We already tried this with HarrisburgCares.com. We practically begged for comments on individual posts. We created a community forum for people to post freely and anonymously in. It had so many regular visitors that we had to start paying extra bandwidth fees the second month of operation, but people wouldn't participate. People weren't interested in the idea. We received many, many emails in support and offering up opinions and ideas, but nobody would do so publicly. Roughly 95% of the time people were afraid to voice their opinion(s) publicly for fear of repercussion, and I can't say that I blame them. We received threats of legal action for our opinion. We posted some true, verified information and received several emails threatening legal action if it wasn't removed. We left it up and the third-party apparently changed their minds, but the fear was always there. There is a small subset of power and bullying in Harrisburg that continues. People know it's there, don't like it, but won't do anything about it. Some type of community forum would be great, be it online or a physical location, but there are a few hurdles that that have to be overcome. We need more people like Todd Epp that aren't afraid to voice their opinions and/or can handle the "beating" that may come along with it.

brings up an obvious question: WHy did you choose to live in suburban sprawl, where there's no place you say you want to converse? Seems like you'd have chosen a different place live.

Also, you've got to do something about the comments part.. it's confusing, and not always clear whether comment inviation goes with this entry or the one above it