dol2day

dol2day
www.dol2day.com
motto	The politics community
description	Politcommunity, Political Forum, Online Community , Social Network , Social Software
languages	German
owner	Karl-Heinz Hildebrandt, Markus Schaal (since June 1, 2012)
Originator	Arash Yalpani, Torsten Marek, Andreas Hauser, Oliver Specht, Bartosz Plodowski
Published	May 15, 2000

dol2day is a corporation founded in 2000, award-winning German-speaking policy - community in the Internet . Its full name is: "democracy online Today" ( English , for "Democracy on the Net Today"). It gives its users (“Dolern”) the opportunity to enter into discussions on topics of their own choosing, with a focus on political issues, and to take part in chat events with politicians and other personalities. Membership is free. This makes dol2day one of the oldest and longest existing social networks on the Internet.

dol2day claims to a democracy - simulation to be. Members have the opportunity to join forces in virtual parties . The organization is refined through "initiatives" (virtual associations ) . In addition, an “Internet Chancellor” is elected every four months. Dol2day thus represents a mixture of a non-partisan internet forum and role play .

User profile

dol2day is part of what is known as social software . Among other things, it offers the option of creating user profiles that can be provided with personal information on age, gender and contact details. In addition, the user can introduce himself on his profile and make a political statement on it. Dol2day also offers a mail function that can be used for direct communication between the dolers. Contributions and surveys of the user on dol2day can also be called up via the profile . There is also the option of keeping a contact list common in social networks, which is referred to here as the “trust list”.

Institutions

dol2day is a relatively complex community that has a large number of institutions, activities and regulations. Criticism is repeatedly expressed about this complexity and user guidance, as it is not always immediately transparent to new Doler.

Editor / operator

Dol2day is controlled by an editorial office based in Berlin . Dol2day was also founded by the editorial team . In addition to the majority of the founding members, the editors later also included two former "Internet Chancellors" and two other members who were selected from among the community.

In 2012, the operator changed and the editorial team now consists of two shareholders and two community members.

The editorial team is responsible for the technical development of dol2day . It also reserves the right to oversee administrative tasks and the development of the content of dol2day . This construction is sometimes viewed as problematic, as some members of the editorial team, as shareholders of a civil law company, are responsible for the operation of the server and in terms of media legislation, but at the same time are not subject to the separation of powers or other democratic concepts in the internal logic of the simulation are. However, the majority of the community accepts this condition as a necessary condition for the existence of dol2day .

Internet Chancellor / Internet Government

The Internet Chancellor is elected every four months. He has no clearly defined tasks within the dol2day system . Occasionally he acts as a representative of the community and represents dol2day to the press and other organizations (see web links ). As a rule, however, this task is taken over directly by the editorial team. So far, the Internet Chancellors and their teams, which often consist of "ministers" or "secretaries" ("Internet government"), have been responsible for organizing chats with personalities from politics and society as well as developing the rules with the help of "Doliscites" (referendums at dol2day ). However, this depends heavily on the personal commitment of the respective government team. Also, not all Doliscites are implemented by the editorial team for legal reasons or because of a lack of time resources. The discrepancy between the term “Internet Chancellor”, which seems to indicate a powerful position, and his only very limited ability to exert influence is caricatured on various occasions at dol2day by the derisive term “Internet kasper”. In the meantime, the “Internet Chancellor” can in principle have a monthly programming budget for the editorial team. This is intended to strengthen its position.

Parties

In the meantime there are no longer only parties at dol2day that are based on the political forces represented in the German Bundestag. Additional parties have been established by splitting off individual wings. In addition, parties have been founded that are outside the political spectrum represented in the Bundestag. Some of them also pursue political concepts that go beyond conventional political-ideological constructions. There are currently 16 parties.

At dol2day, these must have a certain minimum number of members in order not to be dissolved. Founding parties are possible. However, their party programs are first subjected to a content control by a specially set up control council; they must not contradict the free democratic basic order . There must also be enough supporters and founding members.

The Doler can basically join any party. The party decides on admission and can define its own admission criteria in the statutes.

