The new discussion forum on change.gov will look familiar to newsvine readers. There's a comment policy; you can post; you can rate up or down others' posts; there's a rating tally that's a little like seeing seeds sprout!

Building the community: A guide to comments

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 05:04pm EST / Posted by Dan McSwain
The conversations among the online community on Change.gov serve two valuable ends, both of which will play a vital role for the incoming Obama-Biden Administration.

Each discussion between the Transition team and readers provides rich insight into the issues and priorities Americans care passionately about.

In addition, these discussions also allow our team to provide a unique look into the work we do everyday and help make our jobs on the Transition as transparent and open as possible.

These online conversations are truly groundbreaking -- no other transition team has ever opened these types of channels of communication with the American people. We're proud of what we've accomplished so far, and look forward to building this dialogue.