Talk changes

We enjoyed this...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/opinion/30zhuo.html

Thank you!

Sounds like a good idea.

se, i think you may also need to make it so that any new poster's post doesn't cause an old post to jump to the top.

angry little troll.

Actually, i find necessary for new posts to bump a thread up so i know when there is a new comment added. However, when street easy remove a comment, no need for us to know it's been removed. Just delete the greyed out "comment removed" thing. We don't wanna know, and in some way a troll can still find glorification seeing his name greyed out.

sledge, the troll it trying to comment on multiple negative posts so that it is very difficult to get to real content. so there are 10 or so bumped up posts that have no new content at all. no comment removed, nothing. but it makes it difficult for new people to get to real threads, and it just promotes threads that may be intimidating to newcomers.

what does subject to moderation mean?

If "subject to moderation" means that a new username's posts don't appear at all until such time as an SE staffer has approved each particular post, and that continues until legitimacy is achieved for that username, that sounds great. Am I correct that that's the exact new plan?

Given the prevailing level of obsession and insanity on this site, would it be easier to grey out all postings, and let people opt in to viewing what they want to see......

buyerbuyer, on a different site, I would be doing a "recommend this post". i.e. in total agreement.

Thanks. Next week we will change it such that only a visible new comment updates a discussion.

ah, right now it seems as that any post by someone in the moderation key doesn't appear, but the thread they are posting to is bumped up.

hence what you see now. but i think that's maybe an oversight. because it doesn't make sense to allow a new poster to so pollute the board with nothingness.

again, good work se. your solution hasn't and will not occur overnight, but it may indeed happen.

there you have it!

Thanks for trying to save the site.

I don't know if Street easy would like to find inspiration from what i'm gonna say but i'm a member of another highly popular forum that moderates content as follow ( i'm just gonna simplify it):
The Forum rules specifies what type of behavior is not tolerated on the forum toward other members
- A member who commits an infraction receives a yellow card. 3x yellow cards and you get a red card with a temporary membership suspension (2 month).
-Members who commit "infractions" that may be considered minor may receive warning through PM or email at the moderator's discretion and receive a temporary yellow card that expires after a month. The Yellow card becomes permanent if the member commit another minor infraction again before the temporary yellow card expiration date.

Member can track their infraction history in their profile accessible only from himself and the moderator who will usually leaves a comment next to the Yellow card or red card to track the "infraction" history of the member.

SE, good work. excellent work.

thank you.

Better, thanks. The order on the talk summary page still doesn't match the timestamping of legitimate posts.

"updated about x hours ago" indicator is showing incorrect number of hours.

but ah have there been any (ili)illegitimate posts that have made it through? that's what i was looking at.

Great work SE!!!!!

bubble wrap? streetnews? articles?

This is very good

Not sure what 'moderation' means, but it sounds like the beginning of a solution. Thank you, Streeteasy, for the willingness to devote resources to the problem. Unfortunate the problem exists, but thank you for addressing it.

anything to make it a little less crazy on here. i've mostly stopped posting and read fairly infrequently now.

I'm sure streeteasy appreciate the various ideas and words of encouragement for dealing with the troll(s). However, where are the apologies from people who engaged the troll(s) on a regularly basis? You know who you are. Where are the pledge to stop engaging the troll(s) going forward?

You've found a solution to one part of the problem. What I find equally offputting are others: the nasty, offensive personal attacks; the hijacking of threads by posters with political/economic obsessions and agendas; and the mindless clutter of postings by a few who seem to have little else to do but post compulsively (I notice that one very frequent poster has already offered 6 posts on this thread -- out of 27 --saying essentially the same thing.)

Perhaps the answer is a system like the colored card warnings described above that is applied to everyone. This is supposed to be a site about real estate, not about Barack Obama, or whose wife is a doctor (or whose husband is a lawyer), or sex toys or how much money people make personally. There are lots of other places online to post that stuff.

I tire of reading personal and political attacks and all the other irrelevant baloney I have to wade through just so a few constant posters can get their jollies or feed their egos -- or their obsessive needs. The most frequent offenders are NOT newbies. Once the behavior is tolerated it becomes the norm, particularly since others who don't behave that way are driven away by it.

