Hello, and welcome to the core feature of Reality Check! We're delighted that you're interested in joining the discussion. However, before you register so we can assign you to a new dialogue group, there are a few details we need to bring up.

What follows is a little longer than we'd like it to be, but necessary to establish how we hope the dialogues on this site will be very different from what we've seen on all the public bulletin boards elsewhere. So please take just a few minutes to read through this and the next page carefully. It's a good investment of time!

A Few Questions

First, we need to ask you to ask yourself a few questions to make sure this space is right for you:

• Are you frustrated by polarized, black and white discussions of public issues and interested in exploring the "grays" that are neglected?
• Are you comfortable talking from your own personal experience?
• Are you interested in learning more about why people hold positions you disagree with?
• Are you willing to have your assumptions challenged and to challenge other people's assumptions respectfully?
• Are you interested experimenting with an alternative model for developing meaningful dialogue and relationships on-line?

If you answered yes to the above, then you've come to the right place. Read on.

Commitment and Accountablity

As we mentioned above, the Dialogue Groups on Reality Check are different from most other web-based discussions and they require a different kind of commitment and accountability than most people are used to online.

By agreeing to participate in a Dialogue Group, you're agreeing to be part of a small community for a period of four weeks (at which point you and your fellow members might vote to extend your time together or close the group). Although your email address and real name will never be made public, this is not a completely anonymous system -- everyone will have access to your personal bio and know which posts are "yours." The Dialogue Group you are assigned to is YOUR group; you and your fellow members will determine what you talk about and be responsible for making the space what you want it to be.

Disagreements

Each Dialogue Group will have people with very different views and perspectives on the issues under discussion. We expect disagreements to develop -- nobody's being asked to leave their passions and beliefs at the door -- but this site is meant to be an alternative to all those places in the media and online where people argue from fixed positions and nobody learns anything in the process. We begin with an American tradition which seems to have been lost in recent years -- we believe we can learn something from each other, even from those we disagree with. We just need to be willing to listen and respond honestly and thoughtfully.

Participation

Finally there's the issue of participation. For Reality Check to be truly effective, people have to be active members, regularly reading and responding to others in the group. You don't have to respond to every post, of course -- we know you have a life off-line. But this is not really a place for lurkers; if you just want to read the dialogues, you can always do that through the public entrance.

Of course, these are only expectations, not requirements. But we hope they sound reasonable to you and you're still interested in participating.

Although we must reserve the right to revoke membership privileges in extreme cases where these principles are repeatedly disregarded and a group is seriously disrupted. we hope we never have to. We know, in the end, you are the only one who can decide how to get the most out of your participation in Reality Check dialogues.