More Transparency of this Message Board Needed
 

Does anyone know who manages this forum and if there is a way to contact them directly? I think it would be good for there to be some accountability for those who moderate what people can say on a public platform.

I'm sure someone does know who manages this forum.

There is a "Contact Us" button at the bottom of the page that may be useful to you.

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

Someone told a friend of a friend that a guy named George bought this forum along with many others. I have no idea what that even means. I must be very naive.

So I did a little digging. ToTV has a heirarchy, and in the middle of the tre is Joseph Petersen, the Sales and Somethingorother Manager I wrote it down by hand and can't read my own writing.

The headquarters is at 350 Tatonka Ter, which is actually an internal road that runs through the Charter School campus. So that indidates to me that Talk of theVillages is owned by The Villages - either developer, holding corporation, llc, or whatever other of their 48 other cells in their corproration they use for various services.

They have another headquarter address, 7935 Airport Pulling Road North, in Naples. I find that pretty strange, but everyone needs a hobby and looking stuff up is mine.

I hate to tell you, but this is not a public forum, it is a private business. There is no free speech here. The moderators can censor you anytime they wish and you have no recourse. It is their business and you may wish to be able to contest how they operate their business, but you will have to do it elsewhere.

They have given us rules which they can enforce or not enforce, interpret or adjust as they see fit, on a whim or with careful consideration.

You can play on their playground as long as they let you, and you can take your toys and go home if you are unhappy.

Knowing their names or where they live makes no difference unless you feel the need to personally intimidate or attack the ownership. If you wish to thank them for doing the work and charging you nothing to visit this website, you can do it here any time you wish.

It is more than a bit ironic that someone clamoring for more transparency is not telling us his/her real identity.

Thanks to the owners of Talk of the Villages. Talk Host and Tony used to visit the TOTV Friday afternoon meetings at Crispers but they and whoever else sold their interests. This is a very good site for information about the Villages. You do have to do some digging though.

Lol, was his last name Orwell?

After reading "Blueash's" response, I get the suspicion (s)he is involved in the ownership or management org chart.

Involved or not involved, she was spot on.

Public forum? Well, the public uses it but the forum itself is privately owned. They can do pretty much what they want, irritating though it is at times.

My personal opinion is that they do a pretty good job overall. I was an online "sheriff" for AOL back in its heyday (few years before Y2K to just after), and you learn pretty quickly that any controversy you involve yourself in becomes unmanageable in a very short time. Best to do your job and keep quiet: don't involve yourself in personal conversation or (even worse) in online discussion about any complaint a subscriber has. Subscribers could air their complaints to the online supervisor who would discuss the issue with the AOL employee involved and then get back to the person making the complaint.

Same here, moderated Atari boards ad early as the 300 baud dial up days ;-)

They do a fine job but are more hands off than I would be taking topics so far off topic.

But it is their house and people need to respect their rules.

Private business means their rules. My home, my rules. Your home, your rules. If one does not agree, they don't have to visit. If they get disturbed by the owner's rules, then they can leave any time and no one will complain. It's a case of "in my house, I make the rules."
Clear enough?

Nope.

BlueAsh escalated this pretty quickly. Wonder if he has a history with the OP

YOU were an aol moderator? I have a bone to pick with you (What does that even mean?). Back in 1992 I was suspended for 7 days for ... .

Just because most anyone can post...
 

doesn't make it a PUBLIC forum. It's privately owned therefore they make the rules. You can always go somewhere else.

I would comment but would worry about getting a vacation so will just read comments

ditto:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

I miss the old AOL (IGOLF) forum; we had a few good battles there! :boxing2::boxing2::boxing2:

Talk Host had come to a Villages Computer Club meeting in July of 2007 to get people to join Talk of the Villages. They even had a lottery with nice prizes if you signed up for TOTV. I joined them and started posting and going to the weekly Crispers mid-afternoon meals on Fridays. Some of the people I met in these dates do still post on TOTV but some have died, some moved away, some went to just Facebook or some other kind of message board, and others I have no idea where they went.

Whoever said I would not reveal my true identity. I don't see anyone using their names for their usernames. I guess I could but then I'm not controlling what people say. You want to know mine, then send me a PM and I will be happy to tell you. I have nothing to hide.

