Fine Gael To Launch New Website For GE

Sierra Oscar

Supplementing the launch of FG's New Era website FG are expected to put their main website into "election mode" some time this morning.

The Irish Times are carrying an article on the revamp - FG opens election campaign with Obama-style web forum

The party will shut down its main website – containing hundreds of pages – and replace it with a website consisting of a single page containing a video message from party leader Enda Kenny and an invitation to voters to share their views on policy and the future of Ireland.

What do people think? Enda Kenny is no Obama . . . I would fear that it could be quite cringe worthy.

yosemite_sam

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Fine Gael have launched their New Era website marking the beginning of their election campaign.

What do people think?

They will also be revamping the official FG website - FG opens election campaign with Obama-style web forum



Enda Kenny is no Obama . . . I would fear that it could be quite cringe worthy.

I will not vote for FG whilst he is at the helm, big tip you want votes get rid. You will then have a new era

mountainy man

Have just played "whack a dodo" meh:rolleyes: the rest of the site is very dull , a bit like kenny. I voted for them last time but will not this time , it was a vote against ff not for them. kenny must go he is killing them.

Sergeant

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Fine Gael have launched their New Era website marking the beginning of their election campaign.

That site has been around for at least the last 6 months.

Sierra Oscar

Sergeant wrote: »

That site has been around for at least the last 6 months.

Goes to show how effective it has been then. :rolleyes:

In anycase Ill wait for the revamp of the main FG website, should happen by morning.

johnnyskeleton

It's truly amazing that the party most vocal in criticising Labour for not having any policies is proud of creating such an amazing policy document as this:

http://www.new-era.ie/jobs.html

later12

That's far more detailed than anything Labour have produced.

In any case, I can't see how this website would be bad for FG... it can only improve their electoral position, particularly, perhaps in the 25-35 year age group. Then again, they probably already have that age group unless the voters in question naturally align themselves with the loony left, in which cases a web forum is unlikely to entice them.

All in all, slightly helpful, but certainly not a game changer.

thebman

The game is very distasteful TBH. I dislike most of the characters as much as probably most of the people in the country but a bit more respect should be paid.

Would they like FF to do similar on their website?

Oh found a bug and got 11,900 points :P

Not hard to discover either, I think its an off the shelf template flash game you can put your own graphics in as I've seen similar on other sites.

Biggins

If I was FG, I'd expect members of the VFI to bombard the new site with price freezing ideas!

J_Wholesale

The site's a waste of time because you can't post real comments. You're limited to Twitter type comments up to only 250 characters. Basically, Fine Gael are asking you for your sound bites and nothing more - no real discussion allowed. What suggestion of substance can you make in 250 characters? "Get rid of Kenny?" Because with a 250 character limit, that's about the level of discussion they're getting.

Idiotic!

femur61

yosemite_sam wrote: »

I will not vote for FG whilst he is at the helm, big tip you want votes get rid. You will then have a new era

Agree with you on that one.

ScumLord

When I heard about it on the radio it sounded really promising but that website is a half arsed attempt to look in touch without being anywhere near touch.

Eliot Rosewater

What a terrible website. When I go to Fine Gael's website I want to be able to find their policies and see what they stand for. This new thing could be the website for any party: it tells you nothing about Fine Gael whatsoever (besides a populist soundbite from Kenny in the top right hand corner).

If I want a Twitter site, I'll go to twitter.com.

It doesn't give one much confidence in the new FG Minister for Technology! Did they get scamed by some marketing company or what?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

HQvhs

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

To be fair to FG, at least they're stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something different in Irish Politics. We constantly lambast politicians for ignoring the electorate and their views (see FF & Greens and the bye-elections), but when a party tries to facilitate discussion, all we can come out with are 'get rid of Kenny', and 'cringe'.

On the Kenny issue, briefly, I think that people miss the whole point (even FG do, to a certain extent). We should not have a single 'leader' figure. We need a chairman, someone who facilitates government, not who dictates it. Many of the most effective systems in the world are those that operate as a team on a flat hierarchy. For example, airlines, construction sites, and some private companies. If we keep insisting on the need for one 'leader' figure who will save us all, we will be waiting a long time. People had faith in Bertie at the time because he was charismatic, and Cowen because we was 'intelligent', not to mention Haughey, and the rest. But, with hindsight, can we say that they actually led a good government?