If this were an in-person discussion, rather than an anonymous online discussion, these folks would not be tolerated by the moderator or the group. Can you imagine taking a class in real estate and having people pop up to attack each other personally, boast about their possessions, natter on compulsively about their lives, rant about politics, and hijack a conversation with irrelevant topics and comments? Can you imagine a newcomer to the class asking a simple question and being answered by hateful negative comments, scorn and derision? It would not happen in a real group. When it happens online, people who are serious about the original topic, or who know how to behave, simply opt out and find someplace else to go.

It would be helpful if some basic standards of civility and sticking to the topic were introduced here. It might take several months of deleting offensive or off-topic posts, but in the end the serious people would remain to have a serious converstion about real estate. The others could host a site where they can take potshots at each other,boast about their possessions and hate [Democrats, lawyers, poor people, each other -- pick one] to their hearts' content.

general, what a well thought out post. When I used to teach, I found humor and a certain "comfort" level helped kids learn better.

As a student, I always gravitated towards econ/finance professors that had real life experiences and success, and it helped if they had a hot wife, drove a porsche/sailed and was good looking. And if they could beat me in squash and have a beer with me afterwards, well then I'd study like a maniac to ace the final.

But herez I iz, all trolled and crap. Railing against all the RE BULLZ, let me just give you a partial list:
US tax code, millions of RE borkers, hundred thousand mortgage bankers, delusional nyc re sellers (at least 18K right NOW), Geitner, Bernie, Obama, Pelosi, every head of a international/domestic bank, Riversider, Spinniker, Printer, ph41, all the borker/parent at my kids school, the borker board member at my yacht club, my delusional condo LL, my mother in law LL who just declared BK,.... and that's just a mini list....

VS. little old trolled w67, so you see why I have curse so much? It's so hard to be heard above the bull bullshit.

SE, great news. I have mostly stopped posting and reading because of the trolls.

testing.... testing.... one, two....

So, does that mean that someone like myself who tends to play the devils advocate and points out the darker side of the NY real estate universe will be considered a "troll"?
Or are all points of view welcome as long as you don't post derogatory or harmful language?

Hopefully all points of view will be welcomed. Otherwise "Moderation" will simply mean censorship and groupthink. Which is sort of the impression I get from the grey-outs. I've never seen that before and found it to be somewhat sophomoric. If a person is deliberately offensive then ban them. But censorship in any flavor is just bad form.

If this forum is only going to support the interests and mindset of NY RE professionals and power brokers then what's the point? Why not just lock out the general public all together? Unless the function of streeteasy is just propaganda.

Thank you, Streeteasy!

Andwin, streeteasy has always been accepting of and has encouraged differing points of view. For the most part they have had a hands off approach, which is appreciated. The troll situation has just gone on too long and has caused to much damage to ignore.

generalogoun's post hits the nail on the head. Maybe they should limit posts per day from any individual (both as an absolute restraint, but more significantly to convey the idea that endless repitition and tit-fot-tat idiocy is not supposed to be the norm).

Limits on posts per day will result in the spread of multiple personality disorder.

Suggestion - ban certain people from SE.

I'm not, in general, in favor of banning people except in egregious cases of violation. But what I find offensive is that each time a Troll Control was implemented, there was a near-simultaneous permatrolling of one individual who is, um, colorful in his replies ... but basically just in reply to the troll, or to the wall of noise coming from the bubble-industrial complex.

On the other hand, the username that was shown to have made within a short time sample (one month? I don't remember) more posts than the next few very active posters COMBINED, and has started thousands upon thousands of completely off-topic political partisan "weekly talking points" messages, remains undisciplined. Please ban that one, streeteasy, or wind up making him/her feel vindicated.

Thank you.

Alan...Perfectly nailed.

well, i think general economic topics that involve real estate or interest rates are ok (or on the mortgage crisis)...but pure anti-obama or whatever is not ...I don't think all the macro discussion topics are irrelevant, if that is what is being suggested.

buyerbuyer, I agree that there are economic developments relevant to the outlook of NYC residential RE, but only the tiniest percentage of that username's "economics" threads fit that bill.

<1%

Second genrealgoun.

alan you're suggesting sensoring based on subject matter instead of bad behavior and that's a slippery slope for this board

I seconz Alan's comment ... iz anyone really not amuzed by the "colorful" poster? Won't be the same with him grayed out.

otherwise, I like the other changes.

i believe that everyone is in agreement that there is one individual who has made it his/her lifework to create multiple identities to chase after a select group of posters. this individual has created numerous log on names and postings to immediately reveal that it is yet another manifestation of the same person.

clearly whoever has the desire and ability to do this must be a regular poster. in addition, this person has also seeded the site with multiple sleeper identities where the postings are far more reasonable yet have a similar intent.

it really is a shame.

