issue:
Author
James Barrett
Moved to Chapel Hill when I was 7 years old, graduated from CHHS, returned after a couple of years in Atlanta, built a house my wife and I plan to die in.
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Commentaries on new site
Many (most?) of these are people we hear from a lot already, but this is an interesting collection point for their columns and we'll see how much they can keep it up -- http://www.chapelboro.com/pages/9470391.php
Well...
I have to admit, that I don't totally get the point of the site from a user's perspective (ie: me). It really plays up the idea of being "social" but I don't really want to hang out there. Looks like the software that runs it is a marketing tool (Vortal) from a Connecticut-based company (InterTech Media). What a missed opportunity to buy local from one of the many new media companies in Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
As James said, most of the Chapelboro bloggers are already folks you hear a lot from, especially on WCHL, but at least it provides an easy way to access what they're saying. I'm trying to subscribe to their RSS feed now, but I'm only getting the authors' bios instead of posts. I think I need to subscribe to each author individually. Oy.
As I've said other new local bloggers: Welcome to the fray! I may sounds critical, but I do mean that. More well-informed voices is a good thing, an it's no crime for WCHL to try to make money so they can sustain their business. In fact, might be a nice addition to get some of WCHL's reporters to blog - some of them have great insights into local issues.
Chapelboro.com = 1360WCHL.com
Maybe I'm slow on the uptake, but I just now realized that Chapelboro is not in addition to, but a replacement for WCHL's web site. In that context it is a huge improvement, and I'd like to give kudos to Molly Buckley and Barry Leffler on the innovation.
Hmmm...
Is "Chapelboro" part of a re-branding strategy?
In this context, I jsut take
In this context, I jsut take it as a pun, of a sort - good natured.And I have to say I really like the site. It's definitely a huge upgrade from WCHL's former website and an interesting resource. Time will tell how useful a community resource it will be, but so far it looks promising to me.BTW, I asked Barry Leffler about the out of town web company - he says they priced the local web design firms and got a far, far cheaper quote from the CT firm, so it seems like a reasonable decision.
Although I find the name
Although I find the name "Chapelboro" to be ugly from an aesthics standpoint, I like to see it used because it acknowledges that the Chapel Hill / Carrboro area is in many respects one town and would be one town today if not for a combination of historical accident that made it two towns long ago and the fact that political entitles never give up political power voluntarily.
I've already told
I've already told Kleinschmidt that we are prepared to merge whenever he likes - all he has to do is drop off the keys to Chapel Hill Town Hall at my office.
Thankfully
Thankfully Carrboro and Chapel Hill won't give up power to each other. They are both very unique towns with distinct environments. Their citizens deserve to have different Towns that evolve somewhat separately. Suggesting that they be one and the same is like saying Minneapolis merge with St. Paul. Never going to happen. Thankfully.
The beneficiaries of
The beneficiaries of historical accidents usually are thankful for them. Everybody else, not so much.
The "Chapelboro" tag
I first heard that in the sophomoric, mocking columns that Brian Voyce used to write, so I'm trying to get over the use of the tag.
Oh gawd...
If Brian Voyce coined the tag, that explains why it bothers me.
Chapelburro
is what I used to hear, especially from Brayin' Voice.
Disappointed
Personally, I find it totally inappropriate to be calling someone/anyone names on this forum. I'm disappointed that the new group management structure is allowing it to happen.
Re: Disappointed
As we have noted previously, comments posted by registered users generally are not moderated. Although we are not fond of name calling, we also feel we should set a fairly high bar as to what constitutes a violation of the Community Guidelines. We are not interested in playing the role of politeness police, and setting the bar too low will achieve little more than to set us up for allegations of "censorship."Therefore, instead of reprimanding users or deleting comments, we will take this opportunity to remind folks of the Community Guidelines. We encourage all users to help us "foster a healthy environment for discussion, debate, and advocacy." Name calling isn't okay, but expecting the editors to step in every time someone writes something that someone else finds objectionable probably isn't okay either.
Better than Car Hill
I guess.Although ChapelBureau might be slightly more clever, if harder to spell.
Chapelboro name
At first I really disliked the name Chapelboro. I just see it as another way to put Carrboro last. But I feel better when I remember that Carrboro has the best newspaper in both Towns. If not the State.