seattle indymedia center

E Meisner asks legitimate questions. The threads at
 http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2006/02/251877.shtml,  http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/251919.shtml, and
 http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2006/02/251877.shtml (and similar ones) are simply brushed off! Is this democracy or bureaucracy?

As far as I am aware the Seattle Indymedia editorial group consists of two people, whom I will call L and R (since I do not know if they are comfortable with their names being public).

Over the last two years I have been to two of the monthly "open house" meetings of the editorial group near 92nd and Aurora.

The editors can be contacted via the editorial email list. Info about the list (including a link to the public archives) can be found at:
 http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattle-editorial

I have sent two emails to this list about the increasing nazi spam and the growing unusability of the site. Neither email has received a reply.

The current editorial group came to power, so to speak, as a result of something of a bureaucratic "coup" about two years ago. No one (other than those who were ousted) objected to this at the time because the current group was more competent than the person(s) they replaced--who tended to be flaky airheads. The politics of the current indymedia group are pretty similar to the previous group: somewhere between liberal and radical and closer to the former than the latter.

The current local Indymedia group figured out how to keep the servers running during the "crisis" two years ago -- when indymedia lost its downtown headquarters as a result of using up their money (ie: that they had been given by wealthy liberals) and finding itself unable to pay the $3,000 a month rent on an expensive drop-in center that was never needed.

The current group kept the site running -- and for that reason I believe the community has given them a certain amount of slack.

However the recent nazi spam and the increasing dysfunction of the site--together with the total lack of responsiveness by the editorial group--has highlighted the basic problem here: the editorial group is small and detached from the militant political movement that gave birth to indymedia and provided the energy that made indymedia what it is.

I believe that _militant_ activists must volunteer to be part of the editorial board--and the current board must drop the barriers which currently exist (ie: a requirement that editorial board members must perform 15 hours of work a week on indymedia-related activity) to greater community participation in running indymedia.

Ben Seattle
 http://struggle.net/ben

Isolated from one another we are easily defeated.
Connected to one another no force on earth can stop us
 http://MediaWeapon.com

As an aside -- I put together a proposal for a different set of software and principles for Seattle Indymedia. The current indymedia group liked the proposal -- but we could not find any volunteers to write the needed the software. The proposal can be seen at:

 http://NewsRefinery.com/indymedia/proposal.htm
 http://NewsRefinery.com/indymedia/mockup.htm

What nazi posts are you talking about? The ones that were zionist forgeries attacking The Troll and Zorro? Those dudes may or may not be anti-semitic, but I doubt that they wrote the posts that said that they hated jews because they have small cocks.

Your posts sound equally idiotic. Why should the IMC editors apologize because some troll posted? This is a fucking open forum with limited moderation. Given that anyone can post anonymously, the ratio of noise to sound is relatively low. If you want to reduce it further, please stop the hissy fits.

The IMC process is open -- perhaps too open for its own good. Idiots with an agenda are always trying to hack the process. I can't tell what is worse -- the right wing vomiters or leftists like Ben Seattle. Ben's goals have the aura of idealism, but the reality is that his mission is to turn the IMC into his personal propaganda machine.

the guy above claims that nazis are not using Seattle indymedia. But there have been many posts and comments by them in the recent period. Here is one example:  http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/251911.shtml

The struggle to create a channel with a high signal-to-noise ratio is important for the development of a movement with the power to change the world. Some people, like the guy above, belittle this. That's his choice. Others are focused creating something which is real.

Ben Seattle
 http://struggle.net/ben

BEN SEATTLE SNIFFS FARTS

I understand that it is frustrating for you that you want to oppose me but do not have the ability to do so in a way that is political.

Ben Seattle  http://struggle.net/ben

So you are saying that sniffing farts is a political act?