tolles

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco: The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S

Couple of points. - San Francisco is my home, and is the most beautiful city in the US - It is not the liberals, per se that this article is dumping on (The sfweekly is no conservative paean). Rather it is the idiots and mismanging cowards that are screwing this up - The man in the picture is the featured miscreant from the article, and ex city employee who really highlighted the points the article was making. If I can help draw attention to this guy and his role in our city's misfortune, so be it. So let's keeping the bashing aimed where it belongs. On the fools that run this freakshow :-)  (Tuesday Dec 15 | post #38)

London, KY

Rightwing Pr*cks Cheer USA Losing Olympics

...The point is that rooting against America is really bad form. The President of the US lobbied for an American City and cheering for the loss of the USA shows the true colors of these guys. They're slime.  (Oct 2, 2009 | post #10)

Gilbert, WV

Vivian Livingood, Gilbert WV Mayor, is attempting to stifle discussion

We try pretty hard to moderate the 150,000 comments that come in every day here at Topix, and Lord knows that the fine people on the Internet will occasionally lob in something distasteful, hateful or insane, which is why we have an advanced AI based moderation system and a set of people here who moderate the forums full time. So when Vivian Livingood, the Mayor of Gilbert left me a message regarding "slander " (sic) of her on the site, I cringed, thinking that this was some really awful comment about her kids or some such. Instead, it's just someone accusing her of a policy decision with which she disagreed: http://www.topix.n et/forum/city/gilb ert-wv/T5088HUIA2C KU6441/p2#c33 No profanity, no hate speech, just a citizen with an opinion. So, no, Ms. Livingood, I won't censor or stifle legitimate political discussion in your town on my site. No, you can't prevent people from having opinions. If you want to fire back, then do so. You think it's an unfair characterization of your stance on the issue. Tell us. But, no, you aren't going to get me to take it down. http://www.topix.c om/forum/city/simo n-wv/T20D839CCB3M3 FR8U Ignorant hillbilly? No. I'm treating you just like I would someone in the big city, Ms. Livingood, a big city in America where we have freedom of speech, and a free press, and the Internet. Chris Tolles CEO, Topix  (Sep 16, 2009 | post #1)

Topix

Topix.net Weblog: LAist interviews Topix

We get thousands of emails a day -- and we end up taking down or revising hundreds of comments that violate our terms of service. However, we rarely directly respond back to people, since there is a slew of "he said, she said" kind of back and forth. Everybody likes to read local gossip until their name is in the mix.  (Apr 28, 2009 | post #4)

Topix

Topix.net Weblog: Topix becomes #1 news site of Gannett, Tribun...

Well, I see putting comments on the blog post has worked out about as well as can be expected. Thanks, people, for your participation. For those of you who at least kept something on topic, I salute you. (Thanks for putting the post numbers in here to make your point Phester, as it proves at least one person saw them) Chris Tolles CEO, Topix  (Apr 21, 2009 | post #56)

Offbeat

Sign petition to remove judge it icons

Ok -- I'll bite. What would you guys like to see here with "judge it" -- given people an opportunity for feedback on a particular post is something we figure is a good thing... Chris Tolles CEO, Topix  (Apr 20, 2009 | post #74)

North Adams Transcript

We need to be better listeners

As I said, I'm open to tryin to make what we are providing better. If you have ideas on some specifics around promoting and promulgating that respectful debate, you will find an eager audience on my team here at Topix  (Mar 1, 2009 | post #5)

North Adams Transcript

We need to be better listeners

Fr. John: I think better than trying to authenticate people and requiring onerous and likely ineffective registration processes, it's to get people like yourself to participate and engage with the forums and the community of people who are in there with you. So I think what you've done here is a step to making things better. Nice article and I applaud you participating in the ongoing discussions thereien. Drop me a line if you're interested in discussing further (last name @ topix.com) one on one :-) Chris Tolles CEO, Topix  (Feb 27, 2009 | post #3)

Topix

Topix.net Weblog: "Debate"

YES! Topix has Topix comments. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.  (Jan 6, 2009 | post #1)

Gilbert, WV

Topix in the news paper

This is Chris Tolles. I did talk to the mayor of Gilbert -- sorry to that she thinks I treated her "like an ignorant hillbilly". I did ask her to use the feedback form like anyone else, and explained what would and would not be banned from the site. I also told her that to identify and track down people who she thought had libeled her, that she would need to get a lawyer. That protects folks who post here anonymously, but also provides her (and everyone) a mechanism to protect themselves agaisnt libel. The largest issues do come out of West Virginia and Kentucky -- partially because there a *lot* of people from each of those states using our forums. But I didn't make fun of anyone for being from there, and everyone here at Topix is deeply appreciative of the amount of people coming in from both of those states to use the service we have set up. However, I said to the mayor that we're just a mirror of the feelings and expressions of the people on the site. We don't solicit libel, and we take down any post that mentions children that is pointed out to us -- and between the systems that ban posts before they even go up and the full time staff here, we take out about 5-8% of the comments for terms of service violations. But. The content of the forums *is* a product of your neighbors and fellow citizens. What I told the mayor was that perhaps she was the right person to try and uplevel the quality of discourse in the town she was elected to run. We're always open to suggestions on how to run things more effectively. I'm certainly not going to pretend everything about free speech on the web is poisitive, but the fact that you can criticise what you want here -- including the mayor (or even Topix, evidently) is a big part of why we exist. And to be clear, we certainly aren't taking down any forums in West Virginia, or anywhere else for that matter. The Congress of the United States of America, and the Federal Courts have our back on this one. Chris Tolles CEO, Topix  (Dec 8, 2008 | post #49)

San Francisco, CA

To Gun Owners

This is not likley to be a hot button issue for Obama and the Democrats. Especialy with the Supreme Court and the 2nd amendment issue being in place. Thank God.  (Sep 28, 2008 | post #2)

Immigration Reform

Should illegals' babies born here be citizens?

If you're born on US soil, you're a citizen -- So says our Constitution. Why should we give the children of the underachievers special status -- if you can't compete with the immigrants, I say you should get the heck out of the coutry my ancestors took from the British in the Revolution. My ancestors were lawbreakers, too. Your birthright as an American is a ticket to compete ferociously for a piece of the pie. If you can't hack it, I'm not particularly sympathetic. Immigrants who make their way here compete successfully, often at a disadvantage. If your kids can't compete, well, tough.  (Oct 24, 2007 | post #10)

Television

Cancelled TV show with the most potential?

Profit...what a great effing show that was. Kudos wo whomever put this in there...  (Oct 4, 2007 | post #3)

Chocolate

What's your favorite brand of dark chocolate?

All is lost..*Hershey's*?!? sigh.  (Oct 4, 2007 | post #3)