Two Mail Limit
From:
Bernard Claydon
Date:
2006 Mar 05 17:09 UTC
Short link
My comment was not intended to be derogatory of chat rooms, or Americans. I
should have stuck a smiley in there to make it clear that my tongue was in
my cheek. The 'British' are hardly morally superior to the 'Americans' when
it comes to paying lip service to democracy. I can see a parallel between
encouraging democracy to take root abroad, and even imposing it by brute
force, and then insisting that they only elect leaders that we approve of -
and the idea of having a forum to encourage free speech and then setting
limits on how much people can say.
There just seems to be a fear that the forum will degenerate into a deluge
of inane and ill-thoughtout messages, as occurs in chat rooms which are
obviously a much more spontaneous and disposable medium.
As things are, I think it could be worth the risk, but it would be
interesting to know what the silent majority on this forum think about this.
B->
Dan Jellinek:
> No, it is not unreasonable to ask this - but I don't see the different
> mechanisms as mutually exclusive.
> The Brighton and Hove Issues Forum just happens to be an experiment to use
> email as an option (although you can also take part on the web and receive a
> digest).
> I would think that it is well suited to some types of interaction, and
> poorly to others, and that eventually there will be a mixed economy of media
> and types of democratic forum.
> Personal preference will enter into it as well of course, but as long as
> there is choice I think there will be a part for all kinds of forums to
> play.
.