After Dark with Beth LaMontagne

March 03, 2006

R.I.P. Portsmouth Habitat

I don't know how many of you noticed, but it looks like the rogue community Web site, Portsmouth Habitat, is shutting down. According to the site history, Portsmouth Habitat was founded by Michael A. Boulerice as a place for locals to "hear EVERY side of a story, not just something that has been edited and sterilized of anything controversial for the reader to take in gently." (emphasis his)

It's got wire news, forums, bulletin boards, etc. Basically it's a place to plug shows and rant about stuff. This is the site Kung Fu Mike went to after he was booted out of here and where the controversy over his dismissal played out in all it's vitriolic glory. But after that controversy, action on the site seemed to slow down and it now looks like Kung Fu Mike has moved on to greener pastures. I wondered if Portsmouth Habitat was ever going to rebound when I discovered the Feb. 8 post by "Giles" asking if anyone wanted to take over the site before the domain name runs out in 30 days. By my calculations, the site could be down as soon as next week.

So that's it. Another grassroots effort fallen by the ways side. Not that I’m saying that's a bad thing. I suppose everything has it's cycle and Portsmouth Habitat's is over. Of course, if anyone out there is going to be a hero and keep this thing going, let me know. I would certainly be interested in what that would look like.

Posted by blamontagne at March 3, 2006 03:08 PM

Comments

A few clarifications. Portsmouth Habitat was up before we gave Mike his Blog The Coast blog. And he was not "booted" from Blog The Coast, he quit his blog because he could not follow our policies not to libel people or use blatant obscenity. I bent over backwards to help Mike, but he chose to quit. Those who want to follow Mike can do so on My Space where they allow him to say anything about anyone with no filters. I believe that his user name is Kung Fu Mike. Rock on. ;-)

Posted by: Devin Gladstone at March 5, 2006 05:56 PM

Clarification noted. Mike did chose not to comply with our rules. Also, Mike was writing on Portsmouth Habitat long before Seacoast Media blogs came out. I was just saying he chose to battle it out there, after he could no longer battle it out over here.

Different sites serve different purposes and some people like the Howard Stern/ Bill O'Reiley version of commentary and some do not. We are certainly in the latter category, mainly because we want everyone to feel welcome.

I just thought it was interesting that after Mike stopped leaving rants on Portsmouth Habitat, a site that claims to provide comprehensive content about the city, that it died. What does that say? Was the site a true place for people to hash out ideas, or was it just a giant microphone for Mike with his fan club cheering him on? I don't know.

Posted by: afterdark at March 6, 2006 09:34 AM

I think Mike is a talented writer, it's too bad he couldn't focus on the writing and his viewpoint instead of the other stuff. Last night your post made me go look for his MySpace profile and read some of his blogs there and it just reinforced in my mind that we made the right decision not to allow his kind of antics on our site.

I'm not one who believes the internet allows a person to say anything they want no matter how obscene, hurtful or libelous it is. Freedom comes with responsiblity. Hopefully, some day Mike might get that.

However, hopefully new voices will continue to appear and I think both Blog The Coast and Seacoast Connects try to provide a way for those voices to be heard.

Posted by: Devin Gladstone at March 6, 2006 10:44 AM

I checked out Kung Fu Mike's new website and was more than a little disappointed. I did get a few laughs but mostly just cringed as though I were reading Johnny Knoxville/Steve-O's diaries.

IMHO he has jumped tracks from the direction he was headed in - which seemed to be talented, skillfull and dead-on humorous commentary; but alas it appears Mike has taken the "short road" in the game of Life and found his inner Jackass. Whatever. It's his call and clearly he's enjoying himself and there is a market for such humor. I have a 20 year old son you know - although even he has graduated from the Jackass phase and has moved on to such advanced humor as the Family Guy. (DOH!)

Posted by: bullyforme at March 7, 2006 12:59 PM

The design of the new site is beautiful though...

Posted by: www.KellyHalldorson.com at March 9, 2006 11:19 PM

You're right Kelly, I love the design and the art is fab. I also love a few of his ideas - like Myspace loser of the month, very funny. Mike's at his best when he's boiling down subjects that are just asking to be dissected.

Posted by: bullyforme at March 10, 2006 09:23 AM

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