Moving Forward
If you’re a troll or a spammer, you better try to get your last licks in now, because by Monday, the guest commenting function will be a thing of the past on Brownstoner. If you haven’t signed up for a user account yet, please try to do so in the next couple of days. (If…
If you’re a troll or a spammer, you better try to get your last licks in now, because by Monday, the guest commenting function will be a thing of the past on Brownstoner. If you haven’t signed up for a user account yet, please try to do so in the next couple of days. (If you don’t receive your verification email within a couple of minutes, just email us and we’ll verify you by hand.) If you already have a user account and voted for the elimination of guest commenting, please put your money where your mouth is and make an effort to get involved in discussions. Another to remember is that you are still anonymous when you comment with a username: Just pick a silly name like Cobble Hill Guy and stick with it; no other readers will be able to see your email address or know who you really are. Our hope and expectation is that the improved quality of the threads—along with our ability to boot anyone who steps out of bounds—will more than make up for any decline in the quantity of comments.
We know that there are a lot of long-time readers out there who’ve gradually been moving to the sidelines of the discussions as they’ve grown nastier and more inane, and hopefully they will take this as an opportunity to re-engage and take the sense of community back to its roots where we can have meaningful, useful discussions about real estate, architecture and the many issues that confront the borough and its neighborhoods as the inevitable wheels of change continue to turn.
There are going to be a number of new features coming to the site in the next few months, the use of which will also be enhanced by having a user account. The first of these, launching next week, involves a group effort at building a comprehensive restaurant guide for the borough. (Having a username is particularly useful because other readers can come to trust, or distrust, you opinions about restaurants.) Other features down the pipe include map-based mobile access of the Brownstoner archives, neighborhood emails and some new service-oriented improvements in the architect and contractor spaces.
I work as a vice president at one of the top NY brokerages, and while many of you probably hate my kind, I also have insider information at times that I like to post anonymously.
I am not one to tout a property, but there are brokers who tip off brownstoner and this new system will put an end to that for us. From now on in our office, Bstoner is off limits.
It’s unlikely that I will continue contributing to this blog but I can’t say that I blame you for taking this step. Good luck. At least you’ll be rid of that d*mned spammer.
Dave: I saved my log-in, no way I am typing that every time.
Whether you’re logged in as “guest” or “mrsilly” has absolutely no impact on whether your employer, or anyone else for that matter, can track you! None at all. The only difference is that we will have an email address associated with your username that won’t get released to anyone under any circumstances. This will make it easier to stop trolls and easier for you to develop an online identity on the site that other readers can interact with, trust (or not), etc. It will also make it easier down the line to use the more service-oriented features that will be added to the site. In no way does registering for an account under an alias raise the chance of your employer tracking your activities.
1:18 you will now be known to everyone as the loser that you are with that name.
It’ll be as if you’re trying to have a conversation with someone face-to-face but you’ve got a nose piercing and so nobody’s listening to what you’re saying, just seeing the ridiculous nose piercing.
just block dave and biff and the quality of this website would improve overnight…
If this thread is any indication of how things will be going in the future, I think I’ll pass.
This Dave/Biff stuff honestly is ruining the blog.
NOT the guest posts.
Take a vote. I guarantee you’ll find the same. My entire office used to read and comment on Brownstoner religiously. After Dave and Biff took over, I’m the only one who still even reads the blog, and I’ve about had it with the comments section.
Those two really ruin any chances of intelligent conversation on this website.
“AndYouWillKnowUsbyTheTrailofRenters”, please refer the following comment by Mr. B that will soon be of interest to you:
“along with our ability to boot anyone who steps out of bounds”.
You might just end up with the honor of being the first bold type guest to have your IP address blocked.
bye. I’ve contributed lots of interesting comments over the past 3+ years, but I really don’t want my employer tracking me.