open thread on the blog

[Jon Pincus]

as an experiment to try to stimulate more discussion, I've set up an
open thread on the blog. there's a lot to discuss, so please join in!

http://getfisaright.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/open-thread/

jon

[jawboneblues]

Hi, Jon,

You have been doing a great job. So, I don't want to dampen your
enthusiasm - nor anyone else's, but I am becoming overwhelmed with the
number of places that 'discussion' is going on for the Get FISA Right
group. Althoug I realize that different people prefer different
discussion modes, did we really need one more discussion spot? (I am
afraid that I am going to have to cut back on the number of places
that I check to track current discussions.)

I would also like to cut back on the number of email update
notifications that I get from all of the various sources. Is there
one major email source that is used to "push" for updates to the group
- i.e. the facebook GFR emails, the myBO emails, the Get FISA Right
Discussion google group updates or something else?

Lee / jawboneblues

[Jon Pincus]

Hi Lee,

No worries about dampening enthusiasm ... the problem of discussion going on in too many places is one that has dogged us all along.   When we discussed it in November/December, after getting people's input, I proposed the following:

1) introduce a blog.  http://getfisaright.wordpress.com
2) shift discussions from email and the message board to the wiki's discussion forum at http://get-fisa-right.wetpaint.com/thread ...
3) have daily "newsletter" updates that get broadcast to the email lists (and twitter, and Facebook)

Only a few people voiced opinions, and they generally agreed.  So for Ideas for Change I started to move things in this direction (although didn't get to the daily newsletter).   The blog is working well -- we continue to have excellent discussions there -- and so an "open thread" seemed like a good next step.

> (I am afraid that I am going to have to cut back on the number of places that I check to track current discussions.)

For now, checking the blog will get almost all the discussion. 

> I would also like to cut back on the number of email update notifications that I get from all of the various sources. Is there one major email source that is used to "push" for updates to the group - i.e. the facebook GFR emails, the myBO emails, the Get FISA Right Discussion google group updates or something else?

Right now there is no single message source -- and I don't see that changing.   There are about 2500 people on the MyBO email list, 140 people in this Google Group, and 2100 people on Facebook, and my guess is that there's probably less than 50% overlap between any two.   Plus we now have the added opportunity (and complication) of the change.org folks. 

I'm certainly up for suggestions on how to improve the situation ...

If you prefer only one source for messages, for now I'd suggest the blog's RSS feed, the GFR-discussion email group, or maybe Facebook (be sure to check your events -- and you won't get daily updates once we start doing them).

Again, if we can start doing a daily newsletter that'll be a big help.  Hopefully the "blast mail to MyBO group" we talked about on the phone call can move in that direction ...

jon

--
liminal states, my blog
Tales from the Net, a work in progress

[Jon Pincus]

I went into more detail on this in a blog post at http://getfisaright.wordpress.com/?p=270 -- a description, recommendations, and a request for suggestions.

Here's an example of the kind of stuff that would go into a newsletter  http://get-fisa-right.wetpaint.com/page/Daily+Email+Blast+For+MyBO+List ...

jon

[P Bruckart]

Hi Jon, Lee, everyone:

 

I think it would be worthwhile to have a conference call solely on this topic and to announce the call on all our lists, sites, etc., well in advance.

 

-Patrick B.

 

---

From: GetFISArigh...@googlegroups.com [mailto:GetFISArigh...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jon Pincus
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 11:55 AM
To: GetFISArigh...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [GFR-Discussion] Re: open thread on the blog

[Thomas Nephew]

Well, OK with me, though I'd probably skip it. 

It may not be well known that many of the sites involved have a way of subscribing to threads/conversations and getting them by email. That's how I track most of the GFR-related conversations.  Might that be good enough?

If you're like me and do that, you do potentially get a bunch of email, but you can sift it at your leisure, and even have your email client automatically sort them into a "GFR" mail folder (I do that in Outlook, anyway; it's probably possible in other major email clients like Thunderbird).

I agree we ought to not proliferate more sites unless there's an email-subscription option; it's possible that can be arranged even for the blog, via a feedburner.com RSS-to-email option.

-- Thomas

---

From: P Bruckart <pbru...@verizon.net>
To: GetFISArigh...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 4:54:07 PM
Subject: [GFR-Discussion] communications challenges (was Re: open thread on the blog)

[Jon Pincus]

Great suggestion.

Can somebody take the lead on setting this up?  The best times of the week are usually Tuesday, Wedensday, or Thursday 5 p.m. Pacific/8 PM eastern, or Saturday 2 PM Pacific/5 PM Eastern ... I'll leave it up to others to decide how far out we want to schedule it.

jon

[Jon Pincus]

It would be great to get instructions up for how to do this effectively -- and set up whatever RSS-to-email wizardry we need ...

jon

[Thomas Nephew]

I'll do a wetpaint thing about Outlook.  Meanwhile, here's the quick version:

1. look in "Tools" for "Organize" and
2. then have that rule making tool look for "[GFR]" etc. in the subject line and
3. move such incoming emails to a folder you set up.

You can also "run" such email handling rules on (that is, apply them to) messages already in your inbox. 

I'll see if I can figure out how to do the feedburner RSS-to-email trick.  I know it's possible in theory -- feedburner has something set up for the purpose -- but haven't set myself to proving it with my blog or anyone else's.

I don't mean to imply these measures necessarily solve Lee's and Patrick's concerns, but it may help make things less difficult.

-- Thomas

---

From: Jon Pincus <j...@achangeiscoming.net>
To: GetFISArigh...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 6:44:32 PM
Subject: [GFR-Discussion] Re: communications challenges (was Re: open thread on the blog)

[P Bruckart]

I’ll be happy to take the lead on that and will at setting up the call the week of Feb. 2^nd (?)

 

-Patrick B.

[Patrick Bruckart]

Hey everyone,
Sorry to have dropped the ball on this, but I've been offline most of
the week and have not set up a conference call as yet. We could move
it back a week, but I've also had some second thoughts about this, as
people seemed to express little interest in it here on the group or on
the blog.

Any thoughts?

-Patrick Bruckart

On Jan 25, 5:33 pm, "P Bruckart" <pbruck...@verizon.net> wrote:
> I'll be happy to take the lead on that and will at setting up the call the
> week of Feb. 2nd (?)
>
> -Patrick B.
>
>   _____  
>

> From: GetFISArigh...@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:GetFISArigh...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jon Pincus
> Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 6:42 PM
> To: GetFISArigh...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [GFR-Discussion] Re: communications challenges (was Re: open thread
> on the blog)
>
> Great suggestion.
>
> Can somebody take the lead on setting this up?  The best times of the week
> are usually Tuesday, Wedensday, or Thursday 5 p.m. Pacific/8 PM eastern, or
> Saturday 2 PM Pacific/5 PM Eastern ... I'll leave it up to others to decide
> how far out we want to schedule it.
>
> jon
>
> Hi Jon, Lee, everyone:
>
> I think it would be worthwhile to have a conference call solely on this
> topic and to announce the call on all our lists, sites, etc., well in
> advance.
>
> -Patrick B.
>
>   _____  
>

[Jon Pincus]

No worries, Patrick, I think most of us have been offline this week.  How about this: let's set up a conference call for the weekend of the 7th/8th on various topics, including communications, and try to do some preparation for it online is we try out the Dailyish update (etc.) approach.

jon