Discuss Go2Net's acquisition of our beloved SI Message Board

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Pastimes : Discuss Go2Net's acquisition of our beloved SI

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To: Intrepid1 who wrote (144)	4/25/1998 12:05:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Read Replies (5) of 446

I believe we have to look at what made SI what it is and build on that. SI was built on a free membership base. I did not see any significant change to the quality of the SI site after the membership fees were started. With the existing structure SI is worth 33 million. That is about eight dollars+ per post. Twenty posts and you paid your dues! Why all the defeatism? Why so much talk about fixing something that ain't broke? Why should we accept banner adds in the threads? The posts load quickly but not quick enough. Anything that slows down the loading of the posts needs to have careful attention. It should add to the value of the post not detract. I just spent some time on the go2net site. Many of their adds blink. I find this very distracting when reading. They also are the first to load and the pages load much slower than what I am used to at SI. Attention should first be drawn to the subject of a post. The people who post on SI are the same people who post on other sites so we can not take the credit for the value of SI. The value of SI is clearly rooted in the the creative and visionary minds of the existing SI management/creators. Go2net's 33 million dollar investment in the SI community could vanish into thin air if we found a nicer place to hangout. I do not know of a better place today but word travels very quickly on the Internet and if changes were made to SI it would leave the door open for another creative mind to "steal" the members. I do not share the anti-lurker sentiment. I certainly would not like to see postings increase tenfold on many threads. They are a "silent majority" yet play a positive role. Many times a lurker will provide valuable input after having lurked for years. I prefer this to someone who shows up and posts to a thread who has not even read the last ten posts. I believe we should consider ways to increase readership as well as membership. I believe the go2net can be seen as an opportunity to increase the value of the SI community. If they choose to mold SI in their own image I do not see it happening. If they choose to provide investment capital and assistance to the Dryers with artistic license to grow the site in its current direction the value of their investment will increase. I am sure go2net can make some valuable contributions to SI. We have long wanted a more extensive search capability for the threads. Will they choose to give us this capability? Will it come in the SI spirit? or will it flash and blink? The extension of the Dryers creativity is the user interface and the interaction with the community. The genuine affection for Brad Jeff and Jill also plays a very significant role. Anyone who messes with this core does so at their own peril. The user interface is the best I have found. It provides the reader with pages that are easy to read, fonts can be adjusted, it is intuitive and interaction is facilitated. A change in this format would be a mistake. The community already shows signs of concern. I believe it is in go2nets best interest to make some strong statements to the community before rumor or speculation splinters the group. I believe the first should be a categorical statement indicating that ALL current SI memberships including ALL grandfathered charter members will stay in effect. This is also a good time to make some enhancements to the Site to demonstrate the intentions. I am looking forward to a positive relationship with go2net Zeuspaul ps I think we should consider adding go2net to the spell checker.

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