Reading the Advocate online while sipping coffee is one of my daily rituals. And one of my daily indulgences has been to take a peek at the Advocate's Topix message boards, where our
fellow citizens anonymously rant about the Mill River project, volunteer vs. paid firefighters, school redistricting, the superintendent, the mayor, overcrowded multi-family dwellings, and more.
While Topix can be a forum for the aggressive, it doesn't exclude the passive; if you dislike a post, you might select a cheerful little peanut or flame graphic for "nuts" or "incendiary." If only real life were that simple. Don't like what your coworker is going on about? Here's a little peanut sticker for your lapel, sir. 'Nuff said!
Alas, no more will my eyes bug out over the madcap ravings of other Advocate readers, because the Advocate has apparently tuned into the fact that the Topix message boards are a playground for Teh Crazy. They've discontinued the relationship.
I admit, I leaned on Topix for a peek into people's experiences with the public schools in particular, since I have an almost-three-year-old at home. I learned a few things; many people did provide useful information and thoughtful posts. But I'm not entirely sorry to see the Advocate Topix boards go. Something about the way Topix was a step removed from the actual Advocate did, I think, foster dialogue that was also a step removed from civil. In fact, Advocate groundlings often ventured into unbridled troll territory, with posts reeking of racism and xenophobia. Perhaps by moving toward a board moderated by the Advocate, they might rein things in a bit. Or not. Hard to say. (What do you all think?)
I do enjoy having the ability to directly comment on a story, a la The New York Times, because I think thoughtful discourse related to an article can add dimension, but it seems that this option is for the time being only going to be available for the Stamford 411 blog posts on the Advocate. Which means we most likely won't catch a glimpse of people's myriad thoughts on the angry in-line skater.
We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll give this move a
