Earlier this week, I put out challenge to readers to be nicer online. The plan was to showcase the comments this week that best demonstrated the ideals of Smart, Respectful, Insightful, Constructive. So here we are.

Perhaps it's easier to point out the comments that weren't these things -- some snarky suggestions for "gun shops" come to mind in the latest Vacant Spaces column -- but we will lay down our arms...and remain positive. 

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Here's reader Lauren Johnson, responding to my brainstorming call for 40 Main Street as well as to those other more negative commenters:

I would love to see a book store but i doubt an independent book store could survive. I wish that Barnes and Noble had a version of their store that was a fraction of the size of their usual stores and would fit nicely into lots of small downtown markets such as ours. We could use a good card/stationery store such as PAPYRUS. By the way, shame on those folks that are using this platform for their sarcastic mean spirited comments.

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And in the constructive category, helpful news tip of the week following the same Vacant Spaces article came from Colleen, who wrote: 

I heard the space is already rented, it's going to be a soccer store or sporting goods.. Also the old Mint corner was rented a while ago too.

True on both counts! And a great example of what Patch is here to do, facilitate the communication between people who are themselves the news and newsmakers (and often the resource for true rumors). 

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On the follow-up to this article when I did indeed confirm A Soccer Shop It Is, we heard this positive and pro-small-business remark from casualobserver:

OK, now we just have to give these new stores our business. Hello parents - give the new soccer store your business instead of the big chains in White Plains.

Yes!

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This Vacant Spaces feature always really gets people fired up, with dozens of comments about our latest storefront. Clearly, a topic of interest that we will continue to follow closely as businesses come and go, and, we hope, come. 

What else got people talking, and who talked best? This article on checking on the status of our Train Station Rebuild just got posted, but we got a surprising and revealing response from Joy who added something we didn't know to the story -- real risk:

I was wondering about this! MetroNorth has been running a print campaign that implies it is already finished.

I hope they address the issue of pedestrians walking to their cars and walking to their homes. It is very dangerous for walkers and driivers alike.

I got hit again last week and I am sick of it!

So not all "good" comments need be positive comments. But this was indeed constructive and illuminating and Joy didn't attack anyone in her own account of getting hit. 

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Lastly, I'm hugely grateful, and dependent on, all the comments I get in email, Facebook and everywhere in between, pointing me to stories that deserve attention and may otherwise go unreported. Please continue to share your suggestions with me and I will follow your lead!