hells yes... and we just lost another staff to a cushy gov gig. Getting the same info from my colleagues too.

We've slowed down. Clients are bumping into the construction estimates/costs & pumping the brakes. Our jobs aren't big enough to convince them to keep designing in anticipation of the cycle's eventual downturn. I had a full plate at the beginning of May with multiple projects heading into DD & have seen projects go on hold one by one. Still billable for now, but anticipating shifting to marketing in July/Aug.

Yes, we've been hiring like crazy but everyone is still swamped. In the meantime, everyone is jumping around looking for more money/greener pastures which doesn't help.

It's because people like me (as shitty of an architect as I may be) are still living in their van down by the river rather than contribute to the utter disgrace that is the practice of contemporary architecture. 

How long can I continue to post on archinect while living in my van? Who knows!? I figure if we still allow Miles the artist here, I've got a good couple of years of relevance (or at least shit posting) left in me.

You're bad at shit posting. I can't recall a single shit post you've made.

as long as the NFT jive is kept on a sturdy (short) chain, then we'll all be fine... except for the fools who bought into that, but who cares about them and their jesus dollars.

We're slowing down as well. The issues are a combination of small mountain town politics and high construction costs.

If anyone is in need of an opinionated (but can overlook my post history) graphic / visual communicator who gives a damn about quality architecture and cares about the built environment then please give me a shout. Can do bid submission monkey do stuff but would rather avoid so, I'm far more interested in total design project documentation as 70% of the role. 30% on bids and winning work. Good track record in that 30% though, we would win a lot of projects.

We're buried in work, but they're afraid to hire too many people because they're not sure it'll last.

Shsssssss, don’t tell him that or else he’ll unleash his army of blind Twitter follows on you.

I also don’t see how much of what we do day to day is any different than what he did. He just got in at the right time. There are definitely risks if you don’t know what you are doing.

Are NFTs unethical because of the energy costs of making/mining/blockchaining (or whatever) them? Or is there some other reason?

Donna, sorta yes. Loads of power is required to make the magic behind them but the real issue is the pump and sell tech-bro mentality. People are only buying them because other people are buying them so best you buy low and jack the price up (while also promoting them ad nauseum).

Everyone involved in selling / trading NFT's admit it's all bullshit and that only select few will ever make any money on it. The same people admit that they are actually worthless and the bubble will bust causing 99% of people involved with them to loose all the money tied up in them.

The Twitter presence of crypto stans is significant. I think there's at least a correlation there.

Alexander, Let me guess . . . 

 All of your original NFT's are sold. 

 Those original NFT's are still being traded / sold. 

 You own some of those original NFT's as such you have a amount of your money still in Crypto. 

 Some Crypto has recently loss a large a amount of their value.

 Since older NFT's are worth more money you're actively trying to 'hype' up your original NFT's to increase the value of the ones you own

Post comments about it's possible for non admins to learn the real names of Archinect users and the big green head will appear.

Sure, Chad. IF THAT'S YOUR REAL NAME! ;)

You'll never know! Well you could - it's really easy . . .

Whatever it is, it was not me. I’ve been on site all day so I get to ignore all the calls and emails!

Sneaky, you can contact me through my profile and give me a general outline - no personal info - of your issue and I can try to contact Big Green Head about it on our moderator channel.

Thanks Donna. Sent.

Just send it Jlax, he'll post it, and it will get flagged.

What are you all talking about? I feel like a child who's wondered into the middle of a conversation.

Our favorite Scandinavian elite plan enthusiast is back!

Oh - you mean the copycat wannabe architect? I just saw that.

I agree, down with signaling! Why do I need to advertise my intended direction to the world? Anybody can be behind me and they will know where I'm going. Signaling is the new targeted adverting!... but seriously tho... should I turn on the news? What happened now?

(was looking for squirrel waterskiing gif... decided on this instead).

It's insanity. A large portion of the population is living in an alternate reality. Traitors are patriots, guns don't kill people, men should make decisions regarding women's health, climate change is a hoax. Lunacy has a currency never seen before. Without faith and hope that things will somehow get better it is pretty hard to get up in the morning.

I hear you, Donna. I’m not ok either. I’ve had a stomach ache for 1.5 months from stress. I can’t eat anymore, no appetite. This is insane.

I'm just waiting for the global recession to hit and the crappy projects I'll have to take because of it.

Ya'll just upset your bitcoin portfolio tanked last night.

I'm pissed my NFT didn't sell for one billion dollars.

My AC went out, coinciding with record high temps. My backup AC (window unit) went out too. It was snowing what like 3 weeks ago.

My insulin producing cells on my pancreases went out 34 years ago and gave me Type 1 Diabetes. My thyroid got cancer and had to be removed. Part of my acromion (shoulder) didn't fuse correctly and needed to be screwed together.  I have bullet shrapnel in my other 'good' shoulder.  I wear bifocals.  

All of these things make every aspect of my life very difficult. Well maybe not the glasses but they are annoying. The thing to remember is that some people have it much, much worse.  Keep that in mind when initially dealing with people.  

