Wednesday, March 13, 2019

RIP Toledo Talk

I'm very sad to announce the closing of a local message board.  Toledo Talk was hosted by JR, who kept the place free of retards and trolls for years.  By following a few links, I discovered this final message from the SysOp:

Notice: Late in the evening on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, Toledo Talk closed its doors to new content. The site began late in the evening on January 17, 2003. 16 years. That's enough. Thanks to the many people who made this place interesting. Adios amigos.
- jr
I met many interesting, intelligent, and erudite people on Toledo Talk, and while I didn't agree with all of them I can honestly say that I have a good deal of respect for everyone I met - both on line and in a few cases, in person.

While I'm sorry to see the old place close down, nothing last forever.  My thanks to JR for keeping the lights on all those years.

Here's an official hoist of the happy hour bourbon glass and a tip of the old fedora to JR.  Thanks JR!

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Jack, I share your thoughts and experiences with the TT group. I recall meeting a few times for sandwiches and cocktails and enjoyed all those events.
Cheers to JR. Best regards, Jim Avolt

Old NFO said...

That's sad, but that is also a helluva run! Kudos to them!

Mad Jack said...

Thanks Jim. I enjoyed it as well.

I think the place required more oversight than most people realized, and JR just got tired of it. Which I can understand.

Anonymous said...

This is terrible! Now who will I spend my lunch hour with?! I've enjoyed reading and sharing with you all for quite a few years (10?), since I stumbled on the site helping my then grade school son look for historical markers around Toledo.

Thanks JR (and to you Madjack for shedding light on why I couldn't get any updated TT info!).

llz

Glen Filthie said...

My favourite forum got shut down for the last time a couple years back. We had too many hatey hate haters on it and one day we all got purged... and the thing basically went dormant.

Mad Jack said...

I, Mad Jack, registered on ToledoTalk on August 23, 2005. My last log in was March 5, 2019.

I was a loyal contributor for 4943 days, which translates into 13 years, 6 months, and 11 days. During that period I managed to remain somewhere inside the loosely defined behavioral guidelines while at the same time stepping on enough toes to keep an entire team of podiatrists in hookers and blow for a year or more.

Unlike a few other users who either lurked all the time or got permanently suspended for acting like assholes.

Mad Jack said...

llz: You're quite welcome. Glad I could be of service.

Glen: That's often the case. I'll give JR credit where it's due: he was able to get rid of the truly unbalanced lunatics while maintaining decent control of the intelligent, erudite, but somewhat intolerant and short tempered contributors without ruffling too many feathers or playing favorites.

Right McCaskey?

Anonymous said...

Sad to see it go away...Dino

Anonymous said...

Mad Jack...I'll really miss it. As a very infrequent contributor, I still checked in almost daily. It was informative and some of the regular posters (yourself included) were enjoyable to read.

I secretly harbored a hope to someday move across the street from jr. Delicious home brews, fresh baked bread, a guy who could trouble-shoot my wifi and computer problems with relative ease, and tell me if the approaching storms were worth all the fuss. He just seemed (in my mind) as that guy that would invite you over for a bbq, have some stellar food, great jokes and drinks that would last into the night.

I appreciated his writing, in particular the way he sourced and linked his info. I wish more web designers would take his opinions on web page design to heart. His space was easy to read and navigate.

Lastly, without jr, our paths might have never crossed. Cheers to jr. Sad to see it go.

Solleks

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know how to reach JR of toledotalk , I would like to see if I could take over the web site ....JJ

Grumpy said...

With Toledo Talk gone we'll all have to meet here.

Mad Jack said...

True enough, Solleks. I wouldn't have met you and Partner, and wouldn't have gone on a ride along.

Anonymous:
I could probably get hold of JR, or relay a message for you. Email me at your leisure.

Grump:
Space is limited.

lovetolaugh said...

I will miss TT very much. Thanks JR, for all that you did, it was a great forum !
foodie88

Anonymous said...

"DEATH COMES UNEXPECTEDLY!!!!" -Reverend Paul Ford, Pollyanna (1960)

Anonymous said...

I agree with all of you , Toledo talk was a great place for people to stay up to date on what was going on in and around Toledo , and pickup on the untold stories of Toledo , that is why i would like to keep it going , mad jack would you give me your email so you could get a message to JR , and see what it would take for me to keep Toledo talk up and running , or if you would , just tell him that someone is interested in keeping Toledo talk up and running , how ever you want to do this , let me know .....

Anonymous said...

Not sure how that "taking over" would work, since the software that runs it is all homegrown.

Mad Jack said...

Sure Anonymous. You can email me at:

MadJackRacham (at) gmail (dot) com.

Anonymous said...

Well that settles that , Mad Jack thanks for your help , JJ

Mad Jack said...

Glad to be of service, JJ.

Anonymous said...

That's unfortunate. I'll miss TT. It was a good run. Thanks to JR for providing us a forum for as long as he could put up with us.

Mad Jack said...

JR told me he's been reading the comments, and he thanks all of you.

Anonymous said...

Well the Reddit option is certainly disappointing.

John Law said...

The site was replete with liberal morons, communist jackasses, stalkers like Gnesler and history Fascists like brooks.

Mad Jack said...

A comment from John Law, AKA Anonymous:
The site was replete with liberal morons, communist jackasses, stalkers like Gnesler and history Fascists like brooks.

While I obviously can't positively identify this mental midget, I have a strong suspicion as to his real identity. He fancies himself an expert on anything you'd care to name; in reality, he may be mentally ill. Either way, he picked the wrong venue and crew to start a flame war with and he got spanked in public, then banned.

I thought about deleting this comment, then decided to allow it to stand as a reminder that anonymity attracts trolls. Please don't feed the trolls!