Henceforth, for the sake of fairness, any essay or open thread that mentions covid 19, whether directly or tangentially, will not be promoted to the front page. Editors, if you promote a covid essay yourself it will be removed from the front page and relegated to the CC page. All open thread writers, any mention of covid 19 will relegate the OT to the CC page. If a covid sub-thread is started in the comments of either an essay or an OT, it will be demoted to the CC page. No exceptions.

This is non-negotiable, so don't even ask.

I'm tired of the bickering. The front page is our landing page, I want it to appear to be neutral on this issue. At least if it's on the CC page visitors will have to hunt to find it.

I've been watching for an obituary and could not find one but I did find this. I'm almost positive this is CS in AZ (Lauren). She was a lovely and brave lady. Her last post here was on July 22.

https://remembr.com/en/lauren.swerdlove

RIP old friend, and if by some fortunate chance you are still with us I sincerely apologize for posting this.

The Thursday and Friday Open Threads are now open if anyone wishes to take them, either individually or together.

Many thanks to phillybluesfan for his yeoman's work on taking on both of those days for all those months. Thanks man.

If you're interested please let us know in the comments or contact myself.

Thank you.

This site has a broad range of people with a broad range of opinions. That's one of the things that makes it interesting.

This kind of site can only remain viable if people recognize that other's opinions will vary from their own and respect the person while they are politely disagreeing with their opinion.

C99 is censoring! I'm leaving!

C99 wont censor! I'm leaving!

Welcome to my world.

Every day I bite my tongue and suppress my biases for the common good of this site. A site owners words can become gospel. I don't want that. I try to remain as neutral as possible.

Just a few short weeks ago there was a huge clamor on this site over media censorship and how corporations are doing the governments first amendment's dirty work. No fucking censorship was the war cry. It was the hill folks were willing to die on. It was very contentious and heated. I have no doubt folks left c99 because of it.

I now hear subtle pleas for censorship here at c99, and some that are not so subtle. Is censorship that subjective? Censorship for thee but not for me? I have no doubt people will leave over that as well.

Where does that leave c99?

In a world of fear, uncertainty and doubt, I hold these truths self evident:

I remember the original premise of this site. That is; everyone should be able to voice their opinions, short of insulting other users.

No one knows what the future will bring, no one. Not even science. Predictions can be made but no one knows for sure. No one.

Covid has proven to be the most valuable tool in the arsenal of those that wish to divide us.

The Thursday and possibly Saturday Open Threads are currently open if anyone is interested in filling those positions. Please inquire within.

I'd like to extend a huge thank you to magiamma for her excellent climate change themed OTs, they will be sorely missed. Thank you magi, yeoman's work, my friend.

Also a huge thank you to smiley7 for all the joy and culture he has brought us here at c99 on Saturdays. Thank you smiley.

By the way folks, smiley is still on the fence regarding giving up the Saturday OT so if you are so inclined please use this opportunity to nudge him back on the proper side of said fence, for culture's sake, mkay?

A huge thank you to all Open Thread authors both past and present, you folks are the bread and butter of the community.

A huge thank you to all that participate here, whether lurker, commenter, or essayist, this site would be pretty damn boring without you all.

And lastly a huge thank you to those that donate to keep the doors open here at the open range. Without your monetary help c99 wouldn't be here at all. We take great pride in our no ads policy and it's you who are making that big fuck you to corporate advertising possible.

Thanks everyone, you're the best!