GreenHeroes: My Latest Adventure!

A Toronto shark fin ban? It looks like it's going to happen! Check out this blog post I wrote for GreenHeroes, an online web channel and TVO television series that tells the stories of people who were spurred on to help make changes in the environment. Our GreenHeroes include Jane Goodall, David Suzuki, Sarah Harmer, Rob Stewart and many more!

I've been working with the team at GreenHeroes on their social media and communications for about a month now and I love it! I love that I get to raise awareness about such important work and show people how they can get involved.

Please follow GreenHeroes on Twitter and Like us on Facebook for news on our GreenHeroes and information on how you can get involved in their causes. We'd love your comments on what we post and we will respond.

Comments on News Stories: Should the Outlets Have Responsibilities?

If you read the comments section of a news story, chances are you you will come across heated exchanges between commenters or abusive remarks about the subject of the story. Some of these people are passionately political, some appear to merely comment to antagonize.

I read a lot of comments sections from a lot of news articles and no representatives from the company seem to respond. Is this a problem? Should news companies moderate their stories to reduce abuse of other commenters and spam? Should news stories contribute to the conversation and respond to commenters' claims of biased research?

News outlets seem to publish the stories and then leave them alone and, perhaps this is a good thing. If they moderate (respond to, delete or edit) comments, commenters affected could interpret this as censorship. An attempt to keep allegations of unethical journalism quiet. Changing comments essentially means tailoring the discourse. Not only will that hurt the outlet's relationship with the affected commenters, but it will diminish the wonderful qualities of social medias: a loud voice for citizens and interaction between the people and "the man." -- Do people use that phrase anymore?

I don't know if broad social or journalistic change has ever come about because of a comment or comments on a news story, but the conversation about the news story has certainly influenced how I read the news. So many commenters pose questions about the reporter's research methodology, about the unanswered questions. Questions I hadn't asked when I first read the article, but looked back and realized what was missing. Comments have power. But only if people read them. 

Do you read comments on news stories or blogs? Do you see the value of reading these comments? Have you commented and what was your experience afterward? Do you think news outlets or bloggers have any responsibilities regarding comments submitted to their stories? To bloggers: do you moderate your comments?

Stop by my Twitter chat on Monday night from 9 pm to 10 pm EST to discuss these questions and how they should impact our moderating decisions as bloggers. The hashtag will be #beyond comments Everyone is welcome! Again, my Twitter name is @cartooninperson If you can't make the chat, but have something to say, please feel free to drop a comment here on my blog or on the Beyond Passing Time Facebook Page.

For those new on Twitter or new to Twitter chats, simply type #beyondcomments in your Tweets and anyone who types #beyondcomments in the search field will see them. If you search #beyond comments, you will see the discussion. All Tweets will show up live, so you don't need to refresh your page. Please feel free to comment here or email me at aj.ashbee@gmail.com if you don't understand or would like more information.

I will see you there! Please spread the word!

Now on Facebook!

You can now Like Beyond Passing Time on Facebook! Join for conversation on blogging and social media, more links to great music and nostalgia, revisits to the Beyond Passing Time archives and the opportunity to meet ME! Yes, ME!

Feel free to share links to your own blogs on the Beyond Passing Time Facebook Page, specific entries preferably, so we can talk about them. It's great exposure for your blog. We can discuss methods for increasing traffic: what works and what doesn't. I hope to see you there!

And if you haven't yet heard, I'm on Twitter!

Explanation of Exclamation

I think using exclamation points in writing is often the equivalent to jabbing someone in the ribs and saying "You're supposed to laugh here," or "You're supposed to be shocked here." It's a crutch for people who know they haven't evoked those emotions with the actual prose, or at least feel insecure about their ability to do so.

Exclamation points are great; don't get me wrong. If I write to friends on Facebook chat or MSN messenger and they respond with "Hey!" it puts my mind at ease that they actually want to talk to me. Plain ol' "Hey" is just polite. Laid back polite. "Hi" reads curt. Almost angry. But, "Hi!"? It reads much more friendly, but also kind of sarcastic for some reason. "Hello" is also a bit cold, but it shows more effort in typing because there are more letters in the word. You wouldn't put that effort in if you didn't want to talk to someone would you?

If you write my name after "Hi," or "Hey," I'll know you care. Plus, it will also show that you remember my name -- or at least remember how to spell it. My name is Ashley Ashbee and people tend to confuse the second syllables: "Ashlee" for my first name or, less commonly, "Ashbey" for my last name.

I'm actually not neurotic, though.



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