FairBoundaries Google Group -- Join/Discuss Now!

As part of an ongoing effort to improve this blog, I have created a supplemental discussion/file repository site to centralize and formalize all discussions on boundary issues, as well as to archive all boundary-study related files that the school board or nearby communities have created for this and other recent boundary studies. Comments will no longer be accepted at the end of any future FB 2.0 blog postings -- all discussions will be submitted and maintained via the Google Group site.

Anonymous commenting is the one issue that this blog has been repeatedly criticized for the most in recent months and deservedly so, given that the quality and tone of some comments grew contentious and ugly at times. That was the impetus for creating the new FB Google Group. Users wishing to discuss or comment on blog posts here -- or any boundary-related topic of their choice -- will need to visit the FB Google Group site (accessible via the link at right) and sign up as a group member. It is fairly painless and quick process, one which I hope will cut down on the anonymous "drive-by" potshot comments that grew common across many recent FB posts. Once your membership is approved by the site admin (that's me, though I'm still looking for help), you may start new discusions or add to existing ones. Please remember...

• You will be asked for an email address to process your group registration and so that comments and replies within discussions can be attributed to you and emailed to you (if you choose that notification option).
  
  
• Your email address will not be shared nor used outside this group for any other purpose, however, if you're still uncomfortable registering with a regularly-used personal email address I suggest you create an email account (through Google's Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or a similar service) and maintain it just for this type of use (internet discussions, e-subscriptions, etc.)
  
  
• Only the site administrator (myself) will be able to see the full membership list for the FB Google Group.
  

The primary advantage of moving the discussion function to a dedicated Google Group site is that it's designed to handle threaded discussions far better than the limited commenting function built into Blogger.com. Also, users will have a lot more control over how -- or if -- they are notified when new comments/replies are posted on a discussion. As you can see from the preferences screenshot below, you can choose to be notified of updated discussions by email in a variety of ways or by simply visiting the group to read them at your leisure.

I encourage you to visit and join the FairBoundaries Google Group. In fact, once you're a member, invite someone else to join -- the site admin must approve all new memberships, however anyone is eligible to join and to invite others to join.

More details have been provided in today's earlier post covering last evening's school board boundary vote, including the amendment language that was included as part of the approved boundary recommendation.