Internal Coordination

[Chris]

Well, from what I have seen the only place to get up-to-date info on OccupyChicago is on Twitter. (this is even better that going to HQ in person in my experiences).

But for someone like myself, who is involved with many occupy movements in various cities, it makes it much more difficult to be constantly checking 2 DIFFERENT hastags, or to be updating news and relevant information using 2 DIFFERENT hashtags.

The "official" Twitter hashtag should be #occupychicago not #occupychi for OBVIOUS reasons.

What needs to be done to get this corrected, so we can become more efficient in our communication, and so we can move onto other issues facing occupychicago?

Who runs this site? Who runs the facebook page? Who runs the twitter feed? Maybe they can tell me why they have not fixed this OBVIOUSLY detrimental issue with occupychicago's social media organization?

Someone took the initiative at the beginning to try to make it "occupychi", and despite that, people will always use "occupyCHICAGO", since it is the name of the movement, and it is the name of the city. Not some slang word that only a small portion of the population of Illinois and the world uses.

Even with the promotion of "occupychi" both on this site, and by whoever is running OccupyChicago on Twitter, the hashtag "occupychicago" still is the most used of the 2!

Whoever it is running the internet side of things, should be able to answer why this issue has yet to be corrected! Is it ego? Is someone hurting the movement on purpose? Laziness? Ignorance? Resources? Communication?

tbh I don't know either. Way back in the beginning we only had a twitter account which was @OccupyChicago

There was someone who tried to make a fake Occupy Chicago website to get people's donations where the url was occupychicago.org, so I odn't know if he got the url before we did but everyone was confused as to why our twitter and url didn't match, but it is what it is at this point

I am not talking about the differences between this site and Twitter. I merely talking about the HASHTAGS. People with common sense tag news, posts, etc. with the tag #occupychicago, only those within the tight-night loop use the TAG #occupychi, this MUST be stopped and corrected.

[borderlesslove]

Well, from what I have seen the only place to get up-to-date info on OccupyChicago is on Twitter. (this is even better that going to HQ in person in my experiences).

But for someone like myself, who is involved with many occupy movements in various cities, it makes it much more difficult to be constantly checking 2 DIFFERENT hastags, or to be updating news and relevant information using 2 DIFFERENT hashtags.

The "official" Twitter hashtag should be #occupychicago not #occupychi for OBVIOUS reasons.

What needs to be done to get this corrected, so we can become more efficient in our communication, and so we can move onto other issues facing occupychicago?

Who runs this site? Who runs the facebook page? Who runs the twitter feed? Maybe they can tell me why they have not fixed this OBVIOUSLY detrimental issue with occupychicago's social media organization?

Someone took the initiative at the beginning to try to make it "occupychi", and despite that, people will always use "occupyCHICAGO", since it is the name of the movement, and it is the name of the city. Not some slang word that only a small portion of the population of Illinois and the world uses.

Even with the promotion of "occupychi" both on this site, and by whoever is running OccupyChicago on Twitter, the hashtag "occupychicago" still is the most used of the 2!

Whoever it is running the internet side of things, should be able to answer why this issue has yet to be corrected! Is it ego? Is someone hurting the movement on purpose? Laziness? Ignorance? Resources? Communication?

tbh I don't know either. Way back in the beginning we only had a twitter account which was @OccupyChicago

There was someone who tried to make a fake Occupy Chicago website to get people's donations where the url was occupychicago.org, so I odn't know if he got the url before we did but everyone was confused as to why our twitter and url didn't match, but it is what it is at this point

I am not talking about the differences between this site and Twitter. I merely talking about the HASHTAGS. People with common sense tag news, posts, etc. with the tag #occupychicago, only those within the tight-night loop use the TAG #occupychi, this MUST be stopped and corrected.

hastags are not as important and have no bearing on our twitter account. No one can own a hash tag, it is just a way to add detail to a post. If they wish to actually include Occupy Chicago they can use our handle @OccupyChicago, other wise it is not that big of a deal. We can always just search the hashtags for either chi or chicago.

[Chris]

Then why have other occupy movements gone out of their way to keep the hashtags for their movements consistent?

One day all those with strong ties to Occupy Wall Street repeatedly tweeted that "from now on, use #OWS instead of #occupywallstreet". And it wasn't long before #OWS became the movements go-to hashtag

Then on another day, there were those that started using #OO instead of #occupyoakland. It was then that people with strong ties to occupyoakland made it their focus to encourage those people using #OO to go back to #occupyoakland. In a short amount of time #occupyoakland was once again their go-to hashtag

The movement is called "OCCUPYCHICAGO"!

