Hello there, lurking newcomers

7/1/20 Hello America 82
Real actual photo of me not seeing you there.

I get it. You’re like, “I don’t want to sign up for another account thing, I found this link on a Kinja site, why are these people pushing this on me, etc etc etc.” Hear me out.

This is the product of a few dedicated souls who wanted to find a post-Kinja landing spot, after the untimely deaths of Splinter and Deadspin. It seems that Kinja may not be long for this world. Those dedicated souls recruited more dedicated souls, and decided we should be more than just a replacement for Splinter and Deadspin, and here we are trying to do that. We are trying to draw from the energy of the whole collection of sites.

(You can learn more about who “we” is right here.)

I can’t speak for the others, but generally I think it’s safe to say that the goal is to foster a diverse community that has the spirit of the Kinja sites, but without the grey class system and the tolerance for trolls and the need for ad revenue and clicks. We especially want to make sure the community is respectful, even in lively and heated discussions. I personally promise to be nicer than I ever was on Kinja. New year, new me. Well, old me, new behavior.

We want you to feel welcome, we want you to comment. Not only on what you see written, but also on what you want to see written. And people who are interested in contributing to content should make that known, because we want to grow.

You’ll see a lot of open threads, much in the style of Jezebel’s Saturday Night Socials – a thread to start off your day, one to end it (complete with an abbreviated collection of the day’s clusterfucks). You’ll see a reincarnation of Deadspin Up All Night. And as we grow, more to come.

If you know me from Kinja, it’s most likely from Gawker and then Splinter (or the smaller community in Groupthink). I had a real love-hate relationship with Splinter, but what I miss about it most is reading a news item on a real news site (sorry, Splinter, but girl you know) and going to discuss it on Kinja. Since we live in a time where bombshell news is happening all day now, I’ve missed that. That’s what the Kinja community means to me, and that’s what I personally hope to bring to this community. But that’s just my way. Everyone, whether you comment or contribute to content, will have their own way of shaping this new space.

So, welcome.

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82 Comments

  1. And if y’all are afraid we’re going to rope you into work, well… I can’t promise we won’t ask, but we will respect a no and still welcome whatever level of participation you’re comfortable with!

  6. OK, OK, fine, you’ve twisted my arm enough: I’ll do that blog post I promised about how I’m starting to suspect that Trump might not be on the level, though it’s definitely too early to tell.

    Yes, that’s right, I’m Maggie Haberman. Got me!

  8. Wait wait wait, so there won’t be the inevitable comment on every post begging for a follow to be ungreyed? My god! XD

    Thanks for doing this, though, seriously. No doubt it’s a fair chunk of work, and I look forward to seeing how it develops!

    • Yessss happy to have you. They have been quietly working on this since SplinterRIP died, but really geared up after the holidays so I’m out tryna find the old gang!

  17. I would be willing to contribute some Canadian political content if there’s an audience for it. It’s been a couple years, but I think I have it in me, and I’m more likely to write if anyone is actually going to read and enjoy it.

    Our dramas don’t compare to Herr Turnip, but we have a budding separation movement in the west since Alberta is Canada’s Florida. We have a PM who survived reelection despite multiple blackface/brownface cases being unearthed, a federal Conservative party leader race happening this year, a thriving disinformation industry, and a few other things of various importance.

    • Welcome! We’ve got Canadians around for sure. But also I need to know what’s going on in the country I will flee desperately to eventually. You can talk to myopic prophet about getting authorship privileges!

      • May I recommend a province other than Alberta or Saskatchewan? Not that they aren’t wonderful places, because they are. The crazy quotient is just significantly higher there compared to the rest of Canada.

        That, of course, depends on where you’re coming from. Even Alberta is going to seem normal and rational compared to Alabama.

        • …see, now this is a classic Canadian “blunder” surely?

          …you want to be plugging Alberta & Saskatchewan as ideal places for your fleeing American influx – they’d most likely be less crazy than a bunch of the states they could be coming from & you could combine doing your neighborly duty with making your two craziest provinces soak up the brunt of the new influx of the “southern” brand of crazy…

          but, no – instead you’re all super nice & helpful & welcoming…which they might find confusing after the last few years?