I may not think Kenny is the most intellignet, charismatic, or even likeable guy (in fact, he's as boring as bedamned), but at least he seems willing to try new things: whether it's calling for the abolishment of the Seanad, emphasising a real 'team' rather than a faux team (remember Bertie's 'team'?), and trying to methods (gimmicks, even) that are novel in our normally conservative Irish politics to try and change the game.

Admittedly, the execution here could be a lot better, but it's a start. And I for one think there should be more of these kinds of efforts.

thebaldsoprano

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

If I want a Twitter site, I'll go to twitter.com

I was hoping it'd be something like a bulletin board when I saw an an article about it, which might've been interesting, but when I went to the site that was my first thought too - twitter.

If I typed in "get rid of Kenny" into the "How Can We Earn Your Support" section I somehow doubt it'd show up in the "conversation". This is little more than marketeering.

Jayuu

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

What a terrible website. When I go to Fine Gael's website I want to be able to find their policies and see what they stand for. This new thing could be the website for any party: it tells you nothing about Fine Gael whatsoever (besides a populist soundbite from Kenny in the top right hand corner).

If you read the article in the Irish Times you'll see that the full site will be revamped and put back in a couple of weeks, just in time for the election. I'm sure it will have everything you need to know about Fine Gael and its policies!

And up to yesterday you could have visited the old Fine Gael site which had all that information. I take you only want that information now that you can't have it?? And there is still the New Era site which has quite a lot of information on policy.

boatbuilder

I tried to leave a comment on the new FG website and when I clicked the sumbit buttom, I got "Internal server error".

This does not inspire confidence

mconigol

If only there was already a moderated website in existence where Enda Kenny could go and find out citizens opinions without having to resort to publicity stunts :rolleyes:

mcmanusdavid

I believe this is a positive initiative and i'd imagine the public will respond with lots of comments and opinions.

Jayuu

mconigol wrote: »

If only there was already a moderated website in existence where Enda Kenny could go and find out citizens opinions without having to resort to publicity stunts :rolleyes:

Oh come on! Let's get real here. I like boards.ie as much as the next person but the idea that the solution to all our problems are here is really getting carried away. Apart from the fact that for every idea posted here there will be somebody who lambastes it as the most ridiculous things he/she has ever heard. Also would he really want to look at the personal insults that rain down from posters here.

And funnily enough if Fine Gael said they would take ideas from boards.ie or politics.ie and use them, there would probably be a cabal screaming about how they were being populist.

Cynicism about politics isn't new but it does seem that any time any party tries something a little different there's a set of people just waiting to jump on it and beat it into submission because it doesn't fit in with their idea of how the world should work. This isn't rocket science from Fine Gael but its a new approach and lets see what comes out of it.

crying

It seems to be a temporary thing. I would like to see more of this in general in Irish politics so it's at least a start!:)

johnnyskeleton

HQvhs wrote: »

To be fair to FG, at least they're stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something different in Irish Politics. We constantly lambast politicians for ignoring the electorate and their views (see FF & Greens and the bye-elections), but when a party tries to facilitate discussion, all we can come out with are 'get rid of Kenny', and 'cringe'.

But if the people are crying out for FG to get rid of Kenny, shouldn't they take that on board? If they ask for our opinions, they can't turn around and say our opinions are worthless.

Jayuu

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

But if the people are crying out for FG to get rid of Kenny, shouldn't they take that on board? If they ask for our opinions, they can't turn around and say our opinions are worthless.

If we accepted that then the leaders of all political parties would have to step down because none of them command a majority support amongst the electorate.

mconigol

Jayuu wrote: »

Oh come on! Let's get real here. I like boards.ie as much as the next person but the idea that the solution to all our problems are here is really getting carried away. Apart from the fact that for every idea posted here there will be somebody who lambastes it as the most ridiculous things he/she has ever heard. Also would he really want to look at the personal insults that rain down from posters here.

