A few people have noted that iBrattleboro commenting has dropped off a bit recently and wondered why. Usually, iBrattleboro follows the general trends in town, and Brattleboro as a whole has seen community participation dropping off for some time now.
Few people run for the selectboard or school boards, and town meeting struggles to find representatives. Public participation at selectboard and school board meetings is minimal. Few people commented publicly on major zoning changes being debated. Parents barely batted an eye when Common Core was implemented.
Food drives and non-profit fundraising efforts struggle to meet goals. Citizens haven’t been motivated to hold fundraising events for needed police and fire facilities. Skatepark fundraising efforts are quiet. And so on.
It isn’t for lack of trying. All of the organizations above have asked for the community to participate. The Selectboard has been unusually accommodating of anyone wishing to add their thoughts to anything on or off the agenda, and have held special in-depth meetings for the public regarding deep issues. Almost no one comes.
Are we too busy? Too distracted? No longer care?
Maybe everything is going so smoothly and well that no one sees a need to participate? Maybe our town is now perfect?
At our end, iBrattleboro has faced increasing competition for your attention since we’ve started. There was no YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter when we began. Now they have millions of users, including most of iBrattleboro’s readers and contributors.
Some of our regular contributors have moved away, or passed out of this world, too.
The town passed “social media” rules limiting town employees ability to freely speak out online without permission, limiting useful information from being shared.
But, iBrattleboro also welcomes new members every week and site readership remains high. At almost any given point in the day, more people are on this site than attend most public meetings. People are reading iBrattleboro, but they aren’t necessarily contributing their own thoughts as they once did.
Has iBrattleboro gotten mainstream and boring? Are new readers under the mistaken impression that we have paid reporters doing assignments? (We don’t. You are the reporter. You are the commentator.)
It is perplexing at times. When we made it easier for logged-in users to submit photos, for example, photo submissions dropped off. Go figure.
There has been one other major change in recent years and that’s citizen awareness of government surveillance. We now know that the government is spying on everyone, and the dropoff in participation on iBrattleboro roughly corresponds to the time of the Snowden revelations. Perhaps people only want to appear uninteresting on the internet, lest they draw attention to themselves?
In the past, site members might have argued that people were dropping back because of hot debate over controversial issues in the community – but there haven’t been any of those in quite some time.
Fortunately, our business model is reasonably safe, unlike the newspaper industry. We can weather this without much worry. iBrattleboro exists partly as a safety valve for when other avenues of communication fail. We’re here to provide a truly local outlet for your thoughts, ideas, and opinions about local issues, free from the constraints of the corporate-owned social media.
That said, it is more fun when more you take a moment and add your two cents. We all benefit from hearing each other’s views, and learning how we agree or disagree with others around us. It helps us all come up with better plans and options. But without your input, there’s no way to know.
In the broader sense, the nation has seen little speaking out against drones, wars and military actions, mandatory payments to insurance companies, or government spying. Not, at least, since we’ve had a Democrat in the White House. The same things that got people riled under Bush are hardly worth mentioning under Obama.
At the risk of being provocative: Why the outward apathy? Are we only capable of Click, Share, Like, and Buy Now? Have we been numbed into submission?
I think there are people who are still looking for, and who value, community. There are pockets of enthusiasm here and there. Efforts to address the local homeless issues and to reduce energy consumption have had some recent successes. I’m sure you can list more.
But all the same, fewer people are running for office, going to public meetings, or sharing their views than even a few years ago. Is lack of participation a problem or a phase? Time will tell.
Underinvolvement
I appreciate your addressing this trend and sharing with us readers exactly what you’ve been observing. Personally, I had some problems even registering and logging into iBrattleboro for the first few months I lived here, and as I was, and am still, pretty busy, every time I tried and failed, it would be about another month until I would try again. Sad but true!
Truth be told, THIS is the first comment I’ve actually made on a thread! Therefore, I thank you for speaking up. We are out here! We are reading/listening/pondering/engaging as much as our crazy jam-packed schedules will allow us to! Some are certainly more motivated toward community than others, but I suppose there are also many facets of community and many outlets for individuals to become engaged. They don’t necessarily have to be in the form of going to Selectboard meetings or volunteering for town boards.
And for some, liking, sharing, and buying satisfy their thirsts. I, myself, am guilty of the like and share, followed by a brief but fleeting feeling that I actually did something, reached someone, shared my opinion, made a difference. But really I was sitting at home, not engaging in the community around me. Like flesh and blood community. A truly virtual reality.
