By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor @Blogfinger.net
In recent days there has been a brief discussion on the social media site “Nextdoor.com” about Blogfinger’s policy of allowing anonymous commenters to express their opinions. Nextdoor insists that all posts be under the person’s full real name.
Kennedy Buckley, a trustee of the OGHOA and a member of Nextdoor.com, said this publicly regarding our policy: “Comments without a name = fake news.” This condemnation by good old “Grover Ken” trashes over 90% of the comments on Blogfinger.
But what Kennedy forgot is that he was a regular commenter on Blogfinger for years.
When he was commenting on BF, 90% of the time he signed in as “Ken,” and that was done because he didn’t want to reveal his full name, and, only on rare occasions, would he would sign in as “Kennedy Buckley.”
And, at times, he would contribute using pseudonyms such as “The Dreamer.” “The Nag” “Biased” and “Curious” and there were many others as well—we lost count. And then, one day, he stopped commenting because he joined the silent majority at the OGHOA’s Board of Trustees.
So I guess the H in HOA for him means “Hypocrite.” Or maybe we could use the term “Double standard.”
And this, by another Grover on Nextdoor.com named Diane Giangeruso: “If you can’t give your name then you can’t give your opinion on the permit parking. Speak up and be proud 🌞”
As for Diane Giangeruso’s comment, you can see the defect in what she said using her real name.
Although that website Nextdoor should be very useful if you are looking for an endodontist or a Portajohn, I doubt that it will be a good forum for serious debate because of the real name requirement.
THE ANDREWS SISTERS: We send this song out to Kennedy Buckley of Ocean Grove–a guy who can’t make up his mind.
Looks like good old Kennedy cannot stop babbling. This is his post on NextDoor from 11/30/17 re: Blogfinger:
“The facts on Blogfinger! Are you kidding? No site could be further from the truth or the facts.”.
Anonymity and strong opinion can exist in the same space. No one is coming here as a non-resident. They just don’t have an interest.
But if you have this idea that you can use real names as a force of intimidation, you are deeply mistaken. It is a small community, and Paul helps us give voice to power.
Anonymity is just a vehicle to prevent people like you, to intimidate. So take your desire for naming names, and walk it into the ocean.
And speaking of anonymity, the arrogant “Talking Points” memo instructing Grovers how to behave, which were handed out at the Committee meeting, were not only provocative but they were unsigned—–an anonymous document put out by the OGHOA. (Just like the unsigned fliers stuck in our windshields)
According to Ken Buckley, that document would also be classified as”fake news.” (Unless he has a double standard on these things.)
Why is everyone so quick to call everything “fake news” these days?!?! It’s beyond frustrating! The fact is (i) I’m an Ocean Grove homeowner and (ii) I have every right to voice my opinion how I choose. I don’t agree with all the comments made here but it’s not “fake news”. It’s a forum for people to comment on topics that affect them in town. We should all thank Blogfinger for maintaining such a platform.
My only question is what is Kennedy so worried about?
Kennedy Buckley: Thank you for your note saying, “Here is some more fake news: I, Kennedy Buckley, NEVER submitted comments using the pseudonyms attributed to me above.”
It is gratifying that you agree with me with that clever double negative above.
It’s good that you did not challenge us on the hypocrisy charge, because we have an electronic record of every comment you made over the years on Blogfinger. We have 824 of them, and every one shows the name that you signed on with.
And here I thought that you were no longer reading Blogfinger—what a nice surprise. I bet the other HOA board members are also reading it. You should comment here more often and you can even use one of your old pseudonyms. We would welcome you back.
I think we should send you a BF T shirt to wear at your HOA board meetings.
But you really need to be careful what you say on-line, because it will live forever in cyberspace.
Your old pal, Paul @Blogfinger
Here is some more fake news: I, Kennedy Buckley, NEVER submitted comments.using the pseudonyms attributed to me above.
I hesitate commenting on this nom de plume issue. However, my observation over the years, once appointed to a Neptune Township commission or committee, an Ocean Grove resident is usually co-opted by perceived “status” and in a few high-ranking cases perceived “power.”
Blogfinger translation of what Radar said above: Ken drank the Kool-Aid.
I really enjoy all the different bantering and freedom on Blogfinger!