AOL made some changes in the second half of 2008 to the way its customers’ outgoing email is sent when using AOL’s webmail option.  One result of these otherwise invisible changes is that messages sent by an AOL-using Front Porch Forum subscriber to any FrontPorchForum.com address do not arrive successfully.  So, regrettably, FPF will not receive neighborhood forum postings or requests for help made by email in this manner.  We’ve notified AOL many times and have received no response.  Here are solutions for AOL-using FPF members…
Post to your FPF neighborhood forum…

1. Via our website. Go to http://frontporchforum.com and click Log In.  Once logged in successfully, click on “Using the Web” under “Post Your Message.”  Enter your message and headline and check your neighborhood forum.  Hit the “Post Message” button.
2. Via email using an email client. AOL’s broken software appears to be tied to its webmail, so if you use an email client (e.g., Mozilla Thunderbird or Apple Mail) you should be able to post fine.
3. Using a different email provider If you have a non-AOL email address, add it to your FPF account (go to http://frontporchforum.com, click Log In, then Account).  Then post using that email address.  Free Gmail is one option.

Contact FPF…

1. Using our website… http://frontporchforum.com/about Again, you won’t be able to contact FPF using AOL’s webmail.

We’re sorry about this inconvenience.  It appears to be yet one more problem with AOL.  Yahoo Mail has serious problems too.  We respectfully recommend not using either service if you have other viable options available to you.  Thanks for your participation.

Jess posted the following today to her 400-household neighborhood via Front Porch Forum…
ROOM AT OUR TABLE
Hi Neighbors - Did you forget to make plans for Thanksgiving? Plans fall through? Looking at a boring/lonely turkey sandwich? Have a friend in such a situation? Please consider joining us. We have a few (1-3) extra seats at our cozy table, a big turkey, lots of other yummy dishes, and a lot of friendship to share. Kids welcome.
Please join us in celebrating this season of blessings and renewal…give me a call or email…
We see so many wonderful postings flow through FPF that I get inurred… but this one gave me pause… what a beautiful gesture.  Happy Thanksgiving Jessica and family.
And the posting from her neighbor that came through at the same time made me smile…
QUAIL EGGS FOR SALE
My hens are laying more than I can eat! The cost is $3 for 9 eggs. The eggs are organic and local and they make a great addition to any dish… especially for Thanksgiving!

CitySquares in Boston and beyond says business is good with advertisers’ coupons being hot.
Citysearch rebuilt its site. “Elements of the revamp include a more intuitive interface, an embrace of social media, a major focus on video, some new twists in mobile, and the development of a full-fledged local ad and content network that offers an alternative to Google’s dominant position.” -Local Onliner
Service Magic is doing very well, despite the general economic conditions.  Co-founder Rodney Rice’s “6 Keys to Success in Local Services” via Andrew Shotland:

1. Build supply before demand
2. Choose the right vertical focus/right branding
3. Execute as a service business, not a dot com (too true)
4. Control customer acquisition costs - apply real business metrics
5. Utilize technologies that make sense now - not in 3, 5 or 10 years
6. Focus on yourself, not the competition (the best advice ever)

Angie’s List took in more VC money recently, bringing it’s total raised to about $66 million.  And Shotland reports Angie Hicks saying “The biggest competitor in the space is ‘your next door neighbor.’”  Interesting.  In this light, Angie’s List offers another way to buy your way out of something you just can’t find the time to do… get to know the neighbors and have conversations with them.  Front Porch Forum, on the other hand, is free and uses things like plumber recommendations among clearly identified nearby neighbors as a way to help connect neighbors and lead toward more vital communities.
And again from Shotland…
The thing I love the most about both Angie’s and Rodney’s talks is that they are both very much outside the local search/Silicon Valley community in some ways (well Angie did raise a bunch of $ from VCs and Rodney did sell out to IAC, but besides that), but they are both incredibly successful.

John Wonderlich at Sunlight Foundation quotes Steven Clift today…
When I was a child and my father had cancer, I remember neighbors coming to our assistance in our time of need. Today, with modern life keeping neighbors as strangers, we must use these new tools to break down barriers to community. You deserve the right to easily e-mail your immediate neighbors the morning after you’ve been burglarized without having to go door-to-door to collect e-mail addresses. We can balance safety and privacy with selective public disclosure of such personal contact information with an intelligent “unlisted to most” directory option that is not the all or nothing of today.
This is big “C” community and small “d” democracy. A collection of better-connected blocks, tied to broader neighborhood and community-wide online efforts will serve as the vibrant foundation we need for accountable and effective representative democracy right up to the Congress and president. You cannot force everyone to be neighborly, but the bonds of community can be restored and nurtured despite dual income families and the assault on time for community involvement.
Right on.  We’re honored that they both mention Front Porch Forum.  And thanks to The Pulse from the Knight Foundation for pointing me to this post.

Matt, on the LocalMouth blog, writes recently…
Personally, I think there’s great potential for simple online tools to bring local communities more closely together. It may be a struggle at the start to get together a critical mass of neighbours, and it may need a liberal dash of coaxing, but once you’ve got the ball rolling, people’s natural desire to communicate with others should take care of the rest. Good stuff will happen. ‘Good’ won’t always mean that people get along well or that arguments won’t take place. Far from it. When people are talking about stuff that matters, conversations are bound to get heated at times, and that’s where the delicate job of moderation comes in. But generally, I think, more communication between local people can be a very positive thing.
Right on!  He goes on to list several UK websites that each focus in a different way on their local community… and Front Porch Forum.
I look forward to checking out the local sites he mentions.  Thanks Matt!

I’m frequently approached by folks interested in Front Porch Forum for their neighborhood.  If they live in our pilot service area (Chittenden County, VT), they are welcome to join.  If not, then they can add their community to our waiting list.
But often people ask what steps they can take now and I offer some simple alternatives.  Well, I just found a succinct post that I’ll direct these inquiries to in the future from Matt on the UK LocalMouth blog.  He offers just enough detail to help the curious get started about a neighborhood…

1. Blog
2. Social network
3. Bulletin board
4. Group
5. Content management system

And Front Porch Forum would be yet another type of option, where available.