Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

sworthy · 12:12 PM

So I check in here most everyday, and I've been here for a while, but I don't know much about the site. Who owns the place? When did they start it? Who's in charge of the front page? Are the mods responsible for anything besides the forums? Do any of them get paid? Does MacNN make much money from advertising?

Anyone want to chime in?

BasketofPuppies · Mar 3, 2005, 05:13 AM

Originally posted by Demonhood:
well, you see, it's like this:
a girl macnn and a boy macnn meet in a bar one day. they hit it off. girl macnn thinks the boy is pretty cute. so she agrees to go back to boy macnn's place for some "coffee". a slow dissolve to a windowed sunset later and macnn.com was conceived.

and yes, there was a custody battle (some would call it an attempted kidnapping) a year ago, but it was resolved without longterm psychological damage to the macnn child.

demograph68 · Mar 3, 2005, 05:22 AM

Where did he say that?

BasketofPuppies · Mar 3, 2005, 05:24 AM

In every thread in which someone asks about the history of MacNN.

Naplander · Mar 3, 2005, 05:33 AM

Do you remember the uproar when the site was bought (I forget by whom), and the front page was re-designed?

Lasted about a week.

People were very miffed

PurpleGiant · Mar 3, 2005, 05:38 AM

NewsFactor. Fun times.

Zimphire · Mar 3, 2005, 05:40 AM

*cringe*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacNN

mitchell_pgh · Mar 3, 2005, 06:06 AM

In the beginning, there was a one and a zero...

[Please PM me for the full text.]

AppleOptionFour · Mar 3, 2005, 09:31 AM

In 2000 MacNN was sold to NewsFactor Network. Negative reader reaction to the heavy-handedness of the takeover resulted in the sale being reversed, with the one stipulation being that MacNN carry a NewsFactorNetwork headline box at the bottom of the news page for a full year. Thus, MacNN emerged intact and has been under its original ownership ever since.

w00t to that.

Scotttheking · Mar 3, 2005, 09:51 AM

Was the sale in 2000, or 2001? I've only been here since Dec 2000, and I had 600 or so posts when I became mod, IIRC. And I became mod right after the sale...

sworthy · Mar 3, 2005, 10:31 AM

What, no details? It really can't be that much of a secret.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 3, 2005, 11:13 AM

[mitchell_pgh... no need bringing that up. -Tooki]

sworthy · Mar 3, 2005, 11:39 AM

conspiracy?

What are you covering up Tooki?

zizban · Mar 3, 2005, 11:48 AM

Originally posted by sworthy:
conspiracy?

What are you covering up Tooki?

oooo a conspiracy!

Ozmodiar · Mar 3, 2005, 09:32 PM

Do modmins have the ability to edit a post without it showing up at the bottom of the message?

I think I smell a ruse...

TheBadgerHunter · Mar 3, 2005, 09:50 PM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
[mitchell_pgh... no need bringing that up. -Tooki]

Umm, I'm going to call bull here. Why the heck are you doing here? I really couldn't care less about your slightly hard-nosed approach and I'm sure modem users thank you for your one-man campaign on images.

Still, I'm rather disturbed that you edited something seemingly benign.

ManOfSteal · Mar 3, 2005, 10:02 PM

Originally posted by TheBadgerHunter:
Still, I'm rather disturbed that you edited something seemingly benign.

Pssst, mitchell_pgh did that himself. Shhh, it's a secret!

alphasubzero949 · Mar 3, 2005, 10:13 PM

Originally posted by ManOfSteal:

Pssst, mitchell_pgh did that himself. Shhh, it's a secret!

Let me guess...when everyone wanted to bail from these forums over the news page layout and the high-ups had to step in with a heavy dose of reassurance?

Lateralus · Mar 3, 2005, 10:19 PM

Originally posted by sworthy:
Do any of them get paid?

No.

tooki · Mar 3, 2005, 10:58 PM

Originally posted by Ozmodiar:
Do modmins have the ability to edit a post without it showing up at the bottom of the message?

Nope, we can't. Well, I'm sure it could be done by going into the raw mySQL database and editing, but I have neither the login nor the inclination to do so.

