Comment by phil21
2 days ago
I’m guessing I know the local newspaper/newsletter you speak about being in Chicago. I was a very early supporter of them when they started up, but canceled a couple years back when it was clear they care far less about reporting and more about pushing personal beliefs and vendettas. To the point of outright destroying local businesses over petty ideological driven things.
I still think they do good work here and there, but their editorial standard is such that when faced with evidence of a reporter ignoring facts their response was to double down much less post a retraction. A conversation with one reporter I had basically summarized to “we will report what we want to how we want to, it’s our organization and we don’t get paid enough to be objective”. Fair enough, I suppose.
At that point random people with a blog is better since at least there is not an aura of neutral fact-based journalism behind it.
Unfortunately I refuse to participate in the Facebook ecosystem so I can’t comment on if Facebook Groups is a suitable replacement for knowing the general happenings in my neighborhood and city. I’ve made an attempt to get more involved with local meetings and events the alderman holds, etc. but it seems far too little to keep up on anything in a major way.
> Unfortunately I refuse to participate in the Facebook ecosystem so I can’t comment on if Facebook Groups is a suitable replacement
I really resent having FB pushed on me. I don't have an account and don't plan to, even if it's to be a member of one FB group. My HOA tried that and I pushed back hard. There are many other options over FB. We just use email.
Our local newspaper is the Wednesday Journal. I don't know that I'd call it petty so much as a status-quo amplifier staffed with people who aren't really engaged with what's going on here.
I understand people's distaste with Meta, but at least where I live, if you're avoiding Meta, you're avoiding basically all the important civic discourse. I poasted my way to getting a law passed... on Facebook Groups.
Ah, I was talking about Blockclub Chicago.
I am on the fence with Meta. I recognize that I am missing out - and I rely on my wife far too much to keep me in the loop on things, but she has her own interests so I miss 90% of the stuff I would likely care about to be engaged with. Or I find out too late.
After 20 years of avoiding a Facebook account though, it's a large ask. I'd also love to use Marketplace to give away a bunch of stuff that is fairly esoteric (too unique for the scrappers to know what to do with) but not worth my time to sell on eBay.
Either way it's something I need to get around to doing. I went to my first neighborhood association meeting the other month to start to get my face known, and it was Community (the TV show) levels of insanity. The amount of anti-development people I never knew existed are crazy. Stuff like do not build a 5 story apartment building 2 blocks from an El stop (currently a strip mall) because it might ruin the view of the downtown skyline from a bike path bridge.