Dear Diary

I think I'm done with Tribe

patti — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:15:06 GMT

I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm done with Tribe. There seems to be nothing of interest left here. I checked the site several times over the long weekend, and almost every time the only new messages where in the Brainstorm tribe-- they're just flamewars, trolling, and idiocy, with no real content. None of my other tribes had any content at all. Zip, zilch, nada. There seems to be no there here anymore. When NSA took over the helm, I had high hopes that they would do something good with Tribe. Unfortunately, while they do a ground-up rewrite the site continues to decline. I haven't seen any attempts to stabilize the content, traffic, or community, let alone grow it. All of my friends have moved on to greener and more welcoming pastures. I'll probably still check in from time to time, but I can't imagine Tribe staying on my regular circuit for much longer.

Some History of Tribe

patti — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:13:32 GMT

[I originally wrote this as a comment on someone else's blog, but it seemed like it wanted to stand alone. This is a slightly modified version of the original.] The initial vision of Tribe was basically a mashup between Craigslist and Friendster-- the idea was that having real identities with listings would make them more appealing. Would you rather buy a car from a total stranger, or a friend of a friend? It was funded by two newspaper conglomerates who were looking for a way to get back some of the classified ad revenue that was being lost to Craigslist. Tribes were an afterthought, although in retrospect they were the smartest thing we did. Without them, I think Tribe would have fallen flat. Contrary to popular belief, the initial vision of Tribe was *not* to be a home for freaks and burners and kinksters. It just so happens that those are the people who first colonized Tribe, and then bought their friends. It was also always designed to be a profitable enterprise, not a charitable community site. In fact, for the three years I worked there the users were largely viewed as a challenge rather than a benefit-- the management of the company couldn't figure out how to monetize them, and therefore wanted to replace them with shiny happy new users that marketers loved. Note: the fact that the management couldn't figure out how to do it was more a reflection on the management than on the users. However, the alternative user base did present a challenge-- the site was venture capital backed, and all VCs are looking for home runs. Being too alternative meant that the site wasn't palatable to mainstream users, and the growth was therefore limited. While I can certainly see both sides of this coin, and I lived and breathed it for three years, I think the bottom line is that we could have pulled it off with smart marketing people. We didn't have them.

Yes on 8 ads

patti — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:51:16 GMT

ProtectMarriage.com seems to have a full-on Google assault today. Every time someone clicks on one of their ads, they pay money to Google. If the ad is on Tribe, Google pays Tribe. Let's help 'em out. If you see one of their ads on Tribe, click on it. Tell your friends to do the same. Let's cost the bigots as much money as possible.

VoyeuriS/M show in San Francisco

patti — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:36:53 GMT

As some of you know, several photos from my Rope:Burn series are being exhibited at Stormy Leather in San Francisco. It is a group show, and I am pleased and humbled to be sharing the walls with some of the most talented and respected artists in the genre-- Michael Rosen, David Steinberg, Jim Duvall, and Lochai. I have been documenting Mike West's outstanding Rope:Burn underground bondage cabaret shows for two years, and this exhibition is the first time the images are being displayed publicly. They are some of my best work, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share them with the world. I would be delighted if you would come down and take a look. The gallery is open from noon to 7 p.m. seven days a week, and is located downstairs in Stormy Leather's store at 1158 Howard in San Francisco. Admission is free, and the show runs through November 29. The official reception will be held on Friday, October 17, and it promises to be an exciting evening-- rumor has it that Mr. West and his lovely models will be performing. Here's the official announcement: On October 17th come join us for a decadent evening of voyeuristic debauchery with the opening reception of our latest and greatest art exhibit VoyeuriS/M. Are you an engaged spectator? Do you want to be the peeping Tom for a night? Does the idea of peering through a window of an unsuspecting beauty painting her face in the tiniest of panties excite you? If so, then you should come out to our infamous dungeon for a glorious night of art, refreshments and overall arousal. With local artists displaying their beautiful work, and live acts of undeniable voyeuristic pleasure the crew here at Stormy Leather guarantee you an amazing experience, and a night to go down in your book of hedonistic encounters.

Patti's Plan for Saving Tribe

patti — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:09:02 GMT

For those of you who don't read the brainstorm tribe-- http://brainstorm.tribe.net/thread/995ab060-7327-49a4-9c72-95241485ea71

In the off-chance that it falls over

patti — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:13:39 GMT

I'm reachable at http://whipartist.livejournal.com And because I'm hyper-paranoid, I'm currently spidering and archiving the threads in my favorite tribes. It was a pretty trivial perl script to write.

Holy crap!

patti — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:20:21 GMT

There's a hostage situation very close to my loft. The neighborhood is a mess. http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_9060388

Haaaaaalelujah!

patti — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 04:45:41 GMT

It's back!

