CFN – Life is about improving and making things better, and after a year of research and consultations with a lot of people we are pleased to be announcing our new comments policy on CFN.
As many know there are different formats used by various news sites. CFN manually pre moderates each comment. For example the Free Holder post moderates and has a key word filter while using the disqus system for people to log on.
CFN is proud to continue our tradition of pre-manual moderation; but we have listened to what the public is saying about pseudonyms and anonymous posting.
Starting January 3, 2013 at noon we will no longer be allowing anonymous viewer comments. You will have to sign your name or register your pseudonym with us. While we respect the importance to remain private, and will still allow our viewers to use an id instead of their name; they will have to register with us via email or facebook.
Also, viewers using pseudonyms will no longer be able to attack other viewers or comments. If you can’t stand up and show who you are, you cannot attack others who do. Questions and constructive non-offensive criticism are still allowed.
While we realize that this may cause some frustration to some regular posters we at CFN feel that this will make our comments section safer and more fun for our viewers. Having gone from 14M to 29M page views from 2012 to 2013 it’s time for some to realize that an awful lot of people read our comments.
We also wish to remind users to stay on subject, and if you wish to write a book; perhaps a publisher instead of a comment section would be the way to go?
There are certain users currently who will be grand-fathered in and be allowed to continue to use their pseudonyms as we at CFN know who they are and their contact information. To register a pseudonym email jamie@cornwallfreenews.com.
Thank you for a wonderful 2013 and hopefully 2014 is even better for all!
j
It’s about time! If you have something to say, then be willing to stand behind it. If you have to worry about repercussions from your employer then you should be questioning your motives, loyalty, or reasons for staying at that employment. It’s dishonest.
Good move, admin. Nice points in your third to last paragraph.
All the best to you and CFN for 2014!
So, does this mean that I will have to expose my true identity (God) in order to post a comment on this site?
Fat chance of that happening.
Furtz you can register with CFN; the same as writing a letter to the editor. IE you can post as Furtz if you register who you are with CFN. Posting as “Furtz” you could not attack another user. The idea is to have people stand behind their mayhem, and have more accountability and transparency. If you have any questions feel free to email me at jamie@cornwallfreenews.com
Thanks PJ. We always are seeking ways to improve the viewer experience.
So, a handle, and a valid and active email address/account is no longer enough info?
If so, I think this site will dry up like a prune in the hot sun.
Well Furtz you’ve left in a huff a few times now. It’s your call. It’s called progress. And even if we lose some comments and traffic I think it’s the right direction to move for the long term. Today we had several people register. Nobody seems to be suffering. It’s not like we ask you to pee in a cup or for credit card numbers amigo 🙂
Didn’t you have to furnish the same info to post on the Freeholder?
Roger, I would not want to work anywhere that only wanted a bunch of yes men employed there. My issues with some form of anonymity have always been the same. Not wanting family & friends to take things the wrong way or reduce connections because of it, and of course, work. If for some reason the time stamps on postings were out of whack, it could look like improper use of time.
A reminder to anyone that wants to use a pseudonym on CFN you have to register via email; jamie@cornwallfreenews.com if you want your comments to be published as of noon today.
I’ll say it again. No one should have to fear voicing their opinion about local issues. This fear must end in Cornwall for real progress to occur – and it can!
Don’t accept the intimidation – it’s hillbilly, bush BS.
If I feel I have to stifle my opinions about how my tax money is spent then I know I don’t have the right representation. Positive change occurs in a community through voter advocacy. Your not going to right anything by offering sketchy, masked accusations against the problem(s).
I suppose some will say it’s easy for an out -of- towner to talk like this. I guarantee you, I made a lot of people angry when I lived in the ‘Wall and I wouldn’t change a single thing I did or said.
This change in policy will likely have an effect on the manner in which some choose to express themselves. In many cases, I think this is will be an improvement
Sincerely yours, Rev. Biff Toughlove
@ Furtz Hang in, if only for your grandson. Your signature whimsy and irony an asset on CFN threads.
PJ, Furtz can still post as Furtz as long as he registers which is the same process you use when you write a letter to the editor. It’s that simple.
Furtz hang in here with us and just e-mail Jamie and you can still post as Furtz. I sure enjoy your posts and you are funny at times and I would sure miss being teased especially when you brought up about Harpoon Harpo bringing bears to church. LOL LOL. I took you seriously of all things. I must have been mighty tired that day since I have not slept well in a long while. Stick with us Furtz.
