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Meeting Locals over the Internet? 58

Posted by Cliff from the meeting-people-while-avoiding-the-bar-scene dept.
tjjuggle asks: "Why is so hard to do local communication on the internet? Suppose I want to find a group of random people to play soccer with tomorrow. Given that I live in a town of 50,000+ people, many of whom are online, there should be a way. For major metropolitan regions, Craigslist.org fills this gap, but it is no use to those of us who live outside of the San Francisco Bay Area. Has anyone developed a service like Craigslist which can be used throughout the country? I imagine a site that, given a zipcode, it could then tell you which users are signed up who live within 10-20miles of you. Does anyone know of other local communication mechanisms?" Even now, one of the best ways for local communications remains Instant Messaging, but you usually have to meet the person, first. Are there other community-oriented websites out there that can assist users in meeting other users who live nearby?
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Meeting Locals over the Internet? More

Meeting Locals over the Internet?

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  • Great idea but (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 02, 2003 @07:32PM (#5866059)
    Great idea, but think of the ways it can be abused. What if some creep or stalker wants a list of all the people that live around him? That could easily be arranged. Or if a spammer wanted e-mail addresses or physical addresses, they could easily sign up for multiple accounts.

    I would have signed up for such a service, but after an atempted identity theft, I would probably think long and hard before participating in such a thing.

    And I think such services would be hard to create on a national level given potential legal issues involved. A honeypot of litigation! (people suck like that.)

  • meetup.com (Score:5, Informative)

    by topside420 ( 530370 ) <topside@top[ ]e.org ['sid' in gap]> on Friday May 02, 2003 @07:32PM (#5866067) Homepage
    Meetup.com [meetup.com] - Like with slashdot meetups at slashdot.meetup.com [meetup.com]

    I'm not sure if its exactly what you are looking for, but there are -tons- of topics, and I live in a relativly small city, and there are a few local meetups in the area of differant interests. It's a pretty cool service, and looks like it could grow into something quite cool.

    • I'm not sure if its exactly what you are looking for, but there are -tons- of topics, and I live in a relativly small city, and there are a few local meetups in the area of differant interests. It's a pretty cool service, and looks like it could grow into something quite cool.

      Also see Friendster [friendster.com]. Works great in cities like NYC or SF, probably less well in smaller cities. Whoever wrote it seems to think the UK is a lot smaller than it actually is, it's not smart enough to pick cities there, only the countr
    • Agreed. Meetup.com is a good thing, and I'm sure that once you get a meetup group going, you could exchange contact info so that you can meet at times other than those scheduled by meetup.com. (Because I think the poster was interested in a more impromptu gathering.)

  • Is this legal?!?! (Score:4, Funny)

    by ewhenn ( 647989 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @07:34PM (#5866087)
    ...Are there other community-oriented websites out there that can assist users in meeting other users who live nearby? ...

    This sounds like a town where everyone is addicted to drugs.
  • Simply start a page, then tell your friends, and they spread the word...its a matter of getting the word out.

    Keep people coming back for more information.
    Put up a local news section, something about local schools for parents, etc.

    Problems you might face: people not trusting you with an email address. Yea, but when it comes to word of mouth "yea, i trust this site" or "trust me, I know the guy that runs the site and hes really good about keeping stuff private"

    Well just ideas.
    have fun!
    -Grump

  • Open Office (Score:3, Interesting)

    by m0rph3us0 ( 549631 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @07:44PM (#5866162)
    I find open office helps me with these tasks. print poster, put poster in local common area, wait for phone calls / emails. even works for those with out computers.

  • Japan (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If you live in Japan we are starting one there kinda like craigslist. [jplist.com]

  • MeetUp does this (Score:1, Redundant)

    by NSObject ( 250170 )
    MeetUp does this. [meetup.com]

    You can search by zip code, topic, area, etc., add your own stuff, and it is apparently free.

