A Grassroots Portal Project

Epic said:
A number of us have been working on such a site. It is nearing completion. I posted the following in a different thread:

...

A site with these features would be an effective ENABLING site, rather than just an information one. Currently, one has to go to lewrockwell.com or mises.org to read articles by "professional" libertarians/austrians, then go to ronpaulforums to hear the latest from the average guys, maybe go to dailypaul to read some blog entries, then go to campaignforliberty to see if the site has improved.

We need a better platform. Or at least some competition so that campaignforliberty.com knows who to copy.

With all of this in mind, I introduce Liberty Playground: www.LibertyPlayground.com


Thanks,
Jack

----------------------

PS - this could be linked in to RPF if the powers that be wanted that. (accounts would carry over, etc.)
Click to expand...

Nice site, what we are talking about here is a different idea though... Not re-inventing a wheel, but building a bus...

Further, the name you have chosen hints at a lack of seriousness, to me...

lol on the CFL things.

newyearsrevolution08 said:
A directory?

Or actually linking the sites together, or trying to take from other sites to all go on one?

OR.....
Click to expand...

A front door and foyer... ;)

One of my main concerns at the moment is that I have nowhere to send new recruits. No site that simply welcomes, and introduces your avg Joe to the movement and the ideas behind it. Anyone that knows me will understand how frustrating that is. My greatest strength is in face to face recruiting...

LP (above) is moving in that direction, but is re-inventing many wheels. I don't think we need new Soc-nets/forums/etc.. I do think we need a place that utilizes what we do have and lets people find the place they are most comfortable (if they are the type of person to interact on-line, much). A place they, in turn, will feel comfortable recommending to their contacts...

Another concern of mine is the under-utilization of good ideas. Freeople is an example of such a place. Indeed, is does not look much different than what LP is setting up and has other features which surpass what others have done. While these are great ideas and designs, they just do not draw the traffic and are unsuitable for new recruits...

And shouldn't raising our numbers be our primary objective?
 
ronpaulhawaii said:
Nice site, what we are talking about here is a different idea though... Not re-inventing a wheel, but building a bus...

Further, the name you have chosen hints at a lack of seriousness, to me...

lol on the CFL things.



A front door and foyer... ;)

One of my main concerns at the moment is that I have nowhere to send new recruits. No site that simply welcomes, and introduces your avg Joe to the movement and the ideas behind it. Anyone that knows me will understand how frustrating that is. My greatest strength is in face to face recruiting...

LP (above) is moving in that direction, but is re-inventing many wheels. I don't think we need new Soc-nets/forums/etc.. I do think we need a place that utilizes what we do have and lets people find the place they are most comfortable (if they are the type of person to interact on-line, much). A place they, in turn, will feel comfortable recommending to their contacts...

Another concern of mine is the under-utilization of good ideas. Freeople is an example of such a place. Indeed, is does not look much different than what LP is setting up and has other features which surpass what others have done. While these are great ideas and designs, they just do not draw the traffic and are unsuitable for new recruits...

And shouldn't raising our numbers be our primary objective?
Click to expand...


I like the idea of an alliance site (or "Bus," if you will).

I specifically would like to see more coordination regarding political activism.

Given any current event, blog/forum discussions could lead to activism to make changes in our government. I'd like to see that discussion lead, in a smooth way, toward a coordinated physical effort, facilitated through Meetup, RestoreTheRepublic, or other similar sites. This does not mean those sites are dependent on the alliance site, only that ideas can be smoothly coordinated for introduction and possible acceptance by the masses at the grassroots for the necessary political pressure.

Would this alliance site be biased toward conservativism? Would a new liberal visitor not feel the love? It would be like someone asking you to join MoveOn.org, would you be happy when you visited the website?


FF
 
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fr33domfightr said:
I like the idea of an alliance site (or "Bus," if you will).

I specifically would like to see more coordination regarding political activism.

Given any current event, blog/forum discussions could lead to activism to make changes in our government. I'd like to see that discussion lead, in a smooth way, toward a coordinated physical effort, facilitated through Meetup, RestoreTheRepublic, or other similar sites. This does not mean those sites are dependent on the alliance site, only that ideas can be smoothly coordinated for introduction and possible acceptance by the masses at the grassroots for the necessary political pressure.

Would this alliance site be biased toward conservativism? Would a new liberal visitor not feel the love? It would be like someone asking you to join MoveOn.org, would you be happy when you visited the website?


FF
Click to expand...

