Mahon About Town Nantucket Blog

The Nantucket Independent becomes a free weekly newspaper beginning June 13. The paper will also be mailed to all island postal addresses, bringing the weekly circulation in high season to 14,000 copies, 11,000 in shoulder season, and 7000 in winter.

Yack is featured in a Boston Globe article today, entitled “Islanders all come to yack on Nantucket’s online forum. Subjects and views run the gamut on community’s site.” Some quotes:

“At Nantucket’s Town Meeting last month , Selectman Michael Kopko kept one eye on the crowd in the high school gymnasium and the other on the town forum’s online chat room. In the run-up to the annual rite of government, Town Meeting had come alive at YackOn.com, where members debated the Nantucket Sewer Act and the plight of a family threatened with losing its land to eminent domain. Through the interminable proceedings, Kopko monitored the snide chat room banter and answered questions that popped up on the screen.

“Ordinary people have become powerful influencers and creators as the Web has evolved . . . where popular opinion can catapult the lowliest blog posting into the spotlight . . . The effect is especially noticeable on the island of Nantucket, where the virtual community has helped shepherd lost pets back to their homes and compelled civic leaders to weigh in or answer questions.

“YackOn has even become party to official town business — when the Board of Selectmen recently voted to put a link to the forum on the town’s website.

“Nantucket’s forum — affectionately or dismissively referred to as “Yack” — has grown from a Yahoo group into a vibrant online bulletin board that attracts about 2,000 unique visitors each day.

“Before this, the only information was on the two local TV channels and the two local newspapers or just talking to your neighbor or someone at work,” she said. “This gives you access to all walks of life — access to people on-island, off-island, people who have just reams of talent and information and knowledge, and they’re accessible to everyone.”

“Patricia Roggeveen , who was elected to the Board of Selectmen without being involved with the forum, refuses to read or post on the forum. “I don’t believe it’s something that is benign at all,” she said. “It’s just like whispering across the backyard fence, but it resonates out over the Internet.”

Read the full article here.