Irish Politics Wiki

Selkies

Every time an election comes along I have absolutely no idea who to vote for. What I would like is a way to find out what issues the politicians actually stand for.
I tried wikipedia but that only gave me some of the facts about them as people, not the issues that tend to affect my vote, I tried looking at their website but I found I agreed with everything everyone was saying, it was if their websites only dealt with the issues that everyone agreed on.

So I decided that the best solution would be if there was a wiki where people could put on the net what each politician stood for with a citation proving that the politician had publicly stated that this is what he/she believes.

So I google'd for the website I wanted, I couldn't find it, so I created my own.

http://www.politicswiki.ie

Now it's just a wiki, there is nothing actually on it yet. I haven't even installed the extensions to make it properly useful. In fact it's so new that you may not be able to access it yet given that DNS takes a while to propagate.
However it's a step in the right direction.

I have no experience in running a public wiki, I need people who do, I also need people who know how to find out information, I need technical people, I need people who just like the idea, I need you.

This is a non profit website. This is a non partisan website.

Any suggestions?
Anyone want to take part?

Denerick

I'll give it a go. You'll need to write up policies on neutrality, article style, behaviour etc. but it could be interesting. I have no technical knowledge whatsoever but could help with some articles.

Eliot Rosewater

Cool idea Selkies!

I suppose at the start you could just copy and paste from Wikipedia, just to get something that would entice people to contribute.

You could also liase with other websites, Elections Ireland and Irish Election Literature come to mind, directly using or linking to their data.

I think it would be good to make it broad. Don't just limit it individual
politicians and parties, allow articles like "Censorship in Ireland" (Okay, I couldnt resist ).

Some reasons I could see it failing would be that people might not be motivated to contribute, or that people would just continue to use Wikipedia.

Eliot Rosewater

Me and Denerick will write an article drooling over in praise of Edmund Burke!

Cookie_Monster

Selkies wrote: »

Every time an election comes along I have absolutely no idea who to vote for. What I would like is a way to find out what issues the politicians actually stand for.

email the candidates in your constituency and ask for a full CV and manifesto from each

Selkies

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

email the candidates in your constituency and ask for a full CV and manifesto from each

Excellent plan, although I think I might wait till have I have a good few pages created before I ask them.
I want to prove that I can get a community interested in this before I ask that tax payers money be spent on it.

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Cool idea Selkies!

I suppose at the start you could just copy and paste from Wikipedia, just to get something that would entice people to contribute.

I might take some of the templates from wikipedia and most certainly link to them but I don't want to duplicate their service.

I also want there to be as little information as possible to inform someone on the ideas that a politician subscribes to.

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

You could also liase with other websites, Elections Ireland and Irish Election Literature come to mind, directly using or linking to their data.

As with wikipedia I would be more in favour of linking to their data rather than using it unless it directly relates to policy.

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I think it would be good to make it broad. Don't just limit it individual
politicians and parties, allow articles like "Censorship in Ireland" (Okay, I couldnt resist ).

Absolutely, there are numerous ways that it could expand

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Some reasons I could see it failing would be that people might not be motivated to contribute, or that people would just continue to use Wikipedia.

Well I want to make it different to wikipedia.

I will do everything in my power to get people interested in this, beyond that I can do no more.

Denerick wrote: »

I'll give it a go.

Excellent, glad to hear it

Denerick wrote: »

You'll need to write up policies on neutrality, article style, behaviour etc. but it could be interesting. I have no technical knowledge whatsoever but could help with some articles.

Yes.

First on my list is installing extensions.
Then there is the templates.
Then I make a page for Brian Cowen for a test case
Then I write up some documents on how to write pages.
Then I start working on the other TDDs

Denerick

The problem with articles like 'censorship in Ireland' is that it could serve as a prelude to a wild rambling wiki with no coherent focus. This shouldn't strive to be an alternative to wikipedia but a complement. If you are not satisfied that your local TD only has four lines on wikipedia, go to politics.pedia.ie and see a full article, detailing voting history, pre-political background, special interest links etc. etc.

Then a few broad survey articles about the history and present structure of the political parties/trade unions/interest groups. Also articles on relatively recent referendums - going as far back to the first divorce referendum. Also some articles on Irish General elections since 1918 could be interesting.

There could be a problem with tangents. Start writing about Republicanism and before you know it you have an irish history wiki, not a politics one...

