Torpey spending residents' $ again to launch MOL competitor

At Monday's BOT meeting, Alex Torpey made reference that there would soon be a message board launched by the village to enable citizen engagement. We all know how much Torpey detests MOL because he cannot control what people write, now he plans to spend our money to compete with it. Who does he plan to pay to moderate it? Or will he be doing it for his last year in office?

Not a great idea.

I think Jayjay is referring to the comments at the 57:40 mark of the video from Monday:
http://youtu.be/uxCBW_i8hgk

Good. Then he can complain about that web site for a change.

No worries here as it's probably tied into the new website which is "coming soon."

And I would guess that he plans to act as the Moderator?

Also, the insecurity he displays in relation to criticism on MOL is an unattractive characteristic for a politician. It just makes him look weak and petty. The ability to accept a bit of vitriol is part of the job description.

He should smile once in a while.

Yeah, I don't imagine Joe DiVincenzo loses much sleep over what's said about him on the internet. In fact, if he could put his arm around those negative comments and pose for a picture...

And after that his "computer guy" would have a word with you out back.

mjh said:

And I would guess that he plans to act as the Moderator?

Also, the insecurity he displays in relation to criticism on MOL is an unattractive characteristic for a politician. It just makes him look weak and petty. The ability to accept a bit of vitriol is part of the job description.

I agree. I don't follow local politics much and I have no real opinion on Torpey as a leader, but I saw that recent transcript posted here where he was all up in arms about the "crazy people" on MOL, etc. Strikes me as kind of Nixonian.
I don't think he'll ever go anywhere in politics if he gets his pantyhose in a knot about an freaking anonymous online message board.

Dave should start using the tagline in the header- "the unofficial official message board of South Orange Village". Once again... Torpey seems to have people going along with him on this idea. He claims people post anonymously, which is kind of true... The catch is that the vocal posters are not posting anonymously. In addition, the ones that don't use real names aren't really anonymous for the most part. Ie: he knows exactly who I am and so do many of the people on this board.

It's comical at what this VP and BOT will focus their time on. Mr. Torpey had one big chance to prove his worth with technology and failed miserabely. Should this board even consider an additional tech item without completing the website first?

Student_Council said:

I agree. I don't follow local politics much and I have no real opinion on Torpey as a leader, but I saw that recent transcript posted here where he was all up in arms about the "crazy people" on MOL, etc. Strikes me as kind of Nixonian.
I don't think he'll ever go anywhere in politics if he gets his pantyhose in a knot about an freaking anonymous online message board.

Nixonian is a good word...not only is he in a knot about it, but he is deluded enough to think that he can move the conversation to a new board that he can control. Waste of taxpayer money and leadership attention.

If only there was someone you could write to to stop this from happening.

I'll open a ticket on SOConnect.

RobB said:

I'll open a ticket on SOConnect.

You will eventually get blocked from posting openly.

You will probably just be banned from the new board if you speak out against VP Torpey. Or he will ask you to take the conversation offline as he did to me on Twitter, the true marker of a transparent politician, right?

I guess his message board will require that people use their real names? How else can he ensure that MOL-like anonymous posters don't invade his new site?

Maybe you have to post a picture of yourself or provide your home address as proof of identity?

SODawg said:

RobB said:

I'll open a ticket on SOConnect.

You will eventually get blocked from posting openly.

That does not happen here, does it?

Student_Council said:

Torpey as a leader

Is this why the term "oxymoron" created?

A facebook group would work. Although, I do know people who make up Facebook identities just for swap groups, etc.

RULES OF USE FOR OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE BOARD

1. No links or mentions of MOL.
2. No complaints about the mayor AT ALL.
3. Certain citizens will not be able to have accounts, especially if they are already participating on MOL.
4. Users will automatically be signed up for TORPEY FOR MAYOR campaign signs and mailings by participating in this government forum.
5. Complaints about #4 will result in a permanment ban.
6. Every male will grow a beard like mine the Mayor's or face banishment.
7. No cussing.
8. You will be charged an assessment of $300 per year to offset the costs of my campaign this forum. Paid in Bitcoin.

