ORIGINAL: Dave Mathewson

Hi Red,
My guess is that it’s still a little optimistic to think that there would be enough support on the EC for some type of an AMA sponsored on-line forum. I thought what we did during the last few months here on RCU was a very positive experience. But there’s still the stigma associated with online forums that continues to be perpetuated by a few on occasion. And things like that create a lot of apprehension. I realize moderation would eliminate a lot of this type of thing but moderation opens a whole new can of worms.
On the other hand, I’ve had a couple of online forums in my district for quite a while now. I’m comfortable with ours. I’ve told others, if I should be fortunate enough to win the election I’d like to have some sort of forum where I could communicate with the membership. I agree there can be a lot of advantages here, timeliness being one.
I don’t know what the future holds. I do think that we’re making small moves in this direction. I know Bob Brown in 3 recently had a new website created that includes a forum feature. I think it’s fair to say he’s cautiously optimistic about how it will work out. If it works out in 2, and 3, and 8 who knows where it will lead.
Dave

PS. A wrote this offline to cut and paste here. I thought it was interesting to see the new (at least to me) disclaimer in red from RCU management that appeared above the reply box. It, in a way, validates the point I was trying to make in my first paragraph.