As anyone who has reading the docent list is aware, there are a number of issues that continue to be a challenge for the blog. This is a not-necessarily-complete list:

• Moderation. This issue has always been a challenge on OlyBlog. Some folks have difficulty putting the community before their own needs, and their continued participation pushes many other actual or potential bloggers away. We've worked hard to build a system that feels fair (warnings, probationary periods, eventual banning), and my sense is that it has been working ok. But, not all docents are in agreement about it, and users tend to view it as arbitrary.
• Meeting. It has been very difficult to get docents together for meetings. We all have a lot going on, and OlyBlog is not the top priority for any of us.
• Content. Another question that docents have grappled with is: what is appropriate for the front page? What is news, and what is fluff? How do we support more serious local content?
• Mission. Finally, we have a lot of ideas about where we want OlyBlog to go. For example, we'd like to expand the blog into a clearinghouse for all types of local media: OlyMedia. OlyBlog would be a part of that, but it could also include OlyNews (part of what OlyBlog currently does), OlyRadio, OlyBands, etc...

It is clear to me that this is too much for the docents to handle alone. We need more energy and input. So, I'd like to suggest the following:

OlyGather -- An ongoing group that meets weekly to discuss news in Olympia, to suggest stories for OlyBlog (or eventually for OlyNews), to discuss issues on OlyBlog, and to be the decision-making body for OlyBlog (OlyMedia).

I think this would take one job off of the docents (decision-making and long-range planning), allowing them to focus on the day-to-day issues on the blog, helping others with content, and pursuing their own interests. I think this would also be an important adjustment because there seems to be the general perception that docents are "running things" without being sensitive to the input of other users. While I think this perception is unfounded, it is there, and this change will address that perception. I hope that we will also begin to have some of the conversation and networking that used to occur when we met at the Brotherhood on Monday nights.

Comments?

The first night I was in Olympia I couldn't sleep much. Filled with the excitement of finding the place to make a stand with my little family I lay on the floor blinking into the blankness of a white ceiling until my limbs could no longer stand the forced repose and I rose to take my first walk through downtown. I needed coffee. And breakfast sounded good. Enter The Reef and Verna. She stood at the counter talking with an obvious regular and she had her hands on my black gold.

I drank a lot of coffee at The Reef that morning while Verna told me about her family moving to Olympia from South Dakota in 1955. She was a welcome slice of new home and is an indelible part of Olympia for me. Thank you Verna for the calm and coffee you brought me that morning. You were a clear picture in an abstract world.