Open Thread: Wednesday, April 4, 2012

By on April 4, 2012 12:05 am in open thread

Not only is it Open Thread Day on the BHB, inviting your comments and observations… but on April 4, 1973, the once-consummate view from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade—the World Trade Center complex—held its official opening. The North Tower topped out in December 1970, followed by the South Tower in July 1971. First tenants moved into WTC in December 1970. The ribbon cutting ceremony followed 39 years ago today.

(Photo: Chuck Taylor/Henry Street outside the St. George Hotel 2/3 subway entrance)

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  • She’s Crafty

    @Escapee, agreed on being over HW especially their staff and the prices. A banged up Crate and Barrell dresser for $375, anyone?

  • KT

    ColumbiaHeightster – I’m guessing the guy had just let his dog sh*t on the sidewalk and he didn’t clean it up. He probably thought you witnessed the whole thing.

  • Neil

    Addendum to my reply to Homer, above.

    Homer–

    After posting, I recalled that Brownstoner.com added the reply function after I’d commented about the lack of one (don’t know if it was a direct response to that, though), but it DID NOT attach responses to the original post.

    After I e-mailed them, commenting on THAT particular deficiency, they responded that that the third-party web program they were using did not offer such configuration.

    Or something like that.

    Anyway, it was out of their control, apparently.

  • David on Middagh

    Neil,
    The Brownstoner.com commenting arrangement sounds like what the NYT just did, which might be the worst scheme possible.  A chronological arrangement (which I & the other squeaky wheels here do strongly prefer), is undermined by a local reply function that absolves the replier of addressing the comment to someone or providing some context before it divorces the reply from its progenitor.

  • David on Middagh

    Re: The man at Housing Works with the black lab.

    Actually, she’s a chocolate lab, beloved by the patrons. And the man doesn’t run the place (our manager is a woman). He’s a volunteer, which means his time, labor, and expertise are provided free. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll be losing him. If anyone thinks they can put in the required hours and do as good a job or better at pricing the china, please stop by and see Allen the volunteer coordinator at the front desk. Thanks!

  • Knight

    @Heightster: although I’m inclined to agree with KT [particularly considering the time & block], it could also be that the person saw you walking down the block covered in sweat on a cool morning and feared you were about to have a heart attack. Try to look for the positive!

  • WillowSt.Neighbor

    Escapee,
    When I read ColumbiaHeightster’s post I came to the same conclusion as you that the guy he was talking about is the same guy who prices things at Housing Works. It’s one of the reasons I don’t go there anymore as he prices things as if they were antiques instead of junk. Talk about being out of touch with reality.

  • MonroeOrange

    I agree Knight, he may have had a million reasons for looking at Heighster, one of which could be, he may not have had his glasses and couldn’t even see him 50 ft away, and was squinting into blurry space. Or maybe, he was thinking, ‘I bet that guy coming back from the gym is going to write about me on BHB, which will finally give me my 15 minutes of fame!’. Next time confront the man not whine about on a blog!

  • GHB

    ColumbiaHeightser, is it really necessary to pick on the man’s physique on this blog? Maybe he was looking at you because he thought you were attractive.

  • AEB

    Yes, GHB, my thought exactly. People can mask sexual interest by trying to appear stern.

    I’m told.

  • BronxKid

    Barbara Shernoff – East Bronx. Left in 1974 and never went back!

  • T.K. Small

    Homer: I guess this means I am a mobster… Three cheers for chronological comments! You got a problem with that…

  • Neil

    Reply to David on Middagh (April 4, 2012 at 4:32 pm):

    I’m not sure I’m understanding your point about the NYT; as I look at replies posted on their Comments site, I see that if a respondent has clicked on the REPLY link WITHIN the original post, then the reply is attached directly to that post, indented slightly for visual clarity. Of course, subsequent replies, if applied via the same link, will appear in chronological order in the list of replies, unless one is replying to a PREVIOUS reply, and so on.

    However, I do note that many respondents seem to be posting replies WITHOUT first clicking on the reply link, in which case the reply is simply dumped in the queue chronologically, and without context. Is that what you mean?

    If so, I would suggest that that is the fault of the respondent, and perhaps a simple set of instructions at the head of the Comments section would educate those unfamiliar with the site protocol. Further, it does not help that the REPLY is not given more prominence, including a darker shading.

    Given the very high volume of replies to a particular article, many from infrequent visitors, it should not be surprising that Comments can quickly devolve into an eye-glazing mess.

    Any thoughts on the ordering of posts?

  • Jorale-man

    The news today about the fire at Macy’s Herald Square leads me to wonder: How many Heights residents make the trek over to the Macy’s in Downtown Brooklyn? I’ve been a few times and can’t wrap my head around what it does well or why I always leave feeling underwhelmed.

  • v

    There was a fire at Macy’s?

  • Melissa

    hw – for co-op management company, our building has been happy with Howard Mandel @ TKR Property Services. His contact info is howard@tkrmgmt.com / 718-788-7791.