Beginning photography blog

patti — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:03:22 GMT

I've been working on a beginning photography blog recently. At this point, it's basically a class on exposure for people who have dSLRs and don't know how to use them. If you're interested, check it out. http://stopshootingauto.com

Happy anniversary to me

patti — Tue, 08 May 2007 06:03:18 GMT

(Originally posted at http://whipartist.livejournal.com) Fifteen years ago today I was married and living with my husband in Portland, though we had agreed that the marriage was over and we would divorce. I was working as a software engineer at Intel, and they'd sent me to Santa Clara for a week for some hardware debugging. That was my first trip to the bay area. I was reading Usenet in the California office, and saw a message on alt.sex.bondage from someone who said he enjoyed introducing visitors to the local leather community. I dropped him a note, and after a bit of email he offered to pick me up from the office and take me to the burgermunch, a local gathering of kinksters. That happened on May 7, 1992, and it was my very first introduction to the kinky community. Two days later I went to my first playparty. I was scared to death! I didn't really know anyone there, I had no idea what to expect, and I felt like I was completely out of my element. OK, I was completely out of my element-- I still had a lot of the stupid baggage that comes from being raised Catholic, and going to a sex party was one of the wildest things I'd ever done. I was also dreadfully curious! I arrived at the venue, a house on the peninsula, then drove around the block three times while I talked myself into parking the car and getting out. (As I write this, it occurs to me that it will almost certainly be read by more than one person who was at one or both of these events.) I mustered all of my resolve and walked into the party, where I encountered nothing like I'd ever seen before. People were naked, sometimes casually so and sometimes not. They were in fetishwear. They were tied up. They were in happy piles of people, spanking each other, and doing all manner of things that I had never seen, some I'd never heard of. I was as social as I could be, then sought refuge in a corner where I spent the evening chatting with a few people. I was fascinated by what I saw and curious to learn more, though I couldn't really see myself doing most of the things I witnessed. That week was the start of an extremely dramatic change in my life-- a complete reexamination of my sexuality, my ideas about relationships, and even the way I wanted to live my life. What a slippery slope! Oh, the person I exchanged the initial email with? He became very influential in my life, mostly in good ways though also in a couple of bad ones. We had a ten-year friendship, though sadly we both did a pretty good job of demolishing that a few years ago. I wonder what the person I was then would think of the person I am now. I think she'd be surprised, amazed, and delighted at the transformation, and proud of the way that she'd managed to get over her fear. And so, happy fifteenth leather anniversary to me.

For my old Tribe friends

patti — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 21:56:20 GMT

Ringer! http://uweekly.com/cowtown/?p=246

See me at Root Division on Saturday

patti — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 06:57:02 GMT

I'll be selling my photography this weekend at the Root Division Holiday Art Sale. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by to work on your holiday shopping, or just to heckle me. http://www.rootdivision.org/120906.html Over 30 local artists and craftspeople will come together for this one-night-only sale featuring fine art and unique hand made gifts. Rock, shop, have a photo taken with Son of Santa and explore Root Division's adult winter class schedule. Vendors include Root Division resident artists, jewelry by Reware Style and clothing and accessories by Lushorchid and Rotten Panda. With offerings ranging from paintings and photography to jewelry, hand-sewn clothing and even holiday wigs, everyone on your list will be covered. What could be better? Sipping a festive cocktail while you shop, knowing that you are also supporting local artists and Root Division's programs. The Second Annual Holiday Art Sale @ Gallery 3175 One Night Only: Saturday, December 9, 2006 6 to 10 pm $1-$10 Sliding scale donation at the door ROOT DIVISION GALLERY 3175 3175 17th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 415.863.7668

Vox launches!

patti — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 08:57:58 GMT

After six months (wow, has it been that long?) of my blood, sweat, and tears, Vox officially launched tonight. In a lot of ways, the last few months have been like the early days of Tribe for me-- I got to see people come in, use the site, and get hooked. And now the whole world gets to play. There's a saying among old programmers-- build one to throw away. This is not Six Apart's first effort at developing a blogging platform, and it shows. As I've worked on it, I've been amazingly impressed by how clean, elegant, and well-thought-out the whole thing is. It's also shiny and colorful-- we've been adding about a dozen new themes every two weeks. It's definitely been a fun project to work on. You can find my blog at http://patti.vox.com, or check out the site in general at http://www.vox.com

What I did last weekend

patti — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 04:26:21 GMT

In between lots of poker, a lot of rowdiness and merriment, a few too many drinks, and hanging out in Vegas with a couple hundred of the coolest people on the entire planet, I got to say the following words: "By the power vested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife." And thus they were married.

Duc in my loft

patti — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 03:44:38 GMT

I have lost my bloody mind! There's a mid-60s Ducati in my loft. She's my project-- I'm going to make her beautiful and display her as an art piece. Or I shall be carted away to the funny farm... it's hard to say which. I'll be updating http://patti.vox.com/library/posts/tags/ducati/ with restoration details and photos as I go along. There are also lots of pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whipartist/sets/72157594200335588/

After 17 hours of poker...

patti — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:34:37 GMT

I just finished 27th out of 1128 players in the ladies' event at the World Series of Poker. I'm beat. But fairly happy with myself.

