in St Albans (60+)today.
Great enthusiasm about the forums, but almost NONE of the people attending
these meeting were actually members. Maybe three out of all those people.
I gave the New Brighton people slips of paper so that could join and the level
of enthusiasm expressed was high. That meeting was alive with many issues, but
since then NOTHING.
However, they did agree that putting volunteers on the ground to collect paper
sign-ups was a worthwhile idea, and they will try to help with that.
For our forums, this was the relevant message.
"What's missing is an OPEN and PUBLIC forum that EVERYONE can feel happy to
join. Something that doesn't belong to this or that organisation, that's not
controlled by the City Council or by anyone else, a place where we can SEE in
an open way everything that happens. That's not possible in the real world, but
online it is possible.
E-Democracy.org has established Twenty-five Suburban Email Forums where
Christchurch can have a huge OPEN FORUM discussion. Hopeful with thousands of
people involved. That discussion is open NOW, and you can join NOW, in fact if
you are reading this you've probably already done that. So the next task is to
involve hundreds more people and to do that quickly.
Most people have never been involved in an online community of interest like
this, and are a little afraid of it. Have courage, this is the future, and in a
few months you'll think it's quite normal.
YES, a really open forum can be messy and some people want the people who
grizzle "muzzled" but some messy-ness is the price we pay for freedom.
If you want to pass on the forum address it's here,
http://neighbours.cc"