Your passion for local Minneapolis issues combined with hundreds of E-Democracy volunteer hours has helped build the Minneapolis Issues Forum as one the best community discussion spaces on the Internet. The focused list charter <http://e-democracy.org/mpls-issues> and David's excellent facilitation and occasional prodding have kept things moving along quite nicely. We have found on our E-Democracy lists that it is a natural tendency for people to form a sense of community. With good intentions, some try to broaden discussion beyond the original charter's scope. This must be resisted and prevented in order to secure the future of the forum for very local Minneapolis issue discussions. This forum is NOT about Minneapolitians talking politics, it is about the issues before the city council and other very local affairs. Putting the word Minneapolis into your post does not make it local - if you think your post might be borderline ask David for his advice first. Luckily, E-Democracy provides a choice of forums - this is not about censorship it is about find the appropriate forum. It is about showing respect for the charter and rules we all agreed to when joining these entirely volunteer, non-profit, citizen run forums. Failure to heed our behind the scenes or public requests to move specific threads or topics from this list to the appropriate forum may result in your removal from the forum. The tragedy of the online commons is when a few people put too much into it and drive the participatory audience away. Finding the correct forum ... Minnesota Politics ------------------ To discuss STATEWIDE issues, the US Senate race, general Minnesota politics use the Minnesota Politics Discuss forum: Subscribe via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Members post message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] St. Paul and 4th District ------------------------- To discuss St. Paul issues including the 4th District Congressional race use the St. Paul Issues Forum: Subscribe via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Members post message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Announcements ------------- If you have a political announcement, statewide or local, you may also use our moderated Minnesota Politics Announce e-mail list. MPA is our largest list with over 500 subscribers: Subscribe via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] All may post message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your Community -------------- For those who live or work outside of Minneapolis, if you have the time and energy to discuss local Minneapolis issues please consider helping create a forum for your own town. See the E-Democracy home page <http://e-democracy.org> for quick links to our community efforts and advice. Winona <http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org/> is our next big locally built volunteer success story. If they can do it, why not build a forum in your suburb or Greater MN community? Elsewhere --------- If you don't like charters, rules, and guidelines, participate in the mn.politics newsgroup <http://www.deja.com/group/mn.politics>. You can also use the dozens of newspaper sponsored web forums. If you find value in rule-based, unmoderated but facilitated discussion, stick around and help build the Minneapolis Issues Forum as an effective and meaningful place to discuss local issues. Sincerely, Steven Clift Board Chair, Minnesota E-Democracy P.S. Important - discussing the list on the list is against our guidelines. It is not a productive way to improve these forums. You may respond privately to me <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or to the entire E-Democracy Board at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Steven Clift - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T:+1.612.822.8667 Info - http://publicus.net DO - http://e-democracy.org/do Web White & Blue - http://webwhiteblue.org - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
