Editorial: FAQs, mediated comments, and some general statements of purpose

Chris Davis, Publisher, Crowsnest Voice

Who we are so far

Hi.  I'm Chris Davis.  I'm the publisher of the Crowsnest Voice and the Pincher Creek Voice.  So far, only the latter is worth bragging about, because this publication you're reading right now is brand new, largely unread yet, and lacking in content. All of that will change, over time.

Both publications fall under the umbrella of a company called Pincher Creek Multimedia.  That name may change, it's only a name, but it currently signifies a number of ventures from which my wife Toni Lucas and I currently derive our income.  There isn't even a bank loan or some grant behind this.  Just us.


We started the Pincher Creek Voice the same way in the summer of 2011, and in a little over two years that publication has grown from zero readers and zero revenue into a very viable news site that currently enjoys almost 2500 pageviews a day, 7 days a week.  We started with the philosophy of "build the product first and the rest will follow", and so far that's working for us.  It's made for some lean months along the way, particularly at the start, but it has also helped the Pincher Voice build a solid foundation of readers relatively quickly.  In the last 30 days it's had 13,825 "unique" visitors.  July was a busy month for the Pincher Voice, with 27,379  unique visitors.   That's according to Google analytics.  How that is all calculated I will explain in more depth when the Crowsnest Voice has significant enough data to parse.

A Pincher Voice video of the Oldman River Dam published in late June has to date had 70,963 views.  The Pincher Voice is likely to achieve 1,000,000 pageviews this month, after only a little more than two years of publishing to a local market of about 7000 people.  It's read all over the province and in other countries, regularly.

So far the Crowsnest Voice has had 1902 pageviews since August 27.  That's not even a busy story over there at the Pincher Voice, but much further along than that publication  was at the start, so we're encouraged.  We haven't really begun here yet, so stay tuned.

The Crowsnest Voice is owned by the two of us, Toni Lucas and I, and no one else. We borrowed no money to start it, or the Pincher Voice.  We're not part of a chain, there's no wizard behind the curtain, and we reserve the right to define the basic intentions of this website and the right to make the decisions, editorial and otherwise, that we believe will allow it to grow into something special.

The Pincher Creek Voice is funded solely through advertising and some of our other business ventures.  That same model is being applied here.  So buy an ad!

Comments and opinions

We are big believers in free responsible speech.  That does not mean we allow unmoderated comments.

We insist that any discussion here maintain a level of civility.  We insist that the language used, except in rare cases, be not profane.  I admire George Carlin, and I reserve the right to disagree with some of his philosophies.  We're not working this hard to construct a playground for adults to go nyah nyah nyah at each other while honing their razor sharp web insults, anonymously or not.  If that bothers you, if you're tempted to complain about censorship here, oh well.  I call it "mediation" and "editing".  There's plenty of other places you can vent unfettered.  No newspaper is likely to print any and everything you say, anonymously or not, just because you believe you have a right to say it.  You do, and others have a right to decide whether to hear it and we reserve the right to decide whether or not we share it.  We don't feel obliged to do so just because the medium we use is modern.  I'll say it again, we reserve the right to decide whether or not a comment is appropriate for this publication before we hit the "allow" button.  If that means this isn't the website for you, so be it.  If you can express yourself without demeaning others then this just might be a website for you.

Public figures can expect to be the subject of discussion, that's reality, but I pledge to do my best to keep virtual eggings off of these pages.  Democracy doesn't survive that way, just thuggery, and yes that's an opinion, and yes, I will be sticking to it.  No truth was ever preserved by an act of cowardice or intimidation.

We do allow columnists, commenters, and letter writers more leeway than reporters, generally.  Readers have an expectation that an opinion piece contains opinion, and can decide to read or not read it according to their own tastes.  I believe readers have the right to expect that some kinds of reporting be as bias free as possible.

I'm not unaware of the war of  words that rages over some of the issues in the Crowsnest Pass.  It's my intent that this publication will allow for dissent and disagreement while still allowing for the possibilities of change and growth that can only be accomplished by reasonable discussion.  Be civil and your voice will be heard.

I'll tell you this straight up:  I don't have a lot of set in stone opinions about many of the issues that affect the Crowsnest Pass.  I don't think that's my job.  I am frankly horrified by the way some publications try to manipulate the way their readers think.  That's not intended as a slam at other publications in the Crowsnest Pass at all,  but rather a comment on the way some media has behaved going back to Gutenberg.

Community first

This is intended to be a community publication.  We've proven with the Pincher Voice that we don't have to be prurient, it's a very viable and vital publication without an overabundance of screaming headlines and pictures of bodies on the pavement. We're not just "happy news" and we're not a scandal sheet.  We intend to treat you with respect.

I invite your input.  You can email me at pinchercreekvoice@gmail.com (we will have an editorial email address for the Corwsnest Voice soon), call us at 403-904-2666, use the comment form below this post, or use the contact form in the left hand column of this page.

~ Chris Davis