We are going to try to fix the regional threads soon…hopefully, sometime this weekend.
I am thinking of having the threads roll over at 100 comments, and having an archiving system to access old comment threads.
I also hope to see them evolve into a kind of activist bulletin board.
If you have any ideas on how to improve the regional threads, post them here.
I agree that the most useful thing the regional threads could do is to be “activist bulletin boards.” However, I don’t think a simple page full of comments works very well for that. It’s just plain tiresome to read through (up to) 100 comments on the off-chance that one of them will mention an “action” that matches one’s time, talents, interests, geography, current level of outrage, etc.
How about each front page regional box leading to a page with categories, with geographical subcategories?
More and more of us who spend time in the blogosphere are becoming more involved in “real-world” political action. Even more people would like to but aren’t sure where or how to start.
Meetups and groups could be one category, with geographical subcategories. As a Texan, I suppose my region is “South” – but a get-together in Atlanta would not be something I’m likely to sign up for. But the Austin Kossacks (and BooFolks) group is going strong, and we’re always looking for a way to get the word out to the other Austinites that we know are out there but that just haven’t gotten word of our existance yet.
Candidates and elections could be another. There’s a lot of work to be done for 06 and 08 – but much of it must be local. Everything from school boards, city council races, state legislative seats, congressional races, etc. It would be good to have a way to find out who is running in one’s own area and something about them – and then, if they seem like someone we’d like to support, how to do that. (Where’s the campaign office, will they be speaking or meeting people somewhere near me, what kind of help do they need?) Again, I have not much to contribute to a race for the District 3 House seat in Virginia. But I’ll be there with bells on if anyone is going to take on the egregious R (Lamar Smith) who currently (mis)represents me in the US House.
Ready, set, type! could be a place for alerts that LTE’s or op-eds are needed to respond to specific articles or editorials in local newspapers – also letters, calls, faxes to CongressCritters (both US and state).
Lege watch to keep an eye on what state legislatures are up to. Ours, thankfully, has decamped for the biennium, but as your recent post about rewriting bills in the dead of night points out, the power of state legislatures to make our lives miserable is considerable, and more attention needs to be paid to what’s going on there.
I envision “South” could take me to a page with categories (like these, or others – just typing off the top of my head now) and under each category could be clickable states – which would then go to a page of comments and alerts on these topics.
Oh, and how about every regional page also having a “National” link that takes us to a page for action that applies to all of us – national conferences, letters that need to be sent to federal commissions, etc.
Excellent ideas. I too am looking for more of a bulletin board, call to action type thread. I so want to start meetups in the San Diego/SoCal area but don’t know where to start. Subcategories would help I believe. I have posted on both the west thread and several open threads a call for western area meetups. Maybe I am just the only one from San Diego but I haven’t had one response.
These are really good ideas, Janet!
My only other comment for the regional threads (as they stand) would be to have the most recent comments listed at the top so you don’t have to scroll through 100 comments to see what’s new.
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Number of comments on special open threads – date original post May 19th –
West Midwest South East World/Open
265 94 62 78 253
No intention of offending anyone, but if the USA sectors would be divided along
Time Zones: Pacific – Mountain – Eastern; Add to this the World/Open thread.
This would leave a fifth thread for SPECIALS during a month, for example an Asian/Special open thread. Some Asian specific items could be published in open thread diary during the month special.
A SPECIAL could of course be any upcoming political event.
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That’s a large library of information, the participants shouldn’t have a lack of words.
The present data shows upwards from 100,000,000 Internet users, it’s just a beginning. India has a similar number, and is making great strides in technology.
BTW most HiTech US companies have either moved to Asia our outsourced our jobs. In accordance with Republican economic policy to stimulate our job growth, or was it profit growth of the happy few?
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
ok, so i don’t feel so bad for posting a job offer in the world open thread.
Would it be possible to install a button to jump to the next new comment? I realize this sounds minor in comparison to the other suggestions here but it sure would make it easier to get around.