In the time permitted to me I am going to take a few swipes at what we have been doing with The Free Press and what I feel we should have been doing. I would like to see two major things come from The Free Press. I want news and I want Community. To further these desires I am about to promulgate some new rules. These are not like em or leave. They are there in order to produce feedback and to organize the few members we have. A certain number of Members are Charter Members. They joined in the beginning. This gives them two perks, maybe only one if you think about it. They will remain dear to my heart and they will remain on the roles for as long as I am Publisher unless they seek to leave. For all others the following rules will be observed or you will be asked to leave and if necessary told to leave and beyond that you will be ejected if you become obstinate. Got that?

Here are the new rules.

1. Only articles written by a Member may be posted to The Free Press.

2. No Seeds may be posted until further notice.

3. Articles can be on any subject and from any viewpoint but all are subject to rejection by the Publisher. The Publisher will warn of rejection before final action in order for the Author to rebut rejection. An exception to this will be made when the article is obscene or untruthful or demeaning in any way.

4. The Publisher has a definite priority for judging articles. News, breaking or happening, is given first consideration.

5. Elaborations on news that has been reported elsewhere will be second priority.

6. Commentary or Opinion pieces on news will be tertiary.

7. Articles on How to or Entertainment or Sports or Music or any other essay will gladly be received.

8. None of these rules require prior approval of material by the Publisher. Authors should, however; be prepared to defend any article challenged by the Publisher and the Publisher is the Ultimate Decider.

9. Meta articles, which are articles about Members, or Newsvine, or The Free Press are welcome and may appear as news items as long as they are news about us.

10. Any lists should be reduced to less than ten so no more than a single digit is required to bullet the list. Since I have violated this rule I will proceed to tell you we want news but we also want The Free Press to be a Fun and Exciting place to be. We want to be Community. Here goes.