This website was created in August of 2008 as part of my unsuccessful campaign for Los Alamitos City Council.  It was an effort to let the voters learn as much as they want to about me. I’ve been posting here since August, and have kept it open for anyone to add their own comments or questions. This wasn’t your typical campaign website then, and it’s not a campaign website at all now.

Instead, it’s become kind of a 24/7/365 cyberspace version of something between a park bench, community bulletin board, and a “Town Hall” meeting.

JM Ivler’s alter image

In 2010 I asked JM Ivler, a contributor to the comments section and a local activist to cover for me when I took a vacation. In 2011 the site was hacked and I asked JM Ivler, also a former CTO and semi-retired website developer, to help recover from the hack of the site. After he completed I asked JM to please do some guest posts on the front page from time to time. In December 2012 ocpoliticsblog.com held a vote and JM was voted as the second most influential political blogger in OC.

If you’re new to this blog, there are multipleeasy ways to find what you want here:

1. The top most recent stories will appear above all the stories. You can click on the small boxes to the right and it will load a bit about the story for you to read. Then you can select the story.
2. Scroll down and the posts are listed right there, along with excerpts.
3. Click on any of the more recent posts listed at the top of the right column that interest you, or simply scroll down through the more recent posts.
4. At the very bottom of the page you will see in the middle column of the footer two pull downs, the first is Articles By Category, the second is the article archive by date.
5. In the right hand column below recent posts are “Recent Comments”. You can see who posted each recent comment and which post they’re commenting on. Again, you can click on that to get to the original article and be able to read the comments and reply if you wish.
6. In the footer, on the left hand side are the “Top Posts”. These are the ones that are being most read.
7. Finally, there is always “Search” in the upper right column. Just type in keywords or phrases and each pst will be searched for the words or phrases.
8. If all else fails, you can always pick up the phone and call me, or simply post a question in any comment box. (Comment boxes are located at end of each post, if you’re specifically in that post. If you can’t find a comment box, scroll up and click on the post’s headline. I don’t censor comments, but ask for “family friendly” language and a respectful tone, whether you’re writing about myself or one of my opponents.

About posting your comments

I’ve set this website up so anyone can post their thoughts, questions, counterpoints, or suggestions in the “comment” box at the end of each post.  Here’s a few things to remember when posting a comment:

1. If you are on the home page, or clicked on a category or tag or in any other way are scrolling through a series of posts, you won’t see the comments or the comment box at the end of the post.  To see either comments or the comment box you must be in the specific post, which is easily done by simply clicking on the headline of the post you’re reading, or the blue word “comment(s)” just under the headline.   Since the comments and interaction are often more interesting than the post itself, I strongly recommend you click on the blue “comments” if  it indicates there are at least 2.
2. You will be asked to supply a “name” and an e-mail prior to making your comment.The e-mail is kept private, not added to any lists, and is only  used if I need to contact someone,  which I almost never do.  (If I reply, it’s usually in a subsequent comment).  However, the “name” you put down will be public.  You can use your real name, initials, a nickname, a pseudonym or just your first name–the choice is yours. [please note that JM Ivler does have access to the Administration panel and he has agreed to my privacy policy. All e-mail and other personal data IS kept private and is not shared with anyone.] If  you need to ensure that your e-mail address is totally protected (and ensure that JM doesn’t see your e-mail address), contact me privately - please us the contact form to provide me your e-mail address privately and we can set up an e-mail address you can use on your posts to identify yourself to me only.
3. I only have two rules for comments:  Try to be respectful, and please use “family friendly” language that’s appropriate to our family-friendly community.  One of my goals is to build understanding between people with differing viewpoints, so please try to disagree agreeably.  I’ve been quite impressed at how well most people have complied with this request.  Compared to a lot of blogs, including the OC Register’s real estate blog, the comments on this blog are quite decent.  I think it’s a tribute to the quality of people we have here in Los Alamitos.
4. Once you click on the “submit comment”  button, your comment will post instantly, unless it gets kicked back for “moderation” due not passing a minimal spam (more than 2 URL’s in the post) or language filter.  The only way to correct an error is in a subsequent comment, whether correcting it yourself or asking me to make the correction.  So take a minute to re-read it before hitting “enter.”  It’s easy to leave out a word or  add one in.  Back when I was teaching English I found that reading an essay out loud helped both me and my students pick up errors that might be missed when simply scanning.

The ability to discuss an issue via the open posting of comments is one of my favorite features on this website, and it’s one of the things that makes it unique.  I love the feedback it gives me.  In fact, this comment section was added as a result of some confusion evidenced in one commenter’s confusion.   It’s your participation via comments that turns this into “our” blog, rather than “my” blog.  It’s one reason I decided to keep this up and running after the election was over.