Scofflaw

Denerick wrote: »

The problem with articles like 'censorship in Ireland' is that it could serve as a prelude to a wild rambling wiki with no coherent focus. This shouldn't strive to be an alternative to wikipedia but a complement. If you are not satisfied that your local TD only has four lines on wikipedia, go to politics.pedia.ie and see a full article, detailing voting history, pre-political background, special interest links etc. etc.

Then a few broad survey articles about the history and present structure of the political parties/trade unions/interest groups. Also articles on relatively recent referendums - going as far back to the first divorce referendum. Also some articles on Irish General elections since 1918 could be interesting.

There could be a problem with tangents. Start writing about Republicanism and before you know it you have an irish history wiki, not a politics one...

It will need, in fact, some moderation by a content team...

cordially,
Scofflaw

Denerick

Scofflaw wrote: »

It will need, in fact, some moderation by a content team...

cordially,
Scofflaw

Shameless!

Arfan

Denerick wrote: »

Shameless!

Always pushing an agenda too. Why back in my day we had vandalism and edit wars and we liked it.

One good thing about a wiki is if it keeps the page histories you can go back through time ad see just how much a candidate has changed his opinions on issues.

Eliot Rosewater

Selkies: I don't think the Wiki software is installed properly. In particular, I got a SQL error when I tried to create an "Anyone but Fianna Fáil" page.

"Anyone but Fianna Fáil (commonly abbreviated to ABFF) is a term used to describe citizens whose voting preference is based primarily on ensuring that Fianna Fáil candidates do not get elected. The term originated in 2008 during a time of increased dissatisfaction with the incumbent FF/Green Party government. As such, ABFF voters also tend to vote against Green Party candidates."

Poetic!

Denerick wrote: »

The problem with articles like 'censorship in Ireland' is that it could serve as a prelude to a wild rambling wiki with no coherent focus.

You're right. The only reason I suggested it was that the issue comes up sometimes in political discussions on Boards.ie, and it would be handy to have a sourced article to refer to.

Selkies

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Selkies: I don't think the Wiki software is installed properly. In particular, I got a SQL error when I tried to create an "Anyone but Fianna Fáil" page.

"Anyone but Fianna Fáil (commonly abbreviated to ABFF) is a term used to describe citizens whose voting preference is based primarily on ensuring that Fianna Fáil candidates do not get elected. The term originated in 2008 during a time of increased dissatisfaction with the incumbent FF/Green Party government. As such, ABFF voters also tend to vote against Green Party candidates."

Poetic!



You're right. The only reason I suggested it was that the issue comes up sometimes in political discussions on Boards.ie, and it would be handy to have a sourced article to refer to.

Yeah I'm in the middle of installing a whole load of extensions, maybe I should have held off on advertising this...

Anyway that issue is fixed while I try to figure out why I can't seem to update the database with the install scripts gahhh...

So you can create that page now...

Anyone who has mediawiki experience give me a shout, need help with this.

Selkies

Thanks Eliot for the first ever politics page on politicswiki.ie

http://www.politicswiki.ie/Anyone_but_Fianna_Fáil

Anonymous1987

Don't forget a lesser known but excellent resource: KildareStreet.com

KildareStreet.com is a searchable archive of everything that's been said in the Dáil and Seanad chambers, and all written parliamentary questions, since January 2004.

Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore

Useful for the section on committees of topics and interests

PanchoVilla

I really don't think it matters what their policies are. Irish politicians, like most politicians I guess, tell you what you want to hear to get your vote then largely ignore their campaign promises once they are elected.

Selkies

Anonymous1987 wrote: »

Don't forget a lesser known but excellent resource: KildareStreet.com



Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore

Useful for the section on committees of topics and interests

Absolutely, I'm a big fan of KildareStreet

PanchoVilla wrote: »

I really don't think it matters what their policies are. Irish politicians, like most politicians I guess, tell you what you want to hear to get your vote then largely ignore their campaign promises once they are elected.

That's why every statement about policy will require a citation.

So there will be a record elsewhere of what they have said.

Hopefully we will be able to get a copy of their voting record too once kildarestreet can sort out it's problems with the debates website.

I agree that it's not perfect but don't write it off yet, it could lead to a more open government, why would you pass up on that possibility when it loses us nothing in the trying ?

Tenderloins1

Its very difficult to get exact policies. Indeed many of the politicians I write to looking for material, dont even bother replying, which is ironic considering few if anyone wants the stuff.
Even now though you'll find Fianna Fail Newsletters with the TDs opposing cuts to the local hospital and so on. As if they hadn't been in government for years.