Note that hijinks like impersonating mods are not OK, and will face repercussions.

tooki

tooki · Mar 3, 2005, 10:59 PM

Originally posted by sworthy:
conspiracy?

What are you covering up Tooki?

It wasn't me, it's him pretending to be me. If I edit a post, it'll always say so -- I can't override the edit message.

And I'd never capitalize my username -- it's strictly spelled lowercase, even when it begins a sentence.

tooki

tooki · Mar 3, 2005, 11:06 PM

Originally posted by sworthy:
So I check in here most everyday, and I've been here for a while, but I don't know much about the site. 1. Who owns the place? 2. When did they start it? 3. Who's in charge of the front page? 4. Are the mods responsible for anything besides the forums? 5. Do any of them get paid? 6. Does MacNN make much money from advertising?

Anyone want to chime in?

1. See http://www.macnn.com/index.php?about=true -- the owner is Monish. He pokes his head in the Feedback forum now and then.

2. 1995, IIRC.

3. See #1.

4. No. The news and forums staffs are totally separate (with the possible exception of Nick, who is on the news staff but has begun helping out here).

5. The news staff is paid, the forums staff is volunteer.

6. Ads pay to run the site, but I have no idea beyond that.

tooki

Disgruntled Head of C-3PO · Mar 3, 2005, 11:19 PM

"A redesign bringing a new graphical appearance and new forum software has been in the pipeline for some time. Designer Mike Matas reportedly has been hired."

So when the heck is this going to happen?

ThinkInsane · Mar 4, 2005, 12:13 AM

The whole Newsfactor buy-out debacle happened in May of 2001, I believe, not 2000 as the always accurate wikipedia reports. Some one might want to fix that. Someone besides me, that is, because I'm far to busy eating a slice of pizza at the moment.

tooki · Mar 4, 2005, 12:15 AM

The update? :shrug:
Mike Matas? Not any more, AFAIK.

tooki

sworthy · Mar 4, 2005, 12:26 AM

Originally posted by tooki:
1. See http://www.macnn.com/index.php?about=true -- the owner is Monish. He pokes his head in the Feedback forum now and then.

2. 1995, IIRC.

3. See #1.

4. No. The news and forums staffs are totally separate (with the possible exception of Nick, who is on the news staff but has begun helping out here).

5. The news staff is paid, the forums staff is volunteer.

6. Ads pay to run the site, but I have no idea beyond that.

tooki

Thanks for clearing everything up and for the info.

Lateralus · Mar 4, 2005, 12:29 AM

Tooki: The greatest story teller... ev4r.

sworthy · Mar 4, 2005, 12:38 AM

Originally posted by Lateralus:
Tooki: The greatest story teller... ev4r.

it's tooki

Cubeoid · Mar 4, 2005, 12:59 AM

Found this here entry in an encyclopedia lying 'round the house:

MacNN was founded in 1932 by a family of wild mountain pigs under the name of the "Colorado Macintosh Harmony Society". In 1944 after publicized alcohol issues involving the pig family MacNN was taken over by the state of Colorado and renamed "The Computation Sorority" where it remained until 1988 when a rodent like animal resurected it to glory under yet another name, "The Finnkstrom Club of Mac". In this era, the "club" went through major transformations and planning began on what would and would not be acceptible in the lounge, which opened it's doors in 1989 (remaing almost empty, other than Demonhood until september 2001, when a large disaster got people involved in intarweb forums. During the early 90s the society was bought out by a multinational grain producer and renamed to it's current name "MacNN" after the rodent creature was brought down following publicized alcohol issues.

Xeo · Mar 4, 2005, 01:06 AM

Re: NFN. It was definitely 2001. I remember it and I wasn't around before I registered this name.

tooki · Mar 4, 2005, 03:08 AM

Search the Lounge archive for "NFN" -- some of the threads are still there, and they're from May 2001. (Most of the really interesting threads were deleted by the NFN guy.)

tooki

mitchell_pgh · Mar 4, 2005, 06:44 AM

NOTE: I was joking... my post was a blatant rip off of the [IMAGE REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF APPLE] that was going around in the 10.0 days. My apologies to anyone that I may have mislead. I was simply trying to be clever.

joltguy · Mar 4, 2005, 06:53 AM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I was simply trying to be clever.

