Into the Forums

Posted on by Steve Shanafelt

Every weekend, we take a look back at the exciting, bare-knuckled conversations that take place on the Mountain Xpress Forums, the registered-members-only club here at MountainX.com. If you haven’t been lurking, here’s what you missed.

Forum regular Seeker posted a very telling YouTube video showing just how out of touch the so-called “experts” were with the financial crisis in 2006 and 2007. When financial analyst Peter Schiff was trying to warn Americans about the coming financial crisis, the “experts” were literally laughing at him.

Speaking of financial fears, this thread — which has been active since mid-October — examines Hopes and fears for Asheville in 2009 (as well as having a few diversions into the nature of greed).

Here’s a question most newcomers to the area probably have an interesting answer to — Asheville Transplants: When did you first hear about Asheville?

And while it’s not as active a subject as some might like, Xpress Multimedia Editor Jason Sandford posted this thread about Car-pooling information. If you have anything to share, please add it.

Xpress A&E Reporter Alli Marshall recently started a topic about Belk department stores’ new line of home products “inspired by Biltmore Estate’s craftsmanship, beauty, and legacy of gracious hospitality.” Although she’s not against the idea, she offers some alternative ideas for those who want to shop with locally influenced style.

Ever-present forum/blog comments poster Jason Bugg recently posted about a promo CD he got for the new Guns n’ Roses CD, Chinese Democracy, which he has deeply mixed feelings about.

Meanwhile, The Death Rattle of Print Journalism thread is still going strong, with forum moderator Zen suggesting some very interesting ways that news-gathering could be restructured.

Speaking of new ideas in online journalism, Jason Sandford put up a post about The Mountain Xpress entry in the Knight News Challenge, which is very interesting indeed. It even kicked off few new ideas!

And let’s not forget that the forum has grown this week, with a new sub-fourm on Farm & Garden topics. There may be just one topic right now, but like a tiny acorn, it will eventually become a mighty oak.

— Steve Shanafelt, forums administrator

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3 thoughts on “Into the Forums”

  1. Pixiedyke

    Thanks for doing this. I don’t work a desk job, so I don’t often have time to venture into the forums, but I’d like to know the highlights.

  2. Jeff Fobes

    Pixiedyke: We’re working on some other Forum features too. If you have suggestions, let us know what you’d like to see.

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