StreetEasy Administrators

FWIW, I've just stopped posting for the most part. The number of threads involving silly inter-poster rivalries have prolifferated in the last two months or so. I think the quality of information in the threads and exchange of views on RE matters has significantly deteriorated of late. Compare recent threads to what appeared on the forum a year ago or 18 months ago. It's startling.

i think this is happening because people aren't buying and selling and they're just in a silly mode for now. It's unfortunate but hopefully it will change in the fall.

wise words julia....

We have to make changes or otherwise clean up the discussions a couple of times a year.

Your advice is welcome. If you'd rather not post publicly, email support@streeteasy.com

Thanks!

It's true. There just isn't as much going on right now. Everything seems to be in stasis - not much moving, lots of inventory, and big price cuts are starting to happen regularly enough not to provoke debate. But I apologize for my part in it.

kylewest, it's -- or rather you're -- worth a lot. It does get wearisome scrolling past the pointless repetitive blah-blah-blah, but please hang in there.

"Your advice is welcome"

install vBulletin.

kylewest, your advice is great. Please come back here from time to time. And you have a free lunch from me anytime you want it.

ali r.
{downtown broker}
ali [at] dgneary [dot] com

advice welcome:
allow to search/sort by login
lets me follow the credible and allows exposure of impersonators

I'd love to see a "Forget" button next to each topic in the talk summary page:

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk

Love how I can see who started the topic on this page too, and just based on user name I would immediately "Forget" a lot of topics.

i have only been on here since December '08 but i thought that about 2 months ago things deteriorated a bit...of course, back in December I was a sponge with pointed, specific questions to help me gather up as much knowledge as I could for my sale. when i made intelligent posts and asked smart (or easy) questions that i needed answers to i got those answers (thanks guys!). i used to eagerly scroll the topics and could always find something helpful. now it can be much harder to take...i may add to that with some of my comments from time to time but that is partly boredom with the available discussions and partly that i just can't help myself.

"And you have a free lunch from me anytime you want it."

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Please take "ignore" option back to being available to everybody, not just subscribers. Otherwise it looks like it's an extortion.

I agree with much of the above. Definitely shark sitings in these parts of late. Perhaps the Admins should be able to re-classify threads into the "Anything" category when the conversation deteriorates or shifts outside the scope of the headline. If the category labels accurately reflected the discussions, we could more easily avoid entering into personal and inane discourse zones.

administrators, i am not in favor of censorship per se, but people who morph into other people's handles by creating ones that are essentially the same should be blocked.

please remove ColumbiaCounty. Columbia_Dump is obviously not columbiacounty, and is just noxious, but the former is being deceptive.

stakan, logging into StreetEasy is free, and allows you to use the "ignore this person" option.

Valldejuli, you are right, my bad. Some glitch probably a couple of weeks ago.

Aboutready, I don't thing you can interfere on someone else's behalf. That IS sensorship.
As Valldejuli correctly pointed out, the "ignore" button works.

stakan, they've done it before. i don't care WHAT ColumbiaCounty writes. but there is a reason boards have rules regarding anonymous posting, it is to give people identities of a sort, and promote a limited amount of responsibility.

it's not just ignore, which i find to be a lovely tool. it's the viability of this as a forum. how off-putting and confusing do you think this might be to newcomers?

aboutready, if the rightful owner of the name wants to say something, he or she will. You cannot demand action on someone else's behalf.

ok...please remove "ColumbiaCounty."

stakan, the administrators have done it before, i believe it is their policy, and the righful owner was not the one to request it. i am merely pointing out an offender. if they disagree, it's their choice to allow the poster to retain that identity. obviously.

but, as an aside, i'm absolutely certain cc would agree, so i feel no compunction not to ask on his behalf. if he has an issue, then he should address it with me.

ar, as you see cc did it. But it's none of YOUR business.

Dear SE Admin: Please remove VV67th as well. I almost got taken in by that one yesterday, but there is no crazy like our dear W67th's crazy, so I caught it after a moment.

evnyc, don't you know it's none of your business whether people try to destroy this site?

cc, you've got mail.

Let's not go to an extreme where the funny, amusing, thoughtful, RE savy posters such as W67th, AR, etc. leave SE.

AR, of course it is! What else would save me from brain rot? Or maybe SE causes brain rot. I don't know.

I've also been disappointed by the Streeteasy dialogues of late. Very sophomoric.

I miss the thoughtful dialogues like one led by kylewest a while back ago on how to negotiate. I found that entire thread very USEFUL and it helped me to recently negotiate a 14% drop in my coming year's rent.

Let's have more such postings and fewer ones from people bored out of the mind at work trading mindless barbs!

saving my alternate name (i instead of l) before anyone gets any ideas :)

great idea :)

Yeah, I've done it too.

Sorry to talk to myself but just wanted to see how different it looked on here. This specific issue could be solved if the board was set in a font that actually differentiated between capitol i and lower case L. Many do. Some nice ones too. It's a drag that this is even a problem.

I've been using this site since January 2008 and, like some others, have been struck by the decline in the quality of the discussions. I don't know whether this has to do with the market "holding pattern" some have alluded to, or the growth in SE participation since the article of a couple of months back in the Times, but I've come to the conclusion that the current state of this site is a case of rapidly decreasing marginal returns. I get a lot more out of more closely monitored sites like baseline scenario, housing crash, calculated risk and naked capitalism. I'm outta here.

