#community webpages

[purefilly-connection]

Navigating Community Involvement: Seeking Connection Without the Politics

What do you do to be involved in the community? In today’s fast-paced world, the concept of community can feel both comforting and complex. We’re drawn to the idea of knowing our neighbors, participating in local events, and being part of something larger than ourselves. However, the reality often involves navigating through layers of politics and dynamics that can sometimes overshadow the sense…

[dimsilver]

could my editor be bothered to stop introducing typos into my work

[colorisbyshe]

I’ve been trying to work with this local org that fights for affordable housing and against pollution in low income areas and like they VERY MUCH want help and asked for my specific help but they’ll ghost me for weeks on end and then send me an email at 6pm asking if I can meet at 9am the next day

And it’s like… I miss the email because I stopped waiting for the email so it’s two days later and I have to be the one apologizing for being late

[space-batzz]

WIP for my strawpage!!

this is mostly for formatting purposes. I might add some scrollable boxes or make the link buttons smaller to add more info, like maybe a byf or more sections

Current strawpage is here btw

[clown-avian]

Asks are open, please take shelter.

✨INTRO✨

Hi! My name is Taksu/Toby/Vash/ Silver :)

Im 18 and my birthday is July 2nd

Im an alterhuman/voidpunk and im interested in anime and videogames!

May also be known as different anons in some alterhuman/flag askblogs, such as:

🩻✨anon

If you wish to know more please visit my strawpage

The strawpage is being re-themed right now, you all may not be able to reach it during this time. Sorry!

⚠️DNI⚠️

Transphobes

Homophobes

TERFs

Anti-alterhuman

Proship/Comship

Pro-israel

[orchidvioletindigo]

Oh my God why does the Nexus Mods website not have a way to track your comments or when people reply to them? I've been leaving all sorts of questions on mods all over the site and not bookmarking any of them because I assumed that comment tracking would be an already implemented feature. What the fuck

[faebriel]

genius as a website is such a cool concept but then well. it's genius dot com

[thelonesgroup]

Creating Connections with Community Pages

As brokers and agents, we are all tied to our communities and there are so many great ways to get involved too. Some of you reading this today volunteer at shelters, support boys-and-girls clubs, are part of a Rotary Group or community lodge, or maybe you care for aging pets or are a member of a local activity group. These are all great things you can do in person that build your presence within the community and expand your sphere of contacts – and help you feel good too! But how do you illustrate connections to your community to people outside of it, like to someone who is relocating from another part of your state?

One of the things that websites (and social media) do for us is expand our presence and message further than they could ever reach without them – and today I want to focus on how you can demonstrate community connections in a way that isn’t just about you, but that gives your website visitor something of value too.

The Evolution of the Community Page

Since my company has been building real estate websites for nearly two decades, I have seen a lot of changes. Back in the early aughts (2003/2004) a community page was, at its best, a brief gazetteer. A paragraph or two, half-a-dozen photos maybe. Ambitious agents would include some market stats, but there wasn’t any automation to keep them current, so they quickly became dated and for many agents it was just too much to maintain data like that.

As time went on, pages got more interesting. Companies like TrendGraphix would create tools to let agents add self-updating market charts to their websites. Social media like Instagram would emerge and give agents a way to stream current photos from their account. A website with an MLS connection could even show current local listings. It was better, but there was a lot of room for improvement.

Today, thanks to the work of IDX companies, huge data brokering services like Atom Data and Home Junction, local review sites like Yelp, Google Maps, Great Schools, artificial intelligence, and more, community pages are easier than ever to create, maintain, and can provide impressive value to website visitors.

Local Maps

This is crucial. Many people don’t have a great sense of where a place is, so whether you are detailing a county or a local neighborhood, include a map. I love interactive maps that let me zoom-in-and-out. Extra points if that map can show me where local schools, parks, and shopping areas are. This is extremely useful for buyers who want to know where they will be able to make a quick grocery stop, to identify the school their children may attend, determine commuting times and so much more. When we build websites, we always include these features!

