Sportspages.com -- Anybody still care?

Part II:

Free days of the DLS got us some complements, but no new subscriptions.

Slow to load, loaded down with pop-ups and other crap. Way too guilty. But every one of those things helps keep us in business. And we need every penny to make a several-thousand-dollar-a-month nut. (Those guys don’t hunt for those links for free).

Evil Bastard, I’m still trying to figure out your complaint about the SP Web Log. I gave you and the others free blog space. You’ve made it your own and written great stuff, getting (as you noted) some big-time complements. What did I miss? Pardon my ignorance, but I figured free distribution of your stuff to the eyes of the aforementioned Paige, Chad, Simmons, etc. was a pretty good deal.

I thought that Bloglines, etc. and RSS feeds would have killed SP by now, but there is the time-money equation. And for a few in the biz, they’d rather spend the money than the time looking for interesting stuff each day.

To Columbo’s question WTF… yes, Jason Whitlock was the guy who first suggested the Top Ten list. Of course, Jason also suggested I do a daily Bottom Ten list! You think people hate me now…

Yes, I left Jim Murray on the columnists’ list for about a year post-mortem. I took it down when the LA Times removed the archive link. Come on. It’s Jim Murray. And if I saw his byline in the Times tomorrow, you damn betcha it would be in the Top Ten!

Updating the standing links. This is all on me. I have no damn excuse beyond every now and then needing to step away from SP. I’m also thinking about a serious down-sizing of the static links. The college pages are my worst embarrassment. The ‘your suggestions’ page probably has more dead sites than active. And as many point out, there are better lists at other sites.

As for giving up the forum back in ’01, Gold gets it right. I didn’t have the time and energy to police the pages, I folded under veiled threats of lawsuits and was more offended and entertained by what was happening then. But Webby did it right, asking and getting help to keep the forum within the bounds of semi-good taste. Yeah, you have a community – a pretty darn good one.

When I started this thing in 1998, I was a freelance radio at ABC in New York. My hours were very flexible. I worked a lot of overnight shits, meaning I was done at 6am – perfect time to come home and surf for a couple of hours.
Since then, I moved home to Portland for a steady PM drive gig – my day ending at 9pm. That worked well because I could hit the early posting papers by 10pm Pacific Time. But then I moved to Seattle and a gig that was all over the clock. Not so good. And now I’m back in DC doing a job that makes it nearly impossible to link (I only fill in now). I cover the White House for the Fox News Radio Network. I start at 6am Eastern, so the clock rings damn early. And I hit the road a lot (Vietnam, Singapore and Latvia on the schedule in November).
So I ceded the daily linking to Rob and Mike. I fill in, and try to keep up with the links. Also, the structure of the Internet has always worked against us when it comes to revenue. When you subscribe to AOL, you ‘dial in’ and stay connected. When you sign on to the Daily Links, you can share that user name and password with the entire office.
I have about a dozen people in Bristol, CT who subscribe, yet I get more traffic from ESPN servers than from any other source except AOL. That sharing may make the difference between Sportspages living (in its present form) or dying.
I responded to Webby’s posting, but have not yet heard from him. Typical Webby, right Evil Bastard?
Yes, we could use some help. I would love Sportspages to survive, even if it’s not with me.
Got a check? Let’s talk. Got other ideas? I’m listening. I say ‘I’m listening’ because my partners will probably dis-own me if/when they see this thread. The unfulfilled potential of Sportspages.com remains a huge thorn in my side. Maybe it’s time for someone else to try.

RJ

 

You think your site has unfulfilled potential? HA!

 

good stuff, rich...... i was rooting for you guys... but i really think you need to close shop. in order to make your site work, you need to turn a critical eye on the media. that's what is done here in a very haphazard manner. you don't have the personality to do that. nothing wrong with that.

 

Yeah, I'm a sensitive f***'in guy!
You're right, and there's another thing. I work for a big-time media company. Anybody turning a truely critical eye on the biz needs to be free of conflicts.

That said, permit me to amend my posting to thank you for the love over the years -- especially the tough love!

And I recall buying you a hell of steak at Smith and Wolensky's on the eve of your very first 'Sports Reporters' appearance.
I'm still waiting for payback! (But I'll buy the Blue Label)

RJ

 

Maybe you can hire Jason Whitlock to turn his pimp hand on the media and work the corners.

 

Rich - you plead guilty to the housecleaning things that have been turning people off the site such dead links and the same people making the top ten over and over. Do you see those situations fixing themselves? Do you think you'll have more time in the future to fix these trouble spots? In regard to this:

Let me clarify.

You chide Mizzou about not knowing Internet basics but you seem to be ignoring the fact that the one key to success on the Internet is traffic. Yes you gave me free blog space but I also got that from Blogger as well. You, however, were getting free content from me and others. Some of that content was pretty damn good. You could have cultivated that talent and took it to the next level by perhaps linking particularly good efforts on your front page or maybe even on the top 10 page. Instead you wasted that talent and as Lorenzo Anello observed, "the saddest thing in life is wasted talent."

Since moving my stuff to blogger I've had close to 400,000 site visits and close to 600,000 page views. That's no great shakes but if you added up all the lost traffic from guys like me - then you are talking about some serious traffic that could have been yours. I get the revenue from the ads on my site but its beer and book money to me. I would have forgone that for exposure at Sportpages if I thought Sportspages wasn't a lost cause due to neglect

Places like BostonSportsMedia.com ( http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/ ) offer similar things to SportsPages.com but are free and are consistently being upgraded and cared for by the owner of the site. I should also point out that David Scott ( http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/shots/ ) tried posting at Sportspages.com before moving his stuff to BostonSportMedia.com. More lost traffic for you. As I've said before - I left your site and I know most of the others left too because of percieved indifference (they have all emailed me the same complaints). If you are honest with yourself - I think you'd admit that most days you didn't even bother reading what was posted on your own site.

In your mind you may think you were doing us a favor but the truth is you were missing an opportunity. Now all that traffic is flowing elsewhere. How's your traffic been?

 

As an aside



That's a traffic comparison via Alexa for SportsPages vs BostonSportsMedia.com

One is trending up and one is trending down

 

A real suprise is how Ben Maller's site has really taken off ( http://www.benmaller.com/ ) even before becoming affilated with Fox sports



Of course Ben has upgraded his site several times over the past few years.

 

Has Sportspages breathed its last? I tried to link it this morning and couldn't find it. RIP?

 

Seems to be working fine to me.

 

Gene Frenette makes today's Top 10 ... is that in honor of Mizzou?

 

I hit the site every day, without fail. Wouldn't know what to do without it.