          …still & all…awesome to see you here & we’ll try to be as Canadian as possible about the whole thing?

          • Yeah I was actually about to say that haha – like, uh, you might not want to invite us to your favorite places. Although, I figure by the time we are all fleeing northward, they’ll need to implement some rules to keep our sort out. I could hardly blame them.

  19. Newcomer here, though I’m a longtime lurker of the numerous iterations of various Gawker Media subblogs! I figured that this is the appropriate place to say hi.

    Question: is there a place to submit feedback and questions regarding the site? I’m a UX designer and developer, and some of the site functionality is driving me bonkers! Especially mobile touch behavior with menus. I have mostly reasonable UX suggestions that can absolutely be disregarded without any ill will.

    I’m also experienced in accessibility (and it’s a passion of mine) if you’d like to make the site more readily usable for people with disabilities or folk using assistive technology.

    If they don’t exist, then I’d recommend editorial guidelines. I’ve worked on/with sites with similar premises in the past, and having those detailed early on can help immensely. Things like consistency in titles, date formatting (DD/MM versus MM/DD), and formatting.

    • there’s at least a chance that such assistance might be appreciated but the truth is that many of the things you refer to are not entirely amenable to resolution within the constraints of the theme originally chosen for the site within WordPress although our overworked one-man-tech-dept (myopicprophet) has been making some fairly impressive inroads into improving the functionality…

      for the time being beyond some fairly rudimentary requests the editorial guidelines are deliberately minimal since the general idea is that we’d encourage contributions from those who might care to more or less as they would care to contribute them…

      now that you mention it we maybe should add something to remind folks that the majority of the dates are dd/mm/yy so the rest of them probably could do with getting with the program, as it were…

      accessibility is a fine thing & in principle something we’d most likely be interested in but until things have progressed further it’s probably beyond the scope of the kind of improvements we can realistically make in the immediate future?

      we’ll certainly know who to come crawling to when we’re done learning the error of our ways, though…so thank you kindly…& don’t be surprised if myo reads that as you volunteering?

      • I can understand, especially if you’re looking to avoid breaking a non-custom theme. Fortunately, WordPress does have the option to create child themes based on existing ones. That doesn’t give you as much control over functionality, but it does allow for UI changes without modifying the underlying theme.

        And bless your IT person. I’ve been in that position more than a few times, and it’s challenging and stressful, though often very rewarding. It largely depends on the community itself.

        I’m very cognizant that I’m a newcomer to the site and, as such, not inherently worth of trust. I just figured that I’d offer assistance as I get acclimated to the community. I’ll hopefully still be around in the future if there’s ever interest.

        Thanks for the prompt response!

        • Regarding the date format, I believe you’re referring to the Jamboroo being left as (dd/mm) and the rest of the site being PROPER (no offense, Americans)…I wasn’t really concerned with that tbh, but I am interested in discussing the accessibility (and any other ideas you might have) thing with you…keeping in mind that this is an everything for free site.

          Would it be ok for me to email you at the email address linked to your Deadsplinter account?

          • Sure! Hopefully it’s only accessible to those with admin privs, otherwise I need to swap that out for something entirely more generic and not likely to link back to who/what I am.

            And the date thing wasn’t a huge concern, but it was an example of something that might be standardized.

            I sent you a request to be added to the authorship permissions group. No rush, and I won’t take offense if you decline. Such is life, yes?

            • i believe the editors are able to see your email as well, but if that is the case, they’re a trustworthy bunch…i received your message and will communicate with you there. welcome to deadsplinter!

              • I created a new email address and updated my profile. I’ve been doxxed in the past. I have clients who use WordPress and didn’t even consider what permissions the groups could have regarding contact information and the like.

                I’ve been spoiled by anonymous platforms like Kinja which do not require any personal information. Though, over the course of however many years on the GMO sites, I did have to recreate a handful of accounts after losing my key after extended periods of time after I swore off the site and then decided to come back.

    • We got one guy (myopicprophet) wrestling with the tech stuff (I know nothing about this stuff), but he’s been working his ass off so I’m sure someone else who knows something might be helpful.

  20. …much appreciated…& honestly there’s a pretty decent chance that if you keep saying helpful things like that you’ll find yourself volunteered for myo-support before you know it?

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