Bond Hunter's Guide To Wondir

Christmas, The Holidays and Children

2006-01-02T15:08:00.000-05:00

Christmas, The Holidays and Children

Sorry but this was SUPPOSE to have been posted before Christmas, but he had a little change in our plans for the holiday season. While the post is late, we had a fantastic time this past week. So here's what was suppose to be up about a week ago:

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With the approaching holiday season and the merriness of the children, it’s time to reflect on life and the things that are really important.

No doubt your child/children have had their Christmas lists made out for the past year or so…and no doubt with each commercial on T.V. you hear the chants of “OHHHH…I want that!”

But at this time of the year I think its more important to think about and teach your children about the things you already have.

Yes, there still need to be lots of pretty toys under the tree, my daughters all got brand new notebook computers and a bunch of clothes this year, they’ll get more from Mom and the Grandparents I’m sure…but they know those gifts are just gifts…they’re not the real meaning of the season or what the whole idea of life is all about.

To me, and I’m sure I’m not alone, the most important things are the love you share as a family, the closeness you feel with the extended family that you have and the joy in just being alive and being able to live another day with a chance to help someone, care for someone and even at times love someone.

This past year has brought many changes to the lives of myself and my children.

In September of 2004 I joined a website called Wondir and started answering questions from whoever popped on the site. In little over a year I had answered over 25,000 questions. I had met countless people who in their own personal time had given help to those in need, those seeking answers and those just seeking a friend.

Over the year that I was on Wondir I counseled many people, giving only my opinion of what I saw as a possible answer to their problems.

The past year has been a wonderful (WonDirFul?) year for me and for my family. We’ve had a blessing from God that we never would have expected, never knew was even possible. The countless emails, the calls (yeah I do rarely give out a private phone number when I feel it is really needed and won’t be abused), the cards and letters sent to me, my family and other people who I have counseled.

I have my share of happy endings, the ones that turn out much better than you ever expect. And I have my share of unhappy endings, or more like unhappy hiatus…I always like to think the missed chances will come back one more time and try to get things right.

I’ve had my share of failures too. The things you knew just had to work cause the case was so clear and everyone had to see it. But online, you have to realize that you never know what is really going on with the other person, what is really happening and being said on the other side.

As I’m typing the draft for this post, I have Sarah watching T.V. in the living room with her Mom and my kids. I hear laughter and see smiles. I see four children, five if I count Mom, coming out of their shells more and more each day.

I see the future, I see the past, I see what caring for someone is all about.

No, I can’t change the entire world, no one can. But together, if we really try, we really can!

It’s not a war on terrorism, it’s not a war on drugs, it’s not a crackdown on illegal immigration, it’s all about the caring and the love we show each other. It’s about reaching out when no one else will, it’s about taking risks when you truly believe the reward out-weighs the risk. It’s about places like Wondir where you can reach out and help another person, maybe even save their lives.

I’m proud of the time I had put in on Wondir, I’ve been able to be a part of a wonderful community of warm, loving and caring people who give from their hearts, care from their very beings and believe in the one true gospel of this day and age…help others.

I could recount for you story after story, email after email, the successful help I alone have given, then take a long hard look at the countless people on Wondir and magnify that times ten.

What do you have?

A caring, loving and nurturing community that not only has a proven track record, but continues to grow daily, expands to handle new issues, listens to its users and really cares about the person behind the question.

I’d also love to thank all of the people who have stopped by here in connection to me time on blog exchanges…especially Jack, John, Michelle, Raja, and Peebug: who has a blog that always makes me smile…

I’d also love to thank the sites I link to for doing all you do to help others. I’d like to thank the sites that link back to me, you make it all worth wild bringing others in need closer to where they need to be.

I’d like to thank my own kids, for giving up a little of their Daddy so someone else is happy.

I’d like to thank “Mom”, for trusting, believing and having the courage to step-out and do what was needed.

But most of all, I need to thank one little girl who made me really believe, through the good and the bad, that it was all worth it. That no matter what people said about how much time I spend on a website, that no matter how many people told me a person was beyond help or beyond reach, it mattered.

A little girl, who through her courage and perseverance has overcome so many odds and beat the system that is bent on just covering things up and making them go away. A little girl who never gave up hope, never stopped believing, never stopped loving or caring. A little girl who should have the Nobel Prize for Faith…

Sarah

You’ve changed my life, the lives of my children, your mothers life and most importantly, you changed the life you had into one that you wanted.

Look under the Christmas Tree this year, you’ll see the difference you’ve made in our lives.

We love you, we thank you for being a part of our lives and we look forward to many happy years being close.

To the rest of you who had to read through that sappy love song, remember what BH always tells you…

BE SAFE…

BE HAPPY…

BUT MOST OF ALL….

BE YOURSELF!!!!!

Until next time….love ya all…pray for Sarah, pray for our country…and help each other!

Bond Hunter ~ Over and Out!

The Prince Of Tides

2005-10-30T18:26:00.000-05:00

The Prince Of Tides: Our Own Hidden Secrets

As people who want to help others, as online advice givers, oh to hell with to so called professionals, as Online Counselors…a quiet question lingers…

“What secrets do YOU hold Lowenstein???”

If you have ever seen the movie “The Prince Of Tides” you know what I’m talking about. If not…watch it a few more times…

If you have NEVER seen this most blessed of all psychological BS flicks than GO RENT IT TONIGHT!

It deals with the holding on to the past, even when it is bad, ever horrible, because it is the only past we have.

We cover up, lie, deny, cuss, cheat, steal, runaway, and commit the most hideous acts of violence all in the name of protecting those most precious thoughts.

Nick Nolte and Miss Barbara gave their best performances in this lesser known but well respected movie. It gives everyone a better sense of who we really are on the planet, no matter our station in life, yeah face it, we all have our station…

It also shows the horror of child abuse and rape, while holding on to family values, though in the movie they aren’t the correct values.

To put it bluntly, we all have secrets…how far are you willing to uncover yours to be a better counselor?

Give out a free email address? Call someone, risking Caller ID? Talk to their significant other? Talk to their PARENT??????

Maybe none of the above…

Does that make your advice any less valuable? NO…

You have right to privacy, but the person you are counseling has rights too…

That’ll be covered in another post…but for now let’s deal with your rights.

You have the right to protect your personal information…banks, jobs, family all the usual BS.

You have the right to voice your opinion…but, you may at some later date be called to the rug over it…(been there, done that….it ain’t pretty, but if you are right it is worth it.)

You have the right to ask for more information, though not personal, just in reply to what you have been asked.

You have the right to refer to a PROFESSIONAL for further advice. This is a right we ALL need to use over and over again.

Unless you are a certified professional with degrees, you, at times, need to refer to one. Not getting in the Ad-Sense “Call Joe Smith CSW….he’ll cure all your ills” Google ads BS…

But to give the advice that “You should really talk to your doctor” or “You need more help than I can give you…I have a hotline number that can help…it’s…..”

Sometimes the best that we can do is refer to someone else, I’ve referred to other regulars on Wondir as well as to professionals.

Hey, I’m not a woman, I can’t tell you much about the feelings of pregnancy…but I can tell you to talk to So-And-So.

Now, there are areas we know, there are areas we can research, and there are areas in which we are of no help at all. You know it, I know it.

But I’ve seen it so many times when someone has to stick their nose into something they know NOTHING about and just throw in a little BS to boil the waters. It happens on Wondir all the time. (Thank God for good moderators!)

A lot of the time we let our own experiences dictate how we respond. We let our own opinions lead us in how we advise others, especially kids and teens. And to the kids and teens this is not fair at all.

While we can use those experiences to guide our advice, we can’t dictate to them what they can and cannot do.

Offer options, advice, guidance. No scriptures, condemnation, don’t laugh at them, criticize them, don’t condemn them.

Let them make the choices. Do you as a zealot think God is going to reward you for pressuring someone into believing something they really don’t? Not saying you are wrong, but if it is not their choice, it must be yours alone. In the end, no one wins. And maybe a child walks away from God, or worse…dies.

We bury what needs to be, only to have it come back later to be finally dealt with. That’s not what we do in online counseling. We try to get a person stable, happy and healthy…moving on with their life. Then if we are so inclined we can express religious convictions at a latter date. For now just keep them alive, happy and willing to see the next sunrise.

Anything less then that is wasting the time of all of those of us that truly care and want to help and it is wasting the time and life of those that need our help.

It all boils down to “If you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”

Sorry if that’s a little too rough for the trolls and smart-asses, but that is how it is and how it has to be.

For now, as I’m fond of saying: Be Safe, Be Happy, But MOST OF ALL…BE YOURSELF!!!

Cross-posted on Bond Hunter's Guide To Online Counseling & Resources

What’s The REAL Question: Short-sightedness In Counseling Online

2005-10-29T17:02:00.000-04:00

What’s The REAL Question: Short-sightedness In Counseling Online

Let’s call her Sarah.

She’s a 10 year old girl I met on Wondir about a year ago. It’s taken me about 7 months to build a relationship with her and her family. She is the only child of a single working mother who just completed a divorce from an extremely abusive husband.

Both Sarah and her mother were abused in this situation. Her mother physically and emotionally. Sarah was abused physically, emotionally and sexually.

When I first met Sarah online it was in response to a question she had posted somewhat along the lines of “Do you always go to hell if you commit suicide?”

Well, right off the bat, that sent the religious zealots of Wondir into a great theological debate that did little good in getting to the root of Sarah’s problem. You see, while Sarah’s question involved religious aspects, it wasn’t for theological debates that she was looking for, it was for help in stopping her thoughts of suicide.

With all of the horrible things that had happened to Sarah in her life, she had lost the will to live. Yes, even a 10 year old can get that so depressed and so desperate that they can’t see any way out from the living hell their lives have become.

Meanwhile back on Wondir, those of us who aren’t concerned with the religious aspects of heaven and hell when it comes to a child’s plea for help, attempted to aid her the best we could amid all the quotations of scriptures, mostly taken out of context anyway.

After a long discourse with Sarah and the other people who were focusing on helping Sarah not converting her, I left her with a message that if she wanted to talk more she could always email me and I gave her my email address, which most regulars at Wondir probably have memorized by now since I give it out so freely.

I didn’t hear from Sarah for about two weeks. Then one day I received an email asking if I remembered answering a question on Wondir and she gave me the details. I’ll be the first to admit that with all the questions posted per day on Wondir it gets a bit hard to remember even the heated debates (of which there should be NONE when the true question isn‘t about religion, but about life) but as Sarah’s remembrance of the responses unfolded I began to remember the post and it’s ensuing debate and the little true advice many had offered. (Thank God for the few level headed regulars and mods who saw past the terminology and phrasing of the post and saw what the true meaning behind it was).

Sarah thanked me for talking to her about her problem and not condemning her for her thoughts, she really only wanted to know if anyone really cared enough to reach out. She thanked me for all the help the I and all the other level headed posters gave her without telling her that she would go to hell, or only God can decide that.

Those posts while valid in the religious realm, were not what she was asking. And this gets to the main point of this post…(God, it took me THIS long just to get to the main point? You know this is gonna be a long one…..)

How often do we, as advice givers online, overlook the real problems, the real questions being asked, the real issue being raised…

Do we look at questions and responses and just assume? Remember what the great comedian Benny Hill said…“Never assume, cause when you do you make an ASS out of U and ME” (hence the ASS-U-ME).