I am a big tent guy and hope this will evolve into a non-partisan site that focuses on issues common to most everyone. I feel that most avg. people, who identify with either side, do not understand the underlying forces that drive the false left/right monopoly in power. I have had good luck with people from both sides, once I got them to listen. (In fact, I think I have had better luck converting people from "the left" to our platform, than I have with "the right"... )

Your third paragraph hits the nail on the head. The independent orgs that make up the alliance would still run their projects, we would merely lead people to them...

I hope that answers your question, and thanks

:)
 
This over all idea/concept is excellent!

Originally posted by ronpaulhawaii
Basically, what I am hoping we build is a simple and welcoming front page that links to the greater movement. We could have "featured" causes, "featured" blogs, "featured videos. Resource links, educational links, "best of" links, etc.

My thought would be that whether you are talking about searching the archives for "the posts we learned the most from" or the "best of" videos, speeches, etc. or whether you are trying to determine which grassroots projects members are interested in and willing to support or you are determining exactly which website features members want, the managers of this site definitely need to have a polling feature they can use. One that is more versatile than the current one used by RPF so it can handle multiple questions with multiple answers for each question.

Let's do it!!
 
Who's got some innovative ideas for the graphics? Have we discussed enough to come up with a rough sketch of things? Have we agreed on the purpose?

Chime in.

So far, I'm thinking:

Purpose: Introduce newcomers and interested people to the message of Liberty. Guide them through the forest, if you will. Our goal is for the newcomer to feel welcome to join the R3volution and to make it known there are people out there: this where the Lead-ins for all our great cyberspaces out there would be.

Style: Creative flash video introduction with liberty forest graphics surrounding and perhaps a video of our choice as the focal point, and then a Skip button to continue on. Who doesn't like a good video?
 
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fight4liberty said:
Originally posted by ronpaulhawaii
Basically, what I am hoping we build is a simple and welcoming front page that links to the greater movement. We could have "featured" causes, "featured" blogs, "featured videos. Resource links, educational links, "best of" links, etc.

My thought would be that whether you are talking about searching the archives for "the posts we learned the most from" or the "best of" videos, speeches, etc. or whether you are trying to determine which grassroots projects members are interested in and willing to support or you are determining exactly which website features members want, the managers of this site definitely need to have a polling feature they can use. One that is more versatile than the current one used by RPF so it can handle multiple questions with multiple answers for each question.

Let's do it!!
Click to expand...

I have been working with someone else who will be rolling out a survey project. They have used "survey monkey" in the past. I'm not sure what else is out there, or how hard it would be to make a custom polling feature. I agree that polling should play a large part in the development/management of the portal...

thechitowncubs said:
Who's got some innovative ideas for the graphics? Have we discussed enough to come up with a rough sketch of things? Have we agreed on the purpose?

Chime in.

So far, I'm thinking:

Purpose: Introduce newcomers and interested people to the message of Liberty. Guide them through the forest, if you will. Our goal is for the newcomer to feel welcome to join the R3volution and to make it known there are people out there: this where the Lead-ins for all our great cyberspaces out there would be.

Style: Creative flash video introduction with liberty forest graphics surrounding and perhaps a video of our choice as the focal point, and then a Skip button to continue on. Who doesn't like a good video?
Click to expand...

I like both above. We talked about having a weekly sunday night conference call. I don't know how to run a CCall, and actually prefer something like PALTALK, but will be happy with whatever is best for most. On that line, I think it would be cool to have a "conference room" on site, along the lines of PALTALK without the need to sign up on another site...
 
ronpaulhawaii said:
I have been working with someone else who will be rolling out a survey project. They have used "survey monkey" in the past. I'm not sure what else is out there, or how hard it would be to make a custom polling feature. I agree that polling should play a large part in the development/management of the portal...



I like both above. We talked about having a weekly sunday night conference call. I don't know how to run a CCall, and actually prefer something like PALTALK, but will be happy with whatever is best for most. On that line, I think it would be cool to have a "conference room" on site, along the lines of PALTALK without the need to sign up on another site...
Click to expand...

Couldn't teamspeak serve as a good communication medium?
 
Glad you like the idea of a polling feature

ronpaulhawaii said:
I have been working with someone else who will be rolling out a survey project. They have used "survey monkey" in the past. I'm not sure what else is out there, or how hard it would be to make a custom polling feature. I agree that polling should play a large part in the development/management of the portal.
Click to expand...

