Based in Millinocket, the majority of our forum members thus far are from Millinocket, East Millinocket, and Medway, in Penobscot County, Maine, but we have a growing list of members from Piscataquis County as well, and we welcome the participation of those in other parts of the Katahdin region, including Stacyville, Sherman, Patten, Mount Chase, and other parts of the Katahdin region of Maine, which we loosely define as any town or community from which Mount Katahdin can be clearly seen.

However, there are no regional requirements for joining our forum. While the majority of us are from the Katahdin region of Maine, our membership reaches throughout the nation and world, but particularly to those who have roots in this part of it.

Our Backstory

The Katahdin Commons began as a service, and a section of the Magic City Morning Star, the Katahdin region's oldest newspaper, and its only online news outlet.

Then known as the Katahdin Area Community (BBS) Forum, we didn't enjoy a lot of public participation until just before the November 2004 elections, when the chairman of the Millinocket town council, who was fighting a recall effort while running for reelection, suspended all public comments during council meetings.

With the print media publishing only one side of the local issues, the Magic City Morning Star, and its associated forum, found itself in the position of being the only voice for the people of Millinocket.

That was when the forum took off, and we haven't looked back since.

At first, a large percentage of the discussions in the forum were related to controversial or volatile local issues, but over the years we've taken on a lot of new issues, the majority of which are non-controversial.

We have also added new members, many of whom are not from Millinocket, and quite a few who don't even live in the Katahdin area of Maine, although quite a few of these are expatriates now living elsewhere.

As of this writing, on April 29, 2007, we have 65,340 posts in 5,889 topics by 429 members, with inactive members periodically culled from the membership rolls.

Our Goals

To a large extent, the Katahdin Commons remains focused on the Millinocket, East Millinocket, and Medway part of the Katahdin region of Maine, and particularly on Millinocket itself.

We have picked up several new members from East Millinocket and Medway recently. We hope and expect to gain further appeal to people in those towns throughout the remainder of this year.

We also invite those from other parts of the Katahdin region to join us, including the towns of Stacyville, Sherman, Patten, Mount Chase, Brownville, Milo, Dover-Foxcroft, and others throughout the area of Mount Katahdin.

Some of our more active members are from the Dover-Foxcroft area, Milo, and Brownville area, and we'd welcome others from this part of the state to join us as well, including the Moosehead region, since we have much in common with these folks.

We have added several new staff members, including some who will be focusing on membership issues, goals, and reorganization strategies, so I am confident that you'll see many exciting new features coming to the Katahdin Commons in 2007.

While the local political discussions remain active, and are encouraged, we've balanced them out with several new, non-political discussion areas, other lighter topics, and even forum games, which have become very popular with our membership.

The future of the Katahdin Commons is in your hands. With your help, we can accomplish whatever you'd like us to accomplish. No more, no less.

Membership

Membership and participation in the Katahdin Commons forum is not restricted to those who live or have roots in the Katahdin region of Maine.

In order to encourage registration and participation, we sometimes close access to the forum to unreqistered guests, but we don't do this often and rarely for long periods of time.

We do restrict some areas of the forum to registered members, so registration will enhance your enjoyment of the forum.

Registration is painless. While a valid email address is required, most other personal information that you might be asked for are optional. You are not required to give us your name, address, age, sex or any other identifiable information.

As we do discuss some sensitive, and occasionally volatile issues, some of our members are concerned about anonymity, and we pledge to do our best to protect your privacy. As the forum administrator, I am the only person who has the ability to view your IP number or any other information that you have chosen to remain private, and I can identify only a small percentage of our members.

There are several levels of membership based on forum participation.

Unregistered guests can view only a portion of the forum, and cannot post or reply to messages.

Registered members will find that they are able to access additional parts of the forum, and to do things that they couldn't do before, based on the number of posts they have made in the forum, as they move up the ladder, from Newbie to Jr. Member, and then to Full Members, Senior Member, Veteran Member, and Forum Master. Additional membership levels may be added as time goes by.

As members become familiar with the forum, and our forum staff become better acquainted with members, some will be asked to join our forum staff, to serve in a variety of ways.

Most staff members can be identified by a series of stars below their member names in posts, or by the color of their name on the bottom of the screen.

One exception to this is our global moderators. Since our staff serve on a voluntary basis, it did not seem fair, or in the best interests of the forum, to ask our global moderators to refrain from participating in forum discussions. Yet when they participate, particularly in debate, questions of bias are often raised. So we have recently implemented a policy in which our global moderators are anonymous while performing in their official roles, leaving them free to log in under their personal member accounts for the purpose of participating in forum conversations.

While there are those outside of the forum who often focus on the heated discussions that sometimes take place here in the forum, these are rare and limited to specific areas of the forum, while most of the conversation that takes place here is rather docile, entertaining, educational, and uplifting.

Registration Agreement

You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, adult material, or otherwise in violation of any International or United States Federal law. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless you own the copyright or you have written consent from the owner of the copyrighted material. Spam, flooding, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are also forbidden on this forum.

Note that it is impossible for the staff or the owners of this forum to confirm the validity of posts. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the posted messages, and as such, are not responsible for the content contained within. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information presented. The posted messages express the views of the author, and not necessarily the views of this forum, its staff, its subsidiaries, or this forum's owner. Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify an administrator or moderator of this forum immediately. The staff and the owner of this forum reserve the right to remove objectionable content, within a reasonable time frame, if they determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, please realize that they may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy applies to member profile information as well.

You remain solely responsible for the content of your posted messages. Furthermore, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the owners of this forum, any related websites to this forum, its staff, and its subsidiaries. The owners of this forum also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or any other related information collected on this service) in the event of a formal complaint or legal action arising from any situation caused by your use of this forum.

You have the ability, as you register, to choose your username. We advise that you keep the name appropriate. With this user account you are about to register, you agree to never give your password out to another person except an administrator, for your protection and for validity reasons. You also agree to NEVER use another person's account for any reason. We also HIGHLY recommend you use a complex and unique password for your account, to prevent account theft.

After you register and login to this forum, you will be able to fill out a detailed profile. It is your responsibility to present clean and accurate information. Any information the forum owner or staff determines to be inaccurate or vulgar in nature will be removed, with or without prior notice. Appropriate sanctions may be applicable.

Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded, in the event that you need to be banned from this forum or your ISP contacted. This will only happen in the event of a major violation of this agreement.

Also note that the software places a cookie, a text file containing bits of information (such as your username and password), in your browser's cache. This is ONLY used to keep you logged in/out. The software does not collect or send any other form of information to your computer.