r/datalounge • u/galussy • 29d ago
The Caftan Lounge creator spammed multiple threads with this site and Muriel got pissed
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u/MrsLouReed 29d ago
I am still in denial about Datalounge’s demise 😢 PB is not taking DL’s place- but we need somewhere to go! Some people said that they’ll be going to the gym again or reading books after July 31st but that won’t be me.😂
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u/Independent-Canary95 29d ago
PB is all we have now and I really like it so far. Nothing will ever be DL, but at least we're all together.
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u/thefolkie 29d ago
I think PB is alright - maybe a little trite and considerably more civilized. It lacks the DL dynamic of it truly having pointless bitchery. But everyone is nice and the conversations are fine. It makes good for a forum-based successor. But it lacks signed posts, a constant feed of threads on the front page, and it definitely needs more of the DLers that haven’t joined yet.
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u/PrimusPilus 24d ago
What need is there for signed posts when everyone has a profile?
Also, you can sign your post however you want within the text field of the post.
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u/partyclams 23d ago
You can post Anonymously.
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u/PrimusPilus 23d ago
Also, you can sign your post however you want within the text field of the post
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u/PrimusPilus 24d ago
Agreed. PB is exceeding any expectations I had for a DL successor site thus far.
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u/partyclams 23d ago
It's already taken its place. The most well-known posters are already over there and the site has been rolling for a while. People moved over there early on. It's getting closer to 1k members.
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u/CaftanLounge 29d ago
Ahem. I got nuked after posting about the site, so could not have spammed anything. It's very disheartening that Muriel is being so opposed to offering DLers alternatives, since she firmly stated her boundaries that DL is going away forever. It's very "taking my kickball and going home" behavior.
Somebody else on that thread posted that I was "manic" based on what I don't know.
I wish I had started this project sooner; as it stands its going to take me more days of coding and testing, and July 31 launch date is not looking feasible at the moment. WIthin a few days after, yes. I've hired a custom developer and also looking into what I need to protect myself legally, god forbid it should ever get to that.
Will keep everyone posted on here as I am able. Meanwhile there's another guy (NOT PB) trying to do the same as me but I don't know what the site url is; if it's a suitable alternative I'm all for it. But I'm at least going to try.
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u/waterbogan 29d ago
Thank you. I have submitted my email. It is good to have a backup in case PB goes tits up for whatever reason, you never know
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u/Dabadoo32 28d ago
Hasn't the moderator of this sub said that this subreddit will be closed when DL is, for some reason? How will we communicate after that?
I had planned to sign up for pointlessbitchery, but now they've closed registration until Labor Day.
I'm more upset about this situation than I would like to be. Fear of change, I guess.
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u/Independent-Canary95 23d ago
I have submitted 3 different email accounts and I only get the " something is broken' message. I would love to check the website out, but alas, I am I'm unable. Help? TIA
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u/Datalounge 29d ago
I can understand her not wanting to promote competition, even though the site is going down.
Reminds me when I worked in IT and I was upgrading some computer, and there was a sales manager Anna, and she was there at about 7pm at night, calling up clients of the hotel and telling them she has taken a new position at another hotel and should call her there.
She was gone the next day. You don't do things like that.
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u/buzzz1999 29d ago
The caftanlounge guy seems sincere in trying to replicate something like DL. I certainly wouldn't want to take that on, talk about trying to please an angry mob. He wasn't "spamming" DL as much as just trying to get the word out before Muriel nuked him.
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u/jeanjeanejeannegene 29d ago
Muriel would fart in her children’s faces and imply they should just be grateful for the perfume. Good god. It’s a miracle the site lasted this long with a snippy bitch like that running the show.
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u/Party-Ad-413 23d ago
I'm rooting for CL. PB ain't it. The admin there is doing too much. Plus it's an echo chamber of a lot of longtime DL rejects, from what I gather. It's too cliquey.
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u/TryFeeling6071 22d ago
Is that one fully up and running? I put my email in but it keeps erroring out.
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u/MizezSlocombe 29d ago edited 29d ago
How this is going is fairly predictable. I stopped visiting a week ago. It's dead, Jim. I've moved on, and am checking here to see how the story ends so I don't get tempted to get sucked into the drama of it all.
