I think I'll take the risk of losing some layer of anonymity and share my first-hand experience. I love Front Porch Forum (FPF). The article is right in some ways. When I've made posts, I don't...
I think I'll take the risk of losing some layer of anonymity and share my first-hand experience.
I love Front Porch Forum (FPF). The article is right in some ways. When I've made posts, I don't usually expect to see them show up until the following day. It feels a bit like a letter to the editor or a post in a newspaper's classifieds section, but it's free and a significantly faster.
I found someone skilled enough to repaint my metal roof by asking around on there. More than once we've learned about an event happening in a nearby town and decided to check it out thanks to a post in FPF. I found a skilled arborist to help me with an ailing tree because I saved a screenshot of someone's post praising their work. I've enjoyed random poetry between several users as a sort of word game. I've been made aware of local charities in need of assistance or of important local political events. Coincidentally, while not from the same person, I've also scored a few dozen local eggs from someone who simply had too many.
I could go on about FPF for a long time. It's one of the most positive experiences I've had online in recent years. It reminds me of the old forums I used to be in a decade or two ago filled with your neighbors. I wish FPF's model would spread elsewhere, but it's true that I wouldn't want FPF to grow too far beyond its local roots. I would rather it help create sister organizations in nearby states, instead. Otherwise, it might start to lose its mojo, as it were.
That's becuase the answer isn't to grow up, it's to grow out: You need a grassroots movement to develop this regionally in a way that is sustainable, from completelt seperate groups as to not let...
“I agree that something like we’re doing is needed in a way that’s not being provided in the vast majority of the country,” he said. “But if you scale up a successful small enterprise, you by definition will lose what’s special about it.” And that is something Vermonters would likely protest — civilly, of course.
That's becuase the answer isn't to grow up, it's to grow out: You need a grassroots movement to develop this regionally in a way that is sustainable, from completelt seperate groups as to not let the original grow to unsustainability.
The best they could probably do is offer training seminars and a 'getting started' guide nd let people take it up from there.
Why not grow up while growing out? Have just one organization run all the networks and have them unable to touch each other, or at most have contiguous networks touch without being reach through...
Why not grow up while growing out? Have just one organization run all the networks and have them unable to touch each other, or at most have contiguous networks touch without being reach through to other networks.
You don't put all your eggs in one basket. Half the reason it works is because they hand-review every post. You can't scale that in any reasonable way without sacrificing what makes your small...
You don't put all your eggs in one basket. Half the reason it works is because they hand-review every post. You can't scale that in any reasonable way without sacrificing what makes your small network good.
Managing a giant network also means needing to manage a giant network. Small networks can get by on far fewer resources. As the leaders of a massive network, they're no longer actually doing what they do, and instead they're managing a giant beuracracy.
As a parallel, I notice a great dropoff in quality any time a restraunt starts expanding into multiple locations. The threshold seems to be on the order of 3 or 4 locations. Beyond that, it becomes too big for the original owners to manage and things fall apart.
Bigger is not always better, unless you're at the top collecting a cut from every sale. For customers/users, it's often far worse.
That was actually what I was imagining. I guess the problem is that where Facebook started getting worse once your parents joined...your parents could be on this before you 😱
That was actually what I was imagining. I guess the problem is that where Facebook started getting worse once your parents joined...your parents could be on this before you 😱
I'd love it if FPF could at least franchise or syndicate their software stack and terms of service. I'd quit my day job to run it - the mostly rural metro I'm in (as well as the rest of the state)...
I'd love it if FPF could at least franchise or syndicate their software stack and terms of service. I'd quit my day job to run it - the mostly rural metro I'm in (as well as the rest of the state) desperately needs something like this. NextDoor is a cesspool of hate and bickering and scam contractors, we all know what Facebook is like, and local news sources don't efficiently aggregate announcements about events of community interest.
Footnote: It looks like FPF is another benevolent dictatorship, still run under the aegis of the founder and his wife.
While obviously not the same, I often think Tildes is one of the best corners of the social Internet for me. I was a member of several different car related forums back in the early 2000s and...
While obviously not the same, I often think Tildes is one of the best corners of the social Internet for me.
I was a member of several different car related forums back in the early 2000s and Tildes feels a little bit like that.
Sounds lovely! I do hope other instances take inspiration and grow elsewhere. I wonder also how much of the success of this is due to it being located in Vermont, and as the article notes, largely...