Arbitration board

Even in the early days of dol2day's operation , there was a need to deal with “destructive” behavioral patterns and statements made by individual members that were partly criminally relevant. For this purpose, a so-called "committee" was created, which was equipped by the editorial team with the tools to process reported cases, i. That is, to recommend to the editors either an acquittal, a warning or a temporary / permanent block of a user. The members ("committees") were appointed by the editorial team. Most recently, the editorial team decided not to wait for the recommendations in every case, but to issue a ban while the proceedings were still ongoing.

The body's decision-making practice has been the subject of heated discussions since it was set up. Often the committee members were assumed to have political bias; Representatives of the right-wing spectrum often believed they could see that the body was left-leaning, while left-wing Doler often criticized the supposedly excessive tolerance towards the “right”. The majority of all sanctions, however, affected users who were assigned to the right spectrum.

At the beginning of 2008, the committee was replaced by the successor "Arbitration Court". 30 community members are selected according to certain, not publicly visible criteria on the basis of a random principle, and can then decide on a complaint received; Specifically: how this is to be assessed, and whether or how the user who was complained about is to be sanctioned for it.

Moderators

Since January 2005, the dol2day editorial team has been supported by ten moderators appointed by it in addition to the committee or arbitration tribunal. These community members, most of whom are personally known to the editors, have taken on various administrative tasks. Among other things, you can independently make the contributions of other users invisible to third parties, provided that this violates applicable law or the culture of discussion, and impose temporary write locks. The moderators, who do their job on a voluntary basis, also work with spam . Occasional criticism of the moderator's work is expressed because the decisions made are not transparent. In addition to the ten members appointed by the editorial team, the respective Internet Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor support the team of moderators.

Initiatives

Initiatives are virtual associations at dol2day . These are comparable to so-called “groups” of other online communities such as XING and studiVZ . They do not have to pursue any political content, but can be based on common interests, such as favorite football club, subject or home town. Anyone can start initiatives. The prerequisite is that they do not pursue any anti-constitutional goals and that an initiative with the same content does not already exist. The moderators are the contact for setting up an initiative.

Tutors / new member support

After the loss of many members, the goal of gaining new members is repeatedly mentioned in the community. In view of the difficult orientation for a new doler, several possible solutions are discussed. A tutor system has been in place at dol2day since 2003 . Whereas in the past a new member could choose a tutor from a special list if required, nowadays a tutor is assigned immediately after a new registration has taken place; the new Doler also automatically becomes a member of a corresponding initiative to further facilitate access to dol2day . The new member can terminate the tutorship relationship and membership in the initiative at any time.

In addition to the tutor system, a dol info tour and a pin board (see web links ) were set up as an orientation aid for new members and interested parties .

Registry office

The Doler have had the opportunity to enter into a virtual marriage since 2000 . This is mostly a documentation of a deep connection, often with a background in real life. Different and same-sex marriages are possible, the former internet chancellor and the members of the editorial team act as registrars.

The community idea

In addition to the classic elements made available by the operators such as B. e-mail function, chat function and contact lists, dol2day offers community elements that arise primarily from the commitment of its members and distinguish dol2day from other social platforms.

"Real Life" meeting

Since dol2days was founded, there have been so-called “ real life ” meetings organized locally, nationwide and occasionally at the continental level , which are mostly based on the initiative of committed doler. A special highlight are the dol2day birthday parties, initially organized by the editorial team and later also by committed Dolern, which usually take place in May every year. Most recently, however, the organization of such a party failed.

Last but not least, dol2day creates dialogues, discussions and sometimes even common positions through a virtual and real encounter between representatives of different political directions, who also meet the far - measured against the political landscape of the Federal Republic - disproportionate share of right and left-oriented users that would probably not have been possible without this platform.

Community radio

A special feature of dol2days is the Internet radio , which has been moderated by committed Dolern since December 2008. This is operated by the dol2day shareholders, but organized and filled with content by Dolern. The programs contain music from almost all possible styles, interviews and news relating to dol2day (such as the announcement of the results of the election of the Chancellor). The broadcast usually follows a fixed schedule, which can be found in the relevant initiative.

Community blog

dol2day parties, Doler, editors and dol2day governments continued to have the opportunity to post articles in the community's own blog .

Activities within the community

From time to time there are also various actions in the community. The Easter egg hunt organized annually by the editorial team is very popular. There have also been two video competitions on YouTube . In the past, Amazon vouchers could be won as part of both campaigns .

