BlueBroward.org

Club meeting listings are offered freely to all the local Democratic Clubs in the area, as well as other allied organizations. If your organization’s meetings aren’t being included in the BlueBroward.org listings and you would like them to be, you can help by putting me in touch with the organizers. Sometimes the officers change, or email addresses change, and I lose touch.

Normally, what I try to do is establish one or more contacts for each group whom I can reach by email. I provide them with a password to post events. I also record the regular meeting day, if there is one, in a database. That allows me to send out automated reminders whenever the regular meeting day is coming up and no one from the group has posted an update. The goal is to make the calendar as complete and accurate as possible.

Also remember that any BlueBroward member can login to the website to post their own updates — not just for club events but for campaign kickoffs, fundraisers, organizing events, gripe sessions, disorganizing events, parades, parties, whatever. I reserve the right to remove inappropriate postings, but it hasn’t come up much.

The calendar is only useful if it reflects what is really going on in the community, so thanks for your help keeping it up to date.

P.S. After posting a version of this message with the BlueBroward Calendar Sunday email, I received the following note, which I’d like to respond to in case others have the same question.

Thank you for publishing a calendar of meetings of DEC Clubs. I believe you would be successful in getting ALL the clubs to participate if you put it under th banner of the DEC. Why not? Please tell me if BlueBroward has been sanctioned by the state DEC to act on its own with out disclaimer in your publications. I think all waiting for that information.

Here’s what I wrote back:

There is a disclaimer at the very bottom of these emails: “BlueBroward.org is an independent web and email publication of David Carr, not funded by any candidate or committee.”

It started out independently for historical reasons, and by now has taken on a life of its own. I don’t think the editorial policy of allowing members to post whatever they want, with just a little bit of editorial control, would be compatible with the DEC’s policies. And to be fair, they have to operate a little differently and more cautiously because they are the official voice of the Democratic Party in this county.

Still, I would be happy to help the DEC improve its own website and email communications, if they would accept my help or listen to my advice.

I think you have to treat BlueBroward as if it was a supportive but independent newspaper, newsletter, or other media outlet that backs the Democratic cause and can help you as a campaign or group organizer publicize events and other information. If an organization doesn’t want to participate, they don’t have to. My only point with putting out that note was to make it clear that I’m not deliberately excluding anyone.

I periodically get people writing in to ask why I’m not carrying the events for some Democratic organization, and the answer is that I can’t publish information I don’t have.