Startrek.com Shutting Down

Curlsman writes to let us know that the fan site startrek.com, operated for 13 years by CBS, is being shut down and its staff laid off. Is this site worth a write-in campaign? From the (perhaps final) post: "Goodbye from the STARTREK.COM Team. Sadly, we must report that CBS Interactive organization is being restructured, and the production team that brings you the STARTREK.COM site has been eliminated. Effective immediately. We don't know the ultimate fate of this site, which has served millions of Star Trek fans for the last thirteen years. If you have comments, please send them to editor @ startrek.com — we hope someone at CBS will read them."

Comments

great news?

[apodyopsis]

It would be great news if they then donated the domain to a fan based organization who could then preserve, maintain and preferably enhance the whole website and continue to move it forwards.

But I suspect it will be sold to the highest bidder, no doubt something to do with the new upcoming prequels.

Re:great news?

[Hurricane Floyd]

Probably end up with a cybersquatting fake search page on it like all the other premium domains that are abandoned. Or autoforward to the main CBS site.

Re:great news?

[marcello_dl]

An "It's dead, Jim" 404 page would be most appropriate.

Re:great news?

[bm_luethke]

"But I suspect it will be sat on, no doubt something to do with afraid something not under their control may be done with it."

There, I fixed the line for you. That is normally the way these types of things work, I can;t see them giving this site up for any reason whatsoever.

Re:great news?

[Professor_UNIX]

Hopefully they will let the domain expire so it can be snatched up by one of the various high-quality search engine providers like www.starttrek.com, www.jamestkirk.com, www.ussenterprise.com, klingon.com, romulans.com, etc. These sites show their dedication to Star Trek by providing search engines targeted towards their primary audience... namely Star Trek fanatics.

Re:great news?

[sou11ess]

jamestkirk.com is my favorite stop for everything Star Trek, like a big picture of a TIE fighter.

Not Quite

[datan]

Actually it says that the production team has been eliminated (which kinda sucks just during this holiday seasons), and the ultimate fate of the site is still unresolved.

Re:Not Quite

[Martian_Kyo]

I find their use of the word 'eliminated' a bit overly dramatic. Dissolved maybe, but eliminated? It's not like they've all been taken to the alley behind the studio, shot in the head and then dumped in the river.

Re:Not Quite

[DeeQ]

you work somewhere for 13 years and get laid off, I would use eliminated too.

Re:Not Quite

[Anonymous Coward]

, if you're 33 (that means, you've been involved in that since you were 20) and your main occupation has been 'maintaining startrek.com' (or any one website), maybe it's time to move on, and fatten up that CV. Ah, the modern world of work. No such thing as enjoying your craft, no such thing as loyalty to or from your company. All about "climbing the ladder" and "fattening up your CV". What a waste, 8+ hours a day spent on a rat race instead of practicing what you love.

You can earn all the money in the world with your sort of attitude, but you'll still have approximately the same number of days on this earth as I do. The "pursuit of happiness" is an on-going experience, not a goal. If someone wants to spend a third of his working life maintaining an excellent web site (+other resources) on Star Trek, good for him. He's happy, he's harmless, he's giving other people joy.

If you haven't found what makes you happy yet, heed the example of this sort of person - don't put him down.

Outcry

[Anonymous Coward]

Kaaaaaaahn!!

Bad move...

[Hanners1979]

They should have thought twice about having a 'Red Shirt Friday' in the office I guess...

MA?

[GreyWolf3000]

Could memory-alpha.org be part of the reason? I know I go there for all things Trek (huge nerd here...get over it). I can't remember ever going to ST.com for anything.

Last editorial...

[Anonymous Coward]

The last editorial on the site is about the writer's strike. It would be logical to draw your own conclusions.

Subject

[Legion303]

"Is this site worth a write-in campaign?"

Nope.

(Count the mods who break their legs in a rush to mod this as "flamebait" even though I'm answering the question asked.)

I was thinking that...

[Cyno01]

While reading the summay. Last fall/winter/ this spring i watched all 6 star trek series and 10 movies in chronological order by episode. Memory alpha was an indispensible resource for getting the order right, as well as reading background info and things on just about evey episode while i was watching, i cant remember ever going to the official site...

Re:Say Wha!?

[rucs_hack]

Don't Paramount have a movie coming out, by the very name "Star Trek", for Xmas next year? Seems like a dumb time to drop the site.

Not if they plan to re-use the domain to promote that film.

good riddance

[sankekur]

The website is a mess anyways, Memory Alpha is much better, its the star trek wiki, http://memory-alpha.org/

My e-mail

[chi_thirdrail]

It's unfortunate that the Star Trek site is being discontinued. Even if the site cannot be maintained any longer (despite a movie apparently being in production), the resources accumulated on the site are important, at least from a historic perspective. For a television and movie franchise to last around 40 years, and have the influence it has had on pop culture and scientific development (the standard "flip phone," for example, was created by a Motorola engineer who readily admits it was inspired by the "communicator" from the original Star Trek series), it deserves at least a Web site that archives important information about the show. I used to work for MSN (at Microsoft's Redmond-West campus, where MSN was operated out of) in the late 90s, when the site still existed in its early state startrek.msn.com. Even after moving beyond the days of "MSN Shows" this very site lived on and evolved to keep up with the series and discuss the latest episodes of DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise, as well as maintain a comprehensive history of the various series and movies. It never outlived a purpose as a site. I, personally, maintain several Web sites, including one that has sent over 240,000 letters to legislators in Illinois to encourage proper investment in public transportation infrastructure in the Chicago area. Considering that I personally spend about $200/year on the sites I am in charge of, it's shocking to me that StarTrek.com can't even be maintained as an informational resource by such a massive media conglomerate. Even if a salary needs to be paid to a developer to maintain the site, it's still peanuts. Even if there can't be the kind of investment to keep the content fresh, what exists now deserves to remain available to the public with whatever little maintenance it requires. Please, at the very least, maintain the Web site as it has existed as a resource to the fans, to the occasional watcher, and to the curious about the details of literally hundreds of installments of high-quality and socially important science fiction television and movies that have influenced generations of people to set higher standards for advancement, understanding, and peace. Star Trek, a fan of the show or not, must be acknowledged as having had a huge impact on pop culture and our technological and scientific direction. The least one can do is keep a Web site running on a server for what amounts to peanuts.

Re:Give it to Wil Wheaton?

[arth1]

Watch what you're saying. The person in question may be reading this, armed with moderator points...

Mod Parent -1, Sad

[Kawahee]

Mod Parent -1, Sad please:

Last fall/winter/ this spring i watched all 6 star trek series and 10 movies in chronological order by episode

Your mother called, get out of her basement.

Re:Mirror?

[Kredal]

if it is, the mirror will have a goatee and be evil!