Commentary
A Note About the Website
Democrats-
The website you receive these announcements from is yours. The content on this website is yours to guide and yours to help produce. I am the Site Administrator and an active Democrat, but I don’t want to be the only one producing content for the site, and I wouldn’t think you would want that either. I have received many good comments about the site from people and I appreciate all of them, but this site was never meant to be an outlet for my own points of view alone.
In case you haven’t visited the site, I encourage you to do so and explore the articles currently posted there and evaluate the links that I have chosen to include (thus far). There are numerous news feeds that I have either personally selected or posted by recommendation, but there are more that I could possibly access if I knew to look for them. My own interests are in economics, the environment, philosophy and society, and while that covers a lot, there are many of you I know have other interests that I am unlikely ever to provide viewpoints on.
Your website currently has space for six different modes of expression:
- Links – Choose links you would like to see on the site that you find provide information in tune with our core Democratic principles of respect, integrity, communication, equality, and stewardship. I have several categories already set up, though I can add more if it becomes necessary to do so.
- News Feeds – I have selected feeds from sources I myself rely on for information (as you can see, I read the New Yorker), but I would like to get other resources listed as well. The more the merrier, even if they might be topic-oriented sources.
- Government Action – I get updates from all of our elected officials that send them out, and I post many of those. If you have information about something one of our elected officials is doing or working on that you’d like to see posted to the website, send it along to me.
- At Issue – I haven’t had time to write for this section yet, though I am considering two or three different topics. This section is generally reserved for the unbiased treatment of any issue of interest. I’d prefer to see facts and citations in the articles in this section. If you have special knowledge of some topic that you’d like the rest of us to know about, this is the place to present it.
- Commentary – Here is where you can post your views on whatever it is that’s getting your goat. Opinions matter, and we all want to hear what you’re thinking. This section is also a place where, should you choose to do so, you can caucus for a candidate or provide a viewpoint on an upcoming ballot issue.
- Guest Commentary – This section is reserved for people who aren’t members of the local Democratic Party to have their say. As you may have noticed, it is also open to opposing party candidates who want to have some direct exposure to us Democrats. You have to admire their courage.
Of course, you are also encouraged to utilize the Announcements section to post things that would be of interest to your fellow Democrats. Be aware that all postings in the aforementioned sections are open for anyone to comment on, though I moderate all comments to sift out the spam. I also want to assure anyone who might be getting these announcements via email that your email address and any other personal information we may collect (which at this time only amounts to your name) is kept strictly confidential and is not shared with anyone. I have had people unsubscribe with the reasoning that they didn’t want their personal information given out, and that is not something any of you should be worrying about, at least not from this website.
One other thing: Something I really have no use for are unsubstantiated arguments meant only to evoke an emotional response (usually negative) in the reader. We see such things from other sources on a daily basis, and I do not want to see anything like that on this website. If you have an issue that you feel very strongly about, please do the necessary research to make sure your article accurately reflects the facts of the matter, and please provide citations and quotes from the sources you used. It is important that Democrats serve as an example for others on what proper political discourse should consist of, for there is little enough of it elsewhere in our society today.
Your Site Administrator,
Bill Grimm
One thing I forgot to mention: The site has seen about 200 unique visitors this month alone (not including search engine ‘bots). This was our first full month of operation, so I expect that number to increase considerably in March. New content increases the likelihood that more people will visit and read what we have to say. Let’s try to make this thing do some work for us.