#occupychicago is the most used hashtag, it is the NAME of the movement! And it is the most common sense hashtag to use. Having 2 different tags for ONE movement is a problem, but it is an easily correctable problem, like other movements have demonstrated.

All it would take would be to correct the banner on this site to show #occupychicago as the twitter tag!.

The OccupyChicago Twitter bio would have to change it from #occupychi to #Occupy Chicago

And then you just need a few reminder tweets asking people to only use the tag #occupychicago

That simple. We are the only occupy movement that has 2 DIFFERENT hashtags! This is a common sense correction, and should be done ASAP. Why would ANYONE want to continue breaking our news, information, and general communication between to DIFFERENT hashtags?

There is a reason why the other movements which HAD this EXACT problem, CORRECTED the problem VERY quickly. But for whatever reason(s) it seems like those working within OccupyChicago are not making progress on the easiest of tasks.

Like I said, other occupy movements HAD this same problem, but were able to rectify the issue rather quickly. We are going on Day 46! We should be doing everything we can to improve communication, this is something that has gotten almost universal support from not only those at OccupyChicago, but also people that dealt with the same problem in other Occupy Movements.

The thing that concerns me the most is that those running the OccupyChicago sites (Twitter, Facebook, this one,etc...) are having a hard time coordinating the information and news on each internet entity. I am not saying that promoting the use of only 1 Twitter HASHTAG will solve all of those issues, but common sense will tell you that it will be a step in the right direction.

[Bearhair]

hastags are not as important and have no bearing on our twitter account. No one can own a hash tag, it is just a way to add detail to a post. If they wish to actually include Occupy Chicago they can use our handle @OccupyChicago, other wise it is not that big of a deal. We can always just search the hashtags for either chi or chicago.

Hashtags ARE VERY important to show our strength and importance to Twitter users. They allow people to find posts about our movement. They are used to trend topics. For example, right this moment, the top Chicago trends (i.e., topics being discussed on Twitter) are: #WhatILove, #hometownslogans, RIP Joe Frazier, Earl Bennett, #BGCReunion, Desean, Jackson, MW3, GameStop, and Bears Win.

We want The Occupy Chicago movement to be in the top ten as often as possible. That will NOT be possible if we use TWO hashtags.

[Chris]

Yea, searching for "chi" or "chicago" will not bring you directly to Occupychicago posts!

There are a dozen of great reasons to push the #occupychicago tag, there is only ONE halfway decent reason to push for #occupychi, and that is because it is 4 characters short. But that ONE reason does not even come close to the benefits of pushing for #occupychicago.

This is a common sense improvement concerning the internet side of Occupy Chicago. And yet another instance of something stunting the growth of Occupy Chicago. I understand that there are many people working hard to improve Occupy Chicago, yet all it takes is for one person, or a small group of people to halt the progress of Occupy Chicago. There are many, many people who will be doing EVERYTHING they can to damage the occupy movement and to stall its growth and success. IF you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. It is up to those folks who genuinely want to see Occupy Chicago succeed to speak up and identify roadblocks, both big and small, so we as a group can move on and get the message of the 99% out there.


I think it is safe to say that there are forces within the Occupy Chicago movment that are working against its success.

If you see incompetence, suspicious behavior, or a general lack of focus among ANYONE involved with Occupy Chicago, it is your duty to bring those issues to the forefront. Because there are folks here that can band together and make a positive change within the organization.

[borderlesslove]

Yea, searching for "chi" or "chicago" will not bring you directly to Occupychicago posts!

There are a dozen of great reasons to push the #occupychicago tag, there is only ONE halfway decent reason to push for #occupychi, and that is because it is 4 characters short. But that ONE reason does not even come close to the benefits of pushing for #occupychicago.

This is a common sense improvement concerning the internet side of Occupy Chicago. And yet another instance of something stunting the growth of Occupy Chicago. I understand that there are many people working hard to improve Occupy Chicago, yet all it takes is for one person, or a small group of people to halt the progress of Occupy Chicago. There are many, many people who will be doing EVERYTHING they can to damage the occupy movement and to stall its growth and success. IF you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. It is up to those folks who genuinely want to see Occupy Chicago succeed to speak up and identify roadblocks, both big and small, so we as a group can move on and get the message of the 99% out there.


