archBOSTON Update: A New Dawn

[castevens]

I’m confused and hopeful. But that seems to describe me on most days.

 

[briv]

So I will no longer be the site's administrator -- a job I was never really crazy about in the first place. I only wanted to make sure the board was kept alive and I think I did a pretty decent job at that over the past 15 years (!!!) or so.

Edward approached me several years ago asking to buy the site, but I declined. At the time, though, he did introduce me to his UrbanToronto site and I thought it could serve as a good model for what archBOSTON could become. It had many of the features that many members here in the "grow-bigger" contingent had expressed interest in implementing. However, upgrading the site would require more time and money than I could afford alone, and organizing a group of volunteers interested in making it happen proved to be beyond my abilities. And the years went by.

Over time my availability to actually run the site became less and less. Worse, the job itself became more and more time-consuming and tedious. It got to the point where it was too much for me to handle, so I tried to relegate most admin duties to the mods and stopped paying attention to certain aspects. But, I just want to reiterate to people, I NEVER ABANDONED THE SITE. I continued checking on and reading the board daily. I made sure the lights stayed on, and if there were any technical problems, which did pop up from time to time, I made sure they were resolved.

It became clear to me recently that I no longer had the time nor the inclination to run the site anymore and something needed to be done. I attempted to reach out and figure out a new direction for the site with some members but, again, the organizing was impossible for me. People were going in too many different directions and I couldn't figure out the way forward. I threw up my hands in frustration and decided I just didn't want to do this anymore.

Edward assured me the site would continue on and be well taken care of. He has the experience and resources to grow and maintain the site. I think everyone is going to be very pleased with the way this turns out.


As for me, I'm just another poster from now on. :smile:

 

[brucepf]

^^

Briv thank you so much for all you have done to make this site what it is. As someone who lives 6 hours from Boston I hardly ever have anything to contribute. However I visit this site daily and love the photos and all (most of) the discussions that take place on this site. Boston is by far my favorite city. I am only able to visit a couple of times a year but this site helps me stay connected to the city. Thanks again and hope you continue to contribute to this wonderful site that you have helped build.

 

[BarbaricManchurian]

Sure doesn’t explain the multi-year lack of new user approvals (which would take literally minutes), but thankfully that is all behind us now. Thanks for starting the site, I’ve been here since an early Boston Globe Magazine mention, and certainly enjoy your new riches

 

[Justin7]

So I will no longer be the site's administrator -- a job I was never really crazy about in the first place. I only wanted to make sure the board was kept alive and I think I did a pretty decent job at that over the past 15 years (!!!) or so.

Edward approached me several years ago asking to buy the site, but I declined. At the time, though, he did introduce me to his UrbanToronto site and I thought it could serve as a good model for what archBOSTON could become. It had many of the features that many members here in the "grow-bigger" contingent had expressed interest in implementing. However, upgrading the site would require more time and money than I could afford alone, and organizing a group of volunteers interested in making it happen proved to be beyond my abilities. And the years went by.

Over time my availability to actually run the site became less and less. Worse, the job itself became more and more time-consuming and tedious. It got to the point where it was too much for me to handle, so I tried to relegate most admin duties to the mods and stopped paying attention to certain aspects. But, I just want to reiterate to people, I NEVER ABANDONED THE SITE. I continued checking on and reading the board daily. I made sure the lights stayed on, and if there were any technical problems, which did pop up from time to time, I made sure they were resolved.

It became clear to me recently that I no longer had the time nor the inclination to run the site anymore and something needed to be done. I attempted to reach out and figure out a new direction for the site with some members but, again, the organizing was impossible for me. People were going in too many different directions and I couldn't figure out the way forward. I threw up my hands in frustration and decided I just didn't want to do this anymore.

Edward assured me the site would continue on and be well taken care of. He has the experience and resources to grow and maintain the site. I think everyone is going to be very pleased with the way this turns out.


As for me, I'm just another poster from now on. :smile:

This is insulting revisionist nonsense.

All we ever asked of you was to take 30 seconds to appoint a few unanimously agreed upon admins/moderators and give these people the ability to approve new members. This of course was evidenced in the multi-year/multi-page thread titled "briv" where we repeatedly asked for you not to volunteer your time, but simply to allow those who were willing to do so. We were ignored over and over again. If you were actually "checking on and reading the board daily" then this was intentional. Of course this thread was one of the many that you recently deleted.

We finally got fed up and after much (now deleted) discussion, decided to move the community, at which point you finally emerged to throw a wrench in the plan. Yes, you reached out, and while I won't reveal what you stated privately, I'll note that it wasn't too far out of line with the direction we had chosen, as a community, to take with archBoston. This is in stark contrast to the action you ultimately took.