"Or are all points of view welcome as long as you don't post derogatory or harmful language?"

The history is clear that this is streeteasy's intention and that they have followed it in practice.

andwin - If your post is responding to w67's self-serving I'm-being-persecuted-for-speaking-truth-to-power post, it would be a mistake to take that at face value. He's had way more posts deleted for offensive language than anyone else on this board. Not to mention that his premise that the boards are under the thumb of the RE bull and broker community is comical. The overall balance of posters tips very much toward the bearish side and it's the bulls who are more likely to get shouted down when they appear. As far as I've ever been able to tell, streeteasy itself is neutral in the bull v bear debate.

On language/content, SE has if anything been tolerant to a fault, in that they have fairly consistently removed derogatory/offensive posts (and when needed posters), while taking a very light hand on off-topic spam, both in terms of non-RE related threads and off-topic tangents and personal shouting matches within otherwise valuable threads. If people can't moderate their own behavior, I would personally like to see more active moderation by SE, not less. If you call that censorship and don't want it, then I'm also absolutely fine with your suggested alternative (banishment). To me it's a distinction without a difference.

"clearly whoever has the desire and ability to do this must be a regular poster. in addition, this person has also seeded the site with multiple sleeper identities where the postings are far more reasonable yet have a similar intent."

......clearly the troll is someone who works for streeteasy!......hellloooooo!??

Streeteasy, thank you. Troll management is no fun, and it's unbelievable how much time and energy a certain troll devotes to clogging up the board.

Thank you but this doesn't solve people from making nasty racial statements. I stopped posting after my ethnicity was attacked quite viciously, and just now one person gets put in the time out room for it and the other one I think is still here on normal mode.

I don't see the big deal posting topics on politics or economics. The discussions are usually clearly labeled, so just don't read them if you don't want to.

Now, hijacking a discussion with comments irrelevant to that discussion is annoying.

LICC, it's disruptive to those of us who are here to discuss RE. Having to wade through pages to see a link to a RE discussion is disruptive.

Finally! I'm so sick of trolls ruining the intergrity of this website.

*integrity

Thanks SE, appreciate your efforts to stop the trolls.

If people were civil to each other, we wouldn't need troll control. On many boards, people feel the anonymity of posting gives them the right to say things that they would never say in person. As a society, we need to be more civil.

It's such a shame that SE, like many internet board owners, are forced to spend more time & money just to make sure that people act with a modicum of civility.

The behavior reported in the NYTs article is chilling. What makes us, as a society, feel that it is OK to engage in such behavior?

Think twice before you speak, act or post. We need to think of how we can express ourselves without deliberately hurting someone else.

I guess unacceptable nastiness has become the new normal, so banning its practitioners has become a feat of superhuman discernment. Pathetic. Most people know exactly when lines are being crossed beyond return, and it has nothing to do with subject matter. It's tone. It's attack. It's vulgar pornographic lingo. Simple.

I also noticed that during an economic crisis, people tend to be more angry!

"unacceptable nastiness has become the new normal".

Exactly, lowery. I feel this "new normal" must be fought. It is not acceptable.

Those who unjustifiably unleash their anger & bile on the internet or in 3D must ask themselves "what am I so angry about?" & then start to heal whatever it is that taunts them.

Thank you streeteasy for greying 67. 67, with his abject vulgarity deserved his hidden status.

Talk about hypocrisy

hey streeteasy admins, can i make a suggestion - dont block people you want to throttle.

my devious developer introduced me to the most wicked tactic ever when managing spammers on our live chat sites eg http://www.LiveBasketballChat.com

You dont "ban" or "block" a user - you just make them invisible ....to everyone else EXCEPT themselves.

When they log in they still see their messages like normal so they keep posting (and dont create a new account) but no one else knows they are there any more :)

like i said wickedly devious.

