America Online poll shows good and ugly sides of Internet

A poll this week on Nevada education offered a lesson on the power of the Internet.

America Online, the world's largest Internet provider with 13 million members, used statistics from a Las Vegas Sun story to conduct a poll called "A or F? Grade Your Las Vegas School."

The responses to AOL Digital City's poll ranged from constructive, humorous and mildly critical to downright mean-spirited, vulgar and potentially libelous.

The Sun had no part in the education poll and was not aware it was being conducted.

By day's end, area principals and others were up in arms over the more than 900 e-mail responses -- some of which included anonymous unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct by school officials -- to Nevada's Superintendent of Public Instruction Mary Petersen in Carson City.

AOL used the Sun's logo on its Digital City web page and linked the poll to the Sun's website, Vegas.com, causing many people to erroneously believe the poll was conducted by the newspaper and its online service.

"AOL did something we do not condone, and we have asked them not to do it again," Sun Managing Editor Michael J. Kelley said. "We do not publish anonymous attacks on people and the Sun's website does not publish anonymous attacks on people.

"By linking to our website, it gave people the opinion that the poll came from us. It did not."

AOL has long linked its polls to related stories on the Sun website, Bryan Allison, general manager of Vegas.com, said. But past questions were more innocuous, such as "Who do you think will win the Mike Tyson fight?"

The school poll turned out to be a loaded question.

"This event really shows the positive and negative aspects of the Internet," Allison said. "People could comment about the schools and send their remarks directly to a public official, and hundreds did.

"Unfortunately, some people abused the opportunity by posting anonymous and offensive personal attacks. We are in the business to provide credible information on the Internet, and we are working with AOL to make sure that a situation like this doesn't happen again."

AOL removed the offensive postings late Wednesday. Officials said a filter is being modified to keep offensive e-mail from being posted on the site.

"The purpose of these graffiti boards is to allow the free exchange of all sorts of opinions," AOL spokeswoman Pam McGraw said. "We do not allow harassment or vulgarity."

In asking the question, the AOL poll used some of the more controversial statistics presented in the Sun story, including that one-third of Nevada public schoolchildren come from poor families, that 88 percent of the more than 18,000 teachers are white and that Nevada's dropout rate is one of the highest in the country and is rising.

"How do those figures add up?" the AOL poll asks. "That's what Nevada legislators are trying to figure out as they consider Gov. (Kenny) Guinn's new education budget. Get more on the story here (the link to the Sun's website) and tell us what you think?"

The poll also asks that one of five grades -- A, B, C, D or F -- be given "the Las Vegas school you know best."

The poll offered guidelines: "Tell her (Petersen) what school you are grading and why you gave it that grade. What are its strengths? Where does it need to improve? And what do you think Nevada must do to improve the quality of education for all students in the state?"

Attempts to reach Petersen were unsuccessful. An employee in her office said the phones had been ringing off the hook all day about the poll and that more than 900 e-mails had been received by late afternoon.

Still, Frank South, director of human resources and technology for the Nevada Department of Education, said the e-mails should have been edited, just as a newspaper edits letters to the editor. Also, he said, there should have been disclaimers that the poll was not conducted by the superintendent's office.

"We do not want to limit the opportunity for the public to give opinions, but this poll was not constructed scientifically," he said. "A number of the calls we receive were from people who were mentioned by name and felt they had been libeled or that their schools were unfairly maligned."

The e-mails ran a gamut:

Constructive: "I don't think a teacher can give the attention my daughter needs when there are 35 children in the classroom."

Encouraging: "(These six teachers are) highly principled, professional and motivating instructors."

Witty: The students at ... can't spell. Could it be the principle (er ... principal) of the thing?

Accusatory: "The principal at ... took $30,000 from the library budget and gave it to the athletic department."

archive