Jackson Heights Life

Hi all,

First of all I'm so sorry the site has been down the last couple days. It seems there was a major outage of the server and the company that hosts this site had a very difficult time trying to get it back online. Perhaps it affected more than just our server. Regardless, I've decided to migrate the site to a new server and host.

Please let the moderators know if you see anything strange in the coming days. Unfortunately I was forced to restore from a backup that was generated on 9/1/16, so a few posts are likely missing.

Kind regards,
merm

What do you mean by "profiles are being printed"?

Greetings,

The site appears to have been hacked yesterday and this morning I believe I've fixed the problem by restoring some files form earlier versions. You may still continue to get notices from Google that the site as "malicious" code because it will take them a while to update their records. I've submitted a request to have them review the site again. At this point I don't believe the database itself was compromised, I don't believe usernames or passwords were stolen, however it's always a good time to change passwords so you may want to consider doing that.

Hi all,

The server has been restored after being hacked. We restored off backup but a few hours worth of posts were probably lost. Sorry about that. Hopefully we're back to normal now.

Greetings!

I'm very happy to announce that Chuckster has accepted the moderators invitation to become a global moderator of the forum. Chuckster will be assuming the new role for a term of 6 months. She joins the moderator team to replace Toddg, who is stepping down to assume the role of full time calendar editor. I know I speak on behalf of everyone when I say a huge thanks to Todd for all his work in getting this site off the ground and in welcoming Chuckster to the moderator team.

As the site continues to grow, more moderator positions may become available, and it's our goal to assign new positions as they are needed on a 6-month rotating term.

Our current moderators are:
Shelby2 - Moderator
Chuckster - Moderator
Toddg - Calendar Editor
merm - Site Admin

Thank you all for your continued support of the site.

It's quite easy to see people who violate site guidelines and create multiple accounts by looking at the site logs - that's not happening here currently. However, if it does - all individuals involved will be banned. :police:

I have no reason to suspect foul play, but want to remind all participants how important it is to choose one's words carefully, both online and offline. We live in the 21st century now, and treating each other with respect is very important - for everyone (business owners and individuals alike). Interactions in the real world often find their way online and have an impact, and interactions online often influence the offline.

Children! Don't make me stop this car!   

What I don’t understand, is how do u facilitate dialog while limiting speech?  That’s seems like a true oxymoron to me.

We shape the speech here the same way that a library shapes speech in that setting. Not every setting is appropriate for every topic, or every type of dialog. This setting is no exception. In the same way that certain types of speech and delivery are limited depending on the venue, this venue has a specific purpose and shaped conversation. Like any venue, you are welcome to step outside and say whatever you want (though even in public spaces speech isn't "free"). The purpose of this forum is not to uphold the values of free speech, but to facilitate respectful dialog about Jackson Heights.

I consider some posts to be esoteric and oblique and just plain odd sometimes.  But that’s okay.  Who’d want them to be formulaic?  And more important: what is the formula?

When people use esoteric and oblique messaging to insult, name call, or belittle other members then that speech becomes a problem. That's I think where a problem arises.

Passionate debate is what draws people to a talk forum. Without it you might as well join a garden club. Unlike flowers, not every conversation is pretty.

Hey! What do you have against garden clubs.

Seriously though, I think it's safe to say that the majority of people actually do not come to this site for "passionate debate". People come for a wide variety of reasons, and debate is certainly one of them - but I think it's unfair to characterize most of the audience as coming here for that when my experience is very different. I do not come here for debate - nor do I start community-centered sites to facilitate "debate" exclusively.

In the same way that being "overly protective" and not allowing for any debate will drive people away that are looking for this kind of experience, allowing for "free" (abusive, demeaning, etc) debate to have free reign on the site will drive away people who are not looking for that experience - I'm not just saying that flippantly, this is my experience after 8 years of running sties like these.

The goal is to find a balance that allows the site to thrive as much as possible - and as you've pointed out, it is a work in progress.