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Democracy for America personal blog for Tom Asbill
Kudos, DFA!
Linked to groups: Florida DFA, Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM)
I am so happy with DFA and the members that make up this wonderful organization! I kind of meandered through politics much of my life, and never got really involved. I did a little volunteering here and there, when an issue or candidate moved me. I generally never sought out political activities, but I would kind of stumble upon them from time to time. Aside from the Democratic Party, there has never really been a coherent and cohesive political action group that was made for regular people to get involved. It always seemed like there were many stray voices wandering in the wilderness with no particular direction other than to wave our disconnected fists in the air when we felt strongly about something our government was doing...or not doing.
Since I got involved with DFA a few years ago, all of that changed. First, I went to my local group meetings in Miami, and they were full of activities. Sure, we were waving our fists in the air...but collectively instead of disconnectedly. But that was not all. We took action! We spearheaded citizen lobby efforts, took part in canvasses for issues as well as candidates, organized demonstrations, organized letter writing and phone calling campaigns, and even got our local leader picked to be the Political Director of DFA! Charles Chamberlain deserved it because he was an energetic and charasmatic leader that provided a true direction for all of our collective frustrations.
We were able to stop the County Commission from encroaching on the Everglades and harming the community water supply and ecosystem. We led efforts in the State legislature that resulted in our State mandating paper ballots, we helped organize union workers to fight for their right to unionize, we gave inertia to a national trend of honoring our troops with mock Arlington cemeteries, we got true grass roots candidates elected to local offices, and occupy half of our DEC with DFA memebers...now, even the Chairman of the Miami DEC is a loyal DFA member! And now, after 2 decades of South Florida GOP rule, we have finally given rise to 3 viable and exciting Democrats to help take back our country in the US Congress.
We don't just wave our fists in the air, we get things done! Every single thing that DFA espouses and Howard Dean spoke about is coming to fruition. Grass roots politics from the bottom up, creating a deep bench of potential political leaders that stand for Progressive principles, creating a 50 state strategy, and joining (and even leading) local and state Party apparati. We are doing it, and there are DFA groups all around the country that are doing it. There is no other grassroots organization that I am aware of that is as prominent and active as DFA. We may not be getting all the headlines like a MoveOn organization, but our people are taking all the actions that are making the difference.
I thank DFA for all that we do. It is amazing that an organization that is so young has risen so quickly out of a loosely organized group of citizens across the country. It is amazing to me that in just 4 short years, we have become a respected and sometimes feared group of activists that mean business. We are truly people powered, and I am truly thankful for the existence of DFA--especially during a time of such political catastrophe.
By the way...I haven't even mentioned what the national group has done...there are just so many things! The grass roots trainings identifies and creates leaders all over the country, while training ordinary citizens like me how to make a difference on a local, state, and national level. The letter writing and phone call campaigns help us communicate with our elected leaders and let them know how we feel...and sometimes even succeeding in our goals, or at least applying appropriate political pressure. The DFA-List identifies strong Progressive candidates that are slowly blending into our government, just as we do on the local level. There are just too many things to list.
I have loved watching this blog evolve through every generation and upgrade. It used to be disorganized, like a bunch of people in the wilderness waving our fists in the air, but now it is starting to become more coherent and providing some guidance as to things that are happening around the country. It gives us ideas for action, and the links provide great instructions on how to be effective in our actions. It is a central gathering place to see what issues and candidates around the country are making a difference.
DFA even created a cool 'water cooler' for the people that have been the most common commenters on the blog---how cool is that? I notice that now many of the discussions on the blogs are slowly coming around to be based on the main posts, and the regular commenters have their very own place to hang out--I like going to see what they are talking about every now and then, and I also like seeing comments that are related to the main post. I think more of us should start commenting to share our opinions on what is on the front page...we can finally start collectively waving our fists in the air! As I have read the regular commenters posts and objections to the water cooler, I can understand their frustration since many of them have been here from the beginning of DFA...but we should all be proud of the direction that DFA is going in, and celebrate it...collectively!
Kudos, DFA!!! Keep up the great work.
Peace
Or so I always thought.
