Read the full story here.
Brome Lake has a new forum for residents. The Brome Lake Blog was started to allow citizens to express feelings on issues and discuss concerns about politics and life in Brome Lake.
Still in it's infancy, the blog isn't organized yet into categories and it's basically a free for all guestbook where people just toss their two cents into the ring...but some visitors are finding that if you don't agree with the agenda of the blog then you are told to just plain shut-up! Brome Lake Blog is available at bromelakeblog.com/
Started by resident Morris Croghan the new blog "is dedicated, but not limited to, relevant comments on the politics,commerce and general happenings in and around the Town of Brome Lake, Quebec, Canada. Comments must be in English and all will be subject to scrutiny before being published. Profanity, slander, sexist, or racist, comments will of course be barred.
We are looking for honestly held opinions ( that’s allowed in a free country ) be they politically correct or not." Hmmm...sounds like a nice concept but once inside people are finding that what that really translates into is something quite different. People are being insulted and there is no sense of humour in sight! If someone posts an idea the post is picked apart like a prairie dog by vultures. While it purports to be a forum for residents it seems that only three residents, the site directors, are posting their agenda which is hard to decipher through the rudeness.
Oh well, it at least shows that most people in Brome Lake have better things to do than waste their time on a local blog that seems to be doing nothing more than uniting the bozos! The blog has been operating for several weeks now and more public interest is growing as the 2009 Brome Lake Election approaches.
There are more and more folks leaving comments and asking questions and surely there are more and more visitors who come to see the latest issues and of perhaps to check out the comments to provide a little comedy relief! So far there has been little interesting political commentary and the appearances by the candidates in the Brome Lake Elections are as rare as a sighting of a groundhog on a wet February!
The blog is not always easy to navigate and there appears to be some name calling and trolling where answers and comments are laced with aggressive intolerance. If a point is made it is usually belittled if it tends to go against the blog owners personal viewpoints...of course since the Brome Lake Blog is a personal creation without any connection to the town it will likely remain a place for people to either beat the same drum or to be told to shut up and stop being stupid!
If a blog solicits honestly held opinions then it should be tolerant to all opinions but there already appears to be some straying from issues solely focused on Brome Lake as Federal Government bill's regarding benefits to new Canadians seems to be a topic of discussion as well
"I don’t like bigots.I don’t like liars.I don’t like agenda driven Anglophobes.I don’t like meaningless political speak.I don’t like dirty tap water.I don’t like what my towns become.I don’t like phony “Baie St Paul” advocates.I don’t like Anglo panderers.I don’t like decrepit, defunct Anglo Foundations." says one post by the blog manager.
Another post: "Wisdom Era Councilors at it Again ! I see ha! ha! that George Bristol ha! ha!, Larry “No show” Fairholm ha! ha! ha! and Alain ha! ha! ha! “the linguist” Gautier are running again ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!Come on fellows, give us taxpayers a break, surely you jest ? The new administration will have plenty of toxic left over Wisdom deadwood to contend with as it is, in Carke, Bourret.
George I’m sure would spend more time in West Brome if he could, but those terrible WB roads, almost impassable ! ( except to Bel Canto events). Larry “no show” Fairholm, seldom attends meetings, but is never absent on payday.Could be he is usually trapped on the other side of the lake while the provincial roads department goes about it’s never ending task of changing all the bridges and diverting all the ditches into Brome Lake.As to Mr Gauthier, Alain once showed some glimmer of commitment to doing the right thing (bilingual resolution 2008-10-355) but in the end folded and morphed into a mouthpiece for the Wisdom, Carke, Bourret team. Went down with the ship Alain ? Time for all to say goodbye. "
And another: "...answer my questions, but remember no spinning and no political speak, just good solid answers. This is a blog, not a polite wine and cheese lying contest."
It's not clear how people will react to such comments and posts but it would be un-likely that any political candidates would show up on the blog with all the name calling and quite probable that the blog could end up being nothing more than a vent for a few malcontents who want to sling mud on anything that moves! Let's face it if someone says "I find your Blog, and in particular, your comments, irrelevant, malicious and uninformed" and then they are called "stupid" then there doesn't appear to much headway made towards constructivity.
Indeed the Blog owner is posting hatred and ignorance and name-calling and finger wagging all the while seeming to say that the problem with Brome Lake is that 50years have passed buy and progress has happened. Progress, good and bad, happens to every town so for the Brome Lake Blog owner to pine for lost youth is rather sad.
Word around the water cooler is that commenting on the blog is pointless and it is all a waste of time and just a platform for hatred and ignorance as well as pointless name calling and mud raking.
