NationStates Jolt Archive

Warning: If you a self-confessed righty, turn away now! :D

I have recently been thinking it would be a good idea to set up a site that provides white-board flash animations, articles, audio lectures and documentaries detailing the faults in systems such as capitalism and imperialism, and the benefits of various egalitarian theories such as socialism and communism and anarchy etc. sort of like an online university. There is a massive left-wing community online that is very profilic, with many high profile members, who would undoubtedly join in as the project gathered moss, and I think it could prove very useful and successful.

I have a fair bit of experience in web design, particularly interfaces and graphic layout (you can find a current site of mine at www.zapatismo.org), but projects like this would require a team of collaberators.

Anyone interested?

yes. i am.

i can offer:
a reseller hosting account with unlimited webspace and bandwidth (for the time being/next few years at least)
graphics design skills and experience
web design skills (if somewhat novice really (i could TG you some examples of my work)
powerpoint skills and film-editing skills
very low level flash ability

my personal credentials are:
one year of studying politics at cardiff school of political science
one year of studying economics at cardiff business school
cofounding member and admin for the UDCP (communist party here on NS General) website here


a useful website that is doing a (very) similar sort of thing might be www.altruists.org, but this project could be subtly different.

i would certainly be interested in a project like this. you gotta remember a website is, at its heart, only as good as its content, so thats where the focus would have to lie.

only problem is i'm very, very busy (i only end up getting about 3 hours in the late evening to myself as it is) :(
but i'm still interested.

first thing we should do should be to set up a forum for easy communication, imo.
also, i'm sure i could rope in a fair few contributors from here :)

TG me your emal addy and lets get started!

Nice idea.

I'm no use at the technical side of things, but I'm more than willing to help with stuff like writing articles, gathering information, organisation, communication etc and I'll just generally be in support of the community and project :)

Ok good to hear from you both. Let's see if we can get a couple more interested and then I can set us up a lil' forum and we can start planning.

Like you said content is key, and that's where 99.99% of our focus should go, and the rest to creating a simple and intuitive but elegant and easy on the eyes site.

Of course, promotion and advertisement is by far the hardest part. Any ideas on that one?

Pure: That package sounds even better than mine. Does your include domains?

Of course, promotion and advertisement is by far the hardest part. Any ideas on that one?

Pure: That package sounds even better than mine. Does your include domains?
call me PM :)

advertising? no real ideas there tbh. i have a service i can subscribe to for a specific domain that will submit it to...oohh... tons (like 100) search engines and gaurentees you top 10 ranking on google for you chosen keywords. costs a fair bit tho so that'd be something to consider after the project is at least underway/nearing completion.

as for domains... i pay (well ok, my dad pays cos its his account really) about 2 pounds for 2 years of domain registration. the rest is taken care of in the account package. tis a sweet deal and already pays itself back, so i'm sure he won't mind me hosting another site on it :p


(oh and i meant to link to www.udcp.org in my previous post... forgot)

(and i figured you might be willing to contribute glitz! :D)

Cool idea. I don't have much technical skill with flash or anything (but could learn), but i'm soon to be a third-year politics major....though more importantly, i'm a rabid hippie-commie. :D

....though more importantly, i'm a rabid hippie-commie. :D
the best kind of commie! :p

I have recently been thinking it would be a good idea to set up a site that provides white-board flash animations, articles, audio lectures and documentaries detailing the faults in systems such as capitalism and imperialism, and the benefits of various egalitarian theories such as socialism and communism and anarchy etc. sort of like an online university. There is a massive left-wing community online that is very profilic, with many high profile members, who would undoubtedly join in as the project gathered moss, and I think it could prove very useful and successful.

Well I'm a self-proclaimed pseudo-anarchic anti-capitalist bum 20 times in a row, but I can't support what you're doing. I think you're setting up a platform for one-sided criticism and opportunistic propaganda against your political adversaries. Knowledge comes from taking in different and opposed thoughts, and considering them all. Unless you guarantee in some way that your site isn't going to be another place to bash the righties with your friends, I think the effect of your idealism is going to be brainwashing. I'm assuming you've read Animal Farm.

But then, I'm not egalitarian. I don't consider people to be equal or equivalent. Just 'cause they're not. And of course, you don't need my support, do ya? ;)

The faults of capitalism and right wing ideology, and the benefits of left wing theories, need not be opinion, they can be reinforced with simple, cold, hard scientific fact, and that's what we would stick too. Maths, social psychology and political science rather than "dude wtf is wiv teh NAZIS mate?".

