The canonical definition of “creepy treehouse” was written by Jared Stein in 2008. Here’s an excerpt:
n. A place, physical or virtual (e.g. online), built by adults with the intention of luring in kids.
Example: “Kids … can see a [creepy treehouse] a mile away and generally do a good job in avoiding them.” John Krutsch in Are You Building a Creepy Treehouse?”
n. Any institutionally-created, operated, or controlled environment in which participants are lured in either by mimicking pre-existing open or naturally formed environments, or by force, through a system of punishments or rewards.
Such institutional environments are often seen as more artificial in their construction and usage, and typically compete with pre-existing systems, environments, or applications. creepy treehouses also have an aspect of closed-ness, where activity within is hidden from the outside world, and may not be easily transferred from the environment by the participants.
n. Any system or environment that repulses a target user due to it’s closeness to or representation of an oppressive or overbearing institution.
Stein credits Chris Lott, via a link that goes to a “page not found.”
A bit of Google-fu lead me to Jason Krutsch’s 2007 blog post, apparently offline but available via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine: “Are You Building a Creepy Treehouse?” The live version of that page forwards to a page that seems to be owned by Jared Stein (who wrote the above definition).
Krutsch cites a link that points to http://conference.wcet.info/2006/program/sessiondetail.asp?session=AC06/B35, but that page is also down.
If my further Google-fu is correct, WCET may stand for WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, and I gather that WICHE stands for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
It has long been assumed that William Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway was less than…
Some 50 years ago, my father took me to his office in Washington, DC. I…
I first taught Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle during an intensive 3-week online course during the 2020-21…
A federal judge ordered the White House on Tuesday to restore The Associated Press’ full…
Rewatching ST:DS9 After the recap of last week's "In Purgatory's Shadow," we see the Defiant,…