Or do we, as we should, solicit more information, reevaluate the information as new information becomes available and offer new, fresh and innovative ways of handling the problem? Which is more valuable? Which is more helpful? Which would you want an online counselor giving your 10 year old daughter?

Sometimes you have to look beyond the words you see on a web page, listen a little closer to the words in a phone call, play many ideas and possibilities through your mind before you want to add anything more. Sometimes the best and most helpful response is to either remain silent or to ask a question of your own. “Well, what else can you tell me?” “Wow, how did that make you feel?” “Do you have any ideas on how you think you might want to handle this?”

A few simple and direct questions can open up a whole new line of questioning which in turn will lead to new information and possibilities. Or, it could open up a whole new Pandora’s Box.

But, after all, that’s what we do in counseling isn’t it? Pry the box open just a little bit at a time?

For now, as I’m fond of saying: Be Safe, Be Happy, But MOST OF ALL…BE YOURSELF!!!

Cross-posted to Bond Hunter's Counseling and Resource Blog

Take The BOND HUNTER Challenge!!!

2005-10-02T18:12:00.000-04:00

Due to my constant posting of my email address I get a TON of spam in my gmail account daily.

Well for the next 30 days I'm not going to empty any of my spam mail.

Post your guess of how many spam emails I get in the next 30 days.

I offically began at midnight today and currently have 167.

Heck maybe I can sue them all inthe end...

Let's see who gets the closest to the real tally!!!

Guess Size DOES Matter

2005-09-27T20:07:00.000-04:00

Google now says it is 3 times larger than any other seach engine

Umm....that's for pages indexed

Here You Go!

A mad and RAVING rant on Parenting, American Society and OUR Responsibility to kids!

2005-09-27T01:41:00.000-04:00

I recently posted on a board on Yahoo that is connected to Wondir the following RANT, yes, a RANT...not that I'm not already known for these but here's the whole story...be patient

The Moderator posted this sad but true story and a question...deep in deed:

A mother was walking home along the road in Middlesborough, Teeside UK
with her 10 month old baby girl in a pushchair when she was approached
by a youth who appeared to be drunk or under the influence of drugs.

He punched the baby twice in the face before fleeing.

The baby was taken to hospital but thankfully was not suffering from
any major injuries.

If/when this moron is caught what punishment would you prescribe?

Now...you all know me and my love for children and kids and teens. Do you think I even had a chance to think this one through or did I just unload?

Well if you guessed BOTH you're right...I fought posting for the longest time and finally had to blow...

So here it is in all it's mess and bloody glory, Heed my words!

That's so disturbing...

Depending on his age...youth usually means over 13 or 14....

LOCK THE SOB UP

Detox him, make him face the family and pay for what he did...jail
time INCLUDED!!!

Come on people stop using drugs or intoxication as an excuse for
horrible crimes. THIS is what is wrong with this country and even
the world.

We excuse things like this because "they may have a problem".

It's the BLAME GAME...spin the wheel and see which family member or
section of society you get to BLAME for all the nasty things you did
wrong and why your life is so messed up!!! WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!

And, sadly we have a loser...

Society...think back to when we were all kids, I'm talking to those
of us in our mid 30's to early or even late 40's...

Would this SHIP have happened then? (grins at the careful cloaking)

If this had happened to my child I would have tracked the little
punk down and kiled him, just like my daddy would have done. THIS is
what is WRONG with AMERICA...PARENTS NOT BEING PARENTS...not doing
what is RIGHT for their kids!

I deal with this on Wondir day after day, it's why my posts have
dropped from #1 in 90 days to like #8...I'm not there as much, I'm
in IM's and Emails dealing with issues of families falling apart and
parents not doing their jobs...drunks daddies and dating mommies
don't make up for a STABLE FAMILY HOME LIFE!

I'm not saying you HAVE to stay married when you know its over, or
to do what our grand-parents did and STAY TOGETHER FOR THE
KIDS...but be a father or mother, even if you aren't with the child
at the time.

It's time for American families to GTF up...a little faster than our
kids are...cause if not...remember...when you're old and in
diapers...THEY DECIDE WHERE YOU GO!

*Reposted to my blog just to tick off a few more Wondirites

We waste so much of our youth trying to grow up, yet we miss so much in doing so. And as parents we rush our children through life as if it was our decision. Who gave us that right? Who said "Make your kid take care of YOU ASAP!!!"?

Who is the father that sits by and gets drunk night after night while his kids chat online to strangers asking for ways to get Daddy to stop drinking?

Who is the mother who is out running the town while her preteens sit on the internet and ask "Why doesn't our mom love us anymore"?

Who is the teen the sits home at night contemplating suicide while her parents are out drugging up?

And who are WE who sit online trying to help these kids in need?

Well I already know who I am, I think you do to...now...how to get this BACK TO THE PARENTS!!!

I'd love to come to a board that only whats recipes!!! Instead of info about cutting, suicide and running away...

What a sad, cruel world we live in today...and to think...WE WERE THE ONES THAT WANTED TO GROW UP SO FAST...

The only solace I have is that it happened inthe UK...or is it just never reported HERE?

Rant over...continue your surfing...

Google WiFi?

2005-09-21T15:04:00.000-04:00

Google is at it once again...this time in the Wireless Internet Arena!

Check this out Google Secure Access

Bond Hunter Part 2?

2005-09-18T03:26:00.000-04:00

Here's a linky to my next project.

Let me know what you think!!

Once agian I'm bondhunter@gmail.com

Google Blog Search!!

2005-09-14T12:41:00.000-04:00

Good God!

Good Google!!!

It's finally here. Google has done gone and done it again...this time with BLOGS!

Here's a couple of articles about this long needed and wanted search engine for blogs...

Once again, my hats off to Google! Go get em boys!!!

Bright and Shiny Future: Part Four

2005-09-13T01:53:00.000-04:00

Bright And Shiny Future: Part Four
* Or “How To Lose Friends And Tick Everyone Off!

Hey all, welcome to another issue of your suggestions and ideas for enhancing the Wondir experience.

If you read your Weekly Wondir…and you should! You know we got our first Blog Suggested Upgrade! We got…umm…..what are they called…..umm…err…hmmm…..oh, wait PARAGRAPHS!!!

So now I CAN post

THIS

IF I

WANT! (Just kidding Allen…)

Now on to the next batch of rants and raves…hold on boys and girls and keep all limbs inside the car as it barrels into the unknown…

One suggestion that has been brought up and it was also one of my ideas too is a little box on the site, preferably on the Category board where one can type in a registered users name and see their posts without having to wait for them to post.

In other words, you want to see what questions I’ve asked and answered you would simply click on this box, type in my name and click OK.

Up would pop both my Q’s and A’s with links to the Q’s I posted the A’s to.

Just like clicking on my name gives you the option to see both my Q’s and my A’s but you don’t have to scroll through the whole day to see if I was on to get to my name. (Yes, I know you can always bookmark my Stats page, but that gets to be too much if you have a lot of people that you know and want to keep an eye on, especially for those who are moderators. Sometimes we like to keep a long-term eye on known offenders so we know that they aren’t repeating their prior infractions.

Someone suggested that if you post a link in a WIM, it should open in another window that BOTH you and the person who asked the question would see…kind of like a shared ride...some site did that I know I heard about it but never knew what is was for…

Now this would be interesting. But I’d like to take it a step further, how about incorporating into the WIM, so the WIM window (WIMDOW?) opens to a full page and you can type and guide at the same time (me sees Allen dialing MIT for this one…)

I could talk to you in the message part, point with my mouse, even GUIDE you if you ALLOW me to do so, and walk you through things step by step.

*Me hears Matt scream from the background*

Yeah too open to MAJOR ABUSE…

Imagine if you will…you or your CHILD, allows me to take you on a magical ride over the internet…did it just get cold in here or was it just me? We all know each other to an extent, those of us regulars…but who are you going to trust THAT much? *Note: Whole other Blog Post to come…

*Great idea, hard to implement, harder to monitor. This would take a lot of work but I’d love to see it. For this to happen I would have to foresee a “quasi-staff” who were both verified by the staff at Wondir, with a police background check and constant monitoring. For now it is impossible considering the size of Wondir’s staff and the complexity of the project…BUT…..it’s on my back burner for when *dreams of a Google/Wondir pairing* things are different.

Fad Boards…

Yes, this is an issue that has been sent to me either here on the blog or by email a zillion times!!! Ok, not a zillion but lots of times…

Books *cough*Harry*Potter*cough* and TV shows and Movies create a HUGE following at times, simply look at Lord Of The Rings or that series about some Wizard Kid…forget his name though…

I know a lot of you don’t like the Fad idea or the Kids idea, but face it…kids are a HUGE part of Wondir’s following. If we kicked all the kids off we’d all be sitting around answering questions like “What is the name of the guy the manicures a horses hoofs?”(and again HUSH YOU!!) and you know we have ALL been though that phase already.

Fad Boards are a part of the internet, like fan pages are to celebrities. I like or love you or your movie so I set up a fan page at some free hosting site…

This is no different, those questions would be routed to the correct board for them and, IF, we are not subscribed to that channel we don’t have to see it.

Yes, that’s another post I need to do…how to add and subtract boards from your list.
The question is how many boards Wondir wants to have and to support. Specialty board thin out the people answering on the ALL CATEGORIES while adding little value to the site as a whole, except to those who are on that board.

To me, it’s like the Mature Category.

Personally I don’t go there, I’ve been there and seen it before, didn’t feel the need to offer my hand…umm…bad wording there….offer my advice there and to tell you the truth at times it is just a message board meant solely for adults.

I’d say 90% of the sex related questions go to Pregnancy, Relationships Teen or other (though I have no idea why) boards.

To me the Mature Category should be a restricted board. You sign up, you send Wondir a copy of your Drivers License and they call you to verify. From that point on it’s THEIR problem.
Get a mod or two, I know there are a few that go there, have them watch for fake accounts and kids.

Someone posted this…and it has my 110% backing.

When logged in as a moderator, some right-click features would be great. From the Wondir site, it would be great if I could right-click on a question and choose to re-categorize, then be offered the categories, and select. I could buzz right down the board and get stuff in the proper categories.

Easier re-categorizing would be a major upgrade. Point, click…zip

End of Story.

Again…Moderator Tracking…

I’d love to know who is a mod and when they are online. And the added ability to /message them in a NON-POSTED way to discuss problem posters and deletions.

I’d don’t want to have this turn into a Mod. Vs. Mod. War

I’d just like to know who you banned and why… show me the reason and I can back you 100%
Otherwise it is your word against theirs…

How about a pop-up when you Suspend someone or delete their posts or answers.

Simple form: Mod123 erased response from WGuest12123232. Reason: Vulgar
Explanation: Modified Curse Word

Mod 563 Suspended account named Bitemybutt for: Explanation: User repeatedly violated Wondir rules by cursing, asking for or offering sex, harassing other users…blah, blah, blah..

These I can understand…but there has to be a link to said infringements.

Email responses

This is something I’ve noticed and think needs to be addressed soon. Someone answers or responses to a post or a question and in my email I only get part of the post…send it all to me…easy enough…plus include a link to View Question and all responses, not just a link to email them back and make me have to hunt for the Question.

The AnswerBus Problem…

A lot of people do not know that AnswerBus is a so called “search site” that refers to Wondir when it is not in their database.

Well I’ve almost lost my head a few times with AnswerBus and it’s repeated posts of the same questions over and over and over…

Someone posts often Does AnswerBus EVER learn?