And funnily enough if Fine Gael said they would take ideas from boards.ie or politics.ie and use them, there would probably be a cabal screaming about how they were being populist.

Cynicism about politics isn't new but it does seem that any time any party tries something a little different there's a set of people just waiting to jump on it and beat it into submission because it doesn't fit in with their idea of how the world should work. This isn't rocket science from Fine Gael but its a new approach and lets see what comes out of it.

How would the comments posted on Fine Gaels website be any different than those posted here or on politics.ie??

In all reality it will probably mainly be the same people posting on both where as at least here you can actually have a real discussion on a topic like we're doing now. You do realise they are just looking for peoples opinions, they're not actually going to implement every single comment?!

At least message boards are independently moderated. There is no need for Fine Gaels site since several better alternatives already exist if their aim is, as they say, to listen to citizens views.

I'm not being cynical, I'm just saying that it's 100% a publicity stunt and pointless. Do you really think they're going to base any policy on somebodies 250 character message? I sincerely hope not!

ScumLord

HQvhs wrote: »

To be fair to FG, at least they're stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something different in Irish Politics. .

It's nothing more than a trumped up contact form were instead of emailing a message to somebody it's held in the database and used as content. Old, old, very old technology. If they think this is new or bold they need to spend more time online.

thebaldsoprano

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

But if the people are crying out for FG to get rid of Kenny, shouldn't they take that on board? If they ask for our opinions, they can't turn around and say our opinions are worthless.

They might even get a debate going and use it to paint Kenny in a more favourable light, there may well be plenty of things he has done that those who don't like him mightn't be aware of.

That site is just an attempt to let people think they have a say - we value your opinion, as long as it doesn't go against Party guidelines.

mconigol

ScumLord wrote: »

It's nothing more than a trumped up contact form were instead of emailing a message to somebody it's held in the database and used as content. Old, old, very old technology. If they think this is new or bold they need to spend more time online.

+1

It's almost sad in a way that this is being thought of as progressive or even newsworthy!

HQvhs

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

But if the people are crying out for FG to get rid of Kenny, shouldn't they take that on board? If they ask for our opinions, they can't turn around and say our opinions are worthless.

No. But at the same time, just because they want to listen to our opinions and take them into account does not mean that they have to accept all of them, and act on all of them. THAT would be populist!

Look, I too think that getting rid of Kenny would have been a good thing a year ago (it's too close to an election now, it would be chaos). But there are far more important things to worry about - policies, cabinet members, government makeup etc. Kenny is an excellent chairman and facilitator, unlike Cowen or even Gilmore. And that is shown by the progress he has made with a party that was on it's deathbed only 8 years ago.

Again, what have Fianna Fail, Labour, Sinn Fein or the Green Party done recently that could be construed as even mildly innovative and novel to shake up Irish politics? Nothing. They have been playing it safe, and, if not defending the status quo, then at least not making any moves to change it. It's only recently that other parties jumped on the band wagon for abolishing the Seanad - not because it was a good idea, but because they wanted to steal FG's iniative.

A desire to take risks for long-term benefit is needed in this country. Short-term fixes like the bank guarantee, keeping Anglo open, and reliance on stamp duty etc. have contributed to the mess that we are in. Some new, innovative strategies are needed.

HQvhs

ScumLord wrote: »

It's nothing more than a trumped up contact form were instead of emailing a message to somebody it's held in the database and used as content. Old, old, very old technology. If they think this is new or bold they need to spend more time online.

Yes, I said I agreed the execution was poor. It could have been a lot better. But at least they are trying. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon of lambasting every party that makes an effort to be different and doesn't succeed. At least they're trying. It's far easier to sit back, say nothing risky, and just spout out some populist rubbish, and then, when you get into power, change nothing. That is what most governments to date in Ireland have done. I'd like to see something different, so I think it is worthwhile to encourage initiatives like this which are politically risky.