I have other difficulties besides no AC, Chad so don’t worry about that.

I have other difficulties besides no AC, Chad so don’t worry about that.

z1111, your phrase “Lunacy has a currency never seen before” is exactly right and so terrible. And to be clear: overall for me things are good, I love my job, my family is wonderful, we’re all healthy (tho we’re waiting on results of a tumor in my dad’s liver so I’m worried about that), my son is thriving in college. But I’m literally surrounded by people who are working their asses off and yet barely surviving and the systems that might help them are so labyrinthine and remote that they might as well not exist. Children get killed every day by morons driving their penis-replacement trucks not *just* aggressively but also cluelessly, and the marketing departments at the car companies (and every other consumer good ) encourage this anti-social attitude in the name of freedom or independence or whatever. We DO NOT have a society in the US.

Like seriously: what if we had a public service campaign encouraging people that driving safely and politely was good? The car companies would fight it because it might depress sales and the freedumb lovers would claim it infringes their “free speech” rights to be forced to use a turn signal and the climate deniers would claim it’s part of the “woke green agenda” and people would scream and politicians would fundraise off either fighting or supporting it and the result would be not a single person would drive more carefully. We’re a broken culture.

Donna, you could apply that to so many aspects of American life. What if people cared for (or at least watched out for) their fellow citizens? I suppose that's the most basic requirement for a functioning society + a collective desire to participate in one. I don't feel that here anymore. Going to move my van down by the river to a river in Europe, I can't take it here any longer.

tintt wrote:

 "I have other difficulties besides no AC, Chad so don’t worry about that"

Sorry to hear this.  The important thing is to remember that other people can and do have it much worse.  We need to keep this in mind when initially dealing with people.  AKA - they could be having a really bad day. 

Chad, it could be worse... you could be my client who just heard back from a supplier that they made an error on their order. They forgot to account for the currency exchange. Well, that's a quick 200k extra to the budget.

$200K I have. It's time I don't have much of.

For Hitchen's sake.... Donna, I thought this would be a Onion type gag. You're saying this jive is a real thing? https://nitter.zelcore.io/AboveTimeCoffee

They grow coffee in Deutschland?

I'm 44 years old with around 18 years experience in the field. The explanation of 'we've always done it this way' has NEVER been a valid explanation as to why something was done. 

Well I just received yet another desk call from a recruiter so ... probably gives an indication. Honey, if you can't say my name correctly over the phone when greeting me (which, to be clear, is truly an easy name to say) - you should be finding another line of work.

Ive also noticed they are creating their company names to pass as actual engineer/architect consultants to get around our front desk screening. "XYZ Architects and Engineers" sure sounds like any generic consultant i might have on my projects; turns out they conveniently leave out the last "Recruitment" part of the name at the front desk. Shocker.

I've given enough shit to recruiters who cold-call me that I'm sure I've been black-listed but Bench, perhaps the recruiter was a Habs fan and begrudgingly called you? I've also noticed a trend in the poacher's company names.

Things are actually slowing down here. I'm only getting 2-3 headhunters a month via email. The cold calls to my office have stopped. I guess nobody loves me. :(

Our office hired someone to specifically work on employee retention. I think our issue is that we are mostly getting poached by GCs and ownership (less hours better pay), not so much other architecture firms (less pay same hours, same staffing shortage issues). More pay would be nice, but I need support staff and less stuff on my plate.

I couldn't work for a GC - no design work. I wonder what types of owners you have that need architects - are they developers?

We lose Revit staff to GCs - usually big national/international construction companies - the pay is better, especially if you’re more junior. Ownership side is working for a developer or property manager (sometimes different wings in same org, or for a large university, hospital, etc).

We’ve also had a couple people that I know of go to work for owner’s reps… I’ve worked with plenty of people on the developer side who were licensed architects - who did everything between prelim in house tenant fit outs to project management to long term strategy.

Thanks for the explanation axo! I appreciate it.

I've let it be known to all the headhunters that call me that I'd only be interested in jumping ship for a very specific type of position, so the e-mails and calls have slowed down. Amusingly, since my job title is "Senior Technical Architect" and I work for a big engineering company that does software and IT stuff in addition to AEC, I get a lot of calls looking for a software "architect" - it's gotten so annoying that I now regularly troll them by asking the same questions I would of an architectural recruiter, then acting confused when they don't understand the questions.

I've tried several but keep coming back to plain old Excel. I keep my "time card" open and I fill it in whenever I change gears. It's also where I track mileage and minor job-related expenses.

I'm thinking of that myself. The old paper time sheet so to speak.

We use Harvest (it might be more than you need)

^great album.

Thanks for the info proto! That looks like a good product! 

 I should of been more clear - I'm looking for a free time tracking app. It doesn't have to interface with anything or handle billing.

everhour

b3ta... why the hate for Neil? them thumbs down be snowball fight'n words. Just wait for the snow to fall... and assemble your crew.

