I don't think limiting discussion to hyperlocal makes sense.  In the days when thinking globally and acting locally is required, I find it too difficult to think in terms of thinking and posting hyperlocally.  My thoughts start global.  Their ramifications and actions play out locally as I continue to live in the South Sound, but my interests begin with a global slant. 

I encourage the hyperlocal group here to consider only encouraging the hyperlocal as they see it.   I have no problem with comments that ask the question: how does that play out locally?  when a person posts something that does not have an immediate, apparent hyperlocal slant, but the bottom line is that if any of us are thinking and working and writing about a subject it may have a hyperlocal slant.

I walked away from posting much, if at all too.  Docents are allowed to do exactly what they call others out for doing.  The rules change on an hourly basis because, usually a couple of docents, don't like something.  Opinions either aren't allowed or you're chastised for it if you don't agree with the poster or the docent.  "Disemvoweling" is silly.  Realizing posters are adults who are capable of disagreeing is not acceptable and not allowed.  It's just not a site that's fun or interesting anymore.  It's like watching children being scolded and punished instead of adults interacting. 

I've sat back and watched the slow dying death over the last couple of months of what was once a great site where differences and opinions weren't about being PC.  Olyblog used to be about what everyone who loved it here wanted it to be...  Now it's more about how to control posters.  I find it ironic that these changes came to stop people from leaving the blog.  I think it backfired.  Many are leaving or stopped posting now because of the sad changes.

Again, just my opinion...  I can choose to engage or I can choose to walk away.  And for the record, I don't need to be slapped upside the head again with another "this isn't the place for you" comment.  That's just another reason I stopped posting much. 

"A point of view is only a view from a point..." ~ Unknown

Who signed up to be a docent? If you raised your hand, please feel free to talk about docent behavior. The rest of you, like me, can talk about something else like the hyperlocal policy.

I've mixed feelings about the hyperlocal policy it myself.  It seems a little rigid.  The only purpose I can see is to keep local content from being driven down the tracker by impeachment and global warming arguments.  I imagine it also eases the work load of the docents as well.  Fine reasons I suppose. But instead of pulling non-local threads, I'd rather give commenters the chance to make the local connections.  Of course, future changes to the structure of Olyblog might render this moot.

but I agree with Gug, it's enforced not only a little too rigidly, but I also think it isn't enforced consistently (imagine that, inconsistency on Olyblog).

This is a community based page with people of all kinds of thoughts and beliefs. Being an isolationist group, (all progressives) would defeat the desire to build community. If you want to only commune with those of your ilk, do like Rick and others have suggested, create your own blog. But BEWARE, it can be lonely out there. Whether you are a musing conservative or have an environmental blog, you get to pontificate all you want, but don't expect a lot of interaction. :p

"...terrorists portray themselves quite successfully among Muslims as the exponents of true and pure Islam...(Robert B Spencer, author)

itchyhitch.blogspot.com

So maybe you all can help me understand.

Here's how I see the hyperlocal issue: Olympia does not exist in a vacuum. As it is connected to a much larger world I find it incredibly easy to relate just about anything global to something local, which in my mind makes the global issue hyperlocal. While it takes a little bit more effort on a poster's part to establish the local tie, I think it helps people "to seek our similarities and minimize our differences." Larry's MLK Jr. post, for example, netted me a private message asking why it wasn't flagged for its lack of hyperlocal content; my response was that I thought enough Olympians were deeply effected by his assassination thus I felt it to be hyperlocal enough to merit staying up, stevenl's subsequent post made that explicit. So where am I wrong? As far as I can tell everyone complaining about this is selling their ability to think outside of the box short.

As Mike mentioned, if he were to volunteer to be an OlyBlog docent it would mean sacrificing other personally important things. The more people argue about what OlyBlog isn't the more OlyBlog turns into that isn't, a negative space of minimal value to the community. I cannot tell you how disheartening this is for me to watch after spending so much of my time on trying to make this a destination site for Olympia (and the world). Why do I bother to moderate comments? Because some of the comments make a lot of people I meet around town not want to use OlyBlog as a resource. But getting on right now, for example, to dispute a negative instead of give kudos to a positive attempt to build this space up takes my time and effort and makes this all not very much fun. In fact, it makes this laborious and lame. What am I missing here? Why would people rather complain than contribute? I value my time very highly. It is time I can spend with my family. It is time I can work on making this site better and turning it into something with tangible longterm possibilities. It is time I can spend on my arts. So spending my time cleaning up on OlyBlog has this effect: it makes me want to take my efforts elsewhere, and I doubt that I'm alone. Do some of the docents get snappy sometimes? Yes. Why? Because we're not getting paid and we're spending a lot of time on something that has almost zero immediate reward, and when more of that time gets lost to the whirlpool of call-and-response moderation it...feels...frustrating. People used to pay $275 an hour for my time on something I wasn't particularly passionate about, now I give my time away and people complain. This topic pretty much just disgusts me.

"In principle, I am an anarchist. Kurt Vonnegut once said he was an agnostic who respects Jesus Christ. I am an anarchist who loves democracy." - Kenzaburo Oe

is whether the description of Olyblog as "being devoted to hyperlocal news and discussions specifically about Olympia, Washington," has changed. I've only been here about a year, so I'm not sure if that's they way it's always been.  I think there are other places to talk about broader topics.  Recently there was a story in the Seattle PI that I wanted to post about, but realizing it wasn't hyperlocal decided that the place to discuss it was the Seattle PI board.  

I do understand what you're saying Larry, and I think it can be stifling at times, but the description of Olyblog in the upper right hand corner of the front page, seems fairly clear about what the site is for.  Personally, I've enjoyed it here more and been more interested in participating since the drama has died down. 

I got booted the other night for being "reactionary" and having "a hissy fit" because I was trying to get a firm nailed down definition of hyperlocal.  I accused on docent of having a political motivation for the seemingly flexible and self serving defintion of hyperlocal, and did so in a private message.

A public request for opinions on the matter was deleted (twice)

I asked each and every docent for a defintion of hyperlocal and got either vagueness or simply ignored.

Perhaps it is time for a firm and definitive answer of hyperlocal.

Lewis County becomes hyperlocal when a one in a million accidental death of a child by gunfire occurs.  I wonder if it would be close enough if someone were to use a gun in lawful self defense and prevent a rape?   

And yes I volunteered to be a docent.

Can we finally get a firm definition of hyperlocal, preferably as defined by the community? 

Hyperlocal news

I like this one.

Now, if we use this as our definition we can see why someone's opinion about MLK or Rev. Wright doesn't fit, because the word news is just as important as the word hyperlocal. We had an opinion blog before, and decided we wanted to focus on news. A shooting in Lewis County doesn't fit either, because the word hyperlocal is just as important as the word news. We had a blog that covered issues outside of Olympia before and decided we wanted to make the blog hyperlocal. We should have a conversation about covering more than just Olympia if that's what people want to do, but we should be intentional about it.

(I speak as a citizen here, not a docent)

Many of us who commute to Oly from the surrounding area have a broader definition of what is hyperlocal, I'm guessing. We think of the Oly sphere of influence as being included in the Olympia community. I have a couple Oly phone books here. One of them includes parts of Lewis, Mason, and Grays Harbor counties. Another covers Mason County as far away as Belfair and Hoodsport.

Shelton, Centralia/Chehalis, DuPont, Rainier, Tenino, Rochester, Oakville, McCleary are all worthy of hyperlocal news coverage from my perspective.