Topix has become a sick joke. If there is a nastier, scummier discussion site on the internet, I have yet to see it. It may as well be called "Toxic".
When I joined Topix in early 2007, it was wonderful. Lots of interesting people conducting mostly on-topic discussions about all sorts of subjects. Trolls, while they existed, were a marginal presence and were usually promptly dealt with by an attentive team of moderators.
Fast forward to July 2010. Topix is now a toxic waste dump of stalkers and trolls. Innocent posters are routinely being harassed, stalked and threatened. Trolls infest seemingly every thread, delighting in wrecking the threads by making it impossible to hold discussions on whatever the topic is.
This can all be blamed on the total lack of moderation on the part of Topix. The people who run Topix have apparently decided that enforcing their own terms of service is just too much of an inconvenience to them. People have told me that they have complained for months about stalkers and trolls, with total silence being the only response from Topix. Topix, it seems, just doesn't care anymore.
Indeed, it could easily be argued that Topix is doing everything they can to make their site a playground for stalkers, abusers and harassers, and a miserable experience for regular posters. It seems that every move they have made lately has made it easier on the trolls, and tougher on the posters who just wish to discuss issues. Some examples.
The (recently rescinded) $19.99 fee that Topix charged to supposedly “expedite” complaints. Did anyone else notice that Topix moderation basically ended right when that fee was instituted? It appears that Topix purposely stopped moderation in order to induce people to more readily cough up the $19.99. After all, if the moderators were on the ball and handled complaints the way they are supposed to, then the fee would not even be necessary, right? This “expediting fee” was nothing more than greed-driven extortion, pure and simple. The Attorneys General of several states saw right through this scam, and as a result Topix was legally forced to stop their extortion.
The recently-added ability for registered members to hide or change their ISP location. This has proven to be a bonanza for trolls, as they can easily create many different accounts with different locations so that they can look like a small army if they want to. It also makes “cloning” other members' registered accounts easier. Many, many people have been fooled into thinking they are communicating with an online friend, only to find they are dealing with a stalker or troll.
This is because we tend to look at a poster's profile box just long enough to get a glimpse of their name, avatar pic and ISP location when reading their posts. Trolls are now frequently posting as others with just slight modifications to legitimate users' names.
The new instant message system is another heaven-sent gift to trolls. Trolls who never registered before are now registering simply in order to be able to stalk and harass others through IM. One friend who has been dealing with a persistent unregistered stalker for two years now was mortified when he registered and opened up a new stalking front via instant messaging.
Even the “judgicons” are simply toys for trolls. These stupid icons serve absolutely no purpose other than to allow cowards to spam posts with negative icons. I know of several posters who are ready to give up on Topix simply because every time they make a post, they are blitzed with dozens of negative icons – even for posts as innocent as “Good morning”.
From all outward appearances, it is easy to come to the conclusion that Topix does not care one bit about hosting healthy, vibrant, lively online communities. It is clear that it is all a numbers game to them, and that the only thing that matters is their bottom line. They just want money, and they don't care how unethically they get it. We members are just statistics in a database that they use to set advertising rates. It's as if their thinking is “A troll has 30 accounts? Hey, that's great – it boosts the number of people we can say are members of Topix and increase out ad rates accordingly! Oh, and hundreds of threads are getting wrecked by trolls? That's wonderful! We can sell Topix to advertisers as an exciting and controversial place!”
Topix may be a business, but WE the MEMBERS are its greatest business asset. Without us, there would be no Topix. Without us, Topix is dead. And guess what? Every day, the management of Topix laughs at us and disregards our concerns... all in a very short-sighted chase of the almighty dollar.
Well, I say it is time for the members of this site to wake up. The people we are making tons of money for are spitting on us every day. Why should we continue to be punching bags for stalkers and trolls just so Topix CEO Chris Tolles and others can drive nicer cars and live in nicer homes than most of us could ever dream of having?
The only thing Topix cares about is money. Let's send them a message that their money will NOT be made by treating the members of this site like garbage. To this end, I propose a one-day posting strike on August 1, 2010. On that day, I ask that nobody post on Topix. Maybe, just maybe, they will see that the 100,000+ posts that they get day will drop to a negligible number on that date. Maybe they will start getting the message that people are fed up with the criminal lack of moderation. Maybe then they will start actively enforcing their terms of service (which right now are just uselessly collecting dust on their servers).
If enough people take part in this one-day warning strike, maybe Topix will finally do something to wrest control of the site from the stalkers and trolls they have gladly and purposely handed the site over to.
And if Topix doesn't respond? Well, there are other options. We can start contacting their advertisers en masse, providing links that show just how truly nasty Topix has become due to the intentional negligence of its staff. We can show advertisers posts that will make them shut their wallets quickly.
We can also start contacting the Office of the Attorney General for each and every state, and give them the same posts. We can also start protesting at every newspaper and other media outlet that is part of the Topix conglomerate.
Before it gets to that point, however, I would like to see how Topix reacts to the warning shot across the bow of a one-day strike. I have no confidence that Topix will care, because neglect and negligence are about the only consistent qualities they show anymore. But, it's worth a try. I would love to see Topix return to its roots as a vibrant posting community once again, and I hope you all do too.
Let's send Chris Tolles and the rest of the negligent Topix "leadership" a message on August 1, 2010. Spread the word on all your favorite threads. Pass along the web address for this blog post (you can use http://tinyurl.com/toxic-topix as a shortcut address for easier copy-pasting into Topix threads, emails and instant messages).
