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June Updates: Me, the state of the site, etc.
It weighs on me constantly that I don't have much of a regular visible presence around the site these days. While I'm on the site literally every day (not just with that every 5 minute browser reload to monitor it), I don't often feel well enough to take the time to both read and post. I realize, of course, how ridiculous that sounds, but when everything is about the efficient use of small opportunities, you end up prioritizing what you can and can't do. So I can and do read, and can and do take care of little issues (I'm very happy to report the big crash issues seem to be gone) behind the curtains, but don't get to participate and be as social as I'd like. I wonder, sometimes, if folks feel as if I've abandoned the site, and nothing could be further from the truth. I remain as passionate about BP, its community, and what it all represents as I ever have been. I want nothing more than for it to get right back to doing what it has in the past; innovate, and encourage others in the community to do better by and for the fans. We have the best admins, mods, and users the Ohio State community has to offer. That's not at all a knock on BN, OZ, or any other site. It's also not just blind loyalty. While "best" as I use it is certainly a subjective measure, the metric I use involves values such as (but not limited to) fairness, reason and respect. I am, as I think most of you are, very proud (not a word I often use) of what we've created here, and so appreciative for those who have put so much of themselves into helping carry it forward; whether that be through their time (see: our admins, content folks, and prolific posters), money (see: our entire donor list, and how the same names keep coming up year after year, drive after drive), or passion (see: everyone who helps self-police and contributes to the types of discussions that really draw people in).
The 'why' behind my lack of visible face time is pretty apparent to most. I have no real news to report on the health front, except that we're trying different things. Immunosuppressants to stop the advancing damage. Dietary changes (there's even some talk about trying to go all-plant, all-raw -- I may just be way too much a meat and dairy monkey to do that though) to help allievate the problems that go with said damage. Immune diseases, as I suspect most of our resident doctorb's will agree, are poorly understood, and very difficult to treat. That the best guess for what ails me is also making me hyper-susceptible to bigger problems from common infections is obviously a mixed bag in terms of value and gain, but it all is what it is. The bottom line is that entirely because of BP, I am in a far better place than when we packed up and relocated back to Ohio. We have a relatively firm diagnosis for the core issues (either MCTD or Scleraderma+Lupus, either way with COPD), we have doctors that I'm able to see when and as I need, we've dealt with the most pressing dental issues, etc. I don't want to understate that fact. None of that would have been possible without this site, and the drives that 3yards and then Deety have been so amazing about organizing, and the participation within both the site and the drives by everyone.
So that's me. The site too comes with its own good and bad news. The good is that the work that we had done some months ago seems to have completely resolved the crashing issues. What that means is that we're probably not facing a pressing hardware failure issue, as it seemed to many of us last year (and early this year) that we might be. Rebuilding and updating the kernel seems to have dealt with the issue, which was somehow tied to either the memory, video card, motherboard, or some or all of the above. Either way, no crashes in like four months, which is three months longer than we had gone in a long, long time. The ads are the 'bad' news. Deety has done just an amazing job tweaking our OpenX hosted ad solution (all while handling the drive and a lot else around here), and we have a working vehicle to deliver ads. What we lack are ads themselves. Getting reliable and palatable remnant ads that actually pay something has been extremely difficult. We had one company that was actually going to bring in enough that at least the hosting and administration costs (several thousand a year) were going to be covered, and then they changed senior leadership when profits were less than expected and changed our payment model to something that doesn't really do anything for us. While we remain hopeful that real ad sales will happen through our main partners come football season, the reality is that even then it will take 60-120 days for that money to come in after those ads have run. With nothing else really happening with ads in the meantime, the site (and myself) are in a sorry state. This is 100% of the reason that we had/have a drive this year, even though as recently as February my plan was to not have one at all. Then, before SportsWar died, I felt like we had enough ad income not to worry about it at all.
So I hope each of you will forgive the extra push this year to really have an effective drive. It's a regrettable but necessary one that comes entirely from me, and it's literally because I don't know how to cover expenses over the Summer. If anyone has any ideas, I'm absolutely open to any and all. We have nothing but available ad space, for example, and I remain confident that we can bring companies far more bang for their buck in the Columbus area than any other form, television included. Without some sort of meaningful ad solution, the drive needs to produce somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-6k over the next 3 months. That's a huge problem, particularly since we've always had fewer donors who give often and more, than more donors who give less. I would absolutely prefer the latter, which is why I just want to (even as I hate to do it) call for new donors. It can even just be a dollar or two. We're set up to take smaller monthly donations through Paypal, or smaller one-time payments through the same, or through snail mail. If you feel the site brings you value, and you've never given before, now is probably the time to send a little something. This is not a plea for people who have given to give more, it's a plea for those who haven't to take a moment and decide if what we have here is worth a few bucks, and whether or not (in very difficult economic times for all) you can reasonably spare those. BP may be free and non-commercial, but we have hosting/administration expenses on par with the biggest for-pay fan sites around.
Whether or not you can donate, look around at the people who have the donor badges on their profiles (with the caveat that we don't currently have badges for all the drives going back to the start). These people are responsible for this site being online right now. They're also responsible, quite literally, for the fact that I'm able to be online typing this post right now. I thank them, but if you use and appreciate this site, you should thank them as well.
I hope everyone knows how unhappy I am ever having to bring up money around here. My goal remains a place where BP can be everything it wants to be, but not require drives, and has minimal low-impact advertising (or perhaps none at all). Is that practical, or even possible? Don't know. We're certainly going to try and find out though. In the meantime, we and I need what we need, and I apologize profusely if it ever seems that we're pushing too hard. If we are, it's only because the need is real and pressing.
Finally, BP was and is all about trying to find ways to do things better. I hope that when and as people have ideas -- ways to offer more to our users, ways to better organize what we have, ways to cover our costs, ways to really innovate and drive the community forward -- that you'll step forward and post or PM with your ideas. I don't have all the answers, never have. This remains a community project, with community-based ideals, expectations, and direction. As the web has moved, as we've expected it to all along, a more socially and information-linked experience, is a forum structure such at this the future of the site? I've heard concepts recently ranging from forums such as this being more like robust applications inside a structure like Facebook, to the real vehicle for personal interaction being everything from smartphones and iphones to the next generation gaming consoles. Obviously this isn't about turning BP into something that it's not, or reducing ease of use and access -- it's about keeping our eyes pointed forward and upwards. A decade from now, are forums such as this still relevant? If not, what will be? BP needs to lead the way, at least in terms of our Buckeye fan community, and in order to do that, we need to keep the ideas and conversations flowing. That's the entire purpose of this post, and all like it that I've made before.
Thank you (each of you), so much, for your participation and effective ownership of this community and site. To the admins, mods, and various contributers and volunteers who literally keep it going and flourishing through all the difficulties and headaches, there's never enough thanks.
I hope everyone is having a great Summer. I hope everyone is excited about the Fall.
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06-24-2009, 02:47 PM
Wish I was. Does not mean that we can't think about digging a little deeper though.
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