I think it is safe to say that there are forces within the Occupy Chicago movment that are working against its success.

If you see incompetence, suspicious behavior, or a general lack of focus among ANYONE involved with Occupy Chicago, it is your duty to bring those issues to the forefront. Because there are folks here that can band together and make a positive change within the organization.

When I meant searching for chi and chicago I meant #occupychi and #occupychicago respectively

[Chris]

Still, the fact that you have 2 search for TWO different tags proves my point that information and communication is unnecessarily divided. It's an relatively easy fix, yet the powers that be in Occupy Chicago don't want to correct a mistake that other occupy movements have already corrected.

I think it is proof that there are people involved with occupy Chicago that have other motives besides making occupy Chicago as efficient and effective as possible.

If we can't correct such a simple and obvious mistake like this hashtag issue, I think it's safe to say that other, more difficult challenges and mistakes will be dealt with in a similar fashion by those controlling occupy chicago and the occupy Chicago internet sites.

Combine that with the fact that Occupy Chicago is not a 501(c) yet the have been taking peoples money, and no one is willing to take responsibility for where that money has gone, shows that there are simple problems not being addressed, as well as HUGE LEGAL problems that are not being addressed.

The only reason why I am being so harsh is because I want to see Occupy Chicago Succeed, yet there is no progress being made on the simplest of issues.

Incompetence, Egos, or Sabotage? Either way people need to speak up and do something about it.

A lot of things will be working against Occupy Chicago in the coming months. WE can't afford to split our communication, information, and news. EFFECIENCY and User-friendly social networking will be CRITICAL to the success of Occupy Chicago. The majority of people on this forum agree that the Twitter issues should be fixed, yet NOTHING is done about it. Why NOT?

Do you run this site? Do you run the Occupychicago Twitter Feed? Do you run the FAcebook Page? Because no matter who I ask, or what I say, I can get no response or straightforward answers from those running the show.

How long do you expect to ignore quality advise and the questions of newcomers?

Has the OccupyChicago Movement already been co-opted? Are those running OccupyChicago making the best decisions for themselves or for the 99% ?

[borderlesslove]

Still, the fact that you have 2 search for TWO different tags proves my point that information and communication is unnecessarily divided. It's an relatively easy fix, yet the powers that be in Occupy Chicago don't want to correct a mistake that other occupy movements have already corrected.

I think it is proof that there are people involved with occupy Chicago that have other motives besides making occupy Chicago as efficient and effective as possible.

If we can't correct such a simple and obvious mistake like this hashtag issue, I think it's safe to say that other, more difficult challenges and mistakes will be dealt with in a similar fashion by those controlling occupy chicago and the occupy Chicago internet sites.

Combine that with the fact that Occupy Chicago is not a 501(c) yet the have been taking peoples money, and no one is willing to take responsibility for where that money has gone, shows that there are simple problems not being addressed, as well as HUGE LEGAL problems that are not being addressed.

The only reason why I am being so harsh is because I want to see Occupy Chicago Succeed, yet there is no progress being made on the simplest of issues.

Incompetence, Egos, or Sabotage? Either way people need to speak up and do something about it.

A lot of things will be working against Occupy Chicago in the coming months. WE can't afford to split our communication, information, and news. EFFECIENCY and User-friendly social networking will be CRITICAL to the success of Occupy Chicago. The majority of people on this forum agree that the Twitter issues should be fixed, yet NOTHING is done about it. Why NOT?

Do you run this site? Do you run the Occupychicago Twitter Feed? Do you run the FAcebook Page? Because no matter who I ask, or what I say, I can get no response or straightforward answers from those running the show.

How long do you expect to ignore quality advise and the questions of newcomers?

Has the OccupyChicago Movement already been co-opted? Are those running OccupyChicago making the best decisions for themselves or for the 99% ?

1. We can tell people to tweet #occupychicago but they can still do whatever they want.

2. The only important thing that they have to tweet involving occupy chicago is our handle @OccupyChicago. If you or anyone follows occupy chicago, any tweets with that handle (@OccupyChicago) will pop up for them and Occupy Chicago, where as hashtags have to be searched. It doesn't matter if we tell people to use #occupychicago exclusively, it will still have to be searched for. Plus hashtags come and go. I'm sure that there was an #occupyoakland hashtag but the only one that trended was #standwithoakland, and they didn't have control over that. Other cities started that. Hashtags are topics that can trend or remain neutral, and this movement is bigger than just one city and one hashtag. You can't force a trend, you have to create one, and you have to do that through decisive direct action, not just tweeting.

