Happy Birthday!

PeoriaSpeaks!

One year ago, a new forum was established. It sounds dorky, I know. But see, there already was a local forum in Peoria; however, quite a few people found the tone and tenor of that one really nasty. That other forum, Peoria.com, is an online forum that is not at all affiliated with the City of Peoria or any other local Peoria outlet. In fact, the owner lives in Texas. He sells advertising on his website. It's a marketing endeavor for him.

As with any online forum/chatroom/mailing list, there are moderators...playground supervisors, if you will. Their job is to make sure everyone plays fair. Notice I didn't say plays NICE. After all, we ARE grown ups. Unfortunately, egos and personal agendas sorta took over at the other place and it became obvious that an alternative was needed.

Fortunately, an alternative was created. PeoriaSpeaks.com (PS) is a local internet forum truly representative of this area of Illinois. Anyone familiar with the local "Blog Scene" would recognize our members. Almost all of the regular contributors are local bloggers. PS members are actually FROM the greater Peoria, IL area. We aren't from Texas, Michigan or Pennsylvania; we live here, we have a personal stake in seeing our community represented in a positive light.

I know that there are some people who will read this and wonder what in the hell I'm blathering on about. And there are other people who will know exactly what's up. I know it's the internets. I know it's not really real, but the people I've met through PeoriaSpeaks have become part of my family. When we moved here and I was trying to assimilate to my new community, these people came through.

Last night we had a birthday party for PS. It was great to meet up with everyone. It's a shame that there are still individuals who would say nasty things about my friends at PeoriaSpeaks. It's not a competition. PeoriaSpeaks does not sell advertising. Our moderators don't advertise their businesses on the site. There have been times when our moderators have had to eliminate members in an effort to maintain the integrity of the forum.

If you read this and you live in the Peoria area, take a gander at PeoriaSpeaks.com. It truly is the heart and soul of Peoria, IL.