Sounds lovely! I do hope other instances take inspiration and grow elsewhere. I wonder also how much of the success of this is due to it being located in Vermont, and as the article notes, largely centered in rural areas. Are there FPF communities for larger cities, for example? Or would they subdivide cities into smaller boroughs / neighborhoods / etc.?
Yes, you would completely kill it lol. I wonder if certain regions this literally just wouldn't work because of the sheer size of the population. I mean, I think I know pretty well how this would...
“But if you scale up a successful small enterprise, you by definition will lose what’s special about it.” And that is something Vermonters would likely protest — civilly, of course
Yes, you would completely kill it lol. I wonder if certain regions this literally just wouldn't work because of the sheer size of the population.
I mean, I think I know pretty well how this would go in a large city or metropolis..
I think I'll take the risk of losing some layer of anonymity and share my first-hand experience.
I love Front Porch Forum (FPF). The article is right in some ways. When I've made posts, I don't usually expect to see them show up until the following day. It feels a bit like a letter to the editor or a post in a newspaper's classifieds section, but it's free and a significantly faster.
I found someone skilled enough to repaint my metal roof by asking around on there. More than once we've learned about an event happening in a nearby town and decided to check it out thanks to a post in FPF. I found a skilled arborist to help me with an ailing tree because I saved a screenshot of someone's post praising their work. I've enjoyed random poetry between several users as a sort of word game. I've been made aware of local charities in need of assistance or of important local political events. Coincidentally, while not from the same person, I've also scored a few dozen local eggs from someone who simply had too many.
I could go on about FPF for a long time. It's one of the most positive experiences I've had online in recent years. It reminds me of the old forums I used to be in a decade or two ago filled with your neighbors. I wish FPF's model would spread elsewhere, but it's true that I wouldn't want FPF to grow too far beyond its local roots. I would rather it help create sister organizations in nearby states, instead. Otherwise, it might start to lose its mojo, as it were.
That's becuase the answer isn't to grow up, it's to grow out: You need a grassroots movement to develop this regionally in a way that is sustainable, from completelt seperate groups as to not let the original grow to unsustainability.
The best they could probably do is offer training seminars and a 'getting started' guide nd let people take it up from there.
Why not grow up while growing out? Have just one organization run all the networks and have them unable to touch each other, or at most have contiguous networks touch without being reach through to other networks.
You don't put all your eggs in one basket. Half the reason it works is because they hand-review every post. You can't scale that in any reasonable way without sacrificing what makes your small network good.
Managing a giant network also means needing to manage a giant network. Small networks can get by on far fewer resources. As the leaders of a massive network, they're no longer actually doing what they do, and instead they're managing a giant beuracracy.
As a parallel, I notice a great dropoff in quality any time a restraunt starts expanding into multiple locations. The threshold seems to be on the order of 3 or 4 locations. Beyond that, it becomes too big for the original owners to manage and things fall apart.
Bigger is not always better, unless you're at the top collecting a cut from every sale. For customers/users, it's often far worse.
That's how Facebook started. Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way for long.
That was actually what I was imagining. I guess the problem is that where Facebook started getting worse once your parents joined...your parents could be on this before you 😱
I'd love it if FPF could at least franchise or syndicate their software stack and terms of service. I'd quit my day job to run it - the mostly rural metro I'm in (as well as the rest of the state) desperately needs something like this. NextDoor is a cesspool of hate and bickering and scam contractors, we all know what Facebook is like, and local news sources don't efficiently aggregate announcements about events of community interest.
Footnote: It looks like FPF is another benevolent dictatorship, still run under the aegis of the founder and his wife.
While obviously not the same, I often think Tildes is one of the best corners of the social Internet for me.
I was a member of several different car related forums back in the early 2000s and Tildes feels a little bit like that.
Sounds lovely! I do hope other instances take inspiration and grow elsewhere. I wonder also how much of the success of this is due to it being located in Vermont, and as the article notes, largely centered in rural areas. Are there FPF communities for larger cities, for example? Or would they subdivide cities into smaller boroughs / neighborhoods / etc.?
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Yes, you would completely kill it lol. I wonder if certain regions this literally just wouldn't work because of the sheer size of the population.
I mean, I think I know pretty well how this would go in a large city or metropolis..