Mr. Clifton it is going to take Cornwall quite a while to change and it has been in hillbilly mentality for a mighty long time and people know no other way and it is going to take education and a different way of life. It will take time for the people to change and it is something that isn’t done overnight. We need to see big changes in Cornwall and not the same old fuddy duddies that come in and have the same mind set. As you well know I have been saying that for many years that Cornwall has to change and I mean every word I say. I truly think that it can take some years down the road for all that to happen. We all have to be patient as we can and educate the people as much as we can. Jamie said many times that Cornwall is a town in transition and that is true. We need a much better and positive change. People have been led around by Cornwall’s “powers that be” and were made to believe that they were nothing but slaves and under their feet. People have to have courage and a much better self esteem of themselves before the people of the town can really rise above what they have been through.
Furtz come back on with us. You will be very missed if you don’t.
{MODERATED}
Stella you will have to register to continue to post on CFN or post with your name and legit email address.
Throw caution to the wind Furtz register today !
I am with you PJ and BIFF, step in the right direction !
I’m flattered! Usually left-wing pinko atheists don’t get a warm reception.
But I am curious Jamie. Does this new registration policy have anything to do with Big Brother keeping an eye on things?
LOL LOL. Furtz you are something else. If we were all the same and had the same wave of thought this world would be mighty boring indeed. We have to have folks like myself, like yourself including others to make a real stew of laughter, tears and everything in between. Yes even atheists who lean to the left like yourself. It takes all kinds to make a world. Come back. Listen Furtz this big brother thing doesn’t need our false names – they already know who we are so come on board. There is no place to hide the whole world is in the same stew.
Furtz I’m pretty transparent. Like I said it’s part of our evolution and a potential liability issue; thus the new rules.
Actually Jamie it is nice to see this as it will keep issues more in line, on message and integrities’ of even the writers keep in check.
This almost comes in as an added to a Mission Statement.
but that would be good, no\/
You will almost certainly not get as many notes to moderate either. as you indicted.
If people are upset, well, let them state their comments in other media’s.
That’s true Jules. Anything we put out on the net can be traced by Big Brother.
As far as anonymity goes, I have some concerns. Because I’m retired and not seeking employment, it’s not a big deal for me any more, but it used to be. I live in a seriously conservative/Conservative bible-belt area of eastern Ontario. If my lefty pinko and atheist views were out there for the last forty years, I would never have found employment in this area. That’s just the way it is in Leeds-Grenville. There’s no problem expressing your views using your real name as long they fit with the local politics and culture. Otherwise, there could be a big price to pay.
LOL LOL. ROLF! You Furtz in a Conservative Bible Belt? May heaven help you. LOL LOL. ROLF! I am laughing so hard here that I have to retype words since I cannot keep a steady hand or anything on the keyboard. You are mighty funny indeed. The Barney Fife PD can trace who we are and if they can then anyone can. LOL LOL. I have to laugh you are a barrel of laughs indeed. Conservative Bible Belt is a good one indeed. Ottawa is might weird and corrupt and everyone knows that and I guess anything goes around here even having Harpoon Harpo bringing bears to church on Sunday. LOL LOL. That was a good one indeed and so much so that I took you seriously. Well here in Ottawa you can expect just about anything it is that strange.
@Jules
I have a feeling that you and I probably agree about many things concerning Cornwall Jules. I see truth in much of what you say. I’d like to stress however, that I have warm feelings for Cornwall based on good memories and the knowledge that many good folks I grew up with still live there.
I’d like to think of myself as a Cornwall patriot. I believe in the good in the place – I know it’s still there. If I seem to attack some aspects of the current situation in Cornwall, I do it only in the hopes of a better solution for the community.
I believe I have a right to express my views honestly. When I lived in Cornwall I contributed to its reputation in a positive way and I’m proud of that.
