Braintalk.org Domain Sold at Auction for $2200
One year after the original BrainTalk Communities disappeared from the web, the domain BrainTalk.org was sold at auction yesterday for $2200. Although rights to the domain could have been retained for less than $10 — or even sold to raise money for the group — it was instead left to expire by the same folks who still hold the keys to the now-inaccessible database containing over 1 million contributions by the nearly 50,000 members of the original support group for sufferers of neurological disorders.
Yes, the BrainTalk Communities do still live on. A set of active members of the original BrainTalk did set up a new version of the well-known neurology support group some months after the original site disappeared in mid-2006. Sure, they wiped out over 1 million separate contributions from a community that had numbered nearly 50,000 people. And no, they no longer had the same active support of Harvard University. Yes, one of their main founders left for a primary existence in SecondLife, essentially never to be seen again at BrainTalk. But at least the place does still exist. (Here is how BrainTalk looked in April 2006, shortly before the original community was destroyed.) So too does at least one knock-off site, set up by a psychologist who seized the moment in what some BrainTalk old-timers may feel was an opportunistic attempt to cash in on their site’s demise.
But this latest footnote in the history of BrainTalk really brings home the message that the powers that be at BrainTalk are fully focused on the future, and the neurology support forums they run now, rather than on the past. It looks like the tricky job of repairing the goodwill that was destroyed when the original site was wiped out and never restored from backup will probably never become a priority. (The original database certainly could have been restored: it is still held in backup form by one of the group’s original founders, but nobody has taken the time to do it, despite repeated offers of assistance from others in the field.)
Ironically, the Braintalk.org domain name could have been retained for less than $10 — or it could even have been sold to raise money for the group. Instead, it was left to expire, and ultimately it was sold off at auction just yesterday for $2200. Of course, the BrainTalk Communities won’t ever see any of that money; it goes to the firm which nabbed the domain upon expiry and which subsequently handled the auction. As of today, it is displaying spammy pay-per-click ads — just like all of the other BrainTalk domains that have been registered (e.g., .com, .net, .info, .co.uk, etc.) in an attempt to siphon revenues out of the strength of the BrainTalk name.
Will the new owner of the name get their money’s worth? Who knows? But to me it’s a shame that just about the only quantitative recognition left of the value of the work put in by nearly 50,000 people — and not merely by the handful of ‘powers that be’ who let the communities’ history be destroyed — is the fact that domainers are willing to pay a couple of thousand dollars to control the name.
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This article was last reviewed by on Monday, 9th July 2007. You can leave a response below.
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http://counsellingresource.com/features/2007/07/09/braintalk-sold/
20th July 2007
for some people this is their only form of communication and socialization…its a bad day…
20th July 2007
Braintalk was in a decline long before the 2006 crash. Several of the sub-forums destroyed from within, by a handful of trolls who were given carte blanche by the “moderators”, as well as Lester himself. With one or two exceptions, the moderators were worse than no moderation at all, because they enabled a notorious bully, who had a known history of creating alters specifically to harass other members. Other members were repeated threatened with banishment, for merely reporting the troll’s abuse!
Another point of clarification:
I really don’t believe the founder of Neurotalk was attempting to ‘cash in’. He already had an on-line community of his own. He created Braintalk2 (hence remained Neurotalk) as a temporary refuge for ‘homeless’ braintalkers. It quickly became apparent that there was/is a real need a well-run support community, so it has lived on. He is not making any money off the forum.
23rd July 2007
Hi ‘Original Braintalker’,
Many thanks for your perspective on this — from what you’ve said, it does sound like serious problems were afoot even before the meltdown. To be fair, though, I think it can be exceptionally challenging to keep such a large community on an even keel. I am tempted to think it’s particularly difficult in helping/caring/supporting professions, because the degree of outright ruthlessness that is sometimes required does not come very easily to those who spend a good portion of their lives helping or caring or supporting. And even if it does come easily, it doesn’t mix very well at all with the helping and caring and supporting ethos. Somehow, the BrainTalk folks did the job ‘well enough’ for several years, warts and all, and the reborn BrainTalk does still boast 11 or 12 thousand members. So they must be doing something right!