Not to mention, times are tough out there, cgrotke! The country is in an increasingly dire way right now, and we citizens are paying for it big time. I count myself lucky every day to have a job, to be able to pay my rent and buy my son healthy food. Not everyone is that lucky, and it’s not just the seriously unfortunate homeless population in town who struggles with basic food-water-shelter-fire issues! Underemployed, underinsured, and underfed are some big words that make up the entire middle of town and country. No wonder Bernie is blazing such a hot trail…he’s speaking straight to the struggles of the masses.
Sooo, long story short, I value this website very much, and now that I am able to login and comment, I will. But then again, I am the type of person who volunteers for committees in my spare seconds. I wouldn’t take low levels of engagement personally, though. iBrattleboro is an asset to this town.
Why play a rigged game?
Those who the town’s decisions affect most are those who are most likely to lack the necessary time and energy to participate. Furthermore, my own conversations with friends and neighbors has yielded nearly universal disillusionment. When you have to work so hard for so long just to stay afloat, why waste an evening going to a meeting where your participation won’t matter anyway.
There is a sense that this town is lead by individuals who are well-to-do and are completely clueless as to the realities facing the majority of residents. I personally feel this was reinforced and validated by representative town meeting’s reaction to some actual data on poverty in Brattleboro. It was shocking that it was a surprise to them, its almost like they’ve never walked through some swathes of the town.
The average resident, every month, every year is having to cut this and cut that and belt-tighten while they watch Brattleboro continue to spend more and more and tax them more and more. Nearly a million dollars got blown on a project that has so far existed only on paper and from my current understanding, it looks like much of that work has now been scrapped. A million dollars wasted…
Those running the town seemed genuinely shocked when voters rejected the budget last year. Cries of “But RTM passed it overwhelmingly!” only further illuminated the disconnect between those in charge and their constituents.
When residents feel ignored, when participation seems pointless, it is very hard to justify taking the time and energy when both are so damned scarce to go beat your head against a wall. That time is better spent trying to get some stuff done around the house so you can live a halfway decent life or maybe even get some rest so tomorrow sucks a little less. Or you’ve got to put in extra hours to pay for rising costs from every corner, the town included where we didn’t get a tax rate reduction but now have to pay extra for garbage bags…
Full disclosure: I say this as someone who no longer lives below the poverty line. I spent a bunch of years there, but got out a few years ago. Many of my friends are still trying to scratch their way up against a stacked deck. My neighbors are mostly doing alright, but there is still resentment and many of us are one back injury or serious illness away from falling back down. You’ve got to earn bread while you can. My wife and I have aspired to a higher standard of living and have made decisions that have led us to needing to work the equivalent of 1.5-2 full time jobs for the foreseeable future to maintain our obligations. It will hopefully be worth it, but for myself that means there aren’t enough hours in the day to earn the money I need to earn to live decently and tend to the various responsibilities I have taken on, let alone volunteer time trying to bail out a leaking boat.
At some point when there is more time and energy to spare, I intend to participate far more, but who knows when that will be, and I’m one injury or illness away from the answer being “never”.
More than once I’ve suggest to my social circle “Ya know if we all got together and made a concerted push, all got on RTM or stormed a few SB meetings, it might press a finger on the scale in town…”. The responses were the epitome of exhaustion and disillusionment.
This is a general trend that is manifesting on the local scale as well and it is a self-reinforcing cycle.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I wrote this as I was finishing breakfast but lingered too long and now need to go work 20 minutes longer today to make up for the time I spent participating.
Guilty of slacking off on posting...
…Although I read iBrattleboro almost daily, and especially love the historical news tidbits. It seems life is a lot busier than it used to be, for whatever reason. I’m prepetually playing catch-up at work and at home, and never quite getting caught up.
Meanwhile, I’ve always been very active in volunteerism, and I defintely see both vounteering and joining in decline. Not always sure if everyone is too busy or if people are better at saying no. Pretty much every organization I’m involved in (except Rotary, for whatever reason) is short on board members or short on officers, or both. My church can’t fill committees, one of my clubs has the same person holding two offices because no one else would do either. I’m treasurer of everything (or so it seems) because so many don’t want to be responsible for money. All of the organizations have trouble getting and keeping members. Some potential members have said “I don’t want to join because I don’t want to be obligated to hold responsibility” and others say “I don’t want to join because if I did I wouldn’t feel right being just a member and not taking on responsibility.”