Mr. Clifton I too have very good memories of Cornwall and I don’t hate it the way some people think I do. People think the wrong way about me and someone said before that if I really hated Cornwall I wouldn’t have come on to this site and say what I think and that is true indeed. We live here in Ottawa because there is nothing in Cornwall. We had to leave back in the mid 70’s and many left way before us and after us because of the situation down there. If people stayed in Cornwall, Cornwall’s population would be almost 200,000 people maybe more. Employment was never fare at all and as you all can see how the mayor (Bare Ass) son was hired and so was another mayor’s son hired that way in the Barney Fife PD. I knew about the hiring of the mayor’s son because two very nice gentlemen spoke to me at the Power Dam when we all used to walk and one of the men’s sons was a professional engineer and no work in Cornwall and he wanted to stay in Cornwall and not move anywhere. Well the man applied as a cop in Cornwall and that was during the freeze when Martelle was in as mayor. Put two and two together and you can come up with the answer. The man’s son didn’t get in but you know who got in. The man’s son left Cornwall and is working at Atomic Energy up in Pembroke. All this has been going on for years and years on end way before any of our times and it has been a hillbilly mentality and that is why I come out with a lot of jokes and anything else that you can think of. I don’t hate Cornwall at all but I hate the system of the way things were done and still are and people have to break that horrible mentality and get educated and change their way of living. Cornwall has had a very bad reputation for way too many years and it is long overdo for drastic changes. I don’t dislike the people that come here on board except for maybe two people and those two know themselves very well whoever they are. I have great respect and liking for Jamie and I wish this man a mountain of success in what he does. Cornwall is no different than other places and the only thing required is education and a change in that horrible hillbilly mentality. The people in general are very good people and that is the whole truth that is spoken.
Mr. Clifton if you listen to Mr. Pat Finnerty what he has to say (it is on Jamie’s archive) and listen mighty carefully what he says after his joke about people going to bed hungry in Cornwall and the rich don’t care at all and about them being in their limosines and things like that. Mr. Finnerty said the absolute truth and Cornwall has always been referred to as a welfare town. In order for things to change it is like I said people need education and have to learn what it is like to live elsewhere to appreciate it. I put the blame on those who hold high office in Cornwall for treating people badly and I also blame the families of the way their children have turned out. Cornwall has gone way downhill compared to my day. I have noticed things go further down in the 80’s and onwards but today it is really bad. There are mighty good people who do live in Cornwall and I will never say otherwise but it is certain people who take down the town and make things bad including the rich who think and feel that they are above everyone else. I really and truly think and feel that huge changes are needed and it cannot keep going on like this or the town will be literally finished for good if it is continued to be neglected.
My early memories of Cornwall include:
Hot summer days swimming in Horwitz Park Pool. skateboards made with old rollerskate wheels, Big Daddy Roth’s Rat Fink cartoons, monster models, the 5 cent Saturday afternoon matinee at the Capitol Theatre featuring Roger Corman’s cheapie horror films and Elvis Presley movies, Honda 50’s, the A&W Drive-in, Mad Magazine, Firecracker Day, Bisonette’s Confectionary that featured a Cockatoo AND a Mynah bird, Leveque’s Clothiers with the pet monkey, catching eels by the armload at the “boardy bottom” down at the old east -end canal locks, Wimpy’s Diner up by the train station, drive-in movies, the Beach Boys vs the Beatles debate, Penny’s Record Store, Harry Young &The Noblemen, the Cornwall YM/YWCA on 5th Street, wrestling matches featuring Bulldog Brower and Killer Kowalski, strongman Antonio The Great pulling a bus with his greasy beard, spending volunteer time in jail during French Week, watching the donuts go ’round in the front window of Riley’s Bakery, Savemart, Woolco, Metropolitan, fizzies, the night the Cotton Mill burned down (Halloween night 1961), the entrance hallway to Satch’s poolhall on Pitt St….. I could go on.
Mr. Clifton you sure brought me down memory lane for sure and mighty good memories. Bissonettes had a pet shop beside their little grocery store what memories. I grew up in nearby. Young people today do not have those good memories at all and when I think back to those days I wish that they all came back. You don’t find any of that in the big cities and if we tell people what we have experienced in the past they would think that we were living something out of Norman Rockwell. I remember the milk and bread being delivered door to door by horse and buggy and I met one of the men (a well known man who did the deliveries back then) while we lived in Cornwall for a short while over 12 years ago and he is now deceased. This man knew my family very well. Thinking about those days gives me a nice warm and comfortable feeling and at the same time tears me up because those were the best years that anyone would ever want to live in. You would even think that you were living the years of Andy of Mayberry that is how nice Cornwall was. You look at Cornwall today and it is mighty depressing. When there is a bad mayor and administration gone to hell it hurt badly. I just got off looking at Pat Finnerty speak and such a nice man indeed and Cornwall is very lucky to have such a fine gentleman around. He spoke the truth. Horwitz Park such memores and now they went and destroyed that nice park by building a mall that is falling apart. Here in Ottawa they are getting rid of such malls and may only keep the big malls. The others are being made into individual stores and no more malls – it is mighty costly to keep up and dirty. We didn’t have the crime in Cornwall back then compared to today. I thank you very much for mentioning all that including the Drive In, Capital Theatre, etc. I remember going there as well as the Palace Theatre to watch movies. All that is gone unfortunately. You won’t find anything like that here in Ottawa at all. Those were excellent memories indeed. Thank you again.
