Another comfy chair post?
Well, a big event happened last night. Andrew now has Disqus on BJN and there was this discussion on the game threat there that I think a bunch of you have wanted to hear.
stimpymustwin:
I know some felt slighted by Stoeten, as if he wasn't valuing them in his move to bluejaysnation. I definitely do not share this perspective, but am excited that commenting is back where I can read Stoeten (and Lott, and Fowles, and Cam Lewis)! Now all we need is Drew to start writing here!!!
If everyone takes a step back and realizes that sometimes things take time to come to fruition, I think we can appreciate what is being created here...stoeten:
I absolutely wasn't valuing them as much as I should have, and have missed, more than I thought I would, having actual discussion on posts (as I'm sure plenty of readers/lurkers do as well) rather than sending them out into the ether and hoping for the best.
That said, I couldn't turn down the opportunity these guys have given me here. Behind the scenes it's been nothing but terrific so far. I got to keep the podcast as it is, keep my ability to freelance (which some places don't allow -- *COUGH* theScore *COUGH*), and, frankly, get paid better than I was making off Google ads (which is essentially what this gig is a replacement for). Couldn't turn it down. But it wasn't an easy decision because yeah, I must admit there are things about how the site looks and functions that I'd do differently, and the comments were certainly one of those. In fact, part of the reason we didn't hit the ground running as a more fully-formed site (or at least my vision of one) was that I hemmed and hawed about making the move -- even when I knew it was in my best interest, and certainly offered me a much better opportunity to grow this than being on my own, because of the great team, because of the ability to pay great writers to produce amazing content, because they have things like lawyers (just in case, LOL), because of the natural synergy (which we're probably not taking advantage enough of yet) between a Jays audience and the ones at their Leafs and Canucks and Oilers sites, etc. So... the process began later than it probably should have, which was entirely my fault, and I knew it might take a little time to get to where I'd like it to be. But I also knew that it was a model (and a skin/comment system/CMS/etc.) that works very, very well for the other sites on the network. And also that, when it comes down to it, content is what is going to power a site people want to keep coming back to. I was hopeful commenters would stick it out with that other system, but I understand why they didn't, because I knew their needs as users (and therefore as a community) were collateral damage in this move. But I also knew we'd eventually get it straight -- and we have, and there's more where this came from.
So, I'm just happy we have something that functions here. If people feel slighted and don't want to come back or do their own thing, I get that. I'd prefer that they did come back, obviously, but my hope/aim is that it will happen naturally anyway, as we continue to make the site a better destination overall. (Believe me, I make noise about a proper mobile site every chance I get, but these things take time. I have zero doubts that it will get there.)
So the question becomes, what do you want to do? When I broached it in the game threat last night, the responses I got were that you were happy here. That makes me happy because I've put a lot of time and effort into creating a space where you could hang out. But I can't lose sight of the fact that Andrew was who brought us together so I wanted to let you hear his words and make decisions based on that.
So I'd like your thoughts.
