HELP WANTED
Posted by auroracitizen on December 16, 2009
In keeping with our desire to include broad community input and provide a platform for debate, we have extended an open invitation to the community to become contributors.
Richard Johnson is the first person to accept this invitation. You can read his first post today. We are excited that Richard has volunteered his time to share his experiences about activities that matter to us as a community.
Of course you already know Elizabeth Bishenden. Elizabeth has been doing an exceptional job of moderating comments for a number of months as well as writing a number of posts. Her contribution has been invaluable and we are delighted to have her on board.
If you are a budding writer, or are you concerned about the apathy in our community to our political process, or would you like to see more people informed and interested in what is happening right here in our community, this is your chance to make a difference and share your voice.
If you are interested in contributing articles, we want to hear from you. We are looking for people interested in writing a regular post to keep everyone up to date on Council activities and other community events. This would be a great opportunity for a student — possibly studying journalism or political science.
We are also looking for someone who has the ability to help with uploading video to YouTube. Possibly a student with an interest in video.
If you are interested in either area, please send us an email.
Aurora Citizen 
someone who loves this town more than politics said
Commish,
I cannot see an incongruity or inconsistency in what I have posted or what I am asking.
Someone some months back prided themselves with revealing my identity, which I wasn’t keeping a secret, but whatever. I still post using a pseudonym, again I’m not trying to hide my identity.
The difference is that the Moderator is. I do not know the Moderator’s identity, nor has it been revealed.
Perhaps as you suggest I must have missed the disclosure of the moderator’s identity. If so please crawl out of the bat cave and tell us, because after several requests I am unable to get an answer.
I’m glad you appreciate my blog posts, so do several others.
If you’d provide me with a photo I’d be glad to photoshop it onto an image from Google of your choosing as my Christmas gift to you.
Anonymous said
The moderator is Elizabeth Bisheden and has been for a number of months. It says so in the initial post. She has taken over this important role and from what we see she has been doing a fantastic job. How long do you have to do a job before you get to lose the “guest” tag.
Keep up the great work Elizabeth. Thank you for making the time.
Elizabeth Bishenden said
Just to clarify various roles.
There is a moderator at the AC right now. That person has left the job of reviewing and approving comments to me since I started as the guest moderator in October. That person could review and approve comments but has not done so for quite awhile.
The moderator (posting under the name auroracitizen) and I (posting under the name elizabethbishenden)can both make posts. We often confer about the posts, and I have been known to edit auroracitizen’s posts for grammar, clarity, and spelling. Similarly, my posts have been edited to make them work better with the WordPress technology.
someone who loves this town more than politics said
phone call for commissioner Gordon:
I like my pseudonym, so I’ll chose to keep it.
As you pointed out that everyone knows my identity but no one knows the moderators so how exactly can you claim this is calling the kettle black.
As for Mr. moderator, I understand why you choose to remain anonymous but wanted to point out the obvious obstacle this presents to this blog’s credibility. You are doing the blog no favors by hiding.
Perhaps if you extend an invitation from a real person, maybe even a guest moderator?, and not an anonymous source you’d get a warmer response. Until then I stand by my policy not to take phone calls from anonymous parties.
Your loss.
Thanks will be Given come October said
“Perhaps if you extend an invitation from a real person, maybe even a guest moderator?, and not an anonymous source you’d get a warmer response.”
“the original moderator has not touched a single comment since Elizabeth started. I am sure she will confirm this if you see her in town. So any accusations that we are twisting comments is false.”
Hey Someone, what part of Elizabeth Bishenden now guest moderating this blog don’t you understand?
someone who loves this town more than politics said
Hey Thanks,
I guess the part that read
“Moderator”
not “Guest Moderator and not “Elisabeth Bishenden
Commissioner Gordon said
Wake-up call for Christopher Watts:
“I like my pseudonym, so I’ll chose to keep it.”
Perhaps the moderator likes their’s – they shouldn’t expect the same courtesy?
“everyone knows my identity but no one knows the moderators (sic)”
Well, you must have missed the disclosure of the moderator’s identity. The discussion over that revelation took place a few months ago, but quickly and surprisingly passed. (Perhaps you were busy with your hobby of glomming Phyllis Morris’ head into all manner of retrieved Google Images via Photoshop)
Even with that said, can you not see the incongruity and inconsistency of belligerently calling someone out for using a pseudonym when you’re quite happy to post using one?!
So “Pot. Kettle. Black.” still applies.
someone who loves this town more than politics said
Guest moderators are a fantastic idea and because they fully disclose their identity it helps validate the moderation.
Perhaps if the Moderator of this blog came out and said who he/she is then more people would be interested in getting involved.
I received an email from the Moderator this week that read:
“I’d like to arrange a telephone chat if you are interested. Let me know.”
—
Moderator
Aurora Citizen
Now I ask you, who in their right mind decides to arrange a phone call with Mr. X?
If you’re truly interested in having a discussion the least you could do is disclose your identity.
So what say you Moderator, are you ready to drop the plastic dime store Batman mask and instill credibility to this blog?
Will we be treated to Transparency & Accountability for all or are we to wallow in smoke and mirrors?
Commissioner Gordon said
So why haven’t you dropped the ‘Someone Who Loves This Town More Than Politics’ handle and posted as Christopher Watts?! Your true identity has been known for months, yet you’ve continued to use a pseudonym.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
auroracitizen said
The reason for not revealing our identities is very simple. The objective of this blog is to encourage participation and shine a light on the activities of Council — not drive a specific political agenda. Hence the desire to encourage as broad a contributor and reader base as possible.
As soon as a single individual or group is associated with the blog, it potentially turns the discussion from issues to personalities — which is exactly what this Council wants. They want to remove the focus from their actions and attack personally those who disagree. Just look around and you can see this. That’s why so many people (and staff) are afraid to post under their real names.
So we decided to set up the blog and then turn it over to the citizens of Aurora to moderate, contribute and comment and try to remove the personalities from the discussion.
We are excited to see this starting to happen with Elizabeth moderating and Richard committing to a recurring column.
For what it’s worth, the original moderator has not touched a single comment since Elizabeth started. I am sure she will confirm this if you see her in town. So any accusations that we are twisting comments is false.
Secondly, as more people offer to help, we will also stop writing articles.
That’s why we reached out to you to see if you were interested in contributing posts rather than just comments. We don’t know you (and you indicate you don’t know us) or your political leanings, but you seem interested in what is happening in your town. Therefore, you are exactly the type of person we want to take some ownership of the content.
Either way, we are glad for your participation.
By the way, if you had simply answered the phone you would know who was calling.
Have a healthy, happy holiday season and great new year.
Elizabeth Bishenden said
I want to echo the invitation. I’ve had a few people say that they’re surprised I’m willing to put my name and reputation “out there”.
To be honest, I’ve had a blast. I’ve really enjoyed being a moderator. I haven’t lost a moment of sleep and I have enjoyed the discussions about things I’ve posted.
I like to write and I have opinions. This is a volunteer job for those who want to have an impact on the discussions in Aurora about what happens in this town.
Join the discussion. Help lead the discussion. It’s fun and informative.