Monroe Chat

Having spoken with council members regarding this matter, I appreciate the need for Policy and procedures for the City Web site, believing it to be an astute move.

Regardless of the final outcome, I would personally like to extend my gratitude to Council that our request was given consideration and review.
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http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/m ... 91190.html
Posted from Middletown Journal:
Monroe officials working on policy 
to control content.

Visitors to http://www.monroe
ohio.org won’t find links to just any other Web site on the homepage — or any other portion of the site for that matter.

Monroe officials recently decided to pull all external links off its Web site until it creates a policy regarding content.

Links that previously existed had been on the site about four years, City Manager William Brock said.

“As a governmental agency, you can’t be discriminatory to any groups or what not. Since council is still creating a policy of links on the Web site, I just determined to pull all of the links off at that time until they develop that policy,” he said.

“Council agreed to place the governmental links back on the Web site ... but the external links are still under review,” Brock said.

When new private Web company Monroe Chat (http://www.monroechat.com) requested to be added to the site, that’s when he pulled all the links.

“Council had been discussing a policy for a couple weeks prior to that,” Brock said.

The government links were added back because “they don’t go under the policy of private companies,” Brock said. “Governmental type of uses, that’s our function. The policy will really cover those external links that are as a private company or private enterprises.”

Councilman and technology committee member Tracy Shell said after researching the issue, he agreed the links should be removed.

“In my investigation of issues, I’ve found we have left ourselves open by not having a policy to fall back on,” he said.

Shell said she also recommended that all the links be removed “until we can develop a policy, bring it in front of the council and let the council accept the responsibility of any litigations that might come up because they choose to use the Web site as a communication tool.”

Brock said the city has been collecting other neighboring communities policies — such as the city of Cincinnati and the Miami Valley Communications Council (that represents several cities in the Dayton area) — to assist it in drafting its own policy.

"Shell said she also recommended that all the links be removed"

Can they be sued for libel?

I would suggest that this is not the first time such an error has occurred

It was the Middletown paper afterall....

Getting some crazy comments on the paper's site as well.

I hadn't looked at the comments before ! It appears there are a few with axes to grind, how sad.....

HRHPatey wrote:I hadn't looked at the comments before ! It appears there are a few with axes to grind, how sad.....

I used to be able to say I am proud to be from Monroe. But the way these buffoons behave anymore...

I did have to chuckle at the britton lane comment:

Well MonroeChat you have screwed things up for everyone, now we will see what we can do for you and you won't be happy about it.

This individual obviously didn't think that by mere mention they had indeed done something for MonroeChat

I love to read the comments. You can really tell that most people do not use their brain. It's quite sad. And then they get into HUGE arguments as well. Funny stuff.

I agree Kolby. I had to insert my comment as well.

The links were taken off at the recommendation of the City Law Director, the City Manager and members of the Information Technology Committee. The links will be reviewed for what we would like the web site content to be. At that time the recommendations from the committee will be brought to the full city council and put for a vote.

During the fiscal emergency the web site was clearly , and with good reason, not on the top of the list to spend money on. We can revise and improve the city web site without spending a fortune and create a very informative resource for the community. We(information Technology committee) are not rushing to put items on the site just to appease a few indivduals that want to be the loudest voice. If you have ideas or thoughts about what you feel would be a benifit for the community please let us know. We can be reached at Tracy Shell @ shellt@monroeohio.org, Suzi Rubin @ Rubins@monroeohio.org Steve Tannreuther @ Tannreuthers@monroeohio.org

Well said Councilman. Well said!

Tracy wrote:The links were taken off at the recommendation of the City Law Director, the City Manager and members of the Information Technology Committee. The links will be reviewed for what we would like the web site content to be. At that time the recommendations from the committee will be brought to the full city council and put for a vote.

During the fiscal emergency the web site was clearly , and with good reason, not on the top of the list to spend money on. We can revise and improve the city web site without spending a fortune and create a very informative resource for the community. We(information Technology committee) are not rushing to put items on the site just to appease a few indivduals that want to be the loudest voice. If you have ideas or thoughts about what you feel would be a benifit for the community please let us know. We can be reached at Tracy Shell @ shellt@monroeohio.org, Suzi Rubin @ Rubins@monroeohio.org Steve Tannreuther @ Tannreuthers@monroeohio.org

Thanks Tracy.... I can't believe the rather crude and childish behavior on the journal comment page. One word
UNBELIEVABLE...