Market Information

No modern community page is complete without up-to-date market information. Buyers and sellers both appreciate this info. It helps you, the real estate agent, start the process of setting expectations even before you have met. It helps potential referring agents from out of the area identify potential neighborhoods (and you) as viable for their moving clients. Information about recent sales, average price, and home ownership rates are a great starting point. If you want to really provide something of value, offer the option of downloading a full market report. Our websites can generate these on demand, which is a great way to capture potential leads from your website, for a quick handout to mail, or to take to a listing presentation.

Community Description

Of course, every community page should have a description. These days, a short one is just fine since we are going to include a lot more visual info, but if you are talking about a small community then a little more detail can go a long way too. If you use AI to generate your community description, don’t forget to fact check it! We like to include some statistics in our community descriptions, but you have to be careful that they don’t go stale. To keep ours fresh, we use the same data sources that automatically update our market information.

Schools

For well over a decade, we have been able to include school information with websites and without undue effort. Great Schools has made this easy, whether you go-it-alone or have a professional build your website. It’s just as relevant as it has ever been and every great community page should have it.

Demographics

Buyers want to know if a community is the right fit for them. Sellers are curious how their community has changed. For you, the agent, having a reliable source of demographics makes for endless, easy content for sharing online, and adds something to your website that most other agents just don’t have at all.

Local Businesses

Beyond supporting local businesses, which can often use all the help they can get, showcasing local stores and services really integrates you into the community. Locals love seeing their favorite spots featured. Potential clients from further away can get a taste of what is available in your area and maybe even try something out on a visit. We connect our client’s real estate websites to Yelp’s services to showcase popular dining, bars and coffee shops, shopping centers, gyms and self-care, and pet care services.

Other Details

Slideshows or connecting an Instagram stream of local photos have huge visual value. Including a connection to your MLS where visitors can browse inventory is a must – yes, it’s not what brought them to your website, but they will stay longer and search engines love it too. It’s also important to have lots of opportunities for people to connect with you. Season your community page with these opportunities so that as your visitors look around it is easy for them to reach you with a question. If you are blogging about your area, include a section on your community page of recent blog posts. I would put blogs towards the bottom to give visitors something easy to move on to after they have engaged with your community info.

Closing Thoughts

If you have been reading through this and thinking, "I have no idea how I would even start to add some of these ideas," then stop thinking and take action by giving us a call, emailing us at solutions@thelonesgroup.com or by visiting us online and scheduling a free consult. For examples of actual community pages, try here, here, or here. Your community pages are a powerful, critical part of connecting with new clients online and illustrating your local connections and knowledge.

By Denise Lones CSP, M.I.R.M., CDEI - The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones, brings nearly three decades of experience in the real estate industry. With agent/broker coaching, expertise in branding, lead generation, strategic marketing, business analysis, new home project planning, product development, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things real estate. With a passion for improvement, Denise has helped thousands of real estate agents, brokers, and managers build their business to unprecedented levels of success, while helping them maintain balance and quality of life.

[parsleysagerosemarytimemachine]

So what I'd like to know is, who's organizing this? What have they previously accomplished? (Why are their bona fides not front-and-center?) Have they had success with this sort of tactic before, and if so, what can we expect from it in the long and short term?

Are we re-inventing the wheel, duplicating the work already being done elsewhere? (Is anyone else talking about an "anti-anti-DEI boycott"?) How does this work within a broader strategy?

How is this better than something else we could do? Why this person, this group, this action? (is this a good use of our time and focus?) Or are we feeding a need to "do something" without examining if this "something" will accomplish what we want?

USA people! Buy NOTHING Feb 28 2025. Not anything. 24 hours. No spending. Buy the day before or after but nothing. NOTHING. February 28 2025. Not gas. Not milk. Not something on a gaming app. Not a penny spent. (Only option in a crisis is local small mom and pop. Nothing. Else.) Promise me. Commit. 1 day. 1 day to scare the shit out of them that they don't get to follow the bullshit executive orders. They don't get to be cowards. If they do, it costs. It costs.

