Category Archives: Front Porch Forum

“This person is MAD!!!!”

Posted on Monday, June 23, 2008 by • No comments yet

People often ask how Front Porch Forum has grown so rapidly in such a short amount of time… it’s almost all word-of-mouth.  Neighbor tells neighbor.  Here’s a posting from a South Burlington neighborhood forum today that serves as a good example…

Re the notice about the appraisal increase… one of my neighbors did receive a notice like this.  This person is MAD!!!! I am forwarding this to her, and encouraging her to join Front Porch Forum!

While we do see people come on board in reaction to a problem like this, it’s much more common for folks to join because they hear it’s a great way to connect with neighbors and plug into neighborhood news.

Is Front Porch Forum Nationwide?

Posted on Monday, June 23, 2008 by • No comments yet

Front Porch Forum subscribers frequently are surprised to learn that this free service was created right here in our corner of Vermont. It’s no secret… our start-up story has gotten decent local media coverage.

Here’s today’s example from a relatively long-time and active subscriber from Essex Junction…

First of all — will someone please tell me the “once upon a time” of Front Porch Forum. Since I’ve been a member, I’ve been singing its praises to family in Texas and most recently Oregon. But you know what!! I really don’t know where this started and I’m just now barely getting little hints and cues that this actually STARTED in VERMONT!!

Is this true?!! And if so, yet another reason for pride in this little state of ours.

Here I’ve been telling Texans and Oregonians — “Check out your own neighborhood. I’m assuming ‘Front Porch Forum’ is national, if not international.” Sooooo, if it hasn’t been done recently, I’d love to have someone fill in those of us who are in the dark. Or maybe post the “history” on the website under ABOUT US. Thanks in advance.

Second of all — I am indeed reaping the benefits of Front Porch Forum. I’ve established a weekly connection with a high school student who comes over and aids me with certain chores — recycle and trash out, groceries in, other lifting and tugging. He’s pleasant, dependable, willing, and courteous, and also a kindred theatre spirit by way of EHS drama program! He gets paid right away; and when he helped us with unloading and setting up our tag sale, he was able to earn more.

Can the internet boost local democracy?

Posted on Sunday, June 22, 2008 by • No comments yet

Steven Clift provokes some thought with his piece today at MediaShift. .. part of the Personal Democracy Forum 2008.  In part…

After almost two decades of “e-democracy,” we seem content with simply accelerating online what’s already wrong with politics. We raise money online to support more political television ads, we “democratize” national partisan punditry through blogs aimed at influencing mass media agendas, and whip up outrage through e-advocacy campaigns that fall into the electronic trash cans of Congress. Online news, campaigns, forums, blogs and other online social networks may appear public, but are ultimately privately controlled spaces where only the owner has real freedom.

And…

I’ve been inspired by a small collection of “democracy builders” who are toiling on the edge of e-politics or dodging the grip of “services first, democracy later” e-government projects. The generational challenge we face in designing democracy to survive (perhaps even thrive) online is to identify the incremental contributions the Internet can make when democratic intent is applied to it and then to make those tools, features, practices, and rights universally accessible to all people in all cities, states, and countries.

Thanks to Steve for including Front Porch Forum as one of his examples.

Reporters turn to Front Porch Forum for leads

Posted on Sunday, June 22, 2008 by • No comments yet

Local reporters for traditional media outlets use Front Porch Forum frequently to find leads for news stories… makes sense… neighbors connect with neighbors about all sorts of goings on on their FPF neighborhood forum as a first step.  Items often show up there first.

Here are a few recent examples…

Local Businesses Loving Front Porch Forum Too

Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 by • No comments yet

More and more local businesses are putting Front Porch Forum to use.  This week, Epik (one of only 15 Google-certified web shops globally) advertised its OM Boot Camp.

Front Porch Forum helped us draw a crowd to our Online Marketing Boot Camp!
— Hannah Boucher, Epik

And very small businesses are weighing in too…

I am speechless. I love this thing so much!
— Will Keyworth, Keyworth Graphics

To see a list of dozens of recent FPF sponsors and to explore our advertising program, click here.

Crazy Brother Cycling 3,000 Miles in a Week

Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 by • No comments yet

I’m blessed with an amazing extended family. So I hesitate to blog about any one member… but it’s simply amazing what my brother Dave is up to this week… biking from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland in 6.5 days. At this moment he must be passing from Indiana into Ohio… about 2,300 miles down, 700 to go. Go man, go!

This is all part of RAAM… Race Across America. Dave is on a four-man team… two in their 70s, one in his 50s and Dave in the mid-40s… the oldest bunch on the course… called PAC RATS. Here are his team results by stage.

So if you see a blur go by on the road between Ohio and Annapolis in the next 24 hours, holler a cheer for me! Wish I could be there.

UPDATE: Hey! Congratulations brother Dave and his fellow PAC RATS… they finished today (June 18) about 2:30 PM at Annapolis… averaged a little better than 18 MPH for 3,000! I’m looking forward to hearing some stories from him.

