I have always assumed that if I can get interesting people to sign up they will participate. The main case that proved true has been with yourself, Margaret. I think everyone appreciates your participation!

Some of the others I have brought to this particular watering hole have seemed far more reluctant to take the plunge. Shows me that we do need to make things a bit easier, I guess. I can't really complain with how the site is developing or growing, but I will say that there does seem to be a barrier between people arriving and people participating. This is where my skills as editor are not quite up to speed. I can write, I can spread the word, I can recruit, and I can even occasionally negotiate between Bouldin and some of our more difficult participants. But when it comes to lowering that barrier to participation I am not sure what to do. It's too bad because some of the people I've recruited seem like they'd blow many of us away in terms of interesting stuff.

As to my political participation, I go back a bit further than Dean's presidential campaign. Among my first memories are Watergate and watching the 1972 Democratic National telethon and pledging my pennies. My politics come straight from my mother and grandmother. Since 2000 my online and letter writing activity has shot up. And around 2004 I got involved in organizing protests to the Republican Convention and was recruited by a friend to be involved in local Brooklyn politics. And my political activity has just been growing like a cancer since.