LibDemWhom?

8 August 2006

A couple of days ago, I received the following email: Dear James, I am setting up Lib Dem Home and would like you to be one of the contributors. If you accept I ask that you post anonymously (as all other posters from across the party spectrum will) so that your articles are treated as…

Written by

James Graham

musings

A couple of days ago, I received the following email:

Dear James,

I am setting up Lib Dem Home and would like you to be one of the contributors.

If you accept I ask that you post anonymously (as all other posters from across the party spectrum will) so that your articles are treated as articles and not automatically agreed or disagreed with because of who you are.

Both Labour Home and Conservative Home have proved useful to their parties while the nearest we have is cix which is only available to those who subscribe.

Please inform me of your decision.

Regards,

Lib Dem Home

I responded that I wasn’t interested in making anonymous postings, and that I certainly wasn’t interested in accepting offers from anonymous people (the email address is libdemhome@googlemail.com).

Am I alone in thinking this website is a really bad idea? In fact, is it a wind up? Can anyone shed some light on the subject?

blognotes liberal-democrats

Comments

9 responses to “LibDemWhom?”

8 August 2006

Jonathan Calder

I had the same e-mail and wrote back asking who it was from. I also pointed out that a little politeness is a good idea if you are asking people to write for you for nothing.

I have heard nothing since.

Reply
8 August 2006

Austin Rathe

I did read on a blog a couple of weeks ago about something like this being set up. I, however, didn’t get the email in question. I shall try and avoid crying myself to sleep. LibDemHome.com is registered to a Mr Martin Curtis, of Peterborough.

Does the fact that Labour Home is a disaster not tell us anything?

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8 August 2006

James

I think it is a little harsh to call Labour Home a disaster. It doesn’t seem to get much traffic, but these things take time to build up. If anything, ConservativeHome is more of a problem for the Tories as it is full of all the reactionary swivel eyed loons that cause the Tories such a perception problem.

As for Martin Curtis, having looked at his libdemhome.com I think we can safely exclude him from our investigation!

Reply
9 August 2006

Peter Black

My response was to ask who he/she was as well. So far no reply.

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9 August 2006

Austin Rathe

Good point!

Labour home, as it is official, completely misses the point of a “hub” blog. Conservatiove home, whilst sometimes being a problem, gives CCHQ a direct way to get the “pulse” of their activists, which Labour Home simply doesn’t do.

People miss the point, Conservative Home is a great blog, hence it gets lots of traffic, hence it’s important. The fact that it has “home” in it’s name is neither here nor there.

Reply
9 August 2006

Rob F

Austin – you read it on my blog, but this e-mail is not from me, or anyone connected to me.

As James says, the only domain name varient of libdemhome to be registered is libdemhome.com, in the ownership of a Tory councillor. Numerous people have been trying to identify the person behind these e-mails without the success. Whoever it is clearly enjoys having a veil of secrecy around them.

I’ll be launching something I now feel tempted to call “Lib Dem Home plus” towards the end of August. It will be an open and accountable space by party members, for party members.

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9 August 2006

James

Austin – I think you misunderstand the point of LabourHome, although it is understanding given its name is derived from a rival website.

It’s a community site, more akin to MySpace than ConservativeHome, a way of encouraging debate inside the Labour Party.

In terms of what I think the Lib Dems should be doing in response, I happen to think that between LiberalReview and LibDemBlogs, we already have most of what we need, but I look forward to seeing what Rob comes up with.

Reply
9 August 2006

Austin Rathe

James,

That’s fair enough, swings and roundabouts etc. I still don’t think it achieves much though, and I agree with your point about what we have already.

Austin

Reply
9 August 2006

The Cat

We should use http://www.liberalreview.com more – always open for postings, I understand …

Reply