Originally Posted by HQvhs View Post
To be fair to FG, at least they're stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something different in Irish Politics/

It's nothing more than a trumped up contact form were instead of emailing a message to somebody it's held in the database and used as content. Old, old, very old technology. If they think this is new or bold they need to spend more time online.

My point exactly! Doesn't that say something about Irish politics? So shouldn't we encourage attempts like this - even if not perfect - to change that?

Jayuu

mconigol wrote: »

How would the comments posted on Fine Gaels website be any different than those posted here or on politics.ie??

In all reality it will probably mainly be the same people posting on both where as at least here you can actually have a real discussion on a topic like we're doing now. You do realise they are just looking for peoples opinions, they're not actually going to implement every single comment?!

At least message boards are independently moderated. There is no need for Fine Gaels site since several better alternatives already exist if their aim is, as they say, to listen to citizens views.

I'm not being cynical, I'm just saying that it's 100% a publicity stunt and pointless. Do you really think they're going to base any policy on somebodies 250 character message? I sincerely hope not!

I think you might be surprised about who might contribute. I know I lurked on this site for a long while before joining or contributing. Part of that was because I found that there can be an attitude here that's quite unforgiving if you say something controversial.

Incidentally its quite possible that Fine Gael and other political parties do look at message boards and peruse the ideas. I'd be very surprised if they didn't. That doesn't mean that they can elicit direct suggestion on their own site if they want.

ScumLord

HQvhs wrote: »

Yes, I said I agreed the execution was poor. It could have been a lot better. But at least they are trying. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon of lambasting every party that makes an effort to be different and doesn't succeed. At least they're trying. It's far easier to sit back, say nothing risky, and just spout out some populist rubbish, and then, when you get into power, change nothing. That is what most governments to date in Ireland have done. I'd like to see something different, so I think it is worthwhile to encourage initiatives like this which are politically risky.

I don't know, I think giving them a pat on the back for this pretty poor gimmick won't do anybody any favours. It's just a gimmick as far as I can see, it's a reason to get themselves in the media. I just don't see this as much of a step, I want to see much, much more. There's no debate with that site they're still keeping the people of Ireland at arms length rather than really engage with them.

Maybe I am jumping the gun, maybe there's a stage two that will begin the real debate with the public.

Sierra Oscar

I sort of find it ironic that on the one hand FG have revamped their main site to connect with voters while on the other hand their new site lacks any information on their actual policies - making it more difficult for your ordinary Joe Soap to access what FG are actually about.

How is that progressive?

HQvhs

ScumLord wrote: »

I don't know, I think giving them a pat on the back for this pretty poor gimmick won't do anybody any favours. It's just a gimmick as far as I can see, it's a reason to get themselves in the media. I just don't see this as much of a step, I want to see much, much more. There's no debate with that site they're still keeping the people of Ireland at arms length rather than really engage with them.

Maybe I am jumping the gun, maybe there's a stage two that will begin the real debate with the public.

Agreed. So offer constructive critisiscm. Make that suggestion. Say, 'this is a step in the right direction, but I'd like to see you go further'. A big problem is that people see this is as not going far enough, and then just unreservedly criticise it and this discourages future innovation. Ultimately, any political party wants your vote, so if enough people raise an issue they will deal with it (that's the theory anyway - we could dispute the reality all day, of course, but I'd like to put my cynicism to one side for the moment).

mconigol

Jayuu wrote: »

I think you might be surprised about who might contribute. I know I lurked on this site for a long while before joining or contributing. Part of that was because I found that there can be an attitude here that's quite unforgiving if you say something controversial.

Incidentally its quite possible that Fine Gael and other political parties do look at message boards and peruse the ideas. I'd be very surprised if they didn't. That doesn't mean that they can elicit direct suggestion on their own site if they want.

Ok so maybe some people who otherwise wouldn't have before might post some comments. Honestly though what good is a list of comments hand picked by Fine Gael on a website going to be?

The tagline is "Join the Conversation". A conversation is a two way street is it not?

I also lurked on this site for a very long time before joining. As you can see by my post count I still lurk more than I post! I honestly can't see though why someone would be afraid to anonymously post something on an internet forum, even something controversial, for fear of someone disagreeing?! So what??

