Why is he so intent on spreading false hoods about this site?

"Actually, the issue of "other" Gore sites brings up mixed feelings for me. This site - when launched years ago as AlGore04.com (renamed now for obvious reasons), was the combination of two other sites - AlGore-04.com and Al-Gore-2004.org. That was progress, in my opinion... the goal was to create something bigger and more organized than individuals could realistically do on their own. We approached other websites at the time, but most didn't respond.

Strangely, every now and then, somebody creates a site with it's own "news" and message boards. It takes a fair bit of time to do that, which would have been better spent chipping in here -- we have a list of at least a dozen projects we'd love to have competent help with. It's a fool's errand in some ways to launch these mini-sites... they've only a fraction the traffic we do, and they're only re-inventing the wheel.

There's no human way you could improve on the job Janet Hessert does with the news here-- she tracks Gore's every move with better precision and accuracy than Tipper does! LOL And our fourms, chat rooms, etc. are as good as web tech can offer... so why bother?

Anyhow, the redesign is very close now, and when it's done I intend to renew my call to unite anyone with a shred of interest in contributing to the Gore web. I'll be adding a place to check in and look for volunteer opportunities. Gore needs a large, unified, and organized community of support. That's what we offer, and hope to expand dramatically in the years ahead."
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If you post over there please stick up for our home here! Our site was also started in 2002. We are also better in Google Page rankings eyes. We have more members, more active, and just have a better sense of unity here. So please, don't let him spread these false hoods and try to demean us anymore.

Dylan, why do you continue to spread this stuff? GSC was also started in 2002. The reason alot of people left your site and join GSC and other sites why your overriding opinion on the draft. You and your site did not support it, we along with others did. Also, many felt a while back that you did not allow their opinion here, so they left.

You can keep trashing us saying we are not as good as yours. However, many will disagree. Each site has it's own special things about it. We have the Media Watch Group, Gore Myths, Chat (Same type chat you have, only we had it a year earlier), Forum (Best type of forums on the web), and the Earth in the Balance Reader. Your site has videos and other cool things. You can say that you site gets more traffic, because it does. However, it is not because it is more active. According to Google Page rank, our site is better: (http://directory.google.com/Top/Regional/North_America/United_States/Society_and_Culture/Politics/People/Gore,_Al/?il=1) GSC daily has more posts, discussion ect. We also now have more members which are on a daily basis, a real online family. We are very close.

You site gets more traffice because of your search engine placement. We however, do not have the money to buy that kind of placement. Your site has like 50 different URLs, we have 1. That is the story.

I don't know why you don't like us. You act like if someone doesn't join you and follow that you are no good. The fact is, that kind of attitude is the attitude that drove people away from this site in the first place.

So again, no, we are not going to shut down to join you. We have a good thing and we are not going to let it go.

Also, I have no hard feelings towards you, I just wish you would quit carrying this vendetta attitude.

Chris

(Josh, you are also a very cool and good dude!)

This is his reply after a couple more people jumped on him for the comment:

Vendetta seems a little over the top, don't you think? No one is restricting your freedom of expression, or attacking your efforts.

Forget the Internet for a moment. Let's say a good Democrat decides to run for Congress, what's the best way for his supporters to aid him?

A) 5 different mini-groups form and independently canvass neighborhoods, develop their own yard signs, campaign slogans, etc. Some do a better job than others of course (that's human nature), and some of the same volunteers work on each effort. Because they're working independently, they replicate a lot of the same efforts.

B) All the activists work together in a coordinated campaign. Individual strengths are exploited and utilized-- Fred's a good fundraiser, so he works the phones, Sally's a designer, she helps with the direct mail and the logos, Tony has lived in the district all his life and hosts candidate brunches to introduce his friends to the campaign, etc.

Al-Gore-2004.org and AlGore-04.com are the grandfathers of the Gore web -- formed not long after the concession speech (AG04.org was formed on President's Day!). AlGore04.com, the offspring of those earlier sites, launched formally on Ian's second birthday (the two earlier sites had been coordinating by syndicated the same news feeds, and sharing mailing lists for some time). September 4th, 2001 was the official launch.

No doubt even more sites will pop up over time, and some existing ones will go away, as some already have.

Let me name a few of the things needing done, off the top of my head... these things could all have been accomplished by now if people would work together instead of launching vanity sites that simply re-create what's already been done.

-- Gore Video Gallery needs expanded to include a lot more material, MP3s need made of all the speeches

-- Gore / Political Games / Humor -- Nothing builds traffic and spreads a message like a good Flash animation that gets forwarded all around the web (think toostupidtobepresident.com for examples)

-- A lot more action alerts-- activism on Gore's views. We should be making efforts to address the causes he cares about, we have a large community here, and we should do more than talk amongst ourselves.

-- Press, lots of press. We rarely write press releases or do interviews - but we should.

-- Fundraising. We operate at a HUGE deficit. (I spent $4,000 this month on new equipment for example). It would be nice to raise money like any well organized PAC so we could advertise and keep Gore's positions as visible as possible

-- More community building exercises. Fans should be able to make their own Gore pages, perhaps relieving the need for people to feel the urge to create their "own" sites. The Blogs may do the trick-- besides the Blogsphere is a vibrant place and Gore needs a bigger role there.

-- Town halls and interviews with political figures today. Remember the Bob Graham Town Hall, we need more of those!

-- Merchandising. We need Gore Gear, not for so much for fundraising, but for political reasons. This merchandise should be sold more or less at cost so as to make sure as many people as possible can and will buy / wear / display it.

-- FAQ writing. Over three years on the Gore web and we never have written a proper FAQ-- this one is a priority and we're working on it now.


This list goes on and on, the above isn't the half of it. Eventually, we'll do most of it on our own -- but we could get there faster and with better results with more help, obviously.

I'm locking this thread now. Other sites are welcome to form of course, we'll even gladly offer RSS feeds of our news, which we hope to expand soon, to anyone who wants them. You won't see us hanging around the message boards of the smaller sites and trying to drag people away, which is a courtesy that isn't extended in return, sadly.

This kind of in-fighting is the kind of thing that brings a movement like this down. It's unfortunate that we can't all unite under one banner, but the fact is that there are things I personally didn't like about AGDems, and that was why I came to GSC. I do still post there sometimes, just for the different topics and people who are there. But I like being able to say what I want without it being censored, I like not having my karma jump up and down because something I said wasn't well taken, and I like the intimacy of GSC. I also find GSC generally more tolerant of different opinions. I don't believe GSC was started for vanity reasons, as Dylan suggests. That's true of Roger's site (that stupid Forum Home thing or whatever he did). But there were legitimate reasons for starting GSC, having to do with a divergence of opinion on the draft, and I can't see the two sites merging at this point. Besides, I think the Malones are being somewhat egotistical in needing to have all the power under them. They have a good site, and they've done good work, and I'd hope that, if it comes to pass that Kerry doesn't win in November and we begin working for Gore again, AGDems and GSC will find a way to coexist and work together toward our common goal--getting Al Gore into the White House.