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I would say I am distressed and from what I've seen not impressed. Only time will tell but as I read earlier in the posts - this is about people and take away the people - and we will walk if splitcoast goes the wrong path - then the profit walks too. All things cross for a better than anticipated outcome but my sceptical side still insists this is all about money and nothing more.
Seriously, if you read more of this thread, it should allay your fears.
__________________ Kathy Wrose "Fun must be always." - Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks "It was fun." - Kirk, Star Trek: Generations
I would say I am distressed and from what I've seen not impressed. Only time will tell but as I read earlier in the posts - this is about people and take away the people - and we will walk if splitcoast goes the wrong path - then the profit walks too. All things cross for a better than anticipated outcome but my sceptical side still insists this is all about money and nothing more.
Here's a link to Daven's response to questions about "the people" and they aren't going anywhere :
Hi...I've got not complain about ads or anything but apparently SCS is no longer going to be working for me personally. After logging on with my husband's PC I see that the majority of the problem is apparently a Mac problem and I only work on a Mac. The loading of banner ads, unless they are for SCS member companies, is taking 45 to 75 seconds per page. Think how long it would take to leaf through the "today's additions" to the gallery if you want to see them in the large size. Same thing on the forums. Very disappointed that I may have to give up SCS.
Did even encounter problems on my husband's PC and on one at a friend's house as I was trying to page through the gallery additions. It would work fine, pages loading pretty well with only an occasional slowdown when a banner ad did not load...but then after about 20 cards the scroll bar did not work and the page would position at the bottom and the scroll bar would not work.
Wish the issues would all be resolved but I don't even see anyone mentioning any so maybe I'm the only Mac person out there or the only person who has an interest in checking the day's additions to the gallery by leafing through them in the large format.
Hi, Margaret!
Daven uses a Mac (and an iPhone), Scott uses a Mac. I use a Mac (and an iPhone). . . . I know there are plenty more out there who use Macs. You're not alone.
NameMedia has *not* made any changes to our site yet. What they have done, though, is start work on making the ad situation better for us here as we all seem to be experiencing slow page loads (even on the PC I use at times). It will get better!
eta: I *think* Scott is a Mac user. He's helped me out every now & again! I just thought I'd better clarify that after thinking about it a bit!
Hi, Margaret!
Daven uses a Mac (and an iPhone), Scott uses a Mac. I use a Mac (and an iPhone). . . . I know there are plenty more out there who use Macs. You're not alone.
NameMedia has *not* made any changes to our site yet. What they have done, though, is start work on making the ad situation better for us here as we all seem to be experiencing slow page loads (even on the PC I use at times). It will get better!
Oh good!! I thought it was just me and my laptop!!! LOL!!
Yes, Scott uses a Mac too. *Someday* I'll have one as well. :rolleyes:
You don't have one yet? You've gotta get one ... it's the best! In the last year, the whole family has converted!
Plus ... you need it for Final Cut Pro ...
Back on topic ... I haven't had any trouble with SCS and our Macs. Operator issues, perhaps ... but not hardware ...
I am new Mac user and am not really having problems. I use two browsers - Firefox and Safari and I've downloaded Adblock plus on Firefox which pretty much eliminates the ads on SCS. Now on Safari I can't do that and, of course, occasionally that means slowness. But I think it's SCS (and this has been going on for longer than the last week or so). Hope this is an encouragement as well.
__________________ ShariW
Trust in the Lord with all thine Heart-Prov.3:5a
OK, did some more investigating re my serious problems with SCS. I have a good friend who is a Mac person and she is having no problems. She was using the same version of Safari that I am. I emptied my cache, reset Safari, restarted...no change. Downloaded Firefox and same problem. Is it possible that my provider, Suddenlink, could have some bearing on this problem? I am stymied as to what to try next to get pages to load. I didn't have a problem until four days ago so it is a brand new issue to me and I have not downloaded any updates to the computer or new software (until I downloaded Firefox today) so it is baffling to me what my issue could be. I have a fairly new G5 with plenty of memory and am running OS 10.4.11 and it's not like I'm a new Mac person. Probably bought my first one before a lot of you were born (1983) and I think this is about my tenth one. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Margaret
Pro and con!! Since I'm from greater Boston, this is a good thing--only if things don't change. Love my new friends, love the tuturials, love that there's a gallery to compare improvements on, love the PM site, and love that I can find sites to purchase stamps on without them being "shoved down my throat." Sure hope that doesn't change, or I don't know how long I'd continue here--sorry!
Just got back from Convention...heard your great news there at dinner (woo hoo!) and am so glad to be able to log in and see all the reassuring words from Daven, and Sean and the lady from Craftster! Phew- what a relief! You guys deserve to have this venture pay off and although you will still be here and working tirelessly I'm sure, I hope it feels like a long-awaited and well-deserved retirement where you get to do only what you love! Thank you for looking out for OUR best interests as well, and finding a company that suits your philosphy so well- obviously your philosphy WORKS! Way to go and Congrats (a few days late)!!!
