Technoweenies: I propose a collaberative effort! Please Read!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

Going into this election cycle, it is apparent that Dem candidates at the local, state and national level will not have as much money as their repuke counterparts. In a situation like that, something will have to give, as regards expenditures. One of the places sure to go first is expenditures on mounting an effective web-based campaign. I know from experience that the people who charge for this stuff charge big, bad and ugly. Some of these candidates will not be able to afford that. That situation is a sin and a crime.

But there is the Open Source Philosophy. There is Open Source Software. We have the m4d sK1lLZ0rZ. We can do it quick, fast, cheap and go-to-hell effectively for them. If we want to, and we can give them GOOD CMS websites to boot. In an evening.

Please goto http://www.xoops.org. Peruse the board. Peruse the features. Peruse the dropin modules. Goto the Wiki and read about the installation system. A barebones, un-customised system can be up and running in an hour, fully functional. For Free. As in Beer. I have found an ISP with big pipes, and a package that includes Apache, MySQL and great features and admin, with a decent amount of disk space for $39.00/month.

I propose The Democratic Underground Open Source, Rapid Deployment, Election 2004 Geekazoids, Drinking Club, and Chowder and Marching Society. Our Motto could be: "Kicking Repuke Ass since we originally came up with the idea."

We have the sKillZ. We have the artists. We have the motivation. We have the software. We have to do our bit.

Chime in if you are interested. Any number can play. Offer void where void.

[Lars39]

1. Would this be do-able for a county Democratic Party, not just the

candidates? My county has nothing on the web. I'm not a technoweeny,
though. :)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Why not?

In what I propose, the ISP costs would be assumable by the candidate or party. Not us. After the server space is nailed down by them, and we can lead them by the hand through the process, we step in and setup the site. When it is done, we offer admin services for the sites. After the election is over, they are on their own.

[sujan]

2. postnuke is better than xoops

change repukes to 'right wingers'

Lets be more inclusive.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Maybe so...

But Xoops is a easier to setup. Rapid Deployment is the key here.

Time is money. And time.

[sujan]

5. and yes postnuke is easy to setup too

and there's free GPL'ed bulletin board http://www.phpbb.com

And if anybody is willing to run a colocated equipment at 50 dollars a month, check this out http://www.communitycolo.net

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. Then horses for courses.

[sujan]

7. overall I like the idea

count me in as a volunteer.

Read my edited post above about the colocation.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. I did.

Check out the deals at http://www.dreamhost.com

[sujan]

11. bandwidth issues?

wouldn't colocation make more sense to fulfill the purpose?

Plus the fact that its only 50 dollars a month and non profit.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

13. How much bandwidth is needed...

For a campaign website. If they need more, then they can upgrade their package to more. 30 Gb of bandwidth/mo is a lot of BW. Will they really need more? Start them small and work them up as needs grow.

[sujan]

15. hmm

I was talking more of a non profit collaboration where the candidates would donate a small amount to the colocation facility directly.

Collocation would save a lot of money and I am being optimistic here, what if more people started signing up?

You idea is very novel and with proper implementation, it could be very effective in bringing the candidates to light.

Two things hinder my plan though:
1. Someone willing to locate a box at the facility
2. A base to sustain the cost (~50 dollars a month)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

16. Well, co-location could be...

Something to work towards. At this point, consider Rapid Deployment.

[sujan]

17. got that

Just wanted to let you know that cheap options do exist if it is needs to be taken to another level.

I will make sure that I bookmark the thread.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. One more thing, then.

Spread the word. Talk it up. Put the URL of this post in your .sig and bookmark this page. Let's take this idea viral.

[sujan]

12. I can request them to setup a temp website for this discussion

I am sure DU'ers would be interested and I am quite sure we will have eager volunteers with expertise to attain the goals.

It can be serve as a launch pad.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

14. Either that, or...

If this thing gets legs, here, we can see if Skinner, elad and the gang can setup a temporary forum for this.

IF this gains legs and participants. Otherwise the two of us are talking out our ass. ;-)

[bpilgrim]

25. dvia.com already does this

and it is owned by a progressive, me ;->

http://dvia.com

drop me a DU message and lets get started :bounce:

peace

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. Kick

It's another form of masturbation, kicking your own thread. ;-)

[Robin Hood]

18. Oooohhhhhhh, Yeahhh...

That's what I'm talking about. :9

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

19. kick

*

[bpilgrim]

20. dvia.com

experts in open source and it comes with the apps already installed.

http://dvia.com

psst... pass the word ;->

peace

[Le Taz Hot]

21. I'm in!

I am hereby applying for the position of bartender of the "Drinking Club" portion of our organization. Additionally, will make Casio keyboard with pre-programmed march rhythms available for use by the "Marching Society."

Hugs & Kisses,

Taz B-)

[ADD_Savant]

22. XOOPS and the DUOS RDE2004GDCMS

Went and checked out the XOOPS board and it looks very interesting. I actually went so far and to download the latest version to test drive for a while. Perhaps we should build the Demzilla site.

chime....Taz's HunkMeister

[sujan]

24. checkout postnuke too

[HFishbine]

23. If the DNC had a brain

they'd be implementing and funding this for any candidate running on the dem ticket. DNCSIP -- where is it?

[SharonAnn]

26. OK, I'm in! Looks like great stuff and I agree, Dems need it!

It's one of the biggest problems, having enough money for this kind of thing. I was able to do my own site last year because it was fairly simple and there wasn't any interactivity.

Anyway, if I can help, let me know!

[ParanoidPat]

27. KICK!

:kick: :evilgrin:

[sujan]

28. self serving flying kick

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

29. Hey suj...

Looks like we are gaining a little mass here. ;-)

[indigo32]

30. count me in

eom

[Don_G]

31. Given What?

Years? Attitude?

I just invested 4K for a new Dell Notebook and a few Microshaft programs but discovered Customer Support for both was centered in a country that dosen't speak English.

Maybe they think it's less expensive to transfer their Customer Support overseas in the near term but it's also costing them by me never buying a Dell again and posting this on DU.

Sorry Mr Greedy MF's, but I feel it's in the best interests of the US to reinvest the knowledge gained during the "Cold War" into America and not to rely on Chinese Enginered Chips for our Cruise Missles.

[sujan]

32. how is this relevant to the discussion?

[Nlighten1]

33. Sign me up!

For what ever it is :)

[trogdor]

34. Open source voting system?

Quickie requirement list.

1. Screw the touch screens. The whole ball of wax should work on any computer capable of running Mozilla. This should save zillions.

2. The results should be backed up on CD-R. I would guess even the largest precinct in the US will only need one CD. The neat thing about CD's is that they're cheap and they're permanent. Can't argue with ones and zeroes ENGRAVED into a CD FOREVER.

3. Voter verification is done by ID check, then a random PIN is generated by the poll worker. This PIN is then valid on any machine in the network ONE TIME ONLY. If the voter screws it up somehow, he/she merely goes back to the poll worker, who voids the old number and issues a new one. (edit: The PIN could serve as a handy filename for each voter's choices, which could be compared against the list of PINs to provide yet another layer of authentication).

4. At no time is anyone's name or personal information entered into the voting machines.

5. Results are not available to anyone prior to the polling system being closed.

6. All programming is to be done in Perl, or other suitable interpreted language, so that the underlying source code can be compared with the master copy upon request.

I think this more or less complies with the old gray monsters we use in New York State. Furthermore, I really don't see why this whole thing needs to be as complicated as it is being made to be. I could probably write up something acceptable that would fit on a floppy.