Thursday, January 08, 2009

ETHICS BD MET WITH TOWN BOARD, RECOMMENDED SOME CHANGES TO CODE - FOLLOW UP MEETING ON FEB 12TH AT 7:30 pm


The Town Board and Ethics Board had a very productive meeting last night. All the members of the Town Board met with members of the Ethics Board and discussed increasing the number of members of the Board, some amendments in the code, the role Ethics Board members should be allowed to play in the community, and penalties that the Board could impose on town officials. A recommendation was made to authorize but not require a town employee to sit on the Ethics Board. A follow up Town Board/Ethics Board meeting will be held on Feb 12th at 7:30 PM at Town Hall (Lincoln's Birthday).

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

And of course there were also two citizens and a reporter present throughout. But more on this tomorrow. I know many of you can't wait for a different take on a "very productive meeting" but I've been busy tonight on lohud. Go there and see my comments on the letter "Witholding library funds mean-spirited" and for a preview of coming attractions here, read my response to Irene Zuck's letter "Town changed rule without notice".

However it is late and I did come here to compliment Marc Herman or whomever who has greatly improved the look of the Supervisor's blog with a mostly delightful selection of topic illustrations. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I can't tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Please post the minutes, or at least describe more fully what was discussed and decided.

Anonymous said...

this is really the ethical scandal in greenburgh - from today's journal news:

Former Greenburgh teacher says he was fired for being 'too white'

Anonymous said...

I believe it's true. Just the tip of the iceberg with this type of behavior at GC.

Anonymous said...

Next scandal:" White disabled Greenburgh seniors forced to haul trash pay up or beg for help so that black children anywhere within Westchester Country can attend Xposure and camp for free"

Anonymous said...

8:57 You are so right .

We have to thank Feiner for this.
He doesn't give a dam about us.

Anonymous said...

I think it's unethical for us to pay for basic municipal services that don't get done (i.e. street cleaning), especially when optional programs and services are funded.

Anonymous said...

What portion of our town taxes can be written off to charitable contributions?

Anonymous said...

It is sadly amusing that Mr Feiner proposes dismissing ethics charges which are reported in the press.
I'm only slightly surprised he doesn't also propose dismissing ethics charges mentioned on this blog...

Anonymous said...

Was this a properly noticed public meeting? Or was it another of the Feiner/Sheehan "informal" meetings in violation of NY State's Open Meetings Law?

Anonymous said...

This meeting was properly noticed

Anonymous said...

Feiner is working with the Ethics Bd

Anonymous said...

8:57 in the real world meaning other Towns and Cities you have to put your trash cans at the curb it has nothing to do with being black or white racist!

Anonymous said...

In the real world, meaning other towns and cities, they do not cut essential services, run down their fund balances and increase tax while spending over 4 million dollars on friverlous programs and amenities.

Anonymous said...

Troll (Internet)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Internet troll)
Jump to: navigation, search
"Do not feed the trolls" and its abbreviation DNFTT redirect here. For the Wikipedia essay, see "What is a troll?". For other uses see Troll (disambiguation).
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.[2]

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
1.1 Early history
2 Identity trolling
3 Usage
4 Concern troll
5 Parody
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
8.1 Troll FAQs



[edit] Etymology

Artist's conception of tuna trolling operation in fishing.The contemporary use of the term is alleged to have first appeared on the internet in the late 1980s[3], but the earliest known example is from 1991[4]. It is thought to be a truncation of the phrase trolling for suckers, itself derived from the fishing technique of slowly dragging a bait through water, known as trolling.[5] The word also evokes the trolls portrayed in Scandinavian folklore and children's tales as they are often obnoxious creatures bent on mischief and wickedness. The verb "troll" originates from Old French "troller", a hunting term. The noun "troll", however, is an unrelated Old Norse word for a giant or demon. [6]


[edit] Early history
Prior to DejaNews's 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. The most likely derivation of the word troll can be found in the phrase "trolling for newbies," popularized in the early 1990s in the Usenet group, alt.folklore.urban (AFU).[7][8] Commonly, what is meant is a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users, presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone that only a new user would respond to them earnestly. For example, a veteran of the group might make a post on the common misconception that glass flows over time. Long-time readers would both recognize the poster's name and know that the topic had been done to death already, but new subscribers to the group would not realise, and would thus respond. These types of trolls served as a Shibboleth to identify group insiders. This definition of trolling, considerably narrower than the modern understanding of the term, was considered a positive contribution.[9][7] One of the most notorious AFU trollers, Snopes,[7] went on to create his eponymous urban folklore website.

