This is the most disgusting site on the internet. The forums are unmoderated so libel occurs and they make a profit off of it. Teenagers are often attacked, innocent law abiding citizens are often called pedofiles, accused of drug use, and if you are a Christian prepare to be offended because there are some disgraceful things said about God. This site is completely disgusting and something should be done about it.

Topix forums, are the number one internet community forums, linked to newspapers across America.
From their website:
"Topix is the leading news community on the Web, connecting people to the information and discussions, that matter to them in every U.S. town and city."
The three biggest newspaper corporations in the country, are heavily invested. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Topix LLC is a privately held company with investment from Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) and Tribune Company.
These three corporations invested $15-million dollars in Topix. "November 6, 2006: Topix Receives $15 Million in Additional Funding from Tribune, Gannett, and McClatchy"
From Local Media Watch: Indeed, its potential was deemed so great that Gannett, Tribune and Knight Ridder paid $60 million for it in 2005, expecting it to play a key role in the future of local news.

Topix and Google

Topix is affiliated with Google, whose search engines give Topix, the highest priority.
These forums have become notorious across the nation for the number of trolls clogging their threads and the degree of repugnant human conversation going on. They recently changed their user terms of service, stating only that the the company is not responsible for anything published on it, no other rules for behavior are given. Yet for many small towns across America, Topix has replaced their local newspaper.
I have been investigating Topix for a year and a half and recently interesting and disturbing comments, have been posted on one of my Topix posts, ironically entitled:

Something way funky is going on over at Topix.com
If they are accurate, they are saying that Topix is gathering user's personal data, in conjunction with the NSA, to use it to, "spy on citizens, profile them [and] invasion of privacy":
"The "Tolles Trolls" can observe the habits of millions of Americans, perhaps report them to law enforcement, mess with their credit report, etc."
The comments declare that Topix has allowed the National Security Agency, to breach their encryption codes, to access users private information.  They point out the background of Topix founder Rich Skrenta, as the creator of a computer virus that is "widely believed to be the first large-scale self-spreading personal computer virus ever created."
The NSA has been working with internet companies, in the Silicon Valley similar to Topix, to gain access to their encryption codes, to access the private information of users. Topix CEO, Chris Tolles, at the time with Sun Microsystems said this:
 "Everyone in Silicon Valley, including us, has to have specific staff, highly paid experts, to deal with (the NSA) them, " said Chris Tolles, security group product manager at Sun."
I have written about Chris Tolles here:
Speaking out to Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix.com

This article goes into more detail on the NSA:
The long, strong arm of the NSA
 "Back in the days of the cold war, Washington insiders used to joke that NSA stood for "No Such Agency." The government denied the very existence of this group, which is dedicated to intercepting and decoding foreign communications.
That was then. Today the National Security Agency is well known, and spends a lot of time leaning on software, switch and router vendors, pushing them to re-tool their products. The agency's goal: to ensure that the government has access to encrypted data."
This post also discusses this issue:
IP: While cda-II diverts attention, end run around clipper
"The NSA wants software vendors to make sure that any product with strong encryption have some way for the government to tap into the data. And because practically every commercial network application, router or switch these days includes encryption or an option for it, almost every vendor now has to answer to the NSA if it wants to export."
I posted my concerns on Topix, on their main board and to the Topix moderators, to either confirm or deny whether or not, they were collecting user data. There was no response. Instead their meanest trolls have been hounding me. This has been the case my entire time on Topix and its only gotten worse since I published this post. Topix has not once contacted me to deny my claims, only further persecuted me with their trolls.

MY EX-WIFE OF 10 YEARS HAS PUT ON SITE MY JOB LISTINGS, WHERE I WENT TO SCHOOL, AND THREATEN MY FAMILY. I WANT THIS STOPPED. I HAVE REPORTED ABUSE ON SITE BUT IT IS STILL THERE. HER NAME IS PAM MARTIN, HER HUSBAND IS CALLED COUNTRY BOY, SHE IS MARK'S ANGEL EYES, AND EVEN MY SON CHAUNCEY MARTIN IS ON THERE, I WANT IT TAKEN OFF. I AM MARRIED FOR 2 YEARS NOW AND SHE CAN'T SEEM TO STOP. [email protected] my e-mail