Democrats.com has built a unique email networking tool to help local activists who are authorized senders reach out to fellow Democrats.com members in their:

• Congressional District
• Zip Code (in development)

The purpose of this tool is to help activists accomplish political tasks, such as:

• Organizing local meetings and events
• Lobbying on issues chosen by Democrats.com members
• Campaigning for a candidate supported by Democrats.com members

How it works:

• Click "my settings"
• Make sure your address and zip code are accurate; if not change them by clicking the "edit" tab
• Click "Look up other users in your Congressional District"
• Click "Users Registered to Receive Alerts" to see the registered Democrats.com Members; click on their username to learn more about them
• Uncheck the box for anyone you do not want to email

Opting out:

• To opt out, click "Look up your Congressional District Settings," check the box to "Block Congressional District Alerts," and click "Save Preferences" immediately below the box

Authorized senders:

Authorized senders can be chosen in several ways:

• By vote of local Members
• By application to the Moderators

Content restrictions:

Everyone receives too much email, and we do not want this system to become a nuisance or a burden. We strictly prohibit:

• Personal solicitations
• Commercial solicitations
• Fundraising appeals, no matter how worthy

Technical development:

• Email announcements should be created as a node type with comments enabled
• These nodes should be moderated
• Authorized senders can bypass moderation
• Each announcement should include a link to the node to facilitate discussion