I don't think we need to represent any right wing attitudes on the site, but that doesn't mean we will ignore the faults in left wing theory. There is nobody in the world that benefits from criticising the mechanics of socialism and communism etc. than socialists and communists themselves. The theories need to evolve and perfect themselves in order to provide an alternative to capitalism and imperialism.

To you guys who want to get involved in an other-than-technical way, I was thinking we could perhaps set up a board of directors type thing. The board could decide together which topics to address, how to address them, moderate the forums and so on. Sound good?

There seems to a be good few people interested around here, so ill leave this topic overnight for people to register their involvement, and tomorrow I'll set up a little forum for us to start organising.

And remember, this isn't a job, you only have to be as involved as you want to be.

University of Egalitarianism? Will there be professors?

Nice idea.

I'm no use at the technical side of things, but I'm more than willing to help with stuff like writing articles, gathering information, organisation, communication etc and I'll just generally be in support of the community and project :)

That is pretty much me down to a tee. I have no IT skills but I'd be happy to help with other activities if I can.

Good to ehar :D

There could be professers, yep, both regular and guest :D

A good example of whiteboard videos is http://news.zdnet.com/2036-2_22-5995224.html.

professors? ooh! *puts hand up* mememememe! :p

always wanted phd after my name ;)

University of Egalitarianism? Will there be professors?
Don't be silly. That would imply that they're better. ;)


I may not be a socialist, but is this going to be a full-blown site or a sub-domain?

Full blown.

The faults of capitalism and right wing ideology, and the benefits of left wing theories, need not be opinion, they can be reinforced with simple, cold, hard scientific fact, and that's what we would stick too. Maths, social psychology and political science rather than "dude wtf is wiv teh NAZIS mate?".

I don't think we need to represent any right wing attitudes on the site, but that doesn't mean we will ignore the faults in left wing theory. There is nobody in the world that benefits from criticising the mechanics of socialism and communism etc. than socialists and communists themselves. The theories need to evolve and perfect themselves in order to provide an alternative to capitalism and imperialism.

To you guys who want to get involved in an other-than-technical way, I was thinking we could perhaps set up a board of directors type thing. The board could decide together which topics to address, how to address them, moderate the forums and so on. Sound good?

There seems to a be good few people interested around here, so ill leave this topic overnight for people to register their involvement, and tomorrow I'll set up a little forum for us to start organising.

And remember, this isn't a job, you only have to be as involved as you want to be.
All sounds great to me and I'd love to be in the board of directors.

University of Egalitarianism? Will there be professors?

Why yes there WILL be self-appointed, educated bourgeoise saviours of the poor proletariat offering selflessly their services in spreading propaganda and ranting about teh evils of capitalism!

Those who can, teach.

Besides, we don't have a monopoly, we won't be trying to convince anyone of any opinions, simply illustrate the maths behind the economics and the social psychology behind the politics.

The last thing we would want to become is a nomenklatura, but it's not like we could even if we wanted too.

Is there anyone around with flash skills that could help?

flash skills? it depends for what purpose cos i have CorelRave (which makes flash files but not very complex ones). i actually bought flash with the intention of learning how to use it, but found the UI so un-user-friendly (typical macromedia) i gave up... and then i lost the cd :headbang:
500 quid down the fucking drain...
i think you can export powerpoint presentations to SWF with the right plugin... i know its not the same but its a start...

i agree on not putting countering positions/oppinions on the site, but a FAQ or 'common counterarguements' section could be useful (again we have something similar on our udcp website: clicky (http://www.wiki.udcp.org/index.php/FAQs.nv))

All sounds great to me and I'd love to be in the board of directors.
as would i :)

Ok powerpoint could work, but we'd need someone who is pretty fluent in it and can pull off some eye candy to liven things up somewhat.

Once the site is done and we have a couple of articles (both original and "archived" from other sites, something I think would be useful with the number of inactive leftist theory sites around) and presentations up on it, we can start contacting people like Zmag contributers, Professors and activists to get them to contribute something.

For eg., all you need is a five minute sound clip of omeone explaining in their own words exactly how a certain aspect of politics or economics works, and then our staff can create a visual accompanyment to it.

There could also be some kind of system for students and activists who attend speeches or forums to submit their sound or video recordings of the events. I mean, I was at the G8 Make Poverty History protest and there were a number of great talks on poverty in the 3rd world that should have been recorded and made available.