Then, if you can join me for Phase 2. March 7 2025 thtough March 14 2025? No Amazon. None. 1 week. No orders. Not a single item. Not one ebook. Nothing. 1 week. Just 1.

If you live outside the USA boycott US products on February 28 2025 and stand in solidarity with us and also join us for the week of no Amazon.

Are you with me?

Spread the word.

[furiouslovepolice]

"Share by email" - a sharing tool for WordPress

[heritageposts]

🇵🇸 From Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA):

This Ramadan make sure you’re not breaking your fast with the taste of apartheid. All you need to do is check the label to avoid buying dates from apartheid Israel. This includes dates labelled from Israel, the West Bank and the Jordan Valley or if the country of origin is not shown. Ramadan is a time of reflection and self-improvement. During this month we are more conscious of our actions and how they affect others. Israel is the world’s largest producer of Medjoul dates. Let's be conscious of not buying dates that support Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and apartheid regime. * Major UK supermarkets like ASDA, Tesco, Iceland and Waitrose all sell dates from apartheid Israel as well as local grocery stores * The UK is the second-biggest importer of Israeli dates in Europe 50% of Israeli dates are exported to Europe, where the UK, Netherlands, France, Spain and Italy import huge quantities of the dried fruit. In 2020 the UK imported over 3000 tonnes of dates from Israel, worth roughly 7.5 million pounds. There are two peaks of date consumption in Europe. One is during the month of Ramadan and the other is during New Year’s Eve and Christmas. Boycotting Israeli dates in Ramadan is a concerted community effort that can show we are not powerless. It would be brilliant to see all Israeli dates still left on shelves across the UK and Europe at the end of the blessed month. This would reflect our strength as a community to stand together with a very important message: We will not support the oppression of Palestinians and we will not be complicit in Israeli apartheid. So, this Ramadan #CheckTheLabel and boycott Israeli dates.

With Ramadan approaching, please consider sharing!

If you're in the UK, they also have leaflets available for order on their webpage. These tie into their upcoming campaign #CheckTheLabel, with a national day of action on the 16th of February.

Again, check their webpage for more info.

[absentlyabbie]

seriously, though. i work in higher education, and part of my job is students sending me transcripts. you'd think the ones who have the least idea how to actually do that would be the older ones, and while sure, they definitely struggle with it, i see it most with the younger students. the teens to early 20s crowd.

very, astonishingly often, they don't know how to work with .pdf documents. i get garbage phone screenshots, sometimes inserted into an excel or word file for who knows what reason, but most often it's just a raw .jpg or other image file.

they definitely either don't know how to use a scanner, don't have access to one, or don't even know where they might go for that (staples and other office supply stores sometimes still have these services, but public libraries always have your back, kids.) so when they have a paper transcript and need to send me a copy electronically, it's just terrible photos at bad angles full of thumbs and text-obscuring shadows.

mind bogglingly frequently, i get cell phone photos of computer screens. they don't know how to take a screenshot on a computer. they don't know the function of the Print Screen button on the keyboard. they don't know how to right click a web page, hit "print", and choose "save as PDF" to produce a full and unbroken capture of the entirety of a webpage.

sometimes they'll just copy the text of a transcript and paste it right into the message of an email. that's if they figure out the difference between the body text portion of the email and the subject line, because quite frankly they often don't.

these are people who in most cases have done at least some college work already, but they have absolutely no clue how to utilize the attachment function in an email, and for some reason they don't consider they could google very quickly for instructions or even videos.

i am not taking a shit on gen z/gen alpha here, i'm really not.

what i am is aghast that they've been so massively failed on so many levels. the education system assumed they were "native" to technology and needed to be taught nothing. their parents assumed the same, or assumed the schools would teach them, or don't know how themselves and are too intimidated to figure it out and teach their kids these skills at home.

they spend hours a day on instagram and tiktok and youtube and etc, so they surely know (this is ridiculous to assume!!!) how to draft a formal email and format the text and what part goes where and what all those damn little symbols means, right? SURELY they're already familiar with every file type under the sun and know how to make use of whatever's salient in a pinch, right???

