When I first took over Glen Ellyn Patch in April, Matthew, the previous editor, told me about a "community board" where residents were free to discuss various topics about Glen Ellyn.
He told me it was an online space I should keep my eye on because residents felt it was a trusted place for discourse.
So it began, my daily visit to Glen-Ellyn.com. I quickly learned what mattered most, and I was impressed that so many of you used it to share information, including village officials.
I marveled at how Glen Ellyn had a piece of cyberspace, "geographic boundaries" on the Web where people could tune in to get a pulse on the town's happenings.
As the new kid in town, I wanted "in." I wanted to be in the know, so where's the first place I went? Glen-Ellyn.com's bulletin board, or the GEBB.
I checked in often enough that I became familiar with the "regulars" and what piqued their interest.
As time ticked down to the closing of the site, I became sad to see the era end.
It's not easy to gain the trust of an entire town, so for Ted to create and maintain a space for 15 years where individuals could discuss what mattered most to them is inspiring.
For a journalism geek like me it's pretty darn cool.
So cheers to Ted, Glen Ellyn's first online pioneer.
Am dissapointed that when I looked this morning, I found that over 1000 posts and a couple whole threads that were done by Ackerman were nowhere to be found. He brought a point of view that has been shared by many and it's a shame Ted deleted it all. Seems a little bit selective.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/178100.html