This is, uh, gloomy

"Hooker" (Hooker) 05/19/2016 at 10:56 • Filed to: None

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So Mate, thoughtfully replied to my well wishes to him That’s awesome. And I thank him for it. Then he added this:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

This is gloomy at best. Thoughts? Mods? Any chatter on the radio? Bombs on the radar? Should we be looking into other venues?

Also, kind of surprised that my comment on the GT article hasn’t been dismissed. I tried to be as respectful as possible because for years, this has been a safe and fun place with excellent writers. I, along with many others, just want to know what’s next.

I’m in no way trying to stir the pot, nor am I trying to incite anyone. I honestly love this place (Oppo and Jalopnik) and am concerned about it’s future. Let’s keep it civil.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:02

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Let’s all go to Reddit.

Ready for an adventure! > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 05/19/2016 at 11:03

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no

scoob > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:05

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So there might be a 146th Great Oppo Migration?

Also, somebody else said this once, but Oppo needs a history book.

Urambo Tauro > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:10

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I can’t tell if Máté’s comment is a disgruntled hot take, or an insightful remark.

I’m scared.

Wheelerguy > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:13

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We make our own Kinja. With blackjack and hookers.

TheHondaBro > scoob 05/19/2016 at 11:13

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And it needs to be in Comic Sans and Webdings.

Agrajag > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:14

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All sub-blogs would have to be killed, wouldn’t they? Otherwise someone would just start another one. The history and previous content would disappear, but the community could continue.

scoob > TheHondaBro 05/19/2016 at 11:14

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And the occasional emoji?

TheRealBicycleBuck > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:15

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We need a contingency/bugout plan. In hurricane-prone states, it’s a point of contact and a location to meet in case we get separated when disaster hits.

So, Oppo, what’s the plan?

TheHondaBro > scoob 05/19/2016 at 11:15

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Soft serve emojis only. We accept both vanilla and chocolate flavors only.

Hooker > scoob 05/19/2016 at 11:15

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Likely. But it’s still very sad if it does happen. I don’t post much but I do like lurking.

TheHondaBro > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/19/2016 at 11:16

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I’m probably gonna go back to crying.

Idk about the rest of you.

Hooker > Agrajag 05/19/2016 at 11:16

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That’s the hope but with less and less people commenting on the FP and admittedly less interaction from the writers within the comments section, I fear the sense of community is waning.

Hooker > Urambo Tauro 05/19/2016 at 11:16

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Same here.

Hooker > Wheelerguy 05/19/2016 at 11:16

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Uh, I’m a Hooker. Not sure if you were referring to me though. :)

Hooker > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 05/19/2016 at 11:17

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Oh. No. I don’t go there. It’s like Gastonia NC. You just don’t.

Tekamul > Urambo Tauro 05/19/2016 at 11:18

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I’m thinking hot take.

It would mean ALL sub-blogs would go, and they’d have to completely redo their ‘free content’ approach. That’s a pretty big shake up.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:18

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The thing that scares me is that I doubt we are going to get a warning. We are going to wake up one morning and Oppo will be gone.

Chinny Raccoon > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:20

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Maybe I should get opposite-lock.org back up and running.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:20

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Just for Oppo though. It’s a really well set up platform for something like this group.

Hooker > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/19/2016 at 11:21

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There’s a facebook I never check anymore. 505 Turbeaux used to run it (with help from others I believe). People’s precious anonymity would be destroyed though.

Wheelerguy > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:21

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Well,what do you know?

*gives you rules on how to play blackjack*

*fires up cloning machine*

Hooker > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 05/19/2016 at 11:23

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That’s what both scares and infuriates me. I don’t think the Jalopnik writers have any say in it. I hope. I think they genuinely are hosed by their parent company and barred from speaking about any of this. It’s a position I would not wish on anyone.

Hooker > Chinny Raccoon 05/19/2016 at 11:23

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Is it in forum style? Post/comment?

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:26

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Maybe crowdfund a forum? If we each donated $2, that would be enough to keep the domain name valid and keep valid hosting for a couple years at the least.

Hooker > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 05/19/2016 at 11:29

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I am absolutely all for this.

Hooker > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 05/19/2016 at 11:30

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I’d consider it. Embedded pictures? I really dig this community (and that includes the writers of Jalopnik).