There was no crisis of "people going in too many different directions." There was no throwing up your hands in frustration and deciding you couldn't do this anymore. Do what exactly? You weren't doing anything. All you needed to do was relinquish your hold on the forum and give the login details to statler -- the person who has actually been keeping this place running -- as suggested. This was clearly the right move and no one here would have disagreed with that. You instead dropped out of the discussion and proceeded to "sell" archBoston to someone with plans to turn it into a business. I'm not sure what you think you sold, or what Edward thinks he bought. I hope it is just couple of domain names. A community cannot be bought and sold.

There are times in life when we must choose between integrity and money. I don't know your situation and I don't even begrudge you for choosing the latter. We all have our reasons. But don't come back here and attempt to gaslight the entire community. You may have deleted the evidence, but anyone who was paying any attention knows what really went on here.

 

[BarbaricManchurian]

So when is that like button coming? It should be very easy to upgrade a forum as small as this. If Edward is as wealthy as he portrays he can easily pay to upgrade the forum software and extensions within hours.

 

[SkyriseCities]

So when is that like button coming? It should be very easy to upgrade a forum as small as this.

This isn't a small forum. A lot of members and content from many years. Will take some time to upgrade properly. Have some patience.

If Edward is as wealthy as he portrays he can easily pay to upgrade the forum software and extensions within hours.

You're funny!

 

[datadyne007]

I'll save the quote, but Justin's post is 100% accurate: revisionist nonsense.

Also, if you were so active why did we go for year-long stretches of no new user approval? Statler and Van both stated numerous times they physically didn't have the permissions.

-----------
Moving forward, I want to express my support for Edward and ask the community to not make demands of him or assume that he has unlimited time or money. The changes will take time, but we as a community can help and be sure these things get implemented over time.

 

[whittle]

Getting back to business, in our previous discussions, several users had requested that Portland get it's own subforum. Given that the Portland thread is one of the most active on this site, that's definitely something to consider.

 

[WormtownNative]

I'll save the quote, but Justin's post is 100% accurate: revisionist nonsense.

Also, if you were so active why did we go for year-long stretches of no new user approval? Statler and Van both stated numerous times they physically didn't have the permissions.

-----------
Moving forward, I want to express my support for Edward and ask the community to not make demands of him or assume that he has unlimited time or money. The changes will take time, but we as a community can help and be sure these things get implemented over time.

+2. Even a lurker like me is aware of it.

Before we go on a complete witch hunt, let's move upwards and forwards. The past is the past, we can't change it. But the future is now.

 

[FK4]

+2. Even a lurker like me is aware of it.

Before we go on a complete witch hunt, let's move upwards and forwards. The past is the past, we can't change it. But the future is now.

Part of me wants to agree. But, the fact is that when things had gotten to the point of near disaster, there was a group of concerned individuals - people actually personally invested in this community - who offered to help, and that was completely ignored by briv. Kudos to him for the site, but it’s frustrating to have had an organically grown group stick their necks out only get completely blown off by briv in favor of what I can only imagine was both a simpler as well as a financially convenient solution. The most charitable interpretation is that he somehow thought the decision he made was one that offered the best chance of long-term viability for the site. Even so, it was done hastily (I think it’s pretty obvious to all that the decision was forced by the brewing plans to create an alternative site, and was not one that briv had been planning in some measured way), and, more importantly, was done with zero input or communication to the board of people who actually care deeply about this site. I can get down with cautious optimism about what can happen from here on out, but, while I can also recognize that none of us knows the true truths about any other individual and that we all really ought to withhold judgment whenever possible, the conduct here feels extremely disingenuous and briv’s recent post misrepresents by a longshot some significant aspects of recent history... basically, it feels like salt being rubbed in the wounds. The wholesale deletion of the threads is also greatly concerning: why was this done? Because briv felt it reflected poorly on him? Or was it perhaps because the new owner asked to wipe out all evidence of conflict prior to the purchase? There remain many questions about motives that are not easily forgotten. I am certainly sorry that that is in fact the case, but I am quite sure it is a sentiment felt by many, that has relevance going forward and is not something easily forgotten in what so far has been a messy transition. It’s regretful that this could not have been done more smoothly, and it may have nothing whatsoever to do with Edward... so, for that I am sorry, but we also cannot simply be expected to forget all that has transpired and go on about our business as if nothing at all has changed. I too am cautiously optimistic, but some things must be said nonetheless.

 

[Beton Brut]

I too have some questions about what's transpired here, and how it will affect the efficacy of discourse going forward on ArchBoston. It's taking me some time to frame my thoughts, but rest assured, I've quite a bit more to say, and to ask, and will do both at the time I think is most appropriate.

For now, read this, and then read it again:

A community cannot be bought and sold.

