Forum Bliss and Woes

[Jennie Ann]

I write this thread in hopes that others may chime in.

Since I have discovered CSRnation, it has become a part of my daily life. Each morning, as I'm sipping my coffee, I enjoy reading the posts and blogs. I have formed work relationships and online friendships here since I have joined.

In recent times, the forum is going through some changes. Though I realize there are some things that are beyond my control as far as the health of this forum, I have become increasingly concerned about this forum's future.

I don't want to lose CSRnation. I have seen forum features removed in recent times, such as the template backgrounds I customized on My Page, as just one example of what is disconcerting to me.

I want to know what we as forum members can do to help maintain the survival of CSRnation. Aside from donating funds to keep this forum alive and well, which I personally have already done twice, I do wonder what else I as a member can do.

I l ike it here, dag nab it. I want this place to grow and be here for me. Any thoughts?

[Marge Teilhaber (TILE hobber)]

Don't worry; be happy. Monti is doing what it will take to make it easier for him to run this very nice forum. That alone will keep csrnation alive and well for many many years to come. So I say don't sweat the small stuff. Let's wait and see!

[Jennie Ann]

Thanks for the reply, Marge. :-)

I know that Monti was making some changes on this forum for the better, but that was then, and this is now. If you go to Monti's "My Page," then it may help you to understand my concern.

I don't want to get into forum politics at all, but I do want this forum to stay strong. I like it here.

It would be terrible to watch this forum implode, explode, or self-destruct. There's some great content here, but due to a recent turn of events, I am growing increasingly concerned and want to know what I can do to help keep things rocking and rolling.

[Marge Teilhaber (TILE hobber)]

I think things like rankings and maybe My Page stuff will have to be started from scratch but I view this kind of thing as short-term pain for long-term gain.

[Jennie Ann]

I like your positive outlook. :-)

Maybe I worry too much. My daughter accuses me of that all the time. LOL

[Valencia Caston Simmons]

Jennie: I see exactly what you're referring to, and it is, indeed, disconcerting. I just sent him a private message. I really do pray that all is okay, both personally and CSRNationally.

[Laurie H.]

Well, maybe I'm totally out in left field, but didn't Monti tell us a short time ago that things on this site would start to shut down as he merged/created the new site? Perhaps he "isn't here" because he is spending all his free time pulling the new site together?

I don't know, but I really don't think we're loosing our gathering place, I think we just need to be patient while Monti gets the new one up and running. Again, maybe I'm way off, but I thought that was what was going on.....

[Jennie Ann]

Laurie, I would like to think that is true, what you have written, but, if you read this thread in its entirety, you may come away with a different understanding about the current state of affairs.

[Peggy Jo Smith]

Hi Kelli,

I understand where you are coming from here; I was the CEO Professionalpage, Inc. the company that started Reporterpage.com. Our site built 8 years ago was also very costly Our technology was before it's time and the reporters and the agency’s were not ready or open for a site that was created to assist reporter and agencies to meet and work together.
But times have changed.

I believe that you can create some revenue by adding new and innovative technology that would add a revenue stream that would help you pay for your costs and to keep this kind of site working for our industry.

I would be more than happy to speak with you, as I have personally been through this process as I still own the technology created for Reporterpag.com.

Peggy Jo Smith,
[e-mail]

[Glen Warner]

Kelli, Mark's right.

My (cheap and sleazy) website costs me about $12/month. I added some reports to it for about $20 or so, so once a year (thankfully around tax time) I pay $168.

If the costs actually are $700/month, maybe you should talk to Marc!

--gdw
-----------------------------------
"For a Good (steno) Time ...."
http://www.cheapandsleazy.net

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I need to get better at setting up ads and using the correct words to attract people to this site. I need to hire someone with more experience than myself.

As Judy said, I do one thing real well. For all other stuff, I hire someone.
That is what I need to do.

[Glen Warner]

Yeah, I don't do a lot of SEO stuff; I just add a few keywords to the metatags on each article, and the search engine 'bots crawl through it, and post the results to the various search engines!

For instance, here's what the keywords look like in The Good Stuff:

meta name="keywords" content = "court reporting, court reporting student, steno, stenography, CAT software, AristoCAT, Case Catalyst, digitalCAT, EclipseCAT, Eclipse, GlobalCAT, StenoCAT, TeLiTor, ProCAT Winner, ProCAT Flash, Stentura 400, Stentura 500, Stentura 6000, Stentura 6000LX, Stentura 8000, Stentura 8000LX, Xscribe, Diamante, buying a laptop, CAT software"

So (once the 'bots finish their crawling), whenever anyone searches for any of those terms up there, a link to The Good Stuff appears!

--gdw

[Cathryn Bauer]

Kelli, thanks for all of your dedication and good work on this. Let us know what you need.