On my own site I just post what takes my fancy, but do take requests and if I have it I'll post it.

There was a project done in the UK during the 2010 General Election where people all over the UK uploaded leaflets. Electionleaflets.org

There is a site here with purely Party Election Manifestos and Programmes for Government. Manifestoes.ie

Selkies

Tenderloins1 wrote: »

Its very difficult to get exact policies. Indeed many of the politicians I write to looking for material, dont even bother replying, which is ironic considering few if anyone wants the stuff.
Even now though you'll find Fianna Fail Newsletters with the TDs opposing cuts to the local hospital and so on. As if they hadn't been in government for years.

On my own site I just post what takes my fancy, but do take requests and if I have it I'll post it.

There was a project done in the UK during the 2010 General Election where people all over the UK uploaded leaflets. Electionleaflets.org

There is a site here with purely Party Election Manifestos and Programmes for Government. Manifestoes.ie

Hopefully we will be focusing on a couple of popular issues that aren't generally covered by Manifestos.

There may be some placeholders on politicians wiki pages for their views on various subjects that make it obvious when a politician has yet to respond.

Either way the site has amazing potential, and we can respond to the situations as they arise.

Scofflaw

Selkies wrote: »

Absolutely, I'm a big fan of KildareStreet



That's why every statement about policy will require a citation.

So there will be a record elsewhere of what they have said.

Hopefully we will be able to get a copy of their voting record too once kildarestreet can sort out it's problems with the debates website.

I agree that it's not perfect but don't write it off yet, it could lead to a more open government, why would you pass up on that possibility when it loses us nothing in the trying ?

There's relatively little point to a voting record, though, because every vote is whipped. The government lost only one vote in the 2002-2007 session, and won it in a repeat vote that afternoon. Only one or two TDs have ever voted against their parties.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Selkies

Scofflaw wrote: »

There's relatively little point to a voting record, though, because every vote is whipped. The government lost only one vote in the 2002-2007 session, and won it in a repeat vote that afternoon. Only one or two TDs have ever voted against their parties.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Maybe more will vote against their party if they have their voting record freely available

Selkies

All the extensions for mediawiki are installed and the site will remain up from now on.

I've made a large amount of headway in getting wikipedia templates over onto politicswiki, however there is still a load of templates needed

I've enabled file uploads so now you can upload images and pdfs

I've started the first politician wiki page: http://www.politicswiki.ie/Brian_Cowen

I've spent hours and hours getting this working, would appreciate if you could take some time to add a page.

Please please don't put anything up as fact unless you have a citation

Selkies

Also while I think of it, I'll be starting a social networking campaign as soon as I have some more pages. If you have any ideas about promotion let me know.

Lockstep

One idea of mine that's been on the backburner for a while is to create an introductory politics website. Going over the basics of different ideologies, the role of the Constitution, courts etc.

Was going to call it Statecraft until I found out that Thatcher already used the term for her book.

Selkies

kickoutthejams wrote: »

One idea of mine that's been on the backburner for a while is to create an introductory politics website. Going over the basics of different ideologies, the role of the Constitution, courts etc.

Was going to call it Statecraft until I found out that Thatcher already used the term for her book.

that role is pretty much covered by wikipedia and about half a million books, websites, and forums unfortunately.
But good idea,
maybe you would like to contribute to this wiki, so that people can find out how their politicians fit into what they know about politics.

Lockstep

Selkies wrote: »

that role is pretty much covered by wikipedia and about half a million books, websites, and forums unfortunately.
But good idea,
maybe you would like to contribute to this wiki, so that people can find out how their politicians fit into what they know about politics.

I don't think the role is properly covered.
Wikipedia provides factual information but doesn't go into much detail. It states what is without going into much reasoning behind it (for example, it writes the different types of Irish courts without going into the debate over the judiciary's power and the dangers of a 'black robed junta')
Also, the viewer would need to know roughly what they're looking for: they're unlikely to come across liberalism or Milton Friedman unless they're already looking for mit.

True, there are books out there (Politics in the Republic of Ireland is excellent but heavy reading) but personally, I think stuff like this should be freely available and easily accessible to the Irish people.
Forums: way, way too biased. As much as I like Boards, the likes of Politics.ie just show what a freakshow it can become.

Eliot Rosewater

kickoutthejams wrote: »

One idea of mine that's been on the backburner for a while is to create an introductory politics website

That sounds interesting. Have you given it much thought? Like, what format it would take?