I'm quite sure that politicians and political parties monitor message boards which is why I think that Fine Gaels stunt is exactly that, a stunt. I'm sure boards could have facilitated a dedicated forum where FG reps could have actually interacted with the public in a genuine way. This is a pre-election publicity stunt...pure and simple.

Edit: I just noticed you have to provide a surname and email address to post on their site, can't see how that would be any less intimidating than posting on boards.ie/politics.ie etc....

Jayuu

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

I sort of find it ironic that on the one hand FG have revamped their main site to connect with voters while on the other hand their new site lacks any information on their actual policies - making it more difficult for your ordinary Joe Soap to access what FG are actually about.

How is that progressive?

They have said that a full new site will be available in a couple of weeks and that this is a temporary initiative to generate discussion while that site is being built.

Stop being so cynical. I'm sure if you were really interested in Fine Gael policies you could always write to them at their HQ or e-mail them and they'd be happy to oblige.

Sierra Oscar

Jayuu wrote: »

They have said that a full new site will be available in a couple of weeks and that this is a temporary initiative to generate discussion while that site is being built.

Stop being so cynical. I'm sure if you were really interested in Fine Gael policies you could always write to them at their HQ or e-mail them and they'd be happy to oblige.

In a couple of weeks, when the election is over? The time for clear access to policies is during an election campaign. Do you agree on that much? Do you agree with me that it would have been quite simple to have policy information on the current website? I just find that FG have a bit of a nerve to criticise the difficulties surrounding accessing Labour's policies when they themselves have went ahead and made it more difficult for people to access their own current policies running into the GE.

I am not going to mute my criticisms just because some people think any sort of change is progressive.

mconigol

Jayuu wrote: »

They have said that a full new site will be available in a couple of weeks and that this is a temporary initiative to generate discussion while that site is being built.

Stop being so cynical. I'm sure if you were really interested in Fine Gael policies you could always write to them at their HQ or e-mail them and they'd be happy to oblige.

The facilities to generate discussion already exist. We're using them.

They aren't interested in discussion or listening to what the people want. If that was the case then Enda Kenny would have listened to the 77% of voters who want him to go.

Sierra Oscar

A link to the old FG website can be found here - http://212.78.229.100/

Link should be added on the current page.

Jayuu

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

In a couple of weeks, when the election is over? The time for clear access to policies is during an election campaign. Do you agree on that much? Do you agree with me that it would have been quite simple to have policy information on the current website? I just find that FG have a bit of a nerve to criticise the difficulties surrounding accessing Labour's policies when they themselves have went ahead and made it more difficult for people to access their own current policies running into the GE.

I am not going to mute my criticisms just because some people think any sort of change is progressive.

The new site will be available later in January according to FG. Given that there won't be an election until end-March at the most likeliest that's plenty of time for people to view the new site.

Jayuu

mconigol wrote: »

The facilities to generate discussion already exist. We're using them.

They aren't interested in discussion or listening to what the people want. If that was the case then Enda Kenny would have listened to the 77% of voters who want him to go.

A poll of around 1000 people doesn't not constitute the voters of this country.

Liam Byrne

thebman wrote: »

The game is very distasteful TBH. I dislike most of the characters as much as probably most of the people in the country but a bit more respect should be paid.

Respect is earned. The characters in the game don't deserve any.

crying

I like that a political party is listening (or asking) to what I have to say! And I don't understand why any attempt to develop online campaigning is being knocked.

Cathal Sheerin

It is great to see that Fine Gael are thinking outside the box- this is exactly what we need at the moment in Ireland.

Sierra Oscar

crying wrote: »

I like that a political party is listening (or asking) to what I have to say! And I don't understand why any attempt to develop online campaigning is being knocked.

I always welcome political parties listen to voters, but are closely moderated twitter feeds and websites really the way forward to replace things such as door to door canvassing and constituency clinics? Its a great addition but I would not like to see such sites becoming the only avenues of contact with political parties where you no longer have face to face contact with people. Maybe I am just old fashioned though. Id still like to see this idea being developed though by all parties in the future as a supplement to existing avenues of contact.

