I sent the following suggestions about the web site into MyBO this afternoon, but the autoanswer strongly implies they will not get looked at. You'd think they'd want user feedback...
I have been using mybarackobama.com a lot this summer and I have some suggestions about the web site.
For example, SHOWBAMA your colors, nationwide on August 30th,
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/communityservice/44dr5
Please Donate Party!! On the Obama blog
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/fundraising/44jkc
NYC Faith Outreach – Research from home
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/organizing/4lwr
and many more.
The problem is that you only see the ones that were somehow tagged as being “near” the zip code you type in. My suggestion is to make a new category of nationwide, from home, indefinite duration events. I would immediately take advantage of it to publicize my idea of sending bumper stickers to swing states to be given away.
A few minor points
Profile pages of people with lots and lots of friends seem to take forever to load.
When you buy at the STORE, although it counts as a donation, it doesn’t show up as a donation on your dashboard.
It would be nice to have a way to search for FRIENDS both by name and by zip code, not each separately.
Thanks for your time.
“The volume of messages we're receiving has gone up since Barack's victory in Iowa.”
Progressives Must Guard Against Helping to Promote Republican Narrative That Alleges Obama "Flip Flops"
By Robert Creamer via www.huffingtonpost.com
The Republican spin machine is locked and loaded to promote the notion that Barack Obama is a "flip flopper." Four years ago it was their principal line of attack against Kerry and it worked like a charm.
In 2004, the goal of this narrative was to convince swing voters that Kerry had no core values -- that his positions and commitments were blown by the winds of public opinion just as he was blown right and left in the notorious campaign ad of Kerry wind-surfing.
Not long after the 2004 election, I was in a New Jersey taxicab. The driver was a typical male New Jersey cabbie. "So what do you think of Corzine?" I asked. "Oh, Corzine, tough guy. Like him," he replied about the then-Senator.
"What do you think of Bush?" I asked. "Like him too. Tough guy. Stands up for what he believes," came the answer.
"What about Kerry?" I asked. "Kerry? Can't stand him. Flip-flopper."
People want leaders who are firmly committed to their values. The key thing that affected the New Jersey cabbie's view wasn't the positions or views of the candidates. It was whether they stood up for what they believed. There are many independent voters just like him.
I believe that John Kerry has very clear values, but he left himself open to be defined to swing voters as if he didn't.
Barack Obama is firmly committed to progressive values that contrast sharply with the values implicit in necon foreign policy and dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest Bush-McCain economic policies.
Obama is much less likely than Kerry was to allow himself to be characterized as a flip-flopper without core values, because his entire campaign is rooted in the discussion of values. It has drawn very sharp distinctions with Republicans on the critical symbolic questions of Iraq, the economy and health care. But that won't keep Republicans from doing everything they can to try to make Obama look like he is a "typical politician" without a moral core the same way they did with Kerry.
Last week's near-frenzy in the media over Obama's alleged "move to the center" on Iraq had no substance whatsoever. It was fed, virtually entirely, by the Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign that simply asserted that his statements on Iraq represented a "change " from earlier positions. That narrative was picked up and parroted by various media pundits as if it were true.
Unfortunately, some Progressives fell prey to the media wave and actually gave credence to this non-story, when the fact is that Obama has consistently supported ending the war in Iraq and withdrawing all combat troops within 16 months, at a pace that is responsive to the situation on the ground.
Progressives have to remember that the Republicans don't care about the nuances of these issues. Their goal is simple: make Obama look like he is changing his position.
All Progressives don't agree with every position Barack Obama has taken, but the fact is that very few of his positions have changed since the campaign began.
Progressives who disagree with Barack Obama but at the same time don't want to help Republicans usher in a third Bush term need to remember three things:
1). Go right ahead and disagree with an Obama position or statement -- but disagree on the substance. Don't impute some venal motive. Remember that even when you disagree with him on an issue or policy, Obama shares our progressive values.
2). Don't reinforce the Republican narrative that Obama is a "flip flopper." Disagreeing with an Obama position is very different from arguing that he agreed with you once, but now has changed positions just to win favor with the voters. First, that is generally wrong. Second, if Obama emphasizes one aspect of a position instead of another in order to attract a particular group of voters, that does not mean he "changed" his position. Third, remember that the Republicans are desperate to get Progressives to confirm their narrative and convince guys like my New Jersey taxi driver to elect John McCain.
3). Remember that there is a huge gulf between the values of Obama and McCain. Obama stands clearly in the progressive tradition of giving every human being equal opportunity to fulfill their potential. McCain stands squarely on the side of ultra-conservative values that protect the power and prerogatives of the wealthiest among us.
Obama stands firmly against the neocon foreign policies of preemptive war and unilateral action that lay at the root of the worst American foreign policy disaster in a generation. McCain stands just as firmly for the neocon vision and the Bush approach to the rest of the world.
