Winds of Change

Am not unhappy at all with the quality of participation or the content - just the quanity of both. Think this site and the people participating in now are both scalable to something more impactful and interesting.

I really do accept responsibility for where things have gone so far, because I don't think I ever did a good job of expressing, implementing, or getting buy-in for the idea that this really is supposed to be a site 'for the people and by the people'.

The "something" was intentionally vague. I'm sort of hoping that with some brainstorming, by multiple people, we'll all come up with "something" or several "somethings". One person's sometihing doesn't have to be the same as another's and vice versa. I look at my job right now as trying to help facilitate whatever good ideas anyone came up with. Basically, if one can think of it - I can build it.

Hope that helps clarify things a bit. :-/

...but, again not sure I have the proper "feel" of things. Like in any other "community" people will have a vast array of opinions, interests, thoughts. I used my diaries to basically document what I am/was feeling about a particular issue, most times it involved some Bush-s---. I'm sure that that can become, as m says "preaching to the choir" but again it was my feeling du jour. And I have learned things and felt comaradarie with other posters who've expressed their views.

Now I'm wondering if you are wanting everyone to focus on more of something else (i.e., not Bush, Iraq, etc.) or on some other particular thing or things?

What are some things that would increase participation from other than your regular posters? I looked at some other progressive or liberal sites (Common Dreams, Working for Change, The Nation) and the majority of their posts deal with BushCo, Iraq and the other nonsense generated by bush and his ilk. For instance, most of the articles/posts this week were about torture and the pope -- just like we had here.

I don't know if you will consider this a suggestion, but as you've probably noticed, I am a student/lover of history. I believe there's nothing new under the sun, only done in more technologically advanced ways. That is why I cringe every time I hear BushCo talking about "a new kind of war." As though they are being faced with some problem never before faced in the history of man. BULLLLLL.

(Off-rant) So, perhaps I could submit a weekly post on some aspect of current events as it relates to history, or even just document some historic event that may be of interest to other posters. Like here. Or how some problem we are having in the world -- how it may have been solved historically and what we can do to duplicate/implement that solution today.

I have a friend from India who jokingly likes to say in his glorious Indian accent, "I wish you Americans would get the proper spin on things." That's what I'm wondering now, do I have the proper spin on things??

BTW, I do not take things personal. So picture me with my dunce cap on and let 'er rip.

...current events to history. It gives people some perspective - which, of course, seems to be sorely lacking in the world today.

Beyone that I wouldn't dream of telling anyone what to write and/or do - other than write your passion - whatever it is. Am hoping for an excercise in opening new doors here through the genius of a group of contributors rather than a top down thing. It's supposed to be organic not formulaic, I think.

Also, as I reconsidering what we've all written here, I'm starting to have some respect for the idea that it will take some time to play out. The kind of changes which seem to "stick" more often than not are the ones which occur gradually, not the ones that happen overnight. I didn't mean to send anyone in a tailspin with this. Just provide a catalyst on how to expand our "project" to attract more geniuses like yourself here. Maybe I should have approached it with a more long-term oriented view from the outset!

...have been out of town and had death in the family. See there's been a lot of good posts and ideas this past week. It is refreshing to see the interest/vitality in the recent posts.

Have a few thoughts mayself on some historically relevant issues i hope to post soon.

Sorry to hear about your loss

My condolences to you and your family for your loss.

for your condolences. It is appreciated.

--SYN

It is of great value to develop a historical perspective on any topic. Most citizens don't seem to remember past last week, and I place myself in that category. I do not have a firm grasp on the finer points of American history, and must content myself with a general awareness of the flow of things.

As sane said, historical perspective brings illumination to current issues. BushCo likes to pretend that every situation is new and unique. This provides cover for failure -- who knew that a terrorist would fly a plane into a tower? And is used as a supporting argument for tyrannical laws. The Despot NEEDS enormous latitude and power to protect us from these terrifying new threats. But, we have survived greater threats without surrendering our Constitution. Yes, there is enormous value in this.

Bringing up historical perspective is also popular, and draws searchers to the web site. We saw this with a piece I did on a quick comparison on the conduct of the Iraq and Philippine wars. The justifications for our behavior were mass production assembly line thinking. The quotes from 1900 were interchangeable with those of today. And, it also showed that US conducted waterboarding is nothing new. The difference between then and now, is that BushCo wants to make these abominable practices public policy.

Sane's point, sounds just so ???sane?

about searchers coming to the site for historical references. Also, I've noticed that people will link to those type of things (e.g., thoughtful posts which people put research and/or quantitative evidence in) very often - which is not only good just from the standpoint of having the people who come here directly from the link itself, but also from an search engine point of view (more links to the site bumps it up in search engines).

Your comments are exactly what I'm looking for, and I think we can all relate to the 'preaching to the choir' and 'wanting to take action' sentiments. For my part I'm going to digest your ideas a little bit, tinker around in my head with some of the resources and such which might help with the ideas, and report back here see if we can push the ball forward any.

As m says, keep the ideas coming (or start sussin' out the ones presented). If we're going to bother to keep doing this we might as well have some fun and adventure with it.

My comment to sane regarding this whole thread. Basically, I'm just trying to cool my own overactive jets a little and give the ideas and ourselves some time to expend into each other. Figured out it's no good to just got "throw something up" right away. I'd rather be thoughtful and conscious about it so that when we all do whatever it is - it will be, well, thoughtful and conscious.

That said we can all still be working on ideas to further us in the direction of what you're talking about, because I do think that is where the future lies. Maybe Future of the Whirled will be one of the early orgnaizers/leaders of whatever-saves-us from the Democratic party. Who knows.

I've thought a little more about them and they do seem like the natural place to take things. (haven't gotten any further than that yet)

Also, please note I've changed the link per your request. Nice site, btw. :-)

Glad to hear your recovering - sounded pretty awful. No envy over here certainly. ;)

Have seen that somehow you and all the other contributors at Lyssa Strada have managed to keep it looking through the troubles though. Right on!

Btw, I've got some great updates in the pipeline right now for usability, search engine pump, and a couple other things. Will let you know more about them in the next couple weeks.

These are all much more feature rich than anything that I had considered. But, you are developing for a much wider audience than just FutureoftheWorld.

CitizenSpeak seems to have all the functionality for actually creating one's own petition and action drives. What I had considered, was more just a passive link to other drives, just to let readers know what was out there. Your selections go into a much more active role than I had envisioned. But, again, your interests as a developer go far beyond my outlook. The same would also be true for E-Publish and CiviCRM.

I am not sure that I understand why Chip-in was included in the list for this consideration, thoug I very well understand why you would want to include this in your offering package.

I really appreciate your taking the time to consider my "suggestions". It gives a whole new dimension to my new role as "user".