I think the main problem with Wikipedia is that it offers no real point of entry. If someone wants to learn about Politics there's no real place to start. The Politics article doesn't suffice because it's written as an encyclopaedia entry, not as an introductory guide.

Selkies

kickoutthejams wrote: »

I don't think the role is properly covered.
Wikipedia provides factual information but doesn't go into much detail. It states what is without going into much reasoning behind it (for example, it writes the different types of Irish courts without going into the debate over the judiciary's power and the dangers of a 'black robed junta')
Also, the viewer would need to know roughly what they're looking for: they're unlikely to come across liberalism or Milton Friedman unless they're already looking for mit.

True, there are books out there (Politics in the Republic of Ireland is excellent but heavy reading) but personally, I think stuff like this should be freely available and easily accessible to the Irish people.
Forums: way, way too biased. As much as I like Boards, the likes of Politics.ie just show what a freakshow it can become.

I agree that Wikipedia certainly doesn't solve the problem however as far as I can see they cover all that can be covered for free and with as little bias as possible.

Lockstep

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

That sounds interesting. Have you given it much thought? Like, what format it would take?

I think the main problem with Wikipedia is that it offers no real point of entry. If someone wants to learn about Politics there's no real place to start. The Politics article doesn't suffice because it's written as an encyclopaedia entry, not as an introductory guide.

I've given it a fair bit of thought alright. A friend of mine set up a website to explain to kids about Irish history and the English language. I thought it was a fantastic idea and was amazed that noone had set up something similar to explain to people about politics. It's really one of those things I keep meaning to do but currently don't have the time to do properly: I'd really be striving to keep it as objective and unbiased as possible and given it's meant as an introduction to politics, I'd hopefully be able to avoid the really thorny issues that can make politics so divisive. The idea would be to give everyone from secondary students to the elderly an introduction into politics and to help them make their own minds.
At the moment, my friends and family use be as an FAQ on politics in general so I realized how badly needed some sort of site like this is needed. It's really hard for most of us to get into politics.

Ideal format would be a core group of pages with different subpages.
One area to explain basic political studies. For example, concise explanations on the 'macro-ideologies' like Conservatism, Liberalism and Socialism, along with further articles on how these have split off into modern forms like social-democracy, neo-conservatism, social liberalism etc. Ideally it'd have a few other pages on things like what politics involves, and the theories behind constitutionalism, the separation of powers, citizenship and so on. Wikipedia is great for these, but it can be extremely heavy reading.
Another part of the site devoted to Irish issues. Basically things like explaining how PR:STV works, the role and impact of the Irish Constitution, the powers of the Dáil and a synopsis of the history and ideology of each major political party. I'd try to avoid giving a page to each individual TD as that'd sort of bog down the site. I'd be mainly interested in keeping it as a concise and accessible introduction rather than an all-encompassing website.

Those are the main concepts behind the site; I'd love to do a piece on how the American and British systems work if there's the interest but I'd mainly be looking to educate an Irish audience.

If it really took off, I'd be really interested in a system similar to the Library of Economics and Liberty where articles on major political theories are written by proponents. If I'm honest, I'd already that if this came about, I'd like some of the politicos of Boards.ie to write pieces.

I've read some fantastic books on politics (I'd really reccomend Politics by Peter Joyce for an outline of general politics, with chapters on everything from ideology to the executive to electoral systems to the role of the media. For an Irish bent, Politics in the ROI by Coakley and Gallagher is absolutely brilliant but is a fairly heavy read.) What I'd most like to do is extract the main points of these type of books and make them available to the public at large.


As I said, it's really something I'm very interested in but I'm in the final year of university now so I can't currently work on it. Given the lack of full time work out there, I might be able to start on it next year.

Lockstep

Selkies wrote: »

I agree that Wikipedia certainly doesn't solve the problem however as far as I can see they cover all that can be covered for free and with as little bias as possible.

THe main problem with Wikipedia is that it reads like an encyclopedia entry. It doesn't offer anything concise or accessible or go into the nuances of political concepts or offer any starting points.

My ideal site would be one where politics can be understood in a continuous line (as political textbooks do) rather than the patchwork approach that you'd get from Wikipedia.

Selkies

kickoutthejams wrote: »

. It's really one of those things I keep meaning to do but currently don't have the time to do properly

Anyway when you get the time to give it a shot, let me know and I'll help you set it up

In the meant time, and getting back on topic, would you be willing to help me with PoliticsWiki.ie?

