Streetlife

Some of your answers look like they're covered at support.streetlife.com

x

Thanks Vanessa.
Where did you find this? I think I have navigated every page.

Are you the Vanessa I know ?

Philip

I just clicked the "Support" button which popped up at the bottom right of the screen!

Don't think I am - I live over towards Sevenoaks - was just browsing around to see if anyone else was talking in Kent yet!

x

Thank you very much Vanessa.

My Vanessa lives in Gravesend and this is the sort of site she would frequent.

Thanks again.

Philip

It is good to be aware that some of our messages have been printed in the Kent Messenger much to my surprise and a little concern, I was not aware this site could be used for publishing.  Fortunately the content in the message I wrote, which was published without my knowledge, was harmless.  Does anyone else have views on this?

I didn't know that, no, but everything on here is already "published", isn't it?  I mean, if a conversation on streetlife got to reach more local people because it was featured in a local paper, it's no more or less published than it already was to start with.

Is this covered in the terms & conditions (I didn't check when I joined - does anyone?!).

They seem to be trying to get lots of local people to join the site.  Sounds like a good thing to me.  I've been here for quite a long time waiting for some other people to talk to!

x

I am very surprised at this
 Comments taken out of context of the thread could easily be misconstrued.

I was not aware of this and will reconsider my participation in 'streetlife'.

Is the Kent Messenger owned by Archant then? I'll Google and find out.

I picked up a copy of the Gravesend Reporter today in it's new format.
The format is OK but the content seemed poor. Given all that goes on
around here I was surprised how little news there was. I appreciate it
is funded by advertising but it just was little more than that.

Sorry Philip, it may have been the Reporter and not the Kent Messenger.  I definitely read my message and somebody elses from our Streetlife blogging that was published in one of these newspapers.  I do receive the Reporter on line in my inbox as well as purchasing the Kent Messenger every week, I may have been a little confused as to which newspaper published.  Whichever, it was still a surprise to see my message in print without my knowledge.

I take your point Vanessa but Philip is right when he said comments could be taken out of context of the thread and misconstrued which is a concern.  As a follower of Streetlife I thought it was safe as one can choose who to communicate with and which blogs one found interesting;  by opening up to the whole locality, via a newspaper without knowledge, places one in a different position.

It's worth reading the streetlife blog (pale grey subjects below).
So streetlife have teamed up with Archant to promote themselves and spread the word.

I have looked at 'privacy' and 'terms' and of course we basically give away all our rights when agreeing to their terms and conditions.
I like what I read in their blog and will endeavour to contact streetlife to establish what they think about Archant (Gravesend Reporter) quoting from streetlife. Their response will decide if I continue with this format.
I'll let you know if I get a reply
Philip

Thanks for that info Philip, I am not sure what pale grey subjects you refer to as I cannot see any!!

Go to the very bottom of this page.
In a pale grey band you will see "Contact Terms Privacy Press Blog Share Badges" ......
Got it?

I have just written to 'streetlife' asking them to comment on Archant (Gravesend Reporter) quoting from streetlife.  I will advise their response.
Philip

Yes have got it now thanks Philip, have read the Contact Terms but could not find any section that referred to messages being used for publishing.  I await with interest any comments you receive from Archant.

As said my message that was published happened to be about the Olympics which was harmless but I was startled when I saw it in a newspaper without my knowledge.

I wrote to streetlife not Archant and yes I will advise when I hear something.

If they permit it then I shall probably discontinue my account

Philip

I got a credible reply from streetlife but regretfully I cannot copy and paste their reply.
It is a shame because it would allay most concerns.

I will respond and ask if there is a way to post their reply on here.

I understand better their business model and it  is a good one though I am sceptical of their motives beyond making money. I suppose there is little wrong with that in our capatilistic society but perhaps these guys have a " heart " ;  if not they will be quickly caught out , There is no doubt a lot in this for local communities which is something I favour. I like that power is recaptured by local people and many doing a little can be more powerful than a few doing a lot .

Any thoughts?

Philip

It is good you received a response Philip and it has allayed concerns, I am still mystified as to whether future messages we write may be used for publication elsewhere. 

Totally agree with utilising people power and for that thought alone Streetlife is an excellent venue to promote awareness.

Changing the subject, what a lovely day it is, sun is shining, we are doing so well in the Olympics and Gravesham Council are pleased with the local camp site set up to serve visitors, all we need is for Gravesend to be renamed Gravesend-by-sea and we would become a holiday resort bringing in good business, making us all millionaires as Del Boy would say.....

Greeting Joyia H,

If this works then here is the response I got from Matt, CEO of streetlife.

Yes it worked so read his response below. With this level of concern and listening these guys deserve to succeed. Mr. Cameron should take note!

As you say the weather is great and the Olympics are riveting. Look out for my friend, Charlotte who will be in the Closing Ceremony. Her role is to assist at Medal Ceremonies but you can identify her more easily as each team has to return their flags and she will be receiving the flag from the St Lucia Olympians.

Look out for the September issue of the Gravesend Reporter as I may have a piece in there hopefully kick starting a debate about Gravesend-on-Thames.

Philip.

Hi Philip,

Thank you for raising your concerns.

As you may know Archant (who publish many local newspapers including The Reporter) are working in partnership with streetlife to try to get neighbours talking all over the UK.

The initial challenge, of course, is to reach out to enough motivated, community-minded local people and introduce them to the site, so that the conversations can get going, and can hopefully begin to have a real positive effect in a community.

A key part of getting things moving is promotion of the site through local newspapers, hence there have been adverts, editorial features, competitions, and also the inclusion of carefully chosen real conversations. We think it's much more compelling for a local person to see that other real, local, people are having real, local, meaningful, conversations on streetlife than just to keep seeing adverts every week. Ultimately this is to the community's benefit - the conversations which are featured in the paper get a wider (but still local) audience so people have more chance of getting their message heard, or their question answered, and hopefully streetlife gets a greater number of community-minded members too.

All that said I absolutely take on board your point about comments being taken out of context - sadly as interesting as streetlife conversations are it isn't always realistic to include the whole thread. Of course The Reporter would never choose anything contentious, inflammatory, personally identifiable or misleading, and it goes without saying that we would *never* share any user's private details in this way.

I'll discuss this internally and see if we can find a better solution for everyone. It would be a terrible shame not to be able to give interesting streetlife conversations the best chance of reaching a local audience (especially today when there are still only around a hundred local people signed up in Gravesend), but equally I can see why you might have found this surprising, and would prefer to have been asked or informed about this.

I will keep this ticket open and be in touch again.

Best,

Matt

I am happy with that response Philip, what a nice person and a relief to learn that only non-contentious messages will be carefully chosen for publishing, to me that is acceptable.  Incidentally one of your messages was published this week!

Streetlife is certainly a promising concept to encourage community spirit that relieves the isolation many age groups experience these days.

I will look forward to reading your article on change of name, it should create a good debate.

Back to the Olympics, how do they train those beautiful horses in the Dressage events, the mind boggles.