Topix.net
Encyclopedia
Topix.net is a discussion board website. Topix LLC, the controlling company, has its headquarters in Palo Alto, California
.
Topix began as a news aggregator which categorizes news stories by topic and geography. It was created by Bryn Dole, Rich Skrenta, Bob Truel, Tom Markson, Mike Markson, and Chris Tolles, many of whom founded the Open Directory Project
. In March 2005, the Knight Ridder
(later taken over by The McClatchy Company
), Tribune Company
and Gannett media companies purchased a 75% share of the company. On April 1, 2007, it acquired the topix.com domain name and invited volunteers to edit the topics of their choice, on top of over 100 journalists and editors from various newspapers already signed up.
Topix went on to create a community news editing platform, and popular forum system, allowing users to comment on news articles and the goings on of local communities. Topix also created forums, organized by locality as well as by subject matter, which allow visitors to post comments whether or not they are relevant to a particular news story.
, rural areas in the Southern United States
, and the Ozarks. Discussions that traditionally took place in person in rural areas began to be posted on Topix. Chris Tolles, the chief executive of Topix LLC, said that Topix is very popular in "the feud states."
said that "The same Web sites created as places for candid talk about local news and politics are also hubs of unsubstantiated gossip, stirring widespread resentment in communities where ties run deep, memories run long and anonymity is something of a novel concept." He added that "Whereas online negativity seems to dissipate naturally in a large city, it often grates like steel wool in a small town where insults are not easily forgotten." Various local governments censured the Topix forums. Many lawsuits resulted from content posted on Topix. When Topix began removing all negative posts, people stopped posting on Topix, so the company stopped removing all negative posts.
On February 03, 2009, Mark and Rhonda Lesher filed a defamation lawsuit against anonymous posters on Topix.com. According to the Leshers' petition, over 1,700 defamatory statements were made about them by anonymous posters on Topix.com. The 365-page petition includes 2,568 counts of defamation, libel per se and defamation per se against the anonymous users. Although Topix was not a party to the lawsuit, it was forced to reveal the IP addresses of the posters and the dangers of unmoderated anonymous posting on Topix were brought to light for the first time in the public eye.
Initially Topix charged money to people who requested that Topix take expedited removal of negative posts. After thirty states' attorneys generals protested, Topix stopped charging. Jack Conway
, the Kentucky Attorney General, said the charging scheme "smacked of having to pay a fee to get your good name back."
By 2010 Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway
and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
questioned the website's practice of charging $19.99 for expedited review of slanderous comments in local forums. According to a press release from Conway’s office, the tools provided by Topix.com to remove the abusive posts are ineffective unless consumers agree to pay the fee. Topix CEO Chris Tolles accused the pair of grandstanding and intimidation, insisting the site operates with appropriate and timely oversight.
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
.
Topix began as a news aggregator which categorizes news stories by topic and geography. It was created by Bryn Dole, Rich Skrenta, Bob Truel, Tom Markson, Mike Markson, and Chris Tolles, many of whom founded the Open Directory Project
Open Directory Project
The Open Directory Project , also known as Dmoz , is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links. It is owned by Netscape but it is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors.ODP uses a hierarchical ontology scheme for organizing site listings...
. In March 2005, the Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...
(later taken over by The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California. It operates 30 daily newspapers in 15 states and has an average weekday circulation of 2.2 million and Sunday circulation of 2.8 million...
), Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
and Gannett media companies purchased a 75% share of the company. On April 1, 2007, it acquired the topix.com domain name and invited volunteers to edit the topics of their choice, on top of over 100 journalists and editors from various newspapers already signed up.
Topix went on to create a community news editing platform, and popular forum system, allowing users to comment on news articles and the goings on of local communities. Topix also created forums, organized by locality as well as by subject matter, which allow visitors to post comments whether or not they are relevant to a particular news story.
