SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

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SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby radiofan » Thu Jan 22, 2015 11:45 pm

Toronto's BIG YELLOW Radio Board, SOWNY.ca is taking a break for a few days.

When you log onto the site, you get the following message:

Message from the Moderator

To all the registered users of SOWNY.ca:

I agreed to take over this board because I enjoyed what I read on it previously, and because I like to keep up with the goings-on of radio and television in the area. So I took it on. Then I realized that a good number of you don't appear to have left childhood behind.

Some of you say things, deliberately trying to provoke other people, or everyone in general. I gave everyone an option to ignore the content of users they didn't wish to see. And some people did, but a lot didn't.

Then those people started to complain that I wasn't moderating the board, when they themselves were just as guilty of stirring the pot as the next guy.

I am self-employed, and have been for 15 years, and with that comes a lot of work. I am also a husband, a father, an Amateur Radio operator, and a Freemason. I like to camp, ride my motorcycle, play with my kids, spend time with my wife, play with my radios, and a host of other stuff THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE DEALING WITH THE CHILDISH NONESENSE that I've seen here over the past 6 months.

On the flip side, I categorically refuse to read every post twice, and censor things to the point where I have to approve every post. You're adults. If you don't like what someone says, ignore it. If someone says something that's actionable, I deal with it. But I've made my position on protected speech quite clear.

The board is offline for the remainder of the week. I'll turn it on sometime on Sunday, January 25th.

E-mails are not welcome.

P.Mc.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby Mike Cleaver » Fri Jan 23, 2015 12:14 am

The site has become a cesspool, dominated by a wannabe who calls himself Ziggy but whose real name is John Kato.
He's a failed bit player in the business, most recently working at a community station in Ontario.
He singlehandedly has driven away almost every radio professional who ever belonged to the board.
All he does is insult people who have or had a legitimate career in the business.
Complaints to the last two moderators resulted in no action to ban this jerk who does nothing but insult other posters.
He fancies himself a comedian but he probably couldn't get a mop up spot at Yuk Yuks.
The few legitimate board users left have put him on ignore and all of us have dumped him from Facebook as well.
He's the ultimate troll who obviously has nothing else to do with his time.
I finally pulled the plug two weeks ago.
Pretty certain it's going to die.
It used to be an interesting useful site that almost everyone in broadcasting read and posted to, including people who ran the stations.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby groundskeeper willy » Fri Jan 23, 2015 12:23 am

For many years, I really enjoyed reading the SOWNY board, but lately, not so much.

The moderator over there has got his hands full dealing with a couple of evil trolls who use the site for spewing venom and highjacking threads. At one time, there used to be a real community of experienced radio folks who could hold intelligent discussions regarding the history of the industry, the current state of affairs, as well as providing reasonable predictions on where the biz may be in the future. But most have been driven off, thanks to a small handful of idiots who've pretty much turned the site into a wasteland.

Craig, the guy who ran the site for years (until his death), spend countless hours keeping the big yellow board going, all as a labour of love. The troll issue that the current mod is experiencing isn't new by any means, Craig also had his hands full dealing with them on occasion over the years, but nothing like what's been happening recently. With the way that civility has deteriorated over there, I wonder how long the mod will continue before he finally decides to pull the plug and shut it down permanently.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby Neumann Sennheiser » Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:27 am

This is sad to read. I haven't looked in on the SOWNY board for some time so I was not aware of the changes (sorry for the loss) and the problems. As Mike has implied there was, at a time, a contributing faction of informed and valued pros whose names I recognized and who's opinions I value.
If their board goes down for good it's hopeful that another will appear to replace it and that it will be the better for improvements and fresh management. That's exactly what occurred here at Radiowest and we have thrived.
"You don't know man! I was in radio man! I've seen things you wouldn't believe!"
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby slowhand » Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:35 am

Several ex-members here have talked about creating their own little home on the internet where they only had to talk to people who had Real radio experience like they do. You know the kind. "You don't know squat. You never worked drive time in a top 5 rated station in a major market."

Ziggy could be just the catalyst to get their collective dreams off the ground. A place where highly qualified radio people can call each other names with impunity.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby Air Wave » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:38 am

Sowny is back online with this note from the Mod. Ziggy is also back and posting:

There's a line that is used during 820AM's ID breaks "Just because you're offended doesn't mean that you're right. Not that we're trying to be.... Right, that is."

I do not and will not delete posts simply because they're offensive. One of the most important parts of free speech is being offended by something that someone says but acknowledging their right to say it. And based on what happened in Paris on January 7, 2015, there is no more important time to remember that fundamental truth than now.