3. People are working on gaining non-profit status I will check to see where we are with that. I don't run the twitter accounts or the facebook page. Talk to tech about this website.

[Chris]

I have personally witnessed several occupy groups very easily ASK people to use "occupyexample", and within a day or 2, that hashtag is the one that people use. So don't tell me that it can't be done.

This site has "#occupychi" at the top of the damn page! I am not blind! So don't tell me you cant influence trends!

Not to mention the @OccupyChicago Twitter bio promotes the hashtag "#occupychi"

So don't tell me that you are not trying to influence trends!

If you are not even TRYING to keep focus on ONE hashtag then you are again exposing your naivety, ego, or just plain ignorance about how the hastags are being used to consolidate, coordinate, and inform ALL those involves in the occupy movements.

I saw Occupyoakland regain their hashtag focus in the period of a couple hours just by asking that everyone use #occupyoakland on Twitter!

I saw Occupy Wall Street change to #OWS in the period of 48 hours!

Here you have a clear communication problem that has a simple solution, yet you CHOOSE to do NOTHING about it!

Fix the banner on this site to show #occupychicago

Fix the profile bio under the @occupychicago Twitter Bio

Then politely ask people to Re-Tweet on Twitter: "Please stop using #occupychi hashtag. Use #occupychicago instead."

Very few people outside of Chicago use the word "chi" to describe CHICAGO. Hell, very few people IN Chicago us the word "chi"! It's slang, it's vague, it's unprofessional, and MOST importantly its NOT the name of the movement!

Maybe this is news to you, but it's called "OCCUPYCHICAGO"!

I have yet to hear any person on the radio or on TV call it "occupyCHI"!

Is the 501(c) going to be called "OccupyCHI" or "OccupyChicago"?

Why would anyone that wants occupy Chicago to succeed, fight against something so basic and easy to fix? Ego? Bureaucracy? Stupidity? Stubbornness? Sabotage?

[Billy]

Yea, searching for "chi" or "chicago" will not bring you directly to Occupychicago posts!

There are a dozen of great reasons to push the #occupychicago tag, there is only ONE halfway decent reason to push for #occupychi, and that is because it is 4 characters short. But that ONE reason does not even come close to the benefits of pushing for #occupychicago.

This is a common sense improvement concerning the internet side of Occupy Chicago. And yet another instance of something stunting the growth of Occupy Chicago. I understand that there are many people working hard to improve Occupy Chicago, yet all it takes is for one person, or a small group of people to halt the progress of Occupy Chicago. There are many, many people who will be doing EVERYTHING they can to damage the occupy movement and to stall its growth and success. IF you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. It is up to those folks who genuinely want to see Occupy Chicago succeed to speak up and identify roadblocks, both big and small, so we as a group can move on and get the message of the 99% out there.


I think it is safe to say that there are forces within the Occupy Chicago movment that are working against its success.

If you see incompetence, suspicious behavior, or a general lack of focus among ANYONE involved with Occupy Chicago, it is your duty to bring those issues to the forefront. Because there are folks here that can band together and make a positive change within the organization.

If ever I saw a post on this forum and suspected the poster of intentionally working against the movement this is it. Chris while you probably are not intentionally doing it this is some of the most devise language I've heard on this forum. You are making a lot of accusations and seem to be choosing an argumentative an belligerent tone not to mention stating your personal opinion as if it is fact that needs to be obeyed by others.

There are a lot of people putting a lot of hard work into making this movement work. No, things are not perfect. Yes, there is room for improvement and frankly there will perpetually be. As soon as we find a better way to do things that will get refined and things will get even better yet.

Everyone knows which twitter account to follow. It's true that no one person has complete control over hashtags. There are a lot of different hashtags for this movement and for the various occupations nothing is as clear as you make it sound and frankly I think you are making big deal out of something very minor. I haven't followed them in a while but New York at one point had 3 or 4 different " official " twitter accounts.

I'm not saying you should not work to streamline the hashtags. I'm just saying that a more cooperative tone would maybe not attract so much opposition. I have to say in reading your comments here while what you say makes sense logically I felt the need to oppose you just based on tone and had a difficult time over coming my feelings on this to address the issue.

I'm not saying you are wrong here or should not do things a specific way. I'm just saying choosing a different tone could maybe serve you better.