Jeff, would you consider doing an AMA?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff - softball question.

What is your educational background? College? Major? Grad school?

(I ask because I really like your writing style - clear and concise and I have a theory...)

Community college -- Associate's degree in arts.

University of Illinois -- Bachelor's degree, major in political science and minor in history.

Georgetown University -- Master of Arts in Arab Studies.

The computer stuff is all self-taught.

I-L-L!

I knew I liked you.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you have been subpoenaed for log data? Could you talk about it of you had been?

We have been subpoenaed several times. I've been told by our lawyer that I shouldn't broadcast the specifics of a subpoena but I can warn the targets so that they can contest the subpoena if they want. The problem is that I normally can't identify the targets in order to warn them because they are always anonymous. Very often we get threats of subpoenas which some people seem to believe will intimidate me. It actually doesn't bother me and I have no problem with people who believe they have been harmed using the legal system to seek remedy. I think it is cheaper and easier if they just contact me to discuss the issue civilly.

We also get lots of threats along the lines of "If you don't remove such and such posts I will sue you." I just laugh at those and, if anything, am even less wiling to remove the content in question.

Thanks, that was fascinating. I have some follow-up questions: Are you typically subpoenaed for all posts from a specific IP? Or are they posts more limited to a subject, such as give me all posts where this IP talked about their kids? Do you have a sense of what sort of cases they are used for? (I imagine divorce?) Do you ever follow the cases to find out what happened?

I always get subpoenaed for the IP address of specific post or posts. I would fight any request for all posts from an address or all posts about some topic. Almost all cases involve defamation.

Just for the record, I have very little tolerance for defamation by anonymous posters -- something I consider cowardly in most circumstances. If someone contacts me about a post they believe to be defamatory, I will normally remove it almost automatically. But most cases I encounter through subpoenas involve more than just DCUM. For instance, someone has defamed someone all over the place and other websites are also getting subpoenaed.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
I-L-L!

I knew I liked you.

I-N-I!

[Anonymous]

This is a website user profile question. Where are the majority of anti Meghan Markle people posting from? I am suspecting that it has to be UK and states/areas that voted for Trump.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you have been subpoenaed for log data? Could you talk about it of you had been?

We have been subpoenaed several times. I've been told by our lawyer that I shouldn't broadcast the specifics of a subpoena but I can warn the targets so that they can contest the subpoena if they want. The problem is that I normally can't identify the targets in order to warn them because they are always anonymous. Very often we get threats of subpoenas which some people seem to believe will intimidate me. It actually doesn't bother me and I have no problem with people who believe they have been harmed using the legal system to seek remedy. I think it is cheaper and easier if they just contact me to discuss the issue civilly.

We also get lots of threats along the lines of "If you don't remove such and such posts I will sue you." I just laugh at those and, if anything, am even less wiling to remove the content in question.

Thanks, that was fascinating. I have some follow-up questions: Are you typically subpoenaed for all posts from a specific IP? Or are they posts more limited to a subject, such as give me all posts where this IP talked about their kids? Do you have a sense of what sort of cases they are used for? (I imagine divorce?) Do you ever follow the cases to find out what happened?

I always get subpoenaed for the IP address of specific post or posts. I would fight any request for all posts from an address or all posts about some topic. Almost all cases involve defamation.

Just for the record, I have very little tolerance for defamation by anonymous posters -- something I consider cowardly in most circumstances. If someone contacts me about a post they believe to be defamatory, I will normally remove it almost automatically. But most cases I encounter through subpoenas involve more than just DCUM. For instance, someone has defamed someone all over the place and other websites are also getting subpoenaed.

Thanks! That is fascinating.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:When did DCUM begin?

When you founded it, did you intend for this to a full-time job, or did it just evolve?

In 2002, our friend Sharon Winick started arranging get-togethers for new moms. Our son was born about the same time as Sharon's daughter so Maria was included in the meet-ups. As the meet-ups got larger, they were organizing them through email and that was getting problematic as the number of people grew. I was managing mailing lists (listservs) for a few companies then and had all the hardware and software necessary to run them. So, I suggested starting a mailing list instead of relying on the "to" and "cc" fields of email. Maria and Sharon were moderating it and then people started using it for all sorts of parenting topics and it grew well beyond its original purpose. I wasn't really involved for a while but as the list grew, Sharon was too busy to stay involved and I started helping Maria. We created a website but it was only to help subscribe to the mailing list.

Then, "nanny posts" -- nanny search and nanny available -- posts started taking over the mailing list and it was making it hard to find non-nanny posts. We decided to offload them to a forum on the website. In addition to the nanny search forums, we created a General Discussion forum. One day, we noticed that forum had a lot of traffic. Based on what we saw in that forum, we created a few more. Then they gained traction and it became clear that web discussion would be popular. Therefore, in 2007 I completely redid the forums to its current format. I was still working full-time and doing DCUM on the side. We had started running web ads without much expectations but after a few years we noticed significant year-to-year revenue growths. First Maria quit her job to work on DCUM full time. Revenue growth was so predictable that at some point I decided that I would be able to quit my job in three years. That's exactly what happened. Three years after that I quit and have being working on DCUM full time since then.

Other than that three-year time period, nothing was ever really planed with DCUM and we never expected it to grow like it has.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:This is a website user profile question. Where are the majority of anti Meghan Markle people posting from? I am suspecting that it has to be UK and states/areas that voted for Trump.

I have no idea. I have never checked. I spend as little time with those threads as possible.

[Anonymous]

Do you think any “famous” people (politicians, celebrities, or otherwise) read and/or post on DCUM? Kind of like Hillary Clinton’s admitted fascination with HGTV.

[Anonymous]

Do you delete a lot of posts about Bernie Sanders? I have noticed that my posts in favor of him are/were disappearing. This was mostly in the past. I am wondering if this is due to Bernie posters? Or are the replies these posts get offensive? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for you that you play guitar every day. Do you play alone or with others? What style? What equipment?

I play every day but I still suck. I mean I really suck, no joke. But I really like it. I only play alone, a lot of classic rock, some more modern rock, and some blues. A couple of country songs. I have way more guitars than I need or deserve and I am a text book example that equipment doesn't make you a better player. But, I have a Gibson SG, a Gibson Les Paul Faded, a Gibson Explorer (this is my guilty pleasure guitar), a Duesenburg Dropkick Murphys Signature (because I love Dropkick Murphys), a Fender Telecaster, a Fender Stratocaster, and a Taylor acoustic. I have a Bad Cat Black Cat amp, a Roland Blues Cube amp, and a small 5 watt Marshall combo amp. This is a lot of stuff that I don't come anywhere close to doing justice, but it is really my only hobby.

I suck, too. I had to google the explorer - very cool. I have a Taylor acoustic and a strat and a pretty nice fender combo amp. I should really play them more...

I, too, suck. I think we may have a cohort! Lol. I have a Fender Tele, an Eastman oval hole archtop, and a Godin archtop - among others. And I take lessons - which adds to my fun.

[Anonymous]

Has your view on what you might consider a misogynist, racist, mean, defamatory, or just plain nasty post that should be deleted shifted over the years?

[Anonymous]

why are you so liberal

and will you ever admit your liberal bias on things

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you proficient in other languages?

I have studied French and Arabic. I was once conversational in French and pretty good at reading, writing, and speaking Arabic. But I am really bad with languages and can't really do much with either of them now. These days even English is a challenge.

Merci

What drove you study Arabic?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all you do, Jeff!

Are you aware of another site like this with a high HHI average among users/posters?

[Anonymous]

Would you consider running for president?