DailyHeights

My bad.

So where is the action in Prospect Heights now?

It’s on the Daily Heights message boards, which are completely out of hand lately. In a good way.

The action is also in the Flickr Photo Pool for Prospect Heights.

Just don’t expect much new stuff on this page for the next two weeks. Keep checking back, though – maybe you’ll see a random post or two appearing on this page (hint, hint).

Mike writes: “Hello from San Francisco. Just wanted to let you know that I really like what you’ve done with your neighborhood blog. I just started one up for my neighborhood in San Francisco, Potrero Hill, and will probably borrow some of the ideas from your site.”

Borrow away! I’ve taken a look at PHSF… Mike “gets it,” as they say, and it’s based in San Francisco, so naturally, it will take off like wildfire. Go, go, “citizen journalists”! (And BONUS POINTS if you offend a Potrero Hill beat reporter by using that term.)

[email protected] checks in from New Zealand to write: “This citizen journalism site [Daily Heights] was mentioned on the BBC WORLD NEWS web site in the Magazine section as being so good that the New York times often reports on the same issues a few days later. Awesome. You guys rock! Good luck.”

[Update: Uh… “whocares” got it a bit confused. BBC didn’t specifically mention us — they linked to an article in Poynter Online that mentions Daily Heights.]

I didn’t know about the New York Times… but I do have a growing list of articles based on tips reporters got on Daily Heights, that as far as I know, have never mentioned DH as the source.

Example. I just found a Brooklyn Daily Eagle article about some unspecific “uproar” in the community over the New York Times misreporting the height of the planned Union Temple parking lot condo as 30 stories. I suppose it’s theoretically possible that the reporter stumbled upon an uproar somewhere in the neighborhood (be careful where you uproar–you never know when there might be a reporter lurking around, ready to report on you!). But from my admittedly myopic view, the only uproar I’m aware of was right here on Daily Heights and on Curbed and Curbed again via Daily Heights. (OK… there were also some updates on the PHNDC Yahoo! Group, and I think ProspectHeightsParents, but I don’t recall the discourse being uproarious.)

Don’t get me wrong… I am totally cool with this practice, and I totally encourage journalists to hang out here and contact DH users (say hello to … Private Messaging in the message boards!!!)

…But is it TOO MUCH TROUBLE to give us credit somehow? Some sort of “secret nod” that only we will get and say, “hey, that’s us!!” Maybe some old-fashioned attribution?

Come on, already. Make my weekend.

Recently, the phrase “my bad” was used unironically in the Daily Heights Forums, prompting an emergency investigation to identify other potentially-typeable phrases that are clearly outside the limits of good taste and proper online expression. To date, phrases banned on Daily Heights include, but are not limited to:

–“Don’t go there” (Obvious!)

–“I am so ____” as in, “I am so loving this discussion about Home Heating Oil!!”

–“Yeah!” said in three syllables, with the accent on the first, so as to suggest “no duh” in response to an obvious statement by another party (admittedly, it would be difficult to type this… if you were to defy the ban, it would probably look something like this: “YEah-uh!”)

-Referring to anyone as “dog” or “dawg”

More forbidden phrases will be posted as they come to our attention. Thank you for your patience during this difficult time of transition!

Special note: Daily Heights is seeking an injunction to enforce Internet-wide bans on the phrases “A ______ grows in Brooklyn” and “If you ______ it, they will come.” To shield your publication from future liability, please discontinue use of these phrases, effective today. Thank you!

LINK: Post #259, FORBIDDEN PHRASES (Was: Pic of Spalding bldg on Pacific?) [Daily Heights Forums]

DH is in JEOPARDY! And we do not need money, especially after an unthinkably generous donation that will keep us in the black for months, from an anonymous patron we will refer to as Near Underhill Bill: “I just think you guys do a great job… I enjoy the site, and thought I’d do my small part to help. The site really kind of epitomizes to me how good the internet can be.”

In fact, DAILY HEIGHTS has reached a critical inflection point (what is this? Get Lucas to translate). Real-life responsibilities have become so great that the ridiculously tiny core group of Daily Heights regulars have little time for anything else other than childrearing, recreating cookbooks that the hard drive ate, copyediting every Conde Nast magazine in existence, and planning for the toughest Rock, Paper, Scissors competition that this borough has ever seen, THIS THURSDAY at Freddy’s.

What we need now is more of what you see below, in the post from EmilyM, who reports on the latest knife sharpener on the block: News and minutiae, reported by you… impossibly local, potentially absurdly banal, yet with an impact that could ripple entire blocks beyond what we consider Prospect Heights. Are you up to the challenge?

And, are you are “leet” enough to handle HTML? If so, DH will set you up with your very own Guest Author account. Otherwise, you can do it the usual way: just keep posting in the message boards, or e-mail your stuff to [email protected] (the penguin post is coming, we promise)!

IMAGE SOURCE: Systems Furniture Contract Enhanced to Address Broader Range of Agency Needs (West
Virginia Department of Administration, Purchasing Division)

Get your Rock, Paper, Scissors chops up to speed! There will be a RPS PRACTICE CLINIC at SODA, tomorrow night (Thursday) at 6:30 pm. See the announcement here.

SMACKDOWN takes place as scheduled, at Freddy’s, next Thursday, May 26th. Check-in starts at 8, and the first Round of 32 gets underway at 8:30!

Also: There will be an announcement on ATLANTIC YARDS SMACKDOWN in the New Yorker. There was an brief telephone interview in which a member of the NYRPS was asked to comment on state of the game. There was also a follow-up call in which facts were checked.

Pre-register now, before the word gets out! Send an e-mail to [email protected] with the words “SIGN ME UP!” in the subject line.

1. We’ve got a tremendous backlog of material and no time to post. Want to help? E-mail [email protected].

2. Where is the action today? The real action is in the Prospect Heights message boards. Go ask questions, show off your knowledge, randomly insult people, or simply watch the firefight between third-generation Brooklynites and the marauding Yuppie hordes.

3. The two biggest questions in the wake of last week’s super fun DAILY HEIGHTS Happy Hour are, (a) why am I so shy that I showed up and didn’t introduce myself? and (b) when’s the next event?

Answer to B:

DailyHeights.com | Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, USA presents:
Rock, Paper, Scissors Eastern Seaboard Pro-Am Series 2005

DAILYHEIGHTS.COM Invitational: Atlantic Yards Smackdown
(Now: An official competition of the World RPS Society (www.worldrps.com)!

Brooklyn’s Toughest Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS) Players Go Hand-to-Hand in the Footprint of Bruce Ratner’s Proposed Megastadium

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — On Thursday, May 26, at 8 p.m., Freddy’s Bar & Backroom (www.freddysbackroom.com; 485 Dean St., 718-622-7035) hosts the New York Rock Paper Scissors (NYRPS) Association’s Atlantic Yards Smackdown*, part of the 2005 Eastern Seaboard Pro-Am Invitational Series.

Read more…

You can pre-register by sending $6 per competitor by Paypal ([email protected]). If you are not familiar with Paypal, just contact us at [email protected] to make other arrangements.

Seems we had a little problem with not one, not two, but THREE parties showing up at Soda Bar and being too mortified to introduce themselves. I didn’t realize we were such an intimidating crowd. Take a look at these photos (thanks, Heather) and maybe next time someone will look familiar.

Flickr Set: Daily Heights Real-Life Happy Hour [Flickr.com]