Come on people....

Gosh (Napoleon Dynamite voice), I just said it to have some fun. And yeah, I'll agree with you on that statement 100%. Near the end, I even got sarcastic about it, to the point of I thought I should make my statements a sticky.

I only peek over there nowadays on occasion. I have a full plate these days with my various new adventures.

As far as the drama you speak of? That's just small-time new jack promoters whining like they usually do. It's one step above personal bullshit making it out onto a public forum.

The drama I crave usually involves clubs, politicians, and the government in some way. Essentially, I want something I could conceivably write a book on. One techno kid screwing another out of money does not make for an interesting story. Unless there's violence.

Bear in mind I initially learned how to make feature-length movies, so you see where I'm coming from. Banter back and forth is one thing, and it's fun, but when the real bombs drop, i.e. what I spoke about, you've got my attention. I'm doing mental casting calls at a bare minimum. I think Andy Garcia would be an excellent Pod.

I think the best nightlife or 'scene' related online communities always have a good element of high drama to keep things fresh. Events are events, go ahead and post 'em, but if some shit goes down while you're out, post that too. The dirt is gold.

Sure, it's kind of tabloid-ish, but admit it, you probably glance once or twice at the rags in the line at Publix.

I think the best nightlife or 'scene' related online communities always have a good element of high drama to keep things fresh. Events are events, go ahead and post 'em, but if some shit goes down while you're out, post that too. The dirt is gold.

Sure, it's kind of tabloid-ish, but admit it, you probably glance once or twice at the rags in the line at Publix.

Well then I guess the point of my rant is... keep it fresh!! Stop recycling the same tired untrue stereotypes and club economics. Dig deeper man. Find some fresh material. I'm sorry to say, but at your current production level... you're the Rocky series of nightlife commentary. However, I know you have it in you to be more like Quentin Tarantino.

Economics is economics. And I still hold true to the feeling that some people take DJs and dance music way too seriously, considering they're not DJs or producers.

But anyways, you're right, there's stuff to be had out there, and sometimes it's worth exploring further. The one thing is though, a lot of the time, I'm not the one who can break the "news". You get The Club Legend to do it. Often, he'll tell me something he's found out, and I've probably known about it for awhile. I just can't say it. He, or any other "normal" member can.

Though there's been times where he's been truly the first to market with it. He fits the classic Howard Stern mold. I know you loath the guy for whatever reason, but even his haters tune in to see what he's gonna say next. TCL that is, not Stern. It's admittedly fun to watch.

We've got a chance here to build on the past pratfalls and mistakes of other online communities. In my head I want a nice organized mix of things, if that makes sense. The ideal situation is for there to be event postings, photo galleries, music, etc...with a good dose of high drama to keep people reading. You've seen the stats here and there, it's always the drama that gets traffic.

But we also must learn to deal with the ebb and flow of things. Sometimes it's just a slow news week.

Also, quite a few people told me they are quitting the messageboards altogether...or at least limiting their time on them. Some people were quite turned off by recent events and have decided to rid themselves of us completely. (at least online that is)

That's called 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater'. I wouldn't let a spat of bad happenings turn me off from the whole experience.

If anything, if you could tell those people to come over here and participate, it'd be most welcome. Tell them they could have a chance to actually help shape things and offer suggestions based on their experiences.

Then three years from now they can be the elitist bastards telling the newbies to go climb a tree.

So here's my predicament Dan, and I am honestly coming to you for your advice. How am I supposed to tell anyone to come over here when the main issue I had with cooljunkie is on here being compared to Howard Stern? A site where the traffic that is generated by someone who is a bitter racist is of such great importance?

The truth is as I am writing this post, I am wondering why I shouldn't stay at CJ as long as :::puke::: "Howard Stern" has promised to not return. CJ is asking for participants and appears to want to make changes to the site to benefit their users.

I know I don't know all the history and I don't know all sides to the story behind cooljunkie and clubplanet and track, etc. Maybe if I did, I would feel differently.

But I can’t help but feel that I maybe I shouldn't participate in a new community where I have to coexist with that one person who always made me feel a bit sick for being part of cooljunkie.

So what am I to do?

Well first of all, the guy barely on here too. He's "retired" from what I can see.

Second of all, again your friends have a chance to get in on the ground floor here and establish the tone of the community early on. There's not even a hundred users here yet. There's no clear mood, tone whatever you want to call it right now.

Thirdly, take some time to read back on some of the still-visible development notes and discussions. You'll see how this forum will deal with anyone's comments that could be deemed unpopular.

I can't force anyone to sign up or choose where to post, that's their decision. But if you want in on the ground floor, now's the time. Six months down the line when there's thousands of users, it's too late. People will be set in their ways and used to how things work. And if six months down the line, the forum's tone isn't to your crew's liking if they suddenly decide to come on board, well, the best I can say is "you had your chance..."

[Ryan]

Also, quite a few people told me they are quitting the messageboards altogether...or at least limiting their time on them. Some people were quite turned off by recent events and have decided to rid themselves of us completely. (at least online that is)

I can understand getting bored with the forums and that's a driving force behind our design for this place. Sometimes you don't want to have to wade through a bunch of drama just to find out what's going on Saturday night. But you don't want to just find an event calendar with no community behind it, because you don't know what's really going on unless you can dip into the scene a little and check out the buzz.

I've spent about five years (I still barely get where they come up with that "seven years" number?) pondering this problem, and I have a lot of ideas for ways to insulate the casual visitor from the drama, while still enabling them to scan the buzz. I have funding and development is in progress. I don't expect anybody to be wowed by the 'alpha' version of the site or even the 'beta', but this machine is going to be pretty neat, I promise.

How am I supposed to tell anyone to come over here when the main issue I had with cooljunkie is on here being compared to Howard Stern? A site where the traffic that is generated by someone who is a bitter racist is of such great importance?

Just like in any night club, one patron's right to free expression only extends to the point of infringing on another patron's right to enjoy themselves without being harassed or offended. We don't want an atmosphere of dictatorial moderator control around here, but we also don't want to run a free-for-all venue that has no bouncers. Bouncers are useful.

I've been Saleen's counterbalance ever since the CoolJunkie forums first went online. I've been resisting endorsing him too officially here because of his wantonly racist and sexist attitude. Our plan is to foster community values that don't condone behavior that offends, especially behavior that offends our target demographic: women who go out a lot.

Now to be realistic, this community will diverge from our kum-ba-ya peace and love ideals pretty quickly. Remember the fantasy that the Nocturnal management had for an ultra-upscale venue full of rich guys and supermodels in floor-length formal gowns? Hehe. This place is full of humans and therefore it will be blemished and imperfect. When that happens we'll have tools here for insulating Nicole from Saleen's racism and sexism.

Tools for that:

1. Nicole, you can add Honky Tonk Man to your "foes" list, making him invisible and irrelevant to you.
2. Moderators/admins can 'correct' inappropriate behavior using thread moderation features.
3. We will have Slashdot-style post rating/filtering in 2008 once we've got a few hundred more members, which will automatically marginalize a lot of the useless noise.
4. The site is fundamentally designed to expose the widom of the forum members through the "wiki" and "guide" tabs to a wider audience that has no interest in forum drama.

or, you could just choose not to be so easily offended.

ditto to what musicalmissionary said at the beginning of this thread

and happy thursday to all

its a pleasure to be browsing new land

look forward to my arrival in FL in the next few days

party on!