(March 23, 2017) What makes anything more “real” than any other thing? And what, exactly, is the purpose of any forum?
All of that and more were discussed during and Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors work session Monday, when Vice President Dave Stevens broached the subject of the Real Ocean Pines Forum, launched last week.
The forum was apparently discussed – and ultimately vetoed – about a year ago by the communications committee. Former General Manager Bob Thompson and former Marketing Director Teresa Travatello, it was insinuated, also had a hand in its inception at the time.
Stevens said he had a running debate with Board President Tom Herrick over the point of the forum. Herrick, he said, wanted to get factual information out to the public, while Stevens argued that, by definition, a forum was merely an exchange of opinions.
When interim General Manager Brett Hill said Denise Sawyer and Julie Malinowski, the current heads of the marketing department, were in charge of the forum, Stevens wondered who would fact-check their information.
Hill said the board members had all been given logins for the forum and could monitor it at any time. He said administration staff was constantly being overwhelmed by questions, one of the most popular of which was, apparently, just how the passes work at the beach club bathrooms.
“We have mechanisms for putting out those facts. We have public releases,” Stevens said. “We have several different vehicles by which we put out what our membership costs and rules and options and so forth [are]. Those are all factual and it’s pretty easy, editorially, to validate that they are factual.
“On the other hand, a short answer to a question from a member [on a forum] may or may not be,” he continued. “People make mistakes. The press even makes mistakes.”
Stevens said Ocean Pines should use existing means like the Ocean Pines webpage, quarterly report and its frequent series of official e-blasts. Members with specific questions can also email Ocean Pines Directors at any time.
“[Emails] are self-regulating,” Stevens said. “We know what we’re interested in. We know what we know. We know how we can help this person and we do it pretty well.”
When Hill suggested Ocean Pines was already using social media like Facebook and Twitter to interact with membership, Stevens ceded that point.
“You are quite correct, Brett. And Facebook and Twitter are perfect examples of social media which is designed for interaction – not designed to put out factual information by an association – except the president of the United States,” Stevens said.
Herrick again stated the forum was designed as one more way to release information.
The directors could answer questions from members, much like they currently do with emails. Unlike emails, the replies would be public, which could cut down the volume of the questions the directors receive.
“To me, it’s a way of getting information out there. You’re not bound to answer any question – you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to – but at least you have the opportunity to see what questions the membership are asking and what their concerns are, and maybe where we’re at fault for not getting the information to them,” Herrick said.
“To me, this is just promoting transparency and it’s giving them real information [in] real time instead of waiting for what the newspaper may or may not report a week later,” he continued.
During the budget hearings, for instance, Herrick said he spent five hours over two days answering homeowner questions about pickleball.
“I think it’s an important tool. I think it’s good for the community to be able to get the information, and it’s gonna help the board tremendously and save us a tremendous amount of time,” Herrick said.
Two directors, Cheryl Jacobs and Slobodan Trendic, said the board was not notified the forum was being created until it went live.
Trendic said he was concerned there were no terms of service for the forum and said signing up the individual board members was equivalent to making a commitment on their behalf
“I’m very surprised that any director feels … that they don’t want to communicate with the membership that put us in office,” Herrick said.
Stevens bristled.
“If you keep saying things that aren’t true about it, it’s going to get personal,” Stevens said. “You just said ‘I’m very surprised that any board member would feel they don’t want to communicate.’ Did I get you right? Well, I’m a board member who objects to this and I feel very much I do want to communicate and I think I do it pretty well.”
Steve Habeger, a homeowner and member of the elections committee, said he runs a similar forum related to the Parke community in Ocean Pines. Comments on that forum are not posted until he approves them, which he said causes the conversations to be both civil – and boring.
“I would suggest ya’ll need to appreciate that, in my opinion, you have fundamentally alerted a hierarchal relationship … to a peer relationship. Now, everybody’s got an opinion,” he said. “I don’t think you’ve started to see how interesting that forum can be until somebody stirs up something.
“The OPA website is now hosting this forum where there’s all these opinions – some of them we agree with, some of them we don’t agree with. How are you going to deal with that?” he continued.
While Habeger said disseminating factual information was a noble cause, “the people on the forum aren’t necessarily interesting in doing that.”
“Not everything is factual,” he said. “I think you started down a slippery slope with good intentions. No good deed goes unpunished. It’s gonna be interesting.”
Joe Reynolds, who started the Ocean Pines Forum website in 2004, said the association was opening itself up to potential defamation lawsuits.
He cited a case against CompuServe in 1991, when the internet service provider was declared not liable for defamation because it did not moderate any of its content.
“They said you can only be a common carrier protected by the common carrier status if you do not edit, modify or change what people put up,” Reynolds said. “You cannot control what people post because the moment you say I’m going to edit and control it, you then take responsibility for what those people have posted.”
He added a word of advice, based on his own experience.
“If you want to make it really interesting, get the general manager and all board members to get on there and argue with each other and you will have a winner,” he said.
“If I could add, I think we need somebody on the board of directors who understands the English language,” Reynolds continued. “The word ‘real’ applies to anything that exists. The realopforum.com is a real forum. Oceanpinesforum.com is a real forum. I think the proper description would’ve been the ‘official’ OPA [forum].
