The Observation Deck

www.craigslist.com is HUGE in other areas for posting things for sale, barter, jobs, pets, etc. and has become quite big in the Cleveland area because it is free to post. I wonder if the LO could set up a section of the deck similar to that. There was a Lakewood woman looking for beds for her kids on Craig's List and I have one I would love to get rid of. The possibilities are endless for posting local jobs for free, giving away or requesting items someone needs, people who do pet rescue can post animals, etc.

I also wonder along the lines of the other discussion on "should we post all crime in the LO paper?" I don't think the paper should be filled with all crime, but I think a place on the deck where people can report crimes might be useful. For example, Goddess Blessed had a flasher come in one evening last week and he was not caught. If they posted a description, maybe others could be on the look out. Or when Suzanne tells us about the break-ins going on, on Arthur, many of us might want to know that to secure our doors more. I think it is important to know what crime is going on in our city so that we can better protect ourselves and kids. I don't think this would induce fear but we have a right to know what is going on I think.
What do you think JOB?

What this deck provides is vital for the community to communicate and instead of it becoming bickering, building it up to be the most useful tool in Lakewood. Serving the whole community and if a family is in need, they can post what they need right here and someone might have the exact item lying around there basement.....

Craigslist enjoys a “network effectâ€Â￾, also sometimes called a “winner take allâ€Â￾ effect. That occurs when a service becomes more valuable as more people use it, thereby encouraging ever-increasing numbers of adopters. Ebay also enjoys the same effect. So does myspace but teens can be fickle so myspace is losing its cachet and the kids are moving to facebook.

Putting a barter service on the Lakewood Observer web site is a losing proposition. Craigslist or Ebay, by virtue of the network effect, will get your item sold/traded a lot faster than any perfectly-run but Lakewood-only equivalent. Lakewood-only stuff, like a Lakewood resident forum (this one), picture gallery or crime blog, can enjoy network effects and I’m sure JOB knows this. Note that the "Lakewood General Discussion" has about three times the posts as all the other forums combined.

Tim,
I was going to comment on your post and half of it is missing today. Did you edit it out? I can't remember all of it, but you talked about other cities like Westlake, etc. opening Observers and so was wondering why a network between all the cities with a free forum like the deck for a smaller scale of craigslist couldn't work? I love Craigslist for anything local, animals, jobs, selling, buying, all with no fees and no shipping. I met two women in Lakewood who run animal rescues that most people don't know about. They have no funds, so a forum here to post animals up for adoption, or found, could be great. As for barter, there are homes that are in great need right here in Lakewood, and homes that have overstuffed garages and basements that would have no problem giving away something if they saw a direct request for it. JOB and I got an airconditioner through this deck for a lady dying of cancer in a home in the midst of summer heat with no air. That is what triggered the thought process. The analogy in Conversations with God says it all with comparing apple trees with rotting apples that no one picks, to starving children in the world. There is enough in the world provided, if we could find a way to distribute. That's all. I read about the family that came from Iraq. Many people would most likely feel intimidated to just knock on their door to see what they need, but something set up on the deck could provide a list and I bet one thing from a handful of homes could provide furnishings for them.

As for the crimes reported, people want to know and should know and instead of filling the hard copy paper with it, why not have a place on the deck? Maybe that would be counter-productive, but I think parents should know a kid was held up on his bike for an ipod. That did happen very recently.

the cleveland subdomain of craigslist covers a wide geographic area.

A Lakewood or far-westside specific free classifieds would provide some additional utility. Overhead could be kept down by sorting all postings into batch files and only updating the current list once or twice a week.