When was this site the most active?

[Cakeisawesome12345 28]

Throughout my years of doing policy debate, I realized that every year, Cross-x.com starts to die more and more. WHen was this site more active, and what happened to all those active users?

[Nonegfiat 645]

I don’t really know when or why cross x used to be much more active than it is now, but I can tell you that the College Policy Debate and High School Policy Debate Facebook groups seem to be the main online hub of the debate communty nowadays.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Nonegfiat

[hkuang 32]

Go to forums and sort by replies. Looks like 2006-2009 were very active.

[Ankur 2917]

As I am likely the oldest remaining active (sort of) member of the cross-x community, I can fill in some details.

 

The timeline of cross-x.com roughly goes as follows:

 

Early years dominated by folks with lengthy debate-specific discourse. Significant growth occurred when Phil Kerpen bought the site from Oren Cass and launched evidence purchasing, specifically the Thursday File (weekly politics disad). With the explosion in highschool users came unfettered trolls and immaturity. The old timers like myself tried our best to refocus the site but it was a losing battle. At some point, during a website upgrade a large percentage of threads were lost. With that, the old timers left one by one. A great deal of our work was gone and most of us were already college graduates in the real world with no time nor desire to try and resurrect things from the ashes. There was another brief boost with virtual debates and when two other guys bought the site. But each was marred by competitors stealing page views. 3NR, etc. And now its a ghost of what it once was.

 

I lurk sometimes just to see if any old timers are around. But they are done.

[hkuang 32]

As I am likely the oldest remaining active (sort of) member of the cross-x community, I can fill in some details.

 

The timeline of cross-x.com roughly goes as follows:

 

Early years dominated by folks with lengthy debate-specific discourse. Significant growth occurred when Phil Kerpen bought the site from Oren Cass and launched evidence purchasing, specifically the Thursday File (weekly politics disad). With the explosion in highschool users came unfettered trolls and immaturity. The old timers like myself tried our best to refocus the site but it was a losing battle. At some point, during a website upgrade a large percentage of threads were lost. With that, the old timers left one by one. A great deal of our work was gone and most of us were already college graduates in the real world with no time nor desire to try and resurrect things from the ashes. There was another brief boost with virtual debates and when two other guys bought the site. But each was marred by competitors stealing page views. 3NR, etc. And now its a ghost of what it once was.

 

I lurk sometimes just to see if any old timers are around. But they are done.

the saddest story ever told

Edited March 26, 2018 by hkuang

[monkeybusiness 9]

As I am likely the oldest remaining active (sort of) member of the cross-x community, I can fill in some details.

 

The timeline of cross-x.com roughly goes as follows:

 

Early years dominated by folks with lengthy debate-specific discourse. Significant growth occurred when Phil Kerpen bought the site from Oren Cass and launched evidence purchasing, specifically the Thursday File (weekly politics disad). With the explosion in highschool users came unfettered trolls and immaturity. The old timers like myself tried our best to refocus the site but it was a losing battle. At some point, during a website upgrade a large percentage of threads were lost. With that, the old timers left one by one. A great deal of our work was gone and most of us were already college graduates in the real world with no time nor desire to try and resurrect things from the ashes. There was another brief boost with virtual debates and when two other guys bought the site. But each was marred by competitors stealing page views. 3NR, etc. And now its a ghost of what it once was.

 

I lurk sometimes just to see if any old timers are around. But they are done.

I heard other old people straight up left because they weren't getting paid. 

[Maury 2446]

I heard other old people straight up left because they weren't getting paid. 

Evazon straight up stopped paying its authors about 4 years ago. I'm still owed hundreds of dollars in royalties. As protest, I made all my files free (also since everyone was trading them around anyway, might as well make 'em more accessible). 

[monkeybusiness 9]

Evazon straight up stopped paying its authors about 4 years ago. I'm still owed hundreds of dollars in royalties. As protest, I made all my files free (also since everyone was trading them around anyway, might as well make 'em more accessible). 

Why did they stop paying people though?  That's actual theft. 

[Cakeisawesome12345 28]

Why did they stop paying people though?  That's actual theft. 

Because the owner of the site stopped paying them

[monkeybusiness 9]

Because the owner of the site stopped paying them

No, I'm asking why the owner of the site thought it was ethically or legally acceptable to stop paying people. 

[Cakeisawesome12345 28]

No, I'm asking why the owner of the site thought it was ethically or legally acceptable to stop paying people. 

That I don't know. I don't even know who owns this site right now

[Maury 2446]

No one knows why payments stopped, and no one has been able to get them to start again. Class action lawsuit is the only real option and it's hard to get an attorney who would work for what the case is really worth. 

[monkeybusiness 9]

No one knows why payments stopped, and no one has been able to get them to start again. Class action lawsuit is the only real option and it's hard to get an attorney who would work for what the case is really worth. 

this website is really old though, and preserving it and all the great old threads on foucault, etc and keeping it accessible to the next generation is imo, worth quite a bit, maybe someone who coaches on the side like wayne tang or yao yao liu who is a lawyer on the weekdays would be willing to work pro bono to arrest the site from the owner. 

[Miro 1470]

No one knows why payments stopped, and no one has been able to get them to start again. Class action lawsuit is the only real option and it's hard to get an attorney who would work for what the case is really worth. 

I'm guessing small claims would also work and avoid the lawyer issue but IANAL 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Miro

[monkeybusiness 9]

Throughout my years of doing policy debate, I realized that every year, Cross-x.com starts to die more and more. WHen was this site more active, and what happened to all those active users?

how many years is that?

[Cakeisawesome12345 28]

8 years

[Snarf 3598]

Getting personal jurisdiction - even in a small-claims proceeding - over the assholes who own this site would be somewhat difficult. A pro bono lawsuit would be a great idea, but what would also be interesting is if someone (like Maury) won a lawsuit (either default judgment or otherwise), put a lien on the website, and then foreclosed on it. It would be the quickest and cleanest way to get the website back into good hands.

[monkeybusiness 9]

Getting personal jurisdiction - even in a small-claims proceeding - over the assholes who own this site would be somewhat difficult. A pro bono lawsuit would be a great idea, but what would also be interesting is if someone (like Maury) won a lawsuit (either default judgment or otherwise), put a lien on the website, and then foreclosed on it. It would be the quickest and cleanest way to get the website back into good hands.

... are you willing to work pro bono?

[Snarf 3598]

... are you willing to work pro bono?

Yeah, I'd be happy to do it (although I can't for a while; if you're working for a judge, you can't practice law).

[monkeybusiness 9]

Yeah, I'd be happy to do it (although I can't for a while; if you're working for a judge, you can't practice law).

congratulations, are you clerking for scalia?

[Snarf 3598]

congratulations, are you clerking for scalia?

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, so maybe google this?

[TheTrashDebater 168]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, so maybe google this?

Lmao

[monkeybusiness 9]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, so maybe google this?

Sorry if what I wrote wasn't clear enough, but that was a joke.  I don't think it's a possible to be a member of a community as liberal as debate and not know that Scalia is dead, which I saw people jumping in joy over at a tournament 2 years ago. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by monkeybusiness

[Miro 1470]

Sorry if what I wrote wasn't clear enough, but that was a joke.  I don't think it's a possible to be a member of a community as liberal as debate and not know that Scalia is dead, which I saw people jumping in joy over at a tournament 2 years ago.

 

The reply was also a joke

[monkeybusiness 9]

The reply was also a joke

No, I've genuinely seen people publically celebrating his death at a local, I also live in super liberal portland.