Moving Foward With the Daily Paul - Assistance & Input Requested
Posted June 26th, 2008 by Michael Nystrom
output
First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who sent in a donation to keep the site running. I've been touched by your generosity and kind words. I sent everyone who donated some cool stickers, but if you did not receive yours (I might have missed some) please let me know using the contact button above. So far I've raised close to $1,500 via donations. That will cover hosting for the next 5 months or so, but there is so much more that needs to be done around here. And something about me raising money this way does not seem right to me. This letter is an explanation of why and a musing on what we should do with the Daily Paul.
As many of you know, I am now helping out officially at Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty, which means I have less time and attention to give to the Daily Paul. Furthermore, the features we've got in store for the new CFL site are going to be awesome. It will include many of the features I wanted to incorporate here, but never had the resources (financial, or programming skill) to implement here. It is really going to be great!
Which makes me wonder what should become of our wonderful little community here at the DP.
Let me begin by answering some questions that I see a lot on the forums, and that I get in my email box with regularity
1) What ever happened to the flag feature? For those of you who don't know, the flag feature was a little link at the end of each post and comment that said, "flag as offensive." If seven people clicked that link, the post or comment disappeared. Some people didn't like it, but I thought it was great. It was a great time saver and and policing device for me. The community self policed itself. Most offensive and non-relevant crap got taken down, and pretty quickly. So why is it gone? Apparently, some hacker found a security hole, and was able to take down posts without being logged in. Overnight tons of very interesting posts just disappeared, and kept disappearing. So I had to disable the function. After this, the "noise" on the forums has gone way up, for which I apologize. I'm simply not able to monitor everything by myself.
2) Duh - who could monitor a site this big by himself? Why don't you just have moderators deal with it? Believe me, I would love to have moderators. It is not because I'm on some kind of power trip, believe me! It just so happens that the software that this site runs on - Drupal version 5 - does not allow for moderators. Either someone is an administrator with complete power over all the posts on the site - free to modify and delete at will - or they have no power. I cannot simply give someone the ability to just delete forum topics, and/or comments. It is an all or none deal, which is a big disadvantage. So I have been reluctant to hand over the keys to the temple to just anyone, as I hope you can understand.
These are the main problems we face I think, and I've been stuck about what to do about it for some time. But either the site is going to die - overrun with trolls - or we're going to have to fix it.
My solution is to turn this site over as much as possible to the grassroots. We have a great community here. The resources it needs are:
1) Programming skills
2) Hosting
3) Moderation / Policing
1) Programming skills - The site runs on free, powerful, open source software called Drupal. I'm looking for a Drupal consultant that would be willing to take over technical administration of the site. In the past, I had been paying market rate of $40 - $125 per hour for various programmers to service the site, but I can no longer do this since ad revenue is way down. However, if you can do a good job with this site, it would serve as a great showcase for your work, I can give you adspace to advertise your services to others, and recommendation to potential clients. I also might have paying gigs for you to work on down the line.
If you are an aspiring Drupal rockstar and would like the opportunity to turn the Daily Paul into a high traffic, high visibility showpiece for your portfolio, please contact me using the contact button above.
2) Hosting. Currently I'm paying $315 per month to host the site on a dedicated server. It seems to be running fine, though I don't like seeing that $315 charge on my credit card bill each month. It hurts! So likewise - if you have a hosting company and would like to donate server space, I will be happy to offer the same deal: Prominent advertising space and recommendations to other Liberty minded companies and individuals. The site is currently running on a dedicated 2 x Quad Core Xeon server.
3) Moderation / Policing. Hopefully, the hotshot Drupal programmer will be able to solve the lack of granular user control, either with a programming fix, or perhaps with an upgrade to Drupal 6. In the mean time, I'll be looking for trusted users to help out with these tasks. I'll be asking for the community to vet the candidates. Many of you spend much more time on the site than me, so I will rely on everyone for feedback on who is most trusted. If you are interested, please drop me a line using the contact button above. Please realize that you will be vetted by your peers in a public forum as to your suitability. Aside from a few exceptions, I'm not sure how else to do it.
I would like the site to be as much community run and controlled as possible, kind of a common good for the liberty movement. This is an experiment, any and all input is welcome below and via email using the contact button above. I don't know how it will work out - however, I have always been very interested in experimenting with alternate currencies and working arrangements rather than just using FRN's.
I will be away on Friday and Saturday, attending a friend's wedding out of state. I generally cannot answer all of the email I receive, but I promise to acknowledge everything I receive regarding this project and getting the site straightened out for the long haul.