Obama believes that economic growth happens from the bottom up and doesn't trickle down on the rest of us. He supports the rights of workers to organize to defend their standard of living, and a world where we're all in this together, not all in this alone. McCain intends to continue Bush's economic policies that have assured that all of the economic growth in the last seven years has gone to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
Obama understands that our world faces the greatest environmental crisis in history as we seek to prevent human beings from altering our climate. First and foremost, John McCain's loyalties lie with the oil industry.
We need to remember that John McCain's campaign is managed by lobbyists from the biggest special interests in America, while Barack Obama understands the need to mobilize tens of millions of Americans to change Washington from the ground up.
Progressives should go right ahead and question Obama's positions on issues -- and they should continue to hold him accountable when he is elected president. But remember that the Republicans are desperate to convince independent voters that Obama is "just another politician" whose values flow from the latest poll instead of his own commitment to principle. Don't help them. If you do you will be wrong, and you will also help the Republicans fulfill their unthinkable fantasy of a third Bush term.
* My Words*
I've come to the conclusion that we have this "problem" because we think of Obama as a two dimensional politician when he is actually three dimensional, if not more. A very easy thing to do when in the past all we had were two dimensional politicians. It's time for us to keep up with the times, the changes we are going to see and stop allowing ourselves and other to over simplify our Next President, Mr Obama. As he has said all along that he wants us to change how we think of politics in general. It isn't about Repulican, democrate, black or white, far right or far left. It's about us...all of us and thinking outside of our normal two dimensional political box. We have to stay on message and know it like the back of our hand. In the coming months the Repuglicans will spoend millions of dollars to make Obama out to be ssomething he is not which is a typical two deminsional politician; even using his own words from his books. We can't allow it.
I just checked netcraft.com for all the major candidates for president. It should come as no surprise to those of us who use Linux on a regular basis that Barack Obama runs his web site on Linux. But the real surprise comes when looking at the other candidates. Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Mike Huckabee are all running their sites on Windows Server 2003. This information is all correct as of today according to netcraft. I did see a couple of weeks ago that netcraft said that barackobama.com was running FreeBSD, but it says Linux now, and FreeBSD is still much better for running web sites as sophisticated as this one than Windows Server 2003.
Obama for America! Obama for Linux! YES WE CAN!!
Dear HQ: Let me share with you a proposal I just posted on the main blog. This website is getting HUGE and, IMO, its features must be improved to reflect that growth. Here are a few suggestions. We are growing like wildfire and we have to get organized:
--Add bandwidth. This is the only website that I have trouble with consistently in the form of "cannot find server" messages or freezing of the screens. This, despite my excellent high-speed connection.--Add a search engine. This website is getting huge!--Have campaign staffers and volunteers offer their own live feeds of events such as speeches so that we don't have to wait for the MSM to use them. We not only want the speech but, also, the crowd's reaction.--Introduce more features in the text such as spell check, bold, italics, etc....--Add a feature that enables us to cut and paste text or images from Word, Exel, etc... or other websites into our own blogposts--Change the script! Those of us with myopia AND astigmatism AND a lazy eye need some help and understanding. Is this Arial 10 pt.? A bit too small. Times New Roman, Garmond or Arial at 11-12 pts. would be much easier to both read and edit. I am not joking when I say that you could attract more seniors tis way. As for me and other lifelong bats, we would be more likely to read the long posts.--Increase the size of the text in the comment title to at LEAST 12 pts., so that people are more readily aware of what the person wants to say--Create a video-specific archive of MAIN speeches. Barack TV should also be updated more frequently.--A video archive of television ads--An archive of morning clips, organized by news outlet or subject matter or date
--Add bandwidth. This is the only website that I have trouble with consistently in the form of "cannot find server" messages or freezing of the screens. This, despite my excellent high-speed connection.
--Add a search engine. This website is getting huge!
--Have campaign staffers and volunteers offer their own live feeds of events such as speeches so that we don't have to wait for the MSM to use them. We not only want the speech but, also, the crowd's reaction.
--Introduce more features in the text such as spell check, bold, italics, etc....
--Add a feature that enables us to cut and paste text or images from Word, Exel, etc... or other websites into our own blogposts
--Change the script! Those of us with myopia AND astigmatism AND a lazy eye need some help and understanding. Is this Arial 10 pt.? A bit too small. Times New Roman, Garmond or Arial at 11-12 pts. would be much easier to both read and edit. I am not joking when I say that you could attract more seniors tis way. As for me and other lifelong bats, we would be more likely to read the long posts.
--Increase the size of the text in the comment title to at LEAST 12 pts., so that people are more readily aware of what the person wants to say
--Create a video-specific archive of MAIN speeches. Barack TV should also be updated more frequently.
--A video archive of television ads
--An archive of morning clips, organized by news outlet or subject matter or date
It is my fear that if changes like these are not made quickly, the website will be unmanageable once the primary season kicks in and millions begin to visit www.barackobama.com every day.
