Is our Forum's potential to boost up FPM's election campaign being fully exploited?

[Booyakasha]

Dear FPMers and friends,

I’ve been a regular guest of this forum for the past 5 years or so. The decision to register as a member has no specific reason behind it and only occurred last month. This is my first thread and I would like to seize the opportunity to send out a message to some of you. ‘You’ means those who really care about FPM and about the opposition’s win in the upcoming elections.

As I’ve roamed from thread to thread and participated in various discussions, I have come across the presence of numerous members who criticized FPM but who weren’t on the 14ers side either. I have also come across some FPMers who were feeling that the leadership is making wrong decisions and had decided to criticize those decisions. I have come across people who didn’t understand what they were talking about and sought other members’ help in order to get the picture.

However, to my biggest disappointment, I have come across even more FPMers (or Pro-FPMers) who blindly jump to a bashing bloodbath and don’t realize that this forum constitutes one of FPM’s most powerful platforms to promote its ideas and principles. It is an opportunity to convince the undecided, it is a space to share our views, even if those ideas contradict with what the leadership had said. We are very close to election date and you must realize that if it weren’t for a small handful of articulate and eager-to-convince FPMers on this forum, this platform would lose a lot of its meaning (converting non-FPMers).

I urge you to stress the important facts (electricity, corruption, parking lots, social security, fuel prices, everything that is related to our everyday life etc.). The lebanese electorate has unfortunately showed that it had a very short memory (Cf.2007 by-elections and our slight victory over Amine Gemayel). I urge you to choose sound arguments and to stop the relentless attacks and labelling of fellow members whose political affiliation is sometimes unidentified. (Some of the examples include the classic “you won’t vote FPM eh 3omrak ma tsawwit” or “you think we’re mistaken eh la *****”)

I have personally had some squabbles even with FPMers on this forum but I had realized that it was their regular stance so as to seek personal attacks when feeling cornered.
I am not here to complain about it. I am not here to complain about the members who are behaving like that. It is not about giving lessons, I am just trying to remind some of you of the necessity of convincing arguments, because to be honest, this had made me feel sorry about the negative effects it had on FPM's "convertible targets" and I thought maybe a small reminder could help trigger some positive reactions.

My final shout would go for this: Respect your fellow members, respect your allies (tashnag etc.) and just give a look to how many people and visitors on this forum are reading your posts per day to realize that YOU ARE ABLE to convince those readers of your point of views and that you will hopefully contribute to the big win on June 7th.

Cheers.

[dodzi]

Unfortunately, in such forums, it is difficult to maintain the right equilibrium between quantity and quality...

The thing is, the Orange Room is the most popular forum in Lebanon, and perhaps in the Middle East! Whenever someone googles something related to Lebanese politics, there's a great chance he'll end up on this forum!

However, whenever a reflexive thread is opened, it usually gets quickly forgotten. Either nobody answers, or nobody wants to...

[joseph_lubnan]

Maybe the forum can start a reform process by reopening the closed Hezbollah related threads for discussion. Most Hezbollah related threads are being (apparently) systematically closed.

[moughtarib]

-I don't think the objective of this platform is to 'convert non-FPMers'
-I agree that many people on this forum and in every day life for that matter convert to one of two things whenever their arguments devoided and other arguments stand:
a. Personal attacks
b. Moral Relativisim (I am thief? Well so is your ally a thief....burglary becomes the norm)
-Keep in mind that a good portion of forum posters are here not to 'discuss, understand, share and think out loud' but to just 'restate what their political leaders say on TV or what they're brain washed into in their 'halakat thakafieh' (which are just cheap propaganda machines)
--> So, its not a really a 'malady' of this forum; more than a problem of how our society deals with 'issues'.

-The consistent thread of many readers of this Forum is a good indication that things are fine as they are; I would be worried that we encourage each other to 'pay more attention' and be 'careful' about what and how we say things because 'others are watching'. As if we're in front of the camera and would say things differently than if we were off-air. thats not healthy. Then this forum would lose its strength ---> Honesty.