Thank you all for your patience and continued support.
Best regards,
Michael Nystrom
Editor
www.dailypaul.com
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Thank you for the info and
Thank you for the info and all your hard work.
I've been in the web
I've been in the web publishing business for well over 10 years. I'd love to run a site like this.
In my opinion, DP is completely centered around the community. That is the functional focus of this site.
The software being used here, Drupal, is a content management platform and not a community management platform. Drupal seems to be fine software but it is not really specialized for managing a huge community. As Michael mentioned, some community management type features are simply not available with Drupal.
I suggest considering to move this site over to a community management platform. I also suggest going with a commercial product simply because of how large DP is, the commercial support would be useful. In addition, commercial software has more of an obligation to customers to fix security issues immediately (that comment is in regards to the DP flag feature being removed due to a security flaw in Drupal). Going with a commercial product would be a relatively minor expense.
The specific software I suggest moving to is vBulletin. vB scales extremely well and is being used on many huge community websites. It is the top dog in the forum software business. Cost is around $160 for the license and $30 or $40 each additional year. vB is well stocked with community management features. There is also an import script which enables websites to move their communities over to vBulletin - Drupal is on the list of programs that the vB import script supports. vB has a staff member who is dedicated to working on and improving the import script - so if there are import problems they will very likely work to help correct the issue.
Hosting wise, $315 monthly for a dedicated server doesn't sound like a bad deal for a site of this size. If DP was my site I would build a server and colocate it at a relatively close datacenter with good bandwidth rates. I would guess that the hosting cost could probably be cut down to $200 or so depending on how much bandwidth is being used.
Regarding DP having moderators as well as needing a Drupal programmer, converting the site to using vBulletin would basically handle both of those needs. vB has moderator functionality and zero programming should be needed as the developers of vB already do a great job. You might need someone to handle software upgrades if you're not familiar with doing that.
Really?
It costs $300 a month to host this site?
And advertisement doesn't pay at least $10 a day?
How is that? Or is this "donation" amount including advertisement?
Bump
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Future of the DP
Please visit my thread here http://www.dailypaul.com/...
This thread here is very helpful and should be kept bumped. Mine goes a little beyond the topic of this thread.
Dr. Paul cured my apathy
Bump
Dr. Paul cured my apathy
Thank You Michael
Daily Paul was one of my most trusted resources during the hey day of the campaign. Even though I visit less these days I just want to tell you what great thing you did for the RP campaign and I hope we will meet one day down the road toward freedom and liberty.
Thanks again Michael,
John
Liberty Freedom Peace
Bump
Dr. Paul cured my apathy
this is the best site online anywhere
my hat is off for what Michael has done....you must be an angel.
admit it.
p.s. Can a Canadian donate?
Thanks, Canuck!
I have family in Ontario. I love it there.
Do you know why they spell Canada like they do?
C-eh? N-eh? D-eh?
:-)
----
Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty Money Bomb!
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -John Quincy Adams
This has been a great site,
This has been a great site, thank you Michael.
Drupal wasn't a good choice.
I'm an avid php developer but I do not have the time or energy to take on a drupal site. Drupal is a pain to admin and develop for. The first mistake of this site happened before the first post even went up. Drupal is not a good cms for a massive community. There are shedloads of exploits available for it.
If I were to take the reigns of this site I'd port it to another cms with better security. It would take months to port over the data but it would be worth it. I'd suggest an obscure security minded CMS. The thing about CMS's is that the more people that use a particular one will also attract more attackers for it.
Nystrom you are doing a huge service to everyone for keeping this site going. It's an extremely valuable asset to Ron Paul supporters. This isn't named the Daily Barr or the Daily 9/11. It's the Daily Paul though some people seem to forget that.
what would be?
A good choice CMS?
I'm all about the security and stability, please recommend (my site wont be as high traffic as this one, so less to worry, but still).
What do you need....
What do you need in terms of hosting?
I might be willing to donate bandwidth if it isn't a god-awful large number.
What are the requirements of this site in terms of system resources and bytes per month?
My Shelfari page
you are not alone
in asking this question
this site hosts very few graphics and zero videos, all thanks to youtube and other free resources.
I'm in the hosting industry, I know that very few sites cost $100 a month to host, bandwidth or CPU. In fact, unless there's any complicated OS or software to install and manage, it can be far less than $100 a month.
if you get moderators
Michael - I think if you get moderators, you will have to decide how serious you are about the site rules as quite a few people here have been getting away with a lot of abuse and bad language although they have stopped it for the most part. I don't personally mind the bad language as long as there's not too much and I think it's a bit hard to police now.