Sooooooooooooooo....

Is this happening, or what?

Sooooooooooooooo....

Is this happening, or what?
xmas got in the way, bah. still boxing day...

if the thread starter doesn't do anything about it we could just add a new section to our UDCP forum for it. would be easiest *nods*

xmas got in the way, bah. still boxing day...

if the thread starter doesn't do anything about it we could just add a new section to our UDCP forum for it. would be easiest *nods*
I personally think a seperate one would be better. They're pretty different, would have different members (ie this one could have many who aren't from NS) and if it becomes a big project, it would be best to have it seperate. Also, it could seem a bit pushy seeing as it isn't our idea. I think it should be the OPs choice.

That's just my opinion though.

I personally think a seperate one would be better. They're pretty different, would have different members (ie this one could have many who aren't from NS) and if it becomes a big project, it would be best to have it seperate. Also, it could seem a bit pushy seeing as it isn't our idea. I think it should be the OPs choice.

That's just my opinion though.
totally, but at the very least (if the thread starter doesn't come back or whatever) we could do that for now... thats all i meant.

agreed that a seperate forum would be better by far :)

Heh, well, I have an idea for it once it gets off the ground.

Why yes there WILL be self-appointed, educated bourgeoise saviours of the poor proletariat offering selflessly their services in spreading propaganda and ranting about teh evils of capitalism!

That was some necessary shit, there.

Anyway, this is a great idea. If it really takes off, all the better.

Warning: If you a self-confessed righty, turn away now! :D

I have recently been thinking it would be a good idea to set up a site that provides white-board flash animations, articles, audio lectures and documentaries detailing the faults in systems such as capitalism and imperialism, and the benefits of various egalitarian theories such as socialism and communism and anarchy etc. sort of like an online university. There is a massive left-wing community online that is very profilic, with many high profile members, who would undoubtedly join in as the project gathered moss, and I think it could prove very useful and successful.

I have a fair bit of experience in web design, particularly interfaces and graphic layout (you can find a current site of mine at www.zapatismo.org), but projects like this would require a team of collaberators.

Anyone interested? What lessons do we learn from this, comrades? The lessons which are also the fundamental principles of Ingsoc!

Why can't you have leftist imperialism? Stalin managed, and Mao tried to.

(Lefty, btw, so don't flame me)

What lessons do we learn from this, comrades? The lessons which are also the fundamental principles of Ingsoc!

Heh. I figured that this would be a discussion forum away from the constant flaming and ridicule that seems to occur here all too often. *points above*

Why can't you have leftist imperialism? Stalin managed, and Mao tried to.

Because imperialism is forcibly exerting power over another group of people. Socialism by its nature cannot exist unless it has the consent of the people, and this should apply to all major decisions within society - not by one person, or a small oligarchy. Workers can't have control if they're being squashed underneath the boot of an oppressive dictatorship.

In addition, Stalin and Mao seemed to live quite well off while millions starved. Some act of charity on their part. Therefore, they relinquish all of their claims to be socialists.

Heh, well, I have an idea for it once it gets off the ground.
do tell...

Interesting, if it doesn't turn into a jargon-fest. Count me tentatively in, in a pinkish, Chardonnay-sipping, Balmain-basket-weaving kind of wishy-washy way.

Despite the above, I do have one skill to offer: I'm a helluva sub-editor.

As to advertising, the simple Attention Lefties! in Glitziness's sig got me in. Worth trying elsewhere.

I'm in, I can make funny comments and make sure the site won't get boring:D

would a wiki be a good idea?

a la wikipedia
cos we did that for the UDCP website (in sig) and it worked wonderfully well, allowing our community/party to contribute as much or as little as they wanted, etc (i'm sure we all know what wikis are/how they work)

would a wiki be a good idea?

a la wikipedia
cos we did that for the UDCP website (in sig) and it worked wonderfully well, allowing our community/party to contribute as much or as little as they wanted, etc (i'm sure we all know what wikis are/how they work)
I like wikis *nods*

we need other opinions...

Oh, and go me and my advertising!

Can we have leftie humour?

Q: How many people does it take to remove a Proletariat lightbulb?

A: None. It contains the seeds of its own revolution!

Ok, maybe humour is an overstatement but it would lighten the mood.

i was wondering what had happened to this little project. still a good idea imo but right now i have zero time to put aside for it

shame it didn't get rolling before cos i had time then...