Ghost of Midnight

I get questions frequently about the name of this blog.  Well, it’s about Front Porch Forum and related items.
So, if you’re curious about the name… here’s the brief tale.

How many people have we heard from who want to blast their political message across a wide swath of Front Porch Forum?  Too many to count.
It makes sense.  FPF has a huge local audience and Town Meeting Day is March 2… less than a week away.  Candidates, political parties, advocacy groups… they all are working [...]

Thanks to VT State Rep. Suzi Wizowaty and 23 co-sponsors for honoring Front Porch Forum users with HCR235!
House Concurrent Resolution 235
Congratulating Front Porch Forum on Its 10th Anniversary

Offered by: Representatives Wizowaty of Burlington, Aswad of Burlington, Bissonnette of Winooski, Donovan of Burlington, Frank of Underhill, Head of South Burlington, Heath of Westford, Jerman of Essex, [...]

How many people in the United States use the internet?  Everybody… right?  Well… it seems that way sometimes, but there are millions of us who don’t.  I’m sure we can all think of a few.  Greg Sterling shares today about a new FCC study that pegs it at 22% of U.S. adults… that’s a big [...]

Posted today on Local SEO Guide…
Just posted the following list of local search api’s on SearchEngineLand.  I am going to be maintaining the list here and will be updating it from time to time.

Alcatel Lucent Open API Service
CityGrid (CitySearch)
Earthmine
Foursquare
GoWalla
Hoovers
Outside.in
Praized
TownMe
Trulia
Twitter/MixerLabs
Yahoo! Local
Yelp API
WhitePages.com
Zvents

AARP Vermont recently announced a new grant program to fund grassroots projects around Burlington…
“These sponsorships are intended to inspire and support grassroots groups that have a vision for their neighborhood or the city and how it can be improved to the meet the needs of all residents,” said Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur of AARP Vermont.  “The sponsorship [...]

Thanks to Jamie for this lovely note, just received via a posting to her neighbors…
Pardon a very old fashioned and stupid cliche but I personally think Front Porch Forum is the “next best thing to sliced bread.” I LOVE opening the posts and as I live in both Huntington and Starkboro (at the same time) [...]

How about this?  Go ahead and score each form of media on your very own Media Crap Index… MCI.
For example, email channels are flooded with spam, some reports put it at 95% of all messages sent.  So, email gets an awful 95% MCI… that is, 95% of email is crap.
But how about other media?  TV… [...]

Local businesses reach out to neighbors through Front Porch Forum every day in a number of ways.
Small start-ups simply post to their nearby neighbors letting folks know that they are open for business.  Other companies purchase advertising.  Nonprofits often ask their supporters to post event announcements, each on his/her own FPF neighborhood forum.  Local institutions [...]

Bill McKibben wrote a good book about local solutions to global threats, like climate change, called Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future…
McKibben’s animating idea is that we need to move beyond “growth” as the paramount economic ideal and pursue prosperity in a more local direction, with cities, suburbs, and regions producing [...]