Future of the forum

[Didier]

Shoot Venmo also asked for your birth date and ssn. Any help?

[mister.shoes]

Hey gang, paid another $108 for hosting last month if anyone wants to slip me some cash on Venmo at @Nick-Magrino.

Also, does anyone want to take this over?

I've had grossly underused hosting for ages and would be happy to stick this on my server. I've got a few questions, but go ahead and PM or email me if you're interested in handing it over.

[bubzki2]

Tried to send money via Venmo; won't let me without last four of your phone.

[twincitizen]

Hey gang, paid another $108 for hosting last month if anyone wants to slip me some cash on Venmo at @Nick-Magrino.

Also, does anyone want to take this over?

Done. It's $108 a month? Or quarterly? Bi-annually?

[Nick]

Annually, I think. Last four digits are 4938. Also, check out @Nick-Magrino-1, he seems very cool.

[Bakken2016]

How much have you got so far? I can proably chip in like $10/$15

[Nick]

Hey gang, paid another $108 for hosting last month if anyone wants to slip me some cash on Venmo at @Nick-Magrino.

Also, does anyone want to take this over?

I've had grossly underused hosting for ages and would be happy to stick this on my server. I've got a few questions, but go ahead and PM or email me if you're interested in handing it over.

Shot an email to the address you’re registered with in the forum—if that’s no good my email is in my signature.

[mister.shoes]

Hey gang, paid another $108 for hosting last month if anyone wants to slip me some cash on Venmo at @Nick-Magrino.

Also, does anyone want to take this over?

I've had grossly underused hosting for ages and would be happy to stick this on my server. I've got a few questions, but go ahead and PM or email me if you're interested in handing it over.

Shot an email to the address you’re registered with in the forum—if that’s no good my email is in my signature.

Message received!

[Blaisdell Greenway]

What's the deal with SSC? More activity, and people on there refer to (I assume) this forum as "That site." Is there some sort of MSP urbanist forum posting beef I missed over the years? Last controversy I remember is RetiredBanker

[Didier]

Some of us are still getting over it

[thespeedmccool]

Anyone care to give a quick run down of what happened? I'm new-ish to both forums and curious.

[Anondson]

“retiredbanker“ posted many scoops they claimed inside info about regarding development proposals. Often ones that never appeared. Was cagey about how the info came to him. Was very boosterish in their enthusiasm.

The evasiveness about their identity and veracity of claims were … off-putting leading to disputes and challenges. Many forum members who were equally boosterish about Minneapolis or St. Paul were taken in by “retiredbanker”

Many claims turned out full fiction. Then other forum members (convincingly) uncovered the likely identity was a dude from southern Minnesota making stuff up.

As a spectator at the time trying to remember this drama, SSC attracted more of the “retiredbanker” boosters, and UrbanMSP more of the skeptics. There was some crossover tho. The uncovering left some ill will.

[Didier]

It was way weirder than even that, though. There was an army of sock puppets on LinkedIn, weird renderings that looked like they came from a newspaper in a 1980s sci-fi film, claims of pitching local projects to Donald Trump. It had all the hallmarks of the weird online conspiracies that we have grown in recent years. He'd offer just enough to sound credible, but never any actual specific information. You either had to believe or be skeptical, and if you were skeptical he'd become aggressive and his followers would attack you.

I can't remember if there was ever any real resolution. I'm pretty sure when he was outed he just kind of disappeared. Honestly I'm surprised he hasn't tried a comeback at some point.

One of my greatest regrets in life is that we never did a formal investigation. Within all of those posts was an incredible story that we probably could have sold to Citypages for $50 or something.

[Anondson]

Digging into my foggy recesses, I recall the innuendo there was a secret group of local movers pitching proposals to outside wealthy plutocrats they had connections to to build Dubai-like icons.

Which was part of what turned “iconic” into a joke.

[uptownbro]

I know someone on SSC posted a link to all of the posts a while back from retiredbanker and all of there other fake profiles. Some wild stuff was said by that person. It ended up involving multiple fake linkedin and social media accounts. All of which pointed to a plan to turn the twin cities into the next mega city. It all fell apart when most posters realized it was a scam. Before my time posting on either.

[MNdible]

While all of the Retiredbanker stuff is correct (and wild!), I think the bad blood between the two forums has more to do with moderation and their differing purposes.

[Blaisdell Greenway]

Thank you, yeah that's more what I was getting at. I just started going to SSC recently so I found it noteworthy. It's all so silly so I don't get this level of passion outside of the nerdy built environment stuff we're here for. Some of the opinions expressed there can be cringeworthy or cross the line into racist territory moreso than here. People over here used to be really mean too, but hasn't been that way for many years.

[Nick]

And they all lived happily ever after!

[Tyler]

lol.

This place used to be called Minnescraper, and over time morphed to being more about general (urban) development. This pushed the skycraper enthusiasts to SSC. Simple as that.

[Korh]

Apologies for asking but is SSC another mn urban form or something? I'm not too familiar with the sites history before joining after I randomly found trying to find info on SWLRT back in 16-17.