So meanwhile I’m busier than ever, due to running around volunteering and officering and just plain doing stuff because no one else could or would do it!
Please don't take it personally!
Summer is an extremely busy time for many of us local home owners struggling desperately to stack enough “bails” of the green, pay hay away to hopefully stand on later, preferably under our own shelter and control, only to have the bulk of which harvested transferred soon after directly out beneath us and into the town coffers as is our mandatory obligation as property owners. The usually untimely sudden loss of our hard earned critical reserve we have tried to build on is rather dispensed to make way for the next unavoidable incoming bonified tax bill with an insatiably high fiber diet. This is hard to swallow and accompanied too often with that telltale grim , dry after taste and sinking feeling that we are in fact losing our tactile grip threatening our salvation to stay here with a chance to prosper these days. Every dreaded installment keeps us wondering what to do to catch up in the void, what means to recover before the next three months due approaches.
As quick as the signature ink (blood) dries on the quarterly outgoing check we face a particularly drastic reduction to a family budget already with challenges. The all too sudden recurrence is an instantaneous cropping that mows us over cutting it way too close for comfort rubbing rough patches. This overbearing payment schedule forfeits any momentarily imagined source of gain of golden grain or visions of waving middle class amber that could instead quantify or satisfy all our hard earned efforts beyond just those required to maintain the mere essentials of daily living, all that remains left with this constant kind of imbalance. Financially supporting town expenditures and endeavors in this way beyond our means helps keep us working long hours while the sun shines and then some. Man has it been shining with no rainy day excuses these days which could hardly be afforded certainly considering life’s demands/costs to live in beautiful Brattleboro. Even with all the great weather to take advantage of the reality presents a dry spell for any possible vacation time elsewhere the likes of old.
However Winter is a different story to me, not that there is any relief from our quarterly tax burden or let up on work for certain. But in so far as offering the likelihood and occurrence of that occasional, special snow day(s) off which can in part meaning we are more apt to catch up within the comfort of home (while it still exists) on ibrattleboro’s local commentary and special interest pieces. It is then time slows down enough to maybe feel compelled to contribute a worthwhile, respectable 2 bits of observation and opinion (not that mine is even one bit worthwhile). But any time of year this site is always appreciated by myself and a tribute to and acknowledgement of this communities eclectic, unique, ever changing vitality and activity.
Participation
I can identify with every single comment above as to why it seems like there’s less and less time to reflect. Which is sort of what iBrattleboro forces you to do, for good or ill. 😉
In the last couple years, I made a decision to focus on solving the money problem, per se, with the predictable result that despite a lot of effort, I haven’t solved the money problem but I feel like my quality of life has seriously declined. I got more disillusioned as it seemed like things were getting worse instead of better, which totally sucks as a way to go through life. What happened to hope and change? It has to get better somehow. That’s where I am right now and a big reason why I like Bernie. He really does seem like the only candidate who gets how hard it is to be lower and middle class these days.
As for iBrattleboro, I love it for the variety, for the original thoughts and writings of other contributors, for the random but useful information I find here, and for when I really have something to tell people about and this is the logical only place for me say my piece.
As for the world at large, I see a lot of the same defeatedness that others are seeing, and it’s been really discouraging, but right now, maybe because of the change of seasons, I’m seeing a chance to break out of this unsatisfying, unwinnable game we’re all playing. So glad to hear from everyone who’s commented here. It’s good to know there are others out there…
Rigged Game
The first public body I served on was the Bus Advisory Committee. On this committee sat, as “ex officio” a member of the Selectboard. As a complete surprise, he announced at a regular, 2 pm meeting that if we want to remain on the committee, we must reapply, and submit it in writing by 3 pm that day. There was a sense of shock in the room, with yellow legal pad pages quickly being passed around for this impromptu exercise in humiliation.
Two of us walked out, never to return, while the remaining members hurried to beg for the right to continue faithfully to show up for tedious meetings, in the service of the town.
I do not know why I continued to try to function in this unpleasant environment, but I had been concerned for a long time about traffic endangering pedestrians, so when the Selectboard advertised that they needed to fill two vacancies on the Traffic Safety Committee, I applied with a heartfelt letter, expressing my concerns, and explaining how my skills and experience would help me to make a positive contribution.
