# Do you follow your local Patch? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175 "2013-05-12T21:59:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/1 "2013-05-12T21:59:28Z")
I’m not sure there’s too much overlap between Dopers and the usual community Patch reader, but I’m curious: do you read Patch a lot, a little, rarely or “what the hell’s Patch?” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/2 "2013-05-12T22:08:40Z")
From what I’ve seen, Patch and the other big aggregator sites are just instances of mainstream media trying to take over the Web, generally using old-fashioned content. I have nothing to do with them, on principle. Honestly, I’ve read a few Patch pages and never found anything remotely resembling interesting content. It’s like a Web version of one of those local shopper magazines which exist only to publish advertising … boredom personified. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/3 "2013-05-12T22:10:01Z")
“What the hell’s Patch?” ---
**Author:** ![AlaskanMatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@AlaskanMatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlaskanMatt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/4 "2013-05-12T22:10:40Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > “What the hell’s Patch?” Ditto ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/5 "2013-05-12T22:29:59Z")
> [@AlaskanMatt](#): > > Ditto Tritto ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/6 "2013-05-12T22:32:00Z")
Quattro. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/7 "2013-05-12T22:32:51Z")
Quintro. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Bisector](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Bisector](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Bisector)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/8 "2013-05-12T22:55:39Z")
[Zapp Brannigan] I got a sexy new way to be counted; I call it Sexto! [/Zapp Brannigan] ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/9 "2013-05-12T22:56:04Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Reason: I misspelled a made up word! How do you know? ---
**Author:** ![ASanders](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asanders/32/3367_2.png) [@ASanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASanders)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/10 "2013-05-12T23:04:03Z")
I actually do, because I live in Northern NJ and there doesn’t seem to be any other way to get truly local news. My own town doesn’t have one but the neighboring one does, and every so often I see a local item of actual interest that I might not have heard about otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/11 "2013-05-12T23:11:21Z")
There isn’t one here. I did look up the one in my home town area when Sandy hit; it was the only way to get information. It actually worked like a local newspaper – getting news and photos out – and the articles were typical for a small-town paper. I’m not sure why people calling it an aggregator, though. The one I saw only had original articles. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/12 "2013-05-12T23:12:10Z")
Septo. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/13 "2013-05-12T23:19:14Z")
Octo. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/14 "2013-05-12T23:21:44Z")
Novem. (Dangit, missed the window to post: Octopussy-O!) My neighborhood and the three closest other neighborhoods to mine have local bloggers who post stuff from the Aldermen’s offices, local precinct police blotters, chambers of commerce, etc. They also post and re-post stuff relevant to the neighborhoods from the newspapers and TV news. Is that something like Patch? Plus, there’s a neighborhood message board of sorts called Nextdoor. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/15 "2013-05-12T23:28:42Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > “What the hell’s Patch?” I’d rather smoke (and I hate cigarettes). ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/16 "2013-05-12T23:31:05Z")
Decadent. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/17 "2013-05-12T23:44:07Z")
Okay. Patch is a “local news” type site that’s both national and run by AOL, and hyperlocal. Many of them are poorly managed and run generic filler. Some are very active. We have no local newspaper here, meaning it’s a choice between the local big-city one (which largely ignores our town) or an extremely expensive regional that covers the smaller towns, but costs as much as the NYT (and has their online edition entirely behind a paywall, to boot). For small towns like this, Patch has been a good alternative. However, it has insoluble problems that I found (by looking at my former hometown one, which I’d never seen before moving) that the same loudmouth uber-righties tend to dominate the discussions. They recently changed format and made the commentary almost worthless, so people have stopped posting and when they do, whole blocks of exchanges are wont to just disappear. Wondered if anyone had any (different) experience, but as I said, there’s probably little overlap in the user bases. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/18 "2013-05-13T00:02:12Z")
I didn’t know what it was either. Also, AOL still exists? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/19 "2013-05-13T00:03:01Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > [QUOTE=Der Trihs] > > Reason: I misspelled a made up word! How do you know? [/QUOTE] Because I made it up! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175/20 "2013-05-13T00:14:38Z")
Well I checked out ones near me, and wasn’t impressed. There wasn’t one for Ann Arbor, and the nearby towns all had a lead article from a town 40-50 miles away. Even that lead story wasn’t well written. A lot of the sidebars seemed to be them begging for people to add content. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-follow-your-local-patch/658175.md?page=2)