Besides the lunacy of creating a new Message Board, when a vibrant one already exists here, Torpey says "we are getting close to launching a Citizen Engagement Platform", but there has been no RFP or public bidding process. What is the cost for this (both to procure and to maintain)?

dave said:

RULES OF USE FOR OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE BOARD

1. No links or mentions of MOL.
2. No complaints about the mayor AT ALL.
3. Certain citizens will not be able to have accounts, especially if they are already participating on MOL.
4. Users will automatically be signed up for TORPEY FOR MAYOR campaign signs and mailings by participating in this government forum.
5. Complaints about #4 will result in a permanment ban.
6. Every male will grow a beard like mine the Mayor's or face banishment.
7. No cussing.
8. You will be charged an assessment of $300 per year to offset the costs of my campaign this forum. Paid in Bitcoin.

Dave - I think #7 will be revoked by Executive order. (or maybe only when the Executive is posting) ;-)

Do we still have the most transparent municipal budget in the country?

https://data.cityofboston.gov/detail?fy=2014&item=1899249&line=2&dist=1

Realizing the rules posted above are tongue-in-cheek (well, somewhat?), I'm wondering if the imposition of similar rules, and banning anonymous posting, on a government-sponsored message board may be seen as a violation of freedom of speech?

For example, this board (MOL) is a privately owned message board. Consequently the owners can make just about any rule and, if a poster violates a rule they'd previously agreed to (via the TOS) then the owners can do what they've stated they can do in terms of "punishment", including banning the poster and/or removing posts. And I respect the rights of the owners of privately-owned boards to do so.

However, at what point does a restrictive rule on a government-owned message board constitute a violation of 1st Amendment rights? And could the removal of posts, whether they violate the rules or not, be considered a form of government censorship?

With regards to anonymous posting, would the Supreme Court ruling of Talley v. California (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talley_v._California) apply?

I am not a legal export and am just wondering 'out loud'. Maybe there are already tested and proven laws which cover these questions.

jayjayp said:

At Monday's BOT meeting, Alex Torpey made reference that there would soon be a message board launched by the village to enable citizen engagement. We all know how much Torpey detests MOL becauseK he cannot control what people write, now he plans to spend our money to compete with it. Who does he plan to pay to moderate it? Or will he be doing it for his last year in office?

Once again I'll say that while all the Torpey hate is amusing, he is powerless, dare I say impotent, without the support of the BOT. I think you all need to widen your aim.

michaelgoldberg said:

Besides the lunacy of creating a new Message Board, when a vibrant one already exists here, Torpey says "we are getting close to launching a Citizen Engagement Platform", but there has been no RFP or public bidding process. What is the cost for this (both to procure and to maintain)?

I don't think any of these things is an issue to him. It seems he makes these decisions willy nilly and has no real accountability.

michaelgoldberg said:

Besides the lunacy of creating a new Message Board, when a vibrant one already exists here, Torpey says "we are getting close to launching a Citizen Engagement Platform", but there has been no RFP or public bidding process. What is the cost for this (both to procure and to maintain)?

A little competition isn't necessarily a bad thing. As discussion communities age they tend to get "clickish" and less tolerant of outside ideas. I'm a photography buff. I'm probably a member of 10 discussion boards related to the subject. Some of them I just use for reference and some of them I post regularly on. Each of them has a slightly different slant and value to me. I'm not saying we need 20 different boards but it might be good to have more than just 1.

Dave: I thought SO didn't have a mayor.

its not his style to enable his town with an open system, i will bet the message board has controlled topic and threads so it wont be close to mol, maybe he will "allow"a freecycle thread and have aweather thread etc

I may check the message board for town specific stuff

svitale03, that case looks quite applicable. To me, it appears that a government-run or government-owned web site has less latitude to moderate or ban than a private web site! If someone showed that to Torpey, he may not be pleased.