I'm Taking Charge. Ideas for the New Site

[Karrl]

RE: Communication of the Idea(s)

Yes some people, maybe a lot of people, do not/will not get the picture of what is trying to be accomplished. Not because they haven't read all the posts, but because they just are not the type of person who "sees" in images. In my own experience with organizational development, I found it was necessary to provide simple charts/visual images as a supplement to understanding/communicating ideas/goals/functional aspects. One can also build a visual picture of structure and its relatedness (both internal and external) to the organization. I'm sure that all this is not practical to post here, yet may be useful in part. Sometimes a picture IS worth a thousand words!!

If interested, take a look at this software program which is quite nice for visual mapping of ideas, information, and organization.

http://www.thebrain.com/#-42.

 

[Jane Aitken]

I'm more interested in having people infiltrate the GOP and turn it around to what it was SUPPOSED to be -- the party of the Republic.

I don't see how starting some anti-war group is going to do that... the graphics don't give any indication of anything Republicans would want join.

I run several groups here already - I'm not sure we need another group that is unaffiliated with a party -- unless we want to be like the heretofore ineffective "Libertarian" party.

 

[LandonCook]

I'm more interested in having people infiltrate the GOP and turn it around to what it was SUPPOSED to be -- the party of the Republic.

I don't see how starting some anti-war group is going to do that... the graphics don't give any indication of anything Republicans would want join.

I run several groups here already - I'm not sure we need another group that is unaffiliated with a party -- unless we want to be like the heretofore ineffective "Libertarian" party.

Not everone who posts idea and pictures on this thread is working on the project...

 

[LandonCook]

 

[Karrl]

Jane

As was pointed out, this is not about becoming another anti-war group. My impression is that people are looking towards post election organization.....not another organization.....but further organization/expansion of the grass roots movement generated by Dr Paul's campaign. I see this as quite necessary and important. I would respectfully disagree with you about the need to be integrated into the Republican Party.

Some people reject the idea of centralizing the movement....which is seen as threatening independent activity. This is an important subject which people need to sit down and talk about. An organization does not have to be hierarchical in nature. People tend to think in this manner because so many areas of life are structured that way. I see the grass roots/RP campaign relationship as having a horizontal structure. In either case, their does need to be centers (call them points if you wish) which gather, organize, and facilitate ideas, information, and functions.

 

[dreicher]

Some people reject the idea of centralizing the movement....which is seen as threatening independent activity. This is an important subject which people need to sit down and talk about. An organization does not have to be hierarchical in nature. People tend to think in this manner because so many areas of life are structured that way. I see the grass roots/RP campaign relationship as having a horizontal structure. In either case, their does need to be centers (call them points if you wish) which gather, organize, and facilitate ideas, information, and functions.

I agree. If this is solely about Ron Paul and people are willing to "bet it all on Paul" then this is absolutely pointless. I am of the mind that (even as RP says) this is about the message and not the man.

I believe Ron Paul's message should continue whether he wins the nomination / election or not. If he wins, we have 8 years to turn over enough representatives to give him the support necessary to see his message become the new American Mandate. If he is unsuccessful and all this becomes for naught - I, for one, will be very disappointed.

As for "organizing grassroots" - it is not so much difficult as it is necessary. There needs to be a structure in place for like-minded candidates to inject themselves into the political process with a support organization in place. People of our ilk will be much more likely to throw their hat in the ring knowing they have, in place, a system for (among other things):

• Fundraising
• Volunteers
• Opposition Research
• Get Out The Vote
• Advertising / Marketing
• Election Law

These items need to be done by coordinated teams and through the power of the internet we can do them on a nationwide basis efficiently and cost-effectively - allowing our "people" to compete in areas where they could not otherwise.

Look. This is what I can do. This is part of my contribution. I am not a college student with tons of free time or energy. I am, however, a professional software engineer that can use what I have to try and make a difference. If, in your opinion, that makes me less of a supporter then go climb a tree.

I do apologize if organization "scares" some of you, but until you can show the world that a completely disconnected and autonomous collective of individuals have the ability to get anything of substance done inside our political process - I'll fall on the side of organizing and moving this message forward.

 

[terlinguatx]

...

 

[LandonCook]

I agree. If this is solely about Ron Paul and people are willing to "bet it all on Paul" then this is absolutely pointless. I am of the mind that (even as RP says) this is about the message and not the man.

I believe Ron Paul's message should continue whether he wins the nomination / election or not. If he wins, we have 8 years to turn over enough representatives to give him the support necessary to see his message become the new American Mandate. If he is unsuccessful and all this becomes for naught - I, for one, will be very disappointed.

As for "organizing grassroots" - it is not so much difficult as it is necessary. There needs to be a structure in place for like-minded candidates to inject themselves into the political process with a support organization in place. People of our ilk will be much more likely to throw their hat in the ring knowing they have, in place, a system for (among other things):

• Fundraising
• Volunteers
• Opposition Research
• Get Out The Vote
• Advertising / Marketing
• Election Law

These items need to be done by coordinated teams and through the power of the internet we can do them on a nationwide basis efficiently and cost-effectively - allowing our "people" to compete in areas where they could not otherwise.

Look. This is what I can do. This is part of my contribution. I am not a college student with tons of free time or energy. I am, however, a professional software engineer that can use what I have to try and make a difference. If, in your opinion, that makes me less of a supporter then go climb a tree.

I do apologize if organization "scares" some of you, but until you can show the world that a completely disconnected and autonomous collective of individuals have the ability to get anything of substance done inside our political process - I'll fall on the side of organizing and moving this message forward.

 

[defcreative]

Just another small variation.

 

[gpickett00]

check out www.ohio4ronpaul.com !!!!!!!!!

