Very Important Message For The Grassroots Here At Ron Paul Forums!!

[european]

The "Ron Paul Forums" has grown enormously, and its main forum "Ron Paul Grassroots Central" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2) has an tremendous amount of posts every hour. To be able to stay focussed on a certain topic, there are other subforums (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/index.php) created by the admins. Please make use of these subforums and visit the one that you like regulary. That way we can make the whole Grassroot effort more effective. The time that we, as a group, had to focus on 1 project at a time is over, we have grown so much.

A much more effective way is that all of us pick a project of our own liking. Then when you have picked a project of your liking, then GO FOR IT! Put in your time, put in your energy and put in your efforts untill that project has been succesfull and has finished. Ofcourse you can get involved in 2 or more projects, but be sure that you are actually doing something other then just commenting or giving input by typing your ideas on these forums.

If you don't know what project you want to get yourself involved in, then just take a look at the other forums right here at Ron Paul Forums. Take for example a look at the Grassroots Projects (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=71). There are many projects that have only a few participators and that can use new helping hand. Remember that if each of these projects gain 10 new pairs of helping hands, their success will be improved tremendously. And with the 3000 (hyper)active people on this website it should be really easy to achieve that.

Ron Paul Grassroots Central stays our central meeting place where ideas, news and information finds its place. The pace of posting won't decrease at all, in fact im convinced with the growing support for Ron Paul the pace will only increase further. But this is like a Central Station. People come here all the time and go to their own workingplace. Then return here again and so on.

As an example, I myself have choosen to support the following 2 projects:
1. "Ron Pauls Pay Day" - http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=245.
2. "Ring for Ron" - http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=63842.
I also have put these in my signature so everyone can see it. That way I raise awareness here on the forums and maybe gain new supporters for these projects. Also it shows that I am actively busy supporting grassroots projects. Once a certain project is done with, or if I can't help for what reason soever, I can simply remove them from my signature. And replace them with a new project or nothing.
Next to that, I have put in my Role which in these 2 cases is that of supporter. If you are the organizer, contact person, webdevelopper or anything else, you can put that in there aswell. That way it is easier for newly interested people to see who does what, and also who to contact.

Please comment, bump, blimp, etc. Do you think this is a good idea or not? Also please give arguments why you think it is a good idea or not. If you think it is a good idea you can already start putting the information in your signature so others see its "catching on" ;)

[shida]

Some Great ideas. Especially " My projects."

Bump

[Wyurm]

The same reason that you posted this message here rather than in one of the more appropriate sub-forums is exactly why people post off-topic posts in the grassroots section. They want them to be seen and the other forums do not provide that. I agree that a bit more organization could improve effectiveness, however, I myself usually only check the grassroots forum unless I happen to have extra time on my hands. I agree with what you are suggesting, and that people should check the other forums and post in the right one, however, there would need to be a way of overcoming the lack of views as well as the extensive amount of sub-forums.

Let me give a small example. The blimp project is low on funds and needs money right now. They have a sub-forum, however, the money still isn't comming in. If you were a blimp supporter and saw that there wasn't enough attention being payed to your project, what would you be compelled to do?

[NerveShocker]

I agree, people should not focus only in the main grassroots page. All the people doing projects compete in that page for attention and it causes people to attack other projects they don't like. If more people did it this way and everyone chose a project/s to support it would be better. People who don't like certain projects constantly waste time attacking other projects in that page rather than spending it supporting a different project and letting people decide themselves. This causes many problems as it would be better if people focused on their own things and let others support what they wish as well(without being attacked).

[Oliver]

If you were a blimp supporter and saw that there wasn't enough attention being payed to your project, what would you be compelled to do?

http://www.hydropole.ch/Hydropole/Intro/Hindenburg.gif

On a more serious note. I agree with both arguments
so far, but the biggest problem I see in here is under-
moderation. A special event such as yesterdays Fox
report produced 20 threads about the same topic.
So it might be wise to quickly react and add a "current
events" sub-forum for those things which are nothing
but distraction anyway.

And I like the Idea to add the own projects to the
signature instead some stupid crap no one reads.
This way the people would self-organize and be
inspired to get active.

