The beginning of the end? Or the end of the beginning?

[avengador1]

I noticed when the site went down and saw the Facebook posting about this a couple of days later. I haven't been here long and have tried top contribute stories when I can. I haven't been able to make it to the parks as much since I started working at my own business. I basically only have Sundays now to do so. I also try to promote this site at the parks by wearing my SGT polo shirt. It does get noticed by many cast members.
What any site needs to remain active is more participation by the members. Controversial topics should be avoided because they will drive traffic away. These include religion, politics, and court cases. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and beliefs on these subjects, but if they are discussed they tend to cause dissent and divide people into opposing groups.
I used to own and manage my own car forum for many years. It got to the point that my membership started to fall and it demanded more and more of my time to maintain it. I finally decided to just let it lapse and directed all my traffic to a competing website that I also am a member of. This took all the pressure off me. I'm not saying that this is the solution for here. I would suggest adding some moderators to help manage things. That helped on my forum. One can also do a bit of advertising to help fund the costs.

[YANXWIN]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I also noticed that it was gone for a bit. I figured that we just used up all the monthly space, so I waited until the next month. I am on here a couple of times a day and I love this place. While I am not a cast member, my family thinks I am more obsessed with Disney than anyone they know. I have loved the chatting with everyone and I really really really hope this continues. I would love to hear some good, stupid stories more often. I only visit a few times a year, so I'm not there as much as I would like. Please keep this going.

[WEDFan]

Cujo, I just want to take the opportunity to thank you for everything you do and have done for the site. I enjoy coming to SGT and it often lightens my day. I can appreciate that you have done this for quite a while now, and since the traffic does seem to be down, particularly in the main boards, it must make it hard to think about continuing the work and investment.

Thanks, too, to the moderators. You all do a great job keeping this site a friendly and enjoyable place to visit.

I wish I was in a position to help with the running of the site. All I can say is that I hope it does manage to continue on.

I hope Zazu's suggestion of an outreach to cast members is taken up. The stories from the various CMs is what drew me here in the first place. I've learned a lot, both positive and negative, about a place I love, and I think it's great that there is a place where CMs can safely blow off steam. I have often felt a little self conscious in my posting since I am not, nor ever have been a CM. I've always thought that the CM voices here were the more important ones.

I'm looking forward to a SGT revival and would really hate to lose contact with this community. The withdrawal would be terrible! :D:

[Goofyernmost]

I've been a follower and occasional contributor for a few years now.

What got my attention originally was the fact the STUPID GUEST TRICKS contained stupid guest tricks. Nothing has been posted for ages in that topic. Please don't take this the wrong way, because I find nothing wrong with it, but it seems that it has become more of a social chat room then what was the original purpose. That might account for fewer hits since not everyone knows the core membership personally, therefore probably less overall interest.

I'm not a CM so it is impossible for me to, first hand, contribute stupid guests tricks and I don't know your networking capabilities, but if you could find a way to encourage a little more of the down and dirty stuff, it might help. Just a thought. I still like this board and spend some time everyday checking it out.

[Zazu]

I would suggest adding some moderators to help manage things.

While I wouldn't say not to getting some help with the moderation, that's not the primary challenge here.

The challenge is that with the loss of Weeble, Cujo is running the place solo. We need at least two with the status of "owner" who can arrange to pay the bills, reboot the server, update the software, etc. Mere admins like me don't have this power.

Whether it's Cujo and Friends, or just Friends, there needs to be more than one name at the top.

For that matter, I don't even know who all the admins and moderators are. Cujo, you got a list to share? We could at least exchange off-SGT email addresses for the next event.

[Zazu]

... I intend to offer StupidGuestTricks to one of you. I will be accepting bids from now until the end of the calendar year. This is not a sale. Each bid must include your Legal name, SGT user name, and a statement of how you intend to improve the site and grow towards the future. I will not hand over the keys to the kingdom lightly. If by the end of the year no suitable bids are received I will shut down the site permanently.

Let me go on record as considering a bid. My primary concern is the call to "improve the site and grow towards the future". I'm good at maintenance, and can do the trivial fundraising needed to pay the bills, but I need some time to consider what would constitute an "improvement".

If anyone else would like to join me in a joint bid, please contact me offline at <[email protected]>.

[ktulu]

As I've written elsewhere, a request for each member to donate $1 would probably bring in enough to pay for the site for years. Just a donation button might be enough. (I'm guessing the CafePress link is not.) It's not hard to set up a PayPal acount for the site. Kthulu's offer is great (you rock, dude!), but even if the hosting is free, domain registration is not, nor are updates to VBulletin. A long-term source of funding is needed, small as that need may be.

Domain should be roughly $10 a year (I pay $10.55 for mine). I was thinking about the vBulletin issue. I've never been a fan, I've always been a phpbb guy. The board could easily be converted to phpbb, which is free.

[BRWombat]

Ditto to just about everything said so far. Without taking anything away from the site's history up to now, I too believe that it could thrive once again with a little effort. I'd hate to see it fade away!

I don't think I'm the one to take it to that next level, but I'm certainly willing to contribute towards it, and will be happy to help out in any other way I can. I'd be particularly happy to put some of my graphic design talents to use -- I know vBulletin is happy for the free advertising we've been giving them, but I miss having an SGT logo at the top of the page!

[felinefan]

Okay, tried posting a reply earlier, but ran out of library computer time before I could hit submit.

What's wrong with this becoming a social site? I used to have a blog on MySpace, and unless you've been engaged in extraplanetary travel lately, you know that MySpace has completely changed its focus. Unfortunately, they are currently holding everyone's stuff hostage until they can figure out how to get it back to the posters. I went to drop my blog because I ran out of things to say, the readership was low--thank you to any and all of you who read it--and lo and behold they had the site on lockdown. Facebook also is slowly going the way of the dodo, and as Zazu pointed out, not all of us are on it. Speaking of which, while the site was down, I checked the Facebook page for this site, and the info on it was a year old at best, referring to the last crash.

But if we change our focus to become a social, albeit semi-private and specialized, site, so be it. When I worked at Knott's, aka Nazi Fairy Farm, somebody in maintenance told me about the now-defunct site KBFDrama, as well as this site. KBFDrama folded when virtually everyone on it left K's for other employment, and we apparently got everything out of our systems that we hated about the place.
But I would miss interacting with all the wonderful, funny, interesting people I've met on here. I think right now everyone's so busy with their summer stuff, nobody has time to check in very often.

I vote that SGT stays, with a slight change in focus.

[hobie16]

SGT has turned into a social site but for me, I really miss the stupid. SGT can be both. All it'll take is a few cast members sharing their day to day interactions and a little recruiting in the ranks of new cast members.

JMHO