We'll have none of your Canadian rockers, until we acknowledge Gordie was one of the best song writers. RIP.

You can have Celine tho.

What about Nickelback?

nickelback never existed. you just believe they do... and there is no evidence.  

I can't forgive Neil for dumping his wife of many Decade(s) and mother of his children to marry Darryl Hannah (?!?!) but the impact of his 70's recordings is huge in my life.

Harvest Moon was our wedding song.

Ours was 'Far Away' by Nickelback.

It's ok Chad, we had a Lincoln Park song as ours.   \m/

We also had the 'Humpty Dance' at ours. One of my college buddies raped the entire song. :)

Nah, only selective bans based on specific thread subjects. He's rather tame with the crypto bro wanker. I expected more.

Honestly I think we've all been rather tame with the crypto wanker.

Are you certain design bot is a sock puppet?

Yes. 

If you click on the link in the NFT thread you'll see that DesignBot2022 is Alexanders user name. In another thread DesignBot2022 even told me to google his name to find his website and see examples of his work. Guess where it leads - to Alexanders website with his NFT's and the video he previously linked.  

The fool outed his sock puppet account twice by is own hand.  

this is some impressive sleuthing. well done.

Quiet you, don't change the tunes on the jukebox.

Quiet you, don't change the tunes on the jukebox.

I'm not seeing it.

There is an easy way to prove me wrong Alexander. Have DesignBot2022 provide a link to his / her work. I'm always willing to be proven wrong.

Feel free to laugh if I am incorrect. I have no issue with that. I will apologize to everyone for my error. It sure seems that DB and your accounts are linked..

So you found evidence that you are DB22? ;)

spoken like a nft bro's ego

DB22 could be another troll trying to mimic Alexander. I mean the account was attempting to mimic a bot in the beginning so it's possible. The related search links between Alexander's website, the thread he started, and DB22's username are hard to ignore though.

Since DB22 isn't willing to disclose his identity or work publicly I'm not going to dox him by providing the evidence. It would make his identity known. If you like I can PM you the info. Again I could be wrong, another reason for not exposing DB22's identity.

Ok. Bro. Wait bro..bro...

Definitely not. Unless this is the longest con with no satisfaction ever.

I’m sure it’s worse elsewhere.

Of course! I mean those unfortunate people living on the sun . . .

Are you going to pace yourself, or will you post on every thread?

You think Alexander will come back and defend how much money crypto has left in it?

I have carpal tunnel and have never gone through a carpal tunnel.

Weird huh?

For $50 I'll 'talk' to your neighbor and they'll leave you alone. ;)

You sound Canadian

Does he even offer you a beer? Or maybe next time he asks for help, ask if he has any beer 

Labatt 50!

I know things are rough right now but you got this! You can get through this.

I honestly don’t know if I can. I’m gonna see if I can revive the mental health thread.

To be clear - this isn't meant as an insult. I just don't want to unintentionally get someone riled up.

He's a long time poster from way back. Either got nuked or nuked themselves. Unique personality, and polarizing. Also was named DesignBot before they changed their name.

Really? That is the new version of DesignBot2022?

Welcome to the wacky world of Archinect, where a sly change of username alters the entire interaction between two people.

Chad, do the initials DC right any bells?

NS - nope.  Who's DC?

Sneaky - I'm all for treating people with respect unless they show they shouldn't be.

I ain't here to referee.

Yes, Non, loud and clanging alarm bells. Do not summon him forth, or it'll be on your head.

Chad, see our conversation here.  Specifically Dec 04, 2019.

^thats a far better topic than half of the thesis that get posted here.

Oh so he's that jackass! Good to know.

Wow. DC had completely disappeared from my brain. I’d forgotten that era of the Forums. It was all really really good the suddenly got really really bad.

So DC is like 'he who shall not be named'? Do people need to find the seven horcruxes to defeat him? Do we have any idea what / where the horcruxes are?

?

My jobby.

Ah, I thought you meant this forum.

There was some early morning nuking in the mental TC discussion tho.

Somebody's still counting CMUs to find the exact height

Poor kangaroos.

The minority has taken over. Next up: reconsidering the legality of same-sex marriage and mixed-race marriage. Fuck Republicans. Fuck the supreme court. Fuck you if you defend them.

The Constitution is not holy scripture; it was meant to be reinterpreted and adjusted as needed. This was well understood in the golden period of US history, but we are past that now.

The minority has taken over, and the Dems, spineless as they are sitting around trying to stay in the game for November. Fuck em all.

Yeah. We're not a strong country any longer. We're barely a country. It was clear that Roe would be overturned the day Trump was declared winner of the election. Anyone who didn't think so was being willfully ignorant. And now: I honestly think within a decade we'll have had or be having a true civil war. It will be a domestic terrorism type of war, because the military would have to be called out both to fight and top protect both sides. But public bombings, rounding up of citizens by militias, inability to walk in public without threat of attack by the other side - these things are on our doorstep, I am certain of it.

