Ghost of Midnight

… about neighbors, community and Front Porch Forum

Email Newsletters Going Strong

Posted on Friday, May 4, 2007 by • Comments are off for this post

Front Porch Forum, according to our happy subscribers, has great content.  And it currently offers two forms of distribution… email and web.  We’ll likely add an RSS feed in the future, and evolve from there.  However, the use of email is an important ingredient to our initial success.

Since we’re aiming to serve any and all people who are online, we’re focused on the lowest common denominator technology… and that’s email.  While it may be pass© for heavy-duty internet users, I’d guess that the majority of Americans use email on a regular basis… and way more than RSS, etc.  We have many subscribers who are seniors using AOL dial-up on a Windows 95/98 box.

So it was interesting to just read the following from The Local Onliner…

Most of us get a lot of e-newsletters every week. Most of them are powered by Constant Contact. But, given the alternative means that local businesses have to communicate (blogs, RSS, videos, podcasts, etc.), is the era of the e-newsletter fading?

Constant Contact doesn’t think so. The 250-person, Mass.-based company has 100,000+ accounts. “We’re continuing to move up significantly,” says Senior VP Eric Groves. The majority of accounts are in the lower tier client base, paying $15 or $30 per month.

Read more here.

Vote for Winged Monkey

Posted on Friday, May 4, 2007 by • Comments are off for this post

With thousands of Front Porch Forum subscribers posting messages to their nearby neighbors across greater Burlington, VT, there’s always something interesting popping up.  Here’s today’s surprise from the Lakewood Neighborhood Forum in the New North End…

Our three minute winged monkey video is a finalist in the International Contest Sponsored by P.A.N.D.O.R.A.

I write to ask for your vote.  The results will be announced on May 12th.  Please click on this link,  read the instructions, and cast your ballot accordingly.  When you’re done (thank you very much), please pass this along to your friends, associates and email list and ask them to do the same.  Time is of the essence.

You’ll learn something, I guarantee it.  They’ll learn something too, same promise.  Turning the tides of modern medicine is no small task.

Rik Carlson

Rent-a-Husband Encounter Ends Poorly

Posted on Thursday, May 3, 2007 by • 2 comments

As reported here previously, some Front Porch Forum members in the ONE West Neighborhood Forum have taken exception to the name of the local hardware store’s Rent-a-Husband handyman service.  Today a neighbor subscribed to FPF and then provided this update to the controversy…

I’d like to add a little something in regards to the Rent a Husband campaign…  I stopped into the store today and the sign is up again.  The last time I was there it was down (maybe it just fell down or something) but I thought it was gone for good.  Went in today and it was up again.  I went to speak to the owner/manager who was at the paint desk, just standing there.  I told him – in a very reasonable tone of voice – how disappointed I was that it was still there.  Then paid for my purchases and drove over to pick up the bag of concrete I’d bought.  Seconds later the manager came running out of the store yelling at me.  He said I was rude every time I came into the store (Uh?????) He also called me inconsiderate. (Uh?????)  And continuously called me rude over and over.  Then he informed me that I am banned from the store for eternity.

Now listen – I can be a bit of a brassy broad, but rude?  I don’t think so.

Well… I haven’t heard from the store owner, but I do know that this particular store plays an important role for a good many Burlingtonians… I’m not sure banning customers is the best long-term approach.  There must be a constructive solution out there somewhere.

Buffalo Rising Online Effort

Posted on Thursday, May 3, 2007 by • Comments are off for this post

The Local Onliner reports today about Buffalo Rising, the monthly magazine in Buffalo, NY, and it’s efforts to combine its paper and online offerings.

Building the perfect template for hyper-local media has been the endgame for a number of companies – BackFence, American Town Networks, Pegasus News, and Citysquares, to name a few.

HyperLocal Media has been working at it as well, focusing on the synergies of a print/offline model to effectively sell advertising to the community. Since I profiled the company last June, it has built a custom headquarters in cheap-rent Buffalo, and continued finessing its tools and services with Buffalo Rising. In my view, the site is easily one of the best up and running…

Lots of interesting insights from these folks in this posting… read more.