THEY MUST CERTAINLY know, innately, as one knows how to inhale, how to type in business formatting and formal communication style, how to present themselves in a way that gets them taken seriously by formal institutions, how to appear and be competent in basic/standard digital skills. SURELY. Of course. RIGHT!!!!

it's MADDENING, it's insane, and it's frustrating from the receiving end, but even more frustrating knowing they're stumbling blind out there in the digital spaces of grown-up matters, being dismissed, being considered less intelligent, being talked down to, because every adult and system responsible for them just

ASSUMED they should "just know" or "just figure out" these important things no one ever bothered to teach them, or half the time even introduce the concepts of before asking them to do it, on the spot, with high educational or professional stakes.

kids shouldn't have to supplement their own education like this and get sneered and scoffed at if they don't.

[moniquill]

Here is a brief summary of what is happening in Wikipedia right now:

In the last few years (3-4 years) the WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America, which was originally created to improve the quality and coverage of native issues and native articles on wikipedia, has been hijacked by a small number of users with an extremist agenda. They have been working diligently over the last few years to change the definition of both what it means to be an Indigenous American and even what it means to be state and federally recognized.

The four or five key players (Mainly Editor Yuchitown, Bohemian Baltimore, ARoseWolf, (now retired editor CorbieVreccan, Netherzone and Oncamera) who are part of the “Native American Articles Improvement Project” started implementing these changes slowly, but they started pursuing their goals aggressively after November 2023, when state-recognized tribes retained their voting rights in NCAI. Essentially, after the movement to delegitimize state-recognized tribes failed officially, the key players doubled down on altering and controlling the flow of information about Native Americans through Wikipedia.

The talk page of Lily Gladstone’s article has a relevant discussion here. Initially, the leaders of the WikiProject removed any reference to her being a “Native American Actress” and instead had her as “Self-identifying as Blackfoot” and “Self-identifying as Nez Perce” because her blood quantum was too low to be enrolled in either tribe.

You can see some of the discussion here:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Lily_Gladstone

Eventually they relented and changed her category to being “Of Nez Perce Descent” but you can see in the discussion that they are referring to an article that these editors (Yuchitown, Bohemian Baltimore, and CorbieVreccan) themselves appeared to have mostly written and revised:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_identity_in_the_United_States

This statement is very much at odds with even the government’s description, as seen below;

The DOJ Office of Tribal Justice Office on their webpage “Frequently Asked Questions About Native American”, question “Who is an American Indian or Alaskan Native” states:

“As a general principle, an Indian is a person who is of some degree Indian blood and is recognized as an Indian by a Tribe and/or the United States. No single federal or tribal criterion establishes a person's identity as an Indian. Government agencies use differing criteria to determine eligibility for programs and services. Tribes also have varying eligibility criteria for membership.”

In addition, “List” pages have been created on Wikipedia for federally and state recognized tribes. The Wikipedia “List” page for state-recognized tribes is inaccurate in its interpretation of state recognition and not supported by expert reliable sources--(1) Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law 2012 edition, (2) NCSL.org current stand on state recognition (not the archived list from 2017 which NCSL no longer supports), (3) Koenig & Stein’s paper “Federalism and the State Recognition of Native American Tribes: a survey of state-recognized tribes and state recognition processes across the United States” (both 2008 & updated 2013 in book “ Recognition, sovereignty struggles, and indigenous rights in the United States: A sourcebook”)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-recognized_tribes_in_the_United_States

State-recognized tribes who have received recognition through less formal but acceptable means have been moved from the Wikipedia list page on state-recognized tribes to the Wikipedia list page of unrecognized or self-identifying organizations.

The Wiki page "List of organizations that self-identify as Native American tribes", in particular, is being used to purposely defame legitimate Native American individuals who are members of the tribes/Native communities that are on this list. 