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:33

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It’s already set up, we just need more people. reddit.com/r/oppositelock

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:35

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I’ve just checked, and oppoboards.com is available and reasonably priced (under $15 a year).

Hooker > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 05/19/2016 at 11:37

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Oppositelocks.com is also available.

Hooker > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 05/19/2016 at 11:38

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I’ll take a dive in there at some point today. Is it mobile friendly?

JKER > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 05/19/2016 at 11:41

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Yeah but that’s blocked at work for people like me :(

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:42

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Very. There's even an app

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > JKER 05/19/2016 at 11:44

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Use Opera Developer with the VPN enabled.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:45

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The mobile site is technically in beta (m.reddit.com), but I’ve not had any problems with it.

Pixel > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:47

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Nah, Oppo is a great source of free content for Jalopnik. If someone posts something popular or well-written here they can share it to the front page for free and get ad revenue from it.

Also they can scan stuff here and if they find a link someone shared, or a car for sale ad, or some such, they can re-write it into a front page article without having to go through the same effort to find content.

SVTyler > Tekamul 05/19/2016 at 11:49

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I dunno, technically the sub-blogs don’t generate any pageviews and thus $$$ for the mothership (as mentioned by Mate in another comment) so if Gawker’s starting to trim the fat it makes a terrifying amount of sense to shut down the sub-blogs before firing other content creators regardless of how much it would change GM’s landscape. Besides Oppo there’s gotta be at least a dozen other sub-blogs, that’s a lot of server usage that’s (in Gawker’s eyes) essentially dead weight.

Hooker > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 05/19/2016 at 11:54

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Color me intrigued.

Hooker > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 05/19/2016 at 11:55

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This sounds promising. And free. Are there mods to such things? I think having mods (especially the ones we already have if they are willing to make the transition) is important to a well oiled machine.

Hooker > Pixel 05/19/2016 at 11:56

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That’s true but I also imagine keeping all these sub-blogs up is costly. Cash may not be the thing they have the most of right now.

Tekamul > SVTyler 05/19/2016 at 11:56

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Well, Jalopnik/Oppo is somewhat unique in that there is a fair amount of Jalopnik content generated in the Oppo sub blog (there are ‘shared from’ articles daily). This is not really the case very frequently elsewhere.

Maybe Jalopnik will once again be treated like an outsider, and have its daily operations impacted by a change that the rest of Gawker sees as no big deal.

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 11:58

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It’s a good option, I’m just not sure if it would work as well as Oppoboards, given that the domain would be for a forum (because decent full web hosting is expensive).

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 12:03

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Yes there are mods, I’m not sure who, since there’s not very many users right now.

LOREM IPSUM > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/19/2016 at 12:04

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Agreed. We need a muster point.

JKER > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 05/19/2016 at 12:14

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Yeah I know about VPN’s and such, but I would rather not try to work around things that my network blocks... for obvious reasons. I like my job.

TheHondaBro > SVTyler 05/19/2016 at 12:18

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That’s the scary thought. It makes complete sense to shut down the sub-blogs. It’s only costing Gawker server usage and generating zero revenue.

TheHondaBro > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 12:19

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With Hookers and Stoners.

Hooker > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 05/19/2016 at 12:19

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I’m in for 5 bucks. Every year. Multiply that by a few hundred people and you should be more than good for costs I would think.

pauljones > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 12:31

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Speaking as a mod, I can tell you that we have received no such indication that Oppositelock will be shutdown at any given point in time. Although, given Gawker Media’s M.O., I wouldn’t expect any heads up or forewarning.

That being said, I think that the state of Gawker Media as a whole right now is not good, and a lot of different things are competing for a suddenly very limited pool of resources. I have absolutely zero insight into the inner workings of Gawker Media whatsoever, official or unofficial. That being said, it is my guess that Jalopnik in particular is only barely hanging on right now. While nowhere near the size of the GM titans like Gawker and Jezebel, it has always been able to bring in just enough money to justify its existence. That may be changing now, either because the site is pulling in less revenue or because the minimum standard to justify a site’s existence has been raised considerably. Maybe even both.

I think the moves that we have seen thus far have been inspired by Jalopnik trying to get skinny and save money. Time will tell if it is enough.

