"Five of the posts were from local bloggers about the museum," Mr. Johnson said.

The complaint was made by a local blogger who had received an email from Coleman calling him an "obsessive, poisonous individual".

With a current circulation of about 85,000, BostonNow potentially offers a much larger readership than most local bloggers are used to.

One local blogger has labelled it the Cote de atom.

Baroud is also very popular with political bloggers, both local and international.

Investigations by local bloggers uncovered serious contract irregularities at a flagship Tory council.

There are other, more local bloggers, however, who pursue similar goals.

"The local bloggers are longtime political activists in the state, some of them local committee people," Ms. Hamsher said.

One of the site's main features is its "Community Network," which brings together the work of local bloggers.

An event was held in June 2009, however, according to local blogger and media personality and other judges, it was a disaster.