I was warned by my friends about the commenters on al.com when I first began publishing ComebackTown.
They suggested I not read the comments and certainly not to take them personally. I was told, “They are a bunch of crazies who have nothing better to do than spout nonsense to make themselves feel important.”
I decided to ignore those warning and I read the comments on every blog post—and I’m glad I do.
At first I was overwhelmed, but after a while I began to learn more about each of the commenters, their beliefs, and personalities.
I’m still not happy with the ones who attack me personally, but most are trying to add to the conversation. And that’s the whole purpose of the blog, “To begin a conversation on how to improve government for our metro area.”
If all commenters agreed with me, then there would be no purpose for the blog and our conversation would be so boring no one would read it.
So let’s talk about pishier. Pishier is my most loyal reader and commenter. If I ever reviewed the comments section of my blog and pishier was absent, I would start calling area hospitals to see if he were unconscious.
The problem is, however, I want to talk about improved government and pishier wants to talk about freeway lights.
In my blog about Judge Scott Vowell and his concerns about Jefferson County government, pishier wrote, “Why not join with others who urge Sher to work on getting Freeway lights working?”
In another blog when I asked if John Rogers was a nut, pishier commented, “He could get the Freeway lights working. Mr. Sher obviously cannot influence any one to do that simple task.”
And when I wrote that metro Birmingham was ranked 197th out of 200, pishier responded, “The freeway lights still not fully working. Mr. Sher: will you ever acknowledge this failure is a proxy for what is wrong with the metro area?”
Pishier is relentless. He is a pit bull for freeway lights.
So I have a proposal. Pishier, can I encourage you to join us folks who want to improve our government?
If we could add your unyielding passion to our cause, there would be no stopping us.
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David Sher is a co-founder of Buzz12 Marketing and co-CEO of AmSher Receivables Management. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (ONB), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
