[Seattletech] It's time for democratic filters on Indymedia

[Ben Seattle]

Hi everyone,

I will soon be posting, as an article on the newswire, 
the following proposal for the use of "democratic filters" 
on Seattle Indymedia.  I would like to see it considered 
for center column posting.

Making this proposal happen will probably require that we
recruit technical talent to help us out.  The posting will 
help us determine whether sufficent talent exists in the 
local area and is willing to help us make this a reality.

-- Ben Seattle

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It's time for democratic filters on Indymedia
============================================================

   If readers can post articles for others to read --
   then why can't they also post filters for others to use? 

Democratic filters (where readers can create, share, select 
and combine filters) are the solution to newswire spam 
(and comment spam) on Indymedia.  The use of such filters will:

(1) give our readers far greater control over what they see
(2) make our Newswire far more useful
(3) allow the discussion of articles to be far more productive
(4) likely result in a significant increase in the number
    of articles posted and the size of our audience.

More than this, this next step forward will help Indymedia 
emerge as a more useful alternative to the mainstream 
corporate propaganda that passes as "news".

Sooner or later, democratic filters (ie: filters which anyone can
create and which readers are free to either use or ignore as they
see fit) will likely be used on many interactive news sites which
draw a large audience.  In consideration of the role which the
Seattle Indymedia site played during the 1999 WTO protests and in
creating the network of Indymedia sites -- I believe it would be
fitting for Seattle Indymedia to play a leading role in
pioneering the use of democratic filters.

I have created a detailed proposal -- together with some mockup
pages -- at:

    http://NewsRefinery.com/indymedia/proposal.htm

Comments and questions are welcome.  In particular:

** Do you believe that the Indymedia newswires need methods
   which give readers greater choice, and greater control,
   over the content of newswire articles and comments

** Do you have coding skills and would you be willing
   to spend a few hours a week to help transform
   this proposal into reality?

Sincerely,
Ben Seattle
http://struggle.net/ben

Isolated from one another we are easily defeated. 
Connected to one another no force on earth can stop us 
http://MediaWeapon.com