Transparency - changes to the BBS

[Melizmatic]

Also because this has been stuck in my head all day:

[anon26625345]

@gatto

somehow i know this is all my fault. mysteriously granted regular status, and bam regular status suddenly means nothing.

THANKS, GATTO.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

[Wanderfound]

@orenwolf

I do. And I hate the vast, vast majority of places you can comment on the internet.

If the only way to have discussions of worth is in private, than a public forum like the BBS cannot succeed.

I understand the concerns and the benefit that having an elite group of members having a “private place” to talk provided. But such a private place doesn’t further the goals of building a community around Boing Boing. In the end, this is a public place we’ve created in an attempt to have civil, respectful conversations in an era where so very, very few of these places still exist on the internet.

A substantial part of the reason why the BBS is more civilised than the internet average is because of the actions of the regulars. A substantial part of the reason why the regulars have this impact is due to the sense of community amongst them.

Kill the second, and you risk killing the first.

That sense of community wasn’t due to some meaningless badge graphics; it was about the people and the relationships between them.

[nimelennar]

@anon26625345

THANKS, GATTO.

[teknocholer]

@anon26625345

@gatto

somehow i know this is all my fault

THANKS, GATTO.

[teknocholer]

@Israel_B

Again, from the “out group” perspective that can look like an elite group discussing what to do about the unwashed masses.

Only if certain people choose to misrepresent it that way. To repeat, the discussion was about trollies. Racist, antisemitic, misogynist trollies suitable for banning. There was NEVER any talk of “the masses”.

Apparently in your world fascists can get together and plan their little raids in whatever dank pits they hang out in, but we must do all our organizing in the public square.

[LearnedCoward]

The original:

[teknocholer]

@Medievalist

The lounge was nothing like a circle of close friends, in my opinion.

I’m not dismissing your experience as a regular, but mine was different.

@Medievalist

More like the Stonecutters lodge.

Well, the drinking and the funny robes might be superficially similar, but we didn’t actually have the power to keep the metric system down (we were reduced to a last desperate stand in the USA), and as for rigging the Oscars, just try and get any two Regulars to agree on that.

[nimelennar]

@teknocholer

as for rigging the Oscars, just try and get any two Regulars to agree on that.

Deadpool for Best Picture!

[teknocholer]

@nimelennar

Deadpool for Best Picture!

Damn. You got me there.

[Mister44]

OH, can I be Cliff? His level of causing annoyance probably aligns with mine. And I always wanted to be a post man when little.

[teknocholer]

@Wanderfound

A substantial part of the reason why the BBS is more civilised than the internet average is because of the actions of the regulars. A substantial part of the reason why the regulars have this impact is due to the sense of community amongst them. Kill the second, and you risk killing the first.

I was just thinking something along those lines. If you remove part of an ecosystem, the results can be unpredictable. BoingBoing readers come for the front page topics, but stay for the comments. They log on and begin to interact with the other commenters. If they read enough, they become regulars themselves. The regulars come to hang out in the Lounge, but also comment in the open forums. Many of the most prolific, smart and funny participants are in fact regulars, simply because they have found a place that suits them, and they account for a disproportionate percentage of the discussion on the BBS.

Take away any element, and the effects will ripple out through the system.

[teknocholer]

@Mister44

I always wanted to be a postman

The more acceptable term these days is posthuman.

@Mister44

What kind of store was it? Can I go next time?

I found it once, but I didn’t have the price the shopkeeper asked, and when I returned the store wasn’t there.

[LearnedCoward]

How do you know my robe is funny? Can you see into my bathroom?

[teknocholer]

@LearnedCoward

Can you see into my bathroom?

Not since I lost my 33rd degree Regular status.

[Donald_Petersen]

@Israel_B

Country clubs, gated communities, members only bars, etc.

…are not typically places that let anyone in who just uses the outside facilities enough. Argue in good faith, man. The algorithm cared not at all who you were or whether you typed with four paws or two hands. Use the BBS enough, you became a Regular, automatically, whether you wanted it or not. How exclusive and elitist is that?

[LearnedCoward]

Yeah. What a way for a graven image to go!

But Trader’s World was right next to Big Butter Jesus

[anon61221983]

It was the university president who made the decision to hand over the airwaves. The station has been on the air since 1977 and was a major force in local and even national independent music. But by pairing with GPB, it allowed Becker to look good to the white middle class who don’t value independent music. What was galling was not even talking to the people who run the station, despite the fact that the airwaves are a public trust, not a private commodity.

I wrote about it in more detail here:

Album 88: Historically Right on the Music, Presently Leaving the Dial

[TobinL]

@Donald_Petersen

Use the BBS enough, you became a Regular, automatically, whether you wanted it or not. How exclusive and elitist is that?

Which is why I liked to call the lounge ‘the addicts room’ for fun. Hi you hang out here too much and the rest of us are just here to enable that behavior.

[anon61221983]

@Israel_B

non owners do not get a say in how the ship is run.

The broadcasting license was held by the university, the station had been student run with little to no input from the university, and these are airwaves set aside for the public good, not for Becker to do with as he sees fit - even though he legally could do so. Not consulting the people who run the station shows how little esteem the president of the university holds the student body, which tends to be blacker and more working class than UGA or GA Tech. I’ll not that GPB wanted to take over GA Tech’s station, too and they were turned down, because they knew that the student body there is more affluent and more politically connected then our students. But WREK, as good a station as it is, never held a candle to the importance of WRAS in local and even national independent music. A great community resource and a fantastic resource for helping students learn about broadcasting (because they do it all) was partially lost. The station goes on, but it’s not the same. It’s very much a form of gentrification that is impacting all of ATL right now. The City Winery instead of the Masquerade. American Outfitters (or whatever that hipster chain is called) instead of Acapella Books. Rents go up, the face of the city changes.