Unfortunately the people who have started this project seem unable to create and simply wish to destroy with attacks on people in the Town. Dissing this website is as pathetic as it gets! In the little world where the Brome Lake Blogger leaders dwell there is a population of knuckle draggers who seem to live in some dilusional world of malicious self-importance and self-righteousnous.
No-one is allowed to have a screen name, posts are deleted if they don't fit the tatses of this one man show. The owner of the blog seems to find the time to insult the Destination Knowlton website for some reason...see what happens when you try and give someone a voice? I guess we learned our lesson on that one!
Still in it's infancy, the blog isn't organized yet into categories and it's basically a free for all guestbook where people just toss their two cents into the ring...but some visitors are finding that if you don't agree with the agenda of the blog then you are told to just plain shut-up! Brome Lake Blog is available at bromelakeblog.com/
Started by resident Morris Croghan the new blog "is dedicated, but not limited to, relevant comments on the politics,commerce and general happenings in and around the Town of Brome Lake, Quebec, Canada. Comments must be in English and all will be subject to scrutiny before being published. Profanity, slander, sexist, or racist, comments will of course be barred.
We are looking for honestly held opinions ( that’s allowed in a free country ) be they politically correct or not." Hmmm...sounds like a nice concept but once inside people are finding that what that really translates into is something quite different. People are being insulted and there is no sense of humour in sight! If someone posts an idea the post is picked apart like a prairie dog by vultures. While it purports to be a forum for residents it seems that only three residents, the site directors, are posting their agenda which is hard to decipher through the rudeness.
There are more and more folks leaving comments and asking questions and surely there are more and more visitors who come to see the latest issues and of perhaps to check out the comments to provide a little comedy relief! So far there has been little interesting political commentary and the appearances by the candidates in the Brome Lake Elections are as rare as a sighting of a groundhog on a wet February!
The blog is not always easy to navigate and there appears to be some name calling and trolling where answers and comments are laced with aggressive intolerance. If a point is made it is usually belittled if it tends to go against the blog owners personal viewpoints...of course since the Brome Lake Blog is a personal creation without any connection to the town it will likely remain a place for people to either beat the same drum or to be told to shut up and stop being stupid! If a blog solicits honestly held opinions then it should be tolerant to all opinions but there already appears to be some straying from issues solely focused on Brome Lake as Federal Government bill's regarding benefits to new Canadians seems to be a topic of discussion as well
"I don’t like bigots.I don’t like liars.I don’t like agenda driven Anglophobes.I don’t like meaningless political speak.I don’t like dirty tap water.I don’t like what my towns become.I don’t like phony “Baie St Paul” advocates.I don’t like Anglo panderers.I don’t like decrepit, defunct Anglo Foundations." says one post by the blog manager.
Another post: "Wisdom Era Councilors at it Again ! I see ha! ha! that George Bristol ha! ha!, Larry “No show” Fairholm ha! ha! ha! and Alain ha! ha! ha! “the linguist” Gautier are running again ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!Come on fellows, give us taxpayers a break, surely you jest ? The new administration will have plenty of toxic left over Wisdom deadwood to contend with as it is, in Carke, Bourret.George I’m sure would spend more time in West Brome if he could, but those terrible WB roads, almost impassable ! ( except to Bel Canto events). Larry “no show” Fairholm, seldom attends meetings, but is never absent on payday.Could be he is usually trapped on the other side of the lake while the provincial roads department goes about it’s never ending task of changing all the bridges and diverting all the ditches into Brome Lake.As to Mr Gauthier, Alain once showed some glimmer of commitment to doing the right thing (bilingual resolution 2008-10-355) but in the end folded and morphed into a mouthpiece for the Wisdom, Carke, Bourret team. Went down with the ship Alain ? Time for all to say goodbye. "
And another: "...answer my questions, but remember no spinning and no political speak, just good solid answers. This is a blog, not a polite wine and cheese lying contest."
It's not clear how people will react to such comments and posts but it would be un-likely that any political candidates would show up on the blog with all the name calling and quite probable that the blog could end up being nothing more than a vent for a few malcontents who want to sling mud on anything that moves! Let's face it if someone says "I find your Blog, and in particular, your comments, irrelevant, malicious and uninformed" and then they are called "stupid" then there doesn't appear to much headway made towards constructivity.Indeed the Blog owner is posting hatred and ignorance and name-calling and finger wagging all the while seeming to say that the problem with Brome Lake is that 50years have passed buy and progress has happened. Progress, good and bad, happens to every town so for the Brome Lake Blog owner to pine for lost youth is rather sad.