--that is the point
and we have always welcomed new folks to the blog - and until recently never heard a complaint about the way we blog. our first hint was the announcement of the watercooler. did you know that there were no archives when the wc was instituted - just one day we were told that our off topic comments were mno longer 'allowed' and would be sent there to be flushed away forever? many of us reread the posts or catch up on the news the next day, but that was impossivble once the change was made.
most change comes hard, but especially when you're blindsided by it.
I do find it hard to believe that so many adults never, ever even tried to have a conversation with us that they disliked the fact that we cover a lot of topics on every thread. that they actually made a conscious decision NOT to blog here because of the lack of being on topic.
do you understand where I'm coming from? do you understand that this blog community has gone through some serious life issues together and that we are smart, caring individuals who would have been happy to entertain a solution if we knew some folks were considering our posting habits were a problem?
Like I said, I do understand. But can you see the other side of things? First, we are all on the same side. Second, I don't like arguining like I have been having to tonight...I would much prefer an intelligent discussion. Everyone keeps asking me if I understand without stopping to understand where someone else is coming from. Finally, if someone wants to have an intelligent discussion with me of why I think the WC is a good idea, I would be happy to share.
But when Denise harps on me and tries to 'rally the troops' against me in an antagonistic fashion, it hardly lays the ground for an intelligent discussion.
Quit blaming me for your shortcomings. I don't make anyone do anything. And I harp on those who harp on us. You started this, not us. Own it.
You fail to take responsibility for your actions...you bait...you purposefully mischaracterize and alert the 'group' when you know you are being disengenuous. You own it.
Re-read my post, and the positiveness it exudes...then read what and how you and others have been criticizing my opinion all day and begging and 'daring' me to comment...then keep trying to convince yourself that I started this.
Then when I do answer your comments, you say I started it...tsk tsk, Denise...how many times must I urge you to look in the mirror.
You refuse to be objective and continue to point the finger at others for your faults...I believe psychologists call that 'projecting.'
- You and Seashell, the mirror and projection team
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 2, 2008 2:31 AM EDTGuess what my minor was?
Your post was positiive until your repartee with David. How many here tonight agreed with you? Ummmmm......zero.
Sweet dreams
It was actually the conversations on the water cooler I was following...some have been attacking DFA so much, it got me to think about all of the good things DFA is, has done, and stands for.
This 'Great American Coversation' is cool, and now it has its very own place. Meanwhile, all of the people out there pounding the pavement and taking actions has been what has made DFA grow and become more exciting. The activists on the ground are the heart of DFA, and many of the commenters are the expression of that heart. I understand how the change has made some upset, but I think they are missing the big picture. DFA is awesome not because it provides a free place to blog, but because it trains ordinary citizens to take action in their government.
The water cooler inspired me to write this because it seems they have been dishing out so much venom and hatred for some of the very people that made DFA great....so I decided to dish out some love:-)
- We don't need our own place, what don't you get about that?
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 1, 2008 9:53 AM EDTAnd the people who are at DFA now are NOT what made it great. It was us, and the hundreds that have left here because of mismanagment at HQ, not only of this blog but of things in the past 5 years. Have you been here the past five years? If not you really don't know the score my friend.
A free place to blog - do you pay elsewhere to blog? All blogs are free, but this one is being run like we owe it something. We don't.
Continue to get Florida's butt in gear, Tom. Worry about that. THAT will do the whole country a world of good.
...and the people at DFA that are running things are all originals--from Arshad Assan who has been doing trainings since the beginning, to Charles Chamberlain, who Chaired Dean's campaign in Florida in 2003/4.
Yes, I have been here the last 5 years, we have had conversations over the years with my pseudonym, and I am sharing my opinions just as you are.
Keep up the great work on the ground, Denise!
- I am also an activist on the ground by the way
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 1, 2008 10:19 AM EDTAnd we get the picture, you are wrong about what you think of us.
I am currently drafting a letter to Nancy Pelosi on behalf of the local San Francisco DFA groups to hand deliver to Nancy Pelosi, who lives about 25 miles from me.
