Tamara, the site rules can be accessed from the 'about KnoxViews' link on the left in user navigation box at the top. A link is also included on the posting page, and on the user signup page (I think?) and at the bottom of every page in the copyright notice.

In the same user navigation box on the left, there is a "contact" link to send the site admin (me) an e-mail, or you can click my user ID to send a private message or an e-mail via the "contact" tab on my user profile. (This works for any user unless they have these options turned off in their profile.) I will add a contact link to the site rules, though. Thanks.

Ha!

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler

of the trusted user definition you need.

Anyone can view content. Registered users can post comments. Trusted Users can create their own blogs and post articles and other content on the front page.

Trusted User privileges will be granted based on review of participation in comments. New registered users can also request Trusted User privileges by e-mailing a proposed article or a summary of what you want to post about to the site administrator using the 'contact' link in the navigation panel. You will be notified if approved for Trusted User status.

Please post responsibly!

I think what R. Neal is basically saying is that we have had people in the past that were here to basically disrupt and incite arguments with total disregard for the fact that this IS a progressive blog. Once you have demonstrated in your comments that you can discuss postings with a civil tone, even if you disagree with the progressive viewpoint, then you will be given trusted user status and you can then create blog postings of your very own.

Hope this helps...welcome to the site.

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"You can't fix stupid..." ~ Ron White"
"I never said I wasn't a brat..." ~ Talidapali

This is a partisan website that leans Democrat. Opposing viewpoint is welcome in discussions, but is not appropriate for front page blog entries. Non-partisan blog posts about local government and other issues are appropriate and welcome. We invite Citizen Journalists to contribute news, views, and other commentary. Government officials and political organizations, community activists, artists, professional groups, and others are invited to use KnoxViews for promotion, announcements, blogging, event calendars, and other online communication…

Michael Kaplan’s takeaway from the above is.. "This is a partisan website that leans Democrat." sounds like just the place to support bill haslam for reelection ..

The discussion on the cinema raised a number of questions that I would find helpful for Randy and others to weigh in on. A fair inference relative is that Michael Kaplan’s comment above would indicate a preference for a “cleansing” of Knoxviews. Based on the large numbers of emails I received he is not alone.

I am only interested in the discussion in re: local politics. I think I get it from a national politics point of view when almost all issues have a very heavy partisan background. To my knowledge I have never posted anything at all that touched on national politics unless it was the response to the question Randy asked about movies. I have no intention of doing so. For more context, I started this sort of participation on K2K when it was overtly non-partisan and about downtown. Those moderating K2K were always very even-handed in applying that approach. I found whole thing to be fascinating and indicative of some intriguing possibilities relative to some new models of participative democracy. My interest was both as an academic and a citizen. SKB did not start out as overtly partisan, as I recall, but it did have those tendencies. Knoxviews does have a clear statement of intent and of rules of engagement. I am very serious about this because I do respect the wishes of both the owner of the blog and the bulk of those who post here and have no interest in causing any problems with my participation. I have tried to do so in good faith with respect for the rules but probably have fallen short. Given the difficulty of getting the tone right I want to make it clear that these are serious questions in my mind and not rhetorical devices to make points in a sideways manner. If this is a serious place (mostly at least) I think these points are worth working through and I don’t know the answers.

How does one apply the ENTIRE rules segment above when dealing with nonpartisan city and school board politics? True, in almost all cases the party preferences of the players are known but the elections are officially nonpartisan. Moreover, most of the issues are not reduced to, discussed, or voted upon in anything that resembles a partisan manner. Is participation on local issues that do not have an obvious partisan component other than the personal party preferences of one or more of the actors acceptable? To what degree? Either the South Waterfront or much of the downtown design guidelines or the cinema, etc. could suffice as examples. Someone could come from out of town, look into these issues, and be hard pressed to assign a democratic or republican position.

With the above in mind – still nonpartisan local races with actors of known partisan preferences -what degree of “response” to posts with which one disagrees is OK? How pointed can that be without crossing the line? Can the responses be made in like tone to the post or reply in question or should a different tone be used. Finally, depending on answers to the above, is it appropriate for an elected or appointed government official to participate (as many do) beyond occasional clarifications and requests for information?

Going beyond this, and depending somewhat on the answers, one thing is clear. There is no good template out there, as far as I know, for online, real time, political dialog on local matters that informs the community. There are plenty of templates for like-minded people to share ideas and rev up the base. I hoped this was going to tend toward the first model, at least for local politics. But maybe I am wishing for something that does folks do not want in which case it might be time for me (not many others left) to look elsewhere to establish such a model. I am not talking about taking the ball and leaving with bad feelings but of what is the fairest, most constructive, way to engage in local community dialog and whether an overtly partisan board is the best place for this. Perhaps both KV and the discussion I have in mind would be better off if an amicable divorce settlement was arrived at. Maybe such a board could be hosted by the News Sentinel, but it would have to take on a different template from anything I have seen there. Maybe it can be free standing, but who would do the heavy lifting in keeping such a train on the tracks? I really don't know.

It would be great to hear from Jack M. and Sandra and Betty and from many of the other media and political folks who lurk out there. It would be great to hear from other long time and thoughtful observers of all of this - Michael H., Rachel, Cafkia, etc. Of course the main decision maker here will be the person doing the work and paying the bills for the blog. Thanks again to Randy making this forum available. None of us should take that for granted. And thanks for your patience with this interruption and I will express my appreciation in advance for any comments.

Sandra, I agree totally with your thoughts on "unsigned and unverified garbage." That's a recipe for a very low level food fight and, unfortunately, that is what appears. Whatever site is used has to be monitored and have rules. I am just trying to come to grips with how to participate on Randy's while respecting the rules given the pronounced viewpoint of the blog and its application to the present city administration and my participation there and here.

Rachel, sadly you have now discredited yourself in the eyes of many.

No she hasn't...I think you state things very intelligently. I enjoy reading your posts. I don't agree with most of them, but I enjoy reading them. They are well-written and topical.

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"You can't fix stupid..." ~ Ron White"
"I never said I wasn't a brat..." ~ Talidapali

You're an idiot.

Puhleese. No, national issues are not intruding. National issues are an important part of this site.

Ain't usually the big issue. The biggest issues we have are usually of the Rational vs. Irrational variety, kind of like that with which Tntreeherder has so "skillfully" provided us several examples, splashed all over various threads. Even a typing monkey can occasionally produce a semi-coherent written thought that is MOSTLY spelled correctly on web "sights".
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"You can't fix stupid..." ~ Ron White"
"I never said I wasn't a brat..." ~ Talidapali

OK, I'll add it to the list. But why are you posting this on the site rules page?