Wholly heck Michael they could dump “the guy” at seaway news and just hire you
I am a patriot and I love my old hometown.
Hey Michael, are you sure I don’t know you? It sounds like we were at the same places at the same time way back when. The only difference is that we used to catch eels at the “by-wash” and dump them in the Horwitz Park Pool. We thought it would be a real kick going to the pool the next morning and seeing all the eels swimming around. We didn’t realize what the pool pump would do to the eels. It wasn’t pretty.
I sincerely hope you run for Mayor Jamie Gilcig
doesn’t that look good
Cornwall deserves better than a group of fools that haven’t done anything
at least in print that i can see to stop the tanks at our harbor
Its also shameful that only 255 people have signed the petition to stop this mess
Claudette
@Reg Coffey
Yes Reg, you were the guy that always got to spread his towel out and lay on the cannon barrel in Horowitz Park. LOL
How about climbing down under the garbage shute at Chalet Glass (down on the east waterfront) to reclaim some slightly damaged blown glass pieces. Dangerous but rewarding work LOL!
@Claudette MacIntosh
Claudette sweetheart, I want you to hold up all six fingers on your righthand and swear to me that your not your own grandmother by relation to a local scribblifiyin’ feller of a similar name.from these parts.
Sincerely yours,Rev Biff Toughlove
We sure do need Jamie to run as mayor or as councellor whatever he wants to be would be a wonderful contribution as well as Mr. Samler, Mr. Oldman and others. It takes great minds to make good changes. We are seeing the worst of a city government that anyone can see and mighty depressing indeed. We sure do need change like what Mr. Pat Finnerty said and that is so mighty true. We need to get rid of that hillbilly mentality and change the people for the better before it becomes way too late to do so.
@Peter Jenkin
I will take your comment as a compliment (I think).
To tell you the truth I wouldn’t take a gig writing for a newspaper. Over the years my experiences with newspaper writers have been mixed, and lately, pretty negative.
I find with the declining interest in print journalism, a discernible drop in the quality of writing and ethical standards. Many of the big paper columnists are reaching for the nerve of the reader like never before, hoping to hold interest with sensational content.
I compiled my little list above (and I could go on and on) because I like my fellow commentors to know I’m not a Cornwall basher. We must separate the people and things that vex us about the place from the life we enjoy(ed) otherwise in the community.
I would describe my childhood in Cornwall as idyllic in some regards, the beautiful nature close-by, nice folks doing nice things in the community for each other and some pretty good recreational opportunities as well. My good memories are what connect me to Cornwall and the reason why I visit this forum.
There are more of us ex-Cornwallites living elsewhere than in Cornwall and people read Jamie’s paper from one coast of Canada to the other in order to touch base. Mr. Clifton said a few things that I can touch on about nature being close at hand which is true since we have to take the car to walk in a beautiful park here in Ottawa and not much at hand unless you travel far enough here and also the people who are like a family down there because it is small unlike a big city where you do not know many people and don’t have the help nor the care that Cornwall provides. The thing that really turned Cornwall topsy turvy is the sexual abuse as well as this patronizing thing where you cannot get ahead unless you are pulled in to something. I can’t wait to see a big turnaround for the good in Cornwall and get rid of this garbage that is leading Cornwall into a mighty huge ditch to crawl out of. People have to get out and vote for a better change and if they don’t then Cornwall will suffer badly.
Jamie yesterday I thought about you when I went out with my daughter and saw that horrible white with greenish slime like of a salt substance on the sidewalks thinking about that is the garbage that will be put in those tanks in Cornwall. This has been used for many long years and I think since the 80’s because I remember a former superintendent at another building where we lived used that horrible substance outside the building when we would step out. The streets were loaded with water as well as the sidewalks and it looks like Ottawa is going to be mighty busy replacing old sewars and what a cost.