This site is something of an experiment at this stage. Its future development and content really depends on how much interest it gets.
The idea is to provide an interactive community website for anyone living or working in Earley, or perhaps just visiting. There will be some static information pages, but the real core should be user submitted content. So in a way it is a kind of simple social networking site
The most important section is probably the forum. This is easy and quick to use – suited to all kinds of subjects and discussions.
In addition registered users can create their own blog page – a good place to express your thoughts.
Your personal blog is created automatically the first time you use “Write a Post” in the right sidebar. It will then appear in the “Blogs” index page. The blogging software used is Wordpress, which is reputed to be the world’s most popular so some people may already be familar with it. In fact, Wordpress is used for all pages on this site. The forum pages are special because they are driven by phpBB, another well known piece of software. This also provides a single site membership login, which includes both the forum and the blog access.
Membership registration is free and there is absolutely no intention to make any charge for use of the site. There are significant costs in running it, both direct hosting fees and in support time. To pay for this I am planning to include a certain amount of paid advertising. Local businesses and services will be given priority and special encouragement.
If you feel that the site is providing a useful function, then please consider making a donation using the PayPal button. Just a very small donation is valuable – think of it as similar to the “buy me a beer” buttons used on some sites, but any funds will most likely go straight towards paying costs.
