Within an hour of the second posting, a neighbor she had never met responded, saying he had found her two-wheeler about two and a half blocks down the street.

where to start If you're looking to start a Listserv or Web site in your community, here are some places to get help: YAHOO One of the most popular ways to set up a free Listserv. The process is simple, but be warned that you will have to deal with some advertisments. groups.yahoo.com RTPNET A local service that helps nonprofit groups such as neighborhood associations set up Web sites and other communications services. Annual dues are $60. http://www.rtpnet.org/ ATHOMENET This 5-year-old Atlanta company sets up intranets, which can include Listservs, for communities. It charges a $50 set-up fee plus monthly subscriptions that start at $35. http://www.athomenet.com/ CLICKSITE COMMUNITIES Another local service created to help communities get online. The company sets up a Web site for a neighborhood and services such as message boards and listservs. The monthly fee is $20. http://www.clicksitecommunities.com/ local communities Neighborhoods across the region rely on Listservs to share advice, gossip and opinions. Often, though, they have to rely on word of mouth or paper newsletters for publicity. Here are a few examples of local lists: * Chatham County: To join, send a message with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. * Durham's Duke Park neighborhood: groups.yahoo.com/group/dukepark * Durham's Trinity Park neighborhood: groups.yahoo.com/group/trinitypark * Cary's Somerset Neighborhood: groups.yahoo.com/group/somerset_cary * Raleigh's Avent West neighborhood: groups.yahoo.com/group/aventchat * Raleigh's Five Points neighborhood: groups.yahoo.com/group/fivepointscac * Raleigh's Glenwood/Brooklyn neighborhood: http://glenwoodbrooklyn.com/ Click on "Members."

While the Internet is known for its global reach, e-mail chatlists and Web sites are connecting communities across the Triangle, and not just to thwart crime. Like modern-day town squares, technology has created a forum for neighbors to trade gossip or advice, buy and sell stuff and sound off on local happenings -- all with just a few strokes on the computer keyboard.

It's a natural extension, says one Internet expert, of the Web's ability to bring people together.

"In the earliest days of the Internet, one of the things that turned people on was that you could go online and meet anyone" anywhere, said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project in Washington. It is "being used now more to cement them more solidly in their local communities."

With Listservs, people need only supply their e-mail addresses to get linked. Companies such as Yahoo provide tools to manage the list. The service is often free, although more complicated versions are available to give community leaders control over what information is supplied and who has access. Once e-mail is registered in the database, a resident can easily receive and send messages to other subscribers.

In Chatham County, residents can use the "Chatlist," which reaches 930 people across 700 square miles, to locate manure for fertilizing, find a free class on public speaking, recruit volunteers to build a playground and share thoughts on development. Some who read the list religiously say it's more valuable than local media.

"You're getting information passing back and forth that you otherwise might not have," said Gene. C. Galin, who works for BellSouth and has run the list for five years. "In the old days you would have the neighbors talking over the fence. In this case you have neighbors talking over ... the cyberspace fence."

Neighbors like Janet R. Kruemmel. After getting a new puppy recently, she found she needed a crate to house-train him.

"Initially, I went kind of online through the pet stores and they were very expensive," said Kruemmel, 34, a stay-at-home mother. "I thought, "Well, if I put it on the Chatlist I might find one used.' "

Three people offered free crates.

Rainie and others who study the Internet and society are heartened to hear about such episodes. For years, experts have worried people are becoming disengaged with their neighborhoods, succumbing to longer work hours and more hectic family schedules.

"There's a big concern in this country about lack of civic engagement," Rainie said. "There's a lot of hope that they can re-engage people in the civic life."

To be sure, people have connected with their neighbors using technology for more than a decade, dating to the first electronic bulletin boards and the Internet's first years as a commercial enterprise. Since few people were online, though, such efforts often were lost on all but the most tech-savvy in a community.

As people began using the Web at work and school, they became more comfortable with the medium. E-mail groups popped up covering a wide variety of topics, including hobbies and health problems. And communities began to see the benefits of such services to foster more camaraderie.

"This is a very old phenomenon that I think is now becoming more mainstream," said Andrew Cohill, past president of the Association for Community Networking in Blacksburg, Va. "It's just more efficient and effective to use e-mail and mailing lists to get news and information out."

It's difficult to say precisely how many neighborhoods have Listservs, he said, but it could top 100,000 nationwide.

And those that have e-mail lists sometimes have Web sites to create a single place to provide information about their communities. Locally, Cary Park and Meadowmont in Chapel Hill have gone a step further, creating private intranets for their residents.

Those seeking to visit the sites must have a password to access calendar listings, community classifieds, phone directories and business listings. The service is covered by a nominal fee tacked into homeowners' association dues.

Susan D. Sanders, director of marketing for AtHomeNet Inc., a 5-year-old Atlanta company that creates intranets for communities, has seen business balloon in the past two years. She estimates her company has provided service to communities representing 350,000 homes in the country.

"It's amazing, really," she said. "It's a pretty big little niche."

It's a technology trend that's also influencing government. As neighbors unite, they're able to present a stronger voice to local officials, effecting change.

"There's an interest in holding government more accountable, not as a protest but more as a constructive forum," said Steven L. Clift, leader of Minnesota E-Democracy, a nonpartisan group that seeks to increase citizen participation using technology. "That's the wildfire."

Locally, residents around Raleigh's Oberlin neighborhood used Listservs and Web sites to help block a development of shops, offices and condominiums near Cameron Village in 2001. Other communities turned to technology to influence the still-unresolved fight over Raleigh's restrictions on the number of unrelated roommates living in a home.

In the Oakwood neighborhood near downtown Raleigh, a Listserv started about three years ago as a community crime watch has been used to rally residents to talk with police about speeding in the neighborhood. In Five Points, another Raleigh community, Philip W. Poe uses an e-mail list to alert residents to public hearings.

"You're just trying to reach a larger audience," Poe said. "Even if people can't make that meeting, you encourage them to either write their city council or something like that. Everything is driven by public opinion."

Around the Triangle, other communities use their e-mail lists to make neighbors aware of upcoming road construction or compile lists of reliable carpenters and contractors.

Though e-mail and Web sites can help bridge communities, they can't take the place of face-to-face interaction, said Pew's Rainie. That's still the most important ingredient in building stronger relations.

"People who invest their hopes entirely in the Internet are going to be disappointed," Rainie said. "The technology is a tool, not a method."

Even tools that inform and motivate the masses have drawbacks. Some people complain that the Listservs become burdensome, filling their inboxes with unwanted chatter or gossip. They also can be difficult to manage as people swerve off topic or get into heated debates.

Galin says, for example, he must at times share his mother's sage advice with those on the Chatham Chatlist: "Play nice."

And sometimes, the lists provide too much information.

"Some people you find out a little more than you want to know," Kruemmel said. "It's kind of a good way to get a laugh because some people really go to town."

Staff writer Jonathan B. Cox can be reached at 836-4948 or

	tools
	printer friendly version		send this story to a friend		subscribe to our e-mail lists		get news, weather, movies on your PDA