Street Easy -- I don't understand why people are congratulating you for finally instituting something that every responsible board does (and has done for many years). It is as if Ford announced that 2012 models will have seat belts and everyone applauds their idea. You acted irresponsibly in not moderating the discussion and filtering out abusive comments earlier and you can't try to "fix" your earlier negligence by all of the sudden adopting what is the norm in the industry.

inonada, how many discussions on economics or politics do you think there are at any given time? It seems to me that of the 15 discussions on the front page, usually only 2 or 3 will be on economics or politics. Maybe 5 at most. It doesn't seem to me to be so numerous that you have to wade through them to find a real estate discussion.

Although these topics can only tangentially relate to real estate, and at times get into a tit for tat back and forth, I think that overall they are interesting. I like when someone like Riversider posts an interesting article or link and gives his views and would not like to see streeteasy prohibit those types of posts.

I also see value in most of the political and economic topics (and can ignore the ones I dont care about).

THe problem is all the idiotic personal disputes. People who hate each other should stop imposing taunts "moron" etc. on a zillion threads a week.

And, sorry, but "jokes" about lic (where i have never ever been) are not funny.

mideast=- Having done little to control the board, I think that SE was happy with the traffic all the drama was creating in the short run....and now must be getting nervous for some reason, perhaps due to a downturn in traffic.

I welcome a zero-tolerance policy for abusive language. It adds nothing, and takes away from newcomers who might have a new twist on things but are turned off (imagine that!) by being called a whore, lemming, etc. because they decided to purchase an apartment.

and I definitely engage in the political discussions, so clearly I enjoy them (for the most part), but if SE decides to eliminate those, or create a separate board for those, I have no problem with that and will happily obey the rules.

the single biggest abuser constantly changes identities --- both in an obvious way and with seemingly innocuous identities. how does your suggested zero tolerance control that person's behavior?

I strongly encourage a languagae filter. There's no need for x-rated discussion or cursing.

I love the economical and political discussion. If economics and politics don't affect real estate then what does? Also, licc is right; Economics or politics only occupy 1-4 of the threads at most. Plus, what i find most enjoyable is the cross section of posters on streeteasy. It's a mix of left, right, middle, etc. I do agree the personally attacks and vulgarity should stop.

buyerbuyer: the argument that traffic is the main reason behind anything we do about StreetEasy Talk has been raised before. Both as "they do nothing about the trolls because they bring them traffic" and "they have to do something about the trolls because they are losing traffic".

Truth is, the number of pageviews for StreetEasy Talk is less than 3% of overall traffic. We don't provide these discussion boards as a way to bump our traffic. We do it because every now and then, someone posts some insightful comments that are actually useful and well thought out.

Still doesn't excuse your earlier failure to exercise proper and standard monitoring.

streeteasy,

In order to help pay for the moderation service, perhaps you can sell display ads to mental health professionals and drug companies/distributors specializing in anger management, multiple personality disorder, low self-esteem, sleep disorders (for the late posters), etc... As you know, such targeted ads fetch premium rates, especially those displayed to the posters flagged by the moderators.

Of course there's also opportunity for ads based on the words from the each comment similar to ads from gmail.

I agree about the obscenities. I would like to see posts with cursing or swearing, even if someone puts $#%# in the middle of the words, to be deleted. Name-calling, although annoying, would be hard to judge but there should be no issue keeping out obscene language.

Suggestion:
1)Limit all users to 3 new threads a week
2)If more than 10 users puts someone on "ignore," that person loses their grecian formula and turns gray, then they get your full attention and are subject to deletion or down the road reinstatement.

Talk about missing the forest for the trees. It is not just the "blue" language; you guys live in NYC and should really get over your prudery. You hear a lot worse stuff on the street every day. It is the personal, unfounded attacks which, in most instances, would be illegal and actionable if they were not cloaked in anonymity. There is nothing wrong with saying "eff you" if the recipient deserves it. Saying "eff you" and "you are a whore" goes to someone's reputation (unless, of course, that is the person's profession!). Even worse is when people attack a poster's family. There is no cause for that kind of stuff and SE should have addressed that particular type of trolling way, way earlier.

"If more than 10 users puts someone on "ignore," that person loses their grecian formula and turns gray, then they get your full attention and are subject to deletion or down the road reinstatement."

Total disagree. This is tyranny at its worst. Steeteasy should have objective standards that are clearly disseminated.

Julia -- Quick question: what is tyranny at its best? Maybe you are referring to the first Bush (pere, not fils) administration?

TownerE
Though I agree with allowing blue language, I generally disagree with ad hominem attacks.

