Sure, the discussions do often get ugly and personal....but once in a while, you can actually learn something from the discussions. The thin skinned hosts that shut down anonymous comments might as well shut down their blogs. It hasn't improved the quality of the comments, jut reduced the numbers to near zero. Now they are just blogging to themselves.

I copied this comment from another blog this morning, directed at a troll who was unable to communicate without insults...

"See how it’s done? People comment on a topic, other people respond with opinions and links to web sites that support their opinions and the conversation and debate goes on in a civil tone with no insults or just a “you need to do some research”. Most of the people that visit this web site are adults who have lived far more years than you so pay attention and learn how to interact with people. It’s called social graces and not social justice."

The easiest way to tell who realizes they have no arguments or well-defined opinions is to see who begins calling names and posting personal attacks during a discussion. An opening salvo of "you're a worthless conservative (or liberal, as the case may be) idiot who wants to destroy the entire country so you don't have to actually work for a living!" is the cyber equivalent of hollering "Uncle!"

But I don't entirely blame the other hosts for why they chose to make their comments "Facebook only." I can see how Dori, Ron&Don, & Bill would get fed up with some of the absolute tripe that gets posted by some of the "regulars" on the blogs - people that would rather degrade a conversation into a grade-school name-calling session rather than to engage in any intelligent discourse.

However, despite the "trolls," there are plenty of us posters that generally try to provide intelligent or at least heart-felt response to some of the topics - and being forced to do so via facebook simply isn't viable.

One of the more recent "popular" discusions centers on how employers and others increasingly scrutinize social media postings. I work in a highly political work environment, and I hate the thought that my sharing an opinion could potentially come back at me or god forbid... a troll hating something I say and then perseverate on me... AND know my full name. I'd much prefer to fight trolls in an anonymous posting environement.

As it is now, I rarely even look at Dori's blog, Ron & Don, or even Bill's blog anymore because of the response formats. To me there seems little point if I can't engage in the conversation.

The main thing that I tend to lament about mynorthwest.com, is that there unfortunately does seem to be a prevalence of short-sighted posters and a fairly significant shortfall of people that seem to want to engage in actual conversation.

to most of life.

There's a reason that it's possible for some people to make a reasonable living by thinking clearly and communicating creatively. Those aren't common abilities.

It's rare to encounter a well-considered opinion. Most people merely repeat the last thing they heard that "sounded true."

It's even more unusual to encounter people who can clearly express a well-considered opinion. That's a skill I hope to develop someday.

It does apply to life in general.

Sadly, a great many people choose to go through life largely uninformed (some willfully ignorant).

It's always been curious to me Chuck that so many posters attack you when as a general rule, you virtually always provide a well-thought and intelligent take on topics (and in many cases backed with actual information to support your particular argument).

Debate is one thing... and differences of opinion are no problem as well. It's a shame that people seem to have a need and/or desire to hide behind anonimity and act horribly toward other people.

In an attempt to say this in a most polite manner, considering the topic....I just have to say....Stevebo, get a hold of yourself man!...."posters that attack Chuck?"...Are we talking about the same Chuck who regularly attacks those with whom he disagrees, with gems like this one?....

"Gotcha, ya old bigot.... That's got to be easy for you to remember. I think they pencil that just about eye level, on the inside of your white hood."

out of two completely different posts.

Yeah, I get very sarcastic sometimes. There are times when it's appropriate. I don't hold myself up as some paragon of virtue, but what about the people, Paul, who *never* post without a personal attack and who seldom post anything except a personal attack?

simple, you just scroll past their posts.

The evidence of "The continued Dumbing Down of America" comes out daily on the mynw blogs, generally from the same dozen or so. The childish name calling, refusal to even entertain an opposing viewpoint or provide any kind of substance to a topic. Like a bunch of debate students who flunked the class. Your posts Linda, tend to not hit the same hot buttons that the Dori's and R/D's, Boze etc do. Thats not to say your topics are lightweight..they're mostly not. You put them and your opinion in front of people on the air and in keyboardish in a manner that's adult and mature. Your coworkers at the mic (12-3) generally do not. You don't snicker, snort and gufaw at everything and that makes a lot of difference as to who shows up on your page. Dont change it.

People know what's right and wrong in our society but when they feel they are anonymous they see it as there chance to act out without consequences. People do the same thing in cars and at protests. Not everyone has this compulsion but there are plenty of bad people that the only reason they don't do bad things is the fear of getting caught or publicly decried for their inherently bad nature. So they wait until they feel anonymous to act out.

Why is Christie a GOP favorite? Because he bullies his way through discussions with people and GOPers see that as a show of strength,so when I communicate with a GOPer I slap them around a little before giving them my message.Old saying is when training a stubborn mule the first thing you do is hit him between the eyes with a 2x4 WHY? To get his attention thats why.In life you need to form the message to the person your talking with,you phrase the message differently to a blue collar person then to a bank president

I appreciate that you allow comments. Other bloggers/talk hosts showed how truly egotistical they are by deleting any comments that didn't flatter them and then shutting down their blogs. They're using us for page hits, but then want us to go away and not express our views. Thanks for being you News Chick.

Sources say that other hosts have been seen crying on their facebook walls and changing their status to 'pwned'.

I'll add my echo to the sentiments of my fellow posters. NewsChick is one of the few reasons left to visit MYNW. (I still like Boze and Ross too.) She consistently gives better detail, more original stories, and doesn't report on every mean gossipy piece of tripe floating about.

"You can't be anonymous anymore to comment on blogs written by Dori Monson, Ron & Don, or my morning partner Bill Radke."

Yeah, and look at their numbers since, and where people on the blog are collecting now. Whoops! I don't visit their blogs or even listen to them anymore. It's just as easy for me to tune them out as they have me. Sure, there are some arsehats out there (myself included) and lots of kinds of trolls. But if you're going to have a job dealing with the public, you really ought to have a spine.

"I'm pretty into that whole free speech thing. Often, positive readers have a way of balancing out the comment universe. Bottom line, if you can't take it, don't put yourself out there."

Well said. I also think that the host/blogger sets the 'tone' to a certain degree. Not as control but influence. Some get what they give.

I propose a device to make the internet a nicer place. The real problem is that you can't (physically) reach out and slap someone over the internet and they know that.

The 'Slapparatus' is a usb connected rubber hand and actuator connected to your monitor. You get too many flags on a forum post and it slaps you upside the head. You know the ones that frequent the political forums by their bicolor faces.

-messiah101 is gonna need a helmet.

You know I couldn't leave with out trolling. :-D

I'm afraid that if you market the "Slapparatus" that many of you Rightys may use it for sexual satisfaction rather then for its intended purpose