My first experience on the forums of PennLive was just about two years ago- someone had emailed me a link to some smack-talking with yours truly on the receiving end.

Apparently, the four posters to the TV/Radio Forums didn’t like my radio skills. (or lack thereof)

PennLive, if you’re unfamiliar, is the online version of The Patriot News- Harrisburg’s daily pet-dropping catcher–er, newspaper barely topically scratching the surface…er, covering our local news.

Sure, The Patriot has it’s moments- I’m a big fan of Nancy Eschelman- and try to read her column as often as possible. Alexis Dow and Sara Bozich do a pretty good job covering the bland nightlife scene in The City-

But similar to a sandwich from a gas station, the Patriot News winds up leaving me unsatisfied and searching for the nearest bathroom.
Clumped in with the (mostly) poorly written blogs, seemingly endless high school sports updates, front page splashes about- get this- Bruce Willis complaining about being famous- is the link to the sparsely attended Message Forums.

Moderated by a guy named Milton somewhere in Jersey (of all places), the ‘Harrisburg’ forum has to be the hoi polloi of the bunch.

Each day, regular posters like Tattoo Jim, Jason Smith, Darnell Williams and yours truly pepper the pages with wit and wisdom that the Patriot can’t PAY their staff to write-

Want to get the real scoop on what’s happening in the ranks of City Council? Simply click on any of the perpetually limitless threads about the members, campaigns, cat-fights and even their drug and criminal histories-

ALL topics that would appear to be relevant and news worthy yet barely get a nod within the pages of the bird cage liner…er, newspaper.

My most frequent site visits during the day are to various Message Forums of interest to me- music industry news, bands, social sites and the like fill my browser history.

And while I’m no expert on message boards, I like to consider myself an aficionado, of sorts, of the do’s-don’ts and everything in between about message board etiquette.

Considering the VAST number of available message board applications out there (FREE ones, no less) it’s disheartening even more to have to wade through the clunky format of the PennLive forums.

Anonymity is a blessing and a curse for message forums- but on PennLive it almost seems INTENTIONAL. Perhaps to protect the identities of some of the spin-mongers of the Reed Admin? (most notably the antagonistic ‘hbgtruth’ and ‘devilsbride’)-

It’s not to say that the traffic on PennLive isn’t noticeable- I often see the forums in my referral history for this site- but does high traffic equal a quality site? Or is it more accurate that they’ve been the only stop in town to get news?

The bloggers are getting smarter, more sophisticated and certainly more credible each day-

And mainstream commercial media is dying- if not already dead in the water.

Are we nearing a tipping point where the public goes from getting its information from commercial newspapers and television to non-traditional sources?

I certainly hope so- but like everything else, Harrisburg is a few years behind on the trend-curve.

We NEED more independent bloggers in Harrisburg.

BlogHarrisburg is an RSS reader site that pulls feeds from sites like Anniken Davenport’s Harrisburg Happenings, Mike Zarcone’s Harrisburg Nightlife and Josh Karns Quality blog- all chock full of useful, accurate and hip information.

I find it funny, as well, how PennLive tries to coax anyone with a free hour or two into writing a blog on their site- “apply for your blog! and actually get traffic!” the ad screams- right next to a link to a PennLive blog from some middle aged lady who got divorced and is using the medium in lieu of seeing a therapist.
Ahem, um…hey, PennLive? Cut that shit out. Just because you’re the only commercial news source in town doesn’t mean you’re any GOOD.

It’s a mockery, in fact, when compared to newspapers like The New York Times or the Boston Herald. Hell, even the Lancaster Intelligencer seems to be better written and less biased.

But again, I digress…The PennLive forums are fun to read- and even more fun to poke fun at some of the delusional old-school ‘good ole boys’ who seem to think their fascist methods are going to do anything to discredit the people who actually care about the current goings on and the future of this city.

Is the Patriot News beholden to The Harrisburg Admin?

Or are they here to report, unbiased, about what’s happening within our city?

When was the last time we read an accurate crime report?

When was the last time John Luciew reported on the blatant back room misdoings of the current administration?

That’s what I thought.

Happy posting.
PS- I think it’s high time for Justina to depart from PennLive and get her own domain. She certainly gets my vote for “most improved” local blog this year.