Their office(s) is(are) located on the southwestern corner of the Villages Charter School campus, at 350 Tatonka Terrace. Joseph Pearson is their Manager of Sales and Marketing, and they can be reached at (352) 689-4645. They also own golfcartguide.com.

This is public information, found with a google search.

While it is a PUBLIC forum it is also a privately owned business. You (and all the rest of us) have zero rights of free speech here. What does bug me is that moderation is not handed out "equally" but seeing as to who makes the rules that is entirely within their right.

As for "contacting moderators" over the years I have asked 2 or 3 questions of them from their "contact us" form but NEVER have received a response.

Cool !! I was a Compuserve "BBS FORUM" moderator back in the early 1980's TRS-80 days. Then had my own dial-up BBS (one of the first public BBS's with a hard drive (5 MEGAbytes!!) in the US and then first with a Hayes 1200 baud modem I was field testing). Those were the fun days.

Yes they were!.

Not fun today for sure.

I'm at the point feeling social media is causing far more harm than good. But that is a different topic.

Maybe Elon will buy it and Make TOTV Great Again! lol.

I was a moderator on an herbology BBS in 1990, and became a file librarian and moderator for the Prodigy Online Astrology and New Age chat department.

I was on Findlaw from around 2002 through 2007 or so. Tried to help a man who was in hot water in Northern VA. Travelling to many of the Tampa Bay area academic and law libraries to help this man with his pro bono case. You could just make up your user name and change it hundreds of times if you so desired back then. The cyber bullying was completely out-of-control and I learned near the end that the worst one I had posting many personal attacks every day of me turned out to be the person I had been travelling all over the Tampa Bay area to help with his legal research.


I could not wait to find some other place online. And found it with Talk of the Villages. I only look at Findlaw every so often now.

I can't believe someone else remembers that... at the time, I thought it was just villagers (residents) who set up a free website for us to be able to communicate, especially since it was difficult to get any news other than what the Daily Sun wanted residents to know. Used to be very helpful/reliable for suggestions for honest trades people, and yes, we'd meet in person at Crispers in the Publix plaza on 466, always on Fridays. It's changed a lot, especially how if ones asks for a recommendation to have something done, now seems it's more paid recommendations (??), or false recommendations from made up sources. Don't know, maybe not, but the whole "tone", the way people communicated with others changed.. guess everything does.

Compuserve Finance/stock/investing forum was the best. I was chatting with mark cuban back in the early 90s about internet technology, he was smarter than i was for sure. . .

In the late 80s i was using Red Ryder and a dial up modem. In 1991, was was working as a financial analyst in a networking R&D and manufacturing company using the internet. . .

one of the best jobs in a brand new industry with people who all saw the future, and the good ol' days

old technology guy

Some of the people I met in 2007 at Crispers are still on here but seldom post any more. From what I understand they are on Facebook sharing with their Friends on there about stuff.

Unfortunately, many from TOTV in 2007 passed away.

This is the correct answer. Their site, their rules.

Like a portion of us onboard here I’ve had my beefs with the Moderators and such. And silently complain when posts are closed or penalty boxes are given. BUT dispute the blemishes it still is a great Forum for us. In my opinion.

Like the Wizard of Oz we don’t see behind the curtain. Can only imagine what the Mods see and decide.

If you are not paying in dollars then you are paying with your data. Either way you are paying....AND there is zero free speech. Elon... where are you?

Talk of the Villages is one of the better public forums I have been on over the years.

Miss some of the great people who have been on here though like Carl in Tampa, ZCaveman and maybe even that Belvedere Library guy.

Freedom of speech doesn't apply to private property. It applies to government interference of public speech.

This is a private forum - you have to be a member in order to post on it.

I took my comment off; I might get a life sentence if I keep it posted...

Nothing is what it appears
 

Often public records of ownership are misdirection. George Soros-funded group of Hispanic investors buy up dozens of radio stations - Washington Times

hmmmm like Sinclair Broadcasting Group ,Go patriots and I mean the football team not the January 6 ones

If you get booted, all 6 of the other posters won't see you anymore.:gc: