Closing Bell: Fair Weather Flea?
At this point, we’ve stopped believing the weather reports, but if you do put stock in those kinds of things, you’d have reason to be optimistic about a dry Flea this Sunday. There are plenty of other reasons for optimism as well: First off, we’ve got the inaugural run of the Flea Scavenger Hunt—find any…
At this point, we’ve stopped believing the weather reports, but if you do put stock in those kinds of things, you’d have reason to be optimistic about a dry Flea this Sunday. There are plenty of other reasons for optimism as well: First off, we’ve got the inaugural run of the Flea Scavenger Hunt—find any of this week’s three items, and they’re yours to keep. To beat the heat, we’ve got organic People’s Popsicle joining existing vendors Chida and Blue Marble. To whet your appetite for antique and vintage finds, check out this recent post on the Flea Blog. For the newbies out the, the Flea hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday; it’s located at 176 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. Closest trains are the C and G to Washington/Clinton. Or you can take any of the number of trains that go to Atlantic Station and make the 10-minute stroll up Lafayette Avenue from there.
Actually, Jack, it’s not as simple as that.
First, it’s not going to cost anything–not even one dollar–to register with a username.
Second, the email address associated with the username can be ANY email address. It needn’t be the email address you normally use. It can be a throwaway webmail address. The right software can create a thousand of these for you with the click of a button.
We’re not charging anyone to join the party, but we’re going to make it mighty tempting for folks to leave early!
“Typically, the non-guest comments are at least as hateful and nonsensical as the guest posts.”
Anonymity makes it worse. Most people don’t want to connect an e-mail to an account. Simple as that.
You know how you control hecklers at a show? You charge at least $1 at the door. You’d be amazed at how many chucklheads you get rid of that way..
“what are these cornballs going to do to fill their workday now?”
They’ll register under a variety of made-up usernames and continue posting as usual.
Next question?
I’m with you, BrooklynLove.
Yeah! This is my last chance as a guest to tell the most jerky guests that I am glad that they will be gone. Maybe we can get back to talking about the actual topics of the threads now. Some predict the demise of Brownstoner because of this decisions. I rather doubt it as more people will return and participate–the ones who have gotten tired of reading threads that are mostly insult, spam, Biff self-love, unfounded rumors, and same weekly (and weak) joke about the flea being closed. Not to mention the overused comments such as “go back to Iowa”, bitter renter, etc. etc.
I welcome The What and the Park-Slope cheerleaders. They may be predictable but at least they have opinions and the ability to construct sentences more complex than “you suck”.
PS: If you think are so clever as to make the next post a simple “you suck” I beat you to that concept.
less than 12 hours to go …
what are these cornballs going to do to fill their workday now?
jack, yours is one of the top most uninformative posts on this thread and you are “logged” in.
I think the move to mandatory registration is a positive step.
You’re wrong, Jack. Typically, the non-guest comments are at least as hateful and nonsensical as the guest posts. So, eliminating the guest posts won’t address your concern AT ALL. If it would, I’d be the first person to call for mandatory sign-ins.
What would work, I think, is more attentive oversight of the blog and more technical expertise. I agree with the earlier poster re the spammers. The spammer that has plagued this site has vanished and I’m sure it’s because he considers himself “victorious” now. We shouldn’t give into these wingnuts. Before we compromise our own websites, we should find ways to block their access. And their access may continue to be a problem even after registration is required. What’s to stop this pig from creating 1000 yahoo email accounts and registering with brownstoner under 1000 different user names? There are ways to do this that would be fully automated. It’s so easy it’s not even funny.
Mandatory registration will do two things:
(1) Give the spammers, trolls, etc. the cheap thrill of feeling like they’ve actually won the war this time.
(2) Damage this site.