I hope not, I want my baby to see the good in the world being greater than the bad. :(

I do too, both for your baby and my (19yo) baby too, Pete. but I don't have much hope.

At the very least we will be raising a strong woman who will have strong opinions and no fear about making change where she sees fit.

I can't wait to hear x-lax explain how his continued defense of the GOP and also libertarianism fits with this development. I can already feel the blood dribbling out of my ears.

as angry as i am, i have more hope than that, donna...i do not think we are destined for armed partisan battles, but we need to get the ambivalent motivated to vote in people who can create a super majority. moderacy does not exist currently. it will take time, esp w/ this scotus to overcome the damage done thus far.

The Civil War never really ended. We were in a Cold War, with proxy battles being waged by small minded religious and cultural theocrats.

It should be clear that the goal is to create a fascist theocracy. They are coming after all of the progressive social changes of the past 100 years. They are anti democratic and un American. They need to be voted out of office and we need to pack the court.

Fuck them.

It would be nice if the rest of the civilized world would take the lead on relaxing immigration requirements so people of like minds could travel to places they'd rather live. Instead we're stuck in this infested hell-hole of minority rule unless we can find some dead relative in a country that has archaic laws on the books.

Pete, you can pitch a tent in my yard if you want.

There's no path to citizenship in Canada for me or my family.

Can’t say I really understand the struggle down south Pete, but all I know is I have 2 good friends in medicine looking to move here. Willing to drop half-mil usd salaries for whatever our dirty communist gov is willing to give them. Sad thumbs up.

Not much to understand. Hard to win a game when someone is cheating.

I suspect today has shortened my time in the Land of Theocracy. And people seem surprised when I tell them I most certainly do not want a green card here. Buddy, I'm surprised you're surprised.

What I'd really like to see is an exodus of high-skilled immigrants to Canada and other more appealing democracies - taking their innovation and entrepreneurship with them.

NS - keep a list of colleagues you might know that are hiring in the near future. Who knows when I might need introductions at this rate.

Bench, I can certainly help you with that.

Everyone has a "click:" moment. Mine was when Uvalde happened, even though there had been many other mass shootings in the US before. The sight of 80 fat texas rangers standing outside the classroom waiting for keys did something to me. It was all downhill from there, call it a moment of disillusionment. A government that does not do anything for helpless babies cant be trusted to do anything for women who give birth to babies. 

Time to knit more pussy hats and do more marches that will achieve absolutely nothing.

SOD the door was unlocked, they had shields and long guns.

And no balls.

I've heard that Canada has its own problems with the prejudiced right, although I have no lived experience there to prove that, so I guess I can take it with a grain of salt.

My only hesitancy to move is that I already have my license here in the US, and I'm almost entirely incompetent with Metric (beyond the basic notions of how the measurements relate to each other).

Metric isn't difficult, the absolute logic of its system means learning it doesn't require any conversions that aren't base 10. The only reason I haven't is because I haven't needed to, so I forget quickly after a personal project that uses it.

I also didn't even try to convert to Imperial. That made it so much harder than just learning it relative to my body.

Vote them out, get rid of the filibuster, and pack the court.

One more thing. Fuck them.

Overturning roe v wade isn’t the icing on the cake for these guys. It’s essentially the balkanization of the US. Good luck running a company based in multiple states.

for what it's worth, republicans created ADA, so i assume the right will continue to protect that.

No they won't. That is not who they are now.

Cruelty is their guiding principal.

It seems to me that for the most part, selfishism is their guiding principal, and cruelty is side effect. But I definitely know others who thrive on "owning the libs," regardless of the consequences.

curt, you mean the 1,000 Points of Light guy, the guy no Republican today would cite as a Republican, that guy? These Republicans will respect what that guy signed into law?

bob dole played a big part as i recall. a lot of republicans are getting older and can't get around as easy, so keeping ada might help the selfish narrative as well.

Curt, they tend to have money. Money tends to remove those kinds of barriers. I predict we'll continue to see a lot of "fuck you I got mine"

"Fuck you I got mine" is their rallying cry for everything.

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Pointless wall of text added for context.

As a tool, I'd like to point out...

Hammer meet fontanel.

Without any detail... seems thin. Usually, these systems only work properly when staff are trained to maintain and operate them over time. Not to mention, (also without any detail), I don't see how a security system would have much to do with both the murderer and his victim both already being within the school itself.

I read that as they were the G.C.'s subs, and they were simply relaying their opinions about the security system to the architect. It's pretty unclear though. 

I still don't understand how a school's (possibly faulty) electronic security system would prevent someone from entering a bathroom... if it's a camera surveillance, am I to understand that the system would lock someone out of entering a bathroom if they pull their hoodie up and put on gloves? It's a tragedy, but it seems to me that a security system wouldn't have much of anything to do with what happened here?

Educated guess: I can only imagine fault tied to the designer if the project was design/build. Conventional project delivery would have this suit tossed immediately.

That could make sense. For some reason, I always forget that Design/Build is a viable option for architects. Either way, isn't the statute of repose in Massachusetts only 6 years? How is this going to trial in 2022?

