http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091 Of course it's unofficial, but the VictoriaAdvocate.com experienced a first today. That's right, blogger xxenxxen posted a blog seeking a date. "Looking for single men ... 30-year-old female. Are there still some men in the world who are too busy to go to bars to meet available women, or who don't really enjoy the bar scene all that much.. and, instead look for that rare occasion. Well this is it.. ....." That in itself is not so interesting. A lot of men and women turn to dating web sites to find dates, or mates. And as a single man, I admit that it didn't much bother me. The post may have even piqued my attention, wink, wink. But we believe it's the first time a blogger used our site as a dating service. Some readers let us know, too. This is a news site, one said. She's so shameless, another said. Most said that type of a blog post doesn't belong on a newspaper web site. Well, that's the question, really. What is a newspaper site supposed to be? In this ever-changing multi-media world, we believe that our site should be the No. 1 place to go to find anything you need in the Crossroads Region. Those are lofty ambitions, but we have dedicated people working to do just that. So, maybe we should offer some kind of dating web site. Who knows, maybe there's a huge demand for it. In the meantime, let me know what you think about: 1.) What should your community newspaper web site be? And, 2.) Is there a demand for some kind of local dating web site? Thanks for reading. Of course it's unofficial, but the VictoriaAdvocate.com experienced a first today. That's right, blogger xxenxxen posted a blog seeking a date. "Looking for single men ... 30-year-old female. Are there still some men in the world who are too busy to go to bars to meet available women, or who don't really enjoy the bar scene all that much.. and, instead look for that rare occasion. Well this is it.. ....." That in itself is not so interesting. A lot of men and women turn to dating web sites to find dates, or mates. And as a single man, I admit that it didn't much bother me. The post may have even piqued my attention, wink, wink. But we believe it's the first time a blogger used our site as a dating service. Some readers let us know, too. This is a news site, one said. She's so shameless, another said. Most said that type of a blog post doesn't belong on a newspaper web site. Well, that's the question, really. What is a newspaper site supposed to be? In this ever-changing multi-media world, we believe that our site should be the No. 1 place to go to find anything you need in the Crossroads Region. Those are lofty ambitions, but we have dedicated people working to do just that. So, maybe we should offer some kind of dating web site. Who knows, maybe there's a huge demand for it. In the meantime, let me know what you think about: 1.) What should your community newspaper web site be? And, 2.) Is there a demand for some kind of local dating web site? Thanks for reading. en-us There was nothing wrong with her posting.  No one was forced to read her blog.  There was no bad language or anything like that.  It was a heckuva lot better than the petty fights that take place in the discussion forums.     http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_44935 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_44935 There was nothing wrong with her posting.  No one was forced to read her blog.  There was no bad language or anything like that.  It was a heckuva lot better than the petty fights that take place in the discussion forums.     Mr. Martinez, this is going to be a blunt answer, and perhaps not the one you are hoping for.  As for question number one, I believe the "blogs" have gone down so much in quality since the revamp in October, that there is, unfortunately, no going back. I wish the Advocate would screen things more carefully but feel I am beating a dead horse, as I have commented on all this before. As for question two: WHO CARES? Excuse me while I go read the Houston Chronicle now.   http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_44960 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_44960 Mr. Martinez, this is going to be a blunt answer, and perhaps not the one you are hoping for.  As for question number one, I believe the "blogs" have gone down so much in quality since the revamp in October, that there is, unfortunately, no going back. I wish the Advocate would screen things more carefully but feel I am beating a dead horse, as I have commented on all this before. As for question two: WHO CARES? Excuse me while I go read the Houston Chronicle now.   I dunno, how do you know its not a 300 pound Ukranian scammer with a beard posting that stuff from some cyber cafe? http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_44967 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_44967 I dunno, how do you know its not a 300 pound Ukranian scammer with a beard posting that stuff from some cyber cafe?  Well this is a reassuring move in Victoria's history, I believe.  I'm a little shocked at the negetive attention and didn't realize it would happen. You see I've lived in many areas,  and all of them have some kind of outlet to meet new people who are single.  Craigslist is being bombarded by requests to get a Victoria page started. They are pioneers for community involvement that spans to a global perspective. I realize Victoria is small, but at the same time, not so much. .. Being that I noticed alot of the smaller surrounding towns come here for entertainment, the paper could easily adapt to the framework already laid out in other cities, and help, what I figure, might be alot of lonely single people out.   http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_44984 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_44984  Well this is a reassuring move in Victoria's history, I believe.  