This is Adam, Precinct Leader developer, ask me anything

[a2planet2]

Hi, this is Adam, developer of the Precinct Leader program. Just released "version 2" tonight, and seeking feedback etc. At least for tonight (Thursday) I'd like to interact with everyone here as much as possible, get a feel for what needs to be fixed/improved, what new features need to be added, etc., and most of all I'd like to answer your questions in a public setting.

So, ask away!

Adam de Angeli

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

I have a question. The answer may deserve its own thread, but here goes. It's not a website question, but I'm hoping you know the answer.


Where does the data come from? How do I know what I know about these people?

I just sent out over 550 letters, along with my phone number and expect to get some calls asking about that.

I know that I got it from the Paul campaign, but where is the Paul campaign getting the data?

Some people are concerned about the buying and selling of their personal data, and I share that concern, so I'd like to be able to give them a good (and accurate) answer. If they have an issue with it, I'd like them to leapfrog over the official campaign if they decide they want to address it.

[bucfish]

Hmmm.

[Dark_Horse_Rider]

I need materials in NYC. Where can I download or otherwise obtain materials to distribute and help spread Dr Paul's message ?

[tcindie]

Some people are concerned about the buying and selling of their personal data, and I share that concern, so I'd like to be able to give them a good (and accurate) answer. If they have an issue with it, I'd like them to leapfrog over the official campaign if they decide they want to address it.

Voter registration is a matter of public record...

[The One]

What's the meaning of life?

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

Voter registration is a matter of public record...

So, is that where it's coming from?

That may have been the original source (which would also be good to know), but I'm also interested in the source right before the Paul campaign, or the source before that if it's more applicable. For instance, if someone says "I want my name off of that list," then I'd like to tell them where to go deal with that instead of asserting my right to use public information.

Now, I'm not expecting a deluge of questions, but I expect a few and would like to address those individuals with the care they deserve. That's all.

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

Ok, just in case anyone else wondered, I was told by the campaign that it came from the state GOP.

[Soccrmastr]

AWESOME to see you're on the forums! Awesome dude!

Well, maybe it's just me, but I don't think the map for my location works. It just brings me to my default spot saved to google maps but a little zoomed out. Which IS technically my Precinct, but what if I had my default location saved as somewhere else? Would it still bring me to my precinct?

Don't introduce the program always saying "It is a GREAT responsibility, which takes a lot of effort" etc.

Its what originally had me not signing up. I was worried if I signed up and didn't do much people would be angry. But even if someone does minimal work, they can still be an effective precinct captain. Instead say "Everyone can be a Precinct Captain!" something like that.


Could you also add a feature that saves a cookie which will log us in automatically every time we visit grassroots central. thanks.

[BigRedBrent]

I would very much like someone who works on the official campaign sight to check out a post about adding meetup information to donation data.

I think this needs to be done yesterday.

Donation Tracking of Meetup Group Numbers
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1084567





Don't introduce the program always saying "It is a GREAT responsibility, which takes a lot of effort" etc.

Its what originally had me not signing up. I was worried if I signed up and didn't do much people would be angry. But even if someone does minimal work, they can still be an effective precinct captain. Instead say "Everyone can be a Precinct Captain!" something like that.

This is exactly why I and probably tens of thousands did not sign up at first. The words make you feel a bit reluctant. It makes you feel like something is going to be expected of you, and you will let others down a lot if you are not able to do whatever it is that is expected of you.

[tcindie]

What's the meaning of life?

42


Well, technically, that's the meaning of life, the universe, and everything... but yeah, 42.

[WRellim]

Hi, this is Adam, developer of the Precinct Leader program. Just released "version 2" tonight, and seeking feedback etc. At least for tonight (Thursday) I'd like to interact with everyone here as much as possible, get a feel for what needs to be fixed/improved, what new features need to be added, etc., and most of all I'd like to answer your questions in a public setting.

So, ask away!

Adam de Angeli

Where to start?

The DRAMATIC change in the instructions -- from previous initial emphasis on doing door-to-door & lit drops to now doing phone & voter ID first.

This seems ridiculous and a really bad strategy for 2 reasons:

1) With the low quality of the phone lists -- at least in our state (I am getting feedback from some precinct leaders that 2/3 or MORE of the phone numbers are either dead or completely incorrect) -- people are just going to be wasting time and getting very discouraged. (Is the purpose here to update the Database for the RNC? Or is it to get voters for Ron Paul?)

