Mod note: membership requests are now moderated. We hope this obstructs spambots.

[ron_newman]

Because the infestation of comment spambots is getting steadily worse, and the spambots have begun joining this community, a majority of the moderators have voted to at least temporarily change the membership of davis_square from Open to Moderated.

This means that if a new person wants to join davis_square, their request will be e-mailed to all four moderators, rather than taking immediate effect. If we already know who you are, or you have friends we recognize, or you're a regular participant in other LJ communities, we'll probably approve your request quickly. If you are located in a faraway country and have few or no friends, we may message you back to ask how you are connected to Davis Square.

Non-members who want to leave comments (as opposed to making top-level posts) will continue to be presented with a CAPTCHA.

Posts to this community will not be moderated -- only membership requests.

We don't want to be insular or clannish, but we do need to stem the rising tide of spam.

ETA: I've also edited the community profile page to mention moderated membership, with a link to this post.

Boston.com and TechDirt.com articles about Monsarrat lawsuit being dropped

[ron_newman]

From Boston.com/Somerville: Lawsuit against Somerville message board users dropped (a followup to their May 14 story)

from TechDirt.com: Jonathan Monsarrat Drops Ridiculous Lawsuit Against Online Commenters (a followup to their May 17 story)

Popehat.com may also publish a followup story soon. If they do so today, I'll edit it into this post; otherwise, I'll make a new post when it comes out.

La Chic Boutique is becoming a pawn shop

[ron_newman]

as of July 1st, according to a sign outside. It now has a neon PAWN SHOP sign in its window, too. Classy.

Didn't this place start out as a vintage-goods or consignment shop, like Poor Little Rich Girl, Artifaktori, etc?

I wonder if this is the beginning of Davis Square's de-gentrification.

Your eyes will hurt after visiting their website.

Chris Faraone's Weekly Dig story on Somerville (Part 1) is now online and on the street

[ron_newman]

It's finally out there, both online and in Weekly Dig boxes all over town:

The Somerville Files, Part 1: Nightmare on Beacon Street, by Chris Faraone. (Alternate title is "Somerville's Shadow: The Fixed Gears").

The story says "This is the first installment in a multi-part DigBoston series about the intersection of politics, development, and power in the City of Somerville." I don't know whether it will continue in regular weekly installments, or intermittently. The series was originally scheduled to run in the Phoenix last March, but that newspaper suddenly went out of business.

I think I'm still on the opposite side of the Beacon Street cycletrack controversy from Faraone, but it can be enlightening to read an outsider's view of the debate.

(Earlier discussion here and here).

Comment away!

ETA 6/26/13: Onward to Part 2.

The Baltimore Waltz Opens Next Week!

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

This Pride Month, Theatre@First is proud to present The Baltimore Waltz by renowned playwright, Paula Vogel. Performances will take place right in Davis Square at Unity Somerville, 6 William Street, Somerville, MA. Dates are times are June 20, 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 8PM and June 29 at 2PM. For tickets and reservations visit http://www.theatreatfirst.org/tickets.shtml.

( More information about the show )

Free Washington Red and Sungold Tomato Plants

[reeborg.livejournal.com]

I have three extra Washington Red cherry tomato plants and three extra Sungold cherry tomato plants. I bought the flats from Enterprise Farms at the Davis Square farmer's market, but I only needed one plant of each type.

The plants are still in the original flats they came in. If you just want a single plant, let me know.

They're free to a good home. I'd be happy to leave them on my porch or hand them off in person in Davis Square.