Word around the water cooler is that commenting on the blog is pointless and it is all a waste of time and just a platform for hatred and ignorance as well as pointless name calling and mud raking. Unfortunately the people who have started this project seem unable to create and simply wish to destroy with attacks on people in the Town. Dissing this website is as pathetic as it gets! In the little world where the Brome Lake Blogger leaders dwell there is a population of knuckle draggers who seem to live in some dilusional world of malicious self-importance and self-righteousnous.
No-one is allowed to have a screen name, posts are deleted if they don't fit the tatses of this one man show. The owner of the blog seems to find the time to insult the Destination Knowlton website for some reason...see what happens when you try and give someone a voice? I guess we learned our lesson on that one!
Visit the BromeLakeBlog and decide for yourself if it is a representation of the real viewpoints of Brome Lake or if it is a vocal minority of trolling bullies exposing their true colors, bigotry with a mix of ignorance, hatred and cranky old fartinessness: www.bromelakeblog.com/
posted by DestinationKnowlton.com
on Sunday, October 18, 2009 
18 Comments:
I think this assessment of Morris Croghan's blog is perfect.
The guy wants an audience but is not capable of listening to people with opinions that differs from his garbage spewing.
He has an axe to grind and too many people are engaging him, he must be a very tough man to be around, why so much hatred?
Why has this Destination Knowlton been so quiet these last few months?
This place use to be so entertaining to read, Mr. DK did you get any pressure from the previous town administration to "tweak" your openness?
Destinationknowlton is miles ahead of the bromelakeborg.com
Please keep up the good work!
I saw the story on the Blog in the Brome County News and also saw that they had advertised to get readers...I hadn't checked the blog until now and I can say I am very disapointed at the quality of the moderation. It sounds like Morris should move somewhere where he will feel valued and respected instead of trying to stir the pot with the "stupid spoon" here in a place where his own personal Decrepit Anglo Foundations have long been paved over by progress. At least we can find one candidate running for mayor that should be avoided thanks to comments that he posted on the blog. Oddly ironic to that he says "I don't like Bigots" (when the definition of a bigot is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own) and then he lambastes anyone who has an opinion different than his own. It renders the whole raison d'etre of a blog useless! If someone tries to defend the COC they are ridiculed as being out of touch or accused of just "not getting it". I think that despite the fact that the blog payed for advertising and is to get people reading it won't last long. People want to have a diologue and share ideas and that is something the BromeLakeBlog doesn't seem to want to do...more of a soapbox where everyone is invited to share but as soon as they stand up to speak they are shoved off the soap box because they don't agree....that is intolerance. Besides we all know what sort of people write in large blocks of text often shifting TO ALL CAPS and making many gramatical and speeling mistakes instead of breaking of thoughts to emphasize coherence...I don't think this is what Lac Brome is about.
I saw the story on the Blog in the Brome County News and also saw that they had advertised to get readers...I hadn't checked the blog until now and I can say I am very disapointed at the quality of the moderation. It sounds like Morris should move somewhere where he will feel valued and respected instead of trying to stir the pot with the "stupid spoon" here in a place where his own personal Decrepit Anglo Foundations have long been paved over by progress. At least we can find one candidate running for mayor that should be avoided thanks to comments that he posted on the blog. Oddly ironic to that he says "I don't like Bigots" (when the definition of a bigot is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own) and then he lambastes anyone who has an opinion different than his own. It renders the whole raison d'etre of a blog useless! If someone tries to defend the COC they are ridiculed as being out of touch or accused of just "not getting it". I think that despite the fact that the blog payed for advertising and is to get people reading it won't last long. People want to have a diologue and share ideas and that is something the BromeLakeBlog doesn't seem to want to do...more of a soapbox where everyone is invited to share but as soon as they stand up to speak they are shoved off the soap box because they don't agree....that is intolerance. Besides we all know what sort of people write in large blocks of text often shifting TO ALL CAPS and making many gramatical and speeling mistakes instead of breaking of thoughts to emphasize coherence...I don't think this is what Lac Brome is about.
