I'm having a discussion with "John" who runs a blog called "My Quake
Reality". John would appreciate more readers. You can find him here:
http://myquakereality.wordpress.com/
I'm also a great admirer of the Avonside Blog.
Sadly, it's been impossible to communicate with the owner, Lawrence. I'd
love to help him, but he's made that very difficult. However, you could
all learn much for his work. As I search for the link, I discover that
Lawrence has a new version of the blog. You can now send him an email.
That's a help.
http://avonsideblog.org/about-2/
I asked John, at My Quake Reality, to join some neighbours networks, and
to post some of his ideas and experiences. He replied that his material
was open for the public to use and that I should pick out what I thought
was important and post it to the neighbours forums. My reply was that as
the form manager, this forum was NOT my personal platform, and it
shouldn't be my role to keep posting to these forums. The forum belongs
to the members not to me.
I wrote the following to My Quake Reaity.
[quote]
Hello Again John,
Sadly you and I, and Lawrence who runs the Avonside Blog, should all be
working together, yet we find it impossible to do so. We're as bad as
the city council that we choose to be so critical of.
Of course, we have the excuse that we're all already working at the
limits of our energy and the limits of our knowledge. The weakness of
the 25 Neighbours Forums is that far too many of the posts are authored
by myself. (Read for yourself, in any of the forums.) The forums are NOT
my personal platform. The less I have to say the better. Then I can be
effective in playing the proper role as forum moderator.
I admire what you are trying to do here, John, and I have huge
admiration for the work Lawrence has done on the Avonside Blog. You both
have the opportunity to extend your work by using the neighbour's
forums, and you choose not to do so. - If that's the case, there's
little I can do to help you.
We can all be our own worse enemies. That comment applies also to the
many members if the Neighbours Forums who choose to have nothing to say.
(Over 60 people in most of the groups.) So I agree that the state of our
democracy is in very bad. Each of us has a part to play in that.
Part of the problem is that the CCC. CERA, and EQC, and to a large
extent, the Press and sadly CanCern are all part of the "good news"
machine that Gerry Brownlee has set up. "Good News" is not real news. we
are starved of real information. The Citizens Forum of 39 highly
respected people, chosen by Gerry Brownlee, has become the "silent 39".
They were supposed to be the link between CERA and the community, but
it's a link that doesn't function.
We ALL have access to real news, each of us, but we refuse to share it
in a public way. We have the ability to take down the barriers to
communication between ourselves, but we don't do it. We are afraid?
We hide behind anonymity. That has a place, but if we are to develop
trust between us, people should be able to use real names. That is a
requirement for the use of the neighbours networks.
As I've typed this, I've decided to make this same post with a few
explanatory remarks, to some of the neighbours forums. We'll see what
the response is.
Any reader here can join the neighbours forums themselves. Start here:
http://www.streetgroups.co.nz/christchurchforums.html"
[end quote]