How's that for action on the ground?
that those you are blaming for venom and hatred are indeed the very people who have helped make DFA great. a bottom up organization doesn't do what they did to the blog without a bit of discussion first, don't you think? we never heard of an off-topic problem until it was a done deal - who we are and what we do was being attacked, for no known reason. lack of communication on this issue was HUGE. just sayin'...
how 'cool' would the main thread be if every time you posted to it, it kicked you to a different thread or someone's personal page? how cool would it be if every troll post or off topic comment from every active thread was tossed onto the main thread on a regular basis. how cool would it be if someone new at DFA decided they didn't like what was going on with the blog and they didn't bother to address the issue, just dumped the 'home' you'd shared with many for more than 5 years upside down?
yea, just how cool is that?
You are right, there was no publicized reason for why they did it. We just have to use our imaginations...my imagination says that there is an idea to get people talikng about what is happening on the main thread posts, which is rarely done. Maybe it was seen as disrespectful to those that took the time and energy to research and write something, look forward to seeing comments, and instead reading comments about things totally unrelated.
I don't care who the 'originals' are...it is still venom and hatred the way I and I am sure many others see it day after day.
Hmmm...a rent free home--I'd be expecting eveiction any time if I kept biting the hand that feeds me!
but I suppose you missed that?
You are right, there was no publicized reason for why they did it. We just have to use our imaginations...my imagination says that there is an idea to get people talikng about what is happening on the main thread posts, which is rarely done. Maybe it was seen as disrespectful to those that took the time and energy to research and write something, look forward to seeing comments, and instead reading comments about things totally unrelated.
I don't care who the 'originals' are...it is still venom and hatred the way I and I am sure many others see it day after day.
Hmmm...a rent free home--I'd be expecting eviction any time if I kept biting the hand that feeds me!
I am one of those who have been here since day 1. We were in at the beginning for Howard Dean, and joined DFA the day it formed on March 18, 2004.
We see an attitude now toward those of us who are/were (in my case) donating monthly, donating when the request comes out from HQ. Working locally.
There is a sense of loss when those of us who were here from the beginning can not freely post. We are the heart of DFA, and if you lose that you lose a lot.
I see changes now that I don't like. Even the DNC has stopped blog comments. Even Terry McAuliffe never did that.
It is controlling the message tightly.
That was not how we started, and I fear it is how we will end.....the loss of the feeling of belonging.
If we "off topic" people just quietly went away.
We are all important in our own way. Some of us donate more than others. Some of us are more active on the ground...or were until the local establishment overwhelmed us.
Some of us can't attend events, but some of us donate to help others go.
But if we post off topic....it is all negated.
Howard Dean said on the occasion of the formation of DFA that it was about community. Now it is not.
"DFA even created a cool 'water cooler' for the people that have been the most common commenters on the blog---how cool is that?"
Yes, quite an accommodation for those here from the start.
Times change, groups change, people change. Hubby and I were so enthusiastic for both DFA's Dean for America and this one.
Now we do not count. DFA was our salvation in this conservative area of Florida, but we got beat down.
Just like is happening here....the most important thing is not what we have contributed but whether we post off topic.
Something is wrong with that picture.
The new folks at DFA don't know those of us here from the start.
Floridagal...
I started this new blog policy and created the idea of the Watercooler as a way to meet the needs of everyone in the DFA community. I have also been here from the beginning. My first day working as a volunteer supporter of Howard Dean was March 13th, 2003. After the campaign ended, I was elected President of the local DFA Miami volunteer group three times, before I was hired by DFA HQ in July 2006.
No one at HQ is disrespecting anyone on BFA by working to improve the community. Everyone in DFA counts. That includes you of course. But you don’t count MORE than any one else.
I can understand that change is hard to except sometimes. And maybe you will eventually decide that this change is not one that you wish to accept and you will leave our community. I hope not, because you would be missed.
of how things are perceived here now. All the years of donating and going door to door getting petition cards signed....don't matter if we post off topic.
I am saving this to remind me.
There is a sadness in me tonight.
the open thread put up by puddle has a story you might enjoy
I'm looking forward to Tom joining in with his on topic comments on the front page.
If he ever finds my posts at the watercooler the blog enforcer stuck them there.
you have helped me understand Florida politics in a way I never would have without your front page posts in the comment section and if DFA is a success there are a lot of reasons for it, and you are one of them
I was at the Obama event today, but I won't bother posting it because it is no longer of HQ's purpose to have a first hand account of a future President's speech where people can find it
- You have been here from the start, I think, like hubby and me.