I try to monitor the board regularly, but work and family get in the way sometimes. If anyone sees something that crosses the line of libel, hate-speech, or anything else that may be legally actionable, please use the flag functions of the forum software and I'll be informed, will review and act accordingly. I'm not a lawyer, so I will usually err on the side of caution.

If there is a specific user who you do not want to see any content from, you can go to your user control panel and adjust your "Friend/Foe" settings accordingly. If you are having issues with this feature, please PM me and I'll be more than happy to help.

Now, all that said, if there are users who are constantly stirring the pot, posting nothing but inflammatory text, and who appear to be going out of their way to cause trouble, I will warn you. If you continue, I'll ban you. Why? Because, although your speech may be protected under law, I am also at liberty to not have to listen to it on my board. I do not need forum users to tell me who these people are. I will make those decisions on my own. The only flags I want to see from users are actionable text and spam.

Finally, anyone who posts degrading personal attacks directed at me (i.e.: calling me a "useless piece of sh*t" wrote Stacey McKray) or any other users of the board will not only get you banned, but your identity revealed.

Going forward, whenever someone posts about being offended by a post, I'll either refer to this thread or just delete the post. If someone starts a topic, I'll delete the topic and PM them a link to this post.

I hope this clears up any confusion on the matter once and for all. This topic will remain pinned to all sections inside SOWNY indefinitely.


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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby Neumann Sennheiser » Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:57 am

Wow! Things are getting pretty real over there.
I would be very concerned to read such a caveat from our administrator(s) here and more troubled still by such events that might necessitate it.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby CT40 » Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:31 pm

The SOWNY moderator's lashing out at those questioning why nothing is done about this Ziggy character's trolling is quite astonishing. And defending Ziggy's vitriol directed at certain members in a couple of posts over the past few months all under the guise of free speech is also troubling. I always shudder when someone uses the "I'm just a regular guy with a family" card when arguing a point. It has zero relevance to the topic.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby slowhand » Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:25 pm

CT40 wrote:The SOWNY moderator's lashing out at those questioning why nothing is done about this Ziggy character's trolling is quite astonishing. And defending Ziggy's vitriol directed at certain members in a couple of posts over the past few months all under the guise of free speech is also troubling. I always shudder when someone uses the "I'm just a regular guy with a family" card when arguing a point. It has zero relevance to the topic.

Perhaps you can clarify that. I might even agree with you if your point is do it right or don't do it at all, and if it takes too much of your time to do it right then give it to someone else who has the time and the ability.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby aflem » Sun Mar 01, 2015 11:45 am

For those still interested, this turned up on the Ontario SOWNY board over the weekend. It speaks volumes about "Ziggy" Kato and more than proves what Mike Cleaver had to say about his so-called "qualifications." He sounds like a high school student trying to imitate what he thinks a big boy announcer sounds like. He succeeds at neither. It also explains his non-stop rants against people with experience being terrible, past their prime, resistant to change, etc. etc.

In the end, he appears to be just what you thought, Mike - a jealous and talentless wanna-be who never really worked in the real industry a day in his life. Pity he's ruined what used to be such a terrific and informative gathering place, once populated by the likes of greats such as David Marsden, Bruce Marshall, Mike Marshall, David Lennick and Mr. Cleaver himself, all of whom actually had something to say about the biz.

For your listening pleasure - although it's far from a pleasure - the real Ziggy revealed on air:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRVS1c6FtUM

Interestingly, if this guy were to try to get another job in the industry, his trolling would likely prevent anyone from hiring him. Especially if that "anyone" actually had any previous radio experience. The fact he lost his job at a one-lung community station which wasn't paying him in the first place may be all you need to know.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby slowhand » Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:32 am

Several Ziggy threads appeared there on the weekend and it may just be coincidence that the longest one turned from insults to seemingly sincere suggestions of professional help when it was deleted.

As predicted, that board's no censorship policy could not last.

Ziggy has noticed our ramblings on the subject with his reference to this board as the Ugly Stepsister.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby tuned » Mon Mar 02, 2015 12:12 pm

Sounds like this Ziggy character might be crossing over into criminal harassing type behavior. Tell him that he's no longer allowed to post and then block his IP address.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby Rocky » Mon Mar 02, 2015 1:03 pm

Is that Ziggy video for real or is it something that was intended to be sent to America's Funniest Home Videos?

If that's the extent of his talent, I'd suggest he start selling used Yugos somewhere in Sutton or Pefferlaw!
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby Tom Jeffries » Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:37 pm

Wanna be, schmucks.
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Re: SOWNY "Off The Air" temporarily

Postby Neumann Sennheiser » Mon Mar 02, 2015 5:46 pm

For those who'd like a re-cap; this is, in these cases, pretty much how things fall apart.

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