Also, the 'inside job theory' is off topic and if it is here it certainly shouldn't be here *as much as it is*. It's a pet theory of a lot of people here, and not part of RPs official platform, not something he has voted on, not really something 'libertarian/constitutional', causes a LOT of fights, is perfect troll-bait, attracts aggressive members and most importantly pushes a lot of much worthier stuff off the front page. Some posters I think come here mainly to post about this subject. And prisonplanet already exists.
I know people should speak freely (ironic then that a lot of truthers like the flagging function) but truth theory if it is here too much will start to look de facto like part of the platform and it's just a theory.
Banning=Censorship, It is so
Banning=Censorship....
It is so simple to not bother with a topic that is of no interest to you. If no one is interested the post will fade away, but please don't decide what I am allowed to read or discuss.
No need to get sulky
I won't be deciding anything, Michael will. I am offering my 2 cents.
You aren't allowed to discuss bestiality here either and that's not a problem. By being here *so much* it gets associated with RP and his supporters. Sorry if that impinges on your freedom of speech but that's probably not something the CFL wants and I know I don't. You guys posted too many threads about it.
It is in a special category because it's a conspiracy theory imo. The blizzard of ridiculous 'evidence' that gets thrown around makes you guys look really really silly.
The DP is about RP's platform - I wish you guys would talk about it amongst yourselves. I think you DO do it here as you can get people who haven't heard it all before and you have a captive audience. You say 'ignore it'. No. If it's here unchallenged it looks like every Ron Paul supporter is some kind of wingding truther. That's not good.
Any other topics that are "off topic"
that should be banned that RP has not voted on? The Barr threads were here non stop pushing everything RP off. I am sure he has many of his own sites to use. How about the many other popular topics here that are not directly tied to RP official platform? I would suggest if 9/11 is a topic that is "here as much as it is" it must mean it is something that many people here enjoy discussing. I do a little bit although not as much as others, but it sure beats getting Barr beaten over your head all day and night. If Michael has a problem with certain topics I have no problem with his choice, but it is my understanding that 9/11 was an acceptable topic to discuss. Just by the fact a topic is "troll bait" must mean it is something important that is trying to be discredited; ie as of lately RP record of voting per Constitution which was attacked. I say get rid of the trolls not the topics that don't like.
"truth theory"
Rational people tend to agree that there is a singular truth to discernible reality.
That's not a theory, that is one basis for our reality. We human beings generally agree that we perceive the same physical reality, that we live on the planet Earth which is in orbit of a star that we call the Sun, that there is night and day and that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. In the more temperate climates 4 distinct seasons can be observed. We acknowledge that rain is wet and the winter is colder than the summer. We know that plants and animals grow in the right conditions and that we need food, water, sleep and shelter to survive. We know that the original purpose of human sexuality is to procreate. These are a few of the things we know. I could go on, but you get my point.
So, what are people to do if they disagree with the government and the mass media's version of the truth? What are we to do about the North American Union? What are we to do about American Imperialism? What are we to do about the REAL ID? Ending these initiatives is part of "RP's official platform." How do you suggest that we deal with these issues? By not talking about them? Because, the War Party Government and the quote-mainstream media seem to maintain a code of silence on these matters. So are we to simply follow their lead and not question these things as well? What else is off limits? "Global warming"? A water-powered car reported by Reuters? What is the limit exactly? Should we just check with you first to see if you will be offended or if you think that others will take offense?
Is the cause of liberty the cause of political correctness?
----
We would all do well to always remember the words of Patrick Henry:
"This is no time for ceremony. The question before the house is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at the truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the numbers of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past." -Patrick Henry
I will try to donate again after having some probs
last time. Might have just been busy.
___________
Lisa C.
“Elections are short term efforts; revolutions are long term projects.”
--Ron Paul
Join the rEVOLution here: http://www.campaignforlib...
Not to rain on
the Campaign for Liberty parade, but I think it needs "hipper" shirts. Just speaking from a younger point of view, if we want to get the attention of people by wearing them, I think they could be a little "louder". They don't exactly draw in my attention. Again, just a thought, but I just think we need to make our passion radiate through our statement..... and it's one that should be recognized! We have to remember the in this day and age image is everything. Though our message is strong, great marketing will make it catch on quicker. We need shirts/fliers/buttons/signs that are catchy, flashy, and to the point.
