Please "Report" objectionable comments

By Tim Montgomerie
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The new comments system is now operational across the site. This means that all comments are posted instantaneously. This does mean the site is vulnerable again to nasty, off topic or otherwise objectionable comments. As soon, please, as you see any comments that are undesirable please press the "Report" function next to that comment and the duty editor will act against it, if he thinks it necessary.

We will not suppress fair comments but we will endeavour to enforce ConHome's comments policy.

Thanks.

Happy Christmas to all readers. We return on 27th December.

Experimenting with a new approach to comments

By Tim Montgomerie
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This afternoon I've launched a new approach to comments moderation over on the Comment page. You can see it in operation under Lord Ashcroft's post.

The new system allows a number of new things:

1. Users can give comments a thumbs up or thumbs down;
2. Users can choose to change the ordering of posts. You can choose to have the latest comments at the top of the thread, for example, or the first comments. You can have the best-rated comments at the top or the worst.
3. Users can also report comments that are objectionable.

This third change is the most important. We are experimenting with allowing comments to go live without moderation in the hope that other users will quickly report objectionable comments to us. To ensure that objectionable comments are deleted quickly please email me if you'd like to become a group moderator on ConHome with the power to delete other people's comments. My email address is [email protected]. I will need some proof of your bona fides and will revoke the status of any group moderator who abuses the privilege.

If the experiment on the Comment blog goes well the new system will be extended to this and all other ConHome blogs.

Thank you.

The ConservativeHome Daily newspaper is now online and ready for you to read

By Tim Montgomerie
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With apologies for the delay but we've now uploaded copies of the ConHome conference newspaper. Here are some of the highlights of each edition:

• In edition one we reveal that just 4,000 of the nearly 12,000 people attending conference are party members. The rest are lobbyists, NGOs and the media. Conference has simply become too expensive for ordinary members with the average cost equalling a whopping £722. Also in this first edition the ConHome team previews the whole conference and we look to the challenge of winning back women voters.  
• In edition two we lead on an opinion poll that shows that 74% of Tory members want a vote on Britain's membership of Europe. There's a double page spread on international development. Bruce Anderson concludes that Ed Miliband is the worst Labour leader since Michael Foot and Cameron should ignore him in his speech and talk to the nation. Iain Martin's brilliant conference diary makes a second appearance.
• In edition three you can read about Boris Johnson's music hall-style rallying cry to a ConHome gathering. There's also a poll of Tory members on the initiatives likeliest to win the next election for the Conservatives and Stephan Shakespeare writes about a YouGov poll and its finding that voters still want change across government. In his column Anthony Browne believes the Conservatives are starting to show signs of planning for a victory in 2015.

Final edition tomorrow and then some sleep for an exhausted ConservativeHome team.

Wednesday morning update: Here is the final edition.

Final call for advertising for ConservativeHome's Party Conference newspaper

MOCK UP OF NEWSPAPER MASTHEAD

This is a final call for advertising in the ConservativeHome Conference newspaper.

Each morning a ConservativeHome team of professional distributors will be handing out 5,000 copies of the sixteen page ConservativeHomeDaily.

The Daily will be printed overnight and include reports from the previous day's main stage speeches and the fringe.

Leading Conservatives including Boris Johnson, David Davis, Andrew Lansley and Andrew Mitchell will be contributing.

Every day will feature exclusive polling from YouGov, analysed by Stephan Shakespeare.

Columnists including Bruce Anderson, Anthony Browne, Paul Goodman, Jill Kirby, Danny Kruger, Ruth Lea, Iain Martin and Tim Montgomerie will be writing OpEds.

There will also be a photo gallery each day, a diary and a newspaper review.

If you would like to advertise your fringe event or get any kind of message to conference attendees this newspaper is a must-use opportunity.

Please email [email protected] for more information.

Help me with my bug list

By Tim Montgomerie
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Over the next 24 hours I'll be drawing up a list of things for ConHome's web designer to address in the new format. Please use the thread below to suggest anything you think needs to be added, taken away or amended. Thank you.

The new ConservativeHome

By Tim Montgomerie
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Today sees the biggest changes to ConservativeHome for some time. There are cosmetic changes, changes to our structure and also some new contributors.

The biggest change is that we have a new set of regular columnists:

• Bruce Anderson is widely regarded as one of Fleet Street's finest writers. He'll be writing two or three times a week and his first column is now live: Cameron would like to combine the social stability of the 1950s with the economic dynamism of the 1980s.
• The five other new contributors are Anthony Browne, Jill Kirby, Danny Kruger, Ruth Lea and Stephan Shakespeare.

The columnists will, we hope, give more range to the daily ConHome experience. Although independent-minded, Danny Kruger, former speechwriter to the Prime Minister, and Bruce Anderson tend, for example, to be more Cameroonian in their worldview.

The FutureConservatism.com pages represent the second biggest change. In coming days and months these pages will set out the kind of electoral manifesto and machine that can help deliver a Tory majority at the next election. This will be the start of a migration of ConHome from a website into a broader campaigning organisation. We begin today with a brief look at the 'After the Coalition' ideas of Boris Johnson, David Davis and a Gang of Five new Tory MPs.

Continue reading "The new ConservativeHome" »

Changes to the website

We are introducing ConservativeHome's new format in stages today and there'll be niggles as we do so. One such niggle is that people can't currently reply to others' comments. Please bear with us as we complete the transition and use the thread below to alert us to any other bugs.

The new ConservativeHome

By Tim Montgomerie
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ConservativeHome relaunches on 12th September.

There'll be a new look. New writers. We'll be starting half-an-hour earlier at 8.30am and introducing a new 5.30pm newslinks service reviewing the day. There'll be a restructuring of the website's various sections and, most significantly, we'll be launching a new campaigning site. This new section will launch an agenda for reform of party policy and structure. It will set out a path to victory at the next election and will set out the ideal party manifesto and party machine.

I'd appreciate your help to decide what this part of the site should be called. There are three options:

1. FutureConservatism.com;
2. MainstreamConservatism.com; or
3. MajorityConservatism.com

You can answer all the questions in the latest ConHome survey and choose between these three options by clicking here.

Thanks for your time.

Joseph Willits joins ConservativeHome

By Tim Montgomerie
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Earlier this week Joseph Willits joined the ConservativeHome team as a Deputy Editor, alongside Matthew Barrett, and his first post has just gone live... here.

Joe previously interned at ConservativeHome back in 2006, and for Nick Herbert MP whilst studying English Literature at King's College London. After graduation, Joseph worked at Wolverhampton's Refugee and Migrant Centre, interned at the media charity/thinktank, the Media Standards Trust and worked for Gorkana.  He has travelled extensively in the Middle East, including Iran, Lebanon and Syria, where he spent a significant time teaching in 2010.  Joseph has written of his experiences and on the cult of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.

Welcome aboard Joe!