Keith N Hampton

As discussed in a recent article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution i-neighbors continues to grow and prosper with over 3,000 neighborhoods up and running in the United States and Canada. I was also excited by a report from Patti Waldmeir of the Financial Times who describes the pre and post election aftermath of a Bush-Kerry debate on her neighborhood email list (not i-neighbors). Interesting to note that political discussions – although usually local politics – often crop into neighborhood email lists. These discussions are usually accompanied by a debate about the appropriateness of talking about political issues with neighbors – can you think of anything more appropriate! The good news is that I have yet to see such a neighborhood email discussion turn into a flame war. In the end it general increases familiarity with local people, local issues and possibly even leads to a few new social ties. (Important note, I have seen things turn ugly on local bulletin boards and neighborhood lists that grow to big – my advice continues to be that neighborhood lists should only be about 300 homes.)