The new DPVA site is dynamic and offers many improvements over the last site.

And if you're wondering why Denver is on the site now, its becuase the State steering and Central are now voting on Delegate Selection Plans for... the DENVER '08 Convention!

I think the last comment is particularly the most true. The "effectiveness" of this site is next to none. There were about 3 days after the site's launch when people were excited (read: adding friends to the social networking tool). There's no regular use of this site because it doesn't actually provide a useful forum. There's a paltry number of events listed, and otherwise, the volunteer tools are a glorified calendar.

The DPVA pretended to consult the VA netroots with a single conference call a few weeks before this site launched. Then they proceded to launch nothing more than Blue State Digital's community platform and then not maintain it properly.

I think this is just a single symptom of a larger problem within the state party - one that needs to be addressed immediately. The Webb Campaign showed how effective the netroots are at organizing online. To ignore that is both arrogant, outdated, and irresponsible.

...I want some of it!  The DPVA site is "dynamic?"  Are you looking at the same site I am?  And we're really supposed to believe that the #1 thing Virginia Democrats should care about is voting on the 2008 convention in Denver?  Ee gads.

A Dynamic site is what you make it. I'll give James that the DPVA site actually does have quite a few dynamic and potentially useful elements. However they're entirely underutilized.

There are only about 15 groups on the whole site, and each one has all the same members, most of whom are state party staff. That is to say that nobody is actively promoting the use of the site for organizing.

My dog is "dynamic," but most of the day she just sits around and sleeps :)

is a dog?  Woof woof! :)

I agree with you on all counts.  Thanks for telling it like it is.

I've been harping on this for awhile.  Thank you for having the gumption to address this problem.

but at this point, 5 months after the new DPV site launched, I think it was long enough...

Don't let the alliegence to the "party" blind you from reality.

This is a problem that is all too common with both of the "official party infrastructures"

Oh and thanks for being objective Lowell

of being objective.  Next up: my areas of agreement and disagreement with Governor Kaine? 

There was a discussion about these problems a few weeks ago on RK.

I don't see why they can't make the improvements that you request quickly. From what you said, it is

* Front page a blog
* Link to the blogsphere
* Keep the site updated

The two first should be fixed very quickly. The last one needs  someone to become responsible for content and keep it up.

I disagree with how highly you rank the Republican Party website.  I do not think it is impressive at all, and I DO relish saying that (just poking a little fun, Lowell).

My main quarrel with their website is the enormous amount of information that just isn't there.  Click on any given link and it'll give you a "Coming Soon!" page, or sometimes just an error message.  Cases in point:

http://www.rpv.org/p...
http://www.rpv.org/s...
http://www.rpv.org/p...
http://www.rpv.org/v...
http://www.rpv.org/t...
http://www.rpv.org/t...
http://www.rpv.org/t...
http://www.rpv.org/i...
http://www.rpv.org/b...

I would agree that the way that the Republican Party's webpage is set up is nice, but if it doesn't give you access to information, ultimately I don't find it valuable at all.

lower for all the "coming soon."  But the thing is, I get the feeling with the RPV site is that the stuff really IS coming soon, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt.  In contrast, with the DPV site, I see no sign whatsoever that anything's coming soon, so I marked them down for that...

I've worked with enough web-content folks to take "coming soon" with a big grain of salt!  So I remain unimpressed with their website until I see it.

Thanks for all the work you do, Lowell!

I just wish I could do more, the DPV website being a classic case in point. I mean, how the heck are we going to beat Republicans consistently (and promote an agenda that serves all of us, not just a few rich and powerful corporations/individuals) without an integrated "top down"/"bottom up" effort that utilizes the power of the grassroots, the netroots, and the blogosphere in concert with the party? 

may be a bit harsh, I agree with the overall philosophy behind them - that the Republicans "get it" when it comes to including the dynamic aspects of the web and netroots while the Democrats are making a few moves but really don't "get it" or aren't willing to embrace this new world.

Despite the fact that blogs are a key to this new world, I personally don't buy into the idea that the DPV site must be a blog to succeed.  It does, however, need to have much more dynamic (i.e. blog-like) content and if they don't have the technical means to build/maintain a site that combines a standard website and a blog, then a straight blog is the next best thing. 

Bottomline is that there are many ways to integrate the new political landscape and it's clear that the DPV hasn't stepped up like the RPV.

The DPVA is not intuitive at all, in fact, it is counter intuitive.

It is not user friendly.

It is not welcoming.

It will scare more people away then it will pull in.

Not "user friendly" at all, certainly not for people who aren't very tech savvy.

