December 04, 2014
Thursday PM

I want to take a minute to thank Rodney Dial for his constructive and respectful comments about driving (and parking) problems that he sees affecting our community.

I also wanted to respond to his comment: "While Donita s intent was probably noble the actual result was she promoted the page and likely increased its popularity."

In fact, I very intentionally never mentioned the page by name, precisely because I did not want to increase traffic to the page. The Sitnews editor chose to edit my letter, adding the name of the page repeatedly and including the direct link. I was very disappointed by that and emailed the editor, but was informed that the only alternative was to delete the letter completely.

While I would have strongly preferred not to have had my words altered in a way that further publicized the page, I still stand behind my message. I believe that using social media for anonymous, unaccountable shaming of our neighbors is harmful for our community.

While it might be tempting to compare this campaign with an historic use of stocks (a point I directly made in my original letter), there is a huge difference between that and this: due process. Using the stocks, or tarring and feathering, without due process has historically led to some pretty horrific injustices. Mob justice is rarely civil.

(A side note to Mr. Dial, tarring & feathering was not a method of shaming that caused "no physical harm." It was intentionally extremely painful and could leave terrible, life-long physical scars.)

At any rate, if my letter created an opportunity for truly constructive public discussion about this topic, then I consider that to be a win. Even if the naming-and-shaming campaign owner lacks the empathy and civility to do the right thing (he certainly seems more interested in reveling in the attention of his fellow bullies for now), I have faith that there are many in Ketchikan who can contribute positively to our community.

Donita O'Dell
Ketchikan, Alaska

As a clarification, Ms. O'Dell's original letter dated November 27, 2014, was edited to delete the name of a private citizen which I replaced with the name of the FaceBook page, Awesome Ketchikan Parking Failures. As there were no supporting facts as to the actual administrator of the page, I deemed this to be the fairest approach. For each instance where Awesome Ketchikan Parking Failures appears, I removed a person's name from Ms. O'Dell's original letter. I also made the decision to include a link to the FaceBook page Awesome Ketchikan Parking Failures in order that readers could draw their own independent opinions. This I believed to be fair to the page and to the content of Ms. O'Dell's letter. It is rare that a letter is edited. -- Mary Kauffman, Editor SitNews

Awesome Ketchikan Parking Failures (FaceBook Page)
https://www.facebook.com/Icantgetitinthelines

Related Viewpoint:

RE: Anonymous naming-and-shaming on social media By Rodney Dial

Anonymous naming-and-shaming on social media By Donita O'Dell

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