Changes at STP

[WeaverGuy]

I'm a media nut (or why else would I be interested in this topic). First, some information. The old STP posts are not accessible on the internet archive (www.archive.org). We see three people now identified at the new site: Cutson, John k, and Davepr, from the old STP, each with their own fiefdom of sorts.

For a time, we can get ahold of past STP pages via what is cached in google. That won't last long. One way to get at this is to parse out the name using spaces (i.e. "squeeze the pulp" in quotes in google, along with other information such as a poster's name, in quotes if there's more than one word in it.) So, have at it if you want to archive any of this stuff (WillR is good at this stuff!).

Now, it would be real interesting to ask Mark Peters what gives. He is cited as one of the founders of STP. Does anybody know him well enough to ask? Has he made any statements? Did he give up? Was he paid off? Does he really support the changes, or was this approach taken as a kind of experiment, to see if these folks (Cutson, Kramer, and Davepr, and one or two others not identifiable on the site) would be able to gain any traction their own, for example? Why did he not try other changes..e.g. making all persons have to be identifiable? Are there others who set up and/or ran STP to ask about such things? Does he really support some of the current obscene terminology (and an obscene picture, albeit a drawing, not a photo) that are there at STP? If he has control, would he please at least allow access to the archives of STP? If not, why not?

I for one do not think that those responsible for these changes ought to get a free pass on this without answering such questions. I also wonder how DavePr, who appeared to have some reasonable points of view and who was against anonymity, would join in now where some of the pager runners appear to in fact be anonymous. Also, does he really think his street cred will be increased by throwing in with this lot????

But, as I say, I'm a media nut. The future is more important, and this current site is really nice!

[WeaverGuy]

I can't not post more here. A bit of searching shows that Rik Faith is the person behind STP. The FAQ for the old STP is here, at least for a while:
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:Vhgvk_7qyHYJ:squeezethepulp.co...

And his home pages are: http://www.cs.unc.edu/~faith/ and http://alephnull.com/.

He has a doctorate in computer science from UNC and does seem quite adept at working the web. Given the nature of the new STP, it does appear that he is still behind it, technically at least. Some would lament that his talents appear to be being diverted, much to the dismay of many. So, the same questions as above apply to Rik Faith; and another would be does he have any pecuniary interest here?

[George Entenman]

Good researching, WG!!!

I guess the STP insiders have a right to their playpen, but I don't think it's right to suppress the archives.

[WeaverGuy]

From the new STP, the see the following comes up with a bit of clicking around.

2007/12/09 22:00 show differences to current version start – created rik_faith.

That is, Rik Faith apparently began making changes on December 9th. I agree with those who
state that some warning would have been appropriate and appreciated.

[Fred Black]

I took a look at the new STP and noticed something very interesting. If you go to squeezethepulp.com/w/?do=recent
and come down to 2008/01/02 09:48 cc:start – weaverguy,
and click on the sunglasses, you get a comparative revision. As this is Robin Cutson’s page, is Robin's Nom de Guerre "Weaverguy? "

If not, why is "Weaverguy" editing Robin's page? Hmmmm

[George Entenman]

That's a good question, Fred. What you see is standard for a wiki (e.g., wikipedia shows you a history of changes, too), but it is strange to see weaverguy there - but he said he'd made a change. But I sure don't see a way to do it myself. Gotta hand it to WG: he's been doing some excellent snooping!

-- ge

[George Entenman]

I finally found it: Click the FEEDBACK link in the right bar to leave a comment.

Not that I intend to.

-- ge

[WeaverGuy]

Fred Black, what you've found is some kind of result of, or artifact of, the wiki page or language or something. I have been clicking around. My guess is that what you see reflects the fact that Robin Cutson did not set something up yet. I could click on it, and hence there was a trail of crumbs with my name, yet I do not have permissions to do anything. As for Ms. Cutson, it remains to be seen whether she will actually do what is implied here. The way the wiki works is that there are a lot of things waiting for the purported contributors to set up. (I'll bet now your name is showing up there if you registered at the site!)

Interestingly, when I was clicking around earlier, on the "recent" link (or something like it), I saw jacquejet's name as having posted to Kramer's discussion, but later it was gone, with no post. My suspicion is that s/he and Kramer are sharing the same login ID (kramer's)...this suspicion is based on some of the language as well as this observation of the name jacquejet coming up and then disappearing later.

Interesting to note that Kramer has changed his GOFY button to GOFindYourself. Still the caps reveal his obscene, immature nature. The change indicates he is lurking here.

[WeaverGuy]

And now, it's been changed to GOOFY, which reminds me of an old Disney joke that can't be told here. Clearly, there's a lot of scrambling going on there....here are the changes...

[[http://www.sesameworkshop.org/|GOFindYourself]] + [[http://www.sesameworkshop.org/|GOOFY]]

[[http://www.sesameworkshop.org/|GOFY]] + [[http://www.sesameworkshop.org/|GOOFY]]


It's time I think to wait a few weeks and then see where they aren't. But it's fascinating to watch the train wreck.

[Ruby Sinreich]

I am really amazed. It's like they created a platform to amplify the worst of the old STP and threw out the rest! Why?

The links for navigation are so encrusted with JMK snideness that it's difficult to understand what is even going on there.

This certainly won't be an improvement on what they had before. Where will the rest of the STP forum participants go now?

[WeaverGuy]

"Where will the rest of the STP forum participants go now?"

Yes, clearly to orangecitizens.com (with a ning or not)! It seems to be just the breath of fresh air and open forum that has been needed.

I've asked the current STP folks to at least release the old archives, noting that they have some obligation to do that, given that they reflect certain journalistic principles. For example, they are TMing some of their stuff, which is an interesting concept to ponder--but not for long, of course. I just chafe at the idea of my campaign for mayor being lost! Just kidding. There were some good ideas there that people should be able to dig out with google searches and the like. (Still available via google's cache, but not for long.)

[Ruby Sinreich]

Personally, I'm kind of glad to see their archive go offline. There was some very malicious and fictitious stuff in there!

I hope people also find the new OrangePolitics (beta at http://orangepolitics.advantagelabs.com) to be a good platform for more discussion. Now that every blog post doesn't go on the front page, we can be much more flexible about who publishes what on the new site.

I look forward you y'all's feedback and suggestions.

= Ruby

[George Entenman]

The link doesn't work at the moment, Ruby. I sure hope the new site works out. Drupal is pretty powerful and I'm impressed that you can figure it out.

-- ge