MCM - Military Community Members... the military can't function without an acronym!
Welcome to our first open thread!
Pardon the noise for just a minute, but...
IF YOU BELONG TO OUR GROUP BUT HAVE NOT FOLLOWED US, OUR DIARIES ARE NOT APPEARING IN YOUR STREAM!
We're going to take the opportunity to do a little group organizing and try to get all our ducks in a row. Below the fold you can learn more about our group, read our request for future diaries (April is Month of the Military Child), volunteer to hold the next open thread (or the one after that), and share any ideas you might have for our group in the comments.
The floor is open!
First, just a reminder of the description of our group. If anyone would like to suggest any changes or edits, please do so:
This is the gathering place for all military community members including veterans and their families. Our goal is two-fold: to publish diaries that help explain military life, especially family life, to civilians and to produce material that shows the military is not only culturally but politically diverse. Active duty family members are in a unique position, as we can freely express our political opinions whereas our active duty members are more likely to keep their mouths shut. That said, all opinions expressed in these diaries are not the opinions of our active duty family members.
Currently, Danang65 and I have pretty much been running the group. That means we invite new members, answer the mail, and do the behind the scenes housekeeping, like scheduling and publishing diaries in the queue. Between the two of us, it is pretty easy. That said, I'm going away this coming weekend for 4 days and Danang might like a second set of eyes to keep an eye on the queue. Would any of you like to volunteer? Because we're a small group, it's easy and a no brainer.
A few of you are listed as Blog Editors. That means you can publish anything that shows up on the queue, even if you didn't write it. You can also help edit most diaries in the queue. For example, this open thread sat on the queue for editing all weekend. You could have put in your two cents at anytime. Also, you can correct basic typos in diaries that are placed on our queue unless the diary has first been published on the original author's page first. If that happens, we can't change a thing. If they queue to us first, we can help out with basic editing. I ask that we don't change anyone's text without conferring with them first, accept for typos. If a diary is blatantly false or not well supported with facts, then we can remove it from the queue. That hasn't happened yet and I don't see it happening, but we might as well establish some ground rules.
Blog Editors - if you haven't done so already - please, please write an introductory diary for the group. Tell us how you came to DKos and if the military had any influence on your decision to be here... or anything else you would rather write if that just turns you off.
Even more of you are Contributors. That means when you write a diary, your options will include publishing to the MCM. If you do, you can send us a note with the date and time you would like to be published and we will accomodate you. If you want to be able to publish at will like a Blog Editor, all I ask is that you prove yourself with an introductory diary - tell us how you came to DKos and if your military connections had anything to do with it. If you want to see some examples, check these out:
Toughest Job in the Navy? Sorta
A Military Wife Finds the Google and the Daily Kos+
Pi**ed Off Military Wife
Even more of your are Followers! All we ask of followers is that you take the time to comment in our diaries. Let us know what you're thinking, what you like about what we write and what you hate. We're doing this to start conversations, especially with civilians. A lot of us don't have that opportunity very often. We know other military folks in our daily lives and it's important to us to have connections outside of the military. We wouldn't be here otherwise.
If you're not a follower but would like to be, please click the cute little heart on the left hand side of this page. As of this open thread, we have 84 followers. One of them is kos. I think we must have struck a chord :)
That's the big housekeeping taken care of.
Next on the agenda - diaries. Without diaries, our group has very little purpose. The wider variety of diaries, the closer we get to showing the world how diverse military families really are.
We have one established series from ktsetsi. If you haven't seen her series aboutLike It For Time, you should take a look. She recently decided to publish every Monday - in her words, Military Monday. If you can find away into her diaries to help spark conversation, it would help call more attention to her quest, to get Time Magazine to declare Military Families Time's Person of the Year.
April is the Month of the Military Child - we're requesting diaries about, for, and/or by military children. That included people who are now adults - a lot of YOU. I am also looking for suggestions of links to go in the introductory diary on April 1. Please leave a comment below if you plan on writing a diary and give me an idea if you're shooting for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th week. It's going to be a lonely month if I don't see any comments.
Open Thread - if you guys like this idea, we can keep it going. I would prefer not to hog the open thread so it would make more sense to take turns hosting. If you can host - please leave a comment below. We would like to establish a schedule - I like ktsetsi's suggestion of Military Monday so will start on that day but publish after her diary has had a chance to get some comments.
That's it for now! If you have any suggestions for topics for future open threads, I would love to hear them. This is our group... not mine. Let's see what we can do together.