Webdiary - Independent, Ethical, Accountable and Transparent
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Webdiary Community

Submitted by David Roffey on February 1, 2006 - 8:03pm.
Webdiary Management Update 4

Our General Manager's monthly update on site traffic, publishing, Webdiarists, finances and Margo.

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Submitted by admin on January 21, 2006 - 12:28pm.
Refund Policy

Money might be paid to Webdiary in one of three ways: as a Donation, as a payment for Advertising, or in payment for Merchandise. Refund policies for each fo these circumstances are set out here.

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Submitted by admin on January 5, 2006 - 8:06am.
Webdiary Contributors
Any contributors who are not registered on Webdiary will be under Guest Contributors for the now. Please let us know if there are posts missing from anyone's archive or if there are registered users' posts which are still not archived under their name.
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Submitted by David Roffey on January 2, 2006 - 3:40pm.
Webdiary Management Update 3 & 2005 accounts

Well, an eventful December to finish the year off. As you will have spotted, we parted company with Margo, Kerri and Wayne, moved to the new site, and started taking advertising.

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Submitted by Hamish Alcorn on December 24, 2005 - 9:29pm.
Good Night

Good night for the year from Webdiary. This is the last post for the year. We will be back with New Year bells on the 2nd January.

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Submitted by Hamish Alcorn on December 14, 2005 - 9:27pm.
Welcome and thank you

And so begins a new chapter of this curious adventure in cyber-civics. Good luck to us all.

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Submitted by admin on December 14, 2005 - 9:25pm.
Registering on Webdiary

Click here to register

Please register to post comments. It's free and your email will be kept private and confidential.

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Submitted by admin on December 14, 2005 - 10:00am.
Moving Day

A reminder that we move to the new site over the next two days. Comments boxes have been progressively closed over today, so that we don't lose any content when we make the transfer. This site will be open to read, but not comment, until the new site opens. www.webdiary.com.au will take you to whichever site is the current one!  David Roffey, GM Webdiary

Update 7pm 13/12/05: All comment boxes now closed. See you on the new site!

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Submitted by admin on December 13, 2005 - 4:32pm.
How to register and comment on Webdiary

Click here to register - it's free and takes just a few minutes. Your email address will always remain private and confidential. Once you receive your password you can log in, comment, and edit your preferences.

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Submitted by admin on December 12, 2005 - 9:26pm.
How to Donate

Since becoming independent, many Webdiarists have asked: how can we help - you must need money? In our current incarnation without any paid staff or bought-in content, and with the hosting space donated, we don't, really: but thanks for the thought!

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Submitted by admin on December 12, 2005 - 9:13pm.
Advertise on Webdiary

Webdiary will accept any advertisement that fits within Webdiary ethics – ie essentially does not offend, abuse, incite, defame or otherwise have legal problems. You can either submit adverts with your own artwork, or we can get ads designed for you within reasonable parameters.

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Submitted by Kerri Browne on December 12, 2005 - 12:43am.
Your key to our new Webdiary home

The Webdiary Community is moving to its new home next week on the 14th. Until then the new site is off-limits, out of bounds: the paint's still wet. We want to welcome everybody when the front gates open on Wednesday but you'll need your own door key. This post is a heads-up on how to get it. The address will be www.webdiary.com.au.

Anyone will be able read articles and comments at Webdiary's new home. But to take advantage of the improved features on the new software, including to post a comment, you will need to register and login. As always, registration is free and you'll only need to do it once.

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Submitted by Hamish Alcorn on December 11, 2005 - 2:25am.
Webdiary Christmas parties

On the Don't go away yet thread an informal get together has been organised for Brisbane Webdiarists. It will be at the Melbourne Hotel, 2 Browning St, West End, on Sunday 18th, starting from around 2pm.

Meanwhile there was some discussion between a couple of Webdiarists about drinks in Melbourne (the city that is). That's a private affair, as far as I can tell, but it occurred to me others might like to see if there's interest as well.

So this thread is for Webdiarists wherever you are to suggest Christmas drinks in your own towns and cities. Written in pencil to facilitate this is the time, the afternoon of Sunday the 18th. So to start all someone has to do is suggest a venue and see if there's some interest.

