Mary you could become a part of macinsiders! Not like a whole separate section or anything like that. And not spam announcements or pre-made updates or a president's page. nothing boring and alienating and formal like that.
Just like another user where you could discuss anything and people could say anything back easily. I'm not sure how many students read posts, but it might be a nice way to increase some of the communication/freedebate. (office hours are scary)

Originally Posted by InYoutoGive

Or you guys could carry a $20 bill... I'm sure it won't weigh down your wallet too much, right?

It costs money to take money out of the ATM, and I can only do it so many times per month. Sometimes I buy my lunch for a whole day (two snacks, bagel, drink) from UM. $20 would dwindle pretty fast and I'd have to take more out.

Well... I think the reason there's a higher voter's turnout this year is the fact that each candidate's campaign were more elaborate than last year's. There's also more diversity in terms of platforms this year. The only candidate that had a high chance of winning last year was Vishal Tiwari and so students assume that he will win refusing to vote. This year it was a close-call. Candidates such as Koziol, Alkerton and Park have all equal chances of winning. Though, Park's campaign and the fact that a lot more students are going on Macinsiders for comments on the MSU election hurts Park's chances of winning. In other words, there was MORE debate, and more excitement and so producing more voters' turnouts.

Hi Andrew!

I like your idea. I think that as important as it is to have things like open air office hours and a presidential blog (a bit more formal) it is also important to engage students by going to them, instead of expecting them to come to you. This election was my introduction to MacInsiders and it is quite a thriving community.

I know many within the MSU do tend to avoid frequent MacInsiders use because of time constraints combined with the overwhelming amount of negativity that I've seen, and the resulting snowball effect. I think as long as comments are kept as constructive as possible, it could serve as an excellent forum for collecting student feedback.

To ignore such a strong community of students would be a mistake and would go against my philosophy of what a student president should be. I will think about this more as I work on my communications strategy.

In the meantime, I will continue to use MacInsiders as a way to keep in communication with students (my term starts on May 1st... until then, I will focus on transition while completing my thesis and graduating!)

Thanks for such a helpful comment.

Mary

Originally Posted by mumbojumbo

Well... I think the reason there's a higher voter's turnout this year is the fact that each candidate's campaign were more elaborate than last year's. There's also more diversity in terms of platforms this year. The only candidate that had a high chance of winning last year was Vishal Tiwari and so students assume that he will win refusing to vote. This year it was a close-call. Candidates such as Koziol, Alkerton and Park have all equal chances of winning. Though, Park's campaign and the fact that a lot more students are going on Macinsiders for comments on the MSU election hurts Park's chances of winning. In other words, there was MORE debate, and more excitement and so producing more voters' turnouts.

Let's not forget Ash who also ran a very strong campaign. He did a great job and only had a few campaign team members. He ran a very classy campaign...

Originally Posted by KayakerDan

I'll be the First Gentleman. >_>

Sorry dawg

Originally Posted by mumbojumbo

Though, Park's campaign and the fact that a lot more students are going on Macinsiders for comments on the MSU election hurts Park's chances of winning.

does macinsiders really have that much power?

Unfortunately, yes.

Originally Posted by michelle

Unfortunately, yes.

...why unfortunately?

Wasn't it the only un-biased source during the election?

It was the least biased. Not quite unbiased, but least biased for sure.

Originally Posted by micadjems

...why unfortunately?

Wasn't it the only un-biased source during the election?

Because the internet is dangerous.

I'd elaborate, but rule 1 and 2.

I just don't get it. It was an open forum for discussion, while every other method was censored or biased, or just plain lacked a lot of good/critical info!

How is that an unfortunate way to get people informed?!

Originally Posted by micadjems

I just don't get it. It was an open forum for discussion, while every other method was censored or biased, or just plain lacked a lot of good/critical info!

How is that an unfortunate way to get people informed?!

I'm not entirely sure but rule #1/2 Lawley referred to is concerning anonymous users?

But yeah there is also a theory(That is given to me by SRA members who I try to encourage to go onto MacInsiders) that this place is a bit of a clique and that only a certain minority of Mac Students come here and its the same people who post all the time and so on.

Having said that I ditto Rohan, it wasn't completely unbiased but it was much better then other sources(eg: Facebook Groups and the Intentional daily spamming of a certain candidates wall by supporters writing about how awesome the candidate is)

Oh man I hated the fb spam.

We really tried to make sure there was no sense of bias put forward on the site for both the election and the ref.

Look! It's the kool-aid man!! oh yea!

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

I'm not entirely sure but rule #1/2 Lawley referred to is concerning anonymous users?

But yeah there is also a theory(That is given to me by SRA members who I try to encourage to go onto MacInsiders) that this place is a bit of a clique and that only a certain minority of Mac Students come here and its the same people who post all the time and so on.

Having said that I ditto Rohan, it wasn't completely unbiased but it was much better then other sources(eg: Facebook Groups and the Intentional daily spamming of a certain candidates wall by supporters writing about how awesome the candidate is)

To be honest, that's how most people feel about the MSU as well, that its a clique with no real significance except for people padding a resume. You should mention that if the SRA all started using MI it would help get rid of the clique impression (since they'd actually be reaching out to students, which rarely happens for some members); as well mention that having all the SRA members discussing things in one place would attract more people and help break any perceived MI clique-ness.