BMG’ers — According to the AP, the State of Virginia recently launched a blog for residents to submit ideas on how to improve government performance. The site also will allow users to collaborate with others to rank and discuss the ideas through interactive voting. We’d love to know what you think of it, and if you know of any other examples of govt-run blogs like this one that we ought to be looking at.
Please share widely!
I tried to create such a resource for my town last year (as a private citizen, not run by the town). The site devolved very quickly into a cesspool of negativity and personal attack. If you moderate the site you get accused of bias when you delete a post. If you don’t moderate the site, citizens who might have a good idea but aren’t used to the rough and tumble nature of the blogosphere quickly get turned of and don’t come back.
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p>All that said, I took a quick look at the Virginia site and was impressed by the quality of the dialog. It would be nice to know how they’re managing the site.
I’m glad you shared your experience — it is exactly what we are afraid of. It’s one thing for a private citizen to be accused of political bias, it’s quite another for the government. We’ll certainly reach out to Virginia to learn more. The TSA runs a moderated blog. We think this is an interesting model as well.