With regard to the knock-off site you mentioned, I am sure you’re right there was a real need for a well run support community in the area, especially while the real BrainTalk was down. If the knock-off forum is now meeting the need better than the current BrainTalk community (which has nonetheless attracted far more users, despite its downtime and having been rebuilt from scratch), then more power to them. But I wonder: does meeting that real need make the act of splintering the BrainTalk user base and creating a second forum any less an example of opportunism or ‘cashing in’ on BrainTalk’s demise? (As for that phrase ‘cashing in’, you can call me a cynic if you like, but I’m skeptical of the idea that a forum which boosted traffic to the domain by some 20% isn’t indirectly generating revenue for a site which is now extensively sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. Of course there’s nothing wrong with making money, per se — we do it here too, and most people need to do it in order to eat, at the very least. But let’s be up front about it!)
At the end of the day, what really matters (IMHO) is that people in search of communities like either the real BrainTalk or the knock-off are able to find the support they want and need. People can say whatever they like about the originators of both communities (and they certainly do), but at the end of the day they both created something that is helpful to people.
All the best,
Greg
2nd August 2007
Far from being opportunistic, John Grohol, along with many others, offered HELP to get BrainTalk up and running after it crashed last summer. Not only were NO messages posted letting 50,000 members know the status of repairs and WHY things were taking so long (over 3 months), John Lester didn’t reply to those offering to either fix the problem or temporarily host the site until repairs could be done. (This was the 3rd such “crash” I’d experienced at BT and the longest “downtime”, although an earlier crash was responsible for the loss of a far larger amount of data).
50,000 members were left in the dark, unable to access vital support and information. Members were desperate to know how other BT members were doing; many had been facing major surgeries or tough diagnoses while still others were contemplating suicide when last heard from before the site crashed. For 3 MONTHS members were left with no way to contact each other, and no word from the administration.
Dr. Grohol started the other site initially as a temporary site so that distressed members could once again get in touch with each other. After Brain Talk remained down several MORE weeks without communication, the PEOPLE posting there decided to make it a permanent home. NeuroTalk, which Dr John continues to give a home, has not crashed once. It is not dependent on one man’s attention or whims - if Dr. John takes a vacation the site will run just fine. Communication is excellent, and NO DATA has been lost. It is a website that can be trusted to be there when we need it.
Brain Talk paved the way. It was the first and best of it’s kind in on-line communities. But that changed when John Lester’s attention turned elsewhere. The problems remain - the site is unreliable, the data has never been restored as John promised, the communication is lousy at best. At NeuroTalk, the members helped design the community, there is much greater transparency and openness when it comes to mod/admin decisions, and data safety, communication and site stability are the best. Again,I want to stress that Dr Grohol saw people in need who were being shamefully neglected and responded to that need. It was the former BrainTalkers who found their new temporary digs both more comfortable and secure that asked to make the situation permanent, and John graciously agreed. He has given us a great gift which we continue to be thankful for.
BTW, we add new members daily. Brain Talk didn’t reach 50,000 the first year it existed.
The 64,000 questions on every current and former BTer’s mind are “WHY wouldn’t John Lester turn over the reins and the keys to someone else if he was no longer interested in running BrainTalk? How could he just walk away leaving 50,000 ill and disabled people hanging on the withering vine?” It’s become pretty obvious we’ll never get those answers or the lost or corrupted data.
beth ( A NeuroTalk member, formerly of BrainTalk)
beth
2nd August 2007
Hi Beth,
Yes, I imagine you’re not alone in wondering: why not just turn over the reins to someone else? It wasn’t just John Lester who made BrainTalk, however, and while it may be tempting to do so, I don’t think it would be fair to the large number of other people involved to say that BrainTalk either flew or failed depending on what John Lester happened to be doing, or where his attentions happened to be directed.