Speaking only for myself, I believe this statement is as true here as it is on the streets where we live. If you don't, enjoy your "like" button.

Edward, in the days ahead, it would be helpful to have a response from you to Justin7's statement. I'm interested to know what this statement means to your plans (financial and otherwise) for ArchBoston.

For now, I'll leave you with another thing to consider...
In all of this turmoil, I think it's worth noting that statler, a forum veteran with over 7K posts has had nothing to say since May 10th at 11:15 AM. Someone's logged in as "statler," but who might that really be? I've PM'd statler as recently as two weeks ago with no response; in my experience, that's out of character. I find all of this curious. If you do too, I think it warrants further discussion.

 

[statler]

Hey.

My apologies. I am still around. That is me you see lurking.

I'm not going to get into specific various reasons for the radio silence, but it was entirely my choice and it wasn't entirely related to aB. It was, of course, a shitty decision and I managed to do it at the worst possible time, but it was mine alone.

I'm probably just going to continue to lurk for a while, I'm not sure I have anything of value to add to the forum right now (if I ever did).

I'm sorry for the confusion and concern.

 

[SkyriseCities]

Edward, in the days ahead, it would be helpful to have a response from you to Justin7's statement. I'm interested to know what this statement means to your plans (financial and otherwise) for ArchBoston.

I think my first post in this thread is fairly clear about my plans. My intention is to improve the site. Lots that can be done to make it a stronger resource. Take a close look at UrbanToronto to see what can be done.

 

[Beton Brut]

I think my first post in this thread is fairly clear about my plans.

Intent aside, I'm not sure your initial post addresses the basic concept of Justin7's statement, or the collection of concerns behind it.

My intention is to improve the site. Lots that can be done to make it a stronger resource.

I agree that in both the real in virtual worlds, there's always room for improvement. I'll use a local, real world example to put things in context:

In the recent months, there's been a significantly higher level of engagement in my neighborhood by the City agency (the BPDA) responsible for planning and real estate development. At a recent meeting, one of my neighbors (who does a lot of grass-roots work to stave off the negative effects of gentrification and displacement) asked "Who is this for?" I guess I'm asking an analogous question. Are your planned improvements for the benefit of the community of posters, or to enhance your advertising revenue?

Take a close look at UrbanToronto to see what can be done.

I have. I don't believe the look and feel of UrbanToronto are in any way germane to this discussion. This is a conversation about content, culture, and governance here, not there.

 

[tysmith95]

I'm glad that this site finally has an active admin.

I don't mind some unobtrusive adwords. I just hope that the new owner can monetize the site without annoying popups.

And although would have been nice to keep it as an ad free site, it is totally within Briv's rights to sell the site.

His current sites look well built with non intrusive ads, so I'm hopeful.

 

[Coyote137]

I must add that I agree with the notion that questions have not been answered, and as of yet I don't see anything other than vague appeals to potential. Things have not happened "on the level" as far as I can see, and there doesn't seem to be any desire to clue us in on what happened and why.

I don't expect dirty laundry to be aired out, but a little more explanation would be nice if we are going to truly "move forward." As it now stands, the community has been thrown into a bit of disarray, and this needs to be addressed rather than ignored.

 

[ulrichomega]

I don't think we have any reason to be suspicious yet. The other sites run by SkyriseCities seem well run. I have a few reservations about the shutting down of talk of moving off-site, but let's be optimistic (while expecting changes).

Statler: I know I've just been lurking for a while, but you've been a great contribution to this site for all the years I was waiting for an admin to approve me.

 

[Equilibria]

I think my first post in this thread is fairly clear about my plans. My intention is to improve the site. Lots that can be done to make it a stronger resource. Take a close look at UrbanToronto to see what can be done.

I take you at your word on the improvements, but at the same time this thread is full of repeated revelations from either you or Briv over the course of the weekend - pieces of what really should have been your initial post.

When you started this thread, you told us your name. You said Briv had turned over admin control to you, but not that he sold you the site. You said you had some experience as an admin, but not that you make your money off of similar communities in other cities. AFAIK we did not know that you had made prior attempts to buy aB until Briv's post.

If we had taken your initial post at face value, we would not have had much of the story, would we? I hope you agree that this is just way too much cloak-and-dagger BS for an urbanism discussion board.

Briv has (whatever he says) been absent for many years. He has the right to sell the URL and server to you, but as Justin, Beton, and others have emphasized, he did not sell the community. We were making short-term plans to rebuild elsewhere as recently as early May. Your business with Briv is done, and now you need to win over each of us. You seem like one of "us" - you don't get into this business to make billions, you do it because you love it. Please just level with us, be transparent, and be a good partner in building a better aB.

 

[Scott]

This is a very sad day. This not-for-profit 20 year old argument about kinda tall buildings should never have been sold to anyone.