History
The founders of Topix initially wanted it to be a news aggregator, with specific pages for each and every United States community. As Topix matured, most of its growth occurred in small cities and towns in the United States. The people who commented in the Topix forums wanted to focus the discussions on more traditional small community gossip.Userbase
Topix's main userbase consists of posters from small cities and towns in the United States, particularly those with several thousand or hundred residents. Few people from major American cities use Topix. Topix has a large following in AppalachiaAppalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
, rural areas in the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, and the Ozarks. Discussions that traditionally took place in person in rural areas began to be posted on Topix. Chris Tolles, the chief executive of Topix LLC, said that Topix is very popular in "the feud states."
Negative gossip
Many posters, using anonymous accounts, posted negative gossip about people within small American towns. A. G. Sulzberger of The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said that "The same Web sites created as places for candid talk about local news and politics are also hubs of unsubstantiated gossip, stirring widespread resentment in communities where ties run deep, memories run long and anonymity is something of a novel concept." He added that "Whereas online negativity seems to dissipate naturally in a large city, it often grates like steel wool in a small town where insults are not easily forgotten." Various local governments censured the Topix forums. Many lawsuits resulted from content posted on Topix. When Topix began removing all negative posts, people stopped posting on Topix, so the company stopped removing all negative posts.
On February 03, 2009, Mark and Rhonda Lesher filed a defamation lawsuit against anonymous posters on Topix.com. According to the Leshers' petition, over 1,700 defamatory statements were made about them by anonymous posters on Topix.com. The 365-page petition includes 2,568 counts of defamation, libel per se and defamation per se against the anonymous users. Although Topix was not a party to the lawsuit, it was forced to reveal the IP addresses of the posters and the dangers of unmoderated anonymous posting on Topix were brought to light for the first time in the public eye.
Initially Topix charged money to people who requested that Topix take expedited removal of negative posts. After thirty states' attorneys generals protested, Topix stopped charging. Jack Conway
Jack Conway
Jack Conway may refer to:* Jack Conway , American baseball player* Jack Conway , American film producer and director* Jack Conway , Australian Rules Footballer...
, the Kentucky Attorney General, said the charging scheme "smacked of having to pay a fee to get your good name back."
By 2010 Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway
Jack Conway (politician)
John William “Jack” Conway is an American politician from Kentucky. Conway is a Democrat and has served as the Attorney General of Kentucky since 2008. Prior to his election as attorney general, he was a candidate in the 2002 U.S. House of Representatives election for , narrowly losing to Anne...
and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal is the junior United States Senator from Connecticut and a member of the Democratic Party. Previously, he served as Attorney General of Connecticut....
questioned the website's practice of charging $19.99 for expedited review of slanderous comments in local forums. According to a press release from Conway’s office, the tools provided by Topix.com to remove the abusive posts are ineffective unless consumers agree to pay the fee. Topix CEO Chris Tolles accused the pair of grandstanding and intimidation, insisting the site operates with appropriate and timely oversight.
Services
- Local news pages for US and international cities
- News pages categorized by subject
- News and blog search engine
- Forum system
- Community news editing platform.
- Blog page featuring popular blogs
- Local classified ads
- Local news feeds for web portals such as CNN'sCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
- Popular "judging" of user posts with the following labels:
- Brilliant
- Clueless
- Interesting
- Funny
- Helpful
- Mean
- Nuts
- Offtopic
- Racy
- Spam
- Agree
- Disagree
- Touching
- Incendiary
See also
- CareerBuilderCareerBuilderCareerBuilder.com is the largest online employment website in the United States, with more than 23 million unique visitors each month and a 34% market share of help-wanted web sites in the United States. CareerBuilder.com provides online career search services for more than 1,900 partners as of...
- ShopLocalShopLocalShopLocal is the Retail division of PointRoll. It is a marketing and advertising service that builds, hosts and maintains catalogs and online weekly ads for retailers. Its partners include 29 of the 30 top U.S. retailers in the circular space, including Target, Lowes, CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens...
- Classified VenturesClassified VenturesClassified Ventures, LLC, is a Delaware limited liability company, based in Chicago, owned by a strategic joint-venture of five large media companies -- A. H. Belo, Gannett Company, Inc., The McClatchy Company, Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company -- to capitalize on the revenue growth...