I think it might be beneficial to call upon a marketing group (that supports liberty of course) to come up with a great catchy tagline to go along with our Campaign for Liberty. OR we can just use the great minds of ron paul supporters alike to come up with something ourselves...Be creative, be innovative...... we have all the wit in the world to come up with something great and memorable.
If you have to say it loud...
...you're probably not saying it well.
-0-
www.LawfulGov.Org
Your Nexus to the Freedom Movement
it's hard
to get people excited about a long term, soft advocacy group.
people got excited about the presidential campaign because it's a quick result, and there's a "figure" (try to avoid saying head of the cult).
thus a graphical tshirt for a long term movement is hard to piece, and useless if it doesn't fit. (in short, if the campaign itself doesn't excite you, a t-shirt won't help)
How about some suggestions?
___________
Lisa C.
“Elections are short term efforts; revolutions are long term projects.”
--Ron Paul
Join the rEVOLution here: http://www.campaignforlib...
Thank You Michael
for everything you have done with this site for the last 1+ year. I think it would be great to dedicate its use to the Campaign For Liberty. I also think it would be great to if you could delete post about other candidates that Ron has not endorsed. We really need to stick to the job at hand, and name all the candidates that Ron has endorsed.
Give Me Freedom
If Tyranny And Oppression Come To This Land, It Will Be In The
Guise Of Fighting A Foreign Enemy. James Madison
thnk you Michael. Can you pls address this suggestion?
On VB forums there is an ignore feature? Is there any way you can add an ignore feature. That way if I see something or someone I dont want to read I can just put them or their post on ignore this way this forum will become so peaceful and beautiful. Pls adress if this is possible. Congrats to your friend btw
__________
Video message from Dr. Chuck Baldwin to all his fellow Revolutionaries
http://www.youtube.com/wa...
As a measure of appreciation
I donated $40 today to the DP
Thank you for removing Justcantgetenough... =]
I didnt even think
Of that. Heres an Idea. Bounties. Put bounties on the heads of those who become disruptive here on the DP. That could be a way to raise money. "Ill put a bounty of 40 bucks on he we do not speak of" Poof he's gone "thanks boss heres the 40 for killing he that we do not speak of."
bounties... yes
Great idea. People who donate are usually more serious about things than those who don't. Of course, the agents among us may have some (ahem) "discretionary funding" at their disposal, so this would need to be done wisely....
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Join the Team! campaignforliberty.com
Actually that is a good idea
Why couldn’t Daily Paul have like ten monitors, then make a page only they can go into and discuss questionable post. They could then vote on deletion. Make it like capital offense the vote must be unanimous for deletion or it stays. This way only one moderator is required to delete what is voted on. The moderator will only execute the sentence. The monitors could spend most of their time warning people not to post unwanted material (which could be spelled out by you Many or you could also give the monitors some say in the site’s limitations). Once established monitors could let people know when they are getting out of the boundaries. I also believe that the monitor’s decision should be final once voted on no matter what they should as a whole be given both responsibility and authority when. Their vote should be final. I also believe if they are given power to ban the person that person should get a chance to state their case to the monitors before a ban is placed on a him/her. I think that sounds like a good system and would relieve you of the time it takes to monitor the site leaving you free to do bigger and better things. You could push the button or turn it over (upon) to someone else. I would feel more comfortable with you having that button Many but if you need to pass it off, at least leave that power in the hands of a veteran of Daily Paul someone who has been here for more than 2 or 3 months.
Great comment
It would still be up To Michael to make a final decision but would help him not be buried in tons of e-mail. The monitors would not have any real "power" so to speak other that to decide what might need to be addressed by Michael.
A recommendation for the CFL:
A hyperlinked map of the U.S.A. Every state, county, township and school board are hyperlinked and the current officials are noted and submissions from people for political positions are sent into the CFL. The campaign's can focus on either Federal, State, County, Township or School Government
We can organize a massive reorganizing of America and everyone across the nation can be informed about the people who are running for office and anyone can join-of course the CFL can investigate potential candidates after submitting their information.
I'm sure the campaign is busy handling abunch of stuff, but I want to throw this out. I'm trying to do this on my own here: http://www.ronpaulforumpa..., but it's slow going with just me. Can the CFL do this?
Very interesting...
I can work on something like this after I finish my current secret project for the CFL which will be revealed very shortly.
Can you make high res CFL logo available to the public, so
that people can make flyer, etc? I have no plan of making money using the logo.
