2002 ; 14 years ago 2002 palo alto california u.s. headquarters palo alto california u.s. website www.topix.com topix is an american internet news media company . topix llc the controlling company has its headquarters in palo alto california . 1 topix began as a news aggregator 2 which categorizes news stories by topic and geography . in the last few years topix changed its focus from aggregation and curation to content creation . topix removed the human sexuality topic which was one of its most popular topics from its forums on june 26th 2016 . topix launched new entertainment focused slideshow based sites stars and offbeat and has continued to launch additional new sites since 2015 . topix is in the top 100 largest us based website according to quantcast . 3 contents 1 history 2 sites 3 team 4 controversy 5 references 6 external links history edit topix.net as it was originally known was created in 2004 by bryn dole rich skrenta bob truel tom markson mike markson and chris tolles many of whom founded the open directory project . in march 2005 the knight ridder later taken over by the mcclatchy company tribune company and gannett media companies purchased a 75 % share of the company . 4 on april 1 2007 it acquired the topix.com domain name and invited volunteers to edit the topics of their choice on top of over 100 journalists and editors from various newspapers already signed up . sometime in 2012 they took that volunteer edit option away without any communication to the thousands of volunteers . 5 topix went on to create a community news editing platform and popular forum system allowing users to comment on news articles and the goings on of local communities . 6 topix also created forums organized by locality as well as by subject matter which allow visitors to post comments whether or not they are relevant to a particular news story . the founders of topix initially wanted it to be a news aggregator with specific pages for every community in the united states . as topix matured most of its growth occurred in small cities and towns in the united states . the people who commented in the topix forums wanted to focus the discussions on more traditional small community gossip . 7 topix s main user base consists of posters from cities and towns in the united states . chris tolles the chief executive of topix llc since june 2007 said that topix is very popular in the feud states . 8 sites edit in addition to the topix local content the company has other category specific sites which are subdomains of topix.com stars celebrity and entertainment offbeat pop culture wellnest health and wellness sideline sports blackbeat black entertainment parenthood parenting pawsome pets estrellas spanish language entertainment team edit management team at topix 9 chris tolles co founder and ceo steve rubinstein coo mike sawka vp engineering controversy edit a. g. sulzberger of the new york times wrote that the same web sites created as places for candid talk about local news and politics are also hubs of unsubstantiated gossip stirring widespread resentment in communities where ties run deep memories run long and anonymity is something of a novel concept . 8 he added that whereas online negativity seems to dissipate naturally in a large city it often grates like steel wool in a small town where insults are not easily forgotten . 8 various local governments censured the topix forums . many lawsuits resulted from content posted on topix . 8 when topix began removing all negative posts people stopped posting on topix so the company stopped removing all negative posts . 7 on february 3 2009 mark and rhonda lesher filed a lawsuit against anonymous posters on topix.com . according to their petition over 1 700 defamatory statements were made about them by anonymous posters resulting in 2 568 allegations of defamation and libel . although topix was not a party to the lawsuit it was forced to reveal the ip addresses of the posters and the dangers of unmoderated anonymous posting on topix were brought to light for the first time in the public eye . citation needed initially topix charged money to people who requested that topix take expedited removal of negative posts . after thirty state attorneys general protested topix stopped charging . jack conway the kentucky attorney general said the charging scheme smacked of having to pay a fee to get your good name back . 7 on march 20 2012 online gossip was the subject of a story called innocent man s life destroyed by anonymous topix poster on good morning america . topix ceo chris tolles was interviewed for the piece . 10 san francisco bay area portal companies portal internet portal references edit about topix . topix . retrieved on september 19 2011 . seo is dead quantcast new partners same topix.net . topix.net blog . march 2005 . reinventing topix topix.com munity . topix.net blog . april 2007 . lieberman david 2007 04 01 . topix.com homes in on citizen journalists . usa today . a b c sulzberger a. g. in small towns gossip moves to the web and turns vicious . the new york times . september 19 2011 . 2 . retrieved on september 20 2011 . a b c d sulzberger a. g. in small towns gossip moves to the web and turns vicious . the new york times . september 19 2011 . 1 . retrieved on september 20 2011 . management team . innocent man s life destroyed by anonymous topix poster . gma.yahoo.com . external links edit official website nieman journalism lab . topix . encyclo an encyclopedia of the future of news . retrieved 1 april 2012 . v t e gannett company directors full list of directors national assets usa today the big lead mmajunkie.com sports weekly v t e gannett company regional daily newspapers in the united states abilene reporter news the advocate anderson independent mail alamogordo daily news argus leader the arizona republic asbury park press asheville citizen times battle creek enquirer the baxter bulletin the burlington free press carlsbad current 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state columbia s.c. the sun herald the news tribune tri city herald the wichita eagle partnerships careerbuilder 14.4 % the seattle times company 49.5 % topix 11.25 % acquisitions cowles media company knight ridder v t e tribune media corporate directors bruce karsh chairman peter liguori president and ceo chandler bigelow cfo tribune broadcasting tv stations by primary affiliations tv networks broadcast antenna tv this tv1 cable cltv food network 30 % wgn america cbs kfsm whnt wreg wtkr2 wttv wttk wtvr the cw kdaf kiah kplr krcw ktla kwgn wcct wdcw wgnt2 wnol wpix wsfl fox kcpq kdvr kfct kstu kswb ktvi ktxl wdaf wghp witi wjw wpmt wtic wxin wxmi other abc wgno wnep2 wqad mynet kxnw kzjo wphl nbc kfor who ind. wgn tv kaut tv programs 100 000 fortune hunt adventure inc. american idol rewind andromeda animal rescue around the world for free the arsenio hall show at the movies the bill cunningham show beastmaster beyond with james van praagh the bob & tom show bozo gar and ray wgn tv classics the bozo show the bozo super sunday show bzzz the charles perez show city guys the dennis miller show dog tales earth final conflict family feud final shot the hank gathers story flipper geraldo ghostbusters hollywood christmas parade illinois instant riches independent network news inside the vault the joan rivers show eyeopener ktla morning news malibu ca manhattan missing monsters movie underground mutant x the mystery of al capone s vaults newsfix night man on the spot outsiders salem scalped soul train soul train music awards to live and die in l.a. tales from the darkside tribune studios u.s. farm report underground what a country wwe superstars wgn morning news wgn sports yule log radio wgn wmil hd33 acquisitions local tv llc renaissance broadcasting gracenote comic strips animal crackers bottom liners bound and gagged brenda starr rockit broom hilda dick tracy gasoline alley gil thorp jumble little orphan annie loose parts love is ... middletons pink panther pluggers editorial cartoons dan wasserman dana summers dick locher don wright drew sheneman jack ohman matt davies paul conrad scott stantis wayne stayskal walt handelsman humorists andy rooney dave barry diane farr jen lancaster mark russell michael showalter today s chuckle political columnists arianna huffington bill press cal thomas carl hiaasen clarence page garrison keillor henry kissinger ian bremmer jesse jackson jonah goldberg jules witcover leonard pitts jr. paul kennedy andr s oppenheimer victor davis hanson william pfaff other columnists amy dickinson billy graham goren bridge liz smith mitch albom omarr s astrological forecast rick steves robert pagliarini wolfgang puck tribune digital ventures screener tv by the numbers related articles the wb 25 % 1995 2006 tribune publishing 1847 2014 tribune media services 1933 2014 chicago cubs radio network 1925 to 2014 1 a joint venture between tribune and metro goldwyn mayer . 2 owned by dreamcatcher broadcasting llc tribune operates these stations through an ssa . 3 owned by iheartmedia and operated by tribune . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title topix website & oldid