Apparently not. The database seems to miss everything, add nothing and is totally useless. I’ve actually posted the same question over and over to see if it learns, I’ve even gone as far as to make sure I’m the one that answers it. Yet still the AnswerBus database learns little if anything.
Someone needs to get AnswerBus to put more of Wondirs answers into the database a lot faster. I love the idea of type question, get instant answer, but this ain’t it.

WonDir Contests/Wondir Bowl

A recent visitor asked that there be some contests that aren’t geared to users being online 24/7 in order to win.

Now, as a long time winner in these Wondir Bowls I would love to see something original. Something not based on ratings or how many questions you answer.

But that’s a hard field to sow.

If anyone has any suggestions I would love to see them. After all, I have enough mugs to last me a while.

Contest suggestions should be fair to all, not geared to ratings, or number if questions answered, focused on a real topic, not CHAT related.

Email me with some ideas!!! Allen and Matt would love to see them!

And on that note, I’ll remind you once again, we have the ear of the guys in charge. All you have to do is ASK!

If you don’t ask, they don’t know, they can’t respond and things don’t get better. The worst you get from asking is a No...sorry can’t do that for these reasons….

I have NEVER had anyone at Wondir just tell me no or YES for that matter…they always tell you why…

For now…Be Safe…Be Happy….but most of all…..BE YOURSELF!!

Bond Hunter Over and OUT!

Bright And Shiny Future: Part 3 of Many!!!

2005-08-30T01:40:00.000-04:00

Wondir: A Bright And Shiny Future: #3 of MANY!*
* or how to muck things up without really trying…

As you have noticed by now I’m doing this 1 trillion page post piece by piece.

Got a lot of GREAT responses that deserve responses, so here I rant on about a few more….(Poor Matt, Allen and the rest of the Wondirful staff at Wondir for having to follow all this)

Some Wondirful Wondir mod wrote in with this…

“On the Admin Site, I would like the ability to plug in a Wondir ID and see all the user's questions and answers. (Sometimes I see a post complaining about another user. I end up searching every single question and answer looking for that user's offensive post. If another moderator got to it, then I can search for it and never find it!)”

To me, this is a definite 10! I’ve been there and done that too many times. Give me the abusers WGuest number and I can see what’s been said and done. This should also include deleted posts and if the person or email addy has been banned before. It would make it simpler for Mods to be able to track trouble-makers and perverts. *Gasp* Yeah I’ve run across a few but not too many YET…

The same user/mod offered this idea:

“When logged in as a moderator, some right-click features would be great. From the Wondir site, it would be great if I could right-click on a question and choose to re-categorize, then be offered the categories, and select. I could buzz right down the board and get stuff in the proper categories.”

I agree here, to re-categorize stuff on Wondir is just a PITA. I gave that up months ago. The filtering system gets most things right but a lot of times it really mucks things up and you sit there in a category and go “Hmm…..what made it put THAT here????”

As I said in my previous reply, no filtering system designed yet is perfect but…why not shoot for it now? And if you can’t…why not make it easier on those that can and would be reorganizing things?

This same resourceful mod offered the idea of letting mods know when other mods are online at Wondir.

Anyone think Wondir ought to just hire this mod? LOL

I love this idea, and when a post gets deleted I can message the mod if I have Q’s about who, what, when, where, why and how….well we know how….so pass on that..

This brings me to another post…err, posts and a few private emails I’ve gotten. Mods cover your ears cause you might not like this one…

A few people have mentioned this, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes. And is PISSES ME OFF TO NO END! (Originally I had ticked in there, but no, it’s MUCH more than that now that I think about it…Grrrrr!!!!)

Posts that are not there when I click on them. And I mean posts that are for real, serious, meaningful and not in offensive language or off-color.

I’ll give you an example. I was in an on again/off again posting with a girl one night and I noticed that several of her posts were getting deleted almost instantly.

If that wasn’t bad enough, this girl was in an abusive situation at home and needed help instantly, not to have to repost 100 times.

Then, if things were not bad enough, her account was blocked 4 or 5 times under a WGuest account. Finally I had to resort to giving out my email addy, not like I haven’t done that a million times before, but this time it was forced out of me by someone deleting posts and accounts.

It seems occasionally we have rouge mods at Wondir. Mod’s who wheel a little bit of power and let it go to their heads and think they know what is and isn’t proper for Wondir to answer, a child to ask, or a user to post.

GET OVER YOURSELF! You aren’t THAT FLIPPIN’ IMPORTANT!! And if you feel the need to be…then…..GO SOMEPLACE ELSE!!!

Wondir is about Questions and Answers. Wondir is about reaching out and helping others. Wondir is about a community that comes together and helps those in need.

As has been said on my blog…

"Sometimes it takes a village, or more precisely, someone in the village who can help you," Dr. Matthew Koll, founder and CEO of Wondir.

And Matt has a great point there in reference to this post…if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem…

You don’t like it…move on to the next question you like. We all have that choice, we can ignore anything we choose to, if we CHOOSE to…

Rogue Mods choose to decide what the rest of the community is allowed to say and answer. If you can’t be a tiny bit open and objective, RESIGN your Mod status and go hang out in a Yahoo chat room! You’ll be more useful there!!!!!

I despise censorship in all its forms unless it gets racist, sexually explicit or just plain senseless.
Wondir is driven by people answering Questions. Openly, honest and truthful.

Just as I hate people that answer a question with “Google it” or “I don’t know” just to get their ratings up…I hate even worse the people that abuse their powers to help…turning them into powers to hinder.

As a mod, your job is to keep the boards safe and clean (by standards accepted within the community).

You don’t decide whose opinion is right or wrong, you don’t say who can ask what question unless it is put in foul language or seductive phrases, you don’t decide if a person should or should not have an abortion…you give opinions, without causing the person to be offended and run screaming from Wondir to some place more safe and users friendly)

My true feelings be known, I would love to see the Mature and Religion categories deleted. They are the cause of most of the wars and problems on Wondir. Wondir is not a debate board, it is for answers…give yours…back it up…cut the bullshit….and move on!

Don’t sit there and delete an answer that is different than yours unless it is clearly wrong (Hint: KNOCK IT OFF IN THE RELIGION CATEGORY!) or offensive (Hint: KNOCK IT OFF IN THE MATURE CATEGORY!)

This in and of itself is reason for knowing who the mods are that are on and what they have done. And I believe that all users, registered or not should have the ability to see who the mods are and what they/we have deleted and WHY.

Which brings me to my personal rant for this post…

Short and simple: When a Mod deletes a post they should be required to give a reason WHY!
This cuts through all the BS and gets right to the point. Same way with banning people. Let me see their history, let me see the post where the complaint came from..let me decide from there!

Enough for now….

Bring it on!!!!

Be safe, be HAPPY…but most of all…..be YOURSELF!!!

Bond Hunter ~ Ken

Google Talk!! It's Here!! It's Free!!! It's...ummm

2005-08-24T13:32:00.000-04:00

Had to get this baby first thing.

Google, the true key to internet search,has finally unveiled its long needed and wanted Google Talk!!

Here's a Link

http://www.google.com/talk/

You need to have a Google GMail Account to get it, but good news...

I have 50 invites and will send them out to any of the regulars on Wondir free of charge, simply send me an email with your Wondir name and email account so I can send it to you.

There are a few links to news stories about Google Talk (personally I think GIM would have been a better name) (Or GYM for Google, Yahoo's Master!)

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1851348,00.asp

http://www.techworld.com/applications/news/index.cfm?newsid=4271

Wondir's Growth - 2 Million Questions and Answers!

2005-08-22T22:43:00.000-04:00

Pop on over to Wondir's blog and see the amazing growth over at Wondir.

Wasn't that long ago the number was 1 million...6 months later its DOUBLED!

Hey Buddy, Can Ya Spare $4 billion?

2005-08-22T14:03:00.000-04:00

Google to raise 4 billion with another stock issue....plus word of a mysterious "communication tool" Can anyone say "GIM"?

New Google Desktop Beta!

2005-08-22T13:49:00.000-04:00

It's finally here and it's FANTASTIC!

Just downloaded it today and can't stop playing with it.

Bright And Shiny Future: Part Deux!

2005-08-18T01:20:00.000-04:00

Bright And Shiny Future: Part Deux!
Ideas For Wondir’s Future Growth*

* Or “How To Muck Things Up In One Easy Blog Post!”

O.K., here goes everything…this is where I prove to you once and for all just how dumb I can be.
As we all know, Wondir is going to change over time, everything has to change in order to adapt to new environments and new situations. Anything that doesn’t adapt becomes extinct, with the exception of Microsoft.

I’ve blogged on here previously about get a bunch of ideas down for feedback to Wondir as well as for use in future posts on here.

I knew you would all have great ideas, we Wondites tend to be like that!! ;)

The first and to me probably the easiest issue to handle is “Adding Paragraphs” to Wondir posts.

When I first got to Wondir, this probably more then anything really irritated me. I spend time typing and making sure everything was separated into neat little segments that were east to read and held related or semi related information and lo and behold…it posted like a letter from an 7 yr old on speed!

Where’d all my breaks go?

And more importantly why did they go wherever they went?

I can see some sense in not having the breaks, it takes up extra space and it is open to abuse if you get some idiot who posts two words and adds 50 spaces in between them. But there has to be a way to allow them and limit them to just one page break for “X” number of words.

Can’t Post

This???

So there’s my rant on “Paragraph Breaks” Should be easy to add if there is not a good reason for not having them, which we don’t know yet but I know Allen, Billy or Cindy, maybe even Matt will let us know, Gotta love it when you get personal response from the head honchos and you get it fast…these guys are GOOD!

Onto issue two: HTML Links…

Another issue that bothered me when I first came to Wondir was that when I posted and added a web site link so the person could go see where I was getting my information from, it didn’t create an automatic HTML link, one someone can just click on instead of having to cut and paste it into their browser, a think I hate to do because if I only have one browser open it causes me to leave the site I’m currently on.

What I’d like to see implemented at Wondir is clickable links. Ones that open in a new browser, not take me away from Wondir. I’ve gotten several suggestions about that.

But, in being fair, Allen did write me and tell me that Wondir use to have them but they were abused at times. Now we all can imagine what types of places “certain” people would send others to. So I clearly see why it is not in practice today.

What I’d like to see is if there is a way to get them back. Even if it is only on a limited basis to Moderators or other “TRUSTED” regulars.

I hate to sound like I’m talking about a Class System, but face it people, some people just can’t be trusted with too much power, like the ability to add links to god only knows where. But in the case of Mods and Regs I would think there are some out there that can be trusted to wield this mystical power.

The solution to abuse is loss of Mod rights, or banning the Reg that abuses the power. Now that would cost Wondir time in checking on complaints (another “Report Abuse” linky..”). but in the end it would help build a better system. Though I do believe that those people that get the right to use HTML links should all be taught how to look for spy-ware and programs that automatically install.

Another issue that was brought up was an interesting one. The ability to type in a question ID number and pull up the question. Now I’m horrible with remembering numbers so this doesn’t help me out at all, others may want to keep track of their favorite questions, something I do on a limited basis using “My Favorites”.