I'm not an IT person but I'm familiar enough with "SurveyMonkey" to know that it is versatile enough for our needs but it is an on-line service that hosts all the survey (poll) data collection and then reports it which costs about $200 a year. There is free downloadable survey software (plug-ins) on the Net (at least there used to be a few years ago). But even if you have to buy the software it would be far cheaper in the long run to install a polling feature on RPF (it would be more secure too). We can always run a Chip In widget if needed.

I just googled "vBulletin survey software free" and found one free downloadable plug-in but I had to send an email to the owners of the site to see if it is compatible with RPF's vBulletin Version 3.7.2 and am still waiting to hear from them. (It's hard to believe they didn't make that info available before you decide to download it.)

If anyone knows of (or wants to put some time into finding) a free downloadable survey tool, I'm sure the info will be helpful and if you find something just post it to this thread.

Thanks.
 
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I talked to Nystrom, Reddy, and others, at the BTP08, about this, everyone likes the idea.

I think a video for the front-page would be good, but not necessarily a flash "intro" page.

Other elements have been listed in other posts in this thread.

I like three column layouts. Primary links on top, secondary links in the left column. Center is the main column, (for our front page could just be a welcome statement and video). the right column could have our "featured" sections...

Bottom could have an OLA widget.

We could use a list of potential ally sites...

We could start having scheduled weekly meetings...

Thoughts???
 
After a bit of a hiatus due to RL issues, coming back it's good to see that there is some excitement in the movement. I think some of the suggestions are good, but the problem with some of them is that too much would be put on one plate. There should at least be some consideration for third party sites like DailyPaul, etc., because the essence of the movement really is about going from the bottom-up and decentralization. One idea I'd like to thrown in is somekind of single-sign-on, or simple registration system/api.

In other words, if the portal is going to be used to refer new people, then it should be used to help facilitate interaction with the many other movement related sites/projects. A single sign on type system could do that, so with the click of a button you could register with whatever sites/projects interest you (something like OpenID might be a good idea, but I think it's rather difficult to implement). Tighten the API a bit and you could manage stuff like private messaging between sites. An RSS aggregator is a must also if you ask me.
 
RoamZero said:
After a bit of a hiatus due to RL issues, coming back it's good to see that there is some excitement in the movement. I think some of the suggestions are good, but the problem with some of them is that too much would be put on one plate. There should at least be some consideration for third party sites like DailyPaul, etc., because the essence of the movement really is about going from the bottom-up and decentralization. One idea I'd like to thrown in is somekind of single-sign-on, or simple registration system/api.

In other words, if the portal is going to be used to refer new people, then it should be used to help facilitate interaction with the many other movement related sites/projects. A single sign on type system could do that, so with the click of a button you could register with whatever sites/projects interest you (something like OpenID might be a good idea, but I think it's rather difficult to implement). Tighten the API a bit and you could manage stuff like private messaging between sites. An RSS aggregator is a must also if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Glad to have you back.

I like the idea of a centralized sign-up system for the various components of our movement. Not sure how that could be accomplished but worth pursuing - IMO. The entire idea is to build a front door and parlor which lead people to alliance sites, such as RPFs, DP, RtR, BtM, etc ...

Thanks for the input :)
 
ronpaulhawaii said:
I talked to Nystrom, Reddy, and others, at the BTP08, about this, everyone likes the idea.

I think a video for the front-page would be good, but not necessarily a flash "intro" page.

Other elements have been listed in other posts in this thread.

I like three column layouts. Primary links on top, secondary links in the left column. Center is the main column, (for our front page could just be a welcome statement and video). the right column could have our "featured" sections...

Bottom could have an OLA widget.

We could use a list of potential ally sites...

We could start having scheduled weekly meetings...

Thoughts???
Click to expand...


Since the conclusion of ronpaulbillboards.com after the primaries, I started working on a new website to provide info, promote activist events, and to get people to collaborate and work together on projects.

I launched in late spring and it's been growing by the month. I have all the features that have been talked about in this thread. It's a neutral presentation, meant to bring people from ALL perspectives and expose them to new information and ideas that will hopefully increase their knowledge.

Any sites that sprout from this brainstorm, please list us in your links and we will do the same. I will cross post any articles and info on our site as well for more exposure.

There simply isn't enough sites that fall under our umbrella, we need to support each other to help spread this knowledge to as many as possible.

Harold

JustGetThere.us

Email: join @ justgetthere.us
 
I am very excited about this project. It can help solve the problem that Ron Paul supporters often come across abrasive and fanatical. This is just because we understand the urgency. The more we learn of injustice, the more obsessed we become. This, however, is not the best first impression we can make. Many Americans can find common beliefs here if introduced in the proper manner. This new avenue will be most helpful for the person who likes to ease in and not jump in head first. We will have everyone swimming before we know it.

