Weoped

A Ribbon Cutting: Weoped Launches to Friends and Family

2008-02-28T03:42:00-05:00

Today, we at Weoped are very excited to announce that we have sent out our first round of invitations to close friends and family members. They will be the foundation for the Weoped community, and we hope prolific contributors to the site. We can't wait to hear their feedback (constructive), criticisms (inevitable), and praise (more than welcome). It's been a long time coming and we're still ironing out a few kinks -- working continuously with our faithful team of developers to improve existing features and roll out new ones before our next wave on invitations -- but for today we will be on the site, commenting, debating, and welcoming our newest members.

We hope you enjoy the site and please feel free to email us with any comments or feedback.

For anyone who did not receive an invitation and would like to be one of the first members of this vibrant and growing community, please email us at feedback@weoped.com to request an invitation. One will be emailed to you soon.

Welcome and enjoy,

The Weoped Team

What's in a Tag?: Behind Weoped's Tagging Tips

2007-12-04T10:26:39-05:00

A lot of thought and research has gone into Weoped's Tagging Tips and Guidelines. As the organization and architecture of the site -- Weoped Articles, Groups, Debates, and each of our Members -- is based on a system of tags, and by following these tips, your actions on the site are more easily found and categorized. So please read these over when filling out the your "Interests" in your profile and wherever else you are provided with an option to tag.

Use lower-case unless it requires proper capitalization (acronyms like NAFTA or names of people, etc.)
Use plurals for categories. (“blogs” instead of “blog”)
For public figures, use their full name with no title. (Joseph Biden, George W. Bush)
Include any synonyms and groupings. (Legislative Branch, Congress, Senate, House of Representatives or New York and New York City)
Check for spelling
Include both the specific tag and the general category (Presidential Election, Democratic Candidates, Barack Obama)
No symbols please (#$%^)
Don’t hold back. If it is relevant then put it in there.
Look around the community and see how others tag.

Civil Discourse: Behind Weoped's Posting and Comments Policy

2007-12-04T10:26:08-05:00

We have set out to make Weoped an beacon for all those seeking informed and civil discourse online. This has been our main objective from the inception of our idea, and we have provided our members with a set of guidelines to follow when posting to the site. Whether you are posting an article, a comment, or contributing to a Debate, we hope that you will stick to the policies listed below and help make Weoped a place where all can find a means to open discussion without the nonsense of your typical blog comment section. Please notify us at feedback@weoped.com if you would like to report an infraction of this policy on the pages of Weoped.

Try to keep the swearing to a minimum, for all you potty mouths out there. When in doubt, just ask yourself if you would kiss your mother with that mouth.
What’s in a name policy -- no reason to label or nickname a fellow member with anything inflammatory, no matter how clever the play on words may be. Besides, name-calling went out of style like when we graduated elementary school.
Comments should be as thoughtful as the articles they refer to. Think them through before posting and make sure they add to the discussion. No “Yup” or “so-and-so is way off here” or “someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed”.
Just the facts policy – any and all references to facts and figures should be linked to reputable sources. We got an informed community here and they’ll call you on it if you make outrageous claims.
Leave the sensationalism to Cable News. Make your headlines relevant to the article. This certainly does not mean, make them plain or check your personality and flair at the door.
Stay on topic. Debates and comments too often stray from the pressing issue. If you want to move on to another topic, Start a New Debate .
If you’re going to link to an article from your blog, we ask that you cut and paste your article as well and link to its version on Weoped. We want you to promote your writing, so post all the relevant articles you want.
No commercial posts.
Refrain from “trolling”. We love a good helping of indignation, but please don’t insult or vilify the subject of your post just to incite arguments from your readers. We’re trying to be better than the mainstream media here.

Disenthrall to Empower

2007-11-30T15:18:00-05:00

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

Lincoln understood this. He said it. Lincoln said a lot of things and he understood a lot of things, including this. Also, he understood himself, and that's enough for anyone.

Just to clarify, to disenthrall ourselves is not an act of self-effacement; it is the process by which we can regain some sober self-regard -- each of us, as a person -- in a nation of peoples. It's to recognize that the definition of America is fluid -- steered by our ideals and ideas and not by the government. To disenthrall is to strip off the ways we define ourselves and one another. When we do that, we can be naked, so to speak. And when we're naked, we can be honest with ourselves. It's tough not to be honest when one is naked. Try it.

Nowadays and too often, we let others define us. Each of us with a label; each of us neatly placed into a category. It's getting to be a problem. It's is a problem! And who wants to be labeled, anyway? Are there label lovers out there?

Once we disenthrall ourselves with our filtered impressions of the past and the labels of our present, we can start to usher in the future we would like to see. A future to be enthralled by. To say "eh" to present day America is not unpatriotic. Was Lincoln not a patriot? Do you think the label lovers would call him unpatriotic? We wouldn't let them. So why do we let them.

In order to disenthrall we must accept that sometimes the emperor might actually have no clothes. Sometimes the emperor is naked, but not like we could be. He might have nothing to wear, but he's not being honest with himself. The boy who told him all this was also disenthralled.

"Public sentiment is everything -- he who moulds public sentiment is greater than he who makes statutes."

When we begin to understand that our government and its officials are no more than servants to the public will, then we, the people -- by just energizing and organizing our voices -- can point us towards whichever future we choose.

Disenthrall to empower. Lincoln understood this, too. And the label lovers won't see it coming.

Welcome to Weoped

2007-11-20T11:21:34-05:00

This is the weblog for Weoped.com, a new online community for political opinions, organization and vigorous debate. On our blog you'll be able to find out the latest news, ideas, and miscellany from the Weoped Team as well as our ongoing series of posts dealing with the improvement of online debate, citizen journalism, and political discourse.

The Weoped Team is always interested to hear your ideas and suggestions for how we can improve the site and help build a diverse community of engaged citizens. Feel free to comment on this blog or email us at feedback@weoped.com.

To find out more about Weoped, please visit our About page on the site.