Hiya All,

I appreciate the feedback recieved over the last few weeks and I was excited about the results of the recent Press Release - Gulf Coast Web Portal Hopes to Aid in Post-Hurricane Community Information Sharing.   From what I'm told the Press Release was picked up around 50,000 times by media outlets and online news readers.  Unfortunately, the resulting membership increase was less than stellar but we will continue to push forward nontheless.  

This week & last, we've added a few more features from the old site including:

Community Sound Off Community Gas Locator NOAA Hurricane Tracking Feed Real-time Chat Next week we are working to add enhancements to forums and blogging so that topics from the forums and blogs can appear on other parts of the side (read: homepage) as well as information about becoming a local sponsor.

Also last week, we began to advertise via Google Adwords and are now showing Google Adsense advertising on select pages in hope to raise money that...

It’s funny how motivation can come from the most unlikely places.   In February of 2004 I remember experiencing a number of disheartening experiences with local businesses.   One was a case where practically my whole family got food poisoning from the same restaurant.    After recovering, we called the restaurant, not wanting free food but wanting them to be aware that a problem may exist so that they may take action.   I was greeted with a general indifference.   I believe the words spoken where “So, what do you want me to do about it?”   The problems continued, be it myself, my family or my friends, everywhere I looked people were being slighted in some way by contractors, doctors, their employers (my employer) and even church-affiliates.  Aware that these hassles are present in everyone’s lives, I recall sitting at dinner one day wishing that I could do something to give people a voice to share positive and negative experiences about local businesses.   Whether poor service at a restaurant or some retail associate...