September 21, 2007

Your Hub is really Our Hub

By Stan Dyer

People like to talk. They talk everywhere they go and talk about everything imaginable. They have opinions on most subjects and feel free to share those opinions with anyone who will listen. Therein lies the beauty of Your Hub.

Your Hub is the idea of the Denver News Agency to give all those talking people an open forum to share their thoughts and express their opinions. Talkers love it when people listen. The only restrictions on Your Hub are, 1) You have to be able to organize your thoughts in written form, 2) You have to be civil, and 3) You must use some common courtesy. It is so easy; I don't know why more people don't take advantage of it.

Now, instead of an audience of a few, talkers who become writers can address an audience of thousands from a position of relative anonymity. Almost anything a person has to say can be posted for review by a jury of his peers. The writer can then come back, visit his profile and discover how well received his ideas were. Readers also benefit, since they have the option of cutting the conversation short without the writer knowing. It is a perfect arrangement and as American as when Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton used the newspapers to express their varying ideas on how best to organize a fledgling democracy back in the 18 th century.

I personally invite all talkers out there to become writers. I also invite those writers out there who have been doing more reading than writing to take some time to put their great thoughts into word form and share them with the rest of us. I want to read what you have to say, I want to know what you are thinking, and I want you to share it with everyone. Your Hub is a beautiful open forum, and, although created by the Newspaper Agency, now belongs to the people, especially the writers. It is now Our Hub, and now is a good time for all good people to take advantage of this great opportunity.