The Mendocino County Listserve provides a place for community members to connect, discuss and conduct commerce. | Pixabay
The Mendocino County Listserve provides a place for community members to connect, discuss and conduct commerce. | Pixabay
On his show, Jim Culp talked with members of the Mendocino County Network listserve, which is an unmoderated environment where community and county members can go to discuss current events, policy and other topics.
The unmoderated forum attracts its fair share of trolls, but members still say that it is well worth it, despite those distractions.
Jim Culp talked with Ken Davis, a wood carver in the area.
"The listserve gives us tools whereby people in some cases, who do not have access to other people readily, to find out about events going on in the community and to exchange information about emergencies that are going on such as power outages, etc., and also to tell other people about services that they have to offer or request services, people who need help, people who have something to sell or are looking for a particular item. This is a powerful tool for tying our community together," he said.
Most discussion forums and chats that are community-oriented have some sort of moderation system to prevent troll posts or inappropriate content. However, at the advice of an attorney from the school district, the listserve for Mendocino County does not offer any type of moderation on the listserve forum.
"What it's meant is that there are people called trolls, which are people that are disruptive elements on any kind of discussion list. They seem to get off on provoking an emotional response or reply. Speaking of that, there's a guy who has plagued the list since about 2017, the infamous Zeke. And he lives in San Francisco and has no connection to Mendocino and has never lived here. He just discovered this forum where he could subscribe and post whatever he wanted and nobody could say no," Nick Wilson, a resident of Little River, said.
Still, community members and members of the Mendocino County Network insist that the forum is worth having in spite of the trolls and those that seek to antagonize others.
One community member said, "I really enjoy the Listserve, in exception of a few jerks who sling mud at everyone."
Alerts Sign-up