Selkies

I'm going to begin creating the rest of the politicians wiki pages in the following order:

TDs
Ministers
Fianna Fail
Fine Gael
Labour Party
Green Party
Sinn Fein
Independents

Senators
Fianna Fail
Fine Gael
Labour Party
Green Party
Sinn Fein
Independents

I'm going to try and find the following information about each one in addition to the wikipedia info box (the right hand side summary box on each politicians page) and the categories at the bottom:

Facebook Profile Link
Link to KildareStreet.com debates (Or theyworkforyou.com in the case of Gerry Adams)
Twitter link
Email Address or link to form mail on their website (as in the case of Brian Cowen)

I don't think I should provide phone numbers even if they are provided on their website, I'm interested in hearing opinions on that one.

Wolfe Tone

Hmmm, phone numbers, why not? People could come in and change them I suppose.

Selkies

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Hmmm, phone numbers, why not? People could come in and change them I suppose.

Yeah that is a possibility but I'm more worried about the TDs getting prank phone calls at 4am.

Sure we could remove the number from the site but we would have to remove it from every revision of the wiki which would be a pain.

What I think is a better idea is if we link to their website and if they want phone numbers up there then people can access them.

Just as I start thinking about this more I realise that some TDs if not all have dail offices, and those have phone numbers so it would be OK to put them up.

Also clinic location and hours.

Check out http://www.politicswiki.ie/Upcoming_Bye_Elections

I'm trying to get a list of candidates and anything that can be said about what they believe in.

The one bit of information aside from the standard email, party etc that I could get was on Barry O' Neil who was really involved in the campaign to save sligo hospital breast cancer treatment ward/center/thing.
Why I focused on that was because the article was dated about a year ago. Which is less fake sounding than anything he does in the run up to an election. Might interest some voters.

One bit of information isn't enough though, I need information on every candidate, and not just political speeches, the kind of policy information that changes peoples minds, especially information that divides people!
None of this I want to be nice to people except when they do bad things, I condemn bad things like totally ****e you usually get from the press office.

Make me proud, internet.

Wolfe Tone

Selkies wrote: »

Yeah that is a possibility but I'm more worried about the TDs getting prank phone calls at 4am.

If anyone wanted to prank them they could find there numbers on the TDs website or something? I reckon you would be fine with putting up any numbers which are already on the net.

What I think is a better idea is if we link to their website and if they want phone numbers up there then people can access them.

Put u the number, and a link to show were you got it from.

Just as I start thinking about this more I realise that some TDs if not all have dail offices, and those have phone numbers so it would be OK to put them up.

Also clinic location and hours.

Excellent suggestion.

Check out http://www.politicswiki.ie/Spring_2011_Bye_Election

I'm trying to get a list of candidates and anything that can be said about what they believe in.

The one bit of information aside from the standard email, party etc that I could get was on Barry O' Neil who was really involved in the campaign to save sligo hospital breast cancer treatment ward/center/thing.
Why I focused on that was because the article was dated about a year ago. Which is less fake sounding than anything he does in the run up to an election. Might interest some voters.

The date for that bye election could change quite soon! Also an article should be written up on the constitional challenge etc which Doherty did.

One bit of information isn't enough though, I need information on every candidate, and not just political speeches, the kind of policy information that changes peoples minds, especially information that divides people!
None of this I want to be nice to people except when they do bad things, I condemn bad things like totally ****e you usually get from the press office.

Make me proud, internet.

Maybe just have a link to the candidates politicswiki page with shows their core beliefs and those of their party?

Selkies

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Excellent suggestion.

Right I'll do that when I'm adding wiki pages from now on.. crap now I have to go back over 30 TDs to add their phone numbers and clinic info gahhhh...

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

The date for that bye election could change quite soon! Also an article should be written up on the constitional challenge etc which Doherty did.

Yeah I changed the link to be upcoming bye elections just in case.

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Maybe just have a link to the candidates politicswiki page with shows their core beliefs and those of their party?

Link from where?

I'm trying to find the candidates, have only found a few.
Already created a few politics wiki pages for candidates all linked from the http://www.politicswiki.ie/Upcoming_Bye_Elections page. Very little information on it though so far. Only found out late last night that there was even bye elections in the works, I'm a complete politics noob, but reading large amounts to correct that. May create wiki pages for the books I read along the way.. hmmm. there is so much potential for this to expand...

So Mussonlini, you seem interested in this venture, want to help?
Don't have to commit to anything, but any work you do on the wiki makes my life easier and would be much appreciated.
It makes Irish politics that little bit more transparent, and transparency is more awesome than cake.

