Regarding (a) practices that have been successful elsewhere need to be adapted to fit local needs and in some cases there may exist a local practice that does fundamentally the same thing. You yourself noted that we already had the door to door canvass tradition here so it was nothing new to us. And with multi-seat, multi party elections it is high problematic for candidates to share information. That’s just the reality. My point about the political centre of the Irish blogosphere being in a different place from that of the general population stands. I don’t believe that it cries out to be changed by diktat but failure to recognise it as being true is simply self defeating. How many Labour party members and supporters were on the final panel?

As for (b) blogs are like going to someone’s home to discuss things, they retain the ability to shape the discussion, bulletin boards are more like going to a public place to have that discussion. All parties are then on even footing. Both systems have their upsides as well as downsides. I find it odd that some people (not yourself) get so defensive about any comments about blogging that don’t paint it as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Blogs aren’t the answer to everything.

It was a good day. I enjoyed it, but I can’t help feeling that it is still a self selecting group which is that bit more focused on talking to itself than one that is genuinely reaching out to everyone.