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✉️ A Letter From the Founder

"Hey there, my name is Finn — I’m the founder of The Gold Coast Torch, The Brisbane Torch (Torch Corp) & StreetBuzz. I'm also a proud local who's lived in QLD for over 17 years.

Truthfully, I’m just a local who saw a problem and decided to do something about it. I started a community-focused crime and news publication called The Gold Coast Torch, where I wrote over 100 articles and voluntarily ran two large local crime groups for years. I never studied journalism and I don’t come from the media world — but what started as a side project, has grown into something much bigger. I care deeply about where I live, and I believe local information should be honest, clear, and easy to access. My goal is to help build the most trusted local social media and news platform on the Gold Coast (and Australia) — one that holds people accountable, reflects reality, and tells the truth.

There’s a lot happening here, from youth crime, to uplifting local wins, but social media platforms and mainstream media aren’t built to tell these grassroots stories properly. Important posts disappear, low-value and AI-generated content floods feeds, scammers and spam slip through moderation, and critical local information gets buried. Meanwhile, over 50 different local community groups (in Gold Coast alone) are full of unfiltered noise and low-value posts. These are just some of the everyday frustrations of getting your news from social media. Traditional news outlets have their flaws too, but that's another story. StreetBuzz pulls everything together in one place, delivering important, highly-curated content by suburb, so you can stay informed about what actually matters.

🐝 Why StreetBuzz Is Different

StreetBuzz is an independent platform designed specifically for local awareness and safety.

We focus on:

  • Crime alerts
  • Public Safety Announcements (PSAs)
  • Lost/Found/Stolen/Missing Reports
  • Community Wins
  • Real people, real names, and real accountability

No outrage algorithms.
No political agendas.
No advertiser pressure.

We don’t answer to corporations or investors — we answer to the community.

💰 What You’ve Supported

Your contribution helps fund:

  • Platform development and infrastructure (by Moonward Apps in Brisbane)
  • Moderation, verification, and safety systems
  • Notification delivery and reliability
  • Legal, compliance, and operational costs
  • Keeping StreetBuzz independent and reducing the need for ads in-app

This isn’t about paying for content.
It’s about backing the platform itself.

🚀 What’s Next

StreetBuzz is actively being built and prepared for launch.

When it goes live, you’ll be among the first to know — and among the people who helped make it possible.

You’ll receive updates as the platform progresses, along with important announcements and milestones along the way.

💬 One Last Thing

I don’t take a salary from this.

Every dollar of support goes straight back into building and maintaining the platform.

Thank you for believing in this idea — and in the importance of strong, independent local infrastructure.

The Gold Coast, and the whole of Australia deserves better tools.
We’re building them... right here, right now.

Warm regards,
Finn
Founder, StreetBuzz