sadness and annoyance
I was concerned yesterday when Tastespotting appeared to have hit a speed bump and didn’t update all day. When I saw that the site was no longer being run by NOTCOT, I was surprised and saddened. It was a terrific forum for sharing food links as well as an awesome catalog and archive of recipes and ideas. I am hoping that perhaps it just means someone else will be taking over and the site will return, but I don’t know the details.
That said, I’ve received some misguided comments this morning on one of my old posts (where I rant about the posting and misrepresentation of one of my photos by a certain freakishly enthusiastic tastespotting poster). Those commenters somehow feel my blog is a public forum for their misconceptions about copyright, intellectual property, the web, and religion (of all things).
It is not.
So my ground rule is, if you can’t behave yourself in the comments, your comments will be deleted and if you piss me off enough, I’ll just ban your ass. I realize I am preaching to the choir because people with no sense of propriety don’t know that they’re nutcases to begin with…
June 13th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Given that the sister sites of Tastespotting (NOTCOT and Trendspotting) are still up, my guess is that Tastespotting’s legal woes are closer to the copyright issues you mentioned and not ownership or management. I hate vagueness! The only blogger I know who was involved with the creators of Tastespotting in the first place is Sean of Hedonia, but I don’t want to reopen newly-sutured wounds so I’m not going to ask. But I do credit Tastespotting with the first major spike of my blog’s visit statistics. For that I will be forever grateful. (Ironically, my most-commented-on post was not accepted in the Tastespotting roll– unless the abovementioned freakishly enthusiastic poster posted it and I wasn’t aware I was just doubling up.) Now stand by as I relate the death of Tastespotting to religion… Just kidding.
I honestly got a little freaked with your post title and thought it was radiotherapy-related. You’re going to give me a heart attack, Jennifer!!! I hope all is going well :)
June 13th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I am super sad about tastespotting. I’m sure something good will come out of this. Maybe a more secure and regulated site. *sniff*
June 13th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Oh man i so bummed that TASTESPOTTING went down! Love your sushi pics so glad your in the clear to enjoy it again.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
If you have a nice fruitcake recipe hanging around you could dedicate it to all your now-banned posters. lol.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
huh? what? this isn’t a religious forum?
Duly noted :)
June 13th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
:( I’m also very sad about Tastespotting’s status. I have no idea where I’ll find that kind of inspiration now!
June 13th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Hi jeyu,
I’m sorry if I caused you any problems… this morning, when I found out Tastespotting wasn’t running anymore, I started surfing to try to understand why, I know, curiosity killed the cat. So I found your old post but as I saw there where recent comments, I just added mine. I certainly wasn’t blaiming you for Tastespotting closure… I linked your post on another blog to explain what sort of problems there might have been with TS and maybe I created a little chain reaction. I’m a bit a newbie of the blogs, and yes, now that I think of it, it wasn’t polite not to ask. Sorry about that but, believe me, I was only trying to understand.
Bye!!
June 13th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I have a name saved, especially for people like that who comment on Blood Sugar, they’re called “fucking Idiots”.
I can’t believe Tastespotting is gone. I am honestly and genuinely shocked and saddened. Back to manual searching, sifting and sorting :-(
June 13th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
it was through tastespotting that i discovered your blog … its great to hear that you are getting stronger and back to eating sushi (one of my fav past times as well) … thanks for sharing!
June 13th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I am hyper sad too! I’m already missing this great site! Thanks to Tastespotting I have discovered many blog…
There are sick idiots everwhere, unfortunately!
Cheers,
Rosa
June 13th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Well I’m glad I managed to get a foot in the door at Tastespotting before it closed, otherwise my blog would still be pootling along with only my Nana and mum reading (and enthusiastic readers they were too, but you know, external validation!!) Just found out myself, was rather nonplussed…I will miss seeing all the stunning photos. Sorry to hear you’ve encountered some creepiness, I guess that’s to be expected but it doesn’t make it right. It must be kinda disconcerting.
Eh, they probably wouldn’t have accepted any of my latest photos anyway ;)
June 13th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I was beyond sad when I saw that.
June 13th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
me too. i just couldn’t believe that there weren’t anymore posts coming up. i am so disappointed……
June 13th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
it’s funny, i was thinking the other day that good things always must come to an end sometime. did i jinx it?!?!
nevertheless, i’m very happy to have found a couple to e-stalk (including you!) through tastespotting. (not in the scary way though….) i’ve never gotten myself together enough to start food blogging, so i live vicariously through others.
June 13th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
(oops, i meant “a couple of people”…not like i’m stalking you and J. or puppy dog…i just realized i made myself sound even creepier than i intended!)
June 13th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Ooh, I stand corrected on two things:
1. It’s NotCouture, not Trendspotting. It seems I watch too much The Daily Show and Demitri Martin’s segment stuck in my head. That’s just my usual idiocy.
2. According to this anonymous poster, it’s not about images and copyright. So I guess you might be closer to hazarding a guess than I am, Jen :)
June 14th, 2008 at 6:12 am
tastespotting was like a bond that brought us foodies together… wehhhhh
June 14th, 2008 at 6:26 am
What shock and horror I experienced when I made my (one of many) daily visits to Taste spotting. I was like …What? Hold it! Must be a computer error! Let me look at that again…oh NO! It was my #1 inspiration for new recipes and has led me to lots of new Blogs (like yours). This really SUCKS!
June 14th, 2008 at 7:55 am
This last Chinese New Year I wanted to make Pot Stickers for the first time, that is how I stumbled across your more-then-just-food blog. It was from here that I found TasteSpotting. It was a brilliant idea, an easy to scan pictorial aggregate of food blogs. Really hope the problems get ironed out soon and the site comes back up!