If something like this was implemented, I’d like to see it set up like the links suggestion, where it would open in a different browser so as not to disrupt my main screen on Wondir. (You should note here that while on Wondir I usually average about three other browsers open and both my IM programs running, usually for private sessions, so I’m use to being distracted by multiple windows and browsers…)

Ok, next rant…

The Filtering System: It’s been suggested, several times both here on my blog and in personal conversations with different people that the Wondir filtering system doesn’t catch a lot of the stuff it should, but I lay down this challenge, find one that does work all the time…filtering technology is like that of voice recognition software, it’s only as effective as the people who use it.
When posting a question, Wondir users are offered the chance to place their questions in a wide array of boards. Most opt out to let Wondir put it where they think is best. Now most of the time, and I’ve looked at this posts on most of the major boards I post to, Wondir does an effective job of getting stuff where it belongs.

On to the next gripe…err, suggestion:

As User suggested: It would be great if when a member were suspended, that the registered e-mail address would be blocked as well. I know it is easy to get a new address from somewhere like hotmail, but I think it would cut down on people who get suspended just signing right back up.

BRILLIANT!!

I, personally have too many email accounts, and I know how hard it is to get one. Hell it takes forever to get through the BS that Hotmail and Yahoo and the others make you fill out…if I was to be a TROLL, I’d get tired of being banned and having to apply for new email accounts just to troll….and it is better than an all out ISP ban, like what Dal-Net tried with the AOL spammers a few years back, all their ban did was reduce real accounts. So I back this suggestion 110%!!!

This same user also suggested that multiple accounts be tied to one email address. Hmm…well I’m not a fan of multiple accounts but here’s my best…

Ok, suppose for SOME reason, WAY beyond my grasp, I decided that I wanted to spend ½ my time on Wondir being Mr. Good and ½ my time being Mr. Joke…can I have everything tied to one email account?

Personally, I’d say no. Now hear me out….Wondir is not some Yahoo Chat Room, you can’t have an identity for hitting on girls, an identity for hitting on guys and one for being Mr. Clean…What is the problem? Why the multiple accounts? What is the need? Do you have split personalities? Alter-Egos?

Get over it…either be yourself or admit you aren’t acting right cause your meds need to be adjusted.

Wondir is designed to be a place people can go to for rock solid advice and information. Not someplace where the same guy is going to answer your question 3 times under three different names.

Why do you need three accounts? Why can’t you just have one account and do what you are supposedly here to do…ask and answer questions? I’m all for banning multiple accounts, especially when one or more are being abused or used to up the ratings and ranks.

Basically people, it boils down to this, BE YOURSELF! That’s ALL you will ever be and if you can’t be honest about that with people a billion miles away from you then you seriously need help to stop hiding whatever it is you are hiding!

On the old Dal-Net we banned those people, Wondir should do the same.

Bright and Shiny Future Update: #1

2005-08-15T01:04:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to let everyone know I have read all the posts as well as the emails that have been sent to me personally and I am currently working on a reply article.

This is currently an EXTREMELY busy time of the year for those of us in the "vacation resort" business and I don't have lots of time to work on it or to be on Wondir right now, but it is coming!

I knew the Wondirites(c) would come though with a long list of Wondirful ideas.

Just to let you know, Allen and Billy, both from Wondir read the responses you give here, as I'm sure others at Wondir do too. Wondir has a fantastic (can't keep using the Wondirful..it gets old at times) staff who listen and respond to our needs, wants and gripes...

Keep posting what you like, don't like, need, want or just think might be KEWL to have!

As always, the people who come to Wondir continue to impress me with both their caring and their wisdom. Together with a great staff, we can continue to make Wondir Wondirful! (sorry, had to do it!)

Keep the ideas and suggestions coming, they will ALL get heard...err, read and responded to...since you already know I can't help but throw my two cents in!

Till then...Be Safe...Be Happy...but most of all....BE YOURSELF!

A Bright Shiny Future!!

2005-08-01T15:06:00.000-04:00

Wondir’s Future: What Would YOU Like To See?

* Note: Yes, I’m still working on the Wondir Blogging Article. So Don’t GRIPE!

As recent poster asked if some of us could add a little input to an article he is writing for the New York Times about Community Search Engines like Wondir or the old Google Answers.

Now what I’d like readers here to do is make this the longest and thread Blogger has ever seen.

Imagine a year down the road, two years down the road, even five years down the road. How would YOU see Wondir? What improvements would you like to see? What features would you like to see? Got a category you want added?

Well this is YOUR chance to add to the Wondir that is Wondir! Voice your opinion!

Tell me what you’d like to see added to, taken away from or enhanced at Wondir!

Want a better WIM? Want more Moderators? Want better filtering? Want better category placement? Voice your opinion!

Tell me what you want and I’ll see it gets to the guys that count!

Make a good plea for what you want and why you see it as needed on Wondir and I’ll back you up. If you think it’s a good idea to have at Wondir let me know, I’ll probably agree with you. But if you don’t voice your opinion you’ll never get heard.

So post what you like here or feel free to email me at BondHunter@gmail.com and I’ll pass it on to the staff at Wondir?

Now we all know there’s things we would love to see either added or updated on Wondir! This is your chance…maybe your last chance…why not post a suggestion or two, or a whole page!!!

Don’t be shy, aim for the bull’s-eye!!

Tell them what you REALLY think needs to be updated! I know these people listen.

If you want it, suggest it. If you want it and DON’T suggest it, then please don’t be one of the first to complain when it isn’t set up. Trust me, Wondir listens to it’s users and regulars. So, VENT, SUGGEST, OFFER IDEAS!

Till later…Bond Hunter over and out…love you all! Be Happy, Be Safe, but MOST of all…BE YOURSELF!!!

WTF is a "WIDGET"?

2005-07-26T03:45:00.000-04:00

Yahoo! has just bought a company that makes, of all things.....yes......Widgets?

Gotta be the coolest things I've discovered recently...they even have an RSS feed reader!

Wanna know everything about everything? They've got a widget for that!!!

Check it out!!

No link, No Post, Just A rememberance of Jonnie B

2005-07-25T20:01:00.000-04:00

Nine and 1/2 years ago on the 26th of December the world lost its most beautiful angel...

We still remember JonBenet...and always will

Rest in peace baby girl, your killer WILL be found!

Interview With The Search Engine

2005-07-24T01:35:00.000-04:00

If you like computer humor than you HAVE to read this

http://www.satirewire.com/features/satire-jeevesinterview.shtml

Blinkx Gives Users Their RSS TV

2005-07-20T15:28:00.000-04:00

Nice article for you RSS Fans out there:

Startup indexes search terms, then notifies users when matching content is available.

Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service
Tuesday, July 19, 2005

San Francisco-based startup Blinkx has announced its multimedia search engine will be able to notify users whenever it indexes content that matches a term the users previously searched for.

The RSS alert system, called SmartFeed, is expected to go live on Blinkx's Web site on Tuesday. After users enter a search term on Blinkx TV, they will get the option of setting up an RSS alert for it. Blinkx TV delivers the alerts to the user's Really Simple Syndication aggregator service as text links to the multimedia content.

Users can opt to receive content alerts for any search term from all or some of Blinkx TV's more than 30 audio and video channels, which include BBC News, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg Television, NBC, MSNBC News, ABC, and ESPN, said Suranga Chandratillake, Blinkx's co-founder.

Media Everywhere

Blinkx also plans to make available the application programming interface for SmartFeed so that developers can incorporate it into their own Web sites and software, he said. Those using the API for personal purposes will not have to pay anything, while commercial developers will have to request a license for it, he said. There will be a section of the Blinkx site devoted to SmartFeed developers, according to Chandratillake.

In addition to indexing multimedia content from commercial providers, Blinkx TV also serves up amateur audio and video collected from the Web at large, as well as podcasts.

Blinkx TV uses speech recognition and transcription capabilities to index not just audio and video files but the spoken parts of those files. This means that Blinkx TV is able to deliver the precise clip that contains the term the user is searching for, as opposed to just pointing the user at, say, an hour-long clip without indicating where in it the desired segment appears.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

2005-07-15T02:51:00.000-04:00

Stupid Is As Stupid Does:
The Forrest Gump Syndrome On Wondir.

Mama always said “Stupid is as stupid does”

One of the most memorable lines in the movie Forrest Gump. But, how does it apply to Wondir?

Oh you’d be surprised…

Ever had a poster who just repeatedly asked the same question over and over and over again?

We all have. But how do you handle it?

Me, I repost the same answer I gave the first time.

But every now and then we’ve all had the poster who refuses to even acknowledge you or anyone else, except if you post what they WANT to hear.

There are people out there that only want you to back-up what they want to hear. If they don’t want to hear it, they’ll ignore you, most likely give you a zero on the ratings and keep posting until someone says what they really want to hear.

As annoying as it is, we all have to learn to live with it, post what is your hearts best response, open and honest and truthful, and move on.

There are people who wallow in their unhappiness and want you, me or anyone to be their backbone.

“Tell me what I want to hear…”

Sorry, I’ll tell you want you need to hear, what you may not want to hear and on occasion I’ll tell you what you want to hear…If you’re right.

If they are registered users you get to know these people, but most of them just want the instant gratification and they’re gone…the dreaded WGuest.

But some might stick around, how do you handle them?

Not easy, but monitor them, read their posts…see their responses…maybe they’ve learned from us, or at least become a little more open-minded to other possibilities. If you can achieve that, take a bow, you’ve worked Wondirs…

The main thing is to not get too bogged down on one post (Yeah, I’m a GREAT one for giving that advice…post on Wondir, spend 6 months on AIM in the same convo). Don’t let them steal your joy and your motivation. We’ve all here to help, or we should be…and on a personal note again, if you aren’t on Wondir to help…GO AWAY, you’re just part of the problem.

Be true to yourself and what you believe, post with your head and your heart and don’t let this contagious disease make you its next victim.

Next Up:
If You Can’t Fix It Duct It, If You Can’t Duct It…BLOG IT: Wondir Blogging!

To Register or Not: That Is The Question (Part 2 of Many I Suspect)

2005-07-12T02:09:00.000-04:00

I linked to the original message but you have to be a member to see it so I'll repost it here for those who don't Yahoo...

Topic: Wow! Someone agrees with me that anyone should be able to answer at Wondir! (in regards to a poll that left me as the only one who thought anyone should be able to post answers to questions at Wondir.)

Now for the meat of the post....

/me does a little dance

It was lonely being the 1 sitting by myself for so long.

To whoever posted:

/me sings

It's you and me against the world.......(Helen Reddy version)

Sometimes it feels like you and me against the world...

But seriously...

I'm looking into several possible options on this issue cause I can see both sides.

There's ideas like a "trial" membership, which has great potential, but is open to abuses...there's a "free membership" that requires someone out of Wondir to read the replies and either allow them or not, another possible abuse issue and it takes tooooooooooo long considering the volume Wondir does now and what it can and WILL do in the future.

Another idea is more moderators...but how many of us are really out there and want to play "cop" all the time, it kind of takes us away from what we are all at Wondir for...the questions!

Yet another is "requiring I.D." which is so riddled with flaws I can barely believe I typed it with a straight face....NUFF SAID!

What we have now, works for now, we all know it will change, and probably within the next 6 to 12 months.

For better? We hope!

For worse, God forbid.

But this is no different than the problem with the Mature Category. I mean GOD forbid kids find out the TRUTH about sex....

Which I am more worried about because it it way more abused and has way more possibilities for SERIOUS abuse, than WGuest clients.

The solution lies with US...

Together with the WonDirful (darn that slipped)*winks at Allen*, people at Wondir and the input we get from Allen, Matt and Cindy, I think there can be a realistic and workable option for both the Registered accounts and the Mature Category problems.

