Hi folks. Those sites aren't here yet. But they can - and must be.
We need to get our act together for '06.
We need organizing tools. NOW
I posted a diary, on Sunday, for a Kos site for each state.
The time has come, it's in the air.
Well, Frederick Clarkson emailed me a link last night, and it knocked my socks off. My shoes too, like a train...MaryScott OConnor posted, last night, announcement of CaliforniaKos.
The time has come, it's in the air. let's join forces and make it happen
MaryScott OConnor made a post on CailforniaKos this last night, and articulated the very same idea - state level Kos-like discussion sites, for organizing.
Well, the idea is in the air. Let's do it.
Now, I haven't talked to Mary on this yet, but I sense that this is the moment for such efforts to gather together and make this happen.
And, a have a lead on the software....
Think : Meetup.com meets the daily Kos
MeetUp is going out of business This is their last-gasp desperation attempt to stave off bankruptcy. I'd focus on finding an alternative solution." by kos on Tue Apr 19th, 2005 at 16:06:37 PDT ( emphasis mine, from a
discussion on the new Meetup.com fees on the DailyKos, April 19th
Background :
I started proposing what I dubbed "52Scoop" - a site to host state level DailyKos style forums - about two weeks ago, searching for volunteers to collect state level groups of participants.
Then - two mornings ago, last Sunday - I made a post that talked about the collapse of Meetup.com, as around 95% of its user base has fled the new Meetup.com fees ( that figure derives from Meetup's stats ) - and sounded the call:
I announced a project for state level Kos-like sites for organizing, discussion, and to fill the void left as Meetup.com implodes ( or deflates )
Apparently, at an LA meetup last Saturday, the LA group decided to form its own "California Kos".
The software :
In a project I co-founded with Frederick Clarkson ( Talk to Action ) we're fairly well along with a version of Scoop, the latest one, to run our TTA site ( currently on Blogger ) and which can also be used to enable such forums and also meetups, for state level Kos-like sites. Scoop powers the Daily Kos.
Now, the version of Scoop that we are using has some new functions built into it, and Rusty Foster - the programmer who wrote Scoop - told me back in March or early April that he had developed these new capabilities so Scoop can power political campaign websites.
When I made my post on Sunday that called for state level Kos-like Scoop powered forums for organizing, people told me that others were in charge, that I shoulds cool it, and that it was all being taken care of. Well funded efforts would step into the void, some said. Others said it wasn't practical.
Well this IS practical, and others have NOT taken charge.
Christian Crumlish did a fine writeup on Meetup's new fees [ Meetup Says Put up or Shut Down ]over a month ago now, and no one has since taken charge. Since then, there has opened up an enormous void that no one has filled or even publicly discussed filling.
Meanwhile, grassroots organizing efforts have just been badly disprupted by the angry reaction to Meetup's New fees, and this fiasco has dealt a body blow to Democratic grassroots organizing efforts for '06.
Well, I'm not going to sit idly by to await a knight in shining armor to rescue use from this mess.
I know about those well funded efforts that are supposed to save us.
In my Sunday post, I compared the crash of Meetup.com to the crash of the Hindenberg.
It's like this : Democratic grassroots organizing has been caught in the burning wreckage of Meetup.com, and some people advocate waiting for some very fancy fire trucks to come off the assembly line and be delivered to the fire station so the flames can be extinguished.
The fire trucks will be very fine ones, yes I know. But, they are not here yet, so we have to take charge and salvage Democratic grassroots organizing, to screw up our courage and run in and save it from the burning wreckage.
The people must lead. NOW
I'll add to this as the morning goes on.
Please recommend this if you want to help enable creation of this new organizing tool.
Even better, join the effort.
Thank you.