  • Try Local2Me! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Krellan ( 107440 ) <krellan@NOspAm.krellan.com> on Friday May 02, 2003 @08:03PM (#5866266) Homepage Journal
    In the San Francisco Bay Area, a website received newspaper coverage, but its idea is applicable anywhere.

    http://www.local2me.com/ [local2me.com]

    Here's the newspaper article:

    http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/bus iness/columnists/david_plotnikoff/2759439.htm [siliconvalley.com]

    The website has a simple idea: one huge email list, filtered by location. People register their location (by ZIP code), and other optional information about themselves, when signing up. All email submissions go into a central database, then they are reflected only to those people who have chosen to receive them. It can also be filtered by age range and other categories, and multiple filters can be applied.

    For instance, I have chosen to receive emails from everybody 10 or fewer miles away from me, and emails from people in my age range 20 or fewer miles away.

    On the service, people swap recommendations all the time. The mailing list has helped me find a good veterinarian in the area!

    Because of the publicity generated by the media coverage, this service is most popular in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it does have support for nationwide ZIP codes.

    It could be better: I wish it had a browseable archive of postings that could be similarly filtered, instead of it being a simple email forwarder. That would make it easy to browse past answers to FAQ's. But, it is very good for what it does offer.
    • Thanks for the mention, Krellan. There's a lot more we could do with Local2Me [local2me.com] but it does have the feature you mention - log in to the web site and you can browse and search your personalized archives via web message boards.

      --Michael from Local2Me

  • meetup.com (Score:3, Informative)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) * on Friday May 02, 2003 @08:10PM (#5866292) Homepage Journal
    Well, I signed up for both the Linux meetup [meetup.com] and Slashdot meetup [meetup.com] in my area [mapquest.com].

    Since then, not one has gone off - not enough people can be bothered to even VOTE on a place to meet up - let alone show up.

    In a town of .5 million I'd think that there would be at least 5 (10 ppm) people who would want an excuse to go out into the Big Blue Room.

  • ... but this question was answered one way by Yahoo!'s most recent advertising campaign where they claim to be the service to 'meet people' with.

    Personally, I'm a big fan of IRC. There are several IRC search engines out there. Make use of one, type in the name of the largest city near you and *presto* people from the local area galore. In fact, that's how I met my wife.

  • Meetup (Score:1, Redundant)

    by digitect ( 217483 )
    How about MeetUp [meetup.com]?
  • why not do it blatantly right here on slashdot? here goes:

    looking for (18-21 year old) couple(s) to go salsa/tango/mambo dancing in the DFW area; beginners prefered, probably will take first set of dancing lessons at the end of may... looking for a learning experience. reply if interested.
  • Here is a challenge for some of you: If you visit any nursing home, the hallways are lined with lonely people. You see so many nursing home residents who would do anything for a little attention or human contact. There should be a linux-based videophone box that would be ultra-simple such that any nursing home resident (or other stay-at-home) could plug it into a cable modem, and instantly be connected to a real-time chat group of four or five randomly selected other people to whom one could talk -- and

  • BBS (Score:3, Insightful)

    by NickDngr ( 561211 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:05PM (#5866748) Journal
    This is one thing that the BBS excelled at but the Internet sucks at. A couple of the BBS I used to frequent had monthly get togethers at safe, public places. But then, that was the old days, when 9600bps was smoking fast and only people with deep pockets could afford anything faster than 2400bps.

    • Re:BBS (Score:2)

      by nbvb ( 32836 )
      Motion seconded.

      I miss the BBS's if for this alone.

      This, and BRE. Barren Realms Elite rocked. :)

      Some of the SysOp get-togethers we had were the best parties I've ever been to ..... damn, could we drink ;)

      ~NBVB
      1:2630/316

  • It has to be pointed out (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jnplmmr ( 637262 ) * on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:29PM (#5867099) Homepage
    That craigslist.org reports that it exists for a number of locales beyond simply the SF Bay Area. (atlanta, austin, boston, chicago, dallas, denver, detroit, houston, los angeles, miami, minneapolis, new york, philadelphia, phoenix, portland, sacramento, san diego, seattle, washDC, london, toronto, vancouverBC) Granted, some of these are rather less well-developed than craigslist.org nee SF.
  • /join #yourcityname... always worked for me back when i actually bothered to meet new people.

