Press Release:
Walker Evans, moderator of the popular Columbus, OH messageboard Columbus Underground, announced today that Columbus Underground will soon launch a sister site, everydaychitchat.com. The new site will house the current contents of the “Everyday Chit-Chat” section of Columbus Underground’s messageboard.
Evans explained that the move was driven purely by economics. “Most of Columbus Underground is a profitable venture,” Evans said, “but our analytics demonstrated that the Everyday Chit-Chat section, despite being a favorite among regulars, was actually a huge drain on the site’s finances.”
The bickering, flame wars, and general sophomoric behavior in Everyday Chit-Chat discouraged repeat visits, Evans explained, “and you don’t want to know what kinds of advertisers some of those posts attracted. I mean, who knew that there are actually people out there who sell velvet balls? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, believe me.”
An analysis of Evans’ time spent on the site also revealed that moderating discussions in Everyday Chit-Chat took up far more of his time than did moderating discussions elsewhere. “These are 12% of the threads, but moderating them takes up 63% of my time. That’s ridiculous,” Evans said. As a result, the new site will be unmoderated.
Evans declined to discuss plans for future spinoffs, though a domain registry search indicated that he owns the rights to a third domain, enzoic.org. The significance of that fact remains shrouded in mystery.
