About Motueka Online
Motueka Online is a not-for-profit, community-oriented website for the use and benefit of residents of Motueka (and outsiders with a particular interest in the town or its residents) and the immediate satellite settlements including Lower Moutere, Riwaka and Brooklyn, and to a lesser degree Kaiteriteri, Marahau, Tasman and Ngatimoti.
The site is run totally voluntarily. It receives zero financial support from the Tasman District Council. Its costs and time are met only through our loyal sponsors on a long-term basis.
As you can see by browsing the navigation tabs down the left of the page, the site provides community news, events calendar, information about local services, clubs, sporting and community groups, schools and churches, youth and iwi in the area. It provides a major channel for information about what our community leaders are doing for us. It also provides a forum for all community groups and clubs to advertise and promote their activities, through their own free web pages.
Community participation is strongly encouraged. The site hosts a moderated discussion forum, posts photos and videos sent in about local people and places, and has numerous places and facilities for asking and answering each others' questions, expressing opinions on news items, and contributing articles and information.
Since it was formed early in 2010, this website has grown to be by far the largest and most active not-for-profit community website in New Zealand. It is financially assisted by the sponsorship of several supportive local businesses (shown at the side of this page) but otherwise publishes no advertising.
The content of the site is about locals for locals only. The site is NOT:
? a tool to market the town to outsiders and tourists (instead, see Motueka i-Site),
? competing with the standard tourism-oriented sites and other commercial directories,
? competing with any of the Tasman District Council (TDC) websites,
? directly providing Council reports and enable submissions etc,
? aiming to make any money beyond that necessary to pay basic running costs.
The guiding principle is that all content is provided by residents and is of potential interest to other residents. Its goal is to help build a stronger community by fostering involvement, engagement, ownership and pride among the residents. It enables the community to talk to itself.
The site has been built and is currently edited and moderated by David Armstrong, a professional website designer and journalist. That's him on the right - now you'll recognise him when he's walking down High Street.
The strength of Motueka Online reinforces the reality of Motueka as a community-minded town in a culturally rich part of the country, with resourceful, innovative and forward thinking residents.