2) If people are doing phone calls FIRST -- they will NOT be getting literature out there to people.

3) This is essentially working the defeatist, minority party, GOTV, aka "50+1" strategy of the RNC. (That strategy may make sense for OTHER Republican candidates, or even for RP in the CLOSED PRIMARY states -- BUT it emphatically does NOT make any sense for states like Wisconsin, which are OPEN PRIMARY with SAME DAY VOTER REGISTRATION -- in states like ours, we have to get the word out to both the APATHETIC and the previous "non-voters," and that means lit drop to ALL of the houses on a street, as the ones NOT on the walklist are probably MORE likely to vote for Ron Paul.)

4) So, with the above #3 in mind... why is the "closed primary" agenda the one that is establishing the instructions? This does NOT make any sense.

5) Worse, this dramatic change of emphasis is completely COUNTERMANDING and UNDERMINING the instructions and plans WE JUST SPENT SIGNIFICANT TIME teaching to our local Precinct Leaders. (Basically, by making this change, you just made me look like a TOTAL idiot to virtually ALL of my local precinct leaders. All the work getting them sufficient literature for lit drops... out the window because now they're supposed to make CALLS first? WTF! )

[nate895]

Hi, this is Adam, developer of the Precinct Leader program. Just released "version 2" tonight, and seeking feedback etc. At least for tonight (Thursday) I'd like to interact with everyone here as much as possible, get a feel for what needs to be fixed/improved, what new features need to be added, etc., and most of all I'd like to answer your questions in a public setting.

So, ask away!

Adam de Angeli

I have a question:

Where do you guys get how liberal/conservative someone is?

[Suzu]

I've sent no end of bug reports and direct emails about problems in the Douglas County, Missouri data. There has been no noticeable corrections made, except that it is now possible to print out complete lists of voter names and phone numbers, however these names and numbers do not appear to be in the same order in the page where you go to enter results, and the page where you enter results is missing most of the phone numbers.

I have asked and asked and asked and asked to have the entire county list emailed to me so I can print it out and divide it up between the volunteers we have here, because most of the volunteers either don't have computers or don't know how to use them or do not have internet access. No one has replied to my requests.

Therefore the best approach in this county is we just contact everyone in the county, it's only 815 square miles with 5,200 households, and I've spent 50x more time trying to get useful info from the Precinct Leader website than actually finding useful info from same. Where I could find potentially useful info, more than half of the voter phone numbers are disconnected or wrong.

Hopefully other areas are having better luck with the program.

[Lyn]

People in our meetup are finishing their own precinct and going on to do others. They can't add the new precincts to the website which could lead to others signing up for precincts already done. How can we sign up for another once the first one is done?

[hillbilly]

So, is that where it's coming from?

That may have been the original source (which would also be good to know), but I'm also interested in the source right before the Paul campaign, or the source before that if it's more applicable. For instance, if someone says "I want my name off of that list," then I'd like to tell them where to go deal with that instead of asserting my right to use public information.

Now, I'm not expecting a deluge of questions, but I expect a few and would like to address those individuals with the care they deserve. That's all.

As a former electoral judge I can safely say that it is indeed part of public record. Any registered voter's information is available through the state or county BOE.

The precinct list I was given by the RP campaign is identical to the voter registration info supplied to me, as a electoral official, by the BOE.

I can't speak for other, larger, less rural precincts though.

[Man from La Mancha]

Hi, this is Adam, developer of the Precinct Leader program. Just released "version 2" tonight, and seeking feedback etc. At least for tonight (Thursday) I'd like to interact with everyone here as much as possible, get a feel for what needs to be fixed/improved, what new features need to be added, etc., and most of all I'd like to answer your questions in a public setting.

So, ask away!

Adam de Angeli
Looks like your useless, you haven't answered anything in 3 days. Must be a troll

.

[Lord Xar]

Does adam plan on answering any questions?

[dkim68]

Adam, we are not going to have a different person in every precinct in every city across this country. It's just not going to happen. So to make it easier for those of us WHO ARE taking on the responsibility of being precinct leaders... it would be great if you could leave the "change location" button on all the time. I see now that it is set to lock us out after (5) location changes. You need to loosen up the restrictions on this. If you have to, set it to at least (25) changes (35 would be even better). We don't have any time left. It's crunch-time! Please open up access to switch precincts as we please.

