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Startrek.com Shutting Down

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the could-have-offered-it-to-fandom dept.

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."

16 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. great news? by apodyopsis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:great news? by Hurricane+Floyd · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:great news? by marcello_dl · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

      --
      ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
    3. Re:great news? by bm_luethke · · Score: 5, Funny

      "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.

      --
      ------- Sorry about the spelling, I suffer from two problems. Dyslexia makes it difficult to spell well, lazy makes it
    4. Re:great news? by sou11ess · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  2. Not Quite by datan · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Not Quite by Martian_Kyo · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

    2. Re:Not Quite by DeeQ · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    3. Re:Not Quite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      , 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.
  3. Outcry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Kaaaaaaahn!!

  4. Bad move... by Hanners1979 · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  5. MA? by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
  6. Last editorial... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

  7. My e-mail by chi_thirdrail · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  8. Re:Give it to Wil Wheaton? by arth1 · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  9. Mod Parent -1, Sad by Kawahee · · Score: 5, Funny
    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.
    --
    I'll subscribe to Slashdot when I see a month without a dupe, a typo, or an article the "editors" didn't read.