Every Tuesday and Thursday, we run down what’s going on in local Internet discussion groups.

DupontForum
Some Dupont Circle neighbors are unnerved by the activities of a “rogue clipper” who’s been spotted in the night illegally clipping the low branches of trees. Lance first noticed the “awkward prunings” of the mysterious clipper: “He/she does not prune trees uniformly but only prunes branches on the sidewalk side,creating lop-sided tree canopies that will remain an unsightly shape for years to come. Some of these trees are newly planted,struggling to become established, and are not ready to be pruned.” But as David sees it, some trees just need to be pruned, and if DDOT won’t do it, let the rogue clipper have his fun. On at the corner of 17th and P Streets, he writes, there’s a tree with branches hovering dangerously low—threatening the safety of pedestrians. “Frankly, if somebody lopped the limbs off their tree, I would consider her/him a civic hero, not a menace,” David argues. And in David’s opinion, appealing to these homeowners probably wouldn’t work. “The home-owners don’t give a damn about their neighbors; they park their cars and trucks in the yard.”

Brookland
Although Brooklanders seemed pleased that a Yes! Organic Market is opening in their area, as opposed to what one resident calls another “random hair braiding salon,” Vicki and Mary Pat wonder why the health food store wants to enter the neighborhood’s already overcrowded wine-and-beer market. George immediately smacks down what he perceives as women claiming that the market will encourage public drinking: “Has anyone ever seen a bum hanging outside of Whole Foods getting drunk on the selection of international wines sold inside?” he asks. After several residents side with George, Vicki explains that she doesn’t think the market will create a drinking problem, but “that there is already a drinking problem w/ people hanging out in the alley.” Unable to gain even an ounce of sympathy from lovers of beer made from insecticide-free hops and packaged in recycling cardboard carrying cases, she quickly switches to a topic that no one can speak against: the possibility of children playing in an alley adjacent to the store being run over by the market’s delivery trucks. “I hope the alley is not used for delivery trucks going back and forth,” she says. “If so beware of children playing.”

nova_spsn
The Northern Virginia Single Parents Social Network gets adults and kids alike involved in such fun events as “Octoberfest” parties, trips to the Spy Museum, even a “Veddy Scary Movie Night.” But moderator Kevin thinks too many people are lurking without actually coming out and meeting their fellow parents/posters. “Why don’t you come out to an event or two……you signed up for this group.….why don’t you give it a try! COME ON OUT!!! Or, do I haveta come in and get you???!?!” Kyfreckles gives a sarcastic answer to Kevin’s playful rhetorical question, calling out all of the listsev members—who are trying to care for children by themselves, and work, and handle a thousand other things—for being too chickenshit to turn out for G-rated hot-tub parties and housewarmings. “But if I actually stop sitting back, reading the posts and actually PARTICIPATE in something, then how can I continue to bitch and complain that I never meet anybody new and that I never go out and do anything? Geesh.”