Hey Mom! Guess what?

patti — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 06:36:33 GMT

I had a chat with my mom tonight: "So, I'll warn you ahead of time that you might want to say no to this question. OK?" "OK." "Do you want to know about my crazy new relationship?" "Sure." "OK, I wasn't kidding. You might want to say no." "Why wouldn't I want to know?" "It's pretty, umm, nontraditional." "Haven't your relationships always been nontraditional?" "Well, yeah, but not like this." "OK, tell me." "I have a new boyfriend... and a new girlfriend. The three of us are having a grand good time together." We talked about it for a while. The bottom line: "I told you a long time ago that if it makes you happy, that's fine. I don't have to like it, but as long as you're taking care of yourself I'm OK with it."

Firing up the wayback machine

patti — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 07:09:04 GMT

I just mounted an old SCSI drive that I've had laying around-- I've been keeping it because it's the only archive I have of some old files. The most recent modification date on anything in the root directory is July 3, 1995. I could have predicted this date within a week. My last day of employment at Intel was June 30, 1995. I then put everything I owned into storage and on July 6 I flew from Portland to New York and then to Europe for a summer of backgammon and cavorting about. It was a wonderful summer. When I got back to the US I came to San Francisco and looked for a place to live, flew to Portland to collect my car and sign the closing papers on my condo, came back to SF, went back to Portland to deal with movers, then came to SF and moved into my new house. The files on this drive include my email archives from Intel. I just found one of the pieces of information I was looking for! I went to my first Burgermunch on May 7, 1992, and to my first playparty two days later. I can't begin to articulate how happy I am to have this information again. It's like a piece of my memory has been gone, and now it's back.

OK, fine, I'm tagged.

patti — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 06:53:49 GMT

Mandy tagged me the other day, and I buried my head in the sand. But I'll play along. Eight things you probably don't know about me: 1. I once took part in a debutante ball. 2. I'm a published pornographer; my writing has been blocked at the Canadian border. 3. I spent my 12th birthday in Moscow. 4. When I was 14-15 years old, I picked up the remote and turned off the TV. I quit cold turkey. To this day, I very rarely watch TV. 5. I've never met my father (and never will). 6. I was married for the better part of a decade, and I still use his surname. 7. I came fairly close to going to the national spelling bee one year. 8. I got kicked out of college. I'm not tagging anyone. If this amuses you, consider yourself tagged.

My new product is live!

patti — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 22:22:14 GMT

For those who are curious about what I've been working on since I left Tribe, I can now share. It's a new blogging product called Vox, and it's really slick-- it does a great job of integrating video, audio, photos, etc. You can see my blog at http://patti.vox.com

The S&M Bus

patti — Sat, 13 May 2006 03:18:43 GMT

I rode the S&M bus on a company field trip today. How funny is that?

Goodbye to my (t)

patti — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 21:21:16 GMT

I was the first Tribe junkie. Back in the middle of July 2003, before Tribe had launched, I was working on our test server fairly late one night, getting things ready for us to go live. I found a short test message that Marc Canter had posted, and before I realized what I'd done I spent half an hour composing a rebuttal. As soon as I clicked post, I began to realize the power of what we were creating at Tribe. "Marc C" was not just a name on a discussion group, or even a name and a face. Because I had rich profile information for him just one click away, it felt like I was talking to someone at a party, or a neighbor, or a coworker. I'd used lots of electronic discussion forums in my life, but this one was different. I remember watching with wonder as the first people came in and started colonizing Tribe. They set up profiles, invited their friends, and had fun. But more than anything, they created tribes and started talking to each other. The excitement in the office was palpable as we passed around links to things that we'd found on Tribe. And then suddenly all of my friends were here. I ran into people that I hadn't seen in years. They made Tribe their home, and they loved it. Sure they grumbled, but it was still their clubhouse. I've been at countless parties and gatherings where I heard people mention Tribe, not because I was there or because they knew I was listening, but because it was a tool that they used to talk to each other, and interesting things happened there. I can't begin to count the number of people who have come up to me and said, "Are you Patti? I recognize you from Tribe." This has happened to me at parties, stores, restaurants, on the street... all up and down the west coast. They often went on to tell me how important Tribe was to them, and how it changed their lives. It's changed my life too. I've met dozens of people on Tribe, including some that I'm now very lucky to call friends. I've also been lucky enough to work with some amazing people, and have a great time doing it. That's what I'm talking about! But all good things must come to an end, and it's time for me to go seek new adventures-- it's time for me to say goodbye to my little orange T. I'll miss it. I wish everyone at Tribe the best of luck!

I'm proud of this!

patti — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 00:18:26 GMT

If you come to visit me at home, you take an elevator to the third floor. When the elevator doors open, you see this picture sprawled across the wall in front of you, in all nine feet of its glory. It's my photo.

Things I never thought I'd say

patti — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 16:15:19 GMT

Frankly, I never expected to use the words "my skis" in a way that indicated that I actually owned such beasts. And now, may I not use the phrase, "my broken leg".

Today's Fry's adventure

patti — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 03:58:07 GMT

"Excuse me. Where would I find a power strip?" "What's a power strip?" While I stood there dumbfounded that anyone could work in an electronics store and not know what a power strip was, one of his coworkers saved him. "End of this row, turn right, go all the way down."