  • Try joining some online community about some strong interest of your. If it is big enough sooner or later you'll get a meeting, and sooner or later one around your zone. Of course you should get active in this community, and this is a slow method, but you might get even close friend with this method.

    Of course it also helps it you live in a nation smaller then the US, with a language different from the ones most spoken in the world, and you join a community in your language; I don't know how well it works

  • Do it the free way: Usenet.

    alt.culture.$STATENAME (where $STATENAME is spelled out, like alt.culture.oregon).

    $TLA.general (where $TLA is the largest airport in your area, ie pdx.general for Portland, aus.* is *NOT* Austin, TX but Australia).

  • up my street [upmystreet.com] has something called "conversations" which are basically forums based on your postcode (aka zipcode).

    However I'm not too sure how profitable it is..they're for sale [upmystreet.com]for money reasons...

  • IRC communities (Score:2, Insightful)

    by QX-Mat ( 460729 )
    A lot of people will give me stick for this, but nonetheless, I'm standing by, IRC.

    IRC *is* a great place to meet people with similar interests. If you're an extrovert, you'll simply love to meet people, and if you're an introvert, you'll need a helping hand but you'll find the variety of different people you'll [probably] never meet irl, on IRC.

    I met the last person i dated through a community site (I then met her best friend, but thats another story :), and we knew before we met that we had a lot in com

  • UpMyStreet Conversations (Score:3, Informative)

    by cowbutt ( 21077 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @08:42AM (#5868418) Journal
    Here [upmystreet.com]. Enter a UK postcode and you can join in coversations with people in your locality.

    Sadly, NTK report [ntk.net] that they're in receivership. :-(

    --

  • There is a way to meet people who live near you. It is called "The World." You should check it out!

  • Craiglist in 22 metro areas (Score:3, Informative)

    by jonesvery ( 121897 ) on Sunday May 04, 2003 @09:14AM (#5873955) Homepage Journal
    Craigslist.org fills this gap, but it is no use to those of us who live outside of the San Francisco Bay Area.

    It sounds like the poster knows, but since I'm a longtime user (in three different cities) and supporter of Craigslist, I want to make sure it's clear to others, as well...Craigslist is currently set up in 22 metro areas, and continues to add more:

    atlanta
    austin
    boston
    chicago
    dallas
    denver
    detroit
    houston
    los angeles
    miami
    minneapolis
    new york
    philadelphia
    phoenix
    portland
    sacramento
    san diego
    seattle
    wash, DC
    london
    toronto
    vancouver

  • is a cool site. everyone that you can see on there can be vouched for by someone within 6 degrees of you, local or not. not specifically what you asked for, but close.
  • There is a way to meet people who live near you. It is called "The World." You should check it out!

    What better way to assure you never leave the house than to meet local people online. Try going to a bar or club, or look for local organizations and activities that interest you. Stop by the library or the YMCA and see what classes or intramural sports they have. The internet is a great place for meeting people in general, but there's really no substitute for actual human contact...
  • Check it out: [rdfweb.org] If you could get everybody to enact it, what a great idea. Implementation, just a minor problem
  • It's called MagicCitizen.com. (And it won't be ready for another two weeks!!) The idea is to draw people with an event calendar driven by user submissions, provide a discussion board for them to talk on, and a friend list where users can add people, and it generates an Amazon-ish 'You might also like...' list, based on their friends' taste in friends.

    Unfortunately, the fact that the events are posted by anonymous users pretty much guarantees that many of them will be bogus, and the discussion boards... w

  • I've been involved in local community group building for a number of years now, and particularly on-line. Search through Yahoo! groups [yahoo.com] for your town's name, and see if there are any local mailing lists.

    Nothing relevant? Want to meet a bunch of people who are keen to get together randomly to play sports/games in your town of Tacoville? Start a list called "TacovilleSocialSport" and just wait a few weeks for the subscriptions to roll in. As you say, with a high enough population the odds do work for you. I

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