DestructionKnowlton is a joke and BromeLakeBlab is a joke. All of you bloggers are just losers. No-one wants to know what any of you think ok! Try educating yourselves on history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Quebec
Nice to see you back, always interesting. Keep up the good work ... Douglas Alexander
I must agree with the article and the subsequent comments... It seems Mr. Croghan has a new tool (toy) to use and does not have a firm understanding of what it means to be a moderator. It is certain he has a right to an opinion and it should be respected... Of course it is difficult to gain respect when one is so quick to slander and shame others. There are comments on how everyone should freely identify themselves, this too is not a standard blog practice, let alone to broadcast ones personal ideas across the Internet. When reading the attacking nature of the blog, who in their right mind would openly identify themselves for fear of personal attack and bad feelings escalating into the real world. I would suggest to the town to take a good idea and make it work. There is obviously a need for an outlet of expression for the citizens. Perhaps the town council can adopt a motion to integrate a blog that can be properly moderated and be open to both official languages. And for those who don't understand one way or the other, google is providing "translation" on web pages... not perfect, but better than nothing. In regards to the complaints and mud-slinging... my only advice for those who feel "cheated", sometimes it is better to know when to let go of an argument. With more positive approaches, the solutions can find their own way. I remain, respectfully... anonymous... ;)
Mayoral candidate Stanley E Neil seems to be using the BromeLakeBlog as the corner stone or soapbox for his electoral campaign. Not a wise move. I've got to wonder about his judgement. As your previous blogger states: "it is difficult to gain respect when one is so quick to slander and shame others."
Now the Brome Lake Blog "administrator" is saying that users are posting under multiple names and the proof is the IP numbers and anonymous proxies?? First a ranting forum of intolerance and now some paranoia added to the mix! What a place!
In case the BromeLakeBurp needs some information on how the Internet service in our area works I'll let you know...depending on the service provider many small towns can share similar nodes in the web depending on the routing of a particular provider so just because multiple users appear to come from similar places it is likely because of the Internet Service we have and not, as the BromeLakeBurpers seem to think, an attempt of one person to create many users.
Only a crazy person would do that, right?
Maybe what people should do is send postcards to the BromeLakeBlog by mail with their comments...oh wait...no...that wouldn't work because the "administrator" would probably say that all postcards came from the same person because they all have the same postage stamp!
I see that this blog is now posting messages from those of you that are unwilling to identfy yourselves. Says a lot about you and what you are posting. Regarding Mr. Timmins letter to the editor, Brome County News. If some of you would like the truth, read on.
Anyone that has been around Brome Lake for a while, should know by now, that when Brian writes something, most times, it is mis informed and very much unfounded. Just to enlighten those of you that still give his comments some credibility.
First of all, you probably have noticed that he manages to get his comments into the English paper just before the election, Brian knows that the Record, has a policy that in the last weeks of a campaign, they will NOT accept comments from candidates UNLESS WE ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR an add.
Here is my response to B. Timmins’ letter to the editor. In his article he states “two candidates have experience. One is positive about Knowlton, the other very negative. One has a track record of personal lawsuits, slashed tires and intolerance and he is still fighting today”. I am unaware of either of us having a track record of personnel lawsuits, nor do I believe that either of us is negative towards Knowlton. When legal action was taken, it has always been, when a citizen(s) went against our by-laws, in my case, most of these legal actions were started before me and I had to settle them. There was one individual however, that had three court cases, (one started a year before I arrived) where he had continued to break the town’s by-laws, and according to the courts, we, TBL did exactly what legally should have done. My tires were slashed and yes, (someone disagreed that we were enforcing our by-laws)because of that, there was legal action taken. Had Mr. Timmins done his homework and read the final Judgement of that case , he would have noticed that the JUDGE after reading the whole history and knowing who was involved and exactly what had happened, he concluded his judgement by saying, “ la preuve démontre que Neil a tenu les propos reproachés en ses fonctions de maire et en voulant faire un appel au calme. En conséquence, les actes ne peuvent être séparés de l‘exercice de ses fonctions de maire” To put it simply, as the Mayor, I had to do something to bring calm to the situation. Is Mr. Timmins suggesting that we should tolerate citizens breaking our by-laws? Perhaps Mr. Timmins could let me in on, who either of us is supposedly fighting today,or where or when I was ever negative about any sector of Lac brome. I can only conclude that either Mr. Timmins does not know of what he is speaking, or, that he continues to speak with forked tongue.
I am not sure why some of you persist in trying to start and or get involved in these rumors, perhaps if you did more fact finding and less gossip spreading, Lac Brome could once again be a place of peace and harmony.
Mr Neil (THE ENFORCER),
This is quite the puzzle. Let's fill in the blanks on what Brian Timmins, the eminent “The Lakeside Stalker”, is trying to tell us.