By the late 1990s, alt.folklore.urban had such heavy traffic and participation that trolling of this sort was frowned upon. 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.


[edit] Identity trolling
In academic 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 ambiguity of identity in a disembodied "virtual community":[10]

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)[1]


[edit] Usage
Application of the term troll is highly subjective. Some readers may characterize a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. The term is often used to discredit an opposing position, or its proponent, by argument fallacy ad hominem.

Often, calling someone a troll makes assumptions about a writer's motives. Regardless of the circumstances, controversial posts may attract a particularly strong response from those unfamiliar with the robust dialogue found in some online, rather than physical, communities. Experienced participants in online forums know that the most effective way to discourage a troll is usually to ignore him or her, because responding tends to encourage trolls to continue disruptive posts — hence the often-seen warning: "Please do not feed the trolls".[11]

Frequently, someone who has been labelled a troll by a group may seek to redeem their reputation by discrediting their opponents, for example by claiming that other members of the group are closed-minded, conspirators, or trolls themselves.


[edit] Concern troll
A concern troll is a false flag pseudonym created by a user whose actual point of view is opposed to the one that the user's sockpuppet claims to hold. The concern troll posts in web forums devoted to its declared point of view and attempts to sway the group's actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals, but with professed "concerns". The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group.[12]

For example, in 2006 Tad Furtado, a top staffer for then-Congressman Charlie Bass (R-NH), was caught posing as a "concerned" supporter of Bass's opponent, Democrat Paul Hodes, on several liberal New Hampshire blogs, using the pseudonyms "IndieNH" or "IndyNH." "IndyNH" expressed concern that Democrats might just be wasting their time or money on Hodes, because Bass was unbeatable.[13]

A recently declassified World War II manual on sabotage recommends such techniques to derail any effective action: "Advocate 'caution.' Be 'reasonable' and urge your fellow-conferees to be 'reasonable' and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on... Be worried about the propriety of any decision — raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon." [14]

Although the term "concern troll" originated in discussions of online behavior, it now sees increasing use to describe similar behaviors that take place offline.

For example, James Wolcott in Vanity Fair[15] accused a conservative New York Daily News columnist of "concern troll" behavior in his efforts to downplay the Mark Foley scandal. Wolcott links what he calls concern trolls to Saul Alinsky's "Do-Nothings," giving a long quote from Alinsky on the Do-Nothing's method and effects:

These Do-Nothings profess a commitment to social change for ideals of justice, equality, and opportunity, and then abstain from and discourage all effective action for change. They are known by their brand, 'I agree with your ends but not your means.'
In a more recent example, The Hill published an op-ed piece titled "Dems: Ignore 'Concern Trolls'." Again, the concern trolls in question were not Internet participants; they were Republicans offering public advice and warnings to the Democrats. The author defines "concern trolling" as "offering a poisoned apple in the form of advice to political opponents that, if taken, would harm the recipient."[16]


[edit] Parody
A monster in the Munchkin card game is named the Net Troll. It is described as having "no special powers, and is really mad about it."


[edit] See also
Astroturfing
Baiting (trolling)
Blogger's Code of Conduct
Breaching experiment
Encyclopedia Dramatica
Forumwarz
Gadfly (social)
Griefer
Hit-and-run posting
Lurker
Ostracism
Schadenfreude
Sockpuppet (Internet)
Virtual community

