Are You Interested in Writing a Curated Blog on Patch?

Behind the scenes at Patch, there was a lot of scurrying this week. In the spirit of the start-up that we are, we moved quickly to roll out the new Local Voices module you can see now toward the bottom-left of the main page. You can also find it by clicking on the News tab and choosing the last item on the drop-down menu.

These are "curated blogs," which are like regular blogs but selected and put on display for your enjoyment and edification, much like artwork chosen for a special exhibit at a museum.

To launch the new blogging platform, Patch chose four voices you may find familiar; they're your friends and neighbors. Learn more about them .

On Saturday morning, we added a fifth voice. Justin McLean is a 16-year-old junior at and a facilitator at. (Welcome, Justin! So glad to have you aboard!)

We will introduce more bloggers in the near future, so stay tuned for more voices and consider whether you know someone you want to recommend (maybe even  yourself).

Anyone can blog. To see the most popular free platforms, click here.

Not everyone can blog on Patch. Here's what Castro Valley Patch wants:

1. A wide variety of voices and interests. Desirable topics include politics, real estate, art, books, comedy, crime, environment, food, health, history, media, music, hobbies, transportation, sports, science and technology.
2. Opinions and information intended to improve the lives of others, whether by helping people laugh, learn, develop compassion or better manage some aspect of their life.
3. Compelling content that engages people.
4. A friendly tone that sounds like a real person talking to a trusted friend, not like a memo, school essay or press release. Provocative is good; you can encourage people to join the discussion and debate in the comments section. Antagonistic is bad; don't insult and berate people into angry responses that ultimately shut down the conversation.

Patch aims to help families and small businesses in particular. And since we're hyper-local, online conversations on Patch don't end online. Instead, they can result in people walking outside their homes and interacting in mutually beneficial ways.

There are rules. No profanity. No libel. No personal attacks or name-calling. No copyright violations.

For more rules like this, see Patch's terms of use at the bottom of this page. Patch is a membership. To remain a member, you must be respectful toward the other members.

If you know someone whose words you'd really like to read regularly on Patch, ask that person to send an email to lauren.edwards@patch.com and describe up to three topics likely to appear regularly in his or her posts.