Reply #5: I'd like to say that I expect the ones who are really on the fringe to

[NoodleBoy]

moderate their rhetoric should they get involved in actual party and candidate work, but I don't know that. The people I have in mind are those who would call anyone who ever apologizes for a dumb or comment made without consideration of the audience or forum a Bush tool as well as making other odd statements.

Unfortunately, however, I could see it going in the opposite direction-- instead of those on the far fringes toning down their rhetoric, the people who are already on the ground working and aren't involved in net political activism would just think that members of the DU Corps are nuts.

Aside from that, what I thought this forum would be used for would be top-down direction of visible bottom-up activities-- such as, suggesting to members of the Corps that they see if, during one week, they could flex their combined muscle by a mass volunteering at their state or local dem party offices, or for an en masse candidate or issue canvassing in local neighborhoods over one weekend.

If the focus was more online, however, it could be in the form of a huge LTTE muscle, except only for online news sources. Other online activities could come in the form of upping the hits of sites we think should get attention, coming to the defense of progressive and democratic ideals by having many members reply as a group to inflammatory and misleading conservative blogs, or carrying out some research projects if a candidate, institute or committee with a strong online support system needs someone to do the footwork for a couple hours.

Another option that could be available is that maybe Skinner and the admins want the Corps to be autonomous, with suggestions coming from Corps members and directed by experienced members. A system like that could make for alot of beneficial input from the Corps as a whole, but could also lead to the problems of having too many people who want to lead but not enough who just want to help to make the Corps effective, potential 'turf wars' between leading Corps members and their supporters, and alot of people who'd sign up to be Corps members but few staying active because of no official hierarchy and infighting, all of which would probably lead to the group's collective power being used up and the Corps itself atrophying.

Anyway. just my thoughts.