Ghost of Midnight

G. Patton Hughes writes about his experience operating a hyperlocal news site called paulding.com… one focused on the network and the other on advertising.  Some excerpts (well… lots of excerpts)…
Key to this success in the hyperlocal environment is the audience… For myspace it is the peers of the tweens and teens; for facebook, college peers [...]

Many have asked how Front Porch Forum fits into the local news-scape.  Most of the local news outlets here have run pieces explaining how we operate… much appreciated.  But the one regional local daily newspaper has kept its distance so far.
Now today they’ve found a use for us… as a way to reach their dissatisfied [...]

Philip Baruth writes today about a controversy in Burlington’s New North End…
Fascinating little snafu in Burlington last week. A very hard-working local activist, Lea Terhune, called a meeting to organize against a new Senior Housing development slated for the Apple Tree Point section of Burlington’s New North End. Wet-land is at issue, and Terhune says [...]

What other web service finds lost kittens?  Especially with a foot and a half of snow on the ground?
We are missing a kitten that was visiting for the holidays. He is an orange tabby wearing a red collar with a bell. His name is Cringer. Please let us know if you have seen him. -Marianne, [...]

Front Porch Forum was featured on KillerStartups.com today.

Kate in Burlington’s Old North End wrote a lovely “call to shovels” today post-blizzards, encouraging neighbors to help clear troubled sidewalk spots as a show of community spirit (it’s the city’s responsibility here).  Great idea.
Her opening line caught my eye too…
I don’t usually post, but I read every single ONE Newsletter I get.
I surveyed one [...]

I’m not very good about sending out holiday greetings, but I just received this wonderful one posted to my own neighborhood’s FPF forum…
I just want to thank Michael Wood-Lewis and family for such a great job this year with the Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum and to thank everyone in this forum for all of their [...]

Burlington was hit with back-to-back snow storms this week, leaving about 15 inches of the white stuff, on top of a little left over from the previous dumping… and the first day of winter has yet to arrive!
On Front Porch Forum we’re seeing a growing number of city residents upset with the City’s snow removal [...]

I assured Glenn today that her message below was a wonderful use of her neighborhood’s Front Porch Forum…
Hello Neighbors – I would not usually see this forum as a site for solicitation but given this situation (and the time of year), I am making an exception.
I work in a rural school system and I have [...]

From today’s Seven Days…
If you thought the Church Street smoking ban debate was over, think again. One city councilor is floating the idea of putting the decision in voters’ hands.
Following a November 26 city council vote not to pursue a smoking ban on the Marketplace, Councilor Joan Shannon (D-Ward 5) posted comments on her community [...]