By floridagal . on Aug 1, 2008 1:44 AM EDTThe new folks don't know us. They think we just want to make trouble and be frivolous. It is like being in from the start is a negative now.
Just thought I would say again... because it seems like some people are listening. I am not new to DFA. If you are going to attack me personally, it would be nice if you at least attacked me for something that is true.
I am saying that there are changes going on that are hurting people. I post elsewhere mostly, but I do like to feel at home here. The Dean campaign was special, and will go down in history that way.
The DNC has ended comments under new leadership. There is no way to communicate now really. I used to get responses from the bloggers there as they knew me....but not anymore.
It doesn't pay to get up in the middle of the night to read the blog - between Phil's eloquent story, told in 1000 byte pieces, to Floridagal's wistful one here -- your sadness wafts across our sunny State, Floridagal. I feel guilty myself for whatever tiny hand I might have had in chasing off linda sfnm -- she really ticked me off -- but her voice was as important or perhaps more so, as a voice of dissent -- in a public forum in the US of A. To paraphrase Tinkerbell, every time a voice is silenced, America dies a little.
- When people leave, they leave on their own Anni
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 1, 2008 10:02 AM EDTI miss Linda too, but people are adults and are responsible for their own actions. No one else makes anyone do anything unless they have a gun pointed at them. Even then, there is a choice, albeit not the best one :)
I had hoped at one point to help by facilitating the blog community, since I can't contribute to HQ. Though I *did* promise if lindab ever got her trainings.
I have other communities, other places I blog. I suppose I won't be lonely. But I agree with floridagal: I'm deeply sad. Sadder than sad. Something that was alive and vital, something that was life giving and sometimes breath taking is being smothered. And with no ill will, just that we simply don't matter.
No one sees the irony of the poster who's glad for the new blog: he *hated* searching through *hundreds* of comments for his kudos.
- Banish those HUNDREDS OF COMMENTS; THOSE HUNDREDS OF COMMENTORS. . . .
By puddle on Aug 1, 2008 4:18 AM EDTBanish those HUNDREDS OF COMMENTS; THOSE HUNDREDS OF COMMENTORS. . . . give them a separate waterfountain where they won't bother us serious types with their noise. Thing was: that noise was letter writing, marching, precinct organizing, flyering, telephoning, all things political. Now it doesn't matter, because there's a room three stories down. And the door's been closed, and the light turned out. RIP Blog for America.
1000 characters is not enough, Tim.
Rosa Parks, MLK, Mother Jones. . . . You're too shabby, there's this nice bathroom down the hall you can wait in while we, the suits, hold our meeting up front. We'll do the important stuff, don't worry. Don't flush the toilet too loudly, don't disturb our meeting, please. Mr. Gandhi, you should put some clothes on: it's just not *seemly*. . . .
The day the music died. . . .
Under the wing, next to the heart. . . .
- If you don't understand the importance of The Great American Conversation
By rich^kolker on Aug 1, 2008 8:15 AM EDTYou don't understand DFA.
...I understand egos.
this comment of yours is most revealing. It is a comment I could have expected. All I had to do was wait. Condescension?
But, as has often the case here, will you understand how many (not all) see your point of view?
- Most revealing, don't waste your brain on him Paine
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 1, 2008 10:30 PM EDTI'm off to HEP
Read everyones comments and tell me I shouldn't stand up for my point of view.
Condescension is what I learn from all of you day after day lambasting DFA...I am just speaking in a language yuo might understand.
By the way, I ususally agree with your point of view:-)
stand up for your point of view, Tom.
All of us want that!
It is what IS so cool about the folks commenting here.
Test your position. You may come to a more complete understanding of the community I see/have seen. Folks may/very likely will be persuaded toward your position.
Forget any perceived insults.
There is no other word for it. You are saying that because we oppose the changes that egos are to blame.
- lindab in Southern Va is going to Denver
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 1, 2008 10:01 AM EDTBut for YEARS has been asking DFA for training in her neck o the woods. Northern Virginia has received training opportunties several times.
lindab has been here since 2003. She is a delegate from the state of Virginia, but DFA ignores her pleas for training.
What do you think about that Tom Asbill?