But, before we cut people, including kids, off from getting the help they want and at times NEED, we need to look carefully at this issue and where we see ourselves in a year, or two, or ten.

Do we really want to be sitting here cutting and pasting from Wikipedia all night long?

Or do we really want to reach out on the rare occassions and really make a difference?

If I could give you a list of the teens and preteens that I have helped online, thanks to Wondir, you'd be shocked. These are kids I keep in touch with, and a lot of parents that I keep in touch with who are very glad that Wondir is there and that someone stepped up and was willing to help when their child asked for help with a problem.

Realize that each and EVERY answer you post on Wondir can change alife. More often than you believe is possible!

Just a little for you to chew on for a few days...I'll have more rants for you later as you already know...

But as for you and yours....

Be Happy, Be True, Be Honest....but MOST of all....BE YOURSELF!

Bond Hunter ~ Ken

*Message first posed on Wondirland Yahoo Group then to my blog...available on the links page of this Group.

Google Teams Up With T-Mobile!

2005-07-11T23:51:00.000-04:00

Seems like Google never sleeps...Full internet access on your Cell Phone? Google Home Page? Gotta love them boys and girls over at Google!

Not to mention their stock broke $300 a share!

Personally I'm holding out for $500 if they don't do a 4-1 split.

Remains identified as Idaho 9-year-old

2005-07-10T20:44:00.000-04:00

With the Wondirful news last week of the rescue and recovery of Shasta Groene we all held out hope and prayed for the safe return of her 9 year old brother Dylan.

Sadly CNN reports the the remains found in Lolo National Forest in western Montana are those of Dylan...

From whose of us on the net, and especially on Wondir:

Shasta, we love you and mourn with you in the loss of your brother Dylan. We continue to pray for you and your recovery. Never forget there will always be people who care about you and wish you the world!

Bond Hunter ~

Google SMS Graduates from Google Labs But Remains in Beta; Web Demos Now Available

2005-07-09T20:02:00.000-04:00

SearchEngineWatch has a blurb about Google releasing its Beta SMS with Web Demos!

Yahoo Tests Blog Search Engine

2005-07-09T19:11:00.000-04:00

Lee Odden of the Online Marketing Blog wrote about a Yahoo Blog Search Engine that is currently being tested.

Wondir: Spanning The Globe

2005-07-09T18:46:00.000-04:00

Wondir: Spanning The Globe

Someone posted a question a few weeks back that got me thinking…(a dangerous thing for me anytime)

Why, when a question is posted do we automatically assume the person is inquiring about the United States? After all, it isn’t the American Wide Web! It’s the World Wide Web…

Wondir has a huge following of posters, both guest and regulars, who are from overseas. But I’ve noticed in my own posts that often when a general question is asked my first response is to give a U.S. based answer.

Now, 99% of the time the answer is correct, but to assume that the person is asking about America is not thinking globally. As Wondir continues to grow it will be attracting millions of people from across the globe and the quick, logical, to us Americans anyway, response won’t always be the correct one.

Just something to ponder…

Social Responsibility and Wondir: What To Post?

2005-07-08T02:21:00.000-04:00

Social Responsibility and Wondir:

What To Post?

In this day and age, with all the lawsuits, liability and people being sued for something as wondirful as saving someone’s life by using CPR or the Heimlich Maneuver, what sort of responsibility does someone have when they hand-out advice online?

The way I see it, and once again this is only me…is that you have a responsibility to give the best, most accurate advice and information as can be found. Also you have to be willing to go back, look at your answers and the other answers that are given for any post and research it a little more to back up your initial post.

Now, there are certain things I know for sure, like what is the name of the person that manicures a horses hoofs…..FARRIER!!! (Sorry, mental breakdown there for a second, answered that one a few times too many….) and on those things I can back myself up.

Links to Google, Wikipedia and other search sites help. Links to pages that discuss topics that are seen as “in the gray area” are a little harder to find…

Recently there have been a few posts asking “When did Hitler die?” Well there is the normal 1945 response, but there are also several sites that give different dates depending on the site owners viewpoints. I’ve found everything from “He’s still alive…” to “He was killed in 1960 in Brazil”, always with links to other “off the mark” sites that claim to be able to back them up.

How deep do you research this? How much time do you spend? Who do you believe?

Usually I try to post information and links from sites I trust, like Google, Wikipedia, CNN (CNN??????), the major networks, encyclopedias and trusted web sites.

I try to give links, and I know I’m not the best at this, to me its too much work for a simple research question, easier to just give the answer and move on, you all know some people are just looking for a simple 2+2=4 response, they won’t check it even if they think it is wrong…it’s called doing their homework for them…try it sometime…post 5 as the answer and see if you get busted on it!!

But what responsibility do we have by giving advice at Wondir?

Legally, right now none. I’m sure that will change the first time someone online gets sued because they failed to tell someone to “See a doctor!!”

Morally? It’s easier to ask this one question: WHAT ARE YOU HERE FOR?

If you’re not here to help, then you are simply part of the problem. If you’re just here to win a T-Shirt or Insulated Coffee Mug, well GO AWAY…sorry if that hurts Wondir’s numbers, but I prefer a realistic person who is at the site to talk to others, give a little advice and maybe reach out to someone and help them through a crisis. Do we really want the glib poster hanging out and messing with peoples lives? No, of course not. And that is where the regulars and the moderators come in.

The regulars and the moderators (Wait that’s a Stephen King novel…no that’s a different story…) are fast to step up and correct inaccurate information, harmful information or totally useless responses.

Why post the reply “Umm…I don’t know” to a question? If you don’t know move on and find a post you do know! You’re not acting responsible when you take up peoples time, provide no information of your own, provide false information (knowingly false is even worse!) or just want to “chat” when the poster has not asked “Hey, anyone wanna chat WIM me!”

I know this argument fits nicely into the argument about requiring registration at Wondir to be able to answer questions and you already know how strongly I feel against that (as witnessed by a blog post a few days ago) but sometimes you just want to reach out and SLAP some people for the time they waste and the visitors they could be running off.

So you see in some ways I’m very liberal, but in others I’m more conservative then W. (Dubaya) himself. I’m protective of a system I’ve come to love, liberal enough to know it will change and wise enough to see it coming.

So I do all I can as a poster and moderator to limit the excuses that are given (normally by un-registered guests…*OUCH that hurt*) or people from sites like AnswerBus, RateMyTeacher or Bored.

So, how do we as regulars fix the problem before it becomes a problem?

We answer the questions as posted, truthfully, using the best we know, the best we can find on google or another search engine, the best we can from experience (don’t be afraid to say to someone hey, I was in that situation once, here’s what happened…………”) or from the heart.

Don’t be afraid to take a minute or two to look up the answer!

Google is your FRIEND! So are other regulars and the moderators. If you can’t find it, don’t know it or just don’t want to be bothered at the moment, pass it over, someone will get it or they will post it later! We can’t be all things too all people, but we can be the important thing to just the one whose life we touch…and yes, I can provide references to prove you can! All it takes is a few seconds out of your life, hell you’re here already, why not do this thing right!?!?

If you’re just here to chat, well there’s a billion chat programs and sites out there, go have a ball, but if you are serious about answering peoples questions and helping others…stick around, you’ll be glad you did…I know I am!

Next up: Sex and the Single Wondirer (Just kidding!)

The Objectivity Of Wondir

2005-07-07T18:06:00.000-04:00

The Objectivity Of Wondir

To me, one of the Wondirful things about Wondir is the vast number of possible responses you can get to anything you post or ask.

Ask a direct question, get a direct answer…most of the time. Ask an indirect question or an advice question you can get a wide variety of possible answers.

Depending upon who is on at the time you post your questions you might get serious, you might get silly, you might get accurate, you might (rarely) get inaccurate, you might just get someone else’s bias…

How OBJECTIVE can YOU be?

Do you allow your personal feelings to sway your posts? Of course you do…

That’s what we are basing most of our ADVICE on!

We live and breathe as we have experienced life. Our lessons in life are what we offer to the users of Wondir. We give as has been given to us, and modify it to fit the situations at hand, we look back upon what we have learned, the results from our actions and the final outcome of our action and HOPEFULLY we have modified our viewpoints to learn from our mistakes, grow with them and give better advice than that which we had been given in our situation.

We can’t give good advice on something we haven’t experienced. We can’t give good advice on things we don’t know about .

We give from what we know. We give from what we have experienced.

But we all need to TRY not to give from our own bias, our own hurt or our own deep seeded feelings. Trying is the least that is expected when giving advice.

We have to try to be a fresh voice to those who ask. To those in need…
And THAT is to potential I see in Wondir!

In other words, don’t let YOUR past hinder THEIR future!

Be open, truthful and honest in your dealings with others on Wondir. Give the best possible advice you can with a clear heart/conscience any seek never to do harm to anyone you give advice to.

If you can put away your bias, think about the situation that the poster is in, view the one side, and at best, and I mean at BEST…imagine the other sides viewpoint, than turn around and give an opinion that has NOTHING to do with your own opinions…than you can succeed in giving the right advice!

If you can separate your opinions that are based upon your own hurt and anger than you can give free, clear and un-biased answers to those that are looking for help, sometimes desperately.

Getting Free Wi-Fi? Think Twice!!

2005-07-07T15:39:00.000-04:00

A man in Florida has just been arrested for hijacking the WiFi signal of someone else. Police are not saying "what" has was using the connection for, but if this case passes in court it won't matter.

We've all used open lines before, but it could be that the practice will soon come to an end.

All we can hope for is that someday the WWW will truly be FREE for all.

Google Blog: Stay up-to-date on all that is Google!!

2005-07-04T17:04:00.000-04:00

I just stumbled across this blog and fell in love...it's all the new and niffty stuff google.com has planned and implemented.

I'm sure Wondir users can make a site like this very useful!!

Internet Addiction Clinic?

2005-07-03T23:44:00.000-04:00

Read this and just HAD to Wondir if this applies to anyone other than me?????

Leave a comment if you dare! ;)

A True Wonder: Shasta Groene Safe At Last

2005-07-03T03:03:00.000-04:00

We at Wondir often take for granted the little wonders we achieve each day.

The simple act of reaching out to help someone, even with something as simple as their homework, can mean the world to them.

Well, with breaking news at 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning another small wonder hit home.

Little Shasta Groene was found safe and is now being reunited with her family.

The man who had her, since her disappearance in early May, walked into a Denny’s restaurant with her.

And, while she nibbled on chicken fingers, two quick thinking employees, the manager and waitress with a big heart, noticed that the quiet little girl was in fact, the missing 8 year old.

The simple act of paying attention to our surroundings, looking at what is going on and staying a tiny bit informed about the news, can make a huge difference.

But one thing still sets these two Denny’s employees apart…something we at Wondir already know, or should.

The simple act of stepping up, asking a few meaningful questions, and being willing to take a stand and make that call.

It’s something that we do daily, though not in such a humongous way.

I’d like to think that somewhere out there we’ve all touched a life, maybe even saved one. But, I know for two very special Denny’s workers Independence Day has taken on a WHOLE new meaning…

You see, with a simple question, a good eye and a caring heart, two people showed a little 8 year old girl the true meaning of Independence…together they gave Shasta her FREEDOM!!!!

The sad part, at this time at least, is her older brother Dylan, aged 9, is still missing. We all pray for him and for her…

Welcome Home Little One!

