How and by whom was the group formed?

The original idea for the formation of the Lobby Group came from an unusual source. A contributor to the comments section of the news blogs on the BBC website (who went under the user name Jericoa) pointed out that many of the comments and ideas expressed by the numerous contributors showed a better understanding of current affairs than many of the BBC’s own authors.
It was also suggested by others that some of the concepts and suggestions that were initially being discussed in response to the BBC’s articles were remarkably similar to opinions of other, more public, commentators made at a later date. The contributors to the BBC blog comments were either thinking ahead of the game or someone was paying close attention.
In the light of this situation, the user Jericoa proposed the formation of a group to discuss ideas and develop proposals for solutions to some of the issues that the UK and its population currently face. The Lobby Group is the public face of this initial small group of thinkers.

How do I join the group?

There is no membership as such, the group exists only as an online entity at this point. We would like to invite you to join in the discussions and debates, or start your own on the issues that interest you. Please feel free to register, an activation code will be emailed to the address you provide.

Where do I register?

Fill in your chosen user name and your email address here Email addresses are used for activation purposes only, you will receive no unsolicited emails from the group and your address is not passed on to any third parties.

What is the difference between the forum and the blog entries?

The forum is intended as the day to day discussion area and this should be your first stop for making contributions or starting debates. The blog entries on the home page and in the archives are notices, items of interest or contributions that would benefit from a wider debate and are hence ‘front paged’. If it helps, think of the blog entries as news items that you can comment on and the forum as your debating room. Obviously the divide between the two will become blurred from time to time but the intention is to give vital or important contributions a space of their own.

How can I change the password I was sent to something I can remember?

After you have registered, log in here-

www.lobbygroup.org/wp-admin

Choose the profile menu and scroll down to ‘new password’ in the About Yourself section.

Does the group take action out in the real world?

As of the time of writing (May 2009) the group is not engaged in any active political campaigning. The immediate aim is to establish this website as a place to gather opinions, information and ideas. This solid knowledge of the relevant issues would logically lead to proposals for real world actions. All proposals for actions are welcome.

How can I get my own avatar?

At the moment Wordpress does not support locally based avatars (i.e. you cannot upload one directly to this website). A custom avatar can be used on this site via Gravatar- http://www.gravatar.com This is a service that allows you to link the email address you used for registration to an image of your choice. When you log in to this site, Gravatar will load your image to all your contributions both to both the forum and post comments.

Why do I have to register to use this site?

Technically you don’t. If you just want to comment on the front page items or any of the posts in the catagories then you can just provide a user name and email address of your choice with your comment. However, registering will allow you to take part in discussions in the forum and will avoid the username/email requirement everytime you wish to comment on posts (as mentioned above). Registration will also allow the forum to be kept relatively free of offers of cheap viagra and imitation Rolex watches. These items are freely available elsewhere and need no extra marketing through this site.