Dear Fellow Partybuilders,

By now I hope most of you are aware of the new PB discussion group started by someonewhocares and a few other like-minded posters. The goal is to discuss a wide range of topics in a fair and focused way. If you haven't heard about it, please consider joining the group and participating.

Click Here to Join Friday Forums

Since PM is still down, I'm publishing this to the main blog to get the word out about the group, send an update to the moderators, and to dispel some confusion about the group's purpose.

Click "Read More" for the full update.

Updates:

- Someonewhocares, just letting you know that I turned the "moderate posts" function *on* so the group doesn't fill up with off-topic posts.

- Moderators, I believe we still need another Clinton supporter to join the moderator team for balance. Anyone interested? Laura Schneider, are you out there and interested? How about Jackie McIntosh, are you around, would you consider joining as a moderator?

- Posting to the group, folks please remember this is a moderated group so only publish blogs to the group that are either part of a Friday Forum or have to do with the group (e.g. proposals for Forum Topics, etc...)

- People who participated in the last Forum (on "Race"), someonewhocares, and Laura Schneider, and many others made enormous contributions to the discussion with your posts. Now that the group is officially formed, we need to make sure your hard work is added to the group: please go back to your posts from the last forum, click "edit" then check the "Friday Forums" group box and press "publish" again. That way your posts will show up in the new group.

Clarification about the Friday Forums:

The objective of this group is not to dominate the debate on PB, nor is it to censor or to tell people what they can and can't write. Simply, the group is for people who are interested in having more in-depth discussion on various topics having to do with our Party and where we stand on a wide range of issues. We plan to cover a whole list of topics (please make some suggestions!) by focusing on them one at a time.

Why a special group?

#1, by having all the blogs dealing with a given subject stored in one place, we will enable more in-depth discussions (as it is now, as soon as a blog is off the front page the discussion ends).

#2, by creating a PB Group to organize the discussions we will be able to take advantage of the listserv function in order to better organize and communicate in case PB goes down, or if we need to get a message to all members of the group.


Why is the Group Moderated?

#1, unmoderated groups get filled up with off-topic posts and end up becoming rather useless. Moderation ensures that the group will function as a means for deeper discussion and as a repository of information for future members/users.

#2, having a moderated group allows us to incorporate multiple moderators. The objective of having multiple moderators here to make sure that Clinton supporters have a voice in the moderation of the group. We want the Friday Forums to be felt as a fair and safe place for a wide range of opinions and information to be shared.

Rules? We don't need no stinking rules!

#1, actually we do have some some simple rules that will ensure that this group functions as a group rather than simply being a tag on people's blog posts.

#2, the rules (so far) for those who want to participate:

a) you must join the group to post blogs to the Forum

b) blogs posted to the Forum should refer to the forum topic in the title of the blog (e.g. "Forum on Sexism: Title of Post)

c) members should add the tag "Friday Forums" to their posts


That's all for now, and thank you to all my fellow Democrats who are working so hard and putting your energy into helping us win this election!