And no answer from Tom. I guess there was no answer that would make us try to look bad, but it's HQ (with it's 3 originals, and Arshad who I know and love) who is missing the boat on this training opportunity.
...I think it sucks?!?! What do you want me to say?
Now that your post has made the rec list, are you going to discuss or reply to the comments left by others?
My name is Tom, not Tom and David!
"David" is David Reiter who responds at the top of the thread, then doesn't return.
It used to be on the front page of the main DFA blog. I have searched the site and can't find it.
It is important to know who is running an organization like this. It used to be there, now I don't see it.
Something has changed when the worst sin from those of us who worked our butts off in 2003, 2004, (and donated lots of money, BTW) and on to form the group....the worst sin for us is to post "off topic."
Who's in charge now? Who are the new names that have one post after the other. Are they interns? Are they staff writers?
Why is posting off topic so very wrong now? Why has the DNC closed the blog to commments now? There were comments there even up to the election in 2004.
http://democracyforamerica.com/about
But doesn't show the interns. I remember even last year the interns would post and introduce themselves.
I guess none of this matters anymore really. The direction appears to be set.
I have just read through this thread and feel a deep desire to say something pithy and worthy, but the sadness chokes me.
I was someone who used to answer the phones during the Dean Campaign, and worked on lots of mailings going out to MeetUps and for fundraisers. In the years of DFA 2.0, I still volunteered at HQ and even brought in the quilt that hangs in the inner office...outside what was Howard's office and is now Jim's office.
I helped Dina with mailings, made cheesecakes and brownies and brought in carrot and celery sticks and Rainforest Nut Decaf coffee.
To be continued...
But you don't see me anymore. I miss Ellie. She was the super-volunteer who showed up to help day after day and maybe she still does. If so, she is the only person left who was there from the start.
Please, please, DFA staffer and interns, go back to the archives and READ some of the early blog threads!! If you can't find them, ask puddle...she can find them if anyone can. Become acquainted with the raw energy, the verve, the will, and the astonishing community that invented The Bat and Rosie and made the mouse pads and shoe leather really work! Howard Dean asked us to be COMMUNITY for one another. We did it with humour, grace, and wisdom, sometimes wildly off-topic, but one topic runs into another because all things, like we, are interconnected. Learning doesn't happen in s straight line.
Come tell us what you think and share some idears, hopes and frustrations. We ARE the DFA blog. Without us, you lose the vital connection to what Howard Dean was and is about. We are Dean.
Please listen to us, really listen, and hear us. Then show us that you have heard us. We are far more reasonable and wonderful than you can imagine. And hey, there just might be a cheesecake in it for you. ;~) Peace, listener
that you had to spoil a great post with this:
I have loved watching this blog evolve through every generation and upgrade. It used to be disorganized, like a bunch of people in the wilderness waving our fists in the air...
wtfru to say all we were doing on this blog is wave our fists in the air. were you 'watching' it in 2003? 2004? 2005? 2006? there was a hell of a lot more going on here than fists in the air.
what an insult! and I guess that's the problem - you don't have a clue who we long-time bfa'ers are or what we've been doing - just because DFA/Tara decided to diss us doesn't mean we haven't been working hard and staying focused in the politics in our own communities - in our daily lives. it's a BLOG for heaven's sake!
and how come you were just watching the blog if you love it so. if you had tried to join the conversation at some point over all these years, you just might 'get it'.
I have been here all along waving my fist in the air as well as watching everyone else waving their fists in the air. It is not a put down, it is a reality of democracy and disorganized political action.
I have been here all along waving my fist in the air as well as watching everyone else waving their fists in the air. It is not a put down, it is a reality of democracy and disorganized political action.
I've been in the conversations--in and out over time. Perhaps none of you remember because you either have selective memories, or when someone posts once in a while, yuo feel you can just disrespect them for not being glued to the computer.
You're not here to join, you're here to disrupt. Under a passive aggressive umbrella of snark. Not buying it.
I see you are the blogstapo now, huh?
He admonished folks in letters sent to them via emal about the words they use here. I didn't get one.
One term was "brownshirt". I do hope that Charles will give you a warning because what you just called me is just as disgusting and uncalled for.