Since my post has made it to the comments page I can only assume I do not, as yet, qualify as one of your posting nutcases. (Thanks for that!) I strive to be non-offensive, especially on other peoples sites. Guest Manners, don’t ya know. Glad to hear things are sucking less in the health area of your life. There is something to be said about the little things improving the over all quality of life i.e. sushi, your view. Keep on keeping on.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Oh wow. I have just discovered a whole new world. Jenyu, I was part of the tastespotting discussion that one time over at one of your posts and today, googling around a bit for possible explanations behind the closing just discovered the sick person who wrote that comment you mean (I guess – she wrote it somewhere else, too) and her/his many other names (the medical one, the french technique one, the number related one etc…). I never thought there could be anything that sick! I had also gotten comments from her but always found them strange and deleted. Let’s see what happens now. I wonder if it has got anything to do with that.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
You and I and other bloggers of course had our pics displayed by the same lady gingerly blogger and I felt weird everytime she did it. I liked the concept of Tastespotting but at least let me chose the pic I want to post, yunno? That’s why I started contributing my pictures, as a way to take charge and tell her to butt off. So…do you feel like starting one similar site ?!!!
I have discovered great stories and blogs through TS…sad day…
June 14th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Stands up and applauds your stance on crackpot commenters. I’ve had a few that were way out of line or just plan hateful and in most cases were posted by anonymous, so these people didn’t even have the balls to leave their name. The delete button is a wonderful thing.
June 14th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Wow, I’m still lost. Tastespotting is still new to us but we liked it when it was still up. We added lots of our recipes to it. It was a fun forum while it lasted.
I haven’t been on there lately, so not sure exactly all that’s going on . If ya got the time Jen, shoot me a quick e-mail to enlighten me a bit more. So this “gingerbread girl” is a problem?
June 14th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I noticed that a lot of people didn’t post their own pictures but never really thought about the repercussions of it all, I just really enjoyed seeing where I ended up and feeling inspired (or mostly lazy for letting my own meager skills go to hell in a handbasket). But really, I loved seeing all the creativity and hope I can remember all the great sites.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:46 am
RIP Tastespotting. I found this blog, and many others by visiting TS. Thank God I bookmarked most of them! I have seen some comments on other sites that suggest the same group who ran TS has other sites, but haven’t found them yet. Anyone know anything more?
BTW, let me take this opportunity to thank you for your blog, which has become one of my ‘must reads’.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Oh! I was so upset when I came to find out that Tastespotting was gone. Not only did it really help my blog with more visitors to come, it was also something I checked daily just to see what I could make soon. I still check back sometimes in hope that it might be back :[
Makes me sad….
June 16th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Mark – Oh, you’re so silly! I promise not to give you a heart attack if I can help it :) I am still in the dark as to why TS shut down.
Sarahmarie – me too!
Marcie – thank you :)
Nicole – ha ha ha!!
Christine – yeah, because you’ve always been one of those problem commenters ;) right!
Eva – try foodgawker.com, Chuck of SND just started it and it’s awesome!
Elisabetta – not to worry, my dear. It is not your fault that you were posting information. It is the responsibility of those nutcases who can’t seem to obey the simple rules of common courtesy when writing on someone else’s blog comments. *sigh*
Graeme – So that’s the term I was looking for… ;) Goto foodgawker.com!!
Mikah – thank you, you’re very sweet.
Rosa – Head over to foodgawker.com!
Laura – no worries! The nutcase commenters aren’t as bad as stalkers (yeah). You should check out foodgawker.com if you miss Tastespotting!
Peabody – same here, chica.
Kristy – have a look at foodgawker.com
Diana B – no, you didn’t jinx it :) you’re not a stalker if you comment and don’t say creepy things. i am graduating you to READER instead of STALKER (I think maybe you meant LURKER) :)
Mark – oh, my nutcase posters are not the same as that particular stalker person (I am also familiar with that annoying individual).
Farah – *sniffle*
Sindy – well, Chuck has started foodgawker, which I think is a nice substitute for now!
Elizabeth – I really loved it too, the concept was brilliant. You will never be a nutcase, hon. The nutcases are people who rant on and on about things they no nothing about. If they were standing in front of us, they would be the ones ranting on with the spittle flying and all :) Thanks for your very kind words.
Hande – hello dear! Hmmm, I’m not sure you and I are talking about the same person. I had a couple of folks rant at me on the old post about gingerbreadgirl03 (saying she’s very nice) or ranting about God and copyright (huh?!) so I had to delete those… Then I got blasted to deleting the images and one accused me of doing it because they’re Italian (no, I didn’t delete her comment because she’s Italian, I deleted it because she’s an idiot). Anyway, it all seems to be unearthing a lot of folks who behave poorly online. Go figure!
Tartelette – it looks like Chuck of SND already did! foodgawker.com What a guy! :)
Barbara – I feel the same way! Some folks just never learned manners…
WoRC – GBG used to be a tad bit of a prob, but she’s been relatively tame for many months. I think the main problem is bigger than that and might have involved copyright issues for Tastespotting, but not sure. I’ll drop a line soon – I’ve been uber swamped lately.
Susan – I really enjoyed the sharing aspect of it too, although I often wondered about folks who posted other people’s images when those sites explicitly stated no photos were to be reproduced without permission.
CJ – the other sites are like notcot.com (style) and I can’t remember others. I just looked at TS. Try foodgawker.com!
Tarah – go to foodgawker.com, folks are posting there now although the rules are slightly modified from TS!