I own a few URLs like www.liberaltalkradio.com and www.progressivetalkradio.com and am thinking about putting one on a cheap server and putting Wiki software on it, to let the users of the web create a directory of progressive talk radio shows. Any thoughts on this? And anybody here who, if I provided the server/site and URL, would be able/willing to put the software up and make/keep it work/working?

Thom

I thought Gnarlodius asked a similar question earlier...

In fact there is a thread in Open Space called Computer Geeks for Thom Hartmann" which covers this...

I hope that this helps,

Z.

You might give Glenn Beck a call. He's on from 9 to 12 EST.

If you want a Thompedia, I could transfer all the information from the premium site over to it. Would it be free or come under premium membership?

As for a directory of progressive talk radio shows, I'd be happy to help with that too; in setting it up, adding information, and maintenance. But it would need somoene else to keep a close watch on it as the premium site and chat room have to be my top priority job most of the time - unless you want it otherwise, Thom.

You might like to see how Wikepedia already handles radio shows, Thom, starting with your own entry and following some of the links at the bottom.

Then there's the Daily Kos dkosopedia.

If it's just a wiki site, I think it should be public. In fact, I was thinking it could/should be more than just about me - a site about/for all progressive hosts.

Thom

I wholeheartedly agree, no vanity sites please, that is Glen Beck's bailiwick. Just an all-around liberal site that addresses more obscure issues of liberal social issues as well as the usual Wikipedia.com stuff.

I might also mention, with several websites it would be a lot more economical to rent a server and manage it independently. Paying a hosting service for several domains is expensive and difficult to administer. I don't know what kind of bandwith you are using, but $500 per year you can rent a pretty fast server in a farm somewhere. Preferably in a geologically stable region like Denver

Any chance I can make a Suggestion.

No information on Israel or Palestine on your site.

You can steal borrow from the new Citizendium.

I've been following the Wikipedia difficulties, Loganthor. Edit wars are a real problem on user-editable pages, and considering the arguments we have about "facts", edit wars would be expected.
Hopefully any such site would need to be a breeding ground for a civilized democracy, or ultimately fail.

Yes, all good things eventually get corrupted and fall. The new Citizendium seems to be taking care of that particular problem.

Have you ever read the discussion room on a Wiki disputed page? Sounds like some conversations here.

I have always enjoyed Encarta but limited in it's detail. Never got a sense of slant or Bias on Encarta.

The essentially adversarial nature of talk radio, politics and idealogy lends itself to disagreement, there is no getting around that reality. We would be limited to the capacity of the Wiki software as to how much of a ying-yang could be addressed on any one topic. A typical response to antisocial behavior is a power structure to enforce some sort of covenant, which is inherently anti-democratic.

There may be as yet undiscovered ways of arriving at a concensus on issues while allowing disagreement in a user-editable site. I guess it will have to be an evolution in progress, but the challenge is intriguing.

Well, Gnarlie, if I nail down a host site (I already have the URLs), would you want to install and set up the wiki software and make it all work? If so, I'll do it the weekend after this (this weekend I'm visiting my family in Michigan)...

Thom

There is a political platform wiki site which anyone may contribute to.

This political platform is a project of a minor third party which is called The Third Party of America.

The website is:

www.3rdParty.org

Click the "politicwiki" link.

Although this Platform has remained rather stagnant for a while, it is open to anyone who registers as a participant and wants to change it to add his/her own opinions to shape their version of an ideal political platform.

(When you first go to the above website, you need to be careful of the spam which usually pops up on the main page and one or two other places. This website is wide open to all new participants, so it is easy for spammers to clutter it, but the site operator diligently works each day to get rid of the spam, and you can find the serious stuff easily enough with minimum effort.)

I like the idea of a political party where ordinary participants at the lowest level can contribute to writing the party's Platform instead of having the party bosses and elitists dictate to them what to think.

Considering all the differing contributors, the current wiki Platform is a pretty coherent document. Although I wrote more of it than any other one contributor, it is equally open to anyone who wants to edit it. You can add new sections to it or edit out or change any existing section.

This Party also has a message board ("Convention Floor") and chatroom ("Quorum"), though they are mostly inactive at present.

wikability to lock pages means the torturous debates don't have to be a major prob.

amoung the most under used but powerful concepts i know is that of clearing houses. basic to information, ideas must be gathered and sorted along useful lines. if this sparks anyone i might expound. think of basic sience activity, gather data, look for shared or progressive attributes... work up glossaries/lexicae...etc. Radio should be used together with these concepts, should be backed up by blogs and bloggers to gather info taken as connected and relevant. Means should be gathered and co ordinated in ways that allow emergent props/seridips/syzygies. I rather surprised how backward (at least the left) is in these constructions. i can only begin to hint here at the utilities that could be brought to bear... socrates said the problem was the 'joints' but thee is a lot of work yet to get to that point for Us