By the parameters set up on Wikipedia, only the colonizer’s governments can acknowledge who is Native American through either federal recognition or state recognition. If an individual is not a member of a federally or state-recognized tribe, then it is determined that they cannot be Native American and are, instead, considered “self-identifying” or only “a descendant of ...” (example Lily Gladstone). As a result, Native individuals are currently being tagged as “self-identifying” and their names are put on “list” pages that strongly imply they are “pretend” Indians.

These editors have indicated that they would like “self-identification” to be the default setting for any people who they deem do not fit within the parameters that they themselves created within Wikipedia.

Moreof, these editors are admin and senior editors within the Wikiproject Indigenous Peoples of North America, and are being called in specifically to weigh on Native Identity, and any project involving any Indigenous Group.

Any attempt to correct misinformation, add information, or change any of these articles is often met with being blocked, reported for various offenses, or reported for having a Conflict of Interest, whether or not that is actually applicable. They have use this strategically in many different pages for many different individuals and groups within the scope of their Wikiprojects.

While changing things in Wikipedia does not change the truth, it is a way to control how most people take in information, and thus they hope to manipulate the narrative to better suit their goals.

This is quick and messy but:

Here is a link to the google document with the other state recognized tribes (Including yours) that were edited by these editors. This is an incomplete list so far that only goes back to September 2023 but I am going to add to it. If you can add to your own part of this list, and send your complaints and information to the arbitrator committee (the email is below) with the involved editors, this will help our case.

The  more tribes who complain, and the more Wikipedia editors complain, the better our case will be. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YNDEjLTrrZ_mMIRCVxtvt69FwCYpJWKs71lBhWa5a9M/edit?usp=sharing

The place to make complaints on Wikipedia is oversight-en-wpwikipedia.org , and

arbcom-enwikimedia.org . It is most helpful to have an editing account on Wikipedia, because Yuchitown and the others will try to defend themselves using Wikipedia methodology and make anyone who confronts them look like the aggressor (see the other tribes who tried to fight back on Wikipedia I found).

The more people and tribes make complaints the more likely it is that this will work and we can rid ourselves of these monsters.

Some of the tribes I have spoken to are taking legal action against these editors. Any groups affected by their policies should also reach out to the news to make knowledge of this more widespread.

Thank you

- quoted with permission from an email sent by an associate of my tribe. Message me for their email address if you'd like to reach out to them.

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #16

April 26-May 3 2024

President Biden announced $3 billion to help replace lead pipes in the drinking water system. Millions of Americans get their drinking water through lead pipes, which are toxic, no level of lead exposure is safe. This problem disproportionately affects people of color and low income communities. This first investment of a planned $15 billion will replace 1.7 million lead pipe lines. The Biden Administration plans to replace all lead pipes in the country by the end of the decade.

President Biden canceled the student debt of 317,000 former students of a fraudulent for-profit college system. The Art Institutes was a for-profit system of dozens of schools offering degrees in video-game design and other arts. After years of legal troubles around misleading students and falsifying data the last AI schools closed abruptly without warning in September last year. This adds to the $29 billion in debt for 1.7 borrowers who wee mislead and defrauded by their schools which the Biden Administration has done, and a total debt relief for 4.6 million borrowers so far under Biden.

President Biden expanded two California national monuments protecting thousands of acres of land. The two national monuments are the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, which are being expanded by 120,000 acres. The new protections cover lands of cultural and religious importance to a number of California based native communities. This expansion was first proposed by then Senator Kamala Harris in 2018 as part of a wide ranging plan to expand and protect public land in California. This expansion is part of the Administration's goals to protect, conserve, and restore at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

The Department of Transportation announced new rules that will require car manufacturers to install automatic braking systems in new cars. Starting in 2029 all new cars will be required to have systems to detect pedestrians and automatically apply the breaks in an emergency. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projects this new rule will save 360 lives every year and prevent at least 24,000 injuries annually.

