[pp.int.general] Pirate Party UK Critism

[Mikko Särelä]

On Sat, 3 Oct 2009, Eric Priezkalns wrote:
> I would rather not talk about the piece you refer to.  The individual 
> who wrote it, John, accepts he made a mistake in posting this to the 
> party's blog, and hence allowing it to look like an official statement 
> of the party.  John is one of the most passionate people I have 
> encountered when it comes to Pirate politics, and he probably considers 
> me to be rather a moderate when it comes to some things, so the last 
> thing I want is to get into a mode of behaviour where every individual 
> point of view is raked over, in detail, and measured against some ideal 
> of what is or is not considered acceptable Pirate thinking.  John and I 
> have talked about the views he expressed, and I think we're all happy to 
> move on rather than dwell on the subject further.

Here is a point from which I think many parties can learn from. An entry 
in the party's official blog will be interpreted as the party official 
position by many if not most people. 

> What I would say is that we are aiming to build a movement of thousands, if
> not millions.  We are going to have to get used to people having differences
> of opinion and finding compromises.  

There are many ways in which one can find ways to let people voice their 
opinion without making it seem as if it was the official pirate party 
stance. One possibility is to feed people's individual blogs into a common 
feed in the pirate party site (and letting people know that it is a set of 
individual blogs). Another, is to have someone write a 'guest piece' for 
the official blog.

The thing is, party's official blog is more like "editor's column in 
newspapers" which people assume is telling about the party line. 

So everyone, take note of this - and enable other ways for people to 
express opinions as party members, not as party line. And remember that 
the official blog will be considered official by people.

-- 
Mikko Särelä
"It is through exchange that difference becomes a blessing, not a
curse", Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain