the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, January 6th seemed appropriate , instead of the litany of new year’s resolutions we are going to focus on what we are grateful for and also clear up a little confusion and misconceptions on how the blog works.
First of all we want to thank the Deputy Mayor of Ridgewood Pamela Perron who during the candidates forum took time out to publicly question the “legality” of the Ridgewood Blog. It’s always nice to be so important in other people’s lives and since the comment was made back in October blog traffic has increased an astonishing 17%. She also inferred we pretend to speak for the Village , I believe she confused us with the Tap .
People often wonder where the ideas for posts come from? Ideas are often submitted through Facebook, direct emails or text messages . We also read hundreds of newsletters, newspapers and consult various websites everyday . Submitted posts go through a vetting process . There are about 50 or so regular and semi regular contributors who often want to remain anonymous because yes some of them even have real jobs in which they don’t want their right to free speech to spill back on their career. Thus “the staff of the Ridgewood blog” label .
One of the silliest misconceptions of the blog is that I myself sit around and write all the comments. There are currently 161,570 comments approved on the Ridgewood blog. It would be humanly impossible to sit around all day and think some of this stuff up. The fact is a lot of your neighbors are not buying what you’re selling .
Which brings up the “contentious” point of anonymous posts . A look back in history and you will find the “Federalist Papers” containing arguments of what most scholars use to interpret the US Constitution were written anonymously , even though the writers were well known at the time. In recent years even Facebook has seen the wisdom of allowing anonymous posts and let’s face it , history has shown that the reason people object to anonymity is that they are looking to go after the source or the sources kids. On the upside at least people have stopped posting anonymously complaining about anonymous posts.
Next of course to the battle for “FREE SPEECH” and yes it’s very difficult . Yes, some comments are not approved , just like you can’t yell fire in a crowded movie theater when there is no fire . If you use that as a rule of thumb you will be fine. Sometimes we come down too hard and sometimes we let too much go. Sometimes the blog blocks comments before we even see them. The same people who scream that you don’t approve of my comments are the same people who scream when another commenter reminds them of their past infidelity. Best to read the post, think before you write, and always remember this is not Facebook where the chosen are allowed to get away with everything leaving the rest with no defense . If you make a false statement it most likely will not be approved . Unlike other institutions in the Village a racist or bigoted comment will also not be approved and promoting terrorism is not allowed (period).
Readers of the Ridgewood blog are 67% women ( clearly I have charisma ) and 33% men , and the following locations are where most of the readers come from :
Ridgewood, NJ
New York, NY
Glen Rock, NJ
Paramus, NJ
Wyckoff, NJ
Hawthorne, NJ
Midland Park, NJ
Mahwah, NJ
Fair Lawn, NJ
Waldwick, NJ
There is also a huge volume of Ridgewood and Bergen County Ex-pats readers who reside all over the USA.
Our goals for 2025 are to increase the reach and scope of the coverage , bringing more local news , usable information and humor to improve the quality of people’s lives . We are not “journalists”, politicians do not get a free pass, this is a technology business and we will continue to use technology to inform and, hopefully enlighten our readers.
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keep up the good work!!
Anonymity has played a huge role in history, and it’s interesting how people still struggle to accept it in modern discourse.