[ASayre]

Looks like your useless, you haven't answered anything in 3 days. Must be a troll

.

Completely uncalled for.

Adam created this system which is successfully being used nationwide. Look at this post history. He opened it up for beta and feedback here on RonPaul forums it and many of the members here tested and provided the initial bug reports.

He created the precinct leader system. Under what possible pretense could you call him a troll?

To the fellow who wanted to change precincts: Do you currently have a county coordinator appointed? If not, ask your state coordinator to set one of the grassroots leaders in your county/district as the county coordinator and then they can access and send out the lists for the county.

[dkim68]

To the fellow who wanted to change precincts: Do you currently have a county coordinator appointed? If not, ask your state coordinator to set one of the grassroots leaders in your county/district as the county coordinator and then they can access and send out the lists for the county.
Thanks ASayre! I just sent my state coordinator a request to move me up into that position. This kind of information is so important. They should have it posted on the precinct leader website.

[Man from La Mancha]

Completely uncalled for.

Adam created this system which is successfully being used nationwide. Look at this post history. He opened it up for beta and feedback here on RonPaul forums it and many of the members here tested and provided the initial bug reports.

He created the precinct leader system. Under what possible pretense could you call him a troll?

To the fellow who wanted to change precincts: Do you currently have a county coordinator appointed? If not, ask your state coordinator to set one of the grassroots leaders in your county/district as the county coordinator and then they can access and send out the lists for the county.
No serious insult was intended but if he asks for help and doesn't answer, it's very frustrating. If he had no intention in answering why did he ask?

.

[TTB]

Adam, we are not going to have a different person in every precinct in every city across this country. It's just not going to happen. So to make it easier for those of us WHO ARE taking on the responsibility of being precinct leaders... it would be great if you could leave the "change location" button on all the time. I see now that it is set to lock us out after (5) location changes. You need to loosen up the restrictions on this. If you have to, set it to at least (25) changes (35 would be even better). We don't have any time left. It's crunch-time! Please open up access to switch precincts as we please.

I agree. My voter list has been completely empty since I signed up two weeks ago. No response to my bug reports.

I'd love to be able to switch to another precinct near me.

I have had to resort to dropping slim jims at every door.

[John P Slevin]

1) With the low quality of the phone lists -- at least in our state (I am getting feedback from some precinct leaders that 2/3 or MORE of the phone numbers are either dead or completely incorrect) --

If the campaign did not do a phone match, that MUST be done. Voter lists are notoriously out of date, and phones can be very old, discontinued lines even when the voter is in the same household.

I've been working with voter lists and canvassing for years, and for a good phone match, I've used W3data. It's competitively priced, and it'll be only a few bucks for most precincts. Results are delivered almost instantly.

http://www.w3data.com

And the following link is to the specific service you want to use there:

http://www.w3data.com/202/batch_append_411.xhtml



If your list is so out of date, it doesn't speak very well of the program...but the problem can be corrected quickly. Obviously, the best solution is for the campaign to do this in one swoop...that way, they have the data. But, each precinct leader can do it and then provide that updated data to the campaign.

Anyone needing helpful advice on how to canvass, issues with voter lists, etc feel free to ask directaction@yahoo.com or phone 916-635-4662

[angelatc]

I like the interface that shows me one voter at a time, but I find it hard to identify married couples sharing the same phone number. I felt stupid the first time I called and asked for "Jane" who was not home. I entered that data, paged over to the next record, and then saw that I should have questioned "John" who answered the phone.

It's a great thing you have done here. That's really my only user observation.

[a2planet2]

Working on making it so people with the same number are on the same page. Sorry the list is out of date, but it's what we have. I've been going through the bug reports and we're keeping fairly current on them; I think I might be two days behind but we're going to plow through all of them tomorow and put someone on covering them every day. I'm in the chat room within the Grassroots Central area of Ron Paul 2008 (the Precinct Leader section) from time to time which is the best way to get live help, but the new support form also works way better than the old system. Also, you can call the national office during business hours and I'm there most of the time (though lately, more often later in the day).

Hope this helps,

Adam

[somerFan]

I want to add my voice to those who would like to see updated name/phone information. That really slowed me down. And the website didn't do a good job of letting me record that the number was incorrect. I reported a bug that the bad number button was causing a SQL error.