“Oceanpinesforum.com is the original – and the first – but, they’re all real,” Reynolds said.
All of that and more were discussed during and Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors work session Monday, when Vice President Dave Stevens broached the subject of the Real Ocean Pines Forum, launched last week.
The forum was apparently discussed – and ultimately vetoed – about a year ago by the communications committee. Former General Manager Bob Thompson and former Marketing Director Teresa Travatello, it was insinuated, also had a hand in its inception at the time.
Stevens said he had a running debate with Board President Tom Herrick over the point of the forum. Herrick, he said, wanted to get factual information out to the public, while Stevens argued that, by definition, a forum was merely an exchange of opinions.
When interim General Manager Brett Hill said Denise Sawyer and Julie Malinowski, the current heads of the marketing department, were in charge of the forum, Stevens wondered who would fact-check their information.
Hill said the board members had all been given logins for the forum and could monitor it at any time. He said administration staff was constantly being overwhelmed by questions, one of the most popular of which was, apparently, just how the passes work at the beach club bathrooms.
“We have mechanisms for putting out those facts. We have public releases,” Stevens said. “We have several different vehicles by which we put out what our membership costs and rules and options and so forth [are]. Those are all factual and it’s pretty easy, editorially, to validate that they are factual.
“On the other hand, a short answer to a question from a member [on a forum] may or may not be,” he continued. “People make mistakes. The press even makes mistakes.”
Stevens said Ocean Pines should use existing means like the Ocean Pines webpage, quarterly report and its frequent series of official e-blasts. Members with specific questions can also email Ocean Pines Directors at any time.
“[Emails] are self-regulating,” Stevens said. “We know what we’re interested in. We know what we know. We know how we can help this person and we do it pretty well.”
When Hill suggested Ocean Pines was already using social media like Facebook and Twitter to interact with membership, Stevens ceded that point.
“You are quite correct, Brett. And Facebook and Twitter are perfect examples of social media which is designed for interaction – not designed to put out factual information by an association – except the president of the United States,” Stevens said.
Herrick again stated the forum was designed as one more way to release information.
The directors could answer questions from members, much like they currently do with emails. Unlike emails, the replies would be public, which could cut down the volume of the questions the directors receive.
“To me, it’s a way of getting information out there. You’re not bound to answer any question – you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to – but at least you have the opportunity to see what questions the membership are asking and what their concerns are, and maybe where we’re at fault for not getting the information to them,” Herrick said.
“To me, this is just promoting transparency and it’s giving them real information [in] real time instead of waiting for what the newspaper may or may not report a week later,” he continued.
During the budget hearings, for instance, Herrick said he spent five hours over two days answering homeowner questions about pickleball.
“I think it’s an important tool. I think it’s good for the community to be able to get the information, and it’s gonna help the board tremendously and save us a tremendous amount of time,” Herrick said.
Two directors, Cheryl Jacobs and Slobodan Trendic, said the board was not notified the forum was being created until it went live.
Trendic said he was concerned there were no terms of service for the forum and said signing up the individual board members was equivalent to making a commitment on their behalf
“I’m very surprised that any director feels … that they don’t want to communicate with the membership that put us in office,” Herrick said.
Stevens bristled.
“If you keep saying things that aren’t true about it, it’s going to get personal,” Stevens said. “You just said ‘I’m very surprised that any board member would feel they don’t want to communicate.’ Did I get you right? Well, I’m a board member who objects to this and I feel very much I do want to communicate and I think I do it pretty well.”
Steve Habeger, a homeowner and member of the elections committee, said he runs a similar forum related to the Parke community in Ocean Pines. Comments on that forum are not posted until he approves them, which he said causes the conversations to be both civil – and boring.
“I would suggest ya’ll need to appreciate that, in my opinion, you have fundamentally alerted a hierarchal relationship … to a peer relationship. Now, everybody’s got an opinion,” he said. “I don’t think you’ve started to see how interesting that forum can be until somebody stirs up something.
“The OPA website is now hosting this forum where there’s all these opinions – some of them we agree with, some of them we don’t agree with. How are you going to deal with that?” he continued.
While Habeger said disseminating factual information was a noble cause, “the people on the forum aren’t necessarily interesting in doing that.”
“Not everything is factual,” he said. “I think you started down a slippery slope with good intentions. No good deed goes unpunished. It’s gonna be interesting.”
Joe Reynolds, who started the Ocean Pines Forum website in 2004, said the association was opening itself up to potential defamation lawsuits.
He cited a case against CompuServe in 1991, when the internet service provider was declared not liable for defamation because it did not moderate any of its content.
“They said you can only be a common carrier protected by the common carrier status if you do not edit, modify or change what people put up,” Reynolds said. “You cannot control what people post because the moment you say I’m going to edit and control it, you then take responsibility for what those people have posted.”
He added a word of advice, based on his own experience.
“If you want to make it really interesting, get the general manager and all board members to get on there and argue with each other and you will have a winner,” he said.
“If I could add, I think we need somebody on the board of directors who understands the English language,” Reynolds continued. “The word ‘real’ applies to anything that exists. The realopforum.com is a real forum. Oceanpinesforum.com is a real forum. I think the proper description would’ve been the ‘official’ OPA [forum].
“Oceanpinesforum.com is the original – and the first – but, they’re all real,” Reynolds said.