Why Did The Candidates Abandon Posting Here

[Interested Girl]

AN often heard comment heard from the candidates as I mmet and talked with them was " Oh - I follow the Sowal postings but No Way I'm posting there any longer.

Should we be concerned that was a mind set or just an excuse ?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

This is not a dig at Sowal,, but an atttempt to understand how the process can be improved in the future if any changes need to made.

 

[wrobert]

AN often heard comment heard from the candidates as I mmet and talked with them was " Oh - I follow the Sowal postings but No Way I'm posting there any longer.

Should we be concerned that was a mind set or just an excuse ?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

This is not a dig at Sowal,, but an atttempt to understand how the process can be improved in the future if any changes need to made.

Go back and read some of the threads.

 

[kathydwells]

Go back and read some of the threads.

That is what I was going to suggest.

 

[ShallowsNole]

The ones who came here after they announced their candidacies probably won't be back, or may rejoin under a different name. It's hard on our candidates (heck, anybody) to endure not only the schedule and then come home. log in, and defend themselves here too. However, I think the ones were were members of our online community prior to qualifying day will stick around. Most of them are pretty good peeps. ;-)

 

[Kurt]

I made up my voting mind on this forum and I imagine a lot of others did too. I think there are quite a few candidates that don't mind a back and forth, and are big enough people to ignore the real troublemakers. It started out well but we got a few hardcases on the forum who thought it better to harass candidates rather than talk positively about their candidate of choice. Such is modern day politics I suppose. I guess maybe we'll have to go to an interview type situation like newspapers have done for decades. We could also have a subforum for candidates with more moderation.

 

[trish hutchison]

I think if you look back at the postings it looks like some people had 2 usernames. First, they would pose a question or comment, then they would log in as another person and continue the attack. This may or may not have been the case, it just appeared that way.

I'll continue to be around. I really like SoWal, and I think it's a great way for the whole county to get connected. I may not be on here often because my computer is a relic and takes forever to go from page to page, even with high speed internet, but I WILL still be around.

 

[Interested Girl]

Thanks Kurt

 

[rapunzel]

I made up my mind on this forum as well. I think many of the high quality candidates found great champions on this board, and perhaps some of them will consider coordinating 'new media outreach' into their campaigns. With a little additional moderation, or perhaps a no Beach Crab rule for posting on the candidate forum, this forum can continue to be an invaluable resource for this community.

I have thought a great deal about the low turnout in SoWal yesterday. Studies show that negative attacks work because they drive down turnout for the attacked candidate, rather than sway voters to vote for someone else. The negativity on this forum is a problem, not for the candidates per se, but for the impact on voter participation -- it hurts us all. If we had kept it positive think how differently the District 5 race could have been. We all supported Osborne, Hudson, or Braunstein. If we could have gotten people excited about our candidates, rather than turned off of their opponents, we may have had a very different result. Oh, and if Bob Hudson hadn't sent out that nasty last minute attack mail targeting Osborne.

I hope we have all learned a lesson about the price to pay for negativity and nastiness.

 

[Jdarg]

We all know that SoWal.com is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the pulse of local news and issues.

I don't think the candidates hurt themselves by posting, but some of their lame and sometimes nasty supporters didn't help them any. Several candidates had supporters and attack methods that invited debate and criticism, and if it made them not want to post again, well, they (or their supporters) brought it on themselves.

And yes, I was stunned by the last minute post card mailed out by Bob Hudson. Completely disgusting and desperate. The funny thing was that he didn't recognize the threat of Jones- and spent a bunch of money mailing out ineffective crap. Way to be visionary and watch the dollars, Mr. Hudson.

 

[Interested Girl]

If you think Hudson and Osborne did not realize the true threat of a Jones victory you are sadly mistaken. Both spent a tremendous amount of time working hard in the northen part of the county trying to win voters. They both also knew that the southern precints were a problem in terms of turnout.

The real negative stuff was never posted here or mailed or even printed in papers. Just ask the candidates privately if you don't realize how 'good old boy' politics work.

Do you believe that 'negative' mailers only turned of southern precint voters ?
The voter turn out in the southern precincts was no worse than before and the people in the north just went to the polls and voted - something we failed to do once again.