Waikawa News, set up in February 2022, shares news and other information about Waikawa Beach in Horowhenua. From February 2023 the site moved to a new server, using better software.
The aim is to provide accurate and factual information on matters of interest to the local community. And to share photos of and information about local wildlife and landscapes. Sometimes I share my own opinion.
The site has been created by Miraz Jordan, permanent resident of Waikawa Beach since December 2015.
Contact Miraz at kiaora@waikawanews.nz.
Comments policy (added in February 2024)
I welcome comments and discussions on articles and newsletters, but won’t tolerate abuse or bullying. Anyone who thinks they can bully or abuse me will find themselves banned and blocked.
I was shocked in January 2024 to receive the email in the below screenshot. Because bullies and abusers depend on the person being abused to feel ashamed and to keep it quiet I’ve included this screenshot so community members are clear about what went on.
This person was blocked, banned and removed from the mailing list.
Website background
In March 2023 this site was recreated at a new URL, bringing posts across from two sites under the Wow Waikawa! name.
From 06 October 2023 Waikawa News is supported by a $100 grant from Horowhenua District Council Community and Social Services Fund. This grant will cover hosting costs and part of the domain name cost. I very much appreciate the support.
How can I get news items without visiting this website all the time?
I’m so glad you asked. There are a few easy options:
Download and use a free RSS Reader app (see the end of this page for more info). On Mac and iOS an excellent choice is NetNewsWire — I’ve been using it for a couple of decades myself. Bonus: you can get RSS from all kinds of other websites too such as your preferred News websites, the District Council, the WBRA website. Don’t use a Mac or iOS? Just search the web for ‘feedreader’ and ‘Android’ or ‘Windows’ etc. The RSS Feed is at: https://waikawanews.nz/feed.xml
Sign up below for free to my newsletter that I send out about once per month. It mainly gathers up what’s new from the website and sends it out as a summary.
RSS feeds
RSS feeds have been around for decades but not enough people know about them. It’s like having your own personal butler. Get a free app like NetNewsWire for Mac or iOS and tell it the address of the website to get feeds from. Then it checks at regular intervals and shows you what’s new, all in one place.
The screenshot below shows NetNewsWire open on my Mac. Since I last checked earlier today there are several new items. In the left column is the list of websites (inside folders) that I follow. In the middle column is the list of new items. In the right column I’ve selected one item from the middle column and can see what it says.
I can scroll all the columns to see more items.
Note the circled items:
- the ➕ button lets you add another website (see second screenshot)
- the icon with lots of circles lets you mark everything ‘read’
- the dark icon with 3 horizontal lines lets you choose between all items (both read and unread) and unread only.
The screenshot below shows me adding the (now defunct) Wow Waikawa! environment website http://wow-waikawa.nz/ to my list of feeds.
Of course there’s a lot more you can do with the app, but that covers the essentials. RSS feeds is the coolest tech thing that no-one ever talks about!
