F-35s, IRV, Selectboard races, school budgets… civil constructive discourse

“May I post a political item on my Front Porch Forum?”
We get that question all the time here at FPF… especially leading up to Town Meeting Day and November elections.
The answer, of course, is “YES!”  Some of our members are disappointed to hear that.  They express a desire to keep FPF conversation “polite,” which therefore [...]

Bill McKibben covers FPF for Yankee Magazine

Amazing!  It’s not every day that an author of Bill McKibben’s statue writes a feature story about Front Porch Forum… let alone with a subtitle of “How New England can save the world!”  But there it is… in the March/April 2010 issue of Yankee Magazine.  Here’s a snippet…
Susan Comerford, a longtime community organizer and now [...]

“Best advocacy tool in town!”

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 [...]

HCR235 Honors FPF Members!

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, [...]

Local Search API List

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

Businesses connecting with neighbors

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 [...]

Click Local! Vermont Telecom Authority

Thanks to the Vermont Telecom Authority for pointing Vermonters to Front Porch Forum.  While it makes sense for local folks to use online tools from the mega corporations — Goolge, Facebook, Craigslist, Yahoo, etc. — it’s reassuring when Vermont-bred dot.com services (iBrattleboro, Seven Days, Vermont Tiger, Green Mountain Daily, FPF, etc.) get a little recognition [...]

Can’t please all of the people all of the time…

But sometimes Front Porch Forum can come close.
We heard from a super-techie the other day.  He was frustrated that his hometown, South Burlington, is covered by 20 FPF neighborhood forums… too many small groups he thought.  Also, he wanted more bells and whistles… catchy pseudonyms for users, avatars, a rating system for postings, etc.
Well, that’s [...]

Debating the school budget BEFORE Town Meeting

The people of Westford, VT continue to do amazing things with Front Porch Forum… lots of voices weighing in about lots of topics.  Here’s a comment about one topic gleaned from a blog today…
Principals like feedback, right?  Well, we need feedback but it can be difficult to deal with at times.  I’ve been thinking a [...]

Help give FPF neighbor-connection work big boost

Please take a moment to vote for Front Porch Forum’s proposal to the Knight News Challenge.  The Knight Foundation awards about $5 million each year to promising projects in the local news arena.
FPF’s application made it through the first round of judging and is now among about 200 finalists… exciting!
Click here to vote… then click [...]

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