More from the survey. Malanding Respondent: "So far topics are mostly political or private. Whatever is discussed will turn into political discussion. Other topics like economics, health, development are rather ignored. That is why also some people are not too much interested in the list any more. A lot of Gambians are reluctand to be involved in politics. Non Gambians are more interested in economics and other topics and feel rather disturbed by too much private political discussions or sometimes insulting. Especially as a Non Gambian I feel my postings are rather ignored. I also heared this from other non Gambian List members as well. That is why we probably feel discouraged to post at all. I also know quite some Gambians, who fear to post or register with the Gambia-L because of the political aspect. Even if they are engaged in politics. They would rather prefer to write with a false id. They suspect problems with the political forces when comming back to Gambia, or for their families. I think that Gambia-L is a great work and a very important step towards freedom of speech and democracy. It produces a security to the people in the Gambia, that any governmental violence or power abuse will not remain uncovered but will be revealed to an international audience of 60 million possible viewers. This is a great step towards the transparency so urgently needed. The founders of this list have done a geat thing and the list managers as well. It is also amazing, that so many people registered and regularly contribute to the list. It is an outstanding tool of democracy and resistance. My best wishes for the List managers you are doing a great job." Respondent: The list can be improved if subscribers can be encouraged to discuss other aspects of the socio-economic dynamics of the Gambian situation besides just the political. We can dilate on the social and economic formations that obtains presently and their ramifications, and formulate alternative blueprints in which the situation can be changed or redressed. Secondly, subscribers should be encouraged to discuss other issues besides political issues, which presently is the main thrust of debates and arguments on the L. There is no doubt that there are a lot of subscribers who necessarily do not want to engage in the political debates, but want to contribute something else. Given the nature of the discussions on the L, such subscribers would not want to bring in something that is outside the general purview of the political discussions at hand. Besides forwarded messages which do have a lot of informative and educative content, subscribers should be encouraged to share their knowledge and experience in the various diciplines that can shaped a body of information that others can learn from. For those who are literary inclined, they can be encouraged to share their work under a special title, for example, Literary corner. All postings under that title will obviously have to deal with literary issues. Other titles can be formulated also for other issues; in this way we can bring out a divergent view of opinions covering a vast array of diciplines and subjects, without affecting much the general discussions which are usually political. Respondent: "Moderators should be established on Key Areas of The Gambia's development (party politics, national development projects/sectoral policy issues, what the Gambian Papers say, diplomatic news/The Gambia's Foreign policy issues, gender equity in The Gambia, decentralization and local government issues. These Moderators should help in directing the discussions, and encourage us all to participate." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------