I submitted the letter an hour past the deadline, and for this reason my application was rejected. One person did submit a letter on time, so that one of the two vacancies was filled. The Board’s action made no sense, because there is no rule or law which prevents the Selectboard from filling a vacancy, regardless of an arbitrary deadline that they had written on a notice.
A few years later, I tried again. There was a new chairman who outdid the previous holder of the title for nastiest-chairman ever; and once again the price of appointment to a town body was to accept insulting behavior from dysfunctional authority.
After that, I withdrew my energy from town government, and focused whatever time and energy I have for public service on private, citizens’ efforts. I served as secretary of my local community association, where the people treat one another with respect.
It seemed that our Selectboard was acting as though appointments are political plumbs that they are dispensing, and that those of us willing to do the work, are supplicants. I doubt that our present Selectboard is of that mindset, but I am so totally disgusted with what I have witnessed, that I am no longer willing to get into the game.
Curbing Enthusiasm
I’ve had a few conversations about how so many of the local activists stopped being active. The early 2000s took a lot out of everyone.
What Happened?
Something has happened here. I noticed it a long time ago. I used to look forward to the dialogue and debate but after getting blown off, or called a troll, instead of making their case, it kind takes the wind out of your sails. So I decided to sit back and just observe. And I guess this is what’s to be expected with the Utopian society that many on here have pledged to uphold for these past several years.
I started beekeeping this year and have recently had a hard time with robbing. When there’s no other bees but the colony around it’s pretty quiet. But when robbing occurs there’s a different species or breed coming into the colony. When this other species or “viewpoint” comes in contact with the colony there’s a lot of action and excitement. You can see much excitement around the colony.
Eventually the “intruders” leave and things quiet down again.
Maybe this is what happened to Ibratt.
P.S.
I sure do miss Elkin’s stories.
I think part of the problem
I think part of the problem is that alongside the useful Brattleboro-oriented community information, the perennial presence of lengthy posts of — shall we say questionable — merit and local relevance, leads to a widespread perception that “I’m not the kind of person who posts on iBrattleboro.”
Who makes that decision?
Who can really say what is ‘questionable merit or local relevance”. What may not be interesting to one person might be fascinating and worthy of comment to another. I’m not sure there is a ” kind of person” who participates on ibrattleboro. There are certainly enough varied opinions, subjects and rebuttals to convince me that – given the right subject and the right time – anyone and everyone is the kind of person who posts on this site.
"Never Answer An Anonymous Letter" - Lawrence Peter 'Yogi' Berra
Just speaking for myself, as a person not afraid to be public, make mistakes, and be held accountable by others, it doesn’t feel fair to post comments and be ‘sniped at’ or have snide remarks lobbed at me by people from behind their anonymity or pseudonyms.
I ask myself, why is this really worth it? You’re not really participating in civic life if your debating partners ‘take a pass’ and can say anything they want without anyone knowing who they really are. If everyone commenting can be held equally responsible (unless they have reasonable fear of political persecution), then things might be different.
Believe me, I’m used to people I actually know putting down my ideas because they haven’t bothered thinking about the problems I spend a lot of time and energy trying to address for the community … and sometimes because I’m wrong. But I don’t need Howdy Doody or Phineas T. Bluster chiming in too. Perhaps the late Yogi Berra put it best, when he said:
“Never Answer An Anonymous Letter”
Disillusion
It can’t be stressed too much how much disillusionment there is floating around. 10 years ago, everyone I know in town was involved in a cause of some sort. The brick wall cited above wore everyone down, as did inter-personal issues, personal issues, health issues, and the daily struggles of trying to survive. Comes a time, after losing time after time, that you wear down and just stop. I remember a time when I couldn’t believe someone had stopped her activism. Now I understand.
Commenting is in decline everywhere.
I’m going to say don’t take it personally with a difference perspective. Serious commenting on topical websites has fallen off or disappeared, everywhere. I used to contribute a lot of material to NiemanLab.com in its early days, and my posts generally got a lot of comments, often from influential people in the media business, often ten or more on a post. Now, NiemanLab has contributors with far more clout and reputation than me, and they get virtually no comments — maybe one on every 10 posts. So that’s a 100-fold reduction in commenting. I’ve noticed the same on the individual blogs of major media pundits.
The biggest reason for the decline at NiemanLab is that the conversation has moved to Twitter, which is very popular among journalist and media people. As Twitter rose, chatter on NiemanLab posts fell. Here, perhaps some of the conversation has shifted to Facebook or other venues. I don’t get the sense there is a lot of Brattleboro-tweeting.