The following is a snippet from the current version of the “About this Website” entry of this website. As it deals with a notion or idea, I thought I would post it here in order to provide the community with the possibility of discussing it openly.
}}One, rather idealistic, goal of this website is that of voluntary socialism: if we buy, sell and use the services of each other, we all benefit as a community. (For example: We buy a toaster from John, not because it is the least expensive or has the most features, but because we know John, and we want John to have enough money to mow his grass; and because we know we can call on John to help us push our car out of a snow bank.) But we don’t know what we can offer the community unless we can find that information someplace; it is this issue I hope this website will be able to solve, at least partially.{{
As always, I welcome and encourage your feedback, either here or by email.
Thank you.
Peace,
John Hofman
skykingmeadows@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Website Feedback
This page was created for users who might wish to give anonymous feedback on the Sky King Meadows website. This page may also be used for the community to discuss publicly any critiques, items to be included on the site, and any suggestions the community may wish to give.
You may also send feedback to the Board of Directors (instructions at this link).
Please still feel free to email Sky King Meadows with any comments as well.
Either anonymously or publicly, either posted on this page or sent by email, please understand feedback as being as open-ended and as broadly defined as possible, to include both negative complaints and positive compliments. All are welcomed and encouraged.
Thank you.
You may also send feedback to the Board of Directors (instructions at this link).
Please still feel free to email Sky King Meadows with any comments as well.
Either anonymously or publicly, either posted on this page or sent by email, please understand feedback as being as open-ended and as broadly defined as possible, to include both negative complaints and positive compliments. All are welcomed and encouraged.
Thank you.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Privacy - Names & Addresses
Several people have asked that their names and addresses not be listed on this site. Instead of replying to each person individually, I thought I would open this matter up for discussion to the wider community.
For those of you who wish to be unlisted, I am wondering what your underlying fear is if you were not unlisted. Going to an extreme, what do you think would happen if your name, physical address, email address and telephone numbers were listed on this website? I’m afraid I don’t understand your concerns, but I am willing to work with you to address those concerns.
Before going further, I would like to say that I have no time to devote to this project. Nevertheless, my current plan is to list every address that exists in Sky King Meadows and to post that information on the website along with a photograph of the front of the house to which it belongs. Associating a name, email address and phone number with that address information will depend mainly on what information a person volunteers to give. I might review what information is available in the public record, but again I have other things to do with my time.
Perhaps I’m idealistic, but I want this information so that the community can look out for one another. As I reflect over my time at Sky King Meadows, I will give you several examples that have actually happened where this type of information would have been useful:
1. One resident had a car repossessed. I would have called that resident, had I known their telephone number, to let them know what was going on. Maybe they could have stopped it. Perhaps they deserved the repossession, perhaps not. But my loyalty is to my neighbor, not some nameless bank. Not under my watch.
2. One morning a resident decided to air out a spare bedroom. And promptly forgot they had left the window open. After drizzle turned to rain at 10:00 p.m., I called them and asked if they were okay. They were most appreciative. You think this won’t happen to you and that you will remember if you do something out of the ordinary. Profound statement: Humans are capable of error.
3. Similarly, one resident turned a hose-sprinkler on as the first thing she did when she got up in the morning. But after the rush of a shower, make-up and etc., she left the house for work forgetting it was on. And so it dutifully ran, all morning. I attempted to contact her by leaving a message on her home answering machine, but no one checks their home answering machine whilst at work, and I had no cell phone number for her. I toyed briefly with the idea of trespassing and turning it off myself, but I didn’t know her that well and thought it was possible she left it on for a reason. And so it dutifully ran all afternoon. And into the early evening until she returned home.
And two incidents from just this year . . .
4. The tab of a resident’s door knob did not engage (it stayed within the wood frame of the door; it remained stuck in the “open” position) when the resident left the house for work. It was a windy day, and gradually little-by-little the front door was pushed opened. This allowed their dogs to escape. The dogs were not wearing collars; it was deemed unnecessary at the time because the dogs were confined inside the home. A quick response from Animal Services prevented the dogs from wandering onto 9th Street, hence saving their lives. The front of the home was watched throughout the day, though admittedly not 100% of the time, but no strangers were seen on the property. The resident’s telephone numbers were not known, so they could not be contacted. Another profound statement: Unforeseen events happen.
5. A later wind-storm event led to the blowing of a gray fabric covering, perhaps from an outdoor grill or an air-conditioner covering, into our yard. I captured it by putting a large rock on it, thus preventing it from blowing even further away from its starting point. I was then faced with the task of trying to track down its original owner. I searched through what information I already had, and what I could find in the telephone book, and what I could easily find online, and I called those people for whom I could find a telephone number. I called several people without getting a reply, but I know there were several residences for which I did not have a phone number and did not call. To resolve my own ethical conflict (which might be a good topic for discussion in and of itself), I decided that if other residents wanted me to contact them, they were responsible for providing me with the means to do so. I have therefore retained the covering and have called it “mine”.