The IRS announced plans to ramp up audits on the wealthiest Americans. The IRS plans on increasing its audit rate on taxpayers who make over $10 million a year. After decades of Republicans in Congress cutting IRS funding to protect wealthy tax cheats the Biden Administration passed $80 billion for tougher enforcement on the wealthy. The IRS has been able to collect just in one year $500 Million in undisputed but unpaid back taxes from wealthy households, and shows a rise of $31 billion from audits in the 2023 tax year. The IRS also announced its free direct file pilot program was a smashing success. The program allowed tax payers across 12 states to file directly for free with the IRS over the internet. The IRS announced that 140,000 tax payers were able to use it over their target of 100,000, they estimated it saved $5.6 million in tax prep fees, over 90% of users were happy with the webpage and reported it quicker and easier than companies like H&R Block. the IRS plans to bring direct file nationwide next year.

The Department of Interior announced plans for new off shore wind power. The two new sites, off the coast of Oregon and in the Gulf of Maine, would together generate 18 gigawatts of totally clean energy, enough to power 6 million homes.

The Biden Administration announced new rules to finally allow DACA recipients to be covered by Obamacare. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an Obama era policy that allows people brought to the United States as children without legal status to remain and to legally work. However for years DACA recipients have not been able to get health coverage through the Obamacare Health Care Marketplace. This rule change will bring health coverage to at least 100,000 uninsured people.

The Department of Health and Human Services finalized rules that require LGBTQ+ and Intersex minors in the foster care system be placed in supportive and affirming homes.

The Senate confirmed Georgia Alexakis to a life time federal judgeship in Illinois. This brings the total number of federal judges appointed by President Biden to 194. For the first time in history the majority of a President's nominees to the federal bench have not been white men.

[wilwheaton]

A webpage on the Portage County, Ohio Republican Party’s website advertising a $99 “training” taking place in the county in June has been taken down after local news outlets and a Democratic state senator caught wind of the upcoming event. The description of the training is unnerving: it is supposedly designed to help teach “communities to identify individuals and organizations hostile to liberty and creatively and lawfully flush them out,” according to a copy of the flyer that was published by WKYC, a local NBC affiliate. The event is called an “Into Action class” and, it appears, will be hosted by a something called an Allied Special Intelligence Group. The flyer on the local GOP website described the organization using some militia-coded language: a “unique organization of patriots who are military combat veterans with special operations experience, former law enforcement, elected officials and intelligence professionals.” “By the end of the course students will be organized with a clear operation plan to effectively accomplish specific missions in their communities to reduce the adversaries’ ability to operate, while beginning the process of re-establishing a Constitutional Republic form of government in your communities,” the flyer said. It’s unclear if the event has been canceled or if the Portage County Republican Party just chose to stop advertising it.

Something Strange Afoot In Portage County, Ohio | TPM – Talking Points Memo

This sure looks like a bunch of crazy militia bullshit.

[iron-sparrow]

what YOU can do to fight KOSA

KOSA, or the Kids Online Safety Act, is back after failing to pass last year. If history has taught us anything, blanket censorship poses a very real danger to marginalized peoples including the LGBTQ+ community. Because it's never about the kids.

The best time to fight was yesterday; the second best time to fight is right fucking now. So I've scrounged like a stressed-out raccoon in an unattended garbage bin to dig up a few resources you'll hopefully consider to be helpful.

🪶 Contacting your representative is probably the most obvious step. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has made this easy as shit with a webpage that will message your rep for you. The page provides a template you can use as-is or edit freely, and a short form asking for your name, address, and contact information.

Not that you can't also reach out directly, which I do encourage because the whole process is pretty routine. To find out who to contact, you can look up your House Rep on the official govt site.

🪶 Consider also signing other petitions and supporting organizations dedicated to fighting for a free and open internet.

In addition to the ACLU, I highly recommend Fight for the Future...

... and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

I've also seen the Stop KOSA petition floating around, if you'd like to throw your name into that hat as well.

Stay vigilant and keep fighting, internet enjoyers.