The Notion of 'Lotion'

John Q. Public January 11, 2012 at 01:27 am

Mr Apar should have waited a day to press the publish button on this incomprehensible post. Anxious alliteration is the weakness of a weak writer. Point of reason, Bruce - Ditch the lotion and try 100% Shea Butter. Much better for you. And it's 100% natural, no additives.

Bruce Apar January 11, 2012 at 06:01 pm

How easy to criticize when you're anon person who safely hides behind a most original pseudonym. If you can't bear to own your opinion by name, at least let us know where you teach writing for a living?

Lanning Taliaferro (Editor) January 11, 2012 at 06:02 pm

Oh, well, Bruce, welcome to Patch. I think combining logic+emotion is a fun concept to think about.

Bruce Apar January 11, 2012 at 06:58 pm

Thanks, Lanning. Much appreciated. Constructive, sensible comments on the same column were posted on our own site. Besides, trolls are not unique to Patch, but easily dispatched whither they slither.

John Q. Public January 11, 2012 at 08:41 pm

I've taught at Columbia and NYU, Bruce. Ideas are more important than personalities to me. It's too easy for weak thinkers to make things personal rather than addressing the substance of an argument. I've seen enough of your writing to know you reject great ideas if you can't personalize the attribution.

Bruce Apar January 11, 2012 at 08:57 pm

I get more than enough positive feedback on my writing not to be bothered by a self-professed academician who makes a lot of claims except for having a name. I do have a weakness: it's against weak anon persons with no backbone who take potshots at people who do post by name. Why waste your time continuing to read someone who, in your anonymous estimation, is a weak writer with weak ideas. You are personalizing it by having neither the class nor character to put your name where your mouth is. Say whatever you want to someone with whom you disagree, but have the temerity to say it to the person's face, not (in effect) behind the person's back by hiding your true identity. Call me at (914) 275-6887; email me at bapar@chasemultimedia.com; visit me at 1520 Front Street, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598. There's at least one of us who has nothing to hide. How about making it two?

Chris McHugh (Editor) January 12, 2012 at 03:28 am

The last comment in this chain was deleted due to a terms of service violation. Users are not permitted to post or transmit to other users anything that contains Content that:
is defamatory, abusive, obscene, profane or offensive.

Chris Clement January 12, 2012 at 11:50 am

The Pennysaver used be huge. It's dwindled to almost nothing; put in newspaper trash bin upon receipt. And The North County News, wow! A a nice local newspaper covering Croton, etc. It went down the tubes after someone got canned, then the rest of the staff quit. NCN is no longer being published. Why? Mr. Chase must be spinning in his grave.

Bruce Apar January 12, 2012 at 02:34 pm

Hi Chris, happy to discuss anything mentioned in your post. My contact info is above. Feel free to get hold of me..... Funny, but when people talk directly instead of firing email salvos fraught with schadenfreude, the whole conversational tone actually turns collegial and mutually respectful. Try it, you might like it.

Bruce Apar January 12, 2012 at 03:09 pm

I read the unfortunate post deleted by O-C Patch Editor Christopher McHugh, in which the commenter modestly compares himself (or herself, who knows really?) to the authors of Alice in Wonderland and 1984; compares his (or her) vituperative, ad hominem posts to their classic literature; and demonstrates blissful unawareness that "troll" is standard jargon in cyberculture for anon-persons who post messages deemed inflammatory, off-topic and otherwise unwise. Sites like LoHud and Patch are increasingly intolerant of trolls, hence Editor McHugh's deletion. Now that's what I call civil service. Trolls add no value to the discussion and often have a personal agenda against the target of their venom in which the only thing hidden is their true identities. Trolls will go to all kinds of lengths to rationalize why they don't need the courage of their convictions, even invoking the likes of Lewis Carroll and George Orwell as their analogs! LOL.

John Q. Public January 13, 2012 at 12:06 am

Read this about "The Systematic Assassination of a Westchester Institution", namely the NCN, to learn a little about Bruce Apar. Mr. Apar's reading comprehension is lacking. Nuf said.
http://www.jamescampion.com/chekhooligans.html "Bruce Apar's treatment of the North County News staff, supported by the company's management, was dehumanizing, and resulted in a round of immediate terminations and resignations."

John Q. Public January 13, 2012 at 12:44 am

Note: The Patch allows Mr. Apar to insult and personally attack me, but when I turned his own insult of me against him, my post was deleted. Lesson: the Patch's editorial board is political, not rational.

Watchdog January 13, 2012 at 01:03 am

In reality, Lo HUD has loSt readership, mine included, when they stifled comments that did not jive with their liberal political bent. Some of the information and comments provided by readers are invaluable and often is information the newspapers refuse to print. Lo HUD eliminated these readers. PATCH just deletes the stuff they do not like and suspends members. When will they ever learn. BTW a troll is not a kind word no matter how you spin it.

Chris Clement January 13, 2012 at 10:56 am

Thanks, Mr. Public, for refreshing my memory with the link you posted. Ray Gallagher is the person who got unceremoniously canned at NCN, a person who won so many awards for his writing. NCN had the BEST sports section this side of the Mississippi! Deleting Gallagher's writings from the NCN archieves was foolish. A person can try to run from the past, but they can't hide it. For the record, I have no axe to grind with anyone. I call it like I see it and what I wrote above is fact -- size of Pennysaver has diminished greatly, NCN is off the newsd stands. However, my comment about Mr. Chase 'spinning in his grave' was of course a cliche and personal opinion. Don't understand why an intelligent wordsmith would attack the messenger.

Watchdog January 13, 2012 at 11:17 am

It is called selective retribution in the PATCH Manual,.

William Demarest (Editor) January 13, 2012 at 01:37 pm

Another reminder: Personal attacks aimed at authors or those who post comments in the "comment" area are not allowed. Please share your thoughts on the subject material with us, but the comments area is not a forum to abuse others.
As Local Editor Chris McHugh pointed out earlier ... Users are not permitted to post or transmit to other users anything that contains content that is defamatory, abusive, obscene, profane or offensive.

John Q. Public January 14, 2012 at 06:02 pm

Mr. Clement, When I first moved to Northern Westchester, the NCN was a fine local newspaper, actually fair and balanced in reporting on local issues. And then they hired a non-journalist, actually a marketer, to publish it, and judged by the result, he operated it to create a tax loss for the owners and destroy what once was a great institution. The Pennysaver is a mere shadow of what it once was. The self-professed "Mayor" of the Pennysaver cannot blame the forces of disintermediation by Craigslist and the Internet. It was the lack of a credible editorial board that was responsive to the needs of its readers. There will always be a market for good reportage. The NCN discarded its commitment when this new "Mayor" took over.