If you haven't knew about it yet, SubTalk at NYCSubway.org (http://talk.nycsubway.org) is closed to posting until further notice.
Apparently there have flames, "abusive and insulting attacks", spreading rumors, threats of libels, abusive and threatning emals, spam between talkers, etc.
Official comment from Dave Pirmamn:
Dear 'Talkers,
Today I received several complaints from various users, ranging from being upset at receiving private, anonymous email from other talkers that were abusive and insulting attacks, one threatening "legal action" for allowing libelous statements against a poster, etc. In fact, I received more complaints today than in the past few months, total.
This is no longer fun for me. It was never my goal to be the "patriarch" of the subway community and I have grown tired of filling that role. Therefore, I've decided I need to take a short vacation from managing the Talk boards, putting them into "Hiatus" like happened once before.
This site started out as a hobby for me, combining an interest in the subway, web site management, programming, etc. I still enjoy those things. What I don't enjoy is people management. I tried the hands off approach, gently encouraging everyone to be polite to each other, but I should have realized that was not going to be a workable long term solution. It was suggested that additional moderators could help lighten the work load but I have not had the time to make the necessary changes to the Subtalk code or to evaluate other packages which might more easily allow multiple moderators. Time spent managing the complaints discouraged me from spending even more time solving a people problem with technical means.
I know this comes at a poor time, what with plenty of exciting Centennial events coming up and lots of important issues like the photo ban proposal requiring discussion and unity. I was going to "sleep on it" tonight and decide tomorrow to do the hiatus but today's load of complaints was not going to allow that, I was too angry to even consider falling asleep so here I am writing this statement.
If the lack of a web board on this site for a little while has side effects like less contributions of photos to nycsubway.org, so be it. As always, I will try to continue to improve the rest of the site, adding new material when it becomes available. But, to avoid being a hypocrite about the issue, I am discontinuing the Amazon "pay boxes" on the site. I appreciate the donations made to-date and thank everyone who has helped offset the costs of keeping this site alive.
Thanks for reading.
Dave
Apparently there have flames, "abusive and insulting attacks", spreading rumors, threats of libels, abusive and threatning emals, spam between talkers, etc.
Official comment from Dave Pirmamn:
Dear 'Talkers,
Today I received several complaints from various users, ranging from being upset at receiving private, anonymous email from other talkers that were abusive and insulting attacks, one threatening "legal action" for allowing libelous statements against a poster, etc. In fact, I received more complaints today than in the past few months, total.
This is no longer fun for me. It was never my goal to be the "patriarch" of the subway community and I have grown tired of filling that role. Therefore, I've decided I need to take a short vacation from managing the Talk boards, putting them into "Hiatus" like happened once before.
This site started out as a hobby for me, combining an interest in the subway, web site management, programming, etc. I still enjoy those things. What I don't enjoy is people management. I tried the hands off approach, gently encouraging everyone to be polite to each other, but I should have realized that was not going to be a workable long term solution. It was suggested that additional moderators could help lighten the work load but I have not had the time to make the necessary changes to the Subtalk code or to evaluate other packages which might more easily allow multiple moderators. Time spent managing the complaints discouraged me from spending even more time solving a people problem with technical means.
I know this comes at a poor time, what with plenty of exciting Centennial events coming up and lots of important issues like the photo ban proposal requiring discussion and unity. I was going to "sleep on it" tonight and decide tomorrow to do the hiatus but today's load of complaints was not going to allow that, I was too angry to even consider falling asleep so here I am writing this statement.
If the lack of a web board on this site for a little while has side effects like less contributions of photos to nycsubway.org, so be it. As always, I will try to continue to improve the rest of the site, adding new material when it becomes available. But, to avoid being a hypocrite about the issue, I am discontinuing the Amazon "pay boxes" on the site. I appreciate the donations made to-date and thank everyone who has helped offset the costs of keeping this site alive.
Thanks for reading.
Dave
Last edited by 7 Train on Sun Aug 08, 2004 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