UPDATE 2: They did it… broke the record. Dave’s team averaged 18.21 MPH across the United States, beating the old record for “old men” (four-man team, 60-69 years avg) of 17.87 MPH. Here’s Dave on a steep ascent in Maryland, followed by a shot of the team after the finish…

The seventh 4-person team, the PAC Rats, finished just 16 minutes after Utah Neuro Sciences Research with a time of 6:21:30 to establish a new record speed of 18.21 mph in the 60+ division.  They beat the old record of 17.87 mph set by Dave Tanner & Richard Rupp’s Team Hoosers last year.  PAC RATS have the oldest rider in this years race – 75 year old Lew Meyer.  Their crew chief was RAAM legend Lee “Fuzzy” Mitchell who told me Chris Stauffer (his health was too poor to allow him to be on the team) was the emotional leader of the crew.  Also on the crew was Rob Kash and former Calvin’s 12 Hour Challenge organizers John & Ann McKinley.  Rider Don Peters said that Lee’s rotation of 4 on and 4 off worked brilliantly.

Knight Commission focused on Communities, Information and Democracy

Posted on Saturday, June 14, 2008 by • 1 comment

I’m honored by a recent invitation to be one of a few people asked to address the initial meeting of the new Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy… June 24, 2008, at the new Newseum in Washington, DC… to be webcast live.

“The charge of the Commission is straightforward,” says Alberto Ibarg¼en, president and CEO of Knight Foundation. “Articulate the information needs of communities in this democracy; determine where we are today; and propose public policy that will encourage market solutions.”

I look forward to sharing some of what we’ve learned through Front Porch Forum with this august group. The full commission is listed here. And…

The Commission will be led by co-chairs Ted Olson, former Solicitor General of the United States, and Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Product and User Experience at Google. Peter Shane, a distinguished law professor at Ohio State University Law School, is the executive director.

The Knight Commission is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and organized by the Aspen Institute.

Serendipity in the Neighborhood

Posted on Saturday, June 14, 2008 by • No comments yet

Occasionally, someone will post a request on his/her FPF neighborhood forum the same day as a neighbor offers a solution to that request… unbeknown to each other.  So the next issue of their neighborhood forum is published with the problem followed by the solution… all neat and tidy.  Gotta love it.  Here’s today’s simple example on a neighborhood forum with about 400 participating households…

Hi there!  We were wondering if anyone might have a twin box frame floating around that they no longer need.  We would love to have it for use of our four year old’s new mattress.  Thank you very much! Sarah

The item above was posted at 4:00 PM followed at 4:01 PM by…

On the green strip in front of [our home on] Catherine St.:  twin size mattress, box spring, and wooden frame; come and get it before the rain comes!

Hope they connected!  Rain should be here soon!

Small Businesses Advertising Online put Eggs in One Basket

Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008 by • No comments yet

Palore says that most small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) that advertise online, advertise on only one site.  Here’s a graph from Boston data…

NYC data from Palore is similar, as reported by the Kelsey Group.

Make every posting count… twice

Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 by • No comments yet

Steve Yelvington posted today…

Knowledge@Wharton has an interview with Joe Kraus, director of product management at Google, in which he highlights the importance of social interaction on the Web:

“So, the killer apps that have really worked on the web have always been about connecting people to one another. So, whether it is instant messaging and e-mail as communications to connect people to one another, whether it’s photo-sharing as a way to connect people to one another through photos, or blogging as a way to connect people to one another through the words, people have always been social and the killer apps that have really succeeded on the web have always been social.”

This got me thinking about a couple recent conversations with folks asking about huge powerhouse online companies that have outposts in Burlington, VT, where we operate Front Porch Forum‘s pilot. The gist was… “Wouldn’t people be better off selling their car on Craigslist Burlington, seeking plumber recommendations on Angie’s List Burlington, giving away their old couch on FreeCycle Burlington and just using Front Porch Forum to organize block parties and find lost cats?”

Good question and I encourage people to use multiple services when they have the need. But like Krause says above, it’s all about connection. While websites offering classified ads, reviews, give-away matching, etc. by location COULD help people connect in some meaningful way, I don’t think they do. My sense is that they help facilitate the immediate and direct need (selling a car, finding a plumber), but they don’t touch the other… they don’t capitalize on the opportunity to add a brick to the house of local community with each interaction.

That’s what Front Porch Forum is all about. We aim to take every posting by clearly identified nearby neighbors and cobble them all together to build real community among neighbors and townsfolk. Why give away your moving boxes to anonymous distant strangers when you can offer them to your nearby neighbors and actually get to meet some people who live near you? That’s tapping the real potential of the internet… as Google’s Joe Krause says… it’s all about connecting people.

Or, as Wolfgang reported a month ago…

Just wanted to let you know that we sold our Minivan today to a neighbor through Front Porch Forum. We had more people expressing interest and more people showing up to look at the van who found out through the Forum than the interest generated by Burlington Free Press, Cars.com and Craigslist combined. Thanks!

So, again, I encourage folks in our service area to post their messages on any site they like… AND to post it on Front Porch Forum. The results typically speak for themselves.

About Blog

Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more

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