Regarding nabrU's question from back in May regarding parklets, I def prefer a more Debordian / tactical urbanist version and am super sensitive to older concerns re: WHOWNSPACE along with more recent post-pandemic arguments around shedification of our public space etc. Also @nonsequitur that vacation beer sounds lovely! Hoping to finally get back East to N Fl later this summer/fall so my kid can meet his grandparents and get myself some time on beach/in sun.

re: shedification see re: among other things, inherent inequalities baked into, at least initial versions of, Open Streets / Open Restaurants programs et al.

Some people are still hung up on "they" referring to more than one person, rather than individuals, and others won't accept that some people don't fit within one of the two traditional genders. At least they put "she" first. But yeah, it's a missed opportunity.

It is a missed opportunity, if they were looking to be more inclusive, but it could also be read as a subtle exclusionary tactic.

To both your points, for that matter it wasn't so much the lack of they as the use of gendered pronouns at all, vs something generic which I feel like is regularly used like "the applicant". Don't have any read on Payette more generally in terms of how it might have been intended or not ...

"The applicant" is acceptable as the bare minimum.

That means my copy will be arriving shortly! ::squeals in delight::

mine says it will ship out July26... must be because of metric days.

It's cuz you're Canadian and the Maple Syrup to 'Murican Bucks takes a while.

Excellent! All of the authors are still waiting for our copies. Weird system. I’m glad you and your daughter are enjoying it!

looking forward to seeing mine too

@tintt, who did you order from? i keep seeing the ship date pushed back..now end of July

I can't remember now whether I preordered it or not...

proto, it came from Taunton Publisher

Probably too many people talking out of their asses about things they don't know anything about. AKA Balkinism. If you replied to any of these comments then they would be removed with the original comment. It's a weird function of the site.

EOM was upset we laughed about his puke-green colour choice so he had his lawyer send a C&D letter... letter was likely on the same puke-green colour too.

@Chad—Ah, gotcha, good to know. That'd account for one of two.

@Non—lol! I did in fact comment on the color, but only to point out that two of his neighbors had the same puke green years ago and have since repainted theirs white...

Oh, and comments on that article are locked now!? Yikes.

no longer locked

I prefer dijon mustard if I were to put up a weird blob thing. That or hot pink.

i realized i had different concerns in the world than most people when a childhood neighbor painted their home purple with gold circles to protest a new duplex development being built across the street. i thought it was fantastic, and a big improvement on the tired white farmhouse it had been before. i think most people have a hard time reading the intentions of architecture that isn't a perfect match to familiar expressions, which applies to both the critics of the purple polka dot house, and of the affordable duplex housing.

Sadly I moved over to an anonymous account here specifically because Archinect historically has a serious problem with conversations devolving into ad hominem attacks. Oddly enough, anonymity felt like the only way to avoid that and keep conversations focused on the topics at hand...

With that said, my un-nested comment 1) confirmed to Orhan, who was being weirdly defensive about it, that the house does in fact belong to EOM; 2) offered a small anecdote about the color choice; and 3) answered another 'necter's question about a nearby home, along with a bit of trivia that seemed relevant. Zero negativity or toxicity on my part...

Requiring real names, for whatever reason, seems a little Orwellian.

We have been allowing users to post with anonymous usernames for 25 years. If you take the comments in that article, there is a very clear distinction in quality between the anonymous comments and comments from people using their real names. Most of the comments in that article were embarrassing.

.

First:

"We allow anonymous users."

"We blanket deleted all comments by anonymous users."

Second:

"There is a clear distinction in quality between anonymous comments and those by real people."

Were my comments "embarrassing," toxic, or negative? Or deleted just because they were posted anonymously?

The comment you're referencing was "We have been allowing users to post with anonymous usernames for 25 years" - if a thread becomes littered with shitty anonymous comments, yes, we will absolutely zap them all. It's not very common at all.

Regarding your comments, don't know, we simply deleted all the anonymous comments from that thread and left all non-anonymous comments. Simple as that. 

"We'll continue moderating it and will only allow people commenting with their real names OR comments sharing thoughtful contributions to the discussion."

"...we will absolutely zap them all."

Haha, thanks for that masterclass in cherry picking and taking quotes out of context.

As per usual around this board, calling me a cherry picker instead of addressing the actual claim. You said, in ONE BREATH, "We removed all comments that were posted by anonymous users... We'll continue moderating it and will only allow people commenting with their real names OR comments sharing thoughtful contributions to the discussion." So which is it? A complete removal of anonymous comments, or a careful moderation that includes anonymous yet thoughtful contributions?

per my reading, asked & answered

@proto Yeah I guess this is Archinect's way of indirectly saying my comments weren't thoughtful enough. I don't agree, but it ain't my website so it is what it is.

no, they said they didn't look at your comment -- it was part of a wholesale deletion of non-named account comments

and yeah, they don't have to be consistent, but it is nice that they come talk to us about things when weird shit happens

"Didn't look at your comment" with "wholesale deletion" don't really align with "We'll continue moderating it and will only allow people commenting with their real names OR comments sharing thoughtful contributions to the discussion" in my mind. I guess I'm having trouble understanding how these coexist.

