It typically starts out small. A user will log on to the Herndon Web community message boards and paste a link to a local community news article.
But when the story concerns an issue such as illegal immigration, the location of a new local fire station or any number of other public policy issues, the "Herndon Politics" message board comes alive in a flurry of activity. Multiple postings from users with names ranging from "No2Daylabor" to "TheShadow" are made sometimes as often as every few minutes, as its users make statements of their opinions — often bold and inflammatory — about the most controversial political issues in the town.
"We have a large number of illegal aliens in Herndon because past mayors and council failed to step up to the plate and address the effects of a growing illegal alien community," one recent post from "No2Daylabor" read.
What followed was a flurry of discussion about the technical aspects of receiving a mortgage as a person living in the United States without legal status. Ranging from the ethics of an illegal immigrant receiving a tax identification number to the ability to recognize the difference between legal and illegal Hispanic residents, more than half a dozen users shot back and forth, arguing about the access of mortgages for the undocumented.
"What am I going to do, hold them down and tell them to be good little boys and girls?" said Herndon Web "moderator" and administrator Bob Bruhns, of the site’s often controversial nature, stemming mostly from opinionated accusations made by its users. "If it gets too personal, I’ll step in, but it really gets to be a judgment call … I try and keep it down to a dull roar."
STARTED BY a group of local technology experts and community leaders as a pioneering experiment with the Internet in 1996, the Herndon and Reston Web has grown into a major resource of community information and forum for local political banter in the community, seeing an average of more than 100 visitors an hour on a regular day, according to Bruhns.
"It was the first real attempt to bring the community together using this new thing called the Internet," said site co-founder and former Reston resident Mary Chadsey, who still owns and manages the site from her home in Sarasota, Fla., where she has lived for the last several years. "When you come to town and you want a pizza, where can you go in Herndon for that? Where can you go for [other services]? We wanted to provide that resource for the residents and connect the community better."
Initially a text-based list of community resources, it eventually evolved to its current form, associating modern web page technology and a login system for people looking to post information or advertise their businesses. And while it still retains its original character as an Internet community crossroads for both Herndon and Reston, perhaps its most popular feature has been its message board discussions, according to Chadsey.
With discussions focusing on upcoming local cultural events to national politics to Herndon’s local issues, it quickly became a highly-trafficked area, she added.
"I think it gave people a voice, a place where they could come and speak about what was on their mind," Chadsey said. "It was a resource for people who wanted to talk about what was happening in the town … and it was less formal than going in front of the [Herndon] Town Council and people could do it anonymously."
BUT IN TIME, the controversy often associated with the comments and accusations made by largely anonymous, open community forum posters and bloggers began to emerge.
Bruhns, a local Herndon homeowners association president and satellite engineer stumbled upon the site in 2001 as a result of an Internet search for local Herndon resource lists. After showing a strong interest with preserving the site and bringing some type of control to the "more offensive" posters, Bruhns was made an administrator and moderator by Chadsey in 2003.
In recent months, posts to Herndon’s political message boards have taken on a decidedly heavy tone by those opposed to illegal immigration, who have had a tendency to rub some the wrong way, Bruhns said. The moderator himself admits to regularly expressing strong opinions on the boards that are in support of Herndon’s current Town Council’s hard line stance on illegal immigrants and opposed to the town’s current day labor site.
"This is what happens when you have the Internet and anyone with a computer can get on their soap box," Bruhns said. "And who’s to say that I’m not one of them myself," he added with a laugh.
AS AN OUTLET for those looking to talk about the issues that concern them, the site has become a magnet for local "bloggers," albeit those who typically support the current Town Council and decry the town’s day labor site, Bruhns said. The fact that only about a dozen users regularly comment on the boards does mean that those opinions are simply a small sampling of overall community sentiment and may have "little" effect on the general public opinion, he added.
"I think it has encouraged people to speak out," Bruhns said. "It’s a place where people know they can go where they won’t be censored."
The site has been a way to "check the pulse" of those in the community angry with the way things are, said former Herndon town manager Steve Owen. Whenever the town was launching a new service or working to defend an existing policy, Owen would regularly check Herndon Web’s boards to see what was being said.
"My interests were kind of limited to keeping myself off of it," Owen said with a laugh. "I was interested in seeing the debate going back and forth … but nothing [on the site] ever made me lose any sleep."
FORMER HERNDON Mayor and council member Carol Bruce checks the site "fairly often" as a way of making sure that "outrageous" accusations were not being levied against her on its boards. Bruce’s recent legal battle over the town’s new ordinance requiring local business owners confirm they are legal U.S. residents before receiving business licenses has been a popular topic of debate on the site.
"I couldn’t do anything right as far as [several users on Herndon Web] are concerned," Bruce said with a laugh. "If someone tries to debate a point, I think it has the potential to be a good place to host that for the community, but when it is like it is now with really only one opinion expressed, it’s really just not effective."
For Herndon Vice Mayor Dennis Husch, who monitors the site "regularly," the Herndon Web has proven itself as a good resource for those who feel they are not given a fair shake in other local media outlets.
"I don’t think people get their political insight or their political raw meat as a whole from what they read on those boards," he said. "It has been used as a place for expressing opinions outside of local media even before there was such a thing as a political blog."
Openness to all people looking to discuss political issues has been the greatest advantage for not only Herndon Web, but other discussion groups throughout the Web, Bruhns said.
"I consider the Internet to be unprecedented, it’s like the advent of the printing press," he said. "With the Internet, as in this site, everybody has the ability to broadcast to everybody."
"It’s like the world’s largest town meeting."