The Duke of Claire has put together a BuddyPress/WordPress installation to fill the void from the death of the PHPBB version of Locals. I have been curious as to how BuddyPress works and am interested in how extendable and adaptable it will be over time, so I joined up. Here are the instructions:
1. Go to sceneatlantic.com
2. Make an account
3. Post in the forums to your hearts content.
Oh man, a new username! What kind of internet persona shall I craft on this go around?
I joined both here and there just to hedge my bets. But I'll probably just trash-talk them both behind each other's backs and pester Covey to relaunch sloannet.
This one seems a little bit more 'innovative', the wordpress seems standard and also functional. It seems slow loading to me though, compared to this.
That is a path I would have suggested a couple years ago, even without any experience with BuddyPress. I am currently not interested in self-hosted options for things like this, unless there is a good reason (privacy, control over ads, specific design concerns) and there are the resources and support to keep it up (zero). If I learned anything from Locals, it would be how draining and thankless it can be.
It's 2012 and we're not trying to solve a uniquely Halifax problem with this. Using a more corporate service definitely has it's downsides but Twitter and Facebook are amazing local sources of information. That is the key for me. Sure, they are full of other shit (and generally full of shit), but still better than most home “local” sites.
Also, as a long time Locals reader, this appears to be out of tune with a major part of the ethos:
“And to help encourage people to check it out, I will make a draw for a free $25 Tim's gift card, and include all people who register and make a post on the new site between now and midnight of November 30 (1 week from now).”
Thanks for your feedback! Team Branch
