Charter

Minnesota Politics and Issues Forum Charter

The Minnesota Politics and Issues Forum is an online forum for the sharing of information on and discussion of Minnesota politics and public policy. This forum is more about the presentation of ideas and information than being right with one's ideology. Established in 1994, it is one of the longest running political online forums in the world.

Purpose

The purpose of the Minnesota Politics and Issues Forum is for information sharing and discussion of Minnesota public policy issues and politics.

Goals

The goals of Minnesota Politics and Issues Forum are:

• To give the public a voice in Minnesota so we can all gain insight on diverse ideas, share knowledge and information, and listen to one another.
• To build a useful, participatory and agenda-setting online public space that reaches directly into the heart of real Minnesota politics.
• To host a respectful and civil forum where Minnesotans with diverse perspectives can express their views and deliberate on important public issues in Minnesota through ongoing conversation.
• To provide a contrast to the typically anonymous and vitriolic online news comments we see on media-hosted websites and to bridging the partisan divide in Minnesota's political blogosphere by providing a neutral ground for exchange.
• To open up state governance in Minnesota to greater public participation and encourage both the accountability of government as well as political interests across the political spectrum.

Typical Topics

Topics that you might find here to discuss include:

• Please contribute announcements from Minnesota-focused political, civic, and government organizations, public policy and legislative information, election and candidate information, and presentations on issues of public interest. This includes:
• Legislative and budget proposals at the state capital
• Regional public issues of statewide interest
• Links to great news stories or blog posts on Minnesota politics
• Announcements of major policy or government reports, public meetings, press releases
• Candidates for state-wide or legislative office (no fund raising appeals please, calls for volunteers OK)
• Advocacy alerts
• Discussion of national issues *only* when each post makes a direct connection to the impact on Minnesota or discussion of specific efforts of Minnesota's Congressional delegation
• Note: Discussion participants come from a wide range of backgrounds and have diverse political perspectives and communication styles.

Participation Rules

By taking part in this forum, you accept the full rules of the forum.

Highlighted rules:

• Please review these additional rules and extensive clarifications based on the universal E-Democracy.Org Issues Forum rules (linked above) as they are enforced and persistent violators may be suspended from participating in the forum.
• 2 Posts in 24 Hours - You many only post twice every 24 hours (this is normally limited by our software) You cannot create multiple accounts to by-pass this rule. Each post is identified with your name and e-mail address when distributed to forum members via e-mail and name only when read on the web site … you are accountable for what you write.
• Minnesota-Focused - The Minnesota Forum is intended to focus on issues, topics and items of interest that are either unique to Minnesota or which are discussed from the perspective of how Minnesota is uniquely affected. National topics belong in the national forum, the US Issues Forum - http://e-democracy.org/us. Generally, a post should be made on only one of the two forums rather than cross-posting to both. For example, state-wide or regional elections (e.g. Governor, Senator, US Representative) are certainly on topic; however, national elections (e.g. President) are typically not on-topic unless discussed from a Minnesota perspective (e.g. concerns or reservations about a candidate and his/her position on the use of wildlife preserves and how that may affect the BWCA). Federal policies and issues (e.g. gays in the military; stimulus funding proposals, national economic issues, etc) are also generally off-topic in this forum but can be discussed in the national forum. Examples of Minnesota policies and issues would include Local Government Aid funding, change in tax policies, resource allocation to state agencies and offices, proposed state legislation, etc.
• Issues Over-personalization - Discuss the issues presented rather than discussing (or addressing ) the author or author’s politics, etc.
• No Name Calling - A key E-Democracy.Org rule is civility and we want to clarify "name calling" as it relates to this forum. This forum believes that calling other participants, public officials, political groups, or groups in society "names" in a negative way is not conducive to respectable and responsible debate. If this constrains your "creativity" and you cannot make your point without labeling others with pejorative names, please either edit your post(s) before hitting "send" or consider participating elsewhere. Examples of rule violations: “Republocrats/Demoicans are idiots” “Politician X is a criminal” “The Tax Avoiders League,” "The Teabaggers," “Welcome to the new Nazi (or Communist, or Socialist, etc) State of Minnesota (or Demoican/Republocrat Parties). Using strong adjectives to describe inanimate objects is fine. Calling people (or groups made up of people) names is not. This includes labeling political parties or government administrations in extreme terms (e.g. Nazi, Dictator, Communist, Socialist, etc.).
• Factual statements about the positions of candidates, posters, parties, etc are certainly permitted. For example, “Politician X is a criminal” (when there has been a legal determination of guilt) or Poster X is a Communist (when the poster has stated he/she is so) are acceptable provided there is a factual basis for the label. Also generally acceptable are statements of your agreement or disagreement with the issues or policies, such as “I think this legislation is idiotic in the face of …..” or “it’s clear to me that this policy is just another step down the road to socialism since it proposes …” or “once again I think the X Association’s proposal demonstrates the organization’s willingness to have its cake and eat it too.” However, the more a post uses this type of opinionated language, the more important that the author explicitly acknowledge it is his/her opinion.
• File Complaints with Forum Manger Only - If you have a complaint about the forum or a post on the forum or a member, please direct the complaint to the Forum Manager via private e-mail to: mn-politics-fm@e-democracy.org. You may wish to also send a copy to the member in question but it is not required. Please DO NOT discuss forum operations or make complaints about posts or members on the forum. If this fails, see below.
• Not for You? - By participating in this forum, you agree to accept these limitations. If you do not accept or agree with these parameters, please do not join or participate in this forum.

Forum Manager

The Forum Manager in Minnesota Politics and Issues Forum is Steven Clift. He can be reached at mn-politics-fm@e-democracy.org.

The volunteer Forum Manager is responsible for the general health and well-being of the forum. The Forum Manager shall:

• enforce forum rules
• respond to participant questions
• listen to complaints or concerns
• encourage active participation
• maintain respectful tone of discussion

If you have any questions or concerns about the Minnesota Politics and Issues Forum, please contact us at: E-Democracy.org

Membership and Roles

The Minnesota Politics and Issues Forum Home Page shows the parts of Minnesota Politics and Issues Forum that can be seen and contributed to by members and non-members. You can join or leave the forum using the green buttons in the left panel of the forum home page.