Hi everyone, My name is Amie Quirarte, and, for better or worse, you likely know me as the moderator on Truckee Tahoe People. I want to start by acknowledging that I am no longer a moderator on the page; my talk today will be a compilation of my experiences and lessons I learned along the way. Truckee Tahoe People was founded by my friend, John David Fore, in 2012, and can be best described as a regional network that was created for residents and visitors to Truckee and the Lake Tahoe basin alike. In the past 5 years, TTP has become an invaluable resource for connecting creative, adventurous and lifestyle driven folks from all walks of life in one place where they can share information with friends and neighbors. This page has grown so much, and at such a rapid pace, that there is now an official non-profit who is now responsible for moderating the page. Newspaper, television, and radio push messaging out, provoke thought, and invite their audience to engage on social media and join the conversation, but this Facebook page is the conversation and it has become an incredible tool. This site is responsible for: Breaking news Finding jobs Finding places to live Missing pet Real time storm conditions, road closures, and conditions update Real time traffic Emergencies Open discussions about the housing crisis Informal way to solicit public sentiment on topics Invaluable resource for connecting the community, friends, and neighbors …. and so much more. Our audience has the opportunity to start the conversation and fully engage as others comment, or join a conversation that already exists by contributing knowledge, thoughts, or opinions on the situation. This type of communication requires full disclosure (you are who you are), understanding of the tone you’re using, and the ability to monitor: you can’t just post and walk away. The page has become a lifeline for our community, and I want to start off by sharing some of my favorite stories: The 2016/2017 winter was one for the record books, and we all faced our fair share of hardships while also having some of the deepest, most epic powder days of our lives. I watched on the backend, as the page became the lifeline we all so desperately needed. Whether it was reporting power outages, sharing real time road conditions, or even offering your neighbors a place to stay, the community united on Truckee Tahoe People. Or, how about the story with Lulu… the sweet little dog who was lost for over 2 weeks in the middle of winter. Here are a couple of quotes from Lulu’s owner that really stuck with me:
“Lulu’s mom turned to social media to spread the word about Lulu going missing and the news created a ripple through Truckee that she said she never expected. "It was huge, just, it blew my mind. I was like, 'I don't know what magic is at work here.' But so many people cared, would offer encouraging words, jumped in, asking 'Where should I look I have some time today I'm going to hike around and look for your dog,'" she said. Lulu’s mom said that her family was feeling particularly down right after moving to Truckee and that losing Lulu would have been almost too much to bear had they not felt completely supported by the Truckee community.” With countless stories like this, including my own personal dog rescue story, it is easy to see how this page has helped the Truckee Tahoe community come together in a way we never thought possible. This page has become to go-to for all things Truckee/Tahoe. In fact, a friend from the bay area recently interviewed for a position in Truckee, and one of her co-workers told her the only way to find a rental is through the Facebook page— Truckee/Tahoe People. The positive stories and outcomes are ever present when you speak with anyone in this community, and it seems like nearly everyone I know has benefited from this page in some way or the other. But what about the other side? The challenge we face with this channel is that it is a two way conversation, and monitoring this can be a challenge. The door is open for online bullying, trolling, negativity, and monitoring the page can become a full-time job. Hiding behind your computer screen, it becomes easy to forget who is on the receiving end of your comment. For years, I watched respected members of this community tear others down, likely, without realizing how much weight their words may have carried. Today’s conversation is surrounding information, or communication, overload, and I want to speak about my own experience of being online bullied, for managing the page from 2015-2017. I quickly became a villain in this community. I like to think of myself as a person with pretty thick skin; someone who has learned not to take things personally, but I would be lying if I said I had some pretty extreme moments of weakness while working on this page. For over two years, I was receiving private messages, consistently at least once a week, calling me some type of name or accusing me of this, that, or the other. More commonly, I would be referred to as someone from the bay area who isn’t an actual local, a hypocrite, a communist, and a slew of other derogatory names that are not appropriate to mention while sitting up here today. I would sit on my couch and cry as the messages continued to roll in. I had never had such hurtful things said to me as I did while managing this page. I was threatened online on multiple occasions; I’m a real estate agent, and I actually had people threaten to “take my business down” if I deleted a comment of theirs or asked them to refrain from the aggressive commentary. You might remember the story from Northstar, where a woman accused a Northstar employee of physical abuse while skiing on the hill. The story outraged many, but like so many, people failed to complete the due diligence on the backend. They read one Facebook post, and assumed every piece of the story to be true. I removed the story, as I assumed legal action would be taken from both parties involved, and said
publicly we would not post the story until there was confirmation/evidence to support it. From there, a downward spiral began. I was accused of not supporting women, single mothers, and working for Northstar. It was horrendous. In fact, a Truckee/Tahoe uncensored page was created, and often times, it became a forum just to bash me. Not Truckee Tahoe People as a whole, but Amie Quirarte. And this experience is just one of many. I watched in horror as people who posted their long-term rentals were publicly shamed for the cost of rent- so many people failing to realize the cost of a mortgage, property insurance, and property taxes. I mention this example because it is ever relevant to today’s topic: with unlimited information at our fingertips, there are many who no longer think for themselves, and instead rely on a headline of a source that hasn’t been validated. And this isn’t just the case with the Truckee Tahoe People Facebook page, this is the case, in my opinion, for the general online forum. Over the last couple of years, really since the 2016 election, we’ve watched friends, family, and co-workers destroy one another online. It seems that we’ve become so protected behind our laptops, that we no longer consider the way we’re speaking to each other. I, often times, would respond to hateful messages by asking if we could either talk on the phone or grab a coffee, knowing that if this person and I were to have a real human connection, the conversation would take a dramatic shift. With fake news running rampant, how do we, as a society, ensure the information we’re receiving is, in fact, verified. And how do we, as a community, get our message across the proper channels in the most effective way? JD recognized there was a problem, and decided to step in and fix it. And that is how the non-profit, Truckee Tahoe People, was formed. In 2017, the TTP achieved nonprofit status and the TTP Facebook Page was created to improve communication amongst members. Their mission is simple: to help the people who call Tahoe home facilitate discussion on housing, jobs, events, local trade, and all things rad in Truckee/Tahoe. TTP volunteers are working to shape an online community we can all be proud of and ask that member contributions be positive, respectful and supportive of our growing community of locals, businesses and all around amazing people who are stoked to live here. In my opinion, since forming the non-profit, the page has significantly shifted for the better. And by having discussions with community members, it seems most people feel the same. By providing clear guidelines, and with a lot of hard work on the backend, JD, Katherine, Melinda, and many more are working towards a brighter future with Truckee Tahoe People.
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