I'm a little shocked at the negetive attention and didn't realize it would happen. You see I've lived in many areas,  and all of them have some kind of outlet to meet new people who are single.  Craigslist is being bombarded by requests to get a Victoria page started. They are pioneers for community involvement that spans to a global perspective. I realize Victoria is small, but at the same time, not so much. .. Being that I noticed alot of the smaller surrounding towns come here for entertainment, the paper could easily adapt to the framework already laid out in other cities, and help, what I figure, might be alot of lonely single people out.   TomC, You're right. Her post was clean. I wanted to start a dialog about whether what our site needed to be, and whether a dating site should be in our future. Thanks for commenting and reading. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45014 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45014 TomC, You're right. Her post was clean. I wanted to start a dialog about whether what our site needed to be, and whether a dating site should be in our future. Thanks for commenting and reading. Sugar, Thank you for being blunt -- there's certainly nothing wrong with that. I'll pass along your comment to our web administrators. Thanks for posting and reading. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45015 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45015 Sugar, Thank you for being blunt -- there's certainly nothing wrong with that. I'll pass along your comment to our web administrators. Thanks for posting and reading. RichardfromShiner: I don't know, that's a good question. There's always a chance for scams in today's Internet world. Thanks for reading and commenting. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45016 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45016 RichardfromShiner: I don't know, that's a good question. There's always a chance for scams in today's Internet world. Thanks for reading and commenting. xxenxxen, You're right in a lot of ways. That's why your original post caught our attention. I believe it is a need we could address in this community. Thanks for reading and commenting. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45017 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45017 xxenxxen, You're right in a lot of ways. That's why your original post caught our attention. I believe it is a need we could address in this community. Thanks for reading and commenting. I made my feelings known. After the pathetic post cleared the page, I deleted my comment to the author. I sat down to pen an explanation to her later that it was not intended as a personal attack, but rather a complaint about the nature of the blog. Prior to completing my comment, I recieved an e-mail from her: "I wasn't looking for comments of your nature, maybe the post seems like a personal ad, but is blogging only fitting into a guideline you set, get over it, i beat you to the punch, why are you so negetive and feel the need to correct another?" .............also fraught with misspellings and grammatical wonder. If you want to start a "personals" section, posts of her nature would be appropriate there, but not in a blog. I would love to see the Advocate get back to something that deserves a little respect from older readers, and by older, I mean over 30. There are still some decent writer/readers with valid and entertaining posts on occasion, but that doesn't change the fact that it is also becoming a hayseed Myspace, with grammatical and spelling errors that belong on Letterman.   http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45020 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45020 I made my feelings known. After the pathetic post cleared the page, I deleted my comment to the author. I sat down to pen an explanation to her later that it was not intended as a personal attack, but rather a complaint about the nature of the blog. Prior to completing my comment, I recieved an e-mail from her: "I wasn't looking for comments of your nature, maybe the post seems like a personal ad, but is blogging only fitting into a guideline you set, get over it, i beat you to the punch, why are you so negetive and feel the need to correct another?" .............also fraught with misspellings and grammatical wonder. If you want to start a "personals" section, posts of her nature would be appropriate there, but not in a blog. I would love to see the Advocate get back to something that deserves a little respect from older readers, and by older, I mean over 30. There are still some decent writer/readers with valid and entertaining posts on occasion, but that doesn't change the fact that it is also becoming a hayseed Myspace, with grammatical and spelling errors that belong on Letterman.   I have to agree with TomC,since there is no other forum why not have a blog about the subject. My blog is about Food mainly,is that too disturbing or should there be a food forum only? Hey when we start censoring people then we are only hurting ourselves. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45132 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ThomasRMartinez/7091/#c_45132 I have to agree with TomC,since there is no other forum why not have a blog about the subject. My blog is about Food mainly,is that too disturbing or should there be a food forum only? Hey when we start censoring people then we are only hurting ourselves.