Moderating =/= wholesale deletion.

Anyway, I agree in being appreciative that they're open enough to discuss, even if I personally feel it's inconsistent. It's been one of those weeks and I'm probably being overly sensitive. We're all human!

The cherry-picking comment wasn't meant as an insult. It is exactly what you're doing, and it would be very surprising if you don't recognize that. Let's look at the full quotes, without your editing, to try to explain this better for you...

"We removed all comments that were posted by anonymous users and left all posted by people using their real names." - this was a completely non-subjective decision for the comments in reference to that specific article. We didn't want to debate the merits of every single comment.... we simply removed all the anonymous comments and kept those associated with real identities. As mentioned there was a big difference in quality between the two. Yours was included in the anonymous group.

"if a thread becomes littered with shitty anonymous comments, yes, we will absolutely zap them all. It's not very common at all." - you chose to edit out the parts in bold here, mashing it together with another quote taken out of context, which completely changes the context of this quote.

This is all we're going to say about this specific moderation. For a little context, this is a comment we received from an architect we admire and respect who read this article and the subsequent comments...

I think the comments in the Eric Moss house article are gross. People are dumping their hatred on the architect and this arrogant guy rcz1001 is even writing off the engineering of the house as if he is a structural expert, even with some stupid sketches to correct the design with bogus seismic cautions. There are even people looking at property records etc. I am not an EOM fan but I think mediocrity of people has taken over with mixed personal vendettas.

Feels like you've cherry picked my comments as well. You said you'd MODERATE comments (and I assume that means keep them) if they contributed to the discussion. In the same paragraph you said you went ahead and removed all comments by anonymous users.

Orhan was calling it misinformation to ID the house as Eric's own, and while I wouldn't call it "looking at property records," when you state the name of the neighborhood and post a picture of the house's relationship to a beach and a canal, Googling the address isn't a stretch. I just wanted to set the record straight for Orhan since I felt he was being defensive.

Dude let it go. Have you ever tried moderating a forum or article comments? It's thankless. Your comments aren't that special. Get over it.

@wood guy Welcome to the internet. I never claimed mine were special. Let it go and get over it tooooo. =)

This is regrettable but sort of where we are in architecture culture and media.

That was in reference to new comments after the comments were trimmed. Proto has since posted a comment anonymously and we chose to keep it. We've re-opened your comment, even though it doesn't make a lot of sense regarding your replies to other comments that are no longer there. Just to be clear, your comment was moderated out because of the decision to remove all anonymous comments. Your comments were probably the only anonymous comments that weren't horrible in that discussion.

Archinect -- I hear ya, and thank you for the clarification. I know moderation is, as Wood Guy said, often thankless, but I do appreciate that this website and that the forum exists. I apologize for being so pugnacious about this...

My first comment was "This makes my head hurt" - sure, that was probably OK to take down as per your logic, Paul. 

 My second comment was "The interiors look amazing but the urban response is questionable": What was wrong about this comment to take it down?

I understand you all are probably friends of EOM and the gang, but I am afraid this kind of cherry-picked policing will start happening on various projects now. Is this really what the forum is about?

Miles, is that you?

And yes Paul / Archinect gods, you kept proto's comments despite it being an anonymous account just cuz it said favorable things about the friend's house. That is how it goes I guess.

No Donna, I thought one's allowed to have and express opinions that are different from mainstream Archinect. Everyone knows how difficult it is to get something built in this day and age, especially in LA. But the fact that even any light criticism gets nuked is kinda ridiculous.

Donna—you asking me or sameold?

@sameolddoctor - For the record, my comment was made AFTER the furor & the deletion/moderation. I only found the article because someone in TC said it was locked and I went looking for it. I commented mostly to demonstrate that it wasn’t locked down.

my fairly trite comment caught up in the purge too. such is life, no hard feelings there. i actually agree something about that article brought out the nastiness of a large group of posters i've never seen before. it would be good to have a better way of organizing than blanket deletion though... maybe some kind of trash bucket for junk comments that can be optionally opened for those of us who are totally inured to vulgar idiocy.

Partially inured to vulgar idiocy is my current FB status. What are the odds?

I agree. A bit of civility, even if it's forced upon us, is a good thing.

Why are you doing that to your eyes? The side effects, although rare, can be extremely serious.

Well I have to or else I'll go blind. It's called diabetic retinopathy. Despite taking care of my type 1 diabetes for 34 years I still got it. We caught it in the super early stages so I still fine. Without surgery I would go blind.

Excellent, excellent wishes to you and your surgical team tomorrow, Chad. Take care of those peepers in every way possible.

I have numerous family and friends had that done. They say it makes all the difference in the world. Excellent wishes as well.

Thanks! I'm lucky that it was caught before any damage to my vision was done. I'm still hoping this gives me some type of super powers but I'll settle for just healthy eyes.