Julia
You can make it 20 users if you like, but it is the opposite of tyranny, it is jury by your peers.
See if there are 20 people that want nothing to do with what someone writes, there is precedent for SE to investigate whether or not that poster contributes something valuable to their site. Then they can spend the time investigating if the person is a jerk, or is unfairly being singled out becuase of their political views or something else.
Point is it's a 2 step process that both warns a member, and throws cold water on hostility. This is not a freedom of speech argument either as SE is a business and can limit or allow any speech it wants on it's forum. It's a judgement call between, most available information vs loss of interest by productive participants. Ive seen too many valuable posters disappear in the last 6 months no doubt SE has noticed as well.

Agree with many of the comments here - and applaud the StreetEasy team for working hard to do something about this. I think several among us were fixated on one particularly dedicated troll but unwittingly did a lot to hurt this site ourselves (and still do in some cases, unfortunately, IMHO). I support the "greying out" of particularly obnoxious repeat offenders, and hope it's an effective deterrent that forces those with actual insight to cut on the insults and up on the smarts. I don't care about the political threads. I simply don't read them unless something catches my eye, so they don't bother me at all - and the loud votes from a select few to ban Riversider seem misguided, based on what I've seen (and I certainly acknowledge I don't know what goes on behind the scenes or on every thread, so if there's egregious behavior, then bring on the grey of course).

Streeteasy should have objective standards that they (as owner) should implement to best serve their customers. If they say no politics, fine.. If they say bad language okay, fine. But they should decide on the objective standards not fleeting posters.

What is the point of view if someone posts constantly about how he dislikes Long Island City and repeatedly asks and asks and asks if no response is forthcoming within an hour? Or if someone tells you to short gold 2 years ago or tells you 2 years ago in late 08 that stocks will do fine and then uses that as a principal support for why renting is ALWAYS better than buying?

streeteasy doesn't give a rats behind what is talked about on this board as long as it does not erode their business model. The last thing they want to do is monitor posts for "appropriate" content or set up rules for what can and cannot be discussed. They have much better things to do with their time, such as running a business. IMO, talk about whatever you want, just be civil and don't clutter the board with nonsense.

So now so called bad language is disappearing.

Congratulations to riversider and his/her cast of hundreds.

"deanc
about 8 hours ago
ignore this person
report abuse hey streeteasy admins, can i make a suggestion - dont block people you want to throttle.

my devious developer introduced me to the most wicked tactic ever when managing spammers on our live chat sites eg http://www.LiveBasketballChat.com

You dont "ban" or "block" a user - you just make them invisible ....to everyone else EXCEPT themselves.

When they log in they still see their messages like normal so they keep posting (and dont create a new account) but no one else knows they are there any more :)

like i said wickedly devious."

The honeypot on a new level....that's brilliant!

"JuiceMan
2 minutes ago
ignore this person
report abuse streeteasy doesn't give a rats behind what is talked about on this board as long as it does not erode their business model. The last thing they want to do is monitor posts for "appropriate" content or set up rules for what can and cannot be discussed. They have much better things to do with their time, such as running a business. IMO, talk about whatever you want, just be civil and don't clutter the board with nonsense."

Except this LaissezFaire has been the system and it's NOT working. There need to be some rules or protocol for when it stops being civil and the board IS cluttered with nonsense.

For those that criticize SE, walk in their shoes before you pass judgment. SE could easily decide to ditch this board & then we'd have no forum. I think that SE was hoping things would settle down & people would act more responsibly. But, that didn't happen. We've acted like a bunch of truculent children & now SE will treat us as such. The fault lies with us much more than with SE.

"There need to be some rules or protocol for when it stops being civil and the board IS cluttered with nonsense."

I think the problem truth is what is considered nonsense. Who should judge that? Is a political discussion nonsense? Some political discussions are some are not. Who is to judge? streeteasy? IMO no.

Dwell -- Wrong. SE is a business and runs the forum to develop their business even more (ie, make money). By providing a forum (especially in a for-profit area), they have an obligation to police it. It's just business sense and it's the law. SE is (or was) ignoring both.

You think streeteasy is breaking the law by not putting restrictions on its forum?

Midtown,
Based on your comments, I assume you neither own your own business, nor run your own business. When I have a customer with an attitude like yours, I say au revoir.

SE has been policing this borad, but some act like idiots, so a 24 hr cop may be more appropriate.