Activities on other platforms, external presentation

dol2day provides regular information on news from the community, upcoming chats, elections, etc. via profiles on Facebook , Google+ and Twitter . There are also various Internet forums and networks such as B. XING , studiVZ and Last.fm dol2day groups, which are the contact point for Doler registered there and are also open to all other interested parties.

In 2002 the CDU started a political simulation called constituency 300 on the occasion of the upcoming federal election . This platform showed parallels in terms of content and graphics to dol2day . As a result, allegations of plagiarism have been raised. Some Doler organized non-partisanly in an initiative founded by dol2day and successfully subverted the CDU's political simulation. Constituency 300 is now deactivated.

Game elements

dol2day offers the Dolern numerous opportunities to participate.

Chancellor election

The candidates for chancellor are mostly set up by party alliances and directly elected by the Dolern through the preference voting system (PWS). In the early days, the Internet Chancellor was elected through the majority voting system (possibly with a runoff ). In an electoral term in 2006, an attempt was made to have the Chancellor elected through a "dolament", ie the virtual version of a parliament . This remained unique, however, because after the first Chancellor elected by the Dolament, the Chancellor's right to vote was passed back to the community.

Polls and discussions

An essential part of dol2days is its forum function. The Doler have the opportunity to make surveys and to write opinions in the discussions associated with these surveys. These opinions can then be rated by other people. Surveys can be made on a wide variety of political and social issues. The quality of the surveys is to be ensured by a review system. Doler who want to make a survey must first assess the quality of other surveys pending publication. A doler can only make one survey per day. This limitation and the not always functioning quality assurance were repeatedly part of critical discussions. In addition to these public polls and discussions, parties and initiatives can also discuss and vote.

dol currency "Bimbes"

The Doler receives so-called "bimbes", which is a kind of currency at dol2day , for posting surveys, voting, online times, logging in and for writing and evaluating contributions in the associated discussions . The high scores are also partly determined according to this. Contributions to initiatives and parties are not rewarded with bimbes. However, the output options for bimbes are extremely limited.

trust

At dol2day, the equivalent to contact lists from other online communities is the trust list. In addition, it is also possible to express mistrust to Dolern. Both can also be increased as premium trust or mistrust. Expressing this trust and mistrust is one of the few ways to issue bimbes.

High scores

At dol2day , daily, weekly and total high scores are kept. The basis is the activity of the respective Dolers in surveys and discussions. In the early days of dol2days it was still possible to observe that a bitter competition broke out among some Dolers for daily and weekly victories, but recently the importance of these high scores declined considerably.

"Battle Of Parties"

Parties have the opportunity to challenge each other on a specific topic. For this you have to write a contribution. The respective contributions are put to a vote. The Doler then have the opportunity to choose whichever contribution they favor. The winning party receives one point in the “BOP” party highscore, the losing party loses one.

Activities within the parties and initiatives

In addition to the public discourse in polls, it is also possible to discuss parties and initiatives and start voting. However, these activities are not relevant to the bimbe. In addition, many parties regularly elect party chairmen and board members who take on administrative tasks and represent the parties externally. In some initiatives, their administrators are also elected.

Community chat

In addition to discussions in the traditional threads, parties, initiatives and by email, dol2day offers two variants of member chat . On the one hand as a chat integrated into the browser in the form of an instant messenger , which does not require a separate registration, but is active immediately after logging in to dol2day , and its functionality corresponds to ICQ and similar protocols. On the other hand, a public chat room is offered. A separate login with dol2day nickname and password is required here.

Chancellery forum

In the Chancellery Forum, current headlines and threads on politics, social and internal issues can be created. In these - again not relevant to the bimbe - the developments can be discussed. In terms of appearance and structure, this forum resembles the classic Internet forums most closely.

Simulation of the 2008 American presidential election

At the initiative of individual members of dol2day , the US presidential election and the previous primaries were simulated in 2008 .

Simulation of the 2009 Bundestag election

For the first time a simulation of the federal election took place at dol2day . Candidate lists were drawn up for the most promising parties. Then the Doler were called to vote. Coalition negotiations were then simulated.

