I just thought of one of my favorite members, Paul Brown- Mcfly! I think he was a web developer? I bet he’d jump at the chance to help bring back the HZ, if it were a kinder gentler place. He had both qualities.

Maybe you could contact him? I might have his email address somewhere if you don’t. I’ll look.

There is a technical way to rebuild the Zone along the lines discussed on this thread: Dissolve the boards, tag every post, and allow for the at-will creation of virtual boards by filtering on tags. As long as moderators can enforce the relevancy of tags (no sneaking in a wolf post under a sheep’s tag), it should let people dial in the amount of that nasty politics that they’re comfortable with.

I know I have a long history of talking about hypothetical improvements to the Zone and not delivering. Unfortunately, it’s gotten worse: I find myself settling into retirement, taking up gardening of all things, and I’m starting to view more coding with a sense of loathing.

This is a problem.

It’s a problem that could be solved pretty easily with a few volunteers familiar with WordPress (or arguing for a better, more modern alternative), in part just to make a better web site that will last a few more years; but also to integrate the three different database technologies holding the Zone’s posts back to 2001.

Velociraptor Blade (new handle?) a while back suggested that researchers might want to use the Zone’s message database to study how a community is destroyed by extreme partisan politics. Integrating the posts into one database is a necessary first step.

The corpse must be sewn back together before it can be autopsied.

I’m not dead set against saddling up/being saddled/suiting up/whatever again. I’m just not sure I can save the Zone one last time all by myself.

And you’re right about ironclad rules, though I might approach it more diplomatically as a “covenant”, a contract between the Zone and individual members. Rules need enforcement mechanisms, and we can realistically only make the rules we can enforce, through moderator powers and peer pressure.

Remember peer pressure in the Golden Age? No registration, and miscreants were run out of town by the sheer force of will of the community. Our bluff was finally called when He Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken was elected President.

In any case, Rob, I’m glad you’re going to give the Zone another chance. You’re special because you’re the conservative who didn’t give up on this place, all the more remarkably because you’ve had to single-handedly shoulder the blame on behalf of the departed Right. That’s unfair, yet you’ve soldiered on. Thank you.

We are heading into a a dangerous time, and I suspect the coming few years are going to be monumental- and likely horrifying. We need a space to discuss the events to come.

2022-2024 will be the time period where we will learn if America will survive as a democracy (I am not optimistic) – silencing the discussion of such events is to surrender to them.

We are a part of history, not apart from history- to pretend ill winds are not swirling around us at this time would be viewed as inexcusable naivety by future historians.

Over the past 20+ years there have been countless warnings on this board that our nation was heading to this disaster- to go silent on the matter now that it is here would be cowardice…

Let’s not drop the curtain before the final act. No spoilers, but I hear it has a twist ending you won’t see coming…

And yes, chat needs levity to build community.

But I’d rather not name names.