Like I said, you are very transparent. Charles is your buddy, fine. Rah rah for him all you like. But YOU will not call me or anyone here anything related to Nazi's, the Third Reich, or any such deragatory term. Got it? How do you know I'm not of Jewish faith?
Don't BS me, Denise. I got that 'blogstapo' phrase from reading negative comments about DFA Staff for the last several weeks...I would not be surprised if you were the one that invented it...although, I believe it may have been Annilow that came up with it. Why don't you check to see who started it to begin with before you start pointing the finger elsewhere.
Once again, look at yourself before you accuse others. Take your fake sensitivity elsewhere.
And Charlie isn't 'my buddy' as you suggest. He probably doesn't even know me, but for teh times I showed up for volunteer events in Miami.
- I didn't use the term. Your use of it and your excuse for doing it is a sham at best.
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 1, 2008 11:29 PM EDTI say what I feel. Your defense of HQ, which came out of nowhere (yeah, right) is, LOL, admirable.
Again, I have never, in five years, been admonished for anything I have written here. Grow up buddy. You are out of your league and way off base. You owe me and everyone an apology here.
I owe you Bupkis
- Oh but you did apologize to me to save face on the open thread
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 1, 2008 11:57 PM EDTYou suffer from SDS. Figure it out. It has something to do with measurement.
something about your envy? LOL
Like I've been trying to say, we can have an intelligent conversation or you can continue to bait me...it's your call.
I pity them
- And sorry I have no desire to have any kind of conversation
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 2, 2008 12:23 AM EDTwith you.
CRICKETS YOO HOO TOM......
Yoo Hoo to you :-)
- Yeah 24 hours later cuz you needed time to see if your bull hit the fan
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 1, 2008 10:21 PM EDTIs that supposed to be an insult?
and you wonder why I think you would attack me??? Look in the mirror before you accuse others. Read your venom over the last several weeks as an innocent bystander before you throw stones at others.
- Um I didn't get a letter from Charles threatening to throw me off the blog
By Denise in San Mateo County on Aug 1, 2008 10:27 PM EDTSo I have no idear what you are talking about.
BFA is what got me into the internet and the blogging world.
I want to hear Phil's Obama story.
During the Dean campaign, the blog set the standard for the Great American Conversation. The world was so interested in us that they even sent reporters to interview several of us to find out how blogging helped motivate us to move from mousepads to boots on the ground in Iowa. The Washington Bureau Chief of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung spent the day on the ground in Des Moines with Charlie Grapski, Sleepless in Seattle, and me. He wrote a story for his paper on Dean bloggers in Iowa. I would copy it here but it is in German.
When Dean was first made Chair of the Democratic Party, Dan Balz of the Washington Post picked up something other bloggers and I said on the blog and used it in one of his columns:
"Paul in OC" and "Steviemo in MN" wrote that they had made their first-ever contributions to the national committee. Someone identified as "J" pleaded with Dean to come to Florida, "home of Baby Bush," to "heal the irritating red and help us become a cool blue state again." "Donna in Evanston" wrote, "It's sad, but it is up to the grassroots to set the example for our representatives in Washington. Howard gets it. Maybe some day the beltway bunch will get it too."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38436-2005Feb19.html
I am not the most erudite of bloggers. But my point is that each of has has made a difference...an important difference that has been noticed by the greater world.
The blog administrators don't know the damage they have done. What a shame.
...called 'What Got You Here, Won't Get You There' It was about adapting, and how times constantly change.It was about how we all as, as human beings, constantly need to adapt, reinvent ourselves, and change behavior so we may grow and evolve. It was a good read. i suppose it is this concept that I base some of my my opinion on.
but what is good or democratic about FORCED ADAPTATION. no conversation, just move over 'old folks', the kids don't like you and won't tell you why, but the kids are in charge now and you're going down...
that is what this whole situation has felt like.
here and in our daily lives. but again, if you were ever really following this blog, even occassionally over the entire time as you say, you'd KNOW that.
again, there's your condescension. let it go, dude - adapt.
I'm not saying that the fashion in which they changed policy was the best, but it was done. Perhaps a bit more tact should have been used.
