From webmaster at cairnsfm891.org.au Mon Feb 22 14:18:46 2010 From: webmaster at cairnsfm891.org.au (CairnsFM89.1 Webmaster) Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:18:46 +1000 Subject: [Internet] New forum on cairnsfm891.org refers to CairnsBlog.net posts. Message-ID: <201002221418.49909@cv-acer5100> Hello Michael Moore et al, CC to Friends of 4CCR-fm, D.Forsyth and internet at lists.cairnsfm891.org mailing list. I have been the volunteer webmaster for 4CCR Cairns FM 89.1 since the very early days of the Internet in Cairns. I registered the original 4ccr-fm.org.au domain name, provided dial-up Internet and email services to the station until 2003 and build 3 or 4 incarnations of the station's web site over 100s of hours of sweat and tears and careful attention to detail. During all these years I have not been a member of any station committee nor have I attended any committee meetings and would not know most of the people involved from a bar of soap, but through my contacts at the station, John Fielder and Niels Briet, I have always encouraged anyone from the station with an interest in the new Internet technologies to draw on my experience and interest. In December of 2009 I became aware of some turmoil at the station when past president John Fielder phoned to introduce the incoming president, one Mr Rodney Coutts. In early January 2010, Mr Coutts first instruction to me was that I should disable all posts on the web site at http://cairnsfm891.org/ except for the contact form. Mr Coutts made some reference to a directive from ACMA but has not provided me with any copies. I argued that denying access to all pages on the web site after building up search engine links and links from other web sites over many years would seriously harm the station's Internet profile and reputation and that any incorrect information on the site should instead simply be corrected. In the mean time I was also advised by a Marcus Smith that the web site was being redeveloped. February is now nearly over and I have had no further communications from Mr Coutts or from Mr Smith about redeveloping any web site or changing any information on the current site. Information for Mr Coutts bio page, a list of current committee members or a current program schedule has not been provided. Considering that the web site was designed to allow for the making of quick and easy changes by an authorised committee member, presenter and/or program director to not only the current list of committee members but, perhaps more importantly also to the list of presenters, program descriptions and schedules it appears to me that any rash and possibly uninformed decision to 're- develop' such a valuable community resource, as underutilised as it may have been recently, is a significant loss to the station and the to the wider Cairns community Because of a continuing trickle of emails from the public referring to and asking for information on the various events reported also in places like CairnsBlog.Net, I decided that, based on my Internet experience, my insight in the options available on the web site and my authority as the webmaster certainly many years senior to the latest incoming president, that I should: 1. re-enable all pages on the web site. 2. remove committee links and references to past committee members where appropriate. 3. link to bio pages of the 3 known (to me) new committee members 4. create a new forum on the site for the free and open discussion of the issues currently surrounding the station and its place in the community. In that new forum I have also drawn attention to several posts previously published on CairnsBlog.net and would like to 'pull a feed' from cairnsblog.net to immediately alert visitors to cairnsfm891.org of any new relevant posts on cairnsblog.net. Please advise. http://cairnsfm891.org/forum/633 Finally Michael and other readers, I may need to call on your assistance in the near future to prevent any moves to 'gag' the web site again and/or the new forum on the site. I am not certain what form that assistance may have to take but as usual, time will tell, I am sure. I hope that you will be able to support me with the actions that I have taken and possibly give some publicity to the forum. Like you have said many times, Cairns would be much the poorer without a vibrant community radio scene. Thank you for your time and interest, I look forward to your replies -- Kind regards, Clemens Vermeulen Webmaster for Cairns FM 89.1 A service provided by: Alternative News Network ABN 34 945 880 939 Cairns, Queensland, Australia Web Presence Providers since 1995 http://sales.altnews.com.au/ eXeTel Agent Q128 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 489 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part. URL: