RIVER BENDER - March,  2003

The Town of River Bend is indeed different from most towns. I searched the Internet but was unable to find a town with a similar e-mail broadcast system where residents could send messages to all residents. River Bend's e-mail system, known as RBmail, is now in its 6th year of operation and has over 300 households listed. This is approaching 25% of River Bend's households so there's lots of growth potential ahead.

Al Kish and myself administer RBmail that is hosted at no charge by Carolina Connections Internet Service Provider. Over the years we've seen it used by residents for many purposes including asking for advice, selling items or announcing events. Town officials use it for public announcements.

It is a constant chore to keep e-mail addresses updated. If one's address changes they're no longer able to address the list or receive mail and an error message appears from Carolina Connections. The problem becomes one of contacting the resident by phone to get their new e-mail address. As you know this has become a difficult task nowadays especially if they're connected to the Internet. Sometimes there's no alternative but to remove them from RBmail.

Administering RBmail places Al and myself in the spotlight for receiving many messages and phone calls from residents seeking help with their PCs. Over the years as RBmail grew it became impossible to make house calls so I referred many residents to commercial PC repair companies or to a couple folks in River Bend that would occasionally make house calls and maybe charge a small fee. I felt sorry for the folks that called whom I couldn't assist and for a long time I dreamed of someday having a cadre of PC-savvy residents in River Bend that would be willing to visit residents and help them with troubleshooting or tutoring.

Finally I got the idea of creating a sample web page for PC Help in River Bend. The page had a chart filled with ficticious names and various criteria regarding their help. For example, some might help only by e-mail, some at certain hours or with certain software and some would make house calls for free or a fee. The fee, if charged for a housecall would be not greater than about half the rate charged by professional consultants.

Next I sent a message to RBmail announcing the sample PC Help web page and made a plea for residents to be listed. Then came the surprise. I expected little response but guessed wrong. I started receiving messages from folks willing to be listed and began revising the sample PC Help web page with real names and the nature of their help. I should have known that River Bend residents would be great volunteers.

It has been almost a month now since River Bend's PC Help web page at http:/www.ci.river-bend.nc.us/pchelp.htm was announced. Is it working? Over 300 people have visited the web site. This made me wonder if the folks listed were swamped with calls and might soon be asking to be removed so I sent out a query. Seven of the nine people listed responded with a total of five calls for help. So the list is working and so far not overloaded. My hopes are that more folks may join in to make it become one of the many benefits that make River Bend a fine place to live.

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