Thank You!

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has visited NewsOverCoffee, read the articles, told a friend, posted a comment, and shared their thoughts about the site with me.

In the spring when I first started telling people about the site I had roughly 250 different visitors and 53% of them visited the site only once. During August I had 1,209 different visitors and 31% of them visited the site only once, while 47% came back more than 7 times in 31 days.

This tells me the audience is not only growing, but that the content has been worthwhile. I've also been fortunate to have some readers provide me with feedback (please take a moment to answer a short survey about the site so I can deliver even better content in the future. The survey is located here and is comprised of six questions).

Some of the feed back I've received on the surveys:

A persons home town is similar to an "ELEPHANTS GRAVEYARD" only instead of returning to it just once I can go there every now and then as a result of your NEWS OVER COFFEE. Reading about places and people whose father I probably knew stirs up a lot of memories. In addition to this I hope the townfolk appreciate what you are doing. Thanks again for providing this service.


This is going to be an exciting web site and where else can I get the latest information on what is happening in our community?

My goal is to make this site: A place where Nazareth news and goings-on are posted for everyone to see and comment on. In short, it is where Colonial Hospitality meets information technology to ensure a better and stronger community.

To that end I was talking to my father last night about the site, what I'm trying to do, and how it has been received and perceived. There are clearly differences in perspective between the two of us, based on both experience and world-view. His one "concern" for lack of a better word, was that people who are particularly passionate about a specific topic, and whose opinion is set, will view anything written that is not the same as their own, as being against it - and will say "that NewsOverCoffee doesn't know what its talking about, he's a muckraker, he's bashing x, or y, or z, he's nasty, mean etc." And over time as you cover more and more topics, and have more and more people make this type of comment, true or not, it will begin to take hold.

Conversely, if you avoid every subjects that a person could be passionate about, you are left with no content.

So what do you do? I believe the answer is in the presentation. Is it always clear what is being "reported" and what is "commentary." Probably not, but mostly so. Do I, like the readers, and individuals I report on at meetings, have subjects and issues they are particularly passionate about? Absolutely. Do I get caught up just like everyone else at times? Sure I do. So if I don't catch myself, call me on it. Force me to take that step back, catch my breath, and get back on track.

At the same time, I hope readers will contribute information from meetings and events they attend. Tell us about the PTA meeting, its upcoming fundraiser, the new Principal at the school. Be fair and honest and if you disagree be fair and honest. Most of all be cordial and if possible offer constructive criticism or suggestions for improvement.

The more members of the community that participate and engage the more valuable this site will become. You don't have to be a reporter. I don't charge anyone to post material about their group or activity. I'd love to have more pictures on the site. If anyone would like to write about the town, their memories of it, send them along. I always find these pieces to be enjoyable and valuable to help people remember how we've gotten to where we are today.

Again, thank you for your support of this site and keep on sippin' NewsOverCoffee!