Social networks reduce impact of Alzheimer’s?

Posted on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 by • Comments are off for this post

Can vibrant social networks limit the negative effect of Alzheimer’s disease?  Refrigerator Rights points to a medical study…

Dr. David Bennett summarized the work by saying it this way:  “Many elderly people who have the tangles and plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease don’t clinically experience cognitive impairment or dementia,” said Bennett. “Our findings suggest that social networks are related to something that offers a ‘protective reserve’ capacity that spares them the clinical manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease.”

That’s a sizable claim.  We’ve always felt intuitively that positive social networks like Front Porch Forum contributes to good health.  I seem to recall that Bowling Alone presents evidence along these lines as well.

Neighbors take “Mud Walk”

Posted on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 by • 1 comment

Yesterday I joked that one way to build community locally would be to hold a “Mud festival… a day full of mud-themed games, food and good clean fun.”  (Spring in Vermont is commonly called “mud season” for obvious reason.)

So, imagine my surprise when John wrote to his Huntington Neighborhood Forum this morning…

Actually we’ve been doing something like this for about 15 years up on East Street. We call it our annual Mud Walk. It’s a movable brunch. We pick three houses each year to host–first house does coffee, muffins, etc.; second house does main courses; and the last house does desserts. Neighbors are assigned things to bring to the appropriate stop along the way. We spend the day munching, talking & walking with our neighbors! This year we did on April 1st. It’s great and I’d encourage other neighborhoods in Huntington to do the same!

Don’t let fear erode sense of community

Posted on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 by • Comments are off for this post

K.G. contributed the following post to her neighborhood forum (in Burlington’s New North End) today after some recent messages about suspicious characters, peeping Toms, stolen purse, etc.

Ever since Linda posted about the “peeping Tom” in our neighborhood, I’ve been feeling less safe in my home.  Now, today (Wednesday), I find two more postings about strange situations in the area.  While I agree that in this day and age we all have to be vigilant and aware, I also hope that we don’t start feeling like our neighborhood is not safe.

When we moved in last August, part of the reason we felt so immediately at home was the fact that the area felt safe and inviting. People say hello, children and families roam the streets on bikes and scooters.  Daily walkers, joggers, and dog lovers abound.  There is activity without busyness as people in our neighborhood share with each other their daily lives.

This new twist on our happy environment may leave us all feeling a little more exposed, and a little less willing to share of ourselves, our yards, and our homes.  While I want everyone to be watchful and safe, I wish with all my heart that the neighborhood continues to feel as warm and inviting as it has for the past year. It’s too easy to let fear control our lives.

Hear, hear! Rallying the neighbors to protect and foster the sense of community in the face of problems… that’s another great use of Front Porch Forum.  Reminds me of a South End neighborhood’s reaction when a little girl was briefly kidnapped out of her backyard by a drifter… after she was rescued, the call went out over their neighborhood forum to step up community involvement and watching each other’s kids rather than everyone running inside and locking the doors.

New York Times Guru on Social Web

Posted on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 by • Comments are off for this post

The Local Onliner has a piece well worth reading today…

New York Times Digital Chief Martin Niesenholtz, keynoting the Yellow Pages Association conference this morning in Las Vegas, called local “a huge untapped opportunity in the directories arena that no one – including the portals – has yet tapped.”

… the winners in local “could come from many different directions: from the social networking side; from information businesses; from search; from startups; and, of course, from the directory players. So far no one has truly tapped and structured the input from local audience/s. When that happens, it will be a game changer. I have very little doubt about that,” he said.

During his talk, he told YPA that it is critical to fully embrace the social web. “There is tremendous knowledge and power locked up in our users, and traditional media businesses have failed so far to adequately exploit that.

Read the full post here.

Wait wait… don’t tell me!

