Up Your Street?
A couple of months ago, I was having a chat with someone from Poptel - they do websites for local councillors, among other things - about how easy it was for people to be spammed regardless of distance - I seem to be a particular favourite of Argentinian spammers trying to sell English courses - but how difficult, relatively speaking, for people to organise locally on the Internet.

A solution appears to be at hand in the UK. Up My Street Conversations is now in beta. As Up My Street users will know, you type in your postcode, then get local information. With Conversations, users get access to forum conversations relating to their own area. A good way to organise locally, publicise local events, discuss local issues and so on. Up My Street is a popular site, so here's hoping Conversations takes off.