Another suggestion from me is to have a "Youtube"
Forum for User-generated Fan-Videos but also for
coverage in the MSM. This way everyone knows
how to find the latest Videos. This would reduce a
lot of threads in here.

[derdy]

I agree with all that has been posted and the mentality is trying to be effective and efficient and the best ways to go about it.

I think one way to start to analyze the problem is asking why is it that this subforum receives more traffic than others despite placement on the main subforum index page?

Is it the name? If so, perhaps it shouldn't be used. Rather than have a subforum called "Ron Paul Grassroots Central" perhaps that name should be abolished and see what happens?

What would you do as ronpaulforums browser? W/O the "Central" in the "Ron Paul Grassroots" subforum name, you don't have a labeled site that is the "center" of ronpaulforums.com

Just a thought :D

[AlexMerced]

Yeah, I've actually kind adissapeared this forum and am now found more often on the new and general politics boards

[Oliver]

I agree with all that has been posted and the mentality is trying to be effective and efficient and the best ways to go about it.

I think one way to start to analyze the problem is asking why is it that this subforum receives more traffic than others despite placement on the main subforum index page?

Is it the name? If so, perhaps it shouldn't be used. Rather than have a subforum called "Ron Paul Grassroots Central" perhaps that name should be abolished and see what happens?

What would you do as ronpaulforums browser? W/O the "Central" in the "Ron Paul Grassroots" subforum name, you don't have a labeled site that is the "center" of ronpaulforums.com

Just a thought :D

I have the same suspicion about the names - and
maybe the forum-structure in general that seems
pretty overblown and leads people to hang out in
here and discuss everything.

And being the Lemming I am, I often get addicted
by the Sub-forums with the most people in it. Maybe
it would be a wise thing to turn this feature off for the
individual sub-fora? (Also to reduce Trolls being
attracted by the most visited forum)

[ecliptic]

The same reason that you posted this message here rather than in one of the more appropriate sub-forums is exactly why people post off-topic posts in the grassroots section. They want them to be seen and the other forums do not provide that.

bingo in a nutshell!

freedom is messy!

[Oliver]

Same goes to the information about the Number of
"Threads" & "Posts". Nobody really needs that, but
if I see a sub-forum with just a view replies and views,
I tend to avoid this forum - to be honest.

Anyone else with this behavior of "avoiding low-
interest sub-fora"?

[Bryan]

Excellent original post. I support this message. :)


Let me give a small example. The blimp project is low on funds and needs money right now. They have a sub-forum, however, the money still isn't comming in. If you were a blimp supporter and saw that there wasn't enough attention being payed to your project, what would you be compelled to do?
To be clear on policy :) - the project sub-forums are for planning and general information. Grassroots central can be used for announcements, recruitment and fundrasing.



I agree with all that has been posted and the mentality is trying to be effective and efficient and the best ways to go about it.

I think one way to start to analyze the problem is asking why is it that this subforum receives more traffic than others despite placement on the main subforum index page?

Is it the name? If so, perhaps it shouldn't be used. Rather than have a subforum called "Ron Paul Grassroots Central" perhaps that name should be abolished and see what happens?

What would you do as ronpaulforums browser? W/O the "Central" in the "Ron Paul Grassroots" subforum name, you don't have a labeled site that is the "center" of ronpaulforums.com

Just a thought :D
:D Someone else here says this too (won't name names. :)).


If you use the "New Posts" feature then a lot of these issues go away- be sure to see my thread in my sig on "Managing posts" - it has some tricks on it's use.

Some thoughts on just wanting to dump things in Grassroots:
- if it's a really timely, important topic relating to the campaign, it's not a bad idea.
- if it's something you want to stick around for the interested people to see it, it's a double edged sword. Yes, your post will get seen by some quickly but it will quickly end up on page 20 never to be seen again. Post it in the right place and it's a slow burn for those that really care about it and more effective long term.
-anything off-topic to Ron Paul will be moved or deleted, per the forum guidelines (see top of my sig).
- I highly encourage the use of the new Grassroot Campaigning sub-forum for important grassroots matters (see it's sub-heading for what goes in there).

