I’m not going to sit here and pretend that just because I have a forum of readers that I am too important to address you openly and honestly. In the change in voice that we addressed a couple of weeks ago we have seen staggering results in reads, shares, and comments. We came right out and said that we wanted feedback and we got it.
I have been writing my entire life. Whether it was the handwritten journals that I carried and filled all through my school days, or the files I have stashed away on floppy disks for my trusty Brother word processor, I have been documenting my world for at least 20 years. I’m not naïve enough to ignore what a huge responsibility I have to the dedicated readers of this website. Not even the ones that say I complain too much or make bad jokes. The fact of the matter is that I put crazy amounts of research into my writing. The first few articles of mine that were run showcased that. The problem was that those articles got about as much traction as a nitro fueled drag car on a hockey rink. The solution as we saw it was for me to quit trying to present you with a research paper, and give you something more readable.
I’m not here to sell you anything. I’m here to start a conversation. With the maelstrom of information and digital media that we are bombarded with every day, simply tapping someone on the shoulder doesn’t work anymore. You have to kick in the door and toss in a flash bang to get people’s attention. Our Editor, Aaron Styles, has said the exact same thing and it’s something we are dedicated to. Our writing staff as a whole is dedicated to the same mentality. We want to inform, not preach. We want to provoke, not direct. We will continue to provide information on sustainability and recycling programs because that is the core of what we are all about. On top of that though, we are going straight to the core of current environmental issues. No sugar coating or placating here, only the truth.
The other side of this coin is your comments. We’ve already been accused of moderating the comments to only show favorable opinion of our content, and I can guarantee that we don’t do that. As long as your comment doesn’t have inappropriate language, we let it fly. Even the one where a reader told me to, and I quote, “go kill yourself”. I’ve got thick skin and a short memory, so even if you disagree, we want to hear it. We are even going as far as adding a “dislike” button to our posts. This website is all about you, we are just along for the ride. So keep up the reading, keep up the commenting and we promise we will listen.