I wonder who is moderating the FG website submittals . . .

Cathal Sheerin wrote: »

It is great to see that Fine Gael are thinking outside the box- this is exactly what we need at the moment in Ireland.

Its not exactly thinking outside of the box when you are copying the successful election techniques from political parties in other nations, tbh.

mconigol

Jayuu wrote: »

A poll of around 1000 people doesn't not constitute the voters of this country.

Opinion polls use demographically representative samples of the population and statistically determine what the general populations opinions on various topics are. While not fool proof they tend to be highly scientific and reasonably accurate. It's not just the first 1000 people who are stopped on the street or pick up the phone....They're far more trustworthy than the majority of the guff we hear from politicians.

Anyway to take your argument to its full extent...a few people who decide to visit FGs website and write a 250 character message do not constitute the voters (or non voters) of this country either.

If it makes you happier I'll say that 77±5% (5% being very generous) do not want Kenny as Taoiseach. How can FG claim they want to listen to the people while they refuse to do so before they're even in power?!:rolleyes:

DuineGael

Great innovation from Enda Kenny and Fine Gael. If Fine Gael is being this innovative now, I can't wait to see how they do in Government!

crying

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

I always welcome political parties listen to voters, but are closely moderated twitter feeds and websites really the way forward to replace things such as door to door canvassing and constituency clinics? Its a great addition but I would not like to see such sites becoming the only avenues of contact with political parties where you no longer have face to face contact with people. Maybe I am just old fashioned though. Id still like to see this idea being developed though by all parties in the future as a supplement to existing avenues of contact.

I wonder who is moderating the FG website submittals . . .



Its not exactly thinking outside of the box when you are copying the successful election techniques from political parties in other nations, tbh.

I very much doubt they'll sacrifice door to door or anything more conventional! But it is hopefully the development of policy focused politics and a move away from the gombeen hackery!

mconigol

DuineGael wrote: »

Great innovation from Enda Kenny and Fine Gael. If Fine Gael is being this innovative now, I can't wait to see how they do in Government!

This is sarcasm right??

This isn't even remotely innovative. Innovation requires being ahead of the curve not slapping yourself on the back for creating a glorified "Contact Us" form and setting it as your homepage! I'm pretty certain that has been possible for many years now. If anything they're showing just how out of touch they've been up to now.

Biggins

DuineGael wrote: »

Great innovation from Enda Kenny and Fine Gael. If Fine Gael is being this innovative now, I can't wait to see how they do in Government!

:pac:

I'm sorry but I can't help but laugh at that.

If FG was serious - and I mean really serious - they could have revamped their original site, saved money maybe and still have the content that they want to get across to the public.
As for their original site previously, well any info they had on it should have been left there for browsing. After all, those that go to the effort of looking up their site most times (I guess) might want to see the details, not just the soundbite bullet points.

Just because a site is made all glossy and "up to date" does not mean the underlying policies have been revamped and/or need to be!
Let the facts speak for themselves. Not the fancy graphics!

hmmm

The old site was rubbish, if there were political websites from the 1950s it would have been one. There was nothing wrong with the design or the execution, it was the idea that the general public could be attracted to a website which consisted of boring press releases and turgid policy statements.

At least this is a small improvement but it still misses the point of what Obama's campaign created. He used his website, Twitter & Facebook to build an army of on-the-ground activists, many of who were never involved in politics before. Once you signed up to his mailing list, you were encouraged to volunteer in your local area. Typically the area was seeded with a paid staffer who co-ordinated activities.

The video on the front page is awful, please get rid of it. Kenny's hair looks like he has just got out of bed, the speech is rambling (elderly people getting into hospital - what??), and being shot in a cafe screams of something put together by a bunch of 50 year olds trying to look cool on the web. Fine Gaels support has been rising in the polls as people forget about Enda Kenny, putting him out there front and centre is a disaster.

I'd replace the video with "random" vox pops of mostly young people telling us what they think needs to change or talking about their futures.