serpenco <
[email protected]> wrote:
Heck, I'm just disappointed, that's all. I always treated Dan as a confidant and asked his opinions about things. I thought for certain his level headedness would see that I was painted into a corner and there really was no way out other then the path I took. I can't remember the exact details of what he suggested (there were a LOT of them), but I believe he was insisting that I could make this work by simply charging for the classifieds. I may be wrong about this, so bear with me. Quite frankly, I just did not agree with that. The classifieds just were not pulling the kind of traffic needed to get people willing to pay to use it. That was the flat out truth of the matter. I tested the waters with those $1 per hit highlighting options and I did not even make enough money off of it to pay for the programming time to have it implemented. It was cheap, very easy to do, and completely under-utilized. So charging people a fee just to use the classifieds would have been the kiss of death for the classifieds section completely. I'm sure some people will disagree with that, but I just had to go with my gut feelings. I'm the one who would catch the shit rolling downhill if I chose wrong on this. There was no malice on my part rejecting ANYONE's suggestions. Matter of fact, I had sincerely hoped someone would come up with something that I had not even thought of. I had been running this thing through my mind for YEARS simply as a solution for the garbage logons in the BOI. I knew that until I could bring that under control, the BOI was never really going to get over the hump as far as credibility goes. I was groping for some way to solve that problem, but just never really felt people would pay to do that, so I just kept it on the back burner. It wasn't until I hit bottom and realized that I just DIDN'T want to do this any longer without some suitable compensation that I figured I would kill two birds with this one stone. It solved both problems nicely, in my opinion.
Yes, I would have let the site fade into oblivion, if that is the way people chose it. And no, I would not have been happy at all at seeing all of my hard work go down the drain after all this time. That's why I was so tightly wrapped about it. I was having to make decisions that could make or break the site. That is not any easy thing for anyone to do. I took the criticism personally, because hell, it WAS personal. It was MY site, and MY decisions! Why wouldn't I feel they were personal attacks? I had people telling me that I OWED it to everyone to do this for free. Had people suggest getting cheaper servers and THAT would solve the problems. And they were getting PERSONALLY pissed at me because I told them, that their suggestions just would not work, or no, I disagree with their assessment. And then Dan jumps right in there with that same crowd using the same arguments.
Oh, about Jay Owens. Damn it, Wes, I don't know what to do. Yes, I agree that Jay is a problem. It really irks me that he really doesn't do anything to support the site and just seems to flit in now and again. But how do I demand of someone to put more time and effort into a free endeavor? Being a moderator is a real bucket of shit on that site. Those guys catch a lot of flak, get death threads, email bombed and all kinds of crap. For what? To help me with my site and I'm going to kick them in the teeth and tell them to give me even more? How the hell do I do that without sounding like a 24 carat prick? Ken Harbart is going through some personal turmoil, as is Dennis Thomas. Both of them aren't really putting in that much more time then Jay has lately. But am I supposed to fault them for having their personal lives get in the way? I know Jay has said he is really tied up with re-entering his practice and last I heard his father was suffering from some severe medical problems. I'm sorry, but I just can't beat up on these guys because someone may think they need to put in more effort then they are seeing.
As far as Robin vs Jay Owens goes, quite honestly she deserves it. She is purposely abrasive, loves to rub people the wrong way, and doesn't have a lick of common courtesy. I have wanted to boot her ass off of the site so many times I have lost count.. So how can I realistically say to Jay, "Hey, I think you are being to harsh on Robin." I really don't believe it for an instant. I look at those reported posts, and quite honestly, Jay merely assesses the points before I would have gotten to them and done the same exact thing. Robin just practically needs her own personal moderator.
Then there is Lucille. What the heck do people have against her, anyway? She is by far putting more effort into promoting my site then any 10 other people combined. And yet people are beating her up over it. Yeah, she does hit a wrong chord sometimes, but getting it right 9 times out of 10 shouldn't have people pissing all over her for that one time she goes a bit overboard. Robin apparently has a burr under her saddle about her. I've seriously considered making Lucille a moderator as an effective way to get Robin booted off of the site. Robin would obviously go ballistic, and after only a few warnings about antagonizing a moderator, I could give her the boot. I mean, look around. How many controversies does Robin wind up getting into the middle of? When you see a rash of problems, it helps to look for a common denominator.
Anyway, getting late and I have some work I need to do.
Sorry about the length of this. Obviously this stuff has me worked up over it. But I guess I painted myself into another corner. Now I can't just pull the plug and tell everyone to kiss my ass. Now I OWE them what they have paid for............