At least from my non-techie perspective.  Even if you CAN figure it out, what are you supposed to do there exactly?

Since last fall we've discussed the problems with the DPVA website (the old one) and discussed what should have been on the new version.  No matter how many times it's discussed, the DPVA just doesn't seem to get it.  The new site is really not much better than the old one.  The reason there is a DPVA, District Committees, and local committees is TO ELECT DEMOCRATS!!!  But you'd never know it from the website.

There are no tools on the DPVA website: formal updated talking points, guides on doing canvassing, guides on holding house parties, guides on organizing precincts, blogs.....that is what grassroots is and that is what the DPVA doesn't understand.  They seem to be in a completely different world.  There are no newsletters that go out to the Democratic voters.  I never receive a notification (e-mail) from the local or District committee about events that I know are going on here in my area!!!  Where are the state-level sponsored and promoted canvassing projects like in NC?  Where are the state-level action alerts?

To me it looks like a shell....not a site with meat and information that would attract readers and volunteers and contributions! 

I critiqued their websites on the basis that they lacked position statements - or fell short in explaining positions.

How would you grade their websites based on the same criteria you used on the DPV and RPV websites?

And does anyone feel like the candidates should put more work into explaining their positions on their websites?

...right now I'm focused on Virginia, but maybe somebody wants to take a look at the Presidential candidates' websites?

It's amazing.  There are so many fine Virginia Democratic bloggers.  Indeed, we have dominated the blogosphere and gotten our candidates elected.  The public perception is that the Net and the blogosphere is our medium, just as talk radio was the Republicans.

What we had lacked in high rollers to buy radio and tv stations, we made up for in talent and enthusiasm on the blogs, which didn't take money but took ability.  And the blogs proved we could raise money to boot.

So what does the forward looking Virginia Democratic Party do?

It bypasses all the talent on the Net, invests in a professional DC-based company and comes up with a totally ineffective and confusing site that proves that the party doesn't get it.

Meanwhile, the Republicans hire a talented Virginia blogger who comes up with a passionate and interesting site.

Leave it to the party pros (or party hacks) to lose the one advantage we have.

And just for the record, I don't have a dog in this race.  I don't want to blog professionally.  I have a day job I'm not quitting.  But for God sake, can't we hire somebody who knows what they are doing?

I have never had anyone in the party ask for my services (as a volunteer) - and I don't know of any other software engineers who have been asked.  I may even be overkill - you probably don't need a software engineer to get the job done.  Most of the portal based solutions (DNN, Sharepoint, etc) simplify things so you can focus on producing content and not on development.

IMHO the reason some of these firms fail to deliver is because they aren't run by technologists - they are run by business people who focus on marketing rather than innovating.  You wind up spending more and getting less.

they don't "get it," or because they're actively hostile to the bloggers/blogosphere/netroots?  If the former, how do we fix that?  If the latter, why is this the case?  I'm very interested because I'm currently co-authoring a book on the netroots for Praeger.  This seems like a classic case of the party establishment and the netroots somehow not working together effectively...

Please e-mail me offline if you want to discuss anything "off the record."  Thanks.

I'm wondering why they don't use the enthusiam of the netroots community that is begging to be asked to help. 
Are they so insulated, only surrounding themselves with those that think like themselves, that they don't realize what's going on? 

The netroots, in my mind, isn't radical at all, if that's what they think.  As witnessed here at RK (which I check each morning for political news), there are well-versed, intelligent, obviously well-educated talent that simply, if used, would make the difference between winning and losing elections. 

Are we going to be stuck in this time warp?  Well we will if we don't do something about it.  I'm a product of the 60s "revolt" against conservative social norms and can't seem to shake the deeply embedded commitment to changing what doesn't seem right.  We need to get Democrats elected to start fixing the enormous mess that Bush and company have dumped on us.  Activism, such as RK, creates change.  Now the DPVA needs to crawl out of their shelter, talk to us, and ask for help!

that the RPV website has no problem linking to the Virginia Republican blogs, working with them, etc.  And some of those are VERY far right wing, "radical" even.  Why are the Republicans not worried about this, but the Democrats are, if that is indeed the case?

PS  Raising Kaine is only "radical" if you consider people like Jim Webb to be radical, because I'd say most of us agree with Webb 90% of the time.  We are not racists, homophobes, anti-Semites, communists, anarchists, or socialists.  What makes us "radical," exactly, if that's what anyone thinks?  We are proud, mainstream Democrats and Teddy Roosevelt/Jim Webb/RFK Progressives.  Does the DPVA have any problem with that?