Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
An open letter to all gubernatorial candidates
Dear Candidate,
I am utterly delighted that you have thrown your hat into the ring. I look forward to learning more about you, your stances, and why you will be the best at the job of governor of this great state.
I am also excited to see that you are all beginning to embrace online media. Many of us have spend years using the internet as a place to share information and organize on line. We are happy that you have decided to join us and engage us here on our home turf.
However, I feel there is something you may not have grasped yet. Paying workers or asking your volunteers to pepper our online homes with comments supporting you and attacking other candidates is not going to win our help our our votes.
Here's a little secret...you may all be brilliant politicians, and you may have fantastically experienced campaign managers. But your online supporters? Not very bright, and not very good at it. If you have a commenter start commenting out of no where, with out establishing him or herself as a presence on a site or in a community, that commenter sticks out. We start to look closely at all of that commenter's comments. We start to google that commenter's name. We review who they attack, and who they support. And in the end, we really start to look down on the candidate that that commenter says he or she is supporting.
You have to understand, if I can't trust you not to sockpuppet a website, or ask your supporters to be constructive, I can't ever hold you in that high of esteem as a candidate. If you can't keep a few overzealous campaign staff or volunteers from scorching the earth online, how can I believe that you have the ability to successfully run something as complicated as the state of Minnesota.
So, long story short, if you are planning an online presence, please treat us like you respect us, and that you don't think we are stupid. Have your campaign staff use real names. Ask your supporters to identify themselves. At the very least, tell them to try and be a part of the community. We don't run our sites so you have a venue to self-promote, and to run down the other candidates in anonymity.
Thank you,
Respectfully
Robin Marty
I am utterly delighted that you have thrown your hat into the ring. I look forward to learning more about you, your stances, and why you will be the best at the job of governor of this great state.
I am also excited to see that you are all beginning to embrace online media. Many of us have spend years using the internet as a place to share information and organize on line. We are happy that you have decided to join us and engage us here on our home turf.
However, I feel there is something you may not have grasped yet. Paying workers or asking your volunteers to pepper our online homes with comments supporting you and attacking other candidates is not going to win our help our our votes.
Here's a little secret...you may all be brilliant politicians, and you may have fantastically experienced campaign managers. But your online supporters? Not very bright, and not very good at it. If you have a commenter start commenting out of no where, with out establishing him or herself as a presence on a site or in a community, that commenter sticks out. We start to look closely at all of that commenter's comments. We start to google that commenter's name. We review who they attack, and who they support. And in the end, we really start to look down on the candidate that that commenter says he or she is supporting.
You have to understand, if I can't trust you not to sockpuppet a website, or ask your supporters to be constructive, I can't ever hold you in that high of esteem as a candidate. If you can't keep a few overzealous campaign staff or volunteers from scorching the earth online, how can I believe that you have the ability to successfully run something as complicated as the state of Minnesota.
So, long story short, if you are planning an online presence, please treat us like you respect us, and that you don't think we are stupid. Have your campaign staff use real names. Ask your supporters to identify themselves. At the very least, tell them to try and be a part of the community. We don't run our sites so you have a venue to self-promote, and to run down the other candidates in anonymity.
Thank you,
Respectfully
Robin Marty
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