Carolina North: The Invisible Discussion Forum

[UPDATE] As of November 20 2006 4:45 pm, we’ve had two questions and two comments by “site admin”.

Questions:

Hi, I haven’t seen anything lately that lays out the architectural vision of Carolina North. Could you point me towards any current plans? Thank you.
November 20 2006 9:46 am by Robert Peterson

Is UNC still planning to realign Estes Drive as part of Carolina North development? Shouldn’t changes so potentially disruptive be discussed with the community that depends on that road as a major arterial connection?
November 20 2006 9:28 am by Ruby Sinreich

The comments referred to the “Attendee Comments Received at the Ecological Assessment Listening Group Meeting With Biohabitats Inc., Nov. 6, 2006” and “two maps created by Biohabitats of Raleigh. The maps were marked up in the Ecology Listening Session on November 6.”

Good notes that haven’t been previously published on UNC’s Carolina North site or on the UNC-LAC mailing list (at least the one I’m a member of).

Not exactly answers to either of the questions or to my earlier third question on forum rules but a response all the same.

[ORIGINAL]

Did you know that UNC has created an online discussion forum?

Hey, I wouldn’t have known but for this email:

Hello all,

I’m writing to let you know that the public discussion forum for Carolina North is now accessible online at http://research.unc.edu/cn/view_comments.php. If you would like to post a comment, click the “leave a comment” link at the bottom of the page, and you’ll be asked to register your name and e-mail address. Once registered, you’ll receive a confirmation e-mail, after which you can post comments.

Thanks,
Colie Hoffman
Office of Information and Communications
962-6137

which didn’t appear on the normal UNC Carolina North LAC (Leadership Advisory group) email list – a list, by the way, which you can get on ONLY by contacting UNC here (no “self-subscribing”).

UNC’s Carolina North group has done a fairly decent job on their, admittedly biased, main website, including posting timely videos and minutes of the Carolina North Leadership Advisory Committee (UNC-LAC) meetings.

Creating a discussion forum is a bold step for the development folks in Moeser’s administration, so points for trying, but 8am to 5pm EST moderation kind of misses the mark.

Please be aware that we only add new comments to the discussion forum during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST).

Given that, I still wanted to heap credit on UNC for this apparent e-democracy effort but the lousy advertising and the the lack of forum rules (possibly undercutting open debate) really make that difficult.

Disappointing. Mustn’t let Moeser’s “freelance dissenters” engage in free form discussion ;-)!

Hey, I registered,

Your registration was submitted successfully. You will receive an email from “HTTPD Daemon” containing a URL that will allow you to view and participate in the Carolina North public discussion forum.

and added this question, “What rules of moderation will you be applying to this forum?”

Wonder how long after 8am, Monday, Nov. 20th, 2006 I’ll find out…