So you think if I posted my pro-Trump, anti-socialism, anti-illegal immigration, anti-sanctuary cities, anti-universal healthcare and other conservative views, that people would simply press "disagree" instead of attacking me? Not only would I have a target on my back, the PA Online liberal editors would also delete my comments.

They should just disable the "like" buttons too, as they can be gamed by one person. The most "likes" I have ever seen were 105 for one posting. Our population is 67,000. Do 105 "likes" really matter? Does it really represent the entire city? Or are there variables of what type of person reads the Town Forum? "Likes" are not scientific research.

13% of Menlo Park voted for Trump. Don't know what the vote was in PA.[Portion removed.]

Sure, get rid of the 'like' button. Honestly, the first person I saw 'master' it was Na-Na. She'd have 50 likes in a heartbeat.

Posted by Conservative, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood

> So you think if I posted my pro-Trump, anti-socialism, anti-illegal immigration, anti-sanctuary cities, anti-universal healthcare and other conservative views,

You are very confused. Trump is not a real conservative. Here is a validated report on who voted for Trump:

Web Link

Why did Trump win? Embarrassing, isn't it?

Web Link

The key is not to take things too personally on an internet forum. Besides, if it gets out of hand, the moderators infuse their discretionary deletions & editing.

As far as 'like' & 'dislike' options go, the 'like' choice tends to be more informative in regards to conveying a consensus of opinion. If someone disagrees, they can always follow-up with a well-written/worded rebuttal. A 'dislike' selection says very little without further or additional elaboration.

For example...if someone asked, "Do you like pizza?" the 'like' option would shed far more light without requiring further commentary than someone simply hitting a 'dislike' button and expressing absolutely nothing else to convey their reason(s).

You can put all kinds of buttons, but No meaningful discussion is possible on this website due to the egregious censorship.

Posted by No meaningful discussion, a resident of Fairmeadow

>> You can put all kinds of buttons, but No meaningful discussion is possible on this website due to the egregious censorship.

On the contrary, it is the moderators at work that make any "open" discussion board useful. I've been an sometime participant in online boards for more than 30 years. Boards without moderation, unless they have both a narrow focus and membership, are basically useless.

Like the old Siskel & Ebert show with a 'thumbs up' or 'a thumbs down' selection?

Is this a discussion forum or a public opinion poll?

A 'like' button is sufficient as there is adequate space to provide a dissenting opinion.

Or how about an "I Object" button for added dramatic effect?

Maybe two "I Object" buttons for vehement objections?

Besides, some people don't even bother with the 'like' buttons.

"So you think if I posted my pro-Trump, anti- ... ... ... . Not only would I have a target on my back, the PA Online liberal editors would also delete my comments."

[Portion removed.] Where would America be if Tom Paine, Ben Franklin, John Adams, and those other radical liberals just sat around whining on their donkeys?

@Anon: There is a big difference between moderation and censorship.
Censorship results in one-sided discussions, which may feel useful to you, but are still not meaningful.

Thankfully, many people still find freedom of speech useful.

Fret not. Everyone's getting censored.

[Portion removed.]

Deal with it. It's not censorship. It's a private media company.

Invisible hand of the free market, doncha know...

There are no 1st Amendment rights on a public internet forum.

The right to censorship, moderation and editing of posts belongs exclusively to the sponsor of the forum.

Most people seem to overlook this factor when questioning deletions.

Posted by No meaningful discussion, a resident of Fairmeadow

>> @Anon: There is a big difference between moderation and censorship.
Censorship results in one-sided discussions, which may feel useful to you, but are still not meaningful.

I see. Meaningful to me is not meaningful, but, meaningful to you -is- meaningful.

>> Thankfully, many people still find freedom of speech useful.

Seriously, if you don't find it "meaningful" or "useful" to read and post here, then, why are you here? Reminds me of Speakers Corner in Hyde Park (London). Web Link Get yourself a soapbox and expound on anything, as long as you don't insult the Queen. Of course, you are not guaranteed an audience, nor are you guaranteed that the audience you do get won't laugh, jeer, or interrupt.

A dislike button is nothing more than a 'boo' button.

[Post removed.]

If we have a "like" button it makes sense to me that we have a disagree button too. It goes back to the days where we could simply say Hear, Hear, or Boo. We don't all have to make a long spiel to get our thoughts across, the simple agree or disagree mechanism would suffice. And for those who play the like game on many different devices, there will be just as many who place the disagree button. It would be interesting to see the number of agree v disagree on any post.