"first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks...will deprive the people of all property" -Thomas Jefferson
I can re-make the logo, but...
...I want permission to do so. I wrote to CFL the day it unofficially opened and have not received a response. If they say it's cool I'll send one out to whomever wants a copy.
"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
-George Washington
Logo
I would not be able to replicate that in high-res myself, I would say that your best bet would be to contact the CFL itself for a high-res file as soon as they get their phone number up.
I'm sure they will be more than willing to share in order to get material circulating, I don't even think it should be a problem even if you did intend on turning a profit for yourself as well.
We are fighting for free market capitalism after all.
ronpaulforumpa.com?
Ron Paul is running for Umpa? When did he announce that?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Join the Team! campaignforliberty.com
Or would that be
ron paul forum pennsylvania??? lol
I really like this idea.
I really like this idea.
Ignore User Module
This feature alone would solve so many problems. I was at Drupal digging around and found this module. People still have a choice and that's a good thing.
http://drupal.org/project...
I also have lots of hosting space on a number of servers at home and commercially hosted machines. I would not charge anything to host DP. I love this site and want to help keep it going if I'm allowed to. I would keep it exactly as it is, but would add the Ignore User Module because people need to get on with their tasks, not having to deal with disruptive behavior is essential to getting stuff done around here. There is a lot of history on DP that is valueable to all of us.
-
Show your support on the Ron Paul Map !
People worldwide support Dr. Paul too :-)
http://www.pollingmatrix....
I have a really hard time
letting go of the DP. I keep telling myself to move on but I can't because there is such a wealth of information and arguing. Believe it or not I learn a lot when people argue it is just when they call each other names that it gets a bit out of control. This site is so easy to view and use that for someone like myself that is not computer savvy appreciates. It would be nice if it could evolve and continue to cover current events and how to survive during the difficult days ahead. The helpful info has really come in handy. When there is something I need to know it is easy to just ask a question. That makes me feel a part of the Freedom community. Whatever, your decision for the DP I just want to say many thanks, Michael for being here when I didn't know where to turn. This site has been a blessing to me when I was upset and didn't have anyone who understood what was happening but here others are awake and it is a comfort. Thanks, to the DP community local, national, and international your points of view have helped me grow as a better citizen and person. Peace
Hey Quiltingsando
Without this forum, I would be hiding in my closet thinking I was totally insane. By coming here I get to realize that there are many others that really do understand our world is going to hell in a handbasket. If I was to only talk to the people who are in my physical world I would have to believe that the government is good and only wants to "take care" of me. I give thanks for the forum and Ron Paul constantly for allowing me to see the truth.
It's like a mass Stockholm syndrome
It's like a mass Stockholm syndrome out there sometimes--we're meant to be conditioned to sympathize with our NWO captors. Similar to 1984, loving Big Brother government has been equated with patriotism in this country. But many people are starting to wake up now and I think the tide is turning toward liberty.
Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty Money Bomb!
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -John Quincy Adams
RPRevolutionist, I feel the
RPRevolutionist, I feel the same way! I talk to most of my relatives about politics and economics, trying to un-brainwash them and warn them (but not in a heavy-handed way), and most just want to put their fingers in their ears and say "LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA"! Or else some of them will say "I just don't want to hear all that depressing stuff"! Yeah, for the driver of a car who's fallen asleep at the wheel, it might also be "depressing" to be told that you are about to go over a cliff ---- but is ignoring the situation going to shield you from the consequences?
My (least?) favorite answer
My (least?) favorite answer is: " nothing I can do about it"
My response is: "Have you called or written your congressman?" And then there is that blank glazed over eyes expression.
It's a simple formula to me...
...just like anything in our personal lives (buying a house or a car, going to school, losing weight, etc.), the same is true of public affairs: if you rationalize or internalize that nothing can be done, then certainly nothing will be done.
----
Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty Money Bomb!
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -John Quincy Adams
Hosting Help May Be On Its Way
I know someone who I think can and would be willing to take care of your hosting needs. I've directed him to this post; hopefully he'll get to it today.
hopefully he'll take the offer
I've offered people here (not this site directly) hosting services and helped some save good money (by not charging them what doesn't cost me).
I do hope there's help in non-monetary forms to be used.
I love the site as is
but think the suggestion below with several monitors may be a solution to the few posters we all know are just here to cause problems. As far as defraying any cost to you why not just put up a chip-in with a counter and a monthy amount needed to keep the site up and running. You should not feel uncomfortabe about that at all. Those that feel the value of what the site offers will give whatever they are able to.