None of these examples require that your name (or your actual name) be associated with your physical address. Some examples don’t even require that you be immediately contacted by home/cell phone. In those less immediate situations, you may even choose to open a separate Google email account (www.gmail.com) for Sky King Meadows communications.
Apart from what information is already public and how much privacy you can reasonably expect to have, I recognize that I am not required to post any information. I also do not wish to needlessly antagonize people. And at this point, I see no compelling reason to deny someone’s request to be unlisted.
That being said, at this point this is still my website. I post information because it is valuable to me. I share it, hoping you will find it beneficial.
But in the end, it might come down to: I have other things to do with my time.
I would greatly appreciate your comments.
Thank you.
Peace,
John Hofman
skykingmeadows@gmail.com
For those of you who wish to be unlisted, I am wondering what your underlying fear is if you were not unlisted. Going to an extreme, what do you think would happen if your name, physical address, email address and telephone numbers were listed on this website? I’m afraid I don’t understand your concerns, but I am willing to work with you to address those concerns.
Before going further, I would like to say that I have no time to devote to this project. Nevertheless, my current plan is to list every address that exists in Sky King Meadows and to post that information on the website along with a photograph of the front of the house to which it belongs. Associating a name, email address and phone number with that address information will depend mainly on what information a person volunteers to give. I might review what information is available in the public record, but again I have other things to do with my time.
Perhaps I’m idealistic, but I want this information so that the community can look out for one another. As I reflect over my time at Sky King Meadows, I will give you several examples that have actually happened where this type of information would have been useful:
1. One resident had a car repossessed. I would have called that resident, had I known their telephone number, to let them know what was going on. Maybe they could have stopped it. Perhaps they deserved the repossession, perhaps not. But my loyalty is to my neighbor, not some nameless bank. Not under my watch.
2. One morning a resident decided to air out a spare bedroom. And promptly forgot they had left the window open. After drizzle turned to rain at 10:00 p.m., I called them and asked if they were okay. They were most appreciative. You think this won’t happen to you and that you will remember if you do something out of the ordinary. Profound statement: Humans are capable of error.
3. Similarly, one resident turned a hose-sprinkler on as the first thing she did when she got up in the morning. But after the rush of a shower, make-up and etc., she left the house for work forgetting it was on. And so it dutifully ran, all morning. I attempted to contact her by leaving a message on her home answering machine, but no one checks their home answering machine whilst at work, and I had no cell phone number for her. I toyed briefly with the idea of trespassing and turning it off myself, but I didn’t know her that well and thought it was possible she left it on for a reason. And so it dutifully ran all afternoon. And into the early evening until she returned home.
And two incidents from just this year . . .
4. The tab of a resident’s door knob did not engage (it stayed within the wood frame of the door; it remained stuck in the “open” position) when the resident left the house for work. It was a windy day, and gradually little-by-little the front door was pushed opened. This allowed their dogs to escape. The dogs were not wearing collars; it was deemed unnecessary at the time because the dogs were confined inside the home. A quick response from Animal Services prevented the dogs from wandering onto 9th Street, hence saving their lives. The front of the home was watched throughout the day, though admittedly not 100% of the time, but no strangers were seen on the property. The resident’s telephone numbers were not known, so they could not be contacted. Another profound statement: Unforeseen events happen.
5. A later wind-storm event led to the blowing of a gray fabric covering, perhaps from an outdoor grill or an air-conditioner covering, into our yard. I captured it by putting a large rock on it, thus preventing it from blowing even further away from its starting point. I was then faced with the task of trying to track down its original owner. I searched through what information I already had, and what I could find in the telephone book, and what I could easily find online, and I called those people for whom I could find a telephone number. I called several people without getting a reply, but I know there were several residences for which I did not have a phone number and did not call. To resolve my own ethical conflict (which might be a good topic for discussion in and of itself), I decided that if other residents wanted me to contact them, they were responsible for providing me with the means to do so. I have therefore retained the covering and have called it “mine”.
None of these examples require that your name (or your actual name) be associated with your physical address. Some examples don’t even require that you be immediately contacted by home/cell phone. In those less immediate situations, you may even choose to open a separate Google email account (www.gmail.com) for Sky King Meadows communications.
Apart from what information is already public and how much privacy you can reasonably expect to have, I recognize that I am not required to post any information. I also do not wish to needlessly antagonize people. And at this point, I see no compelling reason to deny someone’s request to be unlisted.
That being said, at this point this is still my website. I post information because it is valuable to me. I share it, hoping you will find it beneficial.
But in the end, it might come down to: I have other things to do with my time.
I would greatly appreciate your comments.
Thank you.
Peace,
John Hofman
skykingmeadows@gmail.com
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