And a centralized log in would be so amazing!
 
New member here, coming a bit late to the party.

Suppose you were able to empower new members? Empower them to actually offer their individual "consent to govern" in all three branches separately for every legal issue, both at the state and national level? Wouldn't that keep 'em coming back any time they perceived that government needed another nudge?

For starters, I'm talking about building a forum and consequent data base open to all voters and structured on every national (i.e. constitutional) legal issue; later to be used as a model for comparable state forums (perhaps using different websites). Databases would include appropriate links to reference materials, etc.

Each forum thread would identify a popular legal issue, such as 'Redress of Grievances', Eminent Domain', the 'Commerce Clause', 'Natural Born Citizen', 'Declaration of War', etc., and would ultimately paint the colors of that legal issue, where colors express the range and popularity of various interpretations, applications, scope, and/or limits of the law as derived from forum inputs. These then would serve as templates for the creation, implementation, and interpretation of subsequent law.

Every forum participant would necessarily broaden his presentation skills and knowledge to successfully argue his points in coloring the consent to the particular law. Databases would serve as the source of "consent to govern" for the three branches of the affected government.

A comparable national forum could serve to document and qualify every candidate for public office, later to be used as a model for state candidate forums. That being an ongoing window on candidates would obviate the need for MSM theatrics at election time, because people will have picked their candidates long before then, based on much better input than media can deliver.
 
ronpaulbillboards said:
Since the conclusion of ronpaulbillboards.com after the primaries, I started working on a new website to provide info, promote activist events, and to get people to collaborate and work together on projects.

I launched in late spring and it's been growing by the month. I have all the features that have been talked about in this thread. It's a neutral presentation, meant to bring people from ALL perspectives and expose them to new information and ideas that will hopefully increase their knowledge.

Any sites that sprout from this brainstorm, please list us in your links and we will do the same. I will cross post any articles and info on our site as well for more exposure.

There simply isn't enough sites that fall under our umbrella, we need to support each other to help spread this knowledge to as many as possible.

Harold

JustGetThere.us

Email: join @ justgetthere.us
Click to expand...

Nice !!! , you are on the list :D

sarahdeez said:
I am very excited about this project. It can help solve the problem that Ron Paul supporters often come across abrasive and fanatical. This is just because we understand the urgency. The more we learn of injustice, the more obsessed we become. This, however, is not the best first impression we can make. Many Americans can find common beliefs here if introduced in the proper manner. This new avenue will be most helpful for the person who likes to ease in and not jump in head first. We will have everyone swimming before we know it.

And a centralized log in would be so amazing!
Click to expand...

that's the idea, glad you see the vision :) I'll be a bit tied up till the New Year, but look forward to advancing this more as time allows...

geodan said:
New member here, coming a bit late to the party.

Suppose you were able to empower new members? Empower them to actually offer their individual "consent to govern" in all three branches separately for every legal issue, both at the state and national level? Wouldn't that keep 'em coming back any time they perceived that government needed another nudge?

For starters, I'm talking about building a forum and consequent data base open to all voters and structured on every national (i.e. constitutional) legal issue; later to be used as a model for comparable state forums (perhaps using different websites). Databases would include appropriate links to reference materials, etc.

Each forum thread would identify a popular legal issue, such as 'Redress of Grievances', Eminent Domain', the 'Commerce Clause', 'Natural Born Citizen', 'Declaration of War', etc., and would ultimately paint the colors of that legal issue, where colors express the range and popularity of various interpretations, applications, scope, and/or limits of the law as derived from forum inputs. These then would serve as templates for the creation, implementation, and interpretation of subsequent law.

Every forum participant would necessarily broaden his presentation skills and knowledge to successfully argue his points in coloring the consent to the particular law. Databases would serve as the source of "consent to govern" for the three branches of the affected government.

A comparable national forum could serve to document and qualify every candidate for public office, later to be used as a model for state candidate forums. That being an ongoing window on candidates would obviate the need for MSM theatrics at election time, because people will have picked their candidates long before then, based on much better input than media can deliver.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum; not late, just in time :)

One thing to keep in mind is that this particular project is intended to drive traffic to existing sites, not build new ones. While any new sites, that share our basic goals, will be encouraged to join, I wonder that your forum idea can be built in an existing forum structure, such as here on RPFs? Or is anyone already doing something similar?

However it turns out, I hope this remains a group effort and everyone contributes in one way, or another. Thanks for posting your ideas
 
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