We have all missed you and prayed for you and your brother.

And we will continue to do so!

Google Anounces Map Hacks

2005-07-02T15:27:00.000-04:00

Interesting article on who else...Google!

Internet Trolls

2005-07-01T21:50:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:

In the context of the Internet, a troll is a message that is inflammatory or hostile, which by effect or design causes a disruptions in discourse, or a person posting such messages. Trolling can be described as a breaching experiment, which, because of the use of an alternate persona, allows for normal social boundaries and rules of etiquette to be tested or otherwise broken, without serious consequences.

Self-proclaimed "trolls" may style themselves as devil's advocates, gadflies or "culture jammers," challenging the dominant discourse and assumptions of forum discussions in an attempt to break the status quo of groupthink. Critics have claimed that genuine "devil's advocates" generally identify themselves as such out of respect for etiquette and courtesy, while trolls may dismiss etiquette and courtesy altogether.

The contemporary use of the term first appeared on Usenet groups in the early 1990s. It is widely thought to be a diminutive of the phrase "trolling for suckers," itself derived from the sports-fishing technique of trolling.

The word likely gained currency because of its conveniently apt second meaning, drawn from the "trolls" portrayed in Scandinavian folklore and children's tales, which are often ugly, obnoxious creatures bent on wickedness and mischief.

As a pejorative, the term "troll" may also be a slander of opponents in heated debates, a tactic often used by trolls and non-trolls. Many times a person will post a sincere message that they are emotionally sensitive about and trolls know that the easiest way to upset them is to falsely claim that they are a troll. On other occasions a person may not instantly understand or fit into the social norms of a forum where most people are the same - and so acting just slightly out of social norms, often unintentionally, for legitimate reasons gets the poster falsely called a troll. Sometimes persons who merely want to be funny are accused of trolling, when that is not their intent. Many trolls now find that the traditional trolling tactics are so overused and commonplace that they have to disguise their trolling to make it effective - although, quite often, the disguising merely involves falsely accusing others of being trolls themselves.

Pre-history

Prior to DejaNews' archiving of Usenet, accounts of trolling were sketchy, there being little evidence to sort through. After that time, however, the huge archives were available for researchers. Perhaps the earliest known—although poorly documented—case is the 1982–1983 saga of AlexAndJoan from the CompuServe forums. Van Gelder, a reporter for Ms. magazine, documented the incident in 1996 in an article for his publication. Alex (in real life a 50+ shy psychiatrist from New York) pretended to be a highly bombastic, anti-religious, post-car-accident, wheelchair-bound, mute woman named Joan "in order to better relate to his female patients". This went on for two years and "Joan" had become a hugely detailed character with an array of emotional relationships. These began to fall apart only after "Joan" coaxed an online friend of hers into an affair with Alex.

"Even those who barely knew Joan felt implicated—and somehow betrayed—by Alex's deception. Many of us on-line like to believe that we're a utopian community of the future, and Alex's experiment proved to us all that technology is no shield against deceit. We lost our innocence, if not our faith." (Van Gelder, 1996, p.534)

Trolling in the 1990s

One early reference to "troll" found in the Google Usenet archive was by user "Mark Miller," directed toward the user "Tad" on Feb. 8, 1990. [1] However, it is unclear if this instance represents a usage of "troll" as it is known today, or if it was simply a chance choice of epithet:
"You are so far beyond being able to understand anything anyone here says that this is just converging on uselessness. The really sad part is that you really believe that you're winning. You are a shocking waste of natural resources - kindly re-integrate yourself into the food-chain...you mindless flatulent troll."

The more likely derivation can be found in the phrase "trolling for newbies," popularized in the early 1990s in the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban. The usage was somewhat different from the current notion of trolling; it was a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone only a new user would respond to them earnestly. Others expanded the term to include the practice of playing a seriously misinformed or deluded user, even in newsgroups where one was not a regular; these were often attempts at humor rather than provocation. In such contexts, the noun "troll" usually referred to an act of trolling rather than to the author.

Some longtime Usenet users continued to insist on these earlier definitions even after the term was applied more generally to inflammatory actions previously characterized as "flamebait".
In serious literature the practice was first documented by Judith Donath (1999), who used several anecdotal examples from various Usenet newsgroups in her discussion. Donath's paper outlines the ambiguousness of identity in a disembodied "virtual community" [2]:
"In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity. ... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter."

Donath provides a concise overview of identity deception games which trade on the confusion between physical and epistemic community:

"Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings and, upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they—and the troll—understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group.

Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community.

Furthermore, in a group that has become sensitized to trolling—where the rate of deception is high—many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trollings. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon venturing a first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusation is unfounded, being branded a troll is quite damaging to one's online reputation." (Donath, 1999, p. 45)

Possibly the most prolific and accomplished troll of the mid to late ‘90s was the user ‘Callidice’ on the largest political debate forum on the web: Guardian Unlimited. This particular user was the first to be banned. She/he was able to impersonate other users and divide the entire community finally shutting down the site and engendering a paranoia among Guardian subscribers and journalists that persists to this day. For many in the internet news community the username ‘Callidice’ is synonymous with internet trolling. Many users maintain however that Callidice was highlighting the unwillingness of such ‘intelligent’ forums to address certain issues [she/he posted flagrantly racist bullshit] and frustrated with the censorship of legitimate discussion embarked on a course of disruption with sweeping consequences. As one of the most ‘successful’ internet Trolls ‘Callidice’s’ true identity remains unknown to this day. CLAIRE KAPLIN WROTE THIS!!! AND I CLAIM MY £5 rofl

Calling someone a troll makes assumptions about a writer's motives that are impossible to determine, whereas using the verb (calling a post "trolling") describes the reception of a post without making assumptions about motives. Such assumptions would generally be an example of the fundamental attribution error; i.e. inferring that behavior results from a person's nature or personality rather than examining behavior in the context of events surrounding the behavior. In other words, trolling may have more to do with context than with personality. Also, it may be possible to troll unintentionally. Regardless, both users and posts are commonly labelled as trolls when their content upsets people.
The term troll is highly subjective, and some posts will look like trolling to some while seeming like meaningful contributions to others. For example, a so-called troll may be playing Devil's advocate by stating conservative opinions in a liberal forum. Behavior which might be considered a simple rampage or an emotional outburst in other environments is often tagged with the term troll in Internet discussion.
The term is frequently used to discredit an opposing position in an argument. This can amount to an ad hominem argument; a purported troll of this nature may actually hold an insightful but controversial position that is generating controversy precisely because it has successfully challenged entrenched opinions.
Possible reasons people use more slang monikers in Internet-mediated discussion include the feeling of anonymity and impersonal perceptions of other conversants.
Regardless of the writer's motives, controversial posts are virtually guaranteed, in most online forums, to earn a corrective or patronizing or outraged response by those who do not distinguish between real physical community where people are actually exposed to some shared risk of bodily harm by their actions, and epistemic community based on a mere exchange of words and ideas. Customs of discourse, or etiquette, that originated in such physical communities are often applied naively by newcomers to the Internet who are not used to the range of views expressed online, especially anonymously.
Troll food refers to replies to the original controversial troll posts, that the trolls subsequently use as feedback to throw more fuel to the fire of their posts.
"Please do not feed the Trolls" is a warning sign that other article readers post to warn newbies that they believe the original poster is a troll.
[edit]

Trolling in different Internet media
Trolling takes distinct forms in different media; it started on newsgroups, and as the Internet has evolved, so has trolling.
Usenet — hierarchies of newsgroups limit trolls' exposure, but crossposting can overcome this. Some Internet Service Providers implement limits on the number of newsgroups a message can be crossposted to. In one notable example, alt.net instituted a crosspost limit after the trolls on the system had become so notorious that Peter da Silva instituted a campaign for other systems to cease exchanging news with alt.net until they did something about the problem.
Mailing lists — usually controlled by moderators, so unwanted contributors can quickly be banned.
SlashCode-based forums use a rating system so that readers can moderate a post up or down from its initial rating. Readers can then choose to ignore posts that others have "modded down." Timing of trolls is particularly important, since earlier posts are more likely to be read than later posts. An ideal troll would generate much heated discussion and posting without further intervention from the troll.
Wikis — the flat, asynchronous and open model allows anyone to post anything; users work to undo negative changes using the built-in reversion tools, but this requires hundreds of volunteers to monitor large popular sites. Trolls tend to be more subtle than in discussion groups, often posting material that could be legitimate, but will cause controversy by challenging the current power structure. Difficulty is compounded by the impossibility of discerning whether a user is simply espousing a controversial opinion, or trolling. Sometimes wikis get vandalized.
Weblogs — in their most common form as a personal soapbox with the ability for anybody to leave comments, popular weblogs often make effective springboards for trolls, either as inflammatory comments or provocative entries. The ease with which weblogs can be linked encourages troll propagation.
IRC — the open nature of most IRC channels on popular networks enables any potential troll to enter and utilise any of a range of techniques, ranging from simple crapflooding to subtly irritating remarks to garner angry responses. The relative ease of evading bans from channels and servers and the volatile nature of many IRC users can allow trolls to perpetuate indefinitely.
Multiplayer first person shooters — online gaming attracts a large number of teenage males, who take advantage of the combative atmosphere and their general anonymity to disparage other players. See pwn for more information. Team killing and griefing -- breaking the social rules of the game to harass other players -- can also be considered similar.
Online Fantasy Sports — A troll will infiltrate a free, online league with multiple teams from different identity accounts and then attempt to make lopsided trades of players to improve one team. The troll will leave numerous messages on the league bulletin board from different identities to give the appearance of legitimacy to otherwise illicit behavior. Players that object to the obvious complicity are usually showered with insults and other attempts at evasion.
Forums — Forums of all kinds will attract trolls. Their behavior does not differ much from the above examples. There is no forum free of trolls. This could be seen as the unique factor in forum trolling: a forum about knitting has the same chance at getting trolled as a forum dedicated to a new sports car.
[edit]

Examples
Common types of troll messages or activities:
off topic messages — "Can anyone help me make a webpage?" "No, this is a music forum."
inflammatory messages — "You are an idiot for including this type of message in your list."
messages containing an obvious flaw or error — "I think 2001: A Space Odyssey is Roman Polanski's best movie."
intentionally naïve or politically contentious messages — "I think George W. Bush is the best/worst President ever."
intentionally posting an outrageous argument deliberately constructed around a fundamental but obfuscated flaw or error; often the poster will become defensive when the argument is refuted but may instead continue the thread through the use of further flawed arguments; this is referred to as "feeding" the troll.
a subclass of the above is the flawed proof of an important unsolved mathematical problem or impossibility (e.g. 1 = 2); however these may not always be troll-posts and are sometimes at least mathematically interesting.
a new USENET newsgroup alt.genius.bill-palmer was created by Igor Chudov for the purpose of creating an outlet for discussing a controversial USENET personality Bill Palmer, himself an alleged USENET troll who managed to make his personality the center of all discissions. A swirl of messages attempting to disprove his geniality, crossposted to hell and back, made a.g.b-p the most popular new alt.* newsgroup of the year. Its creator was nominated for Troll of the year 1996 award.
including offensive media such as annoying sound files or disturbing pictures in a message, or linking to shock sites that contain such media. Often these links are disguised as legitimate links.
after a flamewar ensues, pretending to be innocent
posting plot spoilers to popular movies and books without warning, sometimes surreptitiously buried in an otherwise innocuous message
posting politically sensitive images in inappropriate places
off-topic complaints about personal life; sometimes this is the "cry for help" troll.
deliberate and repeated misspelling of other people's nicks in order to disturb or irritate them in a conversation.
plural or paranoid answers to personal opinions expressed by individuals — "I don't believe that all of you really believe that, you are teaming against me."
insulting people for bad grammar, which can be a highly sensitive topic; obvious overuse of bad grammar, or AIM-speak; or even insulting people for bad grammar while employing bad grammar, for an "ironic" effect that can often call people to call them out on their hypocrisy.
any combination of the above. For example a troll will combine inflammatory statements with poor grammar and AIM-speak. "lmfao you foctard u are so weak minded and predictablei thought i wan iggied i play ya like a card"
[edit]

