Taking Stock at the Two-Year Mark
Note: We’re moving this post up from yesterday to encourage more input. It’s that time of year when we ask you to tell us what you’ve liked and haven’t liked on the site over the past year and what you’d like to see more and less of going forward. We’ve said it before, but we’d…
Note: We’re moving this post up from yesterday to encourage more input. It’s that time of year when we ask you to tell us what you’ve liked and haven’t liked on the site over the past year and what you’d like to see more and less of going forward. We’ve said it before, but we’d like to have more architectural appreciation posts. Given our own lack of formal training, we’d be interested in hearing from anyone who would be interested in writing occasionally about the borough’s architectural past and present. Other than that, we have an exciting (we think) new feature coming out in January that will being some order to the service component of the Forum. Also on our wish list: Video house tours of brownstones. And while there are times we wish there were less bashing of new developments on the site, we feel duty-bound to continue to hold bad developers’ feet to the fire. And, of course, we wish people could be a little nicer to each other in comment threads, but that comes with the anonymity of the medium.
The imposter stuff (esp. w/ CrownHeightsProud) is EXTREMELY tiresome and chock full of negative and racist vibes, and I don’t think that simply expecting everyone to ignore the problem is the right solution.
This constant unwarranted blather is making me weary, and I am rapidly losing interest in future interaction with the brownstoner site if not corrected soon.
Please, is there not an effective way to eliminate this troll problem? Can he/she not be publicly humiliated to end further bogus posts?
And yes, it is always easy to spot the bogus posts within a NY second, and not terribly difficult to pity the cretin that does this, but that doesn’t excuse the bad behaviour, IMO.
Anyway, thanks for a great site.
Jimmy
It’s a wonderful site. I read it every day and I haven’t even lived in Brooklyn for several years.
Something else for the suggestion box: make it impossible for more than one person to use the same handle. Many forums have this feature. CrownHeightsProud is being plagued as we speak by somebody posting under his/her name. This might also tamp down troll behavior, maybe?
I agree, Hal. I think my favorite post ever on Brownstoner was the one that had all of the pictures of a house on Hancock St in Bed Stuy. They were sent in by reader who had fallen in love with the house, but did not buy it. The house was chock full of built-ins, woodwork and period detail, and otherwise empty. What a canvas of the old to preserve and cherish, and the opportunity to bring back a gem of a house, with needed repair and upgrades then add one’s own personality and personal possessions. To me, that’s what brownstone living is, and I enjoy seeing those types of entries whenever they appear on this site.
would love to see follow-up blurbs on what houses actually sell for vs their asking price
I love the site and think that you do a great job. I agree with 12:40’s suggestion, the level of rudeness and lack of respect for others’ opinions on some (and just some!) of the posters on the site is rather out of control, and takes away from the ability to have interesting discussions.
Good point that anonymity encourages rudeness. One suggestion: add a reminder to the “post a comment” box viz: “Please be polite, especially when disagreeing” I think you may be surprised how such a simple and obvious reminder might go a long way toward encouraging civility.
I think there are many readers more interested in real estate who don’t understand the passion that some of us have for antiques, and that’s OK. But for me, the center is the house as a labor of love. An antique is sometimes defined as anything older than 100 years, as are most of our houses. The doorknob to the bedroom has survived one hundred and five years and we still turn it every night. The patina on the woodwork, the glow of the yellow pine floor, etc. Some people are obsessed with old wooden sailboats, or classic sports cars. We love our old houses, especially when our own blood, sweat and tears become part of the patina for the next hundred years.
Hi Brownstoner –
I have been reading your blog for a while now and it has been helpful in learning about what is happening in the area and how the market is shaping up (or down). I think a new, interesting angle would be to interview and photograph the people who eventually move into the apartments, brownstones, and townhouses that you profile and produce a photo tour of the space. There are always comments, both positive and negative, about the properties’ potential so I think it would be of value to see how the owners create within the space. It might help readers to gain a better vision of what “could be” in a seemingly uninspiring or throw-away property, or vice versa depending on their view.