Speaking Up

I've never been a big fan, historically, of the whole concept of commenting online about things other people post, regardless of whether those postings are blog entries, articles on “real” media sites, message boards, the “tell us what you're doing now” feature on Facebook, my college band's My Space page or anywhere else.

While I'll occasionally post a review of something I've purchased (those occasions usually being the opportunity to warn the world of some shoddy product I'd had my heart set on not being a shoddy product), generally, I don't get all that fired up about most topics to bother. And if you're like me, you don't need to add any more negativity to your life by reading other people bicker among themselves publicly over some story The New York Times posted about any of the myriad topics most likely to set someone off on a rant—the Israeli/Palestinian thing, religion in general, the 2008 elections, global warming, the Red Sox versus the Yankees, dogs versus cats, etc., ad infinitum. And because of that, I've avoided responding to our own such posts in a section of Playthings.com called “TalkBack.” I will admit, though, that the TalkBack area of our site has become the first place I go when I'm there.

The habit took hold last fall following a story when we ran on KB Toys' plan to close 100-plus stores. I'll say “100-plus” because at the time all that we, or any other media outlet for that matter, had to go on as to what was going on at KB was from their employees themselves. KB isn't exactly forthright about its problems, but its soon to be former store staffers were, even if they were as in the dark about what was happening in Pittsfield as the rest of us. That the comment section of our story on the pending store closures was the virtual rallying point for several of them as a place to talk amongst themselves, and by extension the wider world, about the company (and somewhat surprisingly, their tenacious loyalty to it) was a great opportunity for an unfiltered glimpse into what life is like when the liquidators show up to wind down a store its local managers had taken pride in for so long.

Of course, there's less vital stuff talked back about, too, like the consumer with the alias “John Conner” who responded to our interview with Lego's Jill Wilfert suggesting the company produce a line based on the Terminator movies, or the mom who is very excited that she'll soon be able to get Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! toys, along with business-related comments from toy industry folks about their hopes Toys “R” Us' new private label line of green toys will have on the market or how NSSEA endorsing the ASTRA show instead of continuing its own competing educational toy show will be good for both toy retailers and manufacturers. (There was also some feedback about how you wouldn't have gotten that from reading the “negative” headline we'd placed on our story about that decision. OK, point taken.)

All in all, TalkBack's an interesting place. If you've got something to say about something we've written or that we've written about, I encourage you to share your thoughts—especially if you've got some inside dirt on KB Toys. They're certainly not telling us anything directly. And unlike letters to the editor, there's no stamp required.