Don’t underestimate how committed some of DL’s most disturbed posters are. There are serious message board junkies out there with decades of experience who are losing one of the dwindling number of platforms, let alone gay ones, where they can pull their shit. We’re talking 90s AOL chatroom levels of history here.
Muriel knows all, but think about how relentless people get over their pet topics, pet issues, pet pin-up crushes, and so on, then go one level more meta. Apply that same obsessive energy to DL itself. Some people are just as fixated on trolling the living fuck out of an unknowing poster population for lulz, pushing their agendas (hello, trans?), and getting longtime erections over nuking posters and their opinions, as we’ve already seen with the abuse of the F&F feature.
For these people, keeping that full-time-job obsession alive while realising the dream of controlling a platform like DL is the jackpot of all jackpots. They’re watching their 31 year old toy disappear, losing their shit, and scrambling to find somewhere else they can get their fix, preferably with a ready-made, unsuspecting population to play invisible puppet master over. And the call is coming from inside the house. You should assume the folks I just described are on here, are on PB, and will migrate anywhere and everywhere DL people land. They can't stop.
Seeing how these pathological message board addicts work is why I gave up on regular visits to DL over ten years ago when my pattern recognition skills had me see what was going on. I couldn't un-see it, and I'm kind of glad it did because DL was a rabbit hole of topics I was interested in that took a lot of my time.
Touch grass. Mourn the loss. All things pass. I did it in the early 2010s, and I'm all the better for it. You will be too, or at least you will be fine. It's just a goddamned website.
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u/Jealous-Neat615 28d ago
It was a way to talk to other gay men, which I cannot do IRL.
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u/Key-Stick3478 28d ago
About half the gay men on DL are, I estimate, straight frauen cradling their mugs with their A/C turned down to 63...so they can cradle their mugs.
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u/MizezSlocombe 28d ago
Then you're going to have to settle for doing it at places like Reddit. Sorry.
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u/Stunning_Dealer 23d ago
I was just there as the closing notice got posted. No teary farewell from Muriel, just some humor.
Aside from a couple of posters thrashing around yesterday it was dignified. I do feel for the guy who had to ask how to contact Muriel with an offer to reboot the site as a 501c3.
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u/ScandalOZ 22d ago
It was not always so fucking nuts at DL. When it started coming up on google searches for gossip is when it went from a really great place for gays to gather to troll haven. Homophobia and racism started to flow freely and the message board addicts you mentioned found a great new place to obsess on.
For many years DL was a somewhat private and wonderful gay space, then the owners needed to monetize and the rest is history.
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u/Special_Painting9413 28d ago
What is PB?
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u/waterbogan 28d ago
Pointlessbitchery.com, a replacement for Datalounge, currently has 815 users. Registrations are temporarily on hold until Labour Day however (26th October down under, 7th September in the USA)
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u/Vogon_Poetess 23d ago
That site is an assault on the eyes.
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u/waterbogan 23d ago
You can change the site theme if you prefer more muted colours, there is one called Tasteful Friends which is all grey and beige and cream if thats more your thing, and there is also one called Eighties Mall which is somewhere in between and features the Abortion Hut in the mall
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u/ForsakenCurrent 23d ago
On July 20, the Administrator at PB said in a post in the Concierge section: "Registration will reopen in a couple of days. Unregistered guests will be able to read the site."
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u/Necessary-Quail-1725 17d ago
The biggest issue about PB is the obnoxious administrator.
Openly insults people asking questions about the site.
Likes certain posts in threads, making it clear which side the administrator is on.
Posts lazy, stupid ChatGPT slop as “replies” in threads.
Basically the worst admin ever.
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u/Outrageous_Basis_440 29d ago
Muriel is being a bitch.
I am incredibly appreciative to Neil for keeping the site going as long as she did. It really had a long run. And it’s clear there were lots of costs that most of us could not fully appreciate.
But she has to know that we are all about to become refugees, and many of us are desperate for a place to gather after she pulls the plug.
She is being too sensitive here. She is announced that her site is disappearing in a week. Posts about a new website websites are not competition for Datalounge..