No Good Deed...

I love the Internet.

Maybe that’s an obvious statement coming from someone who runs as web-based news outlet, but the World Wide Web provides people around the world the opportunity to find information and keep up with daily headlines quickly and easily.

But as with anything that has so many positives, there are always a few negatives. A recent conversation with a West Islip resident over a message board drove me to read the handful of posts written anonymously by people that may or may not live in our community about a few people that volunteer their time in various local organizations. Since none of the posters were courageous enough to use their real name, and in some cases not even claim to live in West Islip, it’s a bit of a challenge to tell whom they are or where they really live.

The people mentioned in the posts by the anonymous posters are folks who volunteer their time in various clubs and organizations that serve the youngsters of the hamlet. I know most of those mentioned and even work with a few of them on various endeavors as part of an effort to make our community a better place to live. In the posts on this message board, certain members of the community are accused of essentially running some type of cabal strictly for their benefit.

Covering community journalism over certain parts of my professional career for the past 16 years, I’ve heard similar accusations in the past in other communities on Long Island but have never personally seen an unpaid volunteer (forgive me for the redundancy) personally benefit from donating their time to a certain organization. I guess that’s why someone first uttered the cliché “No good deed goes unpunished.”

As a journalist, I have certain instincts. One, is to listen with an open mind to what people say and, two, is to be cynical and question what they are saying. And it’s also vitally important to know the identity of the person you are talking with. Typically, if someone fails to reveal their identity, then what they are saying has little or no validity. Even Bob Woodward knew Deep Throat's real name.

Which leads me back to the anonymous people posting on the website alluded to earlier. If you’re that confident in what you’re claiming and have proof to back up your accusations, we’d love to speak with you and let the community know of the “wrongs” being committed. But in the spirit of fairness, we would also need to reach out to the party being accused and allow them to present their side of the story as well.

Oh…and we’ll also need to get your properly spelled name (the one given to you by your parents) to publish in our stories. Since you’ve been so willing to besmirch someone else’s name, it’s only fair that we use your name as well. Don’t you think?