Overall, I get what you're saying but at the same time wouldn't want to 'regulate' our discourse.

My way to deal with those who enter into 'personal attacks' is to first 'call them out' and tell them they're being rude and second (if they persist) simply ignore them. they're not worthy of discussion.

As for those who are here to 'score points and reiterate what the holy party leader said' i think the way some posters are dealing with them is adequate--ridicule them and stuff their noses in the sand. They haven't come here for any serious discussion in the first place.

[moughtarib]

One suggestion. Next to a 'THANK YOU' tab; can we add a

-Personal/rude attacker- tab ? It would be good to keep tabs of people's 'scores' on how rude and 'offtopic' they are.

[su2dod]

Silencing the voices of those who might oppose you is certainly a valid method of election campaigning. In that context, the forum is being used to its full potential, and it is doing a swell job. ;)

[Abou Sandal]

Actually in those days of electoral campaign,I would recommend closing all the "elections threads" that were opened prior to the formation of the electoral lists,since they are threads more centered around discussions and ideas,related to choices of best candidates and composition of best electoral lists.

But now that this part is done,and electoral lists are final,those threads have become rather useless, and even a waste of time,since discussing issues that are behind us now,and often turning into useless debates and mostly "Jadal Bizanteh".

IMHO,We have to close them all,and to open new kind of "electoral threads" rather centered around the tactics to win and the work done and events occurring on the ground.

[moughtarib]

Originally Posted by su2dod

Silencing the voices of those who might oppose you is certainly a valid method of election campaigning. In that context, the forum is being used to its full potential, and it is doing a swell job. ;)

I don't think there any 'silencing' going on. There are forum rules such as staying 'on topic' and i've had quite a few posts that were removed because of these rules; but I quite understand the reasons for that.

don't mistake the two. Read the rules once and you'll kind of get a grip of what's are the minimum standards.

Online posting in most places (check out the filth on youtube posts) is despicable because people cannot be identified, they act as their 'true selves' or their 'bad selves' sometimes. So, you need some 'rules' and order.

I wouldn't go as far as playing the victim and talk about 'silencing'. that wasn't even the thread opener's intention.

[joseph_lubnan]

Originally Posted by Abou Sandal

Actually in those days of electoral campaign,I would recommend closing all the "elections threads" that were opened prior to the formation of the electoral lists,since they are threads more centered around discussions and ideas,related to choices of best candidates and composition of best electoral lists.

But now that this part is done,and electoral lists are final,those threads have become rather useless, and even a waste of time,since discussing issues that are behind us now,and often turning into useless debates and mostly "Jadal Bizanteh".

IMHO,We have to close them all,and to open new kind of "electoral threads" rather centered around the tactics to win and the work done and events occurring on the ground.

I am not sure I agree with you. I think opening new threads is a fine idea, but why closing?

[Abou Sandal]

Originally Posted by joseph_lubnan

I am not sure I agree with you. I think opening new threads is a fine idea, but why closing?

Opening new "electoral threads" related to each electoral districts to discuss:

1-The best electoral tactics and campaigns.
2-The Work done on the ground.
3-The daily events occurring.

Would certainly bring a fresh breeze and make the discussions less boring and more fruitful.

Because the actual threads are more about;

1-Which candidate this or that side,will,or should or want to chose.
2-Which list to form.
3-How will the alliances be forged and who will face who.

This is behind us now,so those threads are already of the past,and keeping discussing issues that are now past us,is not only boring but also useless.Not to mention that they already sound like an old disc that keeps repeating.Frrankly,it's not interesting to keep copy/pasting the same song.

Mind you that i'm only talking about "the elections thread"...those that are labeled by the name of each district...Not anything else.They just need a little make-over,and a fresh start,that is appropriate with the context.

Ya3neh we only close them,to re-open them with a fresh look and a more appropriate theme,adapted to the current time.
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