Interaction with classical party politics

The respective governments , the virtual parties and other groups involved in dol2day usually endeavor to win interlocutors, mainly from parties, their youth organizations and NGOs, for chat events. Usually the contacts of the dol2day members who are politically active outside of the internet are used. Many prominent politicians have already been won over - from federal ministers and parliamentary group leaders in the Bundestag to state politicians. For example Christian Wulff ( CDU ), Markus Söder ( CSU ), Franz Müntefering ( SPD ), Reinhard Bütikofer ( Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen ), Dirk Niebel ( FDP ) and Gregor Gysi ( Die Linke ), but also EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen , Bishop Gebhard Fürst and the last President of the GDR State Council , Egon Krenz , were guests in the chat on dol2day . Moreover, there are collaborations with other policy-projects on the Internet, such as with politik-digital.de or trupoli.com .

In addition, dol2day was represented both in 2005 and 2008 with its own stand at the Festival for Young Politics in Berlin . In this context, discussions with z. B. Renate Schmidt (SPD), Hans-Christian Ströbele (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen), Klaus Uwe Benneter (SPD) and Franziska Drohsel ( Jusos ).

Dealing with disruptive factors

In addition to the arbitration tribunal and the moderators, the editorial team regularly reserves the right to make direct judgments that go beyond democratic structures.

The editors have decided several times to delete right-wing parties that have been accused of having a radical, nationalist and anti-democratic attitude. This affected the parties Nationale Liga Deutschlands (NLD, July 2002 banned), as well as "Freedom Independent National" (FUN), which was dissolved in June 2003, and its successor, "Freedom Independent German" (FREUNDE), which was banned in November 2004 . In the summer of 2006, some members of the "German Center Party" (DZP), at that time the party with the largest number of members at dol2day , were banned because, in the opinion of the editors, they did not distance themselves clearly enough from the previously banned FUN and were trying to revive FUN. In the subsequent discussion process between the remaining DZP members and the editorial staff, the party finally dissolved itself. Left-wing parties whose compatibility with the FDGO has been questioned have so far not been the target of politically justified deletions.

For a long time, so-called “double accounts” were another disruptive factor. One of the dol rules is that each user may only operate one account. One speaks of double accounts when a user operates several user accounts. With these the high scores were manipulated, parties infiltrated and the election of chancellor intervened. After the high scores lost their importance, many members left dol2day and the editorial staff consistently searched for double accounts, their importance declined noticeably.

Dispute about direction, present and outlook

In the early days, the community was particularly popular with political youth organizations. Most recently, however, the community has lost many of its members. Dol2day found itself in the media earlier, e.g. B. at Spiegel Online (see individual references and web links ), such mentions have become rare today. The expectation expressed by some members that dol2day could influence real German politics from the Internet has not yet been fulfilled. Under the impression of the decreasing number of members, the question of the self-image of the community is repeatedly discussed. Because what dol2day should be given priority is controversial among its users: While some members see the project primarily as a discussion platform for political topics and demand that its rules and regulations be kept as simple as possible and easy to understand for newcomers, others are of the opinion that the The idea of ​​democracy simulation should be emphasized more strongly and extensive self-administration of the community should be sought. A third group emphasizes the game character of the project and suggests putting fun at the center of dol2day . The editors have so far mostly been cautious about this dispute and emphasized that dol2day is what its members made of it. There are intensive discussions about the future of dol2day at regular intervals, but these do not lead to any consensus.

The fact that the editorial staff does not look after dol2day full-time, but in their spare time, is another obstacle that leads to slow development of the project. Up until the end of 2008, it was mandatory to provide relatively comprehensive real-life data when registering in order to avoid so-called double accounts. Your name, address, email address and a telephone number had to be given. Although this data was not misused by the editors and passed on to third parties, concerns about data protection were repeatedly expressed in the community. In the meantime, you only need to provide your name and an email address for registration. From the 29th legislative period of the Internet Chancellor (from February 2009), the editorial team worked for some time with a monthly programming budget that the Chancellor could use for innovations. This should strengthen the position of the Internet Chancellor and the work of the editorial team for the Doler should be more transparent.

New operators

In December 2011 it became known that the founders and former operators of dol2day will stop supporting the site and are ready to transfer the platform to new managers if a corresponding concept is found. On June 1, 2012, the operation of dol2day was transferred to two long-standing members of the platform. In order to take data protection into account, the Doler must agree to their profiles being transferred. If you did not do this by June 1st, you can also subsequently agree to the transfer by entering the pseudonym using a contact form and thus reactivating the profile.

