Pacifica Riptide: TECHNOLOGY

July 06, 2011

April 25, 2011

Lucky Town

Few if any towns of Pacifica’s size have the great good fortune to read not only a community newspaper but also three websites where citizens can go online to find local content and post their own comments. As the longtime Pacifica Tribune columnist (12 years and counting), I took the plunge five years ago and started this site, mainly to celebrate the victory of the open-space forces (No on L) over Peebles Park, my pet name for developer Don Peebles’ housing “proposal” for Rockaway Quarry. Over time, Riptide has evolved into a broader domain, covering everything from politics and government to music, food, and sports. We even have cute critter photos, book reviews, and endless arguments over every issue in town.

One outgrowth of those arguments was a friendly disagreement, which ended in my challenging Steve Sinai to a blog duel. I basically suggested that he ought to have his own blog. Steve, being up to the task, and with help from Kathy Meeh and others, started Fix Pacifica. Steve and Kathy have had their own problems with controlling the trolls and herding the wild cats on their site, but now they have established a more-or-less smooth-running operation.

Finally, just this past year, along came AOL (now Huffington Post) with its Pacifica Patch, run by young recruit Camden Swita from Seattle. Camden has quickly sussed out the local political scene and is ambitiously expanding Patch’s coverage of education and other coastside beats.

Meanwhile, I continue to work closely with my friends at the Pacifica Tribune (Elaine Larsen, Jane Northrop, Victoria Monroe, and Jean Bartlett). We have a non-compete agreement of sorts. The Tribune publishes my weekly column to keep my print readers informed of the news and noise from the blogosphere. But I urge all Pacificans to buy or subscribe to their hometown newspaper (including its own website and Facebook page), because in this ruthless economy, the rule is harsh: Use it or lose it.

JOHN MAYBURY, EDITOR & PUBLISHER

Posted on April 25, 2011 at 09:35 AM in INNER EDITOR, TECHNOLOGY | Permalink | Comments (9)

April 24, 2011