The political season has arrived in Minneapolis and with it the unfortunate
need for me to remind everyone that your posts need to follow the forum
participation rules.
When it comes to discussions about candidates or those presently in office, it
seems there are always a minority of forum members that need to take few
moments to re-read the forum rules in particular:
2.3 Keep Topics within Forum Scope; Posting
2.4 Be Civil
2.7 Avoid Unsubstantiated Rumors, Respect Privacy; You Are Liable
The rules can be found online here:
http://e-democracy.org/rules
The forum is for Minneapolis-specific issue discussions. E-democracy.org has
forums at the state and national level for those topics that have a broader
scope.
Inflammatory posts and name calling are not permitted. There are no exceptions.
People in the public eye have the same right to being treated in a civil manner
as everyone else in this forum.
You need to be clear in your writing between what is your opinion and what is
fact. Just because you say so does not make it fact. You need to substantiate
claims of fact with publicly available information.
If we want everyone to participate in the discussion, including those seeking
to be or already in elected office, we need to have respectful discussions that
abide by the forum rules. This does not mean hard questions cannot be asked and
tough issues cannot be raised. They can and they are.
The vast majority of forum members follow the forum rules. A tiny minority do
not. For those who choose to not follow the forum participation rules please
know appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.
While it is always my last course of action, I have suspended forum members who
do not follow the forum rules. I will not hesitate to do so in the future as
prescribed by the forum rules.
There are important issues facing our city. The forum rules allow for an
environment where we can directly engage with each other and with decision
makers. E-Democracy.org provides a unique platform for having the necessary
give and take that leads to better informed public policy decisions.
If you have questions or concerns about this contact me directly and offlist at
mattp AT pobox DOT com. Discussion of the forum in the forum is prohibited by
the forum rules.
Matt Perry
East Harriet Farmstead/Minneapolis
Forum Manager