Comic Book Resources (CBR) Will Nuke Its Archives In Two Weeks

[Estrecca]

I am not sure if anyone will have any interest whatsoever in the news, but I've given a heads-up in several other communities in which I post so I thought that I'd do it here, too.

Comic Book Resources, a large comics debate forum, experienced a nasty incident recently in which rape threats and real life harassment happened. The administration there was sufficiently aghast by the whole thing that they have decided to wipe the slate clean.

They have made what's effectively a completely new forum and, 13-14 days from now, they are deleting everything from the old forums. "Everything" meaning twelve million posts or so. If anyone happens to be interested in saving something from there and/or seeing what the old forum was like during these last two weeks, the relevant temporary archive can be reached through:

http://oldforums.comicbookresources.com/

 

[Altered Nova]

This incident was so bad that they couldn't just ban the perpetrators and delete the relevant posts? I mean the intent is noble, but the response seems kind of extreme.

 

[Estrecca]

This incident was so bad that they couldn't just ban the perpetrators and delete the relevant posts? I mean the intent is noble, but the response seems kind of extreme.

It is stated that the incident stretched across various sites and that included posting of personal information of the victim, attempts to hack into her bank accounts and other things. If the allegations are true (and there is no evidence to assume otherwise), it was outright criminal in the legal sense of the word.

That said, the approach taken seems wrong for a number of reasons and there might be other factors in play in the CBR Administration's decision to restart from scratch, including the board owner plain not liking the board culture. At any rate, this is meant to inform about the event, more than anything else.

 

[TC_Hazard]

It was stupid.

It was really stupid.

Heck, if Estrecca had not pointed out to me there was a temporary archive I would have raged at the stuff I lost in the unannounced move.

 

[Estrecca]

...

The hell?

That you, Hazard?

Man, this is a small Internet.

 

[TC_Hazard]

Yep, this is me.

All my names have Hazard in them.

It's a thing.

 

[da_fox2279]

... What the hell started the harassment?

 

[Estrecca]

... What the hell started the harassment?

According to the announcement in CBR's main site.

There has been a negativity and nastiness that has existed on the CBR forums for too long. Two weeks ago, that long-growing ugliness became more pronounced than ever. CBR published an article by guest contributor Janelle Asselin, critiquing the cover to DC Comics' upcoming "Teen Titans" #1. Some of you liked the article, some of you didn't. We encouraged readers to share their feedback in the CBR Forums.
Unfortunately, what happened next was unacceptable -- so-called "fans" around the Internet, on various message boards and social media, including the CBR Forums, attacked Janelle personally, threatening her with rape and assault. These same "fans" found her e-mail, home address and other personal information, and used it to harass and terrorize her, including an attempted hacking of her bank account.

Apparently, an utterly trivial matter.

 

[da_fox2279]

... What the hell started the harassment?

According to the announcement in CBR's main site.

There has been a negativity and nastiness that has existed on the CBR forums for too long. Two weeks ago, that long-growing ugliness became more pronounced than ever. CBR published an article by guest contributor Janelle Asselin, critiquing the cover to DC Comics' upcoming "Teen Titans" #1. Some of you liked the article, some of you didn't. We encouraged readers to share their feedback in the CBR Forums.
Unfortunately, what happened next was unacceptable -- so-called "fans" around the Internet, on various message boards and social media, including the CBR Forums, attacked Janelle personally, threatening her with rape and assault. These same "fans" found her e-mail, home address and other personal information, and used it to harass and terrorize her, including an attempted hacking of her bank account.

Apparently, an utterly trivial matter.

... The fuck?! Seriously? I remember that article, and I agreed with the writer - DC's spending too much time turning Starfire into a sex symbol. I knew people would disagree, but to go that far? Yeesh.

 

[TC_Hazard]

And historically bad decisions continue.

Only one chat thread for the whole board.

... yeah, I don't even get this one.

 

[Ordo]

And historically bad decisions continue.

Only one chat thread for the whole board.

... yeah, I don't even get this one.

Why the fandom can't have nice things.

 

[Altered Nova]

Oh, the Teen Titans #1 cover issue? I don't really follow comics anymore but I read that article because a feminism blog I follow linked to it. She was completely right about how terrible that cover is, it's an unfocused mess with no synergy between the characters and weird random details, and 16 year old Wonder Girl clearly has breast implants and is asking for a nip-slip with that strapless outfit.

Yeah nevermind I'd probably want to nuke the forum too if I ran it and found out that a bunch of the users started a fucking criminal harassment crusade against a woman for daring to point out such blatant sexist bullshit on a comic book cover. Jeezus Christ I didn't realize comic book fans were still so nasty.

 

[Ordo]

Oh, the Teen Titans #1 cover issue? I don't really follow comics anymore but I read that article because a feminism blog I follow linked to it. She was completely right about how terrible that cover is, it's an unfocused mess with no synergy between the characters and weird random details, and 16 year old Wonder Girl clearly has breast implants and is asking for a nip-slip with that strapless outfit.

Yeah nevermind I'd probably want to nuke the forum too if I ran it and found out that a bunch of the users started a fucking criminal harassment crusade against a woman for daring to point out such blatant sexist bullshit on a comic book cover. Jeezus Christ I didn't realize comic book fans were still so nasty.

I like to think that most comic book fans are decent people and it's only a small but vocal minority that ruin it for everyone else. Basically it's a case of GIFT.

 

[TC_Hazard]

Oh, the Teen Titans #1 cover issue? I don't really follow comics anymore but I read that article because a feminism blog I follow linked to it. She was completely right about how terrible that cover is, it's an unfocused mess with no synergy between the characters and weird random details, and 16 year old Wonder Girl clearly has breast implants and is asking for a nip-slip with that strapless outfit.

Yeah nevermind I'd probably want to nuke the forum too if I ran it and found out that a bunch of the users started a fucking criminal harassment crusade against a woman for daring to point out such blatant sexist bullshit on a comic book cover. Jeezus Christ I didn't realize comic book fans were still so nasty.

I like to think that most comic book fans are decent people and it's only a small but vocal minority that ruin it for everyone else. Basically it's a case of GIFT.

That's basically it.

I was part of the Rumbles and Anime forums in CBR. They were probably two of the nicest boards in the whole forum.

Anime board is now gone and the Rumble boards has lost its chat thread, possibly its RPGs and threads are going to be stricter there. We also lost some good posters that were understandably upset with the whole thing.

So yeah, the board did not deserve to get wiped out. The ones who suffer are the regular posters, not the trolls who did this crap.