Looking for a Successor
I've been neglecting Listology for far too long. This community deserves an active administrator, someone who will respond to feature requests, strive to keep the site up-to-date, give it a shiny new web 2.0 look, etc. I think it's time for me to admit that my heart is no longer in it, and pass the site along to someone with a passion for it, and the technical abilities to pull it off. You wouldn't have to be a programming guru, but you'd have to know your way around a bit.
The handoff would take awhile and be somewhat involved. I run other sites off the same codebase I'd have to extricate, we'd have to switch the Google Ads over to the new owner, etc. Oh, the site pretty much pays for itself these days. It costs $100/month to host, but the AdSense ads pull in $80 to $110 in any given month. I'm thinking if somebody wanted to put some work into it, they might even be able to make a profit off the ads. Not sure how much, that was never my strong suit.
Anyway, e-mail me if you want to talk about it; obviously there's much more to discuss. I'll choose from among the applicants. I'm not saying goodbye, I'm going to keep my movie lists going here, but I'm ready to let go of the reins. Bittersweet, but it's time.
Tis' sad news Jim, very sad. Listology will be quite different with you not at the helm. I know we haven't had much of conversation but I really respect your views and reviews and closely follow your recommendations and choices.
I think the way you ran Listology like one huge family was examplary. Your manner while being wholly non-obtrusive and polite was authorative at the same time. I hope Listology jumps this shark. For me Listology worked and is really close beacause it was so personalized by you. That is, everything here had been paid so much attention to, down to the informal tones in all the help sections and the colour scheme :). It made me remind that the site was not just bot-run like every other forum out there (well, at least majority of them). Really, the vBulletin code makes me feel like I'm talking to plastic. And probably that is why Listology attracts such an awesome crowd till date.
I can't possibly guess as to why you feel like giving it up, but I can understand. Hopefully you will continue to be in an administrative role for sometime after the handover to show the new admin the way around and make sure it is a smooth transition.
I wish you all the best, sincerely.
BTW when you say you would have to extricate the code on which Listology is run, does that mean the site would be totally reprogrammed from the scratch?
Thank you so much, Merlin. I have to confess, posts like yours and all the others above give me pretty strong second thoughts. Still mulling it over. Regardless, I'm going to do my best to make sure nothing bad comes of this. :-) This community is very dear to me, and the LAST thing I want is to hurt it.
As for the code extrication, no, nothing would have to be rewritten. The big issue is that my other sites (see "Other Projects" in the sidebar) all run off the same codebase. Those are the ones that might have to be moved. Then, when that's done, the Listology code could be refactored (without interruption of service) to remove all the kludges that make it possible to run all those sites off the same code.
Lassic, lukeprog, kbuxton, WB: thank you! Awfully nice to come back from vacation to posts like these. :-)
I also want to say thank you for maintaining this site for such a long time. The way you have been handling things has been to my utmost satisfaction (and as you can read, I'm not the only one ;-) ), and I hope it will pass on to hands as capable as yours.
I don't want to see this site go down the drain, as I have been compulsively listing ALL my stuff here for some time, and plan to do so in the future. And the inspiring community of people I've encountered here is one of the reasons I'll keep returning.
I hope everything works out well for all of us.
Thanks so much for the many years of listening to feature suggestions (and bitches about the color scheme) :) Hopefully you'll find someone with more time to take over. If only I hadn't vowed never to write code again..... ;)
Date Joined: 06/23/1999
That's a REALLY long time ago in internet time.
Sure is, it's you and a just a scant handful of others who've been here since almost the very beginning. Very cool.
Hey, so here we are, eight years later, and browsers have come an awfully long way. Can't you make Listology look pretty much however you want with various Firefox tweakage? :-)
*laugh* yes, but while I still don't like the yellow & green together, I've rather come to expect it ;)
Though you haven't had time to do the technical administration you'd like, I consider all that secondary to the community administration you've done. Listology hasn't been one of my favorite websites for its features and uptodatedness, but for its high-quality people, flameless discussions, etc. Thanks for the times we Listologists will continue to enjoy due to your hard work long after you have left the post.