Without a doubt Mr. Bourret is a formidable challenge; he’s done what he wanted for a decade without restraint; he runs everything. None of us can afford another term with Mr. Bourret running the show. (GET RID OF BOURRET?)
The other two candidates have experience. One is positive about Knowlton (DECELLES?), the other very negative (NEIL?). One has a track record of personal lawsuits, slashed tires, and intolerance, and he’s still fighting today (NEIL?). The other was a successful Mayor, and a successful no-nonsense business leader (DECELLES?). He can get results from middle management. He has business sense that can boost our tax base and our business base, he will not dole out hundred of thousands of our tax dollars to support civic groups that can’t get enough respect to support themselves (CHAMBER OF COMMERCE? KNOWLTON FESTIVAL? RENAISSANCE LAC BROME? INCENTIVES TO PROMOTE HOME OWNERSHIP FOR YOUNG FAMILIES?)
Be forewarned about the BromeLakeBlog site. The site is as phony as its owner/administrator.
I have asked Mr Croghan to remove all references to me from this site with no success. When I made the request by email to Croghan, with an hour of that request my email was bombarded with spam and junk mail. I guess that's what happens when you don't hide your identity.
Croghan claims that a lot of what's on his site is phony, yet if that's true why is he leaving all that trash up on his site if he knows this. Other persons claim that they did not make these posts that are using their names. Yet Croghan doesn't have the decency to remove them. I am only guessing, but I suspect that if Croghan had to remove anything that was slanderous, phony or malicious, there would not be much left on his site. Mr Croghan might want to get himself checked for Multiple Personality Disorder!
A Bog, like a newspaper is a public forum, and what gets posted or published is ultimately the responsibility of the Blog’s administrator/owner, as it is with the editor/owner of a newspaper. And with that responsibility comes any liabilities that go along with the published content.
Mr Crohgan personally made the choices of what he would or would not publish on his blog.
But his arrogant and malicious attitude seems to have blinded him to the consequences he could face when he compromises the reputation of individuals who are named, but are not consenting participants to his blog.
I agree with; “A Blog, like a newspaper is a public forum, and what gets posted or published is ultimately the responsibility of the Blog’s administrator/owner.”
The reason I say this, is because Mr Crohgan’s obvious revulsion for Mr. Bourret and the Carke Foundation may have blinded him to the possible consequences he could face when he maliciously compromises the reputation of these individuals who are named, and are not even consenting participants to his blog.
Unfortunately the people behind the Brome Lake Blog have missed a great opportunity to bring sensible discussion in to Brome Lake. The owners of the site are deleting posts and issuing heavy handed "rules" to everyone who posts.
In one particularly ironic twist of ignorance they are saying that they are trying to eliminate "trolling" from the site. Morris Croghan and his partners in nonsense at the Brome Lake Blog fit the definition of trolls perfectly!
Troll: In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.
No-one is allowed to disagree with them, or make a joke if they don't find it funny, or think that someone is doing a good job if they think they're not. It's not a public forum it's more of a private little clique of sad sack opinionated Anglo's.
And another thing...it isn't even a "blog", it's more of a forum where the moderators want only to hear their own voices...do they even know what a "blog" is? Not very usefull for discussion and rather a sad attempt at galvanizing the population. Haven't seen anyone of any political power there taking part in the discussions...what would be the point...
previous blog: " Morris Croghan and his partners in nonsense at the Brome Lake Blog fit the definition of trolls perfectly! "
I recognize your signature on previous blogs on this page, and if I'm not mistaken, maybe on BromeLakeBlog?
Thank you. You are very articulate, and are able to convey things in a way that I can only envy. This is what blogs are all about. Good work! Douglas Alexander
When you enter the BromeLakeBlog, The first message you get is: "Bad Behavior has blocked 30 access attempts in the last 7 days."
What does this mean? It's like saying that they are under attack, which I'm sure is not the case.
When you look at the Blog content, why would anyone even bother. Thanks.
In this time where lots can be said, the crickets are deafening at BLB...
The latest is that CroMagan is answering his own blog under a proxy...
Sad... Historian will read BLB and wonder if it was written prior to the second world war or not in a time where words tempted the weak minded to take their guns and shot the immigrants...
Cromagan is uniting the right, they will have a town hall meeting in Fulford I gathered. Geez and my French ancestors are buried there.. Pity!
I'd rather stay anonymous as I do not trust that one weak minded soldier well manipulated from the First Croghan Regiment to get his badges by doing something stupid...
Awe... the bromelakeblog is retiring. See there is hope in the world. The proof is there, loud mouth bigots are not tolerated for long. All have turned away. Good for them.
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