But Let Me Tell You Why

[la_samtyr]

This is actually a continuation of my previous post "About My Writing." It's under a cut so that people who aren't interested can skip it easily. Also, it's probably going to get pretty long. (Fwiw, it's basically my reply to the site owner.)

Once again, comments are disabled. Sorry.

So you're unhappy because people are upset over the sale? I think it's a little late for that.

The minute you signed the sale agreement and took the money, your 'real' involvement with the site ceased. You have no say, even if you think you do.

I can understand and even sympathize that you wanted to keep the site running as ad-free and commercial-free as possible. I also know that after a certain amount of time, you couldn't afford to keep doing it. I can also understand and sympathize that you felt great frustration over the fact that you weren't getting any help from people despite the 'donate' button and despite the amount of traffic the site received.

What I don't understand is why you let things go so long -- without saying anything further, or taking people (or perhaps I should say fans) into your confidence -- until you decided you had to sell. Yes, you did occasionally bring up the fact that you needed donations and one time you even took the site down for a few days to drive home this very fact -- and after you had received enough monies to avert that crisis, the site was back. Everything seemed fine and back to normal.

I honestly believe that if you had been a little more forthcoming about the financial issues you faced, people would have understood and perhaps there would have been more serious and frequent donations. An announcement along the lines of: "Look, everyone. I need $$$ every month to run this archive. Right now it's all out of my pocket, and I just cannot keep doing it, much as I would like to. That means if X number of you can donate $$$, or XX donate $$, or even XXX donate $, things can stay the same. If not, I'll have to go to advertising just to keep it open, since the only alternative is to close down. So please help."

Instead, there was no further mention of needing frequent donations anywhere on the site since last year -- or indeed, of any monetary issues -- and I was a daily visitor. (Though since I can't seem to access any past notices on the home page, so I may well be mistaken and if so, I apologize. But I honestly cannot remember seeing announcements of any sort since January of this year.) Perhaps some of us thought you were considering advertising. Everything was nice and quiet -- perhaps in hindsight, this should have served as a warning in itself.

You owned the site. That meant you had the right to do with it as you pleased. You did. You did what you felt you had to do. But as I mentioned before, it would have been nice to inform people that you were thinking of taking such a radical step and give them one more chance to step forward and help. You didn't. You chose to enter a business deal on your own, without any input from anyone. You had a small window of opportunity to inform people that you had been approached with an offer and that you were considering it. You didn't. And once you signed the preliminary legal paperwork, you were probably constrained from mentioning it to anyone at all. (But remember -- you do not own the site now. Someone else does. That was made clear in the announcement yesterday on 6-26-11.) You, and you alone, will have to deal with the consequences of your decision.

Speaking for myself, I would have rather seen advertising on the site than see it sold. I have read Mr. Mander's blog and some of the interviews he has given and I cannot say I am confident, let alone happy, about the future of the site.

Thank you for reading/listening.