When I read this my heart sank. I read *corporate take over* and our everyday Jane operation is dead. I really liked the fact that it was people who loved stamping and scrapbooking and crafting running the show. After all you know what we want and what we love to see and do. Does this company know why our hearts go pitter pat every time someone does something new with ink, paper and glue? Do they know that it could cost $20 to make a single card and everyone here will appreciate it because we understand it has to look just so? Or how about when we try something new and ask for advise. Are they going to know what advice we are looking for? I know you say things will be the same but at the same time they will change. This is what bothers me. I understand you need help in running what has become a wonderful tool to all of us and upkeep was getting out of hand but selling, couldn't you just hire them to help instead of selling? Sorry to be so long winded but when companies get involved all they care about in the long run is the bottom line. I truly hope this does not effect what has been a wonder source for not just SU demos but many stamping, crafting and scrapbooking fans.
After speaking with Daven this morning, he invited me to dip my toe in here, not only to put a face on NameMedia, but also to answer some of your questions and hopefully provide reassurance on what Jenn wrote: "We want Splitcoast to remain Splitcoast."
Exactly. There's no better way to say that. The proof, I hope, is that we've let Dave's Garden be Dave's Garden, and let Craftster be Craftster.
That's why the designs of those sites -- and their membership models -- are the way they are. They're the product of heeding the needs and desires of those communities, and we wouldn't want it any other way.
I started with NameMedia at the end of April, and that notion was among the things that drew me to this company. I've spent the last 10 years developing and managing news Web sites, and the sites NameMedia has acquired are doing exactly what I had always hoped to achieve: Tapping into people's passions, knowledge and experience in a meaningful, organic way.
Speaking of my role at NameMedia, I should properly introduce myself. My name is Sean Polay and I am NameMedia's general manager for home & garden sites. That means I have the distinct honor and pleasure to work directly with the Splitcoast staff, and for the past week have been speaking to Daven almost daily as we've tried to gain our bearings on the appropriate next steps in our newly formed relationship.
I won't clog this post with my entire background. You can look me up on LinkedIn or find my blogs if you're curious. The best way synopsis I can give is I am the husband of 1, father of 3 and my best professional skills are building Web products and growing their audiences.
It's too early to say exactly what changes will take place on SCS in the coming months. I'm still getting to know Daven, and all of you, and among my first tasks is to cull through the 9,000 responses to the site survey undertaken earlier this year to learn more about what would make this site a better experience for its participants. So along those lines, what I can tell you is that our barometer for any changes will be centered around a single question: Will the change benefit the community?
Among the most frequently asked questions in this thread were ones about advertising, subscriptions and site design. Let's see if I can tackle those to give you some candid and meaningful answers:
Advertising: We recently increased the presence of "network" advertising (ads that take up unsold inventory) on Craftster, and there's a thread over there that's probably worth reading. In it I wrote that our ultimate goal is to match the advertising with the audience, and to do so via persistent pursuit of direct advertiser relationships, which in turn limit the frequency of the network ads. Done correctly, advertising content can be an equally valuable part of the site experience. That's our aim. It may take us a little time to achieve complete satisfaction there, but rest assured it's our primary motivation. That said, you need a little truth in advertising from me, too: We need the advertising to generate enough money so that we can provide the right level of resources to tackle that list of 9,000 suggestions mentioned earlier. So yes, we expect to increase the number of ads, but it is not likely that means anything more than three ad positions per page -- a pretty common user experience on almost any Web site that attracts enough audience to gain advertisers' attention. We'll try to do that in a way that makes the most sense and is the least disruptive. We also will not have any popup ads, nor smiley faces or blinking 1,000,000th visitor ads. If you see them, tell us, and we'll block them as quickly as we can.
Subscriptions: We're not likely to change the Fan Club structure, and we're certainly not intending to put content already accessible for free behind a pay wall. We might add benefits to being a Fan Club member, but it won't be to the detriment of the rest of the registered users.
Site design: We have no preconceived notions in this area. Based on my site development experience, I might make a couple of individual suggestions to Daven to improve the usability. For example, I think the link for new members to register for the site should be next to the log-in prompt for existing members. It took me forever to figure out where I was supposed to click to register so I could post this message! But that's all. We have no plans to impose any wholesale design or platform changes.
I hope that helps. I look forward to continued participation here. I'm not a crafty guy, per se. My creative outlets lie in my music and cooking passions, with a little left over for home improvement projects (you learn to be pretty crafty and handy pretty quickly when you live in an antique house!). However, with Craftster and Splitcoast both on my docket now, I think I better start crafting! I'll likely post more than a few help requests, so I look forward to the interaction -- and the journey as a whole.
-Sean
well, I guess you didn't know...that any guy one this site has to have AT MINIMUM have 6 wives!
Welcome to SCS--I have been away for the past month but just wanted to add my congratulations to all involved parties!
You don't have one yet? You've gotta get one ... it's the best! In the last year, the whole family has converted!
Plus ... you need it for Final Cut Pro ...
Back on topic ... I haven't had any trouble with SCS and our Macs. Operator issues, perhaps ... but not hardware ...
I've been a Mac user since 1985. I LOVE Macs. I can tear down and rebuild any PC, but why bother when there are Macs!
__________________ Janice
More time for fun stuff! ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
