Hello Fellow Dragoons,
This morning we are unveiling a new feature on the website - a protected
discussion group. (And there are more new features waiting in the wings!)
The Regimental Family Guestbook has been subject to malicious submissions of
many types, largely because it was open to anonymous participation. In some
cases, when we tried to report the abuses to the sender's Internet Provider,
we found that the sender's return email address was a forgery. I found
myself having to purge the Guestbook of malicious pornographic, drug-sale,
programming code, and plain nonsense messages on almost a daily basis. While
doing this purging, I realized that the format of the Guestbook encouraged
only single greetings and discouraged the growth of any sort of discussion
or difference of opinion. We need a vehicle that encourages member
participation over the long term; a vehicle where a member can ask a
question that someone in the Family is sure to be able to answer. We also
need a vehicle that gives us some control over its participants without
having to monitor it on a daily basis.
The Dragoon News & Discussion Group requires participants to register
themselves on the website, giving us that measure of control. In order to
access the group and to participate in it you must first go to the web site
top-level navigation page and select "Register to Join our News & Discussion
Group". There you can select your own login identity, either your own name,
nick-name or a pen-name (I'd call it a pseudonym, bit I don't think I can
spell that word!) We ask only that whatever name you select contain no
spaces. You will also be asked for a password of your choosing and here we
ask that it be at least six letters or numerals long and also not contain
spaces. Once registered you need not do it again.
To access the group select "Dragoons News & Discussion Group" from the
navigation page. A pop-up window will appear asking you for your login
identity and password.
You'll notice that our title talks about news and discussions. We hope that
this space will be filled with news announcements, both of great
significance or of little or no significance; filled with opinions,
passionate or not; filled with analyses of events that impact on the Family
(how long before some-one wonders aloud about how easier it would be to meet
our foreign obligations if we had a larger army!); filled with long ranging
differences of opinion couched in comradely terms. We want all of these
types of conversations to appear here. We hope you enjoy this space and
re-visit it often.
For the time being, we will retain the Guestbook in its present form. The
decision whether or not to remove it will depend on your views and website
usage.
Enjoy!
Norm Ashton