I'll have to wear an eye patch for a day or so.  I've already gotten myself a pirate hat and a costume hook hand for the office on Thursday.  :)

I was sure my hearing was starting to go, but had it tested, found out that I'm still that bitch, and you better speak clearly.

Yarrrrrr maytee

.

Update: The surgery went well and I'm doing just fine! 

I'm a bit bummed I didn't get laser vision though. Maybe when the other eye is operated on in three weeks I'll get it. ;)  Fingers crossed.

Great news!

I suppose. Still wanted laser vision though.

What if I used to live in Minnesota?  I still have the accent.  ;)

Thats gross.

Has AIA has sold our info?

My conclusion is they've either sold it, or they aren't guarding it properly enough to keep it from being sold.

As an aside, at roughly 20 cents per contact this pricing seems a bit steep ... but I have no idea what this information usually goes for.

have you verified it's even real? i get these spam all the time and wonder if it's just a made up list, or random junk collected from dropped business cards or something. 8,125 names isn't a broad sample of the total membership.

I haven't verified if it's real ... I have zero intention of doing that. My complaint was generally because I've seen more and more of this type of spam recently and it seems linked to AIA (with lists like this being a direct link). To me it points to the AIA not keeping member information private which I'll complain about. I don't really care about the list itself and whether it's legit or not.

8k people may not be a broad sample of the total membership, but it's a significant sample of the roughly 12k people AIA has reported (back in June 2022) to have registered to attend the upcoming AIA conference in Chicago. 8k out of 12k as having been "verified" seems plausible, but I don't know what that might entail. Could even simply be the difference between member registrants and non-member registrants. Seems plausible to me overall, but again, that's not the point.

Fuck the AIA. Didn't renew this year and plan to never again.

So I was updating some info on my AIA profile and decided to create a new email and make it the primary for the account. No other accounts are linked to it and I won't use it for anything else. Curious to see if spam starts showing up, and how long it takes.

Maybe I should just stop volunteering to do the work no one else wants to do?

Volunteer to write the specs for the technical portions of the work or systems you want to develop your skills in. I'd also recommend you suddenly develop a selective case of amnesia when it comes to navigating the PM software [wink, wink]. Or you could just put your foot down that the PM software isn't your responsibility and the PM needs to step up.

Take on more than you think than you can handle and jettison all the other bullshit like those PM duties.

I was on track to move up to more complex projects when the pandemic hit and had to cut back on my workload due to childcare. Now that things are sort of back to normal I feel like my superiors are stuck in the mindset that I can’t handle more work.

This new variant is fucking CONTAGIOUS.

Sorry about the 'Rona but jealous that you got to see Rage ... I had tickets for them back in the day but show got canceled. Somehow they have not announced a gig in LA on this tour (though they are based here) - they may do a surprise show I guess.

Take care...

Non, my Covid cherry has now popped too. Tested positive this afternoon, I feel like I have a cold. I was in a plane twice last week.

Sucks Donna. I had massive back pains and felt uber tired but now, going onto day 7, I'd say I'm at 95% normal. I credit my strict diet of black coffee.

I finally got Covid for the first time as well... and apparently so has half my office. We were all supposed to head to West Palm Beach for the State AIA convention, but idk if that's gonna happen. I gotta say I do not understand the WFH thing. I personally feel like I can't focus nearly as well.

I'm glad you got to see Rage and that you're feeling better already. I have avoided Covid so far but I'm registered for the Westford Building Science Symposium (aka BS Summer Camp) in two weeks and getting a little nervous about it. Any regrets or tips?

WG, no regrets other than it’s hard staying isolated from the 6year old who does not understand. Figure they’d have symptoms by now and nothing. So that’s good. The only tip I can say is if you suddenly get wicked tired, go rest. Hard for me to do since I typically live on 4/5hr sleep but it’s what I claimed help kickstart the recovery.

Donna - I think from most of your posts here, you've mainly focused on institutional work from various aspects. Have you ever done residential work on the side? Did you have any prior professional experience in it?

Bench, I did a little in my first ten years of practice, some as a side hustle, then I was self-employed with a partner doing strictly residential remodel work for three years until 2008. Then I kept doing it on the side up until a couple years ago. I haven't accomplished much in my life but I can say I'm a kick-ass residential designer when it comes to doing contextually sympathetic work that makes clients happy.

Would you recommend doing small residential projects on the side as a good experience? Less to create a business out of it, but rather as more of keeping one foot in the domestic design world, when my own career has been completely outside of that world? Always thought it would be an interesting counterbalance to institutional work, etc.

I’m going to go scout land in western Colorado at the end of August. Want me to pick up 20 acres for you too, Donna? Serious question.

Bench, my first residential side hustle was kind of a nightmare because I really had no experience in residential design. It's definitely its own beast. But once you learn it - especially if you develop a stable of trustworthy contractors to use - it's simple enough. The thing to remember is: for the homeowner this project is EVERYTHING. Like, their life has been building to this kitchen remodel where they will finally be truly able to live their unfettered selves. For you, it's a side hustle. You have to find a balance in there or they will eat you up.

tintt, I'm looking in the UP. Norther. Northiest possible. Also Maine.

