Seeking Local USA Discussion Forums

[E-Male]

Greetings,

I am trying to identify a variety of discussion forms more or less specific to American cities. These are often seen as part of a local online paper or local online city guide. I am looking for diverse groups of Americans discussing general political, social and religious topics. I know there are thousands of these out there, but Google is delivering a bit of a hay stack to me. City-specific sites are of most interest to me, as that tends to weed out non-American voices. The very broad Yahoo and Google type of forums are not part of my study at this time.

Here are examples of what I seek:

http://archive.capecodonline.com/cgi...?ubb=forum;f=2

http://talk.rgj.com/viewtopic.php?t=...r=asc&start=45

ANY online arenas where Americans are having a political conversation primarily among other Americans will be helpful. I need a wide sample to draw upon.

As soon as I posted this I stumbled across one master index:

http://www.hometownforums.com/cgi-bi...i?action=intro
Yet this is limited to one group of forums that have very low levels of activity (this is just a master index to one company's forums -- in the business of selling local community discussion sites and 'marketing' towns online, I suppose).

Nonetheless, if you participate in a local American discussion forum I would like to know about it.

Thank you,

[tHa_KhAn]

http://forums.gainesville.com/groupee

There are always interesting discussions in this local forum.

[Grunt 70]

how about something like Craigs list....ostensibly built for selling and trading but prompting various and interesting connections never intended. No idea if this will help you but I know there is a separate craigs list for different cities.

[sc1ence]

http://www.schenectadyny.info/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?

I dont contribute much, but lurk there for the info and inside info on city politics. its pretty lively.

[ednos]

Most of the politics in the towns around me are discussed in regular town meetings.

[Apophis]

One potentially good resource for you on this project would be USENET.

If your ISP doesn't provide raw NNTP access you can always participate through Google Groups. On a political level, I have only really participated in the local Rhode Island group (alt.rhode_island).

[Rincewind]

Originally Posted by Apophis

One potentially good resource for you on this project would be USENET.

If your ISP doesn't provide raw NNTP access you can always participate through Google Groups. On a political level, I have only really participated in the local Rhode Island group (alt.rhode_island).

Not only that, but usenet archives could offer you a RICH tapestry of threads to look at. All the way back before www. You know. For historical context so to speak.

[E-Male]

Originally Posted by Grunt 70

how about something like Craigs list....ostensibly built for selling and trading but prompting various and interesting connections never intended. No idea if this will help you but I know there is a separate craigs list for different cities.

Thanks -- interesting thing -- many of the comments made to CL are just a few words each --- like chatrooms.

No, I will not be looking at Criaglist conversations. Same goes with Usenet. Not for this study.

Keep the ideas and sources coming -- all helpful (and thanks)!

[E-Male]

Originally Posted by sc1ence

http://www.schenectadyny.info/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?

I dont contribute much, but lurk there for the info and inside info on city politics. its pretty lively.

Useful -- exactly what I am looking for -- DITTO for Gainsville -- thank you.

Here in the context of a local tax or coding issue (city council sort of thing) we see someone compelled to qualify their opinion on the matter with the following:

"(Side note: I do not hate the president. I do not oppose democracy. I am not anti-American. I am not a member of al Qaida. I do not support terrorists. I do not adore Saddam Hussein. I am not an Islamofacist. Instead, I am merely pointing out some flaws in the persistent line of reasoning that private enterprise always outpaces the public sector. Social Security seemed to work just fine until, of course, Al Greenspan got the idea about 15-20 years ago that the best way to finance the Reagan tax cuts was to raid the Social Security cookie jar with that lock box theory probably crafted by the same chap who connected Iraq to mushroom clouds and Rotterdam's reassessment to mandatory tax increases for all residents.)"

In the middle of a debate over the "need for infrastructure improvements in Rotterdam" we find a defense against anti-American accusations. This is precisely the sort of unexpected, culturally rich material I am trying to unearth in a 'de tocqueville' style exploration of America's online political culture.

[tau_neutrino]

You may want to the try city-data forums: http://www.city-data.com/forum/

[CingularDuality]

Many newspapers allow for comments to be made on each story. It's not a traditional web forum, but you'll often find interesting discussion being had on a particular topic. Unfortunately, I think you'll often find lots of very short comments as well.

I'm just curious, why are you excluding USENET? I'd also say that's your best bet for the kind of discussion you're looking for.