YACK on:
YACKon.com
Grant Sanders
Two weeks ago, The Boston Globe published a little story on the front page of their Monday business section about YACKon.com. I had wondered why I had received 65 new member requests that morning. And then I saw that many of them were coming from people who had read the Globe article. It was nice to get a little boost in traffic. And it was nice to see our little site get some exposure and recognition.

The article had a couple of inaccuracies, as all news articles do to some extent. One, was that the Annual Town Meeting occurs in the high school auditorium, not the gym. Another was that the Town Meeting proceedings were "interminable." That's not true at all. think they are highly entertaining and fun. I look forward to them every year.

Another untrue assertion made in the Globe article was from selectman Patty Roggeveen who was quoted as saying, "I don't believe it's something that is benign at all. It's just like whispering across the backyard fence, but it resonates out over the Internet."

Her beef, apparently, is that YACK can be a place where anonymous people can attack community members or neighbors without accountability. This is surprising given the fact that when people actually attacked Ms. Roggeveen in a very personal way during her recent run for Selectman, it was I who reprimanded the posters, removed their posts, and made sure there were no personal attacks on the site - something that has been a rule on YACK since its beginning. There sure as heck is accountability on YACKon.com. And I'm it.

This reminds me of something former selectman Doug Bennett said in a BOS meeting when they were discussing the idea of putting a link to YACKon.com on the new town Web site. Doug said that YACK was "just a place where people go to rake muck." Well, he should know first hand that we don't put up with that kind of behavior at all on YACK. He has been banned from the site twice for raking muck! Once for posting libelous and untrue accusation about a town employee. And a second time for calling another poster names.

Suffice it to say, I run a very tight ship on YACKon.com - there's no rudeness (unless it's in the off-topic folder, where there is a little leeway for the politically hotheaded types to let off steam), no free advertising, no running with scissors, no diving in the shallow end.

Ms. Roggeveen is correct, however, many of our posts do have that "whispering across the backyard fence" feeling to them. But she forgets the fact that some things need to be whispered across the backyard fence, or shouted over a community Web site, because there is no other forum for them. The news media cannot and does not cover every story out there. The public cannot be at every public hearing. And sometimes things happen that the public should know about, but are swept under the proverbial rug.

For example, recently, someone undertook a house move without permits on Tuckernuck. If it were not for a poster on YACK, the town might not have found out about it for weeks after the fact. (Great pictures, by the way.)

Also, when the incredibly ugly and completely inappropriate picture windows on the building on the corner of Chestnut and Federal Streets were approved by the HDC, that caused quite a stir on YACKon.com. The Chairman of the HDC (who is related to Ms. Roggeveen in some way…I forget how…It's all so confusing) got a few emails over that one, I understand.

Also, YACK has been ground zero for discussions about the Baxter Road bluff-protection disaster. Several posters have published images of the bluff before and after the Patriot's Day storm that scattered 4 x 4s and jute bags all along the beaches of the island from Great Point to Smith's Point and beyond. The Conservation Commission Administrator, who is also related to Ms. Roggeveen in some way, also got a few emails over that I understand.

These are more than just whisperings. They are important community issues that need to be discussed. And YACK, as far as I know, is the only readily available public forum, besides the counter at the Downeyflake, or the bench in front of the Pacific National where people can do that. And those places can't accommodate 2,100 people a day.

Is there gossip on the site? Sure, but the nice thing about having a site with 1,130 registered users is that if someone posts something that's just not true, they get corrected pretty quickly by people who are in the know. Like the time I got a call from Police Chief Pittman for posting a rumor I had heard at the Cindy Sheehan event about the police department. That one got corrected pretty darn quickly, I'll tell you.

Yes, it's true there are some people who don't appreciate YACKon.com at all. Some folks don't own a computer, so they see it as just a bunch of people wasting time. Some people get called to task for their comments and actions by posters on the site. Some people have their evil plots spoiled by shining a big fat YACK spotlight on them. Oh, well, I guess you can't please everyone.

There was one other inaccuracy in the Globe story. I quote, "The forum's detractors argue that only a handful of people are actively involved in posting and creating content." The truth is, to date, 451 separate people have posted on the site. 225 of them have posted ten times or more.

Who is whispering untruths across the backyard fence now?

YACK on. I

Grant Sanders is the host of YACK, The Nantucket Online Community at YACKon.com and he spends way too much time doing it. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of The Nantucket Independent. Or his wife.