Please Help Us Grow!

[Editor]

Civil Discourse’s purpose is as simple as its name. This is a safe harbor for thoughtful people who are tired of the barking that so often passes for debate in the media. It also is a serious alternative to the vacuous, personality-driven chat rooms that glut the Internet.

Thanks to a recent site overhaul, we have improved upon the bulletin-board features of other forums, making conversations easier to find and follow. We delete entries that merely take up space, so readers are assured of substantive commentary on every topic on the site.

Civil Discourse began as an informal e-mail roundtable among friends in autumn, 1998. Over time it became clear many of the conversations would be of interest to a wider audience and would benefit from more voices. Joe McQuade, a writer and charter member of the roundtable, oversaw the design of Civil Discourse and has been its editor since it opened in May, 2000. Many of the first posted conversations were taken from the roundtable archives, which accounts for the frequent appearance of a relative handful of contributors early on.

Over the next five years CD evolved into a "boutique" web salon with a few dozen active contributors and hundreds of loyal subscribers to our daily bulletin. Late in 2005, an overhaul of the site’s software made it even easier to use, and we began permitting visitors to start conversations on any topics they chose. (Previously, discussions were initiated or approved by the editor.) We now are shifting from word-of-mouth promotion to more aggressive recruitment of readers and contributors.

Civil Discourse's free weekday bulletin tracks the latest happenings on the site (and guarantees you’ll never miss a Daily Groaner). Readers also can ask for e-mail alerts when new posts arrive on any topic they choose. And each time they return to CD, they can quickly learn where new topics and posts have been filed since their last visit. Powerful topic and author search tools enable contributors to compile everything they've ever written for Civil Discourse – their own CD scrapbook.

You can help the cause immensely by using our invite friends link, or by signing up your friends for bulletins. Thanks for visiting and supporting Civil Discourse, where readers are valued and writers are cherished. Come back often, and be sure to share your thoughts on whatever moves you.

[Editor]

Posted in Spring, 2005



As Civil Discourse approaches its fifth anniversary, we are embarking on a major redesign of the web site and a fundamental shift in emphasis. We would appreciate your help.

At present CD is a community of a few hundred loyal readers and a handful of talented contributors. In our small way, we like to think we've lived up to the mission statement posted on opening day, May 8, 2000: "This is a safe harbor for thoughtful people who are tired of the barking that passes for debate in so much of the modern media. It is a serious alternative to the vacuous, personality-driven chat rooms that glut the Internet."

From the outset, we have been torn between the conflicting goals of expanding our reach and maintaining high standards of writing and, well, civility. Thoughts of promoting the site to recruit more contributors were always tempered by fears that CD would be inundated by rude and ungrammatical flamers. The result, frankly, was paralysis.

That "boutique" chapter in our history is drawing to a close. When the site redesign is complete, we intend to promote Civil Discourse aggressively in hopes of widening our readership and contributor roster. We also wouldn't be averse to earning a few advertising dollars along the way.

This expansion might alter the overall quality and tenor of our postings, but the hope is that we will find diamonds in the rough. The trick will be seeing to it that new Ed Uthmans and Jim Hamiltons and S. Theets aren't buried beneath the junk. We don't want to hire gatekeepers. Actually, we think we have a better solution.

We have a "find member's posts" tool that enables readers to find everything ever posted by writers they like. An “ignore user” tool lets them bypass non-substantive entries in discussions and focus on those contributors who have interesting things to say. In effect, each reader will become the editor of the site. We hope this system will allow us to grow and still provide visitors a quality product.

We ask anyone with ideas for improving Civil Discourse to share them here, or privately in our suggestion box. With your help, we might make the world a slightly more civilized place.

[Editor]

Holiday Greetings from Civil Discourse!


We approach the new year confident that we’ve shaken out most of the kinks on our web site and optimistic that the future holds great promise. The daily bulletin will stand down between Christmas and New Year’s, so the CD staff can devote its full attention to egg nog and druid solstice rituals. But the site will remain open throughout the holidays.

We encourage everyone during this period to provide what the revitalized Civil Discourse needs most – more conversations, more replies, more voices. Go ahead and post that Way Cul Lyric you’ve been thinking about. Give us a mini review of the last book or movie you took in. Toss a fresh topic onto the fire, or give one of our active contributors what for.

If you’re bashful, sign up with or change your member name* to a pseudonym and begin blasting away. (There is no shame in pseudonymity. Some of our best friends are imposters. Jim Hamilton, CH, Niles, S. Theet, Buff Critic, Jim Perry...let’s just say you’ll never find those guys in the phone book. But we’re glad to have them.)

In January we will begin spending actual time and actual money promoting Civil Discourse across the fruited plain. Advertising, search engine placement, bus station graffiti...we’re going to do everything we can to give CD the boost it deserves.

If you agree Civil Discourse is a worthy endeavor, here are some ways you might help.

Holiday Checklist: A Six-Pack of Things I Can Do to Make CD Better.

1. Start and contribute to more conversations -- and urge others to do the same.
2. Forward bulletins to my e-mail address list.
3. Link to CD advertisers and launch my Google searches from the site.
4. Activate my free membership and sign up for topic and forum tracking tools.
5. Sign up friends for free bulletin subscriptions.
6. This one is worth repeating: Start and contribute to more conversations -- and urge others to do the same.


Thanks again for your continued support. We’ll try our best to reward it in the coming year.



* Existing members can request name changes here.

(If you have ideas for promoting or improving Civil Discourse, kindly share them here or here.)

[Editor]

Civil Discourse Wants YOU!

We all know reading Civil Discourse is one of life’s great joys. But writing for it is even better. The best ways to advance our noble cause: Post OFTEN in any of our 200-plus discussions, and open new conversations on any topics that strike your fancy.

Civil Discourse can never have too many interesting writers, ideas and perspectives. At CD, readers are valued -- but posters are cherished. So drop by soon and help the world get Civilized!

[Editor]

The following is adapted from a private exchange today between Au Courant and Joe McQuade.


Au Courant:

How do you -- personally, as the owner of CD -- define success for the site?


Joe McQuade:

From the outset my goals have been simple: To learn and grow by writing in the company of stimulating people -- and to preserve an archive of the experience.

This has been a labor of love, not a financial enterprise. Sure, I enjoy receiving my modest payments for the Google ads on the site. But I'm happier on days when there is one provocative post than on days when there are scores of forgettable ones.

From the beginning I've agonized about the tension between quantity and quality. It's impossible to attract additional intelligent people without increasing traffic, and it's difficult to increase traffic without attracting the kinds of voices that chase intelligent people away.

For the first five or so years, I erred on the side of caution, eschewing advertising or other promotion and refusing to allow anyone but me to initiate a conversation. A couple of years ago I loosened the reins with new, friendlier software and easier posting requirements. The good outweighed the bad, and we did grow. But word-of-mouth advertising only goes so far.

Last fall I dipped my toe into paid advertising, hoping that carefully targeted search-engine ads might offer the best quantity/quality compromise. The results were encouraging. This kind of advertising is relatively cheap, and it filters out a lot of idiots. Dozens of new voices appeared, a few of them quite gifted, and I only had to give two flamers the heave-ho.

Now CD is better than ever, and I'm laying the groundwork for another ad campaign later this year. I'm optimistic we can become much bigger without sacrificing our standards.

So, to answer your question, my definition of success has already been met. Everything after this will be cherries. But I do like cherries...