Technical implementation and financing

The program parts required to map political processes were implemented using PHP ; other free software is in use. During operation, the database proved to be a bottleneck; the editorial team found a short-term remedy by relocating and deleting old data records. Financed dol2day mainly from advertising, donations, government, project-based grants and prizes, as well as from membership fees of 2,002 by the dol2day founded editorial staff "Association for multimedia participation e. V. ".

Awards

In 2002 the developers of dol2day received the renowned Grimme Online Award for media competence and the Dieter Baacke Prize from the Society for Media Education and Communication Culture . In 2004 the community was awarded the internationally recognized Prix ​​Ars Electronica , including an exhibition lasting several weeks in the United Nations building in New York .

Partnerships

dol2day maintains partnerships with several internet communities. Thus, there are partnerships with the political sides trupoli.com , e-politik.de and politik-digital.de and with the side iForia . In addition, dol2day supports the campaigns “Netz gegen Rechts”, “Show your face!”, “Compact.de - Democracy in Action”, “More Democracy e. V. "and" optimismushoch1000.de ".

literature

• Internet Chancellor . In: Die Zeit , No. 29/2000; about the first choice for Internet Chancellor
• Bimbes for network politics . In: Berliner Zeitung , September 11, 2000; about the second election to the Internet Chancellor
• about dol2day . In: taz , August 9, 2001

Web links

• Homepage
• Chancellery at dol2day
• dol2day info tour
• Main page doLex - the free lexicon of dol2day
• about dol2day . ( Memento from June 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Agency for Civic Education
• about the first choice for Internet Chancellor. Spiegel Online / netzwelt, June 26, 2000
• on the outcome of the election for the first election for Internet Chancellor. Spiegel Online / netzwelt, July 5, 2000
• Interview with the first internet chancellor. Telepolis , August 31, 2000

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} chat guest book at dol2day , http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=15000
2. ↑ dol2day - "Gesetzbuch", http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=8500
3. ↑ dol2day editorial team, http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=14000&ini_id=2517
4. ↑ dol2day -Imprint, http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=1400
5. ↑ page of the Chancellery at dol2day , http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=11000
6. ↑ Overview of all parties represented at dol2day , http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=1800
7. ↑ PRL Control Council, http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=14000&ini_id=3559
8. ↑ Page of the arbitral tribunal, http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=8400
9. ↑ The moderators at dol2day , http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=14000&ini_id=2933
10. ↑ Broadcast plan of the dol2day radio DORA, http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=14000&ini_id=3985#sendeplan
11. ↑ dol2day blog ( Memento from February 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
12. ↑ dol2day on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/dol2daycom/42733823376
13. ↑ dol2day on Google+, http://plus.google.com/100602147669755986292
14. ↑ dol2day on Twitter, http://twitter.com/dol2day
15. ↑ dol2day at XING, http://www.xing.com/net/dol2day/
16. ↑ dol2day at Last.fm, http://www.lastfm.de/group/Dol2day
17. ↑ Open platform or plagiarism? In: Telepolis . March 22, 2002, accessed June 16, 2015 . 
18. ↑ Simon Hage: The top candidate is still studying. In: Berliner Zeitung . March 25, 2002, accessed June 16, 2015 . 
19. ↑ Meike Fries: CDU- "Wahlkreis 300": Who sows wrong, reaps trouble. In: Spiegel Online . May 2, 2002, accessed June 16, 2015 . 
20. ↑ Battle Of Parties, http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=25100
21. ↑ dol2day at the Festival for Young Politics 2005 ( Memento from May 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
22. ↑ dol2day at the Festival for Young Politics 2008 ( Memento from June 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
23. ^ Prohibition of a virtual right-wing party . Telepolis
24. ↑ Off for FUN party . klick-nach-rechts.de
25. ↑ dol2day contact form, http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=500
26. ↑ dol2day e. V., http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=14000&ini_id=1423
27. ↑ Grimme Online Award 2002 for dol2day , archive link ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
28. ↑ Dieter Baacke Prize 2002 for dol2day , archive link ( Memento of the original from May 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
29. ↑ Prix ​​Ars Electronica 2004 for dol2day , archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
30. ↑ partner of dol2day , http://www.dol2day.com/index.php3?position=1410