Does anyone understand that is board is a service, provided for FREE? I wouldn't blame them if they shut the whole thing down. They don't need the headache, nor the extra time & expense.

Actually if done right,down the road this site will be sold and for a lot of money.
NY Times should have bought this site a year ago.(glad they are as dumb as they are)

LICComment -- Yes.

Dwell -- Wrong again. I run a business and have clients. And you say "au revoir" to clients who insist on minimal compliance with the law? Then, unless you are engaged in a criminal activity (which I doubt), you must not have many clients. Every organization that hosts a forum (Yahoo, ESPN, the NYT, the Washington Post, etc.) also provides the service for "free," of course hoping that they increase the number of hits on their site by doing so. But, in marked contrast to SE, many of them act responsibly and within the law by preventing harassment while at the same allowing for plenty of give and take. You just can't defend SE's abdication of responsibility. They allowed a worthwhile site (and thoughtful posters) to get trashed by trolls.

What law do you think they are breaking? I seriously doubt they are breaking any law.

Midtown,
Since you sound like an expert on hosting forums, perhaps send SE an email with some pointers.

You compare SE to NYT, ESPN & Wash Post?? Those are large companies which employ sizable staffs. SE is a small company. Apples & oranges, but, you think you know "the answer".

"MidtownerEast
about 4 hours ago
ignore this person
report abuse

Julia -- Quick question: what is tyranny at its best? Maybe you are referring to the first Bush (pere, not fils) administration?"

Are you harassing me midtownereast? When i posts you harass me with a question.

think it bad policy to annoint troll status to w67th. sure, his delivery may be "off" or over the edge from time to time, but cut thru it to his analysis and forward prognosis and he is by far and away in the top of class as to knowledge of the market. thin skinned folk on nyc re boards - hilarious.

While the troll was disruptive, he did have a certain sense of humor. At his best he was funny. at his worst, you wanted to log off.

I agree wholehartedly with rangersfan. Is this a parochial school? A façadish white-bread suburb of a middle-sized Midwestern city?

w67th makes very valuable contributions, dresses them up to make them interesting, so the ideas stick, and is quick to shove bullies off their bully pulpits.

As noted before, the main problem besides the troll (the "bad cop" identity) is the barrage of totally off-topic political/economic topics (almost certainly from the "good cop" identity of the same person), the weekly talkpoints of the grim freepers who use this site as an outhouse. Does anti-Keynesian theory need to be put forth so frequently? And what about the poster who uses this site to repeatedly promote Palestinian freedom fighters -- inappropriate the first time, but again and again and again? That username, and the one who outposted the next few posters combined, and almost always totally off-topic, should be trolled retroactively.

rangersfan, if I had to guess, I'd say StreetEasy view it as a "time out" measure rather than a full-on greying (much like what was doled out to columbiacounty, though that seems to have turned permanent given the continued obsessions). There's definitely some real estate insight buried in his content, but I can especially see newer posters/lurkers having a hard time even deciphering what's being said amidst all the repetitive gibberish, condescension, and surreal humor (which isn't really funny the 800th time, but hey). I hope he views it as an opportunity to focus on what people come here for in the first place, rather than self-servingly try to rally his cadre of devoted fans to his "rescue." Just my .02.

Good luck - posting on forums such as this one is a privilege and not a right. Perhaps three strikes and you are out - after the third "offense" the troll loses the right to post for a certain period of time. Three such temporary losses of privileges results in a lifetime ban.

I agree with alanhart. I find W67 posts hilarious and highly credible (& entertaining) even if he uses profanity.
He doesn't insult, just to insult but to shake up a lot of stubborn bulls on this board who seems to forgot the bubble we've been through. When some people are so stubborn, they deserves to be smacked behind the head once in a while. In his own way, that's what W67 is doing.
The most annoying Trolls are the one(s) that keep changing name and attack personally some regular posters like Aboutready or W67. At the end, i believe the Troll annoyance is just reduced to the same 1 or 2 guys that proceed as above.

sledge, that's obviously your personal opinion. I have to assume enough people complained about the insults, etc. that they responded the way they did. It's kind of amazing the number of people who have applauded SE for their efforts are so quick to turn on them when these same policies affect someone they like. I don't think any mandated policing efforts are ideal - I'd love if people were more self-policing, but as has been said, that just ain't been working. I feel for the StreetEasy staff on this one.