brad's ViewJun 06 '09 (Updated May 03 '11) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line please read the body of this essay Greetings to Epinions members, loyal readers, and guests. The primary purpose of this message is to announce my retirement from Epinions after nearly ten years of contribution to the community. All-in, I have written over 1,000 postings ("reviews" or "essays") that have been published at this website since late 1999. I was around for the bonus e-royalties days, the dot com boom, the $1,000 payouts here, been recognized with various "hats" at different times, and counted several hundred members in my Web of Trust at various times. I've met at least one life-long friend on this website and if for no other reason than that, I am grateful. Good friends are hard to come by. Rick, we've been around for a while, eh? There are a number of reasons for the retirement from Epinions. Chiefly, I don't feel this is an appropriate forum for the regular types of writing I intend to do going forward. This is technically a consumer review oriented website and not appropriately a forum for opinions on societal matters, political or otherwise. I have been an active writer with publishings in various mediums for over ten years now, in niches including consumer reviews, comedy, and mostly politics. I also feel that Epinions as a community has deteriorated to the point that I don't feel the same sense of community as was once realized or even a semblance of it over the past 18-24 months. In general, I don't see the same faces roaming about the site and exchanging the friendly social comments or receiving emails about content posted here. Traffic for this website has fallen like precipitation over the past few years. Even only a few years ago, this website was inside the top 1,000 most visited sites on the Web. It was responsible to post here and content was recognized. In addition, I don't get the sense that the owners of Epinions intend to invest what is necessary to make this place what it can be or what it ought to be. The stagnation here in terms of evolving technology and available tools, better social networking, or cross promotion with parent company assets has been quite apparent. Battles have been fought, power struggles have been waged among prominent members to force change here at Epinions to change some of the fundamental problems, but the reality is that things have not changed here for the better and at this point, I don't have any optimism that I will see what I want going forward. My profile is current and I will continue to maintain it, but I will not be contributing any additional content to the website, other than updating my profile over time. One thing that will not stop is my writing. As my profile suggests, my passion in life is politics and I will continue to put out my message when I think it can make a difference. My "message" may take different forms at different times and over time, may be available in other forums, mediums, and places. The Internet and the Web fascinate me. I think it's fair to say that Epinions went a long way toward influencing my early beliefs that the Internet would be and is a powerful tool for democracy. It equalizes a power structure that exists and that came to be too powerful in formulating public opinion on policy matters and more specifically, how people obtained "news." There was a time when newspapers genuinely cared only about journalism and the quality of their product, even if it interfered with bottom line prospects (profits). There was a time when we had only three television networks and there was a standard of excellence that brought "authentic journalism" (my coined term) to television news. I'm not sure exactly when the scale began to tip, but it began to become clear to me in the early 1990s that television networks began to focus even more about profits rather than the quality and accuracy of their journalism and reporting. My observation or point is not in any way intended to coincide with the birth of the World Wide Web, which was in the early 1990s, but in truth, did not have an impact on mass public consumption until roughly 2000. I would say that the 2000 US general election was perhaps the first time that Americans truly began using the Web as a resource for news consumption on any significant scale. I would say that even a couple years later it was that the Web really gained traction as the primary source for news. Perhaps, even later than that. The Web and the Internet gives me tremendous hope for the future of our society in terms of how people receive information, how they obtain news, read authentic journalism, read first-hand accounts, and have access to the same information as anybody else, even so far as classified information, designated by governments. I believe that at some point in the future, all news will be grassroots and ordinary people will do the reporting. Newspapers will cease to exist and will combine with television operations to simply regurgitate what has been reported on the Internet. I've said for a long time that people who rely only on television news are ignorant people. That's a strong statement, but then I have always been one to speak the truth, whether people want to hear it or not, regardless of what position these people are in (i.e. people in positions of power, influence, etc.). People have not always wanted to hear what I have to say, but I don't regret telling the truth, even if it has meant a few bridges burnt along the way. The truth sets people free and eventually, provides for opportunity to right wrongs. It takes tremendous courage to tell the truth, particularly to power, and I have the utmost respect for anybody that is willing to do the research, do it the right way, look at all sides of a story, ascertain the facts, and tell the story. I'm not a religious person, but the following expression helps prove the point: thank God for the First Amendment. Over the past couple of years I have focused my writing in different niches, rather than posting here. My volume here at Epinions has significantly decreased over the past couple of years. But I have written more than ever, including editorials to local newspapers, my college newspaper, and contributions to Web logs ("blogs"). I have also joined the scholarly ranks by enrolling in graduate school and have written a number of papers as part of that process. Going forward, I don't know where my writing will be available. I have contemplated setting up my own website for many years. I maintained one from 1999-2005, but it was a format best described as a family website, with a template that introduced my immediate family and a dedicated page with my own content, but not my writing. The website I have been contemplating would be of the sort that I described above, with a template for grassroots journalism, blogging, and editorializing. It is simple enough to set up a blog; I technically have one right now but what I want is more than a blog and more of a resource for news, links to relevant content, insightful analysis, and original content -- my editorials and posted research projects. As some of you know, maintaining a website can be a full-time job and it really ought to be if it is done right. As of right now, I don't have the commitment or perhaps the time to maintain the type of website I envision. In the meantime, I may contribute to a place like Associated Content or a like website. I posted this entry in the "politics" category because I wanted to include some political commentary. There are many issues that are important to our society that remain unresolved, whether it is here in the United States or the world at large. I believe that change is in the air, as evidenced by the past two election cycles in the United States in 2006 and 2008. Americans are recognizing more liberal policies as best positioned to improve their lots in life and to me, that is encouraging. To be conservative inherently means to inhibit change. Not all change is good, but when looking at most issues, change is needed. We need people to look at issues with open minds and consider change and what change might do to improve situations on a range of issues. One of my favorite quotes, from one of my idols is from Robert F. Kennedy, Sr.: "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" I don't want to tag liberal policies to political parties because I don't believe political parties necessarily advance issues on the basis of merit. So with that said, regardless of which political party one identifies with, so long as you are willing to keep an open mind and consider options on the table, weigh all sides of a story and be willing to compromise in cases of disagreement, I don't care which particular party you choose to identify with. I don't think life is worth living unless I am healthy. Health and the care of health crosses over many issues, not simply "healthcare," as the mass media would suggest. It envelops personal responsibility, lifestyle choices, and a healthy mental frame of mind as much as anything. But it also includes public policy. The expense of profits has led to policies that are not healthy for our population and I would like to see policies enacted that force corporations and citizens to be more responsible about leading healthy lives. I hope that we can move forward with healthcare reform, environmental reform, trade reform, and change on many other issues that will improve the prospects for innocent and everyday people. Society should not be about living in the top one of five per cent of an income bracket. Life should not be a rat race. These are philosophical thoughts as much as anything. I don't expect my visions for what I think is best for society to all come to pass. I am willing to compromise as long as I am involved in public policy. And you are involved in public policy, whether you know it or not. Everybody has a voice. Even if you don't vote at the booth, you vote with your wallet, you vote with the occupation you choose, the job you take, the parenting you do, and in so many other ways. I wish the best to the members of Epinions and the readers of the pages here at Epinions. I look forward to the future and what I can do to help bring positive change. Cheers, brad  |
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