I think moderators deletion is a very different but still a talk worthy topic. But I do think agree and disagree makes sense to me.

> And for those who play the like game on many different devices, there will be just as many who place the disagree button. It would be interesting to see the number of agree v disagree on any post.

So your idea basically resolves nothing.

"@Anon: There is a big difference between moderation and censorship."

Here? You gotta be kidding.

PA Weekly, try this: https://disqus.com

Engage your audience, baby! Many newspapers use it, and it generally works quite well.

@Anon, so you think that having an opinion different from yours disqualifies someone from participating in the discussion board?
The Hyde park analogy is good, but applicable to you and the Curmudgeon- personally as soon as I see you join and start flooding every discussion with your posts, I move on...
To those who state that the private media has a right to censorship- you are correct, but you are missing the point.

Posted by So Sad, a resident of Barron Park

>> @Anon, so you think that having an opinion different from yours disqualifies someone from participating in the discussion board?

On the contrary, without multiple different opinions, it would be a very boring discussion board.

>> The Hyde park analogy is good, but applicable to you and the Curmudgeon- personally as soon as I see you join and start flooding every discussion with your posts, I move on...

What is it about my posts (and Curmudgeon's?) that you find so repellent?

>> To those who state that the private media has a right to censorship- you are correct, but you are missing the point.

I missed your point. Spell it out for me; I don't recall seeing your posts previously.

It is very easy to start ignoring a thread regardless of the number of comments if it is a topic on which you don't have an interest.

However, many comments saying the same thing is not just boring and repetitive but wastes the time.

If we agree, we can just add hear hear.

If we disagree, we can just add boo.

At least reading the latest posts will take less time and it is still worth being able to get the overall impression of the online readership's interest and opinion on a particular topic.

I'm confused about how some folks get away with adopting context-specific names like @online name and @mauricio and "recall mauricio" when it suits them but others can't and our comments get deleted for "user posting using multiple names" when we do exactly the same thing,

Nobody's keeping score on "likes" unless they are of a petty mindset.

[Post removed.]

[Post removed.]

I disagree, and have no problem telling you so.

"Liking" something is positive. Disliking it is negative -- I think it's far better for people to say why they disagree with something -- because disagreeing means discussion and that isn't in and of itself even necessarily negative. You're basically advocating for making it easier for you to be negative without having to justify yourself. This is a community newspaper and relatively small community at that. If you want to spend all day being negative the easy way, as has been pointed out, there are other outlets.

In response to the previous poster, you have actually given me something to think about and possibly sway my thinking.

I do agree that discussion and debate is not only useful but often vital to helping us formulate our own ideas and opinions. It takes effort to listen (or read) a well thought argument that is different from our own. Too often the loudest voice is generally supposed to be the one that wins the argument or the opinion that most people are expected to have.

I consider myself an independent thinker. I like to think outside the box and often try to put my own opinion in various threads on many topics. Unfortunately, when I do I get disagreeable comments that don't actually listen to what I say and make sensible rebuttals, but make assumptions about who I am, what I believe, my political persuasion as well as basically denigrating me as a person with name calling and sometimes worse. It is no wonder that most commenters want to remain anonymous.

If someone puts a well thought through comment even if I don't agree with them it may be that I may want to explain why I don't agree. But if I have already posted my rationale for having a different opinion, I don't see that I need to type another long post explaining my disagreement when a button just might do the same job.

In various threads recently, there has been a lot of disagreement by younger millennial posters who have sounded angry and called older residents second class citizens for daring to disagree. These comments have had many likes within minutes of their posting even at times such as mid morning or very early morning when I don't expect that many people are reading Town Square and if they are unlikely to all be in full agreement to warrant a "like". This can only lead me to believe that the poster is using various devices to flood the like button. For reasons like this, it seems that spending time yet again explaining why this view is not helpful to the topic being discussed, and that having a button expressing disagreement would be a simple method to express such disagreement.

Hear Hear, and Boo, are often used in a political arena. Buttons that do the same could be useful.

However, I do not for a minute want to get rid of useful debate and discussion.

[Portion removed.]

Back to topic: lose the like button if it offends those so easily offended. Need to be safe in our spaces. Could start snowing soon, with little flaky puffs of snow falling about us...

Enjoy the day folks, sounds like they found the bomb terrorist.