Whoa, that site is really well organized. You all should use ideas from there.

As far as people being worried about how fast this site is put up, this isnt going to be in time for Feb 5, but who cares? If Ron runs as an independent, which I hope, this could be an awesome resource to effectively spread the message.

An Idea: you could have a tab or section of people running for political offices under the Ron Paul platform and provide links to their sites.

 

[LandonCook]

Whoa, that site is really well organized. You all should use ideas from there.

As far as people being worried about how fast this site is put up, this isnt going to be in time for Feb 5, but who cares? If Ron runs as an independent, which I hope, this could be an awesome resource to effectively spread the message.

An Idea: you could have a tab or section of people running for political offices under the Ron Paul platform and provide links to their sites.

it is a great site... good stuff!

 

[Karrl]

Defcreative

I do like your fire logo very much. Seems like it would work well with Bonfire.com and with the Liberty Tree theme. I like the black color schemes also.

 

[Gustogus]

and


I guess you could say it would be a party within a party, but I don't think forming a "formal" name or party wing would help. It would provide a front for the neo-cons to attack. We need to just integrate and then emerge.

Charles S.
Savanah, GA

I respectfully disagree. This idea of a "shadow group" is one of the things Dr. Paul fights against. Look at the evangelicals.... they brought there collective voting power together and out in the open. Who can deny the "Christian Coalition" have had a heavy handed impact on Republican politics over the last 8 years?

We're not a "tiny movement" we garner 10% of the republican voting block consistently, with an even larger portion "would vote for him if he could win".. thats a force in such a splintered tent. We could easily sway paleocons, fiscal conservative, and even some evangels if we just put ourselves out there in an organized clear and concise way.

There are lots of "parties within parties", respectfully, the fiscal conservatives, paleocons, and libertarian portion of the republican party have slowly been muscled out since George 1. A site and organization like this would be a perfect way to start muscling back.

Let the neo-cons attack... we can point to the last 8 years of economic disaster that was wrought by a neo-con republican policy... I think we could win Republicans back.

Kudos to the OP the site and the idea... no matter which way it goes... its a lot fo good work.

 

[LandonCook]

I just want to know people's opinion on my half assed design...

 

[Gustogus]

My approach has always been could my grandmother open the link and not be overwhelmed.

The design looks easy and inuitive. The map with (Flash/java?) would jump out immediately.

oh.. and I love the logo

 

[Gustogus]

Then again, I'm just a Sys Admin at a small shop... I suck at stuff on your side of the aisle

 

[Karrl]

Landon

I like it, I like it! Prefer the multicolor header one. Not that it has to be red and blue.

 

[Edu]

defcreative: Please, no flash site. It's memory and CPU intensive and a lot of people don't have that much. Flash is mostly unavailable at public terminals. Plus it's one more thing to go wrong.

Javascript if you have to, but only when you have to. Watch out for PHP, lots of ways to back door if you don't get it right, always check/clean your inputs.

Also, if you use any files for data that people post, make sure you lock and unlock them properly, or else the data will get trashed. This happens when a lot of people are posting at once, so it's hard to test on a small scale and a lot of programs fail when this happens. Watch out for multi threading with this same issue.

I suggest a "fire test", announce to everyone that you want them to post from X time to X time with anything, and state that it will all be wiped clean before the site goes public.

Your server "colo" needs to know ahead of time that you will be getting lots of traffic, so they can set the traffic limiter and other stuff to not cut down packet rates when you start seeing lots of traffic, it's their defense against DOS attacks.

Make sure you have a team ready to test and report back after using many browsers and systems. You don't want people going away if it doesn't work on their computer.

No ads, sorry but this will turn people off and think you are just in it for profit. I am sure people will donate a small amount for server bills, and if you posted receipts that would be great.

LandonCook: Geek/programmer types are never good at marketing or understanding human nature, so your input on style and presentation should be taken with a lot of weight. Making sure the site is inclusive for as many as possible and not too cluttered is something I am sure you appreciate. And believe me, you don't want to get involved with the internal technical workings of this thing.

Hope it helps.

 

[LandonCook]

defcreative: Please, no flash site. It's memory and CPU intensive and a lot of people don't have that much. Flash is mostly unavailable at public terminals. Plus it's one more thing to go wrong.

Javascript if you have to, but only when you have to. Watch out for PHP, lots of ways to back door if you don't get it right, always check/clean your inputs.

Also, if you use any files for data that people post, make sure you lock and unlock them properly, or else the data will get trashed. This happens when a lot of people are posting at once, so it's hard to test on a small scale and a lot of programs fail when this happens. Watch out for multi threading with this same issue.

I suggest a "fire test", announce to everyone that you want them to post from X time to X time with anything, and state that it will all be wiped clean before the site goes public.

Your server "colo" needs to know ahead of time that you will be getting lots of traffic, so they can set the traffic limiter and other stuff to not cut down packet rates when you start seeing lots of traffic, it's their defense against DOS attacks.

Make sure you have a team ready to test and report back after using many browsers and systems. You don't want people going away if it doesn't work on their computer.

No ads, sorry but this will turn people off and think you are just in it for profit. I am sure people will donate a small amount for server bills, and if you posted receipts that would be great.

LandonCook: Geek/programmer types are never good at marketing or understanding human nature, so your input on style and presentation should be taken with a lot of weight. Making sure the site is inclusive for as many as possible and not too cluttered is something I am sure you appreciate. And believe me, you don't want to get involved with the internal technical workings of this thing.

Hope it helps.

Thankyou, lol and I agree... you can join up on the work if you want... im trying to find somewhere for everyone to meet that has opensource abilities with a chatsidebar... or something similar...

 

[LandonCook]

Ah... the internet is a big place... why cant I find something...