The Peachtree City Council has postponed the idea of opening up a citizens forum on its website.

New Councilman Don Haddix, who proposed the idea, said last week that in the interim he will use his campaign website, www.donhaddix.com, to present information and observations to the public. Haddix will not host an online forum, however, as he wants to give his fellow council members a chance to see if they support having one hosted by the city.

At last week’s council meeting, Haddix said he doubts profanity and questionable language would be a problem because citizens would have to use their real names and provide their address when they register for the forum.

That would make it easy to track offenders down if necessary, and they also could be banned from the site, Haddix added. Software can also be used to block out profanity, he noted.

Haddix said the forums could be moderated and any questionable content could be deleted. However, because the forum would be a public record, City Attorney Ted Meeker advised the comments couldn’t be deleted, so Haddix said questionable comments could instead be removed from public view on the website by being “hidden.”

Councilman Cyndi Plunkett asked what would happen if someone used the forum to accuse her of “being in the pocket of a developer,” even if there’s no proof. Software that blocks profanity can’t regulate content, she said.

“They don’t prohibit you from using correct language to libel or slander someone,” Plunkett said.

Haddix, who said he is a webmaster, said such a post could be removed rather quickly.

“If a moderator catches a post like that, he deletes it. If it’s really inappropriate, the appropriate procedure is to ban or warn a poster. ... If it’s a bad thread you can take out the whole post.”

The posts can also be “hidden” from the public instead of being actually deleted, Haddix said.

“You don’t have to have a moderator sitting on there 24 hours a day,” Haddix said. “A bad post like that might have a life-span of a couple of hours at most. So there’s no perfect world.”

Matt Robinson of the city’s Information Technology department said there are some forums where comments can’t be posted until they are approved by a moderator.

“But then you run the risk of cutting out free speech, so it’s a catch-22,” Plunkett said.

Haddix said an online forum for residents could save the city money by saving on response to open records requests.

Though the software could cost in the neighborhood of $200 as a one-time fee or possibly free, Councilman Steve Boone questioned the staffing necessary to have the forum moderated.

Boone said he liked the idea of informing the community if it’s worked out correctly, but he doesn’t care for “bloggers.”

“There’s enough blogging out there,” Boone said.

Haddix said the forum could encourage citizens with a wealth of expertise to help the city even though they don’t have enough time to volunteer to serve on a city board or commission.

“It’s a really good communication and asset development tool that utilizes the abilities of Peachtree City for those people that don’t want to sit on a committee, don’t go by a scheduled time,” Haddix said.

Council asked city staff to research the legal issues involved with such a forum and also to provide examples of similar endeavors used by other cities: both successful and unsuccessful. Plunkett said in addition to the examples, she wants to hear about “best practices” the city could use in operating such a forum.

Meanwhile, the online forum will be discussed at the city’s annual retreat, slated for City Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 29 and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 1.

Haddix said he wanted to use his website to share information in part to fulfill a campaign promise he made.

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