Forum for Monasterevin
Over the last few years there have been a few forums on the web which were dedicated to Monasterevin. Originally there was the Kildare County Council Forum for towns. This was very successful for a number of years until approximately 18 months ago when the council shut it down. Fortunately there was second forum that was also around at the time, linked loosely to the Jack and Jade website. This was brilliant for over a year and there was a significant number of people posting on this forum. That ran brilliantly until the person in charge unfortunately could no longer dedicate the time to keep it running.
There were as wide a range of topics being discussed as one could think of, the busiest threads being the local GAA clubs, with lots of friendly banter about the football and indeed the whole social aspect of the GAA scene. There were threads about Monasterevin in the old days, all the old shops and the caharacters of the town. There were topical discussions about crime, anti-social behaviour, amenties in the town or the lack of same. Information topics on where one could get a plumber, an electrican etc. There was an interesting topic on place name and their origin or meaning.
Generaly speaking people discussed or asked questions about almost anything imaginable that was to do with the town. It was a wonderful source of information and news. This was not unique to Monasteevin, there are town forums everywhere indeed there is still a Monasterevin forum of sorts. Because of the abrupt closure of the aformentioned forums, Monasterevin was kindly offered a place on another internet site associated with Celbridge. We are in currently co-habitating with our friends from the north of the county. Check it out at http://campbells.proboards52.com/index.cgi Lots of people who were on the original forums haven't transferred onto the new forum for various reasons ( I assume ) they don't know about the new forum, they don't like the idea of sharing or they just aren't interested in a forum anymore.
A properly organised forum dedicated to Monasterevin could be a wonderfully useful resource for the town. We have an ever increasing population, with people now living here from all over the country and the world. It would be usefull to have a central information point that people could go to, to find out what is happening in the town, a place people could ask questions about what is happening. It is probably safe to say that most people have access to the internet now, either from their homes, schools, public places like an internet cafe or the library. There are lots of interesting things going on in the town, but very few people know about them. This could be a place where people could let people know what is going on, look for support, tell people about upcoming events etc.
This could be done with a group of interested parties, there would be some technical expertise required initially in the setting up of the forum, you would need a small group of moderators (a person given special powers to enforce the rules on an Internet forum) but generally speaking it pretty much runs itself. The big thing is to infrom people about a new forum, let them know its there, the more people involved the better the forum.
Any way here goes, I am asking if anyone out there is interested in getting involved in this, they dont have to be technical above and beyond being able to use the internet. IF you are reading this and are not interested yourself in organising a forum, you might know of someone who might be, please let them know. Anyone who is interested could e-mail me at the following address, monasterevin@kildare.ie The mails will be forwared on to me and I will get in touch with anyone who may be interested. If there are other suggestions, please feel free to put them into the comment section below.