It seems to me that HQ is probably tied up with many more things than than the blog. There is a major election coming up...maybe they are trying to me more coherent a group pre-election, to bring more people into the fold. Perhaps they want many of the new Obamaniacs to join in on-topic discussions so the group as a whole can appear to have an identifiable direction. I don't know what goes on, but I am just imagining what makes sense to me.
- and I can't see where anyone here was preventing that
By Jo*in*Vermont on Aug 2, 2008 12:08 AM EDTcan you?
To an outsider like me, it appears that all that mattered to anyone was their place on the blog, and I saw know intelligent discussion on why HQ might have decided to this...and perhaps they should have discussed it openly...but as i said in a previous comment a few days ago...political strategy isn't something that happens in the open.
So as an outsider reading the blog, it just seemed like a bunch of hatefulness to me.
is not political strategy. and the question you're responding to is about what we were doing (supposedly) to cause them to make those changes, but your response is about how we reacted to those changes. so I ask again,
what were we doing that prevented them from being a "more coherent a group pre-election, to bring more people into the fold. Perhaps they want many of the new Obamaniacs to join in on-topic discussions so the group as a whole can appear to have an identifiable direction."
all they had to do was ask. if we were never told, until after the change, that they thought our way of writing and communicating was preventing them from reaching their goals for the blog, which they also never shared with us, how could we possibly assist them in reaching those goals?
we're not. how can we 'let it go' if you keep throwing it in our face, as you did with your comments to us. you've seen how we feel about it, so you pop in to tell us how cool and how great the way we've been trweated here is? don't you see how that was like taunting us?
I honestly think the WC IS a cool thing. I explained why I think it is, and why it was done, and have rationalized why I would agree with what I imagine the reason is.
I can't help it if YOU feel taunted...it was never my intention. The intention (which when I re-read my post, it seems evident) was to express that I think it is and will be a positive step in DFA evolution.
I honestly don't see how that is taunting.
As far as a label of 'full of venom' goes...re-read all of the regular commenters posts over the last few weeks, and tell me that you don't see it the same way---but when you read it, put yourself in the shoes of someone that does not regularly comment.
?
seriously. I do think we can have a good conversation and I thank you for at least trying.
good night - hope you have a good one.
See post right above yours. He is still trying to say it's ok for him to be venomous because we are/were. Does that even make sense? He "lowers" himself to "our level" because we did it. Huh?
- "Political strategy is not something that happens in the open" -- part 1
By Robert Strom on Aug 2, 2008 10:04 AM EDTFrom my perspective, this point, and the reaction of "we've done something nice for you guys, why don't you appreciate it instead of complaining" are rubbing salt in the wounds and exacerbating the anger.
This is a blogging community, and unilateral decisions without prior discussion to change the whole way it's done is not a "political strategy", and it should very much be happening in the open. Changes should be discussed before the change is made, and consensus should be built. And then attacking people for complaining and telling them they should be happy they're not just thrown out on the street like some unruly tenant is adding insult to injury (we thought it was our house!)
- "Political strategy is not something that happens in the open" -- part 2
By Robert Strom on Aug 2, 2008 10:05 AM EDTFrom a technical perspective, the changes are disastrous and reveal the insensitivity. Like "oh, we archived more than 12-hour-old watercooler threads but didn't realized anyone would actually want to see them; maybe in a week we'll have our experts fix that". And now there's all this special software that still doesn't work that applies just to our: no way to recommend, no ratings, no counter, that funny centering. Why not forget all that software that always needs fixing anyway and just have the open threads work like any other thread? Oh, and that bloody 1000 character limit that forces me to break this in two pieces -- what's with that????
And yes, Charles at political@democracyforamerica.com, the excuse that mail is backlogged and we should be patient is getting thin now that my mail from July 9 is still unanswered and it's August already.
Rob
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- Kudos to you, Tom!
By David Reiter on Aug 1, 2008 12:33 AM EDTYou ARE DFA! Kudos to all the hard work you do, actions you take, and friends you get involved. The beauty of it all is that it is all of us members that make up DFA and take direct action that make it what it is...collectively. It all grew from you and every member like you. It just took a great leader like Howard Dean to ignite what was already in all of us, and a crappy leader like George Bush to kick us into action!
By the way...what prompted this sudden Kudos? :-)
Great writing, by the way!