Your humble OttOman has a few things to say to the Newsvine community.
In the spirit of campaign cliché's, I'm announcing my efforts to create a new tone for politics on Newsvine; reform; change etc. etc.
I've heard the long-running complaints that people like me add to a poor environment on Newsvine through trolling, flaming or some other efforts to offend people or instigate confrontation. I feel your pain. So I'm pledging to treat people with a little more respect with the hopes of getting others to do the same. This does not mean that I'm changing my views or surrendering arguments or that I'm going to stop trying to hold Viners accountable for the things they say. But I do want to extend a white flag to those who have butted heads with me in the past and propose an atmosphere where we can strongly disagree with each other on issues yet still walk away shaking hands and looking forward to the next round.
Believe it or not, I have friends in my private life who are liberals and leftists and we have civil, even if heated disagreements. We still smile, we still walk away as friends. Perhaps this works better in the real world where we know more about each other compared to just what we read from them. So...
So let's talk. Let's chat, let's start a dialog about your ideas and mine...
As a public service to Newsvine, the Conservative Coalition has just launched one-stop coverage for individual presidential candidates. These Groups are dedicated to being concise, bi-partisan areas where you, the Newsviner, can read or contribute articles and Seeds on specific candidates. All points of view are welcome and eventually, the CC will endorse candidates. And as they drop out or lose in the primaries, the Groups will then become inactive and we'll focus on the general election. Here is the list of available candidate Groups that you can join and contribute to:
I encourage you to request invitations to these groups. I expect that they'll grow in interest as we get closer to the primaries, the conventions and the general election.
Also, you can check out or join RINO Hunters, a Group dedicated to exposing and addressing Republicans In Name Only and a quest for a truly conservative Republican candidate, also brought to you by your friendly, neighborhood Conservative Coalition.