We're open to ideas on future policy changes, we don't have all the answers- we are experiencing more growing pains since the Tea Party. The video sub-forum is on hold for now since ronpaulfan is doing a good job with his script generated Top Videos threat (see sticky).

[european]

I agree with what you are suggesting, and that people should check the other forums and post in the right one, however, there would need to be a way of overcoming the lack of views as well as the extensive amount of sub-forums.

It is about the culture of the forums (culture in the sense as a culture that can be in a company). This is a proces that has to grow on the people. Once this is done, the newcommers will automaticly adjust to it. The hard thing at this moment is to let the old users get used to the new situation.

This can be achieved by letting the site admins, as well as the wel known people here, actively promote the new way of posting and checking out the forums. For example by continuesly moderating Ron Paul Grassroots Central and keep moving posts as they come in. This is a very intensive job to do, but it is one of the most effective ways to achieve it. If next to that awareness is raised by having posts like this one explaining what is happening, the cooperative people will change their behaviour and the other subforums will get used more aswell. And from there on, those other subforums get more activity, views, replies, and they start to become naturally atractive to the rest of the users.

I must say though, that I have no reason to believe that the activity in this subforum will get less. With the new influx of new supporters it will only increase. Specially if Ron Paul does well in January, a lot new members can be welcomed. It would be great if Ron Paul Forums strenghtens its position by getting other succesfull forums as well. It will only strenghten the Ron Paul movement and campaign because people get more active.

Either way, its a big challenge lol, its easy for me to write down, but its hard to get the theory working ;)

[Craig_R]

I pretty much only go to the grassroots central, sometimes I look at two or three pages. It is afterall where all the action is. It would probably take an entire day to visit all of the forums and get an idea of whats going on in them. I just dont have that kinda time.

we just need some sort of user generated ranking system other than the bump

[DisabledCombatVet4change]

I pretty much only go to the grassroots central, sometimes I look at two or three pages. It is afterall where all the action is. It would probably take an entire day to visit all of the forums and get an idea of whats going on in them. I just dont have that kinda time.

we just need some sort of user generated ranking system other than the bump

i like that idea..... but i also think there is a lack of moderation and too many threads on the same subjects........i personally don't dig too far into threads past page 3.... so if a good idea falls past page 3 its chances of being seen by the majority of people who visit here, go way down


help make it possible so i can wrap my car!

[FreeTraveler]

From Bryan's hints, and the most effective tool...


"New Posts" (found in the top blue bar) is a great feature to prevent one from having to go sub-forum to sub-forum to see the latest messages added.

I rarely visit the individual forums. I hit "New Posts" to see what's going on, and hit it again when I need more to read. That way I'm active on all current threads across all the forums.

[newbitech]

what does this thread have to do with campaigning? why am i posting in it?

[Proemio]

I pretty much only go to the grassroots central, sometimes I look at two or three pages. It is afterall where all the action is. It would probably take an entire day to visit all of the forums and get an idea of whats going on in them. I just dont have that kinda time.

we just need some sort of user generated ranking system other than the bump

And let the nanny-brigades (<- generous term) decide "what's good for you"?

IF this were my place, I would immediately get rid of the juvenile "star" system; kindergarten stuff on its face. It's also an invitation for "lobby groups" to use as a tool, to coopt energy and ideas into certain, usually innocuous directions. They have the means and the motive, and with the star-system - or any rating system - the opportunity, where a relative few can create desired perceptions. There were a lot less organized shilling operations before "the stars" - duh...

Otherwise, the structure is perfectly fine the way it is. It's well thought out and it works. A little effort is unavoidable, whatever the structure. Usually the first post (or three) will tell if a thread is worthwhile to pursue or just another 25 page compilation of stating the obvious - or worse. That's aside from "what is worthwhile is in the eye of the beholder".

Grassroots Central is the "Storefront" or "Showroom" where the potential customer (voter) walks in from the street; it's were the energy has to be most visible, considering the "product". Behind the main stage are the various "departments", without which the lights in the showroom would eventually go off.

If thats not enough, there is always "Hot Topics" in the board room, or the cellar, depending on point of reference...