That is also why I think the question is much more complex than why John Lester didn’t just hand over the reins to someone else — in a sense, they weren’t his reins to hand over. There was (and remains) a whole team of people involved, most or all of whom genuinely want to do right by people. Mismanagement? Yes. Malice? No way.
And there’s the rub: why would a team of people who genuinely want to help others just give up and hand over the reins to someone else? They wouldn’t. They would try to do a better job. They might not succeed, of course, and many people who feel they were personally hurt by them probably won’t give them the chance. But no doubt they’ll keep trying.
There is often much more to these sorts of situations than meets the eye. You may be interested to know that there was more than just one individual who stepped forward to offer assistance — some of it pretty extensive — to the BrainTalk powers-that-be. However, as I’m sure you will have experienced in your own life, there are many different ways to offer help. Some people want to take the reins from others, while some people want to help make it possible for those already holding the reins to do so more successfully. I’m sure the BrainTalk folks responded to the many different approaches in ways they felt were appropriate to the help being offered. Unfortunately, even the ‘help them do it themselves’ efforts quietly going on behind the scenes don’t always have the desired outcome.
All the best,
Greg
2nd August 2007
While others were and are involved with BrainTalk besides JL, ONLY John Lester has or had access to the server to repair the problems that caused the “crash”. When he is not available, no one else has any way of solving “technical difficulties.”
Far worse in many peoples’ eyes, JL couldn’t bother to communicate WHEN he might get around to finding time to fix things. NO communication.
You obviously have some dislike for Dr. Grohol and I think you are being unfair in not coming clean about it. Dr Grohol offered HELP, only - without strings attached - because he was located close to the server and was acquainted with JL. He also has experience running a large on-line community.
The temp site went up after NO response to his offers when BrainTalk had been down for weeks, and members were frantically trying to find alternatives. We had built it and been posting there almost 2 months by the time BrainTalk came back - and WE, the former BrainTalkers, asked to make it permanent because we felt that BrainTalk was not stable and John Lester was no longer interested or involved in the site. We also were tired of watching our collected data vanish, never to be seen again.
At NeuroTalk, the MEMBERS have a lot more insight and input in how the site is run. Dr John is accessible, the mods and admins roles are clearly set out, and guidelines are fairly enforced. Since JL’s interests turned elsewhere, posters at BT are banned at a mod’s whim, posts mysteriously disappear, the people “in charge” seem to impose punishment as the mood strikes them. It is chaos, ruled by fear and a sense of loyalty to what BT once was.
You need to look at your own motives for impugning John Grohol as you have here. I believe an apology is in order.
beth
2nd August 2007
Hi Beth,
Let me make clear that our site is not a place for bashing people unfairly — whether that person be Dr John Grohol or Dr John Lester or the latter’s former colleagues at the BrainTalk communities, for that matter.
Thanks again for your views; whether or not I agree with each and every one of them, I surely do respect them and will refrain from using this space for speculating about your motivations or inferring that I somehow understand something more of your views than what you have expressed. I hope you will extend to me and to other guests here the same courtesy.
All the best,
Greg
10th October 2008
[...] in the business of saving lives, every night, just by being safe and being there. I’m from BrainTalk, which was a wonderful community before the project got abandoned by MGH and Harvard, and from [...]
30th November 2008
Dear Dr. Mulhauser,
I was a regular poster at Braintalk for awhile, and experienced the outages that have already been mentioned. I transitioned to Braintalk2/Neurotalk because it appeared that no one was paying attention to the maintenance of Braintalk. I thought that the owner, John Lester, had lost interest in his creation.
Your notice that its name has been sold at auction reinforces this impression.
To be truthful, I haven’t posted on Neurotalk in months, for the same reason that John Lester abandoned Braintalk, lack of interest. However, I was not responsible for offering a service on which many have come to depend.
I thought, and still think, that simple courtesy should have caused Mr. Lester to notify members that he was discontinuing the forum. It seems odd that someone who created the structure for a community of compassionate people could behave so coldly after years of running it.
Cordially,
YOGI