Donna we'd love to have you in Maine! Let me know if you're planning a recon trip up this way. I just got back from meeting with clients directly on the coast, on a nice little peninsula. There is an abundant need for residential architects who can work with higher-end clients, and plenty of work for more modest clients as well. I don't advertise but still get 3-5 inquiries a week for residential projects.

I just realized you probably meant that you want a cabin here in Maine, not a career. You could be like me and have both! I live on 30 acres and can't see any neighbors, but it's 30 minutes to the coast, 60 minutes to skiing and 75 minutes to Portland, which is growing quickly and has almost everything you would expect in a city.

Wood Guy, husband and I just bought a huge historic industrial building for his business, which is going gangbusters. So I won’t be leaving Indy until it’s time to retire, sadly.

Drink up. Congrats.

So... bench, you coming for my job now?

Ha! Doubt it, but that recent big local sports project announcement might be more appropriate

Many will get to play in that cookie jar. We just closed on a $billion (pinky finger) competition recently unrelated to local sports team. Plenty of work to go around and Guinness to consume. 8-)

Ah shoot me a PM I have significant experience in coordinating the acquisition and consumption of Guinness. I can be if service to your organization! My consulting fees are very affordable as long as you can include van parking in your offering.

Does your van have snow tires?

I got auto chains baby, no trifling with wintry conditions here!

NS, in all seriousness, the timing of the license coming through works well for the project I mentioned above - conversations to be had internally very soon on where I stand for something near and dear to my heart ... it would mean more Guinness opportunities in the market !

^I am aware your current office does sports venue, which is very exciting if you get a chance to be part of it. They need to move fast with the new arena if they want to capitalize tho.

He's probably more interested in showing off your palmares to his bosses than he is in busting your balls. I'd take at least equal credit.

I sent my resume to my old boss when I was reapplying to the firm for him to look over and correct. It was enlightening how many things I got wrong even with the best of intentions.

For my portfolio I name the other architect(s) I worked on the project with when applicable. For my resume I've always said I assisted with if I wasn't running the project.

You cucks are using portfolios? I've been using my Tik Tok videos for the past two years!! Come on neo-libs!

My Tik Toks are too damn sexy for potential firms to handle. Hence the portfolios. Still sexy but not so much that people can't handle it.

But that first paycheck is going to be lit!

Congratulations - is the job to work for NEOM?

I meant to say "Congratulations"

sameolddoctor - My current company has a lot of work in SA; I wouldn't be surprised if we already have some of that NEOM work. I WON'T be applying for an internal transfer...

I wonder what work can be more homicidal than SA work (I speak from experience)

Unfortunately posting here is worse for your health than smoking.

Thanks for the pep talk Chad. 6 hours in and I've still only smoked the one cig this morning before I put the patch on. So far so good!

You've got this! 

 Now excuse me, I have to put on my Archinect patch . . .

That’s a really tough challenge Jovan and I wish you well in achieving your goal!

Well I haven’t had a cigarette since yesterday morning! The Florida AIA convention is helping since I’m in sessions all day!

Make sure to snack and drink! Stay hydrated and keep your mouth busy.

Congrats!

In the last year I've learned that my penchant for snacking is a way to get dopamine. I believe it's the same for smoking, and a lot of other addictions and addictive behaviors. I recommend finding another way to get a blast of dopamine, even if it's not as fast or strong as you get from smoking (or eating).For me it's been exercise--when I feel the need to snack, I do a set of pushups or pullups, or go for a quick, brisk walk around the yard. Or I do a chore that may not be fun but that feels good when I'm done.

Seeing my bad habits as ways to get dopamine has totally changed my viewpoint, and helped me lose 50 lbs. And my wife likes my new muscles!

Hadn’t ever considered that, wood guy…gonna try that. (I eat pretty good foods, but I def suffer for snacking or even over-eating an item at a meal when i know i shouldn’t)

Alright Donna I followed your advice about drinking and it is in fact working!

How is it going, Jovan? It's not comparable, but I've been off Twitter for 10 days now and it's a rough change for me but ultimately better for my mental health.

Going good Donna!! It's been over 120 hours (over 5 days!) since I smoked a cigarette... well, technically my clock reset on Friday, as I decided I should be allowed a birthday cigarette...BUT, I got two puffs in before I decided I didn't want it, so I only half count that.

Good for you! I quit 5 years ago and never looked back. Might I suggest reading Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking book. It will change the way you think about smoking and helped me quit cold turkey

Update on this... just passed the 8 week milestone. Tapered from 21mg nicotine patch to 14, down to 7 now. In a week or so I'm allegedly supposed to quit the patches too (so 0 nicotine). We'll see how that one goes...

Aaaand fell off the wagon when Ian hit. Gotta start from day 1 again, yaaay...