[buug] El Blog del Narco

[Zeke Krahlin]

Quoting John Withers <grayarea at reddagger.org>:

> Just go straight to a low traffic topical newsgroup and hijack it...
>
> There ya go.

Jeez, I wasn't even considering newsgroups, since they are no longer a  
viable venue for contributing worthwhile comments (for the most part).  
I'd suggest progressive and liberal web forums, such as Alternet.org,  
Commondreams.org, and Buzzflash.org...where you'll be guaranteed of  
reaching a wide audience that is also thoughtful, intelligent, and  
passionate about justice.

Though I may be wrong: hijacking a low traffic newsgroup just might  
drum up the desired attention...depending on your intent and subject  
matter. I might use some newsgroups as a handy adjunct...though you  
need to find those relevant to your interest, that are not submerged  
in a sea of spam, or ravaged by right-wing extremists and nasty  
trolls. Some worthwhile newsgroups do remain relatively undamaged,  
still...so I'm not knocking newsgroups entirely, and I thank you for  
your suggestion, John.

There are numerous other excellent forums and wikis one can  
participate in, that deal specifically with Inernet security, Linux  
issues, social media, and so on. Such as:

OLPC (1 Laptop per Child)
http://laptop.org/en/participate/index.shtml

Pirate Radio Party
http://smf.rantradio.com/index.php?board=21.0

Open Source & Linux Forums
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/

Ubuntu Forums
http://ubuntuforums.org/

Hope Forums (includes hacktivist topics)
http://talk.hope.net/

Of course, those I just mentioned are a ridiculously tiny drop in the  
bucket, as there are *countless* excellent forums and wikis out there  
that enable a poster to become politically or socially empowered, if  
you are truly passionate about a cause. No waiting for your raised  
hand to be noticed in a large sea of folks at a noisy gathering (where  
if you are noticed, you get maybe 60 seconds to speak your mind and  
heart); no waiting to see if, perchance, your important letter to the  
editor gets choses among hundreds, to be printed; no exhaustive and  
often failed attempts to create your own group of like-minded folks,  
where you really only have wasted a heck of a lot of time for nothing,  
perhaps even paying big bugs to reserve a room for your hopeful  
gathering that never pans out.

You need to select a forum with intelligent members...that would be  
those of a progressive bent. Then, you need to see just how large the  
online community is. Check how often ideas/comments are posted...you  
want a daily or weekly avalanche of posters, not a forum with just a  
few dozens comments per week. You should also make sure the forum  
permits comments of essay length, no less. You certainly don't want to  
be limited to a few lines or paragraphs, when you have something  
important to disseminate.

And you might consider *not* settling for just one forum community  
that proves to be your cup of tea. You could find two, or even three,  
forums dealing with the same interest, that are all worthy of your  
contributions. Finally:

You can also start your own blog with a ready-made, large community of  
users, activists, and experts. Such as Wordpress, Blogspot, and  
LiveJournal. And in the case of wiki hosting, check out this list of  
popular wikis (some free):

http://wiki.wetpaint.com/page/Wiki+Hosting

Also this:

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiFarms

And this:

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiEngines


-- 
Zeke Krahlin
http://zekeblog.wordpress.com


----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.