A troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.We also have a definition for "Crank"
"Crank" is a pejorative term for a person who either holds some belief which the vast majority of his contemporaries would consider false, or is simply just bad-tempered.[1] The term implies that a "cranky" belief is so wildly at variance with some commonly accepted truth as to be ludicrous, and arguing with the crank is useless, because he will invariably dismiss all evidence or arguments which contradict his unconventional belief.Alameda's crankiness is taking a troll on me (ha ha, I made another funny!).
The rise of the Internet has given another outlet to people well outside the mainstream who may get labeled cranks through internet postings or websites promoting particular beliefs. There are a number of websites devoted to listing people as cranks. Community-edited websites like Wikipedia have been described as vulnerable to cranks.
I suppose it's just easy to log on to a blog and snark with abandon. Why not? You can't see me, you don't even know my real name (and now you know why! :) ). I'm putting my personal thoughts and op-eds out for the world to see, so I will accept a fair amount of blowback as a cost of doing business.
But let's take another view of this phenomenon. Pretend for a minute you're an outsider, considering a move to Alameda. Or maybe an entrepreneur considering Alameda as a location for a new business. When you read the piss and vinegar comments does it make Alameda feel like a welcoming place? Like a place that's easy to do business in?
Let's be careful, Islanders. I have heard first hand comments that our fair Isle is NOT the place to be. An acquaintance of mine who operates a chain of gourmet grocery outlets reports that in his Oakland locations, a significant number of checks and debit purchases come from the 94501-94502. "Why not open on the Isle?" I ask. "There's plenty of prime, vacant retail frontage." And the answer is "NOPE." The reason? Alameda is not a good place to do business. We're neither as upscale as we like to believe we are, nor do we generate the traffic (people traffic) required for profitability. On top of that, the Island has a reputation for analysis paralysis - we can't seem to get anything done and if we do, the City and the landlords are difficult to do business with.
If our outward conversations are any indication, do you find this hard to believe?
4 comments:
Interesting. I do recall the owner of Burma Superstar having some comments about doing business in Alameda that made it to the front page of one of the local papers. To this day their web site
http://www.burmasuperstar.com/location.html
doesn't even acknowledge they have a restaurant in Alameda. Too bad, because I think they are one of the best restaurants in our city.
Update- I tried Googling for that article in the Journal and discovered they are already closing..
http://sf.eater.com/archives/2008/05/30/good_ideas_at_the_time_1.php
Well said, well said.
That article came out a year ago, last I saw, they seemed to be going strong. I wonder if things changed for them, they don't appear to be leaving any time soon.
You are right. That article is older than I realized. They did open a new restaurant in Oakland, but for now it seems the Alameda site is here.. It still is curious to me that neither the Alameda or Oakland site are recognized on their web site..
Post a Comment