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Submitted by David Roffey on December 9, 2005 - 8:04am.
What happens next?

After a roller-coaster 48 hours, what happens next?
David Roffey, GM Webdiary

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Submitted by Jack Robertson on December 8, 2005 - 2:30pm.
Love from all your friends

"I met Margo Kingston for the first time on 23 September 1993, when I was a Captain in the Army and posted as Aide-de-Camp to Governor General Bill Hayden." Jack Robertson

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Submitted by Hamish Alcorn on December 8, 2005 - 1:48pm.
Don't go away yet

I love my sister very much and am so so proud of what she has pioneered.

I've spent the last few hours on the phone to various people and it is clear that at the very least Webdiary is going to continue as a site run by amateurs - amateurs that is with a lot of experience and momentum and love of this community. For my part, I don't want what Margo has done to die, and I think all of us who feel we owe her something might also think that the best tribute right now is to continue proudly in our community.

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Submitted by Margo Kingston on December 8, 2005 - 8:10am.
Thank you and goodbye

Margo has retired from Webdiary from midnight Wednesday 8 December. See "Don't go away yet" for what happens next, and "What happens next?" for what happens after that ...

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Submitted by admin on December 6, 2005 - 9:28am.
Your key to our new Webdiary home
Welcome. New comers, click here to register, then login and post comments.
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Submitted by David Roffey on November 29, 2005 - 4:00pm.
Advertising on Webdiary

Webdiary will soon (13 December) be moving to our permanent home, and bidding farewell to Typepad. When we do, the design of the site will allow for a small number of adverts, in the sidebars and above the heading - but not within the articles or comments. Details of ad sizes and costs set out here ... David Roffey, GM Webdiary

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Submitted by Margo Kingston on November 7, 2005 - 11:22am.
Margo Kingston

Biography

Margo Kingston was the political commentator for the Sydney Morning Herald online (www.smh.com.au), edited the Fairfax Webdiary (www.smh.com.au/webdiary) and until 13 June 2004, wrote a weekly column on politics in the Sun Herald. Margo went independent and created Margo Kingston's Webdiary in July 2005.

She was born in Maryborough, Queensland, in 1959, grew up in the North Queensland sugar city of Mackay and graduated with an Arts Law degree from the University of Queensland. She practised as a solicitor and lectured in business law before joining Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper. She has since worked for the Times on Sunday, the Melbourne Age and the Canberra Times, and as the political researcher for Jana Wendt on Channel Nine’s A Current Affair. She was Phillip Adams’s ‘Canberra Babylon’ commentator on the ABC’s Late Night Live for five years.
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Submitted by Margo Kingston on October 28, 2005 - 1:59pm.
How to donate to Webdiary

You can support the work of Webdiary through a regular donation which will help build our capacity for planning and development; to strengthen independent publishing and achieve long term change. Or you can make a one-off donation whenever you feel like it...

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Submitted by admin on October 24, 2005 - 9:20pm.
Editorial Policy

Margo redrafted these guidelines for the new site, and we'll stick by them, subject to your input:

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Submitted by admin on October 24, 2005 - 9:16pm.
Management Team
Margo Kingston set the overall direction for Webdiary over the first five and a half years of its existence. The charter, ethics, editorial policy, and discussion guidelines we work to were all created by her.
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Submitted by Margo Kingston on October 24, 2005 - 9:06pm.
Webdiary Charter
I believe:
- that there is a vacuum of original, genuine, passionate and accessible debate on the great political, economic and social issues of our time in the mainstream media, despite the desire of thinking Australians in all age groups to read and participate in such debates
- that newspapers have lost their connection with the readers they serve
- that the future of news media which serves its democratic function to inform, expose and analyse the world around us lies in a collaboration between journalists and readers through independent news media.
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Submitted by Margo Kingston on October 24, 2005 - 9:04pm.
Webdiary Ethics

MARGO NOTE: Webdiary's ethics remain the same, save that the Sydney Morning Heralds' ethics guidelines no longer apply. I have therefore deleted  references to that document.

