Actually, while this is the first board I've seriously participated in, found by my wife to get me to stop chewing her ear off aboit politics, its my understanding that its pretty unique.
The left and the right actually talk here. MANY people who have been much more active than I on political boards comment on this simple difference. (Kudos to Vauge and the mod team!) According to them, most boards are "right" or "left" and shut down the "other" side almost completely.
Persuasion is a science of nudges and reinforcements, almost universally "leaving things out" of its manufactured narratives. If your target audience/demographic is actually talking to people outside yoir target group, you run the serious risk of having your "messaging" deconstructed, to the degree you could lose credibility permanently with them.
Even that recent advertisement letter from a lobbying firm to the banking industry alludes to an internet facet. And what it was proposing was the development of a "crisis management plan", something normally in the purview of public relations. The gathering of information to be used in the event Dem politicians should start to embrace the OWS movement.
PR is a ten billion dollar a year industry, outside those in the direct employ of business and politicians. All involved in creating and MAINTAINING the public images of politicians, businesses, and individuals. Why WOULDNT they have an internet presence? Especially considering how technologically easy it would be? And cheap too, considering it could be done mostly with interns in the field of Communications.
Add to this the mod references to "spam bots", and the civil nature of this board, and I can't believe this board attracts NO attention from the persuasion industry.
They have the means, motive, and opportunity.
