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This is a post that I have suspected that I was going to have to write since late December last year.
You will now know that SoylentNews.org is closing down on 30 June but things have not been standing still behind the scenes since we first became aware of NCommander's decision at the end of last week. In fact, it has been a very busy weekend.
A small group of existing staff are looking at alternative possibilities for a 'replacement' site to keep the flow of stories going and allowing discussions to continue. This is a big task, especially in the 38 days remaining in which to try to achieve it. There are several possibilities which spring to mind, Pipedot for example. I have reached out to Bryan but have not yet received a response. However, things as not as straightforward as they seem. The pipecode is written in Php-5 which some of you will realise is no longer supported. We do not want to become dependant on old software which cannot be maintained into the future; that lesson has been taken aboard and reinforced by NCommander's explanation regarding his decision announced today. There are other options but at the moment it is still a search for what is available out there today which also appears maintainable into the future.
But the first thing we need to know is "Is there still sufficient interest in having a discussion site such as ours?" Do you, the community, still want to have your daily dose of stories and the ability to exchange views with many others on this site? Are there any community members who would be willing to join us in trying to establish such a site? Your views are crucial to everything that we do over the coming days and weeks. So please let us know what you think about whether a site is still required with all the alternative technology available today that simply didn't exist 9 years ago. What form should a new site take? What changes to how we operate are essential for you to continue to remain interested in the future site?
Of course, it cannot be a mirror image of what we have today - which many will see as a good thing! But I hope that we would be able to transfer existing accounts, usernames and passwords directly to any new site that we create. We would also have to start with a relatively simple site and build on that over time.
At the end of the day we would have to restart the voluntary subscriptions but not immediately. We can raise some funds to see us get established without the requirement of a financial commitment from the community. Subscriptions were always sufficient in the past and I don't see why that would not be the case in the future too. The fact that we currently have enough to keep this site going until next year bears witness to that. We have also found that we can significantly reduce our running costs based on our current community rather than being ready for a major stream of new members which never materialises. I have no grandiose ideas of becoming a huge site employing our own journalists but just a community that enjoys the discussions as we have been doing for several years. Nevertheless, we would also be trying to build on our existing community which is beginning to happen on this site now that things have settled down.
So don't hold back - let us know what you think.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 22, @08:49PM (14 children)
>I mean things like "no advocating for civil wars" for a start.
I'm with you, although the advocates for civil wars usually get tired of places like this after awhile.
I do note, you're still here... if you have anyplace better you hang out more often I'd like to know where that is.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0, Troll) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday May 22, @09:18PM (13 children)
I'm here because, like Aristarchus, I want to see this place collapse under the weight of its own bullshit. It's committed mortal sins of stupidity and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22, @09:40PM (3 children)
Your shitpost, ironically enough, is a direct example of the problem.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23, @02:51AM (2 children)
Indeed, 'Zumi has been second only to Ari in toxicity.
And given 'Zumi's racism, there may be a convincing argument that it just may be more toxic than Ari.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23, @04:37AM (1 child)
The sad thing is she's truly brilliant and insightful. Her caustic toxicity belies her IQ. Maybe she's toying with us, releasing her many pent-up aggressions including hatred of men, some combination of the above? At some point her verbal ability, as much as it can do great things, is equally powerfully negative and morale destroying.
I would advocate for a system where some percentage of registered users would have some kind of karma score and would vote on "disappearing" certain comments- a mod system but somewhat different from the current system here.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Tuesday May 23, @06:07PM
Azuma does not hate men in general. It's the bigots that set her off; small wonder at that. She gets toxic because that's what gets thrown at her, and she doesn't strike me as being the "turn the other cheek" type.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22, @10:20PM
Sorry, you're just mad because you couldn't turn SN into a "safe space". And your style leaves much to be desired. Well, you got your wish. Thanks to you and a couple of others, we are losing a great site.. What a pity!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 22, @10:21PM (5 children)
>committed mortal sins of stupidity
and so has (at least) half of my country, but there's not really much better place for us to go instead, so here we stay.
I've been in and out (mostly out) of churches since early childhood. Been taught a lot about mortal sin, seen a lot committed in my years, never really seen so much as a chicken shit dropping come down on those committing the mortal sins though - not directly. I mean, yeah, sure, bad things happen to bad people all the time, karma and all that, but... just about as often I also see bad things happening to good people, often tragically bad, and they can't all be deserving of their fates.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23, @02:53AM (3 children)
Zumi's just upset that it is losing its last place where it can post its racism.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday May 23, @11:00AM (2 children)
What racism?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23, @01:16PM (1 child)
Extreme hatred of men.
Extreme hatred of anyone not of her brand of uber-leftist.
Directly stated racism [soylentnews.org] against the African American community.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday May 23, @06:47PM
I see.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23, @04:45AM
Sadly it's not that simple. Story is that the evil one (not Putin but equally beady-eyed and evil) doesn't want Godly people or God's work being done, so he attacks them, sometimes much. Evil people bring bad things on themselves, and others of course.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday May 23, @05:21PM
How do we defeat these terrible ideas without confronting them?
The only way out is through!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday May 23, @05:51PM
I, for one, want to say that lately alot of teh toxicity has faded.
I, for one, want to see this site continue... but, i guess, somewhere else...
Gaaark still sad.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---