Posted on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 by • Comments are off for this post

Here’s Front Porch Forum‘s spoof of the popular NPR game show. In this version, one answer is bogus, nestled in among many true statements lifted from local neighborhood forums. Can you guess the false one?

1. SIGNS OF SPRING REPORTED ON VARIOUS NEIGHBORHOOD FORUMS…
A. The whistling song of a cardinal.
B. Crocus poking their way out of the mulch.
C. Neighbors’ garbage and recycling blowing down the street.
D. Not having the car heat maxed out during morning commute.
E. The need of a good exterminator for carpenter ants.
F. Red Sox fever.
G. Free stuff set out from spring cleaning.
H. Matsuri, a Japanese festival of spring.
I. Ramps (wild leeks) popping up and tree swallows flitting about.
J. Graffiti tags blooming all over Burlington.

2. GREAT NEIGHBORHOOD EVENTS ORGANIZED THIS PAST MONTH ON NEIGHBORHOOD FORUMS…
A. Plant swap… share your perennial thinnings and pick up something new.
B. Neighborhood Green Up Day teams.
C. Park clean up and party.
D. Neighborhood-wide yard sale.
E. Weekly walking club.
F. Photography shoot of missing curbs.
G. Mud festival… a day full of mud-themed games, food and good clean fun.

3. LOST ITEMS FOUND IN APRIL VIA NEIGHBORHOOD FORUMS…
A. Run-away husky named Kiva.
B. Lots of lost cats, including Boaz the Large.
C. New pair of prescription sunglasses.
D. Bicycle and scooter.
E. Earring.
G. Tent.
H. Family heirloom aluminum canoe.
I. Stroller.
J. Ball cap and table cloth on a tennis court.

4. RECENT RECOGNITION OF FRONT PORCH FORUM SUCCESS…
A. Won a “Technology Fostering Community” award.
B. Won a “Community Improvement” award.
C. Invited to speak at NYC conference alongside founders of Craigslist and Wikipedia.
D. Featured in local daily newspaper.
E. Asked to lead training session of local nonprofits interested in Web 2.0.

5. TIPS FOR GETTING THE MOST OUT OF FRONT PORCH FORUM…
A. Recruit your neighbors (send them to http://frontporchforum.com).
B. Tell Front Porch Forum when you change your email address!
C. If you move locally, switch your membership from your old to your new neighborhood.
D. Send a message to introduce yourself to your neighborhood forum.
E. Search your neighborhood’s online archive for past postings (e.g., plumber recommendations).
F. When responding to a neighbor’s request, do so to the entire forum (instead of just to the one neighbor) for everyone’s benefit.
G. Post a nasty note about your next-door neighbor’s dog/cat/kids.

ANSWERS…
1. Trick question… These are all pulled from members’ postings.
2. G… No, but I’m willing to share this idea with anyone who wants to run with it. 😉
3. H… Reported lost on the Huntington River, but not yet found.
4. D… Not yet. These honors are shared with all FPF members.
5. G… Thankfully, this kind of thing almost never happens on Front Porch Forum.

SCORE…
0-2 Up and comer… log a few more hours on an actual front porch.
3-4 Good neighbor… nice work.
5 Neighbor of the Year!

Rent a Spouse?

Posted on Monday, April 30, 2007 by • 1 comment

A local hardware store is running ads for its handyman service, called “Rent a Husband.” A friend, John Grimm, took them to task via his ONE West Neighborhood Forum awhile ago and several other neighbors then piled on. He talked to the business owner, which didn’t seem to go anywhere. Then yesterday I saw that the local daily paper finally printed John’s Front Porch Forum piece (I assume he submitted them at the same time).

So today’s posting by a woman in the Richmond South Neighborhood Forum made me smile…

Seeking “handy” person… or a “husband”. My Brian doesn’t want to HAVE to do anything domestic when he gets home from work and my honey-do list has gotten really long. My honey won’t and I can’t. If you know someone handy for hire, please let me know. Thanks.

I hope she finds someone… my honey-do list is getting a bit ripe too!

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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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