When real estate agent and Ledyard Town Council Chairman Linda Davis formed the Ledyard Community Forum Facebook group as an unofficial form of communication for the town, she knew it had potential.

But she never dreamed that, four years later — and tens of snowstorms, hurricanes and other natural and man-made disasters later — the forum would be fast approaching 3,000 members.

Fiercely moderated, the forum has three primary rules: no whining, no politics and no selling.

Add to that specific days for philanthropic and business posts and files with cable company, food and other recommendations and Davis stays a busy woman.

“The difference between a forum that provides a service and those that don’t is the way it’s moderated,” Davis said, rattling off other towns’ forums and whether they have been successful.

As the group has grown, a corps of dedicated members has kept a watchful eye, reaching out to Davis when someone may be crossing the line.

Still, some days, inappropriate language, misinformation and otherwise makes Davis’ “blood pressure go up.”

“When I get really frustrated and think how easy it would be to hit delete, all the good stories I remember keep me from doing that,” she said.

The forum has reunited lost pets with owners, raised money for residents affected by fires and helped find homes for incoming exchange students. A forum member even spread the word when Village Pizza — where the forum hosted a birthday lunch July 7 — opened its doors March 26, resulting in a soft opening co-owner Rita Fokaidis said was not soft at all.

“When people are in trouble … the forum just rushes right in and helps,” said Jan Erhart, a resident for more than 35 years. “It’s like ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’”

But its members know how to have fun, too.

From playful threads poking fun at themselves and their concerns about spiders, bears and trash pick-up to informative but funny ones about a lizard on the loose — a summer 2013 drama that led to “legend of the lizard” T-shirts being distributed — they’ve touched on everything.

The monthly lunches and breakfasts they have — one month in Gales Ferry, the next on the other side of town — allow members to match “faces with names” and take those conversations to the next level, forum member Cari Barnes said July 7.

Whether attending a gathering for the first time, like Carol Schneider, or the fourth and whether having lived in town for three or 37 years, almost all in attendance said they’d met someone new solely because of the forum.

One of those, Lisa Hirschfeld, didn’t know where to get a recycling bin, how to get help with snow removal or that her neighbor was Councilman Bill Saums when she moved to the area three years ago.

Now, she knows all that and more.

“It’s amazing,” Hirschfeld said. “I’ve met so many people I never would’ve known before.”

l.boyle@theday.com

Twitter: @LindsayABoyle