Tabletalk.Salon.Com
| Tabletalk.Salon.Com | |
| |
| URL | http://tabletalk.salon.com/[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb] |
| Status | Closing on June 10th |
| Archiving status | Unknown |
| Archiving type | Unknown |
| IRC channel | #archiveteam-bs (on hackint) |
Archiveteam is looking at duplicating Tabletalk.Salon.Com, which has less than a month's notice to live after 16 years of existence.
We'll have more up here soon, but for the moment, if you are a tabletalk.salon.com subscriber, please start saving threads as fast as possible. The system is hysterically hostile to outside forces and programs working with it, and we can't subscribe to work from the inside. So for the moment, it falls to you. Please do as much "save as" to documents as possible, with the flattest threads and the most data you can get. We'll have more opportunities and discussions shortly, but time is of the essence.
We are gathering at #tabledtalk on EFnet via IRC. Please stop by as we work this out. Thanks.
Announcement
Goodbye Table Talk[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
Gail Williams - 10:26 am Pacific Time - May 11, 2011
Director of Communities at Salon, plus key grip and bottle-washer.
When Salon Magazine was launched on the Web in 1995, the grand opening had to be delayed slightly while the forums were readied. It was critical that there be a way to make the new web-based publication a living gathering place, in the way that traditional media had never been. The idea was that most of the discussion would relate to articles, but from the beginning much of the concern of those in the new Salon Table Talk section was about hanging out with other interesting people.
As years went by, some of the social tools that Salon had envisioned from the start, such as interactive article writing with a social component (now at Open Salon) and direct comment on fresh stories (now at Salon Letters connected to each story) became available.
The Web evolved in various ways, and search engines began displaying results from forums, which changed the context for Table Talkers. TTers asked that Google and other search tools not supply results from these forums, and Salon listened. While that preference cut both traffic and possible ad revenue, it made Table Talk feel comfortable to many.
As Table Talkers told us many times, you liked a lot about the way TT had been created and had evolved. TT saw a decline in sheer quantity from its peak, but never in quality. For a long time it was possible for Salon to let the community drift pleasantly in the background.
This year, we've undertaken the process of re-evaluating and modernizing everything about Salon's technical infrastructure. Looking at the issues involved in bringing TT forward, and at the resources of the technical staff, it became clear that the long-anticipated closing of this forum has to happen now.
I'm deeply sorry, personally, to have to make this announcement on behalf of the entire Salon team. We looked at many scenarios, and at the end the best thing to do was to tell you what was going to happen so that if you want to plan to connect with your TT contacts at Open Salon, Facebook, The WELL or any of the forums that have informally spun off over the years, you have a month to do that.
If you want to make personal copies to preserve your favorite posts or historic threads, this is the time to do that, as well. After June 10 they will no longer be available.
It's been a rich, unique, compelling conversation. Each TTer who has posted has made this place special. Mary Beth Williams, the former TT sysop and sporadic wielder of the virtual "bossy stick" of forum management, can also be credited with several years of the survival of this place due to her intense respect for the Table Talk community. Here's to her and to all the posters who you would thank for making this long-running feast delicious for you. TT has been an inspiration to so many of us.
May the friendships and the knowledge generated here continue in many places and resonate over time.
Gail Ann Williams, Director of Communities, Salon.com May 2011