Other examples
Some trolls may denounce a particular religion in a religion newsgroup — though historically, this would have been called "flamebait". Like those who engage in flaming, self-proclaimed or alleged Internet trolls sometimes resort to innuendo or misdirection in the pursuit of their objectives.
A variant of the second variety (inflammatory messages) involves posting content obviously severely contradictory to the (stated or unstated) focus of the group or forum- for example, posting cat meat recipes on a pet lovers forum, posting evolutionary theory on a creationist forum (or vice versa), or posting messages about how all dragons are boring in the USENET group alt.fan.dragons.
Cross posting is a popular method of choice by Usenet trolls: a cross-posted article can be discussed simultaneously in several unrelated and/or opposing newsgroups; this is likely to result in a flame war. For instance, an anti-fast food flame bait might be cross posted to healthy eating groups, environmentalist groups, animal rights groups, as well as a totally off-topic artificial intelligence newsgroup.
An example of a successful troll is the well-known "Oh how I envy American students" USENET thread which got 3000+ followups.
[edit]

Motivation
Most discussion of what motivates Internet trolls comes from other Internet users who claim to have observed trolling behavior. There is little scholarly literature to describe either the term or the phenomenon. The comments of accused trolls might be unreliable, since they may in fact be intending to stir controversy rather than to advance understanding of the phenomenon. Likewise, accusers are often motivated by a desire to defend a particular Internet project and references to an Internet user as a troll might not be based on the actual goals of the person so named. As a result, identifying the goals of Internet trolls is most often speculative. Still, several basic goals have been attributed to Internet trolls, according to the type of disruption they are believed to be provoking.
Proposed motivations for trolling:
Anonymous attention-seeking: The troll seeks to dominate the thread by inciting anger, and effectively hijacking the topic at hand.
Amusement: To some people, the thought of a person getting angry over statements from total strangers is entertaining.
Cry for help: Many so-called trolls, in their postings, indicate disturbing situations regarding family, relationships, substances, and school--although it is impossible to know whether this is just simply part of the troll. Some believe that trolling is an aggressive, confrontational way by which trolls seek a sort of tough love guidance in an anonymous forum.
Self-proclaimed trolls and their defenders suggest that trolling is a clever way of improving discussion, or an alternative method of viewing power relations on large public wikis.
Wasting others' time: One of the greatest themes in trolling is the idea that you can spend one minute of your time posting a troll, causing 10 other people to waste ten minutes of their time, more or catalytically affecting lots of other people. Most trolls enjoy the idea that they wasted others time at comparatively little effort on their behalf.
Domino effect: Related to amusement, but a more specific fashion: starting large chain reactions in response to one's initial post. Achieving a disproportionately large response to a small action is the general theme. This is similar to how a young child that goes missing (but is actually hiding) may act with glee, seeing a large number of people conducting a massive search in response to the supposed disappearance.
Effect change in user opinions: A troll may state extreme positions to make his or her actual beliefs seem moderate (This often involves sock puppeteering, where the bad cop is a sock-puppet troll.) or, alternatively, play the role of Devil's advocate to strengthen opposing convictions [with which he or she usually actually agrees].
Test the integrity of a system against social attacks or other forms of misbehavior: For example, blatantly violating terms-of-use in order to see whether any action is taken by the site administrators.
Overcome feelings of inferiority or powerlessness by getting the experience of controlling an environment.
Self-promotion
Fight "groupthink": Many trolls defend their actions as, when a sort of conformism settles, shocking people out of it.
Satire: In these cases, the individuals do not think of themselves as trolls, but misunderstood humorists or political commentators.
Personal attacks against one particular user or group of users
Lowering signal to noise ratio: On Slashdot, points that could be used to moderate interesting things up get wasted on moderating down things like ASCII pictures of the goatse man. This lowers the quality of comments at certain thresholds.
It is possible that they are using the perceived anonymity of the Internet as a platform to test an alternate persona.
In cases of small or relatively new forums, a troll might attempt to cause such a stir that the existing users are driven away until the forum is either empty or has lost a significant number of users.
It is difficult to gauge the motivations of trolls, since most of the justifications offered by alleged trolls for their behavior are nothing more than ruses concocted to continue whatever mischief they imagine themselves to have started. This is unfortunate because, as the above list supposes, there are legitimate reasons for engaging in the sort of actions for which trolling is known. Still, etiquette is simple and straightforward enough that most people can advance the aims professed by self-exculpatory trolls without actually resorting to these methods. Since there is a wide spectrum of possible motivations for trolls, some of these functions being benevolent and others, clearly malevolent, to typecast users as trolls in the negative sense is often rash.
Some users of Internet forums are considered to be "trollhunters", or "trollbaiters". They willingly enter conflict when trolls emerge. Often, trollhunters are as disruptive as trolls. A single troll-post may be ignored, but if ten trollhunters "pounce" following a troll, they will drive the thread offtopic.
Regarding troll-related conflicts, there are six groups into which users might be classified:
Trolls are users who actively provoke conflict.
Trollhunters (or Trollbaiters) behave according to a principle of "second strike". They do not initiate conflict, but escalate it once it begins. Often they use other trolls as an excuse for their own misbehavior, and in many cases, typecast a user as a "troll" regardless of his or her intent.
Ignorers seek to ignore the conflict, continuing with the topic at-hand. They usually express a nonchalant disdain for the troll, but do not seek actively to insult him or her. They behave like elders, issuing simple words of wisdom such as "Do not feed the trolls." or other phrases that generally mean the same thing: "Ignore the troublemaker and he will give up and go away." (The phrase "Do Not Feed The Energy Creature" or "DNFTEC" may be used, referring to a Star Trek episode in which a creature deliberately caused antagonism in order to feed on the psychic energy released) This type of response could be taken as passive-aggressive Trollbaiter behavior.
Moderators (not in the same sense as a "system moderator") seek to resolve the conflict, making all parties happy, if possible.
Bystanders withdraw from the conflict. In particularly bad cases, they will leave the forum in disgust.
Hijackers initiate an offtopic discussion in response to provocative posts by a troll.
In the attention-seeking cases, trolls seek the conflict provided by trollbaiters, whereas in the "cry for help" cases, they seek the consolance and compassion offered by moderators.
Possibly one of the most interesting cases of Trolling involves the "all things lamb" forum on the website for Mancunian Trip-Hop/Organica band Lamb, lambstar. The Troll in question was known on other music websites, is believed to have been a stalker, and in early 2005 began posting on the forum using both a variety of both his own user names and those of other regular posters - he was able to do this as the forum was neither moderated nor had a login facility. Within a few weeks most of the regular users of the forum, including the band themselves, had ceased posting and had resorted to email, telephone and instant messenger programs, most notably MSN messenger, for communication within the group, and by the beginning of April 2005 virtually all new postings were by the Troll. The purpose of the Troll was entertainment, however the campaign backfired: instead of continuing to react negatively to the Troll, the forum's regular users simply chose a different method of communication within which they had more control.
[edit]

Resolutions and alternatives
In general, popular wisdom advises users to avoid feeding trolls, and to ignore temptations to respond. Responding to a troll inevitably drives discussion off-topic, to the dismay of bystanders, and supplies the troll with the craved attention. When trollhunters pounce on the trolls, ignorers reply with: "YHBT. YHL. HAND.", or "You have been trolled. You have lost. Have a nice day." However, since trollhunters (like trolls) are often conflict-seekers themselves, the loss usually is not on the part of the trollhunter; rather, the losers are the other forum-users who would have preferred that the conflict not emerge at all.
Literature on conflict resolution suggests that labeling participants in Internet discussions as trolls can perpetuate the unwanted behaviors. A person rejected by a social group, both online and offline, may assume an antagonistic role toward it, and seek to further annoy or anger members of the group. The "troll" label, often a sign of social rejection, may therefore perpetuate trolling.
Better results normally ensue when users take the moderator role and describe more constructive behaviors in a non-judgmental, non-confrontational way. Trolls are excited by trollhunters and frustrated by ignorers, and neither of these emotions produce positive results for the forum. Engaging trolls results in "flame wars". Trolls frustrated by the "ignore strategy" may leave the forum (and either troll elsewhere, or become constructive users) or may become progressively more inflammatory until they get a response.
Novice trolls often experience Troll's Remorse, a feeling of regret after losing their account (whether it be from an Internet Service Provider or from a livejournal) as a consequence of their trolling.
[edit]

Usefulness of trolling

A major debate on the Internet is whether or not trolls perform any useful function. Because troll is such a broadly-applied term, if all definitions thereof are to be accepted, the answer must be definitively, "yes and no".

Users performing many useful, but controversial, functions are often decried as trolls, and in these cases, so-called trolling may actually benefit the forum in which it occurs. For example, the presence of a radical right-winger described as a troll may allow a conservative lurker to feel more comfortable expressing her viewpoints, which seem very moderate in contrast. On the other hand, if trollhunters mount a flame war against this right-wing troll, the conservative bystander may feel less comfortable expressing her views, to the detriment of the forum. As much as trolls claim to fight groupthink, they may actually encourage it by solidifying opinion against them.

Trolls may also provide a valuable service by making people question the validity of what is read both on the Internet and from other sources. Trolls show that expressing any opinion is as easy as expressing an informed and considered opinion and may get as much visibility. It is arguable that shock jocks, some newspaper columnists are trolling public opinion.
Even though useful content and productive users are sometimes decried as trolls, the general consensus is that pure "trolling" benefits only the troll and trollhunters, and has no place in any forum. Most forums reject the claim that pure and intentional trolling serves any useful purpose.
The Chinese characters for Internet troll are made up of the characters for Internet (互联网) combined with the characters for provocation (拖) and learning (钓).

Trolls can also in some circumstances be a source of genuine humour, which depends entirely upon whether the troll is a good or a bad troll. It's usually fairly easy to spot the difference between such actions: a bad troll resorts only to weak uncreative arguments whereas a good troll will create a subtle set of arguments which draw people in with cunning twists to provide a thread of non sequitur humour.

Some trolls have been known to try and troll threads into deletion and serve as a form of negative reinforcement to "newbies" and also help reduce clutter of spam threads on a large message board.

In many cases, trolling can lead to the administrator or moderators of a forum to implement features to the site to prevent trolling. Although this could be regarded as improving the website, it remains that the features would not be needed if the trolls weren't there.

Wondir: To Register Or Not

2005-07-01T21:43:00.000-04:00

Wondir: To Register Or Not?

There seems to be a debate going on about whether or not un-registered users should be allowed to answer questions on Wondir.

As you all know I’m not shy about throwing my two-cents around. So here goes.

