Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

[From an e-mail to Kara and Erik]

My personal goal boils down to /the greatest power possible for all people over our own lives./

This is a concrete goal, more difficult to corrupt with ends justify the means disasters than the worthy but more abstract goals of justice and liberty and even prosperity (all of which, in my opinion, require a high degree of equality).

[from a closed-down useless basecamp project page]
Description of the need: Open source, modular messaging framework

From: Benjamin Melançon
Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 at 9:22pm
Category: Plan

In the context of an e-mail / mailing list manager:

Every news organization, every nonprofit, every community-oriented business or organization needs e-mail that allows personalization and tracking of recipient actions in response. Another common need is for mailing lists, which allow group participation in e-mail conversation, and for forums, which allow group conversations online.

When unsubscribing, people should have the immediate option to unsubscribe with one address and subscribe with another-- to switch their e-mail addresses. It is very dumb for organizations to make this difficult.

For PWGD people should further be able to set an e-mail address for one level of messages, and another for another level.

The goal: An organization for everyone, a communication medium open to all but not an overwhelming flood of information.

What can you do to help? Whatever you are willing to do.

How much time do you have?
Skills?
Material resources to share?

(These same sort of questions would be used to match people to work to be done in causes they care about when every movement imaginable is represented on VisionsUnite.)

Guide to World Domination
Copyright © 2008 ChrisGuillebeau.com

#1: What do you really want to get out of
life? The short summary is that you think

I want to radically shift the balance of power in favor of everyone.

#2: What can you offer the world that no
one else can?

The combination of self-importance and self-negation to pull it off.

Chris lists his first obstacle to changing the world in whatever way you want to as "Gatekeepers" -- which is just what we're out to destroy.

"expeRTiSe

I tried to post Al's probable first use of "NAFTA flu" but it doesn't work for people not logged in to Facebook.

"Oops! Time to name it what it is: The NAFTA Flu..."
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=71571447637&h=_0OWJ&u=f8Jw3&re...

VisionsUnite is what I want before I am a community organizer. Before I do town meeting again. Before I knock on doors and find out who is at risk of foreclosure. Before I try to help bring people together to work on common problems.

I want our connections to be able to scale.

And I don't want myself to be a critical path, a likely bottleneck of coordination.

[This was not supposed to go to twitter, was meant to be a note not a blog entry, but anyhow, a snapshot of what I'm always thinking about: how to make a network of everyone who cares about anything a functioning, world-changing reality.]

A goal of PWGD is to be able to know the most radical goings-on at a given time and place. Going to be in Ireland and the UK in May? Here's what's happening.

A suddenly open night? Events near you that hour with a reasonable attempt at indicating available space

Please, find a vision and pitch in.

The name is VisionsUnite. Five hundred people working toward a shared vision are far more powerful than five hundred carefully crafted personal visions independently posted and pursued to far less effect, if at all.

Here is a hilarious example of Ning failing. On Constance Steinkuehler's great Field hands post about organizing against home foreclosures the second comment is from Kurt Squire:

thanks for posting. I don't think that folks saw the post (I didn't and I'm the group leader and married to you). I'll send out an alert.