being informed is part of that process.

The purpose of crew therefore, is as it states: to act rather than to talk. Just to be clear, WaukeganCrew is not a cover for Chris Wakefield or any other candidate. From my point of view, I am unable to vote as I am not a citizen. This also means I cannot collect signatures on ballots, for Chris, Sam, Mayor Hyde, or any other. Moreover, Chris, like all the other candidates, have their own forums for that purpose. Nevertheless, I invited a few Waukegan-ites over to my house a couple of weeks ago to meet Chris Wakefield and to hear what he had to say. This was done with a view of inviting all of the candidates, one by one. Since my house is not big enough for a larger group, and my children need to get to bed without hearing 'adults' shouting at the candidates, we decided to invite the other candidates to a public venue so that all interested citizens have an opportunity to hear their platform. Once all the candidates have had a chance to speak, WaukeganCrew will get behind one of the candidates. That's it.

I appreciate all of the work that the people at Town have done, particularly with regards to the School Board. I also appreciate this forum; in fact, any forums that facilitate open discussion on matters pertaining to Waukegan are a good thing. But just to get the facts straight, WaukeganCrew is not a faceless, arrogant, elitist site. Anyone is free to join. Just as I was asked to register for this site, and Town, the same is true of WaukeganCrew. Any subject is up for discussion - the only difference is that we want to keep the topics focussed on Waukegan, and not matters such as Sarah Palin's childrearing abilities, or savings at food markets. Those topics are better discussed in other forums. But within the topics of Waukegan, anything is up for grabs. If you hate all of the candidates for example, then you can use our forum to discuss it, no holes barred.

I hope that you will join us in our efforts.

Kirsty Booden

When I first read the post about the new crew forum, I did take a look. I did not see any information as to who was behind it and I am not a big fan of giving my name, phone number and gawd knows what other information to an unknown entity. There have been many groups (some not-so-nice) talking about starting a forum to fill the void left by the demise of the beloved TOWN forums, and I did not know which of those groups was behind crew. Mr. Weate told us about himself and why he has started this forum, so I decided to give this one a try.

I have had my share of whackjob forum posters harassing me out in the real world - some even went so far as to track down and harass friends of mine - so I don't really care to post under my full given name. Those who need to know who kellyann1293 is know how to get in touch with me if they need to, but I don't want to hang a neon sign on my head or have my phone number in someone's database just begging to be hacked. And I also appreciate the more anonymous posters who quite often give damn good information but cannot disclose their names, due to a variety of factors. Time after time a story broke on the TOWN forums days or weeks before it hit the News Sun, Daily Herald or the Trib.

Personally I don't much care for forums where discussion topics are limited; national politics certainly affects us here in town; the goings on in Zion, North Chicago, Gurnee and other nearby towns affect us as well. Many folks on modest incomes seek information on where the best deals can be found, and there were many deals made in the "buy and sell" section. Community events (Waukegan Orchestra, park district events, reunions, etc) were often announced and promoted on the TOWN forums. New establishments in Waukegan and neighboring communities were discussed and reviewed - it was a source of free advertising (within limits!) to local residents for new businesses. Sure, discussions got out-of-hand, but to me personally I would rather take that chance. I know it's not for everyone. The TOWN forum was a great community, even with all the BS (and no, I don't mean you, BandStudent!!! ). Many posters have met and some great real-life friendships were born on those raucous forums, and many eyes were opened to what's really going on around town.

I will be forever indebted to TOWN, its webmaster and the arbiters for giving us that outlet for as long as they did.

Best of luck to the crew group! Forums are definitely not one-size-fits-all, so I say the more the merrier! And once again, a big thank-you to Mr. Weate for providing this forum. It looks like many of the regulars from TOWN have made their way here - even The Muse has joined, to continue updating us with news of concert events.

[kirsty]

Kelly Ann, your views are very valid. This site and the CREW site serve very different purposes. Our sole purpose is to find the right leadership for Waukegan, and we are very clear on that. Of course, what goes on in Zion, North Chicago and so on is important to the people of Waukegan. And this site, Wauktalk, admirably serves as a forum for discussion on such topics, as well as many others. The reason for limiting discussion on the CREW site is not to stifle free speech, rather, to focus discussion in a productive way because we are on a time crunch. Moreover, just as users have to contact the administrator on this site to suggest a new topic, the same is true on CREW, and the old Town site. In that respect the three sites are no different.

With regards to anonymity...of course, I know how to get hold of you! No one is going to stick a "we support CREW" sign in anyone's front garden. What we are trying to do is ensure that only serious users sign up to join. On Town and other sites, the ability for users to have multiple alias' has ensured that the most abusive of members rejoin within a minute of being ejected by an administrator. Already I have seen examples, on this site, of users having multiple alias' in order to bully other users. We want to avoid this on the CREW site. We do not have time to mess about with users who use these sites as a substitute for a psychiatrists couch - the election, after all, is just three months away. I hope this clarifies things and I do hope you will sign up and join us kellyann!

I