As to how that affects Oppositelock... that’s a harder question. I can’t imagine that Oppositelock costs much to maintain beyond normal overhead for servers and administration that is already being done to Jezebel, Gawker, etc. I don’t think that Oppositelock adds particularly to that burden in any meaningful way, unless it comes down to a question of server space. If Gawker Media is planning on cutting down on servers and therefore maintenance cost, then yes, Oppositelock and many other subblogs will be the first to go. Otherwise, given that Oppositelock is staffed by volunteers, there is no real overhead associated with running it in particular.

For now, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Let’s just do our normal thing. The rest will be what it is, and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 12:35

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If we buy the domain through Godaddy, host it via AWS and run MyBB, that would only be like $75 a year. That would only require 15 members to contribute $5 per year to keep Oppo running as a forum.

SVTyler > Tekamul 05/19/2016 at 12:39

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Hope you’re right, I do remember Patrick saying contingencies were in place for Oppo so maybe that extends to Jalopnik too. Without sounding arrogant or delusionally optimistic Oppo and Jalopnik are much closer than any of other reader-run blogs (hell, three or four current FP writers started here) so maybe that’s what will save us in the end if the axes start falling.

SVTyler > TheHondaBro 05/19/2016 at 12:48

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Like TekamulBurner rightly pointed out, Oppo’s a bit of a unicorn in regards to reader-run sites and content-sharing so maybe it might get special treatment, though it seems unlikely that Gawker would kill off all its .kinja sub-blogs except one if it was really looking to cut costs. Patrick did say something about keeping Oppo alive if shit hits the fan so maybe it’s not all doom and gloom but regardless, dark days are ahead, man. Gawker now has to lay in the bed they’ve made and its readers and innocent employees are the ones suffering for it.

petebmwm > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 13:06

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im in

RallyWrench > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 05/19/2016 at 13:10

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When kinja was down the other morning this was my worry.

RallyWrench > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 13:11

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I commented to this effect the other morning after Mate was let go. I get the feeling Patrick et al are being hung out to dry by powers beyond their control.

RallyWrench > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 05/19/2016 at 13:12

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That’ll be the temporary bugout backup, I’m sure. It’ll be the first place I check if this place goes down. It sounds weird to say this, but that platform isn’t as conducive to this style of board as Kinja is.

PorkchoPlissken > Wheelerguy 05/19/2016 at 13:14

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Chinny Raccoon > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 13:17

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I was playing about with Discourse as a forum arrangement, probably works better for discussion. Would be easy enough to set up a blog frontend.

Hooker > pauljones 05/19/2016 at 13:50

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Thank you pauljones. Your voice of reason is always there to comfort and guide. It’s greatly appreciated. Even without insider knowledge, I’d be willing to bet you’re not far off (if at all) from the big picture. I wish there were enough of us to raise enough money to separate Jalopnik from the Gawkerverse. Time will tell indeed.

Hooker > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 05/19/2016 at 13:52

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It’s worth it to keep it running. However, like pauljones mentioned in another post, it may be a little early to sound the alarms. But it may be just late enough to get this stuff up and running (for such a low cost) and get the community over there in case sometime does happen. I don’t know.

Hooker > RallyWrench 05/19/2016 at 13:53

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Agreed. I hate it for them because I don’t think they had anything, really to do with it all. I wish we could save the apparent sinking ship.

Hooker > Chinny Raccoon 05/19/2016 at 13:55

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Let’s give this some time I think. A week, maybe two. See what goes down. We have the facebook page if we all need to meet in case of fire. I say that’s a good strategy. Then we can vote on a new place. In any case, if we lose this space, we will lose members. I can’t help that. But I don’t think we need to transition to anything new just yet.

Dusty Ventures > Pixel 05/19/2016 at 19:46

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Jalopnik/Gawker doesn’t get any ad revenue from posts shared from Oppo

MM54 > Hooker 05/19/2016 at 22:03

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If shit hits the fan, I have a [small but expandable] server space and have set up/run sites/forums before. In case of emergency (and seriously only that because I rarely check this address) break glass and e-mail admin@[my username on here].net

Pixel > Dusty Ventures 05/19/2016 at 22:30

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Not directly maybe, but they fill up the front page and encourage clicks.

Hooker > MM54 05/20/2016 at 10:13

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I will keep this in glass. Thank you for the emergency pull switch!