Having been around Wondir for awhile now, I know how big a pest some un-registered users can be on the site when they want to be, but I have also noticed that a vast majority of un-registered users answer questions correctly and can be a lot more helpful than some of the registered user accounts that I have had to delete over the past many months.

I first came to Wondir in August or September of 2004, simply to ask a question. I waited and got bored so I started answering questions, that’s probably how most of us got started.

Now there seems to be a movement afoot to make it a requirement that people register BEFORE you can help anyone. I’d rather see there be other benefits to registration than just the ability to answer questions.

I’ll be the first to tell you that if registration had been a requirement to answer posted questions then I probably never would have bothered with the site at all.

It’s too much work and usually too much spam down the line to bother registering. So most of the time I just bail on the site entirely.

By requiring a guest to register before being able to answer questions and give advice I believe that Wondir would be losing a very valuable resource, NEW USERS!

People want to be able to feel out a site before having to sign-up for anything. (Plus, coming up with a cool handle takes time, planning and just the right amount pizzazz!).

I say let people have time to choose, to freely roam the site asking and answering questions, once they feel at home they’ll sign up, if they have to register first they might lose interest and not bother coming back.

Once they really feel at home (read: addicted) they’ll register and become one of the named masses that currently frequent Wondir. They’ll become regulars (as opposed to irregulars?)
As for the trolls there’s ways to handle them too and ways to identify them too! (I smell another post coming…)

Google Labs?

2005-06-30T19:24:00.000-04:00

Thought this might be of some use to some of us on Wondir. Seems Google.com, the world's BEST search engine is working on tons of little surprises for us. Check it out and see whats coming.

http://labs.google.com/

Handling Teen and Preteen Posts

2005-06-30T01:45:00.000-04:00

Wondir Teens and Preteens:
Handling Questions From Kids Online

If you have spent anytime at all on Wondir, then you have seen many posts made by some of our most regular users. Wondir has a large following with the teen and even preteen sect. And answering questions from them can be most challenging!

Most of the time handling these questions is simple and straight-forward, you simply do their homework for them ;)

But seriously, the teens and preteens that frequent Wondir are usually looking for a few things: homework help, relationship advice with their boyfriend/girlfriend, advice about problems at home, or, and worst of all, issues involving abuse or violence, either in the home or at school.

The homework issue is easily solved by either ignoring it, telling them to google it, or answering it straight out. A simple answer is all that is needed in most cases. Some homework questions take a little time to research and in the upcoming posts I hope to cover a few of the many sites available to us to help the kids get that A+ they deserve for having the brains to come to us, mostly ADULTS, first! (Easy there, just kidding, I hope they have tried to find it on their own, but that’s another blog altogether…)

The second issue gets a little fuzzy at times because you only have one side of the story and that is the only side you will most likely get. My advice, and it is only that: advice. Is take it at face value, states that “if what you say is true I would………” and leave it at that if there is no follow-up posts. If there are follow-up posts then run with it as the lead on the question, especially if they WIM you. Be clear and concise, use common sense (the thing we all wish our parents had used when we made that awful mistake of asking them dating questions when we were kids….*shudder*). Don’t lie, or sugar-coat it and say “It will all work out in the end…….”

Kids and teens don’t want to hear that line of *cough*BS*cough* anymore then we would if we asked a question. They want real advice, like how you felt when this happened to you, what you did, how it worked, what you would have done different if you knew than what you know now…

Face it, kids today are a lot more advanced than we were at that age, this ain’t the 70’s no more Toto (reference to the DOG and NOT the group!!, I’m MUCH too young to know that there was a group called Toto….) *sigh*

Kids today are smarter than we were back then, smarter then most of us are today. They’re hipper to the cool things, more technologically advanced than 99.5% of us are today, they cut through the bull like it’s not even there, they have no respect for you just because you are older….today you EARN that respect, and that’s a long hard row to hoe!

For now my best advice is…

Treat the kids as equals, talk to them like they are adults. They like that and respect you for it. And to tell you the truth, in today’s world, they deserve it MOST of the time. I’m not saying you have to take abuse from ANYONE on Wondir…that’s what the moderators are there for! Call one of us (yes, I’m a moderator if you didn’t know by now).

A simple post to “Attention Any Moderators: So and So is getting out of hand at post (give category and time if possible, post topic always helps us). We’ll be glad to help and “handle the problem” if we see it as a problem. Some mods are more liberal than others with kids, God knows I am, so forgive me ahead of time if I don’t think a kid is getting out of line, but just exerting his First Amendment Rights to call you a butt-head if you’re being one. ;)

In closing this epistle, “Whosoever takes care of these little ones, so shall My Father take care unto you….” (I know I’ve heard that somewhere before….)

3-D mapping makes Google search more exciting

2005-06-29T15:31:00.000-04:00

Here's another Google story that I'm sure will e of use to Wondir Users, eventually. Given that everything Google does has a unique purpose, I can't wait to see what transpires from this one.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/3368.html

What Makes Wondir Tick?

2005-06-29T01:46:00.000-04:00

What Makes Wondir Tick?

Behind every success story lies two things: the brains to get it off the ground and flying, and the heart that keeps it flying.

Wondir.com has both of these.

The brains behind Wondir are the people that work behind the scenes, people we rarely see or hear from (all of whom I’m sure are underpaid, but who isn’t these days?)

But what really makes Wondir keep flying are the users, the regulars, the people answering the questions. People like you and me who go to Wondir on a regular, if not daily basis, to lend a hand and help some people out.

It might be answering homework questions, looking up web pages, giving fashion advice or providing the much needed shoulder to cry on. And, to me, this is what Wondir is all about.

It’s the daily give and give some more that makes Wondir special. Anyone can pay $2.50 per answer at Google Answers and HOPE to get a reply in a few days, but that’s only for researchable things like “What is the theory of relativity?”

What about those questions that need a personal touch? What about the personal issues that nobody wants “an expert” to talk to about? Those questions are the ones that Wondir handles best. The personal life issues that touch the hearts of those involved, even if they are only involved by giving time to read the story and time to type a response. A child’s plea for help, an addicts desire to stop, a depressed persons reason not to kill themselves.

These are the questions that no Google Expert can answer at any price, and certainly not for $2.50 a pop.

To me, it is the human value that matters on Wondir, what good is answering a thousand questions a week if you haven’t made a difference? We can all answer the question “What is the name of the person who gives a horse a manicure?” (HUSH YOU!) (Yes you know who I’m talking too…..)

But do you realize how many lives you can touch with a kind word, a well thought-out response? I see this happen time and time again on Wondir everyday. Someone willing to reach out to another human being (bean?) and just LISTEN…

That’s one of the Keys To Wondir (to be discussed at a later date)! Listening…
The simple feat of opening your ears, shutting your mouth and thinking about what is being said, or in Wondir’s case typed.

So to sum it all up…

What makes Wondir Tick?

You do! The average user who takes a little time out of their day to answer a few questions, to lend a hand and most importantly to LISTEN. We’re the driving force behind Wondir, forget the stars, the rankings, the ratings…

It’s about more, much more than that, its all about the answers, the lives touched and the happiness we can bring. It’s ALL about the CARING!

After all, just how many Wondir coffee mugs and T-Shirts do we really need? (T-Shirts available from BondHunter at only $99.99 plus shipping and handling of course….yes it’s a joke!)

Want to see a topic discussed? Got a column you’d like to have published here? Got a gripe? Email me directly at BondHunter@gmail.com and I will reply. Make sure the Subject of your email includes the word WONDIR or WONDIR Blog so I know where you are coming from. I get over 300 spam mails a day and never see one…gotta love gmail!

What Is Wondir?

2005-06-28T19:36:00.000-04:00

Wondir.Com: Fast Answers, Personalized!

With the advent of the Internet, people expect things fast, usually faster then they get it, but still fast in their eyes. Unless you are still using dialup. *Sorry you 56k buffs!

What we hope for today is decent bandwidth, an accurate set of search results and Lady Luck on our sides. Between the pop-ups, spy ware, ad-ware and viruses…chances are slim. And God forbid you are looking for advice, a personal touch or someone just to talk to about a problem. After all, just how much can you trust “JoeSomeone5@yahoo.com“?

But today you have an alternative. You have Wondir!

The website, http://www.wondir.com/, is manned by people who have a unusual knack for answering questions. Be it through links off of http://www.google.com/ or from their own personal experiences, the regulars and the moderators of Wondir seem to really want to help you. And on today’s Internet, that in its own right, makes it leagues above the rest.

After posting a few questions on Wondir back late last year, I decided to join the Wondirful community that I found there. People who are more caring than almost any professional that you would pay top dollar for, more determined to find you an answer and willing to cut through the bull and tell you how it REALLY is. The old “time to piss or get off the pot” applies well to Wondir.

No one is going to sugar-coat it for you at Wondir. They cut through the what-ifs, but-what’s and the usual complaints of “I’ve tried that, it didn’t work” But they do it with style and finesse, caring and sharing, and a true heart-felt feeling that you can really rely on what this person has to say. You know that you’re talking to someone who knows what they’re talking about.
You also need to recognize from the start that the people that are regulars and moderators at WonDir are not professionals, they are just regular folk like us, but they feel compelled to reach out to help people in bad situations, looking for information or just looking to talk to someone about a personal problem.

The regulars of Wondir are the same people you work with, play with, go to school with, even invite over to dinner. From 8 to 98, the regulars all perform their jobs well, some better than others, as rated by the rating system that Wondir has implemented and the fact that they have been on Wondir for a decent amount of time, provided accurate information and been proven trustworthy.

The bad side has to do with sites that Wondir links to and whose users are allowed to post, semi-anonymously, to Wondir. A problem I’d like to see fixed shortly. And the only reason I had for detracting points from my rating of Wondir.

On the scale of 1 to 10, Wondir for all its hard work, dedicated “non-employees” and general good will towards man….rates a 9.5 out of 10.0.

They would have scored higher if not for the fact that their link back system to other sites allowed a banned (read abusive, vulgar, nasty mouthed, thick skulled DUMBO) to sign up (or not) for another account and have free access yet again. As a moderator I have had to ban people several times to finally get them to GO AWAY! But, I’ve found each and every Moderator willing to go that extra mile to see that the site is safe for all.

For its little flaws Wondir is someplace that feel is unusually safe for kids, including mine to hang out and help others, get advice and sadly chat (Chat? What is THAT?)

If I have to send my readers someplace that I trust, with people I can trust and care about, than my Golden Bond Award would have to go to www.wondir.com

I feel safe having my children ask things there, though I have warned them of “Internet Idiots” and have shown them how to ask and how to phrase their questions. And, in reviewing the results I’m over 99% happy with the Wondirful job that the Wondirful “VOLUNTEERS” at http://www.wondir.com/ do.

My advice, which is often given and quoted on Wondir, is “Be Safe, Be Happy, But MOST OF ALL…..BE YOURSELF!

And Wondir is the place you can “be all you can be” . Ask what you need, give what you can and enjoy the Internet with PERSONILIZED service. But be patient, there’s only so many of us out there that are answering the majority or the Q’s. So if things don’t happen in 2 minutes, stay on, ask a few minutes later, or better yet, answer a few Q‘s yourself. Eventually you’ll find the answers you are looking for.

For all the regulars, the moderators, the staff at Wondir.com….My hat’s off for a job done WONDIRfully!!! Bond Rating 9.50 out of 10.00!!! In other words…a WONDIRful job!!!

Welcome To BondHunter's Guide To Wondir

2005-06-28T19:28:00.000-04:00