WHAT IS THIS SITE?
This is a blog site that was created by a resident of Surfside so that fellow association members could share comments, information and ask questions that fellow members might be able to answer. This is the place to see what members are talking about. This is also the place to get information that otherwise might not be available.
This is a forum to share and discuss information and issues about our homeowners association. The blog host is not responsible for the content of comments. My observations and opinions posted here, are mine alone and do not imply agreement or disagreement by the Board or any individual Board Trustee. This site has no recognition or affiliation with the governing of the association. As with all blogs, you have to use your own judgement as to the accuracy of the postings and comments.
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?
Everyone can view this site and make comments. The most likely comments will be from association members past and present. Also former and present staff personnel. We encourage and welcome comments and information from all sources. There is no group to join or any agreement to sign. It is free.
WHO FOLLOWS THE BLOG?
Mostly members of our homeowners association past and present. Employees and staff past and present. Board members both past and present. (many will not admit that they follow the blog) Some County and State officials and media also view this site. I receive many private Emails concerning this site and have many confidential information sources. Over the years there is a confidence that sources who provide information will remain confidential. Some will allow their name to be used and some will not. There have been over 500,000 hits on this site.
CAN ANYONE OTHER THAN THE BLOG HOST MAKE A TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION?
Anyone can, but you are required to provide your identity to the Blog Host. I may permit it to be posted un-edited without your name with a valid reason. In all cases it is required that the Blog Host know your identity. This insures credibility for the posting topic. You can also make suggestions for a blog topic. To submit a topic posting, simply send it to me by Email:
gmiller002@centurytel.net
WILL EVERYONE KNOW WHO I AM IF I MAKE A COMMENT?
Yes. Due to trashing of the site, your identity is required. You can comment using your Google account. If you do not have one, it is easy to obtain.
WILL MY COMMENTS BE EDITED OR DELETED?
Unless it is clear abuse, personal attacks (a named person) or extreme profanity that is clearly offensive to all, your comment will post as you have written. Comments are never edited. Spelling or grammar is not corrected. Say something stupid, you own it. Attacks against the Blog or Blog Host will not be allowed as they add nothing to the conversation regarding Surfside. Comments not related to the topic of discussion may be deleted. Due to comment abuse, comments may be reviewed before they are posted. This will delay when your comment appears. The Blog Host has the final decision of what, how and when a comment will be allowed.
Opposing points of view on the topic posting and comments are encouraged. This fosters discussion and useful additional information. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not their own facts. Your opinions should be expressed in a polite and respectful manner. Because of human nature and emotions, The comments can be very heated.
In most cases, After a period of time, No further comments will be allowed on the main topic. The reason for this is, that after several topics, comments on previous topics will be missed by the readers. The Blog Host will only respond to direct questions that are from an identified source other than Anonymous.
Certain specific information is prohibited by Google such as social security numbers, driver license numbers and unlisted phone numbers. Information that is already available elsewhere on the Internet or in public records is not considered to be private.
WILL THE BLOG HOST RESPOND TO QUESTIONS?
Yes and No. I will respond to questions from an identified source. I will not respond to a direct question to me that is identified as "anonymous" We all make errors, and the Blog Host is no exception. Corrections are appreciated and will be noted by the Blog Host, and corrections made. .
HOW DO I COMMENT?
On the Home pages you will see 6 of the most current postings by the host. Below the posting you will see anything from o comments to 8, 9, etc comments. Click on that comment and comments posted will appear and below that is a box in which to write your comment. There is no limit so write as much as you like. Clicking on the main topic posting makes reading the comments more easy to read. Clicking on any picture or document will enlarge them.
You can view and comment on past items in the archives the same way.
You can comment on most of the pages listed on the left side. These are information pages.
CAN I REMOVE MY COMMENT?
Yes, as a Google account holder, you can remove your comment. Wording will appear that the author has removed their comment..
OTHER FEATURES:
You can rate the blog posting below the posting as like etc. This is seldom done.
You can share this site by email and also posted on Face book etc.
FINALLY:
Add this site to your favorite list and/or create a short cut so that you can check this site every day for new comments and information. The Blog Host will try to review the comments for posting a number of times during the day. Surfside is a great place to live and I hope this blog helps to make it even better.
Now...Click on Home Page ..under pages on left side. And mark that as a favorite for easy return to current postings and comments. It's that easy
19 comments:
Regrettably, several posters to George’s Surfside Blog have abused the blog, George, and others in the community. Those who do have, for the most part, hidden behind the “anonymous” or fake names. Below are some blog etiquette dos and don’ts, put together by Pete Babb several years ago, which should govern posters’ behavior on the blog. Let’s observe them before George decides to convert the site to a managed site.
1. Thou shall not confuse thy opinion with gospel truth. There is a strong temptation, particularly when discussing contentious issues, to claim unimpeachable authority on the subject at hand. Yes, everybody is entitled to express personal opinions, but by treating your blog or wiki like a panel rather than a pulpit, the dialogue will more likely be divine.
2. Thou shall not invoke personal attacks. One of the magical powers blogs and wikis seem to possess is the capability of turning otherwise sensible people into bickering schoolchildren. Unless the discussion subject is "Say something insulting about somebody who holds a different opinion than you," leave the personal invective out. Rule of thumb: Argue with the post, not the poster.