Yes, my OCD has been kept in very listlike check since I discovered this site.
I'll be a moderator, if that's of any assistance. I know virtually nothing of programming or any of that stuff, so I can't help ya there, or I would.
Sad to see you leave, and the next admin will have an excellent precedent to go off of.
CaptMal, hinterland, Imposter, Wezzo, bertie, thank you very much for the kind thoughts! I'll certainly do my best to leave Listology in capable hands. After all, I want to keep using the site myself! Not to mention feeling like I owe it to such a great group of users.
You know Jim, you are doing a great service to all of our OCD inclanations! If I dont have the lists, I will have to check my alarm clock ten more times!!
All things must pass. You created this site for a purpose, not because you were obsessive-compulsive about lists, so nobody should be surprised at your eventual change of heart. Still, I'm sure we all held the unreasonable hope that this day would never come. Heartfelt thanks for heroic creation, administration and contribution. We trust, I'm sure, that our hope for a new administrator even half as good as you is not unreasonable.
You've done a great job here, Jim, I can only hope your successor proves to be as great an admin as yourself.
Jim, you've been a terrific admin and we've all benefited from the time you've given to this site. If I had been any better at programming back in school I wouldn't mind giving it a shot, but alas my brain wasn't wired that way. I'll keep my fingers crossed that some capable person will step up and keep things going.
Thanks for everything you've done!
I've grown attached to listing everything here, so I hope this all works out for the best. And jim's left some big shoes to fill.
If someone takes jim up on taking over, I'll gladly pitch in and help redesign the ship (though my expertise in web development is weak - who's up for some Ruby on Rails!). I don't think I'd want the responsible of owning it, as I'm sure I'd totally destroy it some way or another. And I'm lazy.
Man, jim, I've only been a member here for about a year-and-a-half, but I have sincerely enjoyed my time talking to you.
Here's to hoping everything goes well...
LBangs, AJDaGreat, RosieCotton, Slothrop33, thank you very much!
I'll do my best to find a replacement that'll not only keep Listology going, but start moving it forward again. If that fails, hopefully I can at least find someone to pay the bills and maintain the status quo. Failing that... umm... I dunno. I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. :-)
No matter what, if I do take the site down (and I certainly hope it doesn't come to that!) I'll give folks plenty of warning and make sure you can grab a copy of your lists before it happens.
I was afraid you were going to say that!
You've been one of my heroes for keeping up this site for as long as you have. You did good work and were quite fair in your policies. Thank you. I'll miss having you in charge.
I hope the next admin is a Netflix fan.
It has been great! I hope you will give us fair warning if you take it down.
I would offer to help if I had the slightest knowledge of how to do anything with this newfangled "Internet" of which you speak (and here I thought it was just a series of tubes). But thank you, Jim, for starting one of my favorite sites on the web and working on it for so many years. I'm sure you'll still be active on the site even after you give up control of it, and hopefully the new administrator won't change things too much around here!
Just noted this.
I completely understand.
The site will be almost impossibly lucky if it finds a future administrator who fits your shoes.
Thanks for the years of excellent work!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Just a ping to the forums to get everyone's attention. I'm looking for somebody to take over Listology. Please read the parent for details, and e-mail me if you're interested. Thanks!
i couldn't pay for it, but if regular viewing and moderation is needed i'll be happy to be a mod for free if extra help is needed.
Thanks for the offer! Sharing moderation duties would be a nice stopgap measure (although really the workload there isn't that heavy), but ultimately I want to completely hand off all responsibility for the site (financial, technical, moderator, etc.). This could even be to a group of people, although logistically I assume there'd have to be a lead responsible for paying the bills and collecting the ad money.