Now I'm logged in via my alternate login, VaIIdejuIi. Someone else has already grabbed VaLLdejuLi, hmmm...

Yes, I agree with jasonkyle or maybe he is logged in as jasonkyIe, anyway, StreetEasy should change the font that distinguishes characters better.

so which brokerage hired all the fake posters? or is it all the same person who had that total breakdown on that thread a few days ago? do you not see how an obviously fake name is making you (and therefore your points and opinions) look bad. if you want to argue a point come up with your own name and argue it.

this feels like one frantic loony.

We are quite happy to whack the impersonators...grow up or go away.

Rather than clutter the home page summary with more text and a button, we'll just make it so that you don't see any threads started by someone you are ignoring. That should make it much cleaner for many of you.

We'll look at the other suggestions and keep them coming.

@jasonkyle: or is it all the same person who had that total breakdown on that thread a few days ago?

which thread? which poster? I missed it and I want tosee!

Simply remove the duplicates. It's not censorship, it's telling a petulant child to go sit in the corner.

I hadn't actually thought it through enough to come up with what Julia did up above re: boredom and frustration breeding a proliferation of lousy threads. True enough. No, I'm not gone...just have much less to add to online feuding without purpose.

Ali, thank you for lunch offer...maybe in the dog days of summer I'll take you up on that. :) Would be fun to chat.

@splaken
i think this might be one to check out
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/11693-fighting-words-about-lic-and-other-fringe-areas

The best message board I have followed (in the arts) had a volunteer board of 6 moderators who deleted
all vituperative attacks. Censorship? Yes. However, I didn't have to waste time reading about sharp writing implements penetrating posters sphincters.

kylewest...glad to hear you're staying...the crazies will leave soon enough!

I agree to a point, but let’s not forget that most of the back and forth is good natured needling and fact is, there is a ton of really good stuff within most of those threads. I don't agree with steve or Rhino much but they are both smart as hell and have a ton to offer. The runaway threads may seem inane, but there is lots more to them if you actually try to absorb the content. The ribbing may be a distraction, but IMHO it is just old fashion fun. If the content doesn't interest you then don't read the thread. There is much of value for those who want to take the time to understand it.

Part of the problem may be that we could be setting a more aggressive tone for new posters that aren't used to the banter. I understand and respect kylewest’s point, but let’s not go overboard.

oh the pain, the complete and utter pain. agreeing with JM two days in a row. where are my sedatives?

juiceMan...ditto

"but they are both smart as hell and have a ton to offer."

Aw, shucks.

Yes, the back and forth is helpful.

Seeing two sides fight it out gets to the truth... and as long as the bear side keeps demolishing the bull side, I know I can relax.

When a bull comes up with a good argument, it will be time to start watching things more carefully.

ericho75, Deb, exit2, malraux, oldbuyers, Carol, BIG MAN HUG to all you guys! oh let's not forget Colonelklink, shrimwrappedinbacon, petridish, Tech_guy.... did I forget anyone?

w67thstreet...i hope you're the real one and not some poor imitation...i'm glad you're still posting, even though half the time i have no idea what you saying (don't stop)!!

"ericho75, Deb, exit2, malraux, oldbuyers, Carol, BIG MAN HUG to all you guys! oh let's not forget Colonelklink, shrimwrappedinbacon, petridish, Tech_guy.... did I forget anyone?"

Spunky? The guy from Lehman? And I'd throw R*fus in the pile...

So streeteasy, what has actually been done on this front? Have you banned the fake names? If you look at the postings by the fakes, they look pretty similar so it is probably one person and should be easy to figure out.

I haven't seen any new ones... have you?

No but I have not received a response to my emails directly to streeteasy either. Just wondering if I am going to see maithus start posting again if I do.

malthus, whoever's doing it is almost surely a regular poster, and it's got to be time consuming (and pretty boring after about 5 minutes). Even if StreetEasy hasn't banned them, it'll most likely go away on its own. I mean, even rufus is pretty silent these days (unless it's him, of course).

Correct it is definitely a regular poster as the person clearly has familiarity with what the various users tend to post. In fact, I have my guess on who it is...

it was alpo

malthus, interesting. i think i see at least two posters, one of whom seems to be many people and although splintered in terms of personality presented easily identified. there is another more interesting possibility for some of the posts, and it starts with the letters s&m, just coincidentally.

cc, you're giving alpie WAY too much credit. he can't even poop in the right place.

damn--you're right as always.

Marks & Spencer?

Am I getting warmer?

thats very funny.

Malr**x and Spu**y. Neither seemed the type to give up easily, both seemed to have viscious tendencies when cornered, and both hated bears with a passion, increasingly so as things got more bearish. Just a thought, but I have seen some signs of S particularly.

But much of it is of the ericho variety. and then there is the fairly amusing prada, edna threads, which just add to life generally, in the humor they engender.

Okeh, then, ignore email!

I never paid enough attention to those two to be able to tell.

And *I'm* such a bad detective that I now know you're Eddie, who also likes to asterisk out people's names!!!