[edit] References
^ trolling definition from PC Magazine Retrieved on 28 May 2007.
^ "What is a troll?" - Indiana University Knowledge Base
^ Schwartz, Mattathias (2008-08-03). "The Trolls Among Us", New York Times. Retrieved on 1 August 2008.
^ Oxford English Dictionary Online s.v. TROLL n.(1) and TROLL v., both added in June 2006
^ Usenet Newsgroup misc.invest.options 1997
^ Etymology online dictionary
^ a b c See Michele Tepper, "Usenet Communities and the Cultural Politics of Information" in David Porter, ed., Internet Culture (1997) at 48 ("[T]he two most notorious trollers in AFU, Ted Frank and snopes, are also two of the most consistent posters of serious research.").
^ One early reference to troll found in the Google Usenet archive was by user "Mark Miller," directed toward the user "Tad," on February 8, 1990, saying "Just go die in your sleep you mindless flatulent troll." 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.
^ Cecil Adams (2000-05-14). "The Straight Dope". Retrieved on 2007-08-26. "To be fair, not all trolls are slimeballs. On some message boards, veteran posters with a mischievous bent occasionally go "newbie trolling."
^ Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community
^ Example of a warning to blog participants about trolls: "do not feed the trolls." golo historians_13th's blog. Retrieved on: April 10, 2008.
^ Cox, Ana Marie (2006-12-16). "Making Mischief on the Web", Time. Retrieved on 30 March 2007.
^ Saunders, Anne (2006-09-26). "Bass aide resigns after posing as opponent's supporter online", Boston Globe, Associated Press. Retrieved on 30 March 2007.
^ OSS Simple Sabotage Manual, pdf
^ Wolcott, James (2006-10-08). "Political Pieties From a Post-Nasal Drip", Vanity Fair. Retrieved on 26 May 2008.
^ Moulitsas, Markos (2008-01-09). "Dems: Ignore 'Concern Trolls'.", The Hill. Retrieved on 26 May 2008.

[edit] External links
Look up troll in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trolls (Internet)
This article or section may contain an excessive number of external links.
Please improve this article by incorporating them into the appropriate end section, or by converting them to inline citations. (September 2008)

Unconventional approach of feeding trolls, not killing them by Henk van Ess
Article on trolls and the 'art' of trolling by Steve Myers
Adequacy.org: Archive of Adequacy.org, a troll site.
What is a troll? from the Straight Dope
Trolling lore and essays
Searching for Safety Online: Managing "Trolling" in a Feminist Forum
Make Something Happen talks with a troll
Best guide to the various types of trolls
Ubuntu Forums guide to types of trolls
Interview with a self-proclaimed Troll by Lord M'Deentor
Archive of internet trolls
Malwebolence - The World of Web Trolling; New York Times Magazine, By Mattathias Schwartz; August 3, 2008.

[edit] Troll FAQs
urban75 Trolling FAQ: Comprehensive guide to the dark art of trolling
alt.troll FAQ (how-to)
alt.syntax.tactical FAQ
False repentance at MeatballWiki
The relationship between social context cues and uninhibited verbal behavior in computer-mediated communication
Moral panic and alternative identity construction in Usenet
Giveen's Guide To Internet Trolls
[show]v • d • eAnonymous

Anonymous said...

DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!!

Anonymous said...

Marc Herman....

can 9:19 be deleted?

Anonymous said...

Who ever keeps writing the Troll
crap needs to do something else.
Hal did anyone ever tell you self
praise sucks? Who cares about
your opinion anyway?Your rants
are further evident of your illness.
If you had the common sense to write
without being out to get someone
or something you might make sense.
But your rant is worse than the troll.
Sick of You too!

ed krauss said...

Not to push the issue, but I think an answer should be forthcoming.

I still think it is wrong and/or a conflict of SELF-interest to ask a group of people appointed by the Town Board to honestly and objectively render a decision on the breaching or not breaching of the town's ETHICS Code when the "appointed" rule for or against the "appointer."

I guess it's a tougher decision than asking the members of the Town Board to vote to take a 15% pay cut. Why make waves when the water is to your liking?

So my legitimate idea of another municipality's Ethics Board hearing Greenburgh's ethics questions and Greenburgh hearing theirs, is the victim of another UNJUST pocket veto.

What ever happened to the "WALKNG" Open Government, after the adnauseum "TALKING" of it?

Democracy may not be dead in Greenburgh, but it sure is on the critical list.

Anonymous said...

What is wrong with this picture?

Feiner thinks Federal Court Judges should stand for election every 14 years or so - but believes he hasn't gone stall after nearly 18 years.

EWhat is wrong with this Town?

Anonymous said...

Paul at last nite's meeting you stated that someone on the ethics board resigned. Is this the one person that never attended one meeting after his appointment???????

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