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A few years ago, some talk briefly circulated about local internet efforts, possibly run by public libraries. Local news coverage has really suffered these pas

A few years ago, some talk briefly circulated about local internet efforts, possibly run by public libraries. Local news coverage has really suffered these past several years. Wouldn't it be great to see relevant local news emerge again, written by humans for humans? That approach might be a good start. Use a cloud service that forbids AI bot scraping to protect copyright?

ayaros 1y ago
This doesn't seem to be structured differently than a standard-fare social media app. All the same issues with human verification on those apps would apply to this too. Unless you mean a platform only for vetted local journalists...
- righthand 1y ago
  Tie the account to the Library Card and then you can open it up to anyone.
ceejayoz 1y ago
> Wouldn't it be great to see relevant local news emerge again, written by humans for humans? That sounds a lot like Nextdoor. With all the horrors that come with it.
- ajmurmann 1y ago
  Does Nextdoor actually have the local news? The other day I kept hearing sirens outside for hours. I hoped to find on Nextdoor what was going on but I mostly got lost-cat posts and people trying to sell stuff like handyman services. This is how it goes most times I check on Nextdoor. Maybe it depends on the area.
  - nunez 1y ago
    It's not bad for hyper-local news in the absence of town newspapers (mostly gone) though this greatly depends on the communities that you subscribe to
- DaveZale 1y ago
  Nextdoor is terrible, agreed. No, we want real news! With some editorial oversight. Local reddits were good for a while, but the bots and human moderators make their own rules. It's not consistent. A nice place to start could be with old-school weather reports, where we can learn something again. It's all so superficial these days. Local events, local political issues with objectivity, history and future outlook, the list goes on and on. Maybe muzzle the negative talk with strict categories and guard rails to avoid another Nextdoor?

ayaros 1y ago

This doesn't seem to be structured differently than a standard-fare social media app. All the same issues with human verification on those apps would apply to this too. Unless you mean a platform only for vetted local journalists...

righthand 1y ago
Tie the account to the Library Card and then you can open it up to anyone.

ceejayoz 1y ago

> Wouldn't it be great to see relevant local news emerge again, written by humans for humans? That sounds a lot like Nextdoor. With all the horrors that come with it.

ajmurmann 1y ago
Does Nextdoor actually have the local news? The other day I kept hearing sirens outside for hours. I hoped to find on Nextdoor what was going on but I mostly got lost-cat posts and people trying to sell stuff like handyman services. This is how it goes most times I check on Nextdoor. Maybe it depends on the area.
- nunez 1y ago
  It's not bad for hyper-local news in the absence of town newspapers (mostly gone) though this greatly depends on the communities that you subscribe to
DaveZale 1y ago
Nextdoor is terrible, agreed. No, we want real news! With some editorial oversight. Local reddits were good for a while, but the bots and human moderators make their own rules. It's not consistent. A nice place to start could be with old-school weather reports, where we can learn something again. It's all so superficial these days. Local events, local political issues with objectivity, history and future outlook, the list goes on and on. Maybe muzzle the negative talk with strict categories and guard rails to avoid another Nextdoor?