Nick Lewis
Register Publisher
Sat, May 17 2008
—
People in increasing numbers are getting their news through the Internet. Because this is a growing trend, community forums and online polls are becoming a very popular way of free expression. A community forum allows users to comment about news of the day as well as discuss anything on their minds with other users anonymously, while online polls allow users to express their opinions about different questions of the day.
The results can be quite interesting as we are finding out as users express their views about “saving” Camp Catalpa and the Richmond City Commission race. Currently on our Web site, our online poll reflects one of the most controversial issues since the Sunday alcohol issue. Saving Camp Catalpa is consuming our community forums and our online poll.
There are four active discussions regarding this issue, while our online poll is getting very interesting. Just last week, the poll was lopsided and now we have seen a complete reversal. Last week, 84 percent were against it. Now, 55 percent are for it. We saw this same kind of turnaround in June 2005 when the city wanted to build hotel and convention center with a water park at Exit 90. That online poll got real whacky and this one is following suit. It’s very interesting to watch.
In the beginning, the supporters against the RV Park were driving it. Now, those in favor of it are now driving the results. Lakeview RV Park LLC, through its own Web site, is encouraging supporters of its cause to express their support by logging onto our Web site and participating in our online poll. They also sent out a global e-mail to encourage people to participate and these strategies are working. This issue will likely continue to be a high topic of interest until it’s finally resolved.
We love it because it’s driving traffic to our Web site. On March 31, the tide on the poll results started to turn and our traffic increased dramatically. Traffic that day increased 27 percent from our normal Monday traffic count, while March’s total activity increased 25 percent from last year. Camp Catalpa is a hot topic and people want to know what everyone is saying about it. We appreciate the visits.
Another hot topic of high interest is the upcoming Richmond City Commission race and it is being contested in a poll on kynews.org. Andy McDonald, who created this Web site and does some freelancing for us, is allowing users to vote for four of the 11 candidates for the city commission race and it’s received a lot of activity.
As this is written, more than 6,300 votes have been cast. That’s phenomenal because most polls don’t generate this much activity; however, it shows the level of interest people have in this year’s race which will get quite interesting as Election Day nears. This poll also has been very interesting to watch as the numbers fluctuate each day for each candidate. What’s interesting is the top six contenders cumulatively count for 86 percent of the total votes and only 254 votes separate them from top to bottom.
If the race was being decided by this poll, we would have at least one new city commissioner. However, we know that the citizens of Richmond will decide who will lead this city for the next two years and this poll just helps build interest.
Community forums and online polls are valuable not only because they provide anonymous free expression, but they help identify hot topics of community interests that need to be addressed. Thanks — and keep on participating.
Nick Lewis is publisher of the Richmond Register. He can be reached at nlewis@cnhi.com or 624-6682.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.