  • David on Middagh

    Neil,
    I think the NYT has two or more comment systems. I’ve seen the indented replies, and I’ve seen the replies dumped at the bottom with only a small “in reply to” message at the end to tell you why it’s a nonsequitur. They’re old system of numbering comments at least let people reference the number, which is important when several comments have been left by the same person and the the comments section is broken up over several pages, as is the unfortunate case with the NYT. (When all comments are on one page, as is the case here, you can search for keywords or handles very easily.)

  • Neil

    Reply to David on Middagh (April 4, 2012 at 9:55 pm):

    Okay, I just had a look at the NYT, and, first, I was mistaken about the ability to reply to a reply–one apparently CANNOT do so, as there is no REPLY link in the reply message. I can see how, in the case of someone trying to reply to a previous reply, the system would break down. They should address that, even though such a circumstance is pretty rare.

    As far as the NYT having two or more comment systems, I just can’t remember the previous format, but it was only recently that Jill Abramson announced an overhaul of their Comments section, and that’s when I noticed the current configuration.

    Actually, I don’t recall seeing Comments “broken up over several pages”, but then I can only remember comments numbering a few hundred or so, and can’t comment further. Perhaps that is one of the recent changes?

  • David on Middagh

    The NYT comments are now hidden away behind “More” buttons, but they used to be paginated. Both methods hinder search, and so are vile in my book.

  • Master Of Middagh

    @Neil- My thoughts are that the more you insist on bringing up a dead issue that was settled on this blog months ago (and another time before that), the more obnoxious you become.

    You think we don’t get what you’re doing? “Oh! If I keep going on about it and mention it again and again and,again and again, people will agree with me and I’ll get my way!” It’s nice to know you think so little of your neighbors.

    Is that the response you were looking for Neil? No? Then I suggest you give it a rest about how you want a “reply” button for at least a year…

  • willowbubb

    totally not alarmed, just very interested in a character who hangs around cranberry’s usually in the morning and talks to himself. he’s not homeless, or unkempt. just a very interesting character. anyone know who I’m talking about? He brings me a lot of entertainment with his wit.

  • Neil

    Reply to Master of Middagh (April 5, 2012 at 7:10 am):

    Master–

    “You think we don’t get what you’re doing? “Oh! If I keep going on about it and mention it again and again and,again and again, people will agree with me and I’ll get my way!” It’s nice to know you think so little of your neighbors.”

    Actually, I’m not trying to get “my way” about anything, and as far as there being a “dead issue”, I’ve never seen any discussion about this topic other than that generated by my own inquiries in recent days. Sure, I’ve seen a couple of comments to the effect that certain changes have been voted down, so to speak, but I was not aware of anything beyond that, and I was simply trying to create a discussion of the various possibilities of making the site more navigable.

    The difficulty, in fact, of any conversational threading in this site is, in my opinion, the greatest impediment to its usefulness. That some may disagree with that is fine, but it would be interesting to me to learn from others about their different preferences. If that’s a dead end, as it appears, then so be it.

    Rather than become uncivil, you might choose to simply ignore any posts from those who so easily get under your skin. Just a thought.

  • sky

    Ok, I’m a day late, but I wish mothers were banned from starbucks

  • Publius

    @Neil:

    Don’t waste your keystrokes on Master of Middagh– on BHB he repeatedly exhibits all signs of narcissism and sociopathy (the combination of these two conditions commonly know as d-bag). Homeboy isn’t even Master of his Own Domain in the Seinfeldian sense. He’s a sad little man who feels big behind his keyboard.

  • willowbubb

    sky- why do you wish that?

  • Master Of Middagh

    @Publiusl- Way to introduce yourself to Neil as the troll in residence on this board:

    1. Insults? Check.
    2. Personal jabs without any first-hand knowledge? Check.
    3. No remark concerning the subject at hand whatsoever? Check.
    4. Fighting words from someone who would never dare even look sideways at me in public? Check.

    Publius = T-R-O-L-L

    Don’t believe me? All one has to do is look at how he rails against the entire neighborhood and this blog when a celebrity who happens to be a resident turns up in the news here- those are his funniest examples…

  • Master Of Middagh

    @Neil (again)-

    There is little wrong with how these threads work because you yourself have had no problem reading and responding to everything and it certainly hasn’t discouraged you from posting aplenty.

    I’m not trying to be uncivil so much as to point out that it is uncivil of YOU to keep bringing up a matter that reached a pretty conclusive “dead end” as you put it only recently. You say you didn’t know that? Fine- well I’m telling you now and suggesting that you give it a rest for a while…

  • Knight

    Tonight I noticed the words “under new ownership” on the marquee of the Brooklyn Heights Cinema. Did Kenn Lowy sell the place?

  • BH’er

    does anyone know what caused the delays on the 2/3 this morning? it was a terrible commute at 8am today!

  • David on Middagh

    BH’er,

    Flooding disrupted 1,2 & 3 service, according to Notify NYC.

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