Judging by the reaction it got, I think your attempt was successful.

I thought it was funny.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 4, 2005, 06:58 AM

Originally posted by TheBadgerHunter:
Umm, I'm going to call bull here. Why the heck are you doing here? I really couldn't care less about your slightly hard-nosed approach and I'm sure modem users thank you for your one-man campaign on images.

Still, I'm rather disturbed that you edited something seemingly benign.

Sorry about that, as noted above, it was just a joke... to spur conspiracy of a dark mysterious MacNN past.

tooki keeps this place "real" in that if there wasn't a tooki looking over this forum it would be littered with spam, blinking sigs, links to 30MB graphic files, etc. I went to the howard stern forums once, for a second... OMG!!! My browser was freaking out. Everyone had blinking sigs!!!

mitchell_pgh · Mar 4, 2005, 06:59 AM

Originally posted by joltguy:
Judging by the reaction it got, I think your attempt was successful.

I thought it was funny.

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with you.

Randman · Mar 4, 2005, 07:11 AM

If it's tooki, then why is it Kooky? Shouldn't it be tooki, the kooki Admin?

ManOfSteal · Mar 4, 2005, 07:25 AM

Originally posted by Randman:
If it's tooki, then why is it Kooky? Shouldn't it be tooki, the kooki Admin?

No, it should still be:

tooki monster.�

zizban · Mar 4, 2005, 08:00 AM

While we're at it, if it's tooki with a lowercase t then why is Demonhood spelled with a capital D? Hmmmmm?

mitchell_pgh · Mar 4, 2005, 08:22 AM

Originally posted by zizban:
While we're at it, if it's tooki with a lowercase t then why is Demonhood spelled with a capital D? Hmmmmm?

That's right... because they are the same person

[NOTE: The above post is a humor based post. It in no way reflects the views of the forum or forum administrators in any way.]

Randman · Mar 4, 2005, 08:26 AM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
[NOTE: The above post is a humor based post. It in no way reflects the views of the forum or forum administrators in any way.]

mitchell_pgh · Mar 4, 2005, 08:52 AM

Originally posted by Randman:

It's not acceptable to poke fun at the mods.

paul w · Mar 4, 2005, 09:54 AM

Sure it is. They need us more than we need them anyways.

AppleOptionFour · Mar 4, 2005, 10:04 AM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
It's not acceptable to poke fun at the mods.

YEAH, Youw pwobabwy wite.

Randman · Mar 4, 2005, 10:08 AM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
It's not acceptable to poke fun at the mods.

A jab in good jest is appropriate for anyone regardless of rank or station. It's when people get stoopid trying to be funny that's too often crossed.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 4, 2005, 10:15 AM

Originally posted by Randman:
A jab in good jest is appropriate for anyone regardless of rank or station. It's when people get stoopid trying to be funny that's too often crossed.

I agree... do you feel my post above was inappropriate?

tooki · Mar 4, 2005, 02:04 PM

Originally posted by ManOfSteal:
No, it should still be:

tooki monster.�

Hahaha!

Lateralus thinks I should be "grampa admin" since I'm the longest-standing admin here...

tooki

AppleOptionFour · Mar 4, 2005, 02:14 PM

"t"ooki...whats the highest post count youve ever seen? Zimph's?

Xeo · Mar 4, 2005, 02:15 PM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I agree... do you feel my post above was inappropriate?

People were taking it seriously and actually getting upset at tooki. IMO, that should be avoided. tooki (small "t"!

) shouldn't have to clear his own name.

tooki · Mar 4, 2005, 02:17 PM

Yup.

Top 5, in order:

Zimphire
SimeyTheLimey
Cipher13
gorickey
Spheric Harlot

tooki

mitchell_pgh · Mar 4, 2005, 02:29 PM

Originally posted by Xeo:
People were taking it seriously and actually getting upset at tooki. IMO, that should be avoided. tooki (small "t"! ) shouldn't have to clear his own name.

I agree... (even though most of the regulars "got it")

Jokes Gone Bad�

I just think it's funny how many people are looking for conspiracy in a simple thing like the MacNN history.

OMG OMG!!11!1! tooki is pulling a Carl Roves on us!!1!!