Webdiary Management Team Note: Margo's redraft for the new site stands as she wrote it!

I want you to trust Webdiary. Trust is the ideal at the core of all professional ethics codes, which are guidelines for conduct which aim to achieve that ideal. I'm a journalist bound by a code of ethics drafted to apply to traditional journalism. I've adapted the code to meet the responsibilities of running Webdiary, and set out guidelines for your contributions. These guidelines are always open for discussion and debate on Webdiary and can be clarified and added to as issues arise.

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Submitted by David Roffey on October 12, 2005 - 12:55am.
Webdiary management update 2: The Daily Briefing, our new home, and money

Webdiary General Manager David Roffey sets out some answers on where we are and where we're going.

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Submitted by Jozef Imrich on October 5, 2005 - 3:42am.
The power of many: we the Webdiary

Historically, journalists have been charged with informing the democracy. But their future will depend not on only how well they inform but how well they encourage and enable conversations with citizens. That is the challenge. Websites like Webdiary understand the importance of Dan Gillmor’s basic premise: "My readers know more than I do - and that's an opportunity." The ability of anyone to make the news has given new voice to people who used to feel voiceless—and whose words we need to hear. According to Dan, webdiarists and citizen journalists are "showing all of us—citizen, journalist, newsmaker—new ways of talking, of learning. In the end, they may help spark a renaissance of the notion, now threatened, of a truly informed citizenry." Jozef Imrich

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Submitted by Jack H Smit on September 24, 2005 - 6:57am.
Launching Webdiary and Club Chaos in WA

"So when the mainstream media are failing to such an extend that they are no longer reporting the thinking and truths behind the facts behind the events, and when they on many occasions choose to completely ignore the reporting of even the events themselves, the landscape of reporting changes and the nature of journalism shifts as dramatically as it shifted when newspapers first came into circulation. ... Margo's move to Webdiary was in itself already something to take note of, and her separation and independence of Fairfax is something which I imagine will still be discussed in journalism courses in 50 years time, if we still run them in Australia." Jack H Smit

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Submitted by David Roffey on September 9, 2005 - 11:40am.
Webdiary management update

Margo will be out of contact for the next few days in meetings and discussions with advisors to move forward on the longer term plans for Webdiary, including travelling interstate, and will not be able to respond personally to messages, questions or comments. In most cases, Hamish, Kerri or I will be able to deal, but if things really do need Margo to look at them personally, they may have to wait until Monday. Thanks for your patience if this affects you. Meantime, here's some updates on what's happening. David Roffey, GM Webdiary

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Submitted by Kerri Browne on August 27, 2005 - 9:58am.
All things in moderation

Who reads other discussion forums? Those who have sought good political conversation will know they are very rare. Well mannered inclusive unmoderated political and social internet discussion forums that actively seek to accommodate all views on the spectrum are like thylacine. We hope they are out there but does anyone have a screenshot? Those who understand the quality and rarity of Webdiary recognise that it is impossible to achieve without some form of moderation.

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© 2005-2011, Webdiary Pty Ltd
Disclaimer: This site is home to many debates, and the views expressed on this site are not necessarily those of the site editors.
Contributors submit comments on their own responsibility: if you believe that a comment is incorrect or offensive in any way,
please submit a comment to that effect and we will make corrections or deletions as necessary.
Margo Kingston Photo © Elaine Campaner

Recent Comments

David Roffey: {whimper} in Not with a bang ... 13 weeks 4 days ago
Jenny Hume: So long mate in Not with a bang ... 13 weeks 5 days ago
Fiona Reynolds: Reds (under beds?) in Not with a bang ... 13 weeks 6 days ago
Justin Obodie: Why not, with a bang? in Not with a bang ... 14 weeks 11 sec ago
Fiona Reynolds: Dear Albatross in Not with a bang ... 14 weeks 10 min ago
Michael Talbot-Wilson: Good luck in Not with a bang ... 14 weeks 5 hours ago
Fiona Reynolds: Goodnight and good luck in Not with a bang ... 14 weeks 1 day ago
Margo Kingston: bye, babe in Not with a bang ... 14 weeks 5 days ago