3. Thou shall stick to the subject at hand. Blogs in particular can get tangential in a hurry. To some, that's part of the charm - you start with an idea and end up somewhere completely different. That's all well and good, but let tangents arise organically within the context of the discussion. If you've got something wildly off topic to say, start a new thread or keep it to yourself until it becomes relevant.
4. Thou shall cite thy references. As we all know, people can come up with statistics to prove anything; 40 percent of all people know that. So, set yourself apart from the herd by showing where you get your facts. You'll look knowledgeable, honest, and trustworthy. What's not to like about that?
5. Thou shall punctuate and capitalise. We're not saying you should write every post with one eye on The Chicago Manual of Style, but writing several paragraphs as one gigantic, all-lowercase, run-on sentence is a definite no-no. As is writing in ALL CAPS, WHICH IS LIKE SHOUTING! Punctuation is your friend, so use it.
6. Thou shall own up to thy mistakes. Despite online chest-puffing to the contrary, nobody's perfect. You are going to make mistakes. You are going to be wrong about things. Instead of being defensive and denying it, just admit your blunder and move on. If you have the urge to browbeat somebody about making a mistake, refer to the second commandment.
7. Thou shall not use aliases or sock puppets. If you have to invent a separate identity in order to create the illusion of agreement, then perhaps your point isn't as good as you think it is. Although it's tempting to play games with the pseudo-anonymity the internet provides, it's far better to stick with one identity.
8. Thou shall not feed the trolls. When people spew insults, pick fights, or take contrarian positions just for the sake of being contrary, ignore them. Insulting online miscreants or engaging them in arguments accomplishes nothing, it just further pollutes the pages with pointless back-and-forth.
9. Thou shall resize thy images. Remember, not everybody has screamingly fast broadband connections like you, and not everybody has the patience to wait for that huge picture of your pet iguana to download. Plus, margin-breaking pictures are just plain annoying.
10. Thou shall respect the old adage: What happens on the wiki stays on the wiki. It's wonderful how blogs and wikis can provide you with new knowledge, insight, and perspective, and you should certainly carry what you learn with you when you leave your computer. But all the bickering, arguing, correcting, and other antics it took to get there? Leave those behind. There is no need to bring your wiki-capades home with you.
Ken Karch, PE
We'll take that into consideration, it might make everyone on here a lot happier.
Sorry, That was spam that made it through the filter system. It's a constant problem. It has been removed.
Whats with the 25% increase in r/v power storage fees ? This was not announced to members in advance. Received notice in mail today and payment due October 1st. Very un business like SHOA.
The board rushed it through at the Saturday meeting. A letter of explanation accompanying the bill would have been nice, more proof the BM has no idea what she's doing.
Shes not Business Manager shes office manager, WE HAVE 9 BUSINESS MANAGES called board members think about it!
To be fair to Laura, the suggestion for the RV fee increase came from the RV Committee itself.
You can read their committee minutes for Sept. 11, 2013 at surfsideonline.org and cast the blame where it belongs.
It's really unacceptable that no advance warning or notice was given. Is that what happened when they changed the locks over there?
Their next meeting is scheduled for Wed., October 9 at 9:00 a.m.
Feel free to attend and ask any questions you wish. And let us know what you learn!
One of the questions you should ask is:
Why does Surfside charge such a ridiculously low fee for RV storage?
Are you asking about the new fee or the previous fee?
I think they should have the RV storage area dismantled and let every one find a storage facility of there choice, then they would not have to worry about the high fee of $12.00 a month to SHOA.
Surfside charges such a ridiculously low RV storage fee for the same reason they charge such a ridiculously low garbage & water fee. They are not a for-profit company, but are a homeowner's association that is set up to serve the members.
Not Enough Happy Clams or Talk of the Town
Stopped in the Dunes for a quick bite this morning. Quite the buzz about women starting to get involved in HOA matters About time! Comments about conditions up North have apparently stirred up the pot. Good for them who started things rolling in the right direction? We normally just sit up on the Ridge mocking what happens down below.
Anyway, my 1st time writing so not sure what to say. So I will end it here. (My hubbie is coming back from an errand) and I do not see how to start a new blog topic.
Keep up the good work everyone,
1stTimer
Thanks for your comment. In response to how to start a new blog topic, that is mostly done by me, the blog host, but comments by people like you have provided thinking about a new topic. There have been topics submitted to me that I have posted with the name of the provider clearly identified. I have posted several topics where the provider has requested that their name not be used for various reasons. In all cases I have required that I know the identity. This gives some credibility to that persons credibility and makes it more than an "Anonymous" comment.
I welcome and encourage you or anyone to submit a topic posting with your identity. I may not agree with your point of view or provided information, but in the interest of fairness it will be posted as you have written with no editing. I think this generates useful comment conversation. I as well as others have and do change our views and positions based on new information.
A few have provided topic postings under their own name. A few examples include Jerry Dunn, Nancy Dunn, Larry Amundson, Claudia Justice, Gary Williams and others.
Thanks again for your comment and welcome to the Surfside Chat.
I forgot to mention 3 of the most important contributors: Ken Karch, Jimmie Applegate and Bob Haskin. They all have a special page on the left side where you can gain valuable information.
Glad to see that Anonymous has been activated again - promise to behave this time AROUND!
That's too funny makes Surfside homeowners look EXTREMELY OLD.
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Best to add a new topic before cutting off comments on the last. People are waiting.
Looks like the new blog host is taking orders from the board president and Tracy
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