Wolfe Tone

Yeah I would be willing to help, bit tied up with college assignments atm, but when I get time I would love to help. Once this thing gets going it should snowball.

Selkies

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Yeah I would be willing to help, bit tied up with college assignments atm, but when I get time I would love to help. Once this thing gets going it should snowball.

Thanks, well I've never started something like this, so I'm just throwing my full weight into it until it does take off.

My ideal scenario for PoliticsWiki is that a community grows up around it and takes over the running of the wiki and I occasionally ask people for donations but mostly focus on getting new transparency websites off the ground.
Hope it happens soon though cause I have an awesome awesome idea in the works and I need my evenings and weekends back in order to get it going.

Selkies

Does anyone have a Politics.ie account with 100 posts so that they can start a thread about PoliticsWiki.ie?

cedissapointed

Most of them are so mainstream it doesnt matter who u vote for..But then again kicking one political party out every four years wakes them up!

After the FAS fiasco and the JOBFIT employment scam stealing what could be loads of full time jobs for all of us out there it is time we kicked them out and voted another party in.

Scofflaw

cedissapointed wrote: »

Most of them are so mainstream it doesnt matter who u vote for..But then again kicking one political party out every four years wakes them up!

After the FAS fiasco and the JOBFIT employment scam stealing what could be loads of full time jobs for all of us out there it is time we kicked them out and voted another party in.

cedissapointed, every post you've made, whatever the thread, has been about the same thing. You've got a hobby-horse, and this isn't a stable.

Banned for 48 hours - repeat of behaviour on return will result in immediate permaban.

moderately,
Scofflaw

celestialteapot

I think this website is a great idea. I hope it succeeds. Theres probably a threshold of number of posts before it takes off properly.

Obviously the main problem is that most politicians say what people want to hear in order to get elected. They therefore use vague language and general statements so they get the greatest number of people to agree with them. Hopefully the website will force some of them to tell us their true political opinions.

Excellent vid by Steven Pinker explaining political rhetoric: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS4xVcko9qw
Also, the website might shed some light on the ideological differences (or lack of) between FG and FF.

Selkies

celestialteapot wrote: »

I think this website is a great idea. I hope it succeeds. Theres probably a threshold of number of posts before it takes off properly.

Obviously the main problem is that most politicians say what people want to hear in order to get elected. They therefore use vague language and general statements so they get the greatest number of people to agree with them. Hopefully the website will force some of them to tell us their true political opinions.

Also, the website might shed some light on the ideological differences (or lack of) between FG and FF.

Absolutely.

If you are interested in seeing this site succeed you might consider doing the following

1. Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/PoliticsWikiie/129078300479977

2. Tell your friends about PoliticsWiki.ie, particularly those who would be interested in contributing

3. Start contributing yourself, all you need to contribute is google. To start simply type in a politicians name and see what you can find about them that separates them from the flock, things that they say that not everyone wants to hear. Then start editing pages.
Don't worry about formatting or getting something wrong with the wiki, I can fix that later and you can learn how to use it, the important thing is that you contribute, that you are part of the process and because you are part of it, it makes the wiki better.

celestialteapot

First two done, guess i should do my part and give the third one a go

expectationlost

there was already was a politcal wiki for ireland apart from wikipedia not that i can volunteer it contents that aren't being used at the mo

Selkies

expectationlost wrote: »

there was already was a politcal wiki for ireland apart from wikipedia not that i can volunteer it contents that aren't being used at the mo

Hopefully politicswiki will be more successful

We have all the TDs and Senators apparently
Just need their views added into to their pages.

http://www.politicswiki.ie/23rd_Seanad
http://www.politicswiki.ie/Members_of_the_30th_D%C3%A1il

Selkies

Just so you know I have joined political party for the first time tonight. It's a personal thing not on behalf of the website I've founded or the people who have contributed, I will be careful not to favor them in moderation or research however I will try to encourage them to contribute to politicswiki as politically engaged citizens. The reason that I am joining the Irish democratic party is the same reason I started politicswiki, I want to be involved in the political process and I want others to join me. If anyone has any issue with this please share it. I am happy to do whatever will help to make you feel sure of the integrity of my politicswiki moderation and my contribution in the role as a user as long as it doesn't unacceptably reduce the effectiveness of politicswiki as a tool for objective voter education.

Not that it will matter much until I actually get some regular contributors.
*fingers crossed*