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sangiro

Welcome Jay Young

By sangiro, in The Bonfire

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sangiro    26

sangiro
Heya all,

NameMedia has appointed someone to head up the 3 sites they acquired from us. Jay is an avid outdoor enthusiast and has been participating in online forums and communities for many years. I know Jay from over at Rockclimbing.com - he's "good people".

Jay is committed to growing and improving Dropzone.com. He understands the value, fun, camaraderie and (sometimes) frustrations that come with being part of an online community. Engage him in your discussions, share your thoughts and ideas and let him know how what you like and what you'd like to change or improve on Dropzone.com.

We're excited to have a dedicated person assigned to these sites and we're very much looking forward to how he'll help move this community forward.

HIM, HIM.... :ph34r:
Safe swoops
Sangiro

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j_ung    0

j_ung
Hi folks,

I may have met a few of you in the Bonfire back when Willem and Daniel bought Rockclimbing.com. If not, hi, I’m Jay Young. Namemedia hired me to head up Willem and Daniel’s three sites. A little about me, first. I’m a longtime climber, and I’ve been involved with Rockclimbing.com for a number of years, including acting as editor of her Gear Guide under Daniel. My professional background is in climbing, content and journalism; I’m not a coder, nor do I have much technical web experience to speak of. I live and work in Fayetteville, WV (think Bridge Day), where my wife and I moved to be closer to rock and whitewater.

I’m certain that you all have a lot of concerns and questions. I’ll try to address a few of them in this post; please feel free to ask about anything and everything else.

First of all, I guess you’re worried, and I understand why. Here’s this asshole you don’t know, who has probably never jumped, doesn’t have clue #1 about your culture in the sky, let alone on this site, and yet, he’s been hired to run it. Well, that pretty covers it. About all I do have is an understanding that I don’t know those things. It ain’t much, but armed with that, I think I can proceed cautiously and delicately. Though I have been hired in part to help DZ grow as a revenue source for Namemedia, I intend to do so with a long perspective. My philosophy is that growth will be won by preserving the culture and integrity of this site, and I’ll try to do so by adding infrastructure and functionality where it can do the most good for the most people. In the private moderators’ forum, billvon mentioned that the development of this site has been emergent, rather than deterministic. I’ll always keep that in mind.

So I guess the big question now is, what happens next? First off, as of right now, Willem still has primary responsibility for everything on DZ.com. He and Daniel have agreed to assist for a while to help facilitate the transfer of things. Where I hope we’re headed is toward a smooth transition that takes as long as it needs to take, while still moving steadily forward. Eventually, I’ll have primary responsibility for all of it, but an actual timeline has yet to be determined, and will probably remain somewhat fluid. It’s important to mention, though, that I don’t envision a time when I will ever act to do anything here without a lot of advice from trusted and respected members of the community.

On that note, I will also say that one of my earliest tasks is to gather feedback about the site from you. I have a few ideas about things that may or may not be kinda cool, but I don’t yet know which of them are viable and which are not. So, it is at this point in time that I would like to open a discussion up to your ideas. Is there some functionality you’d like to see added? Is there something you think really needs to stay the same? Is there a direction you feel DZ.com is headed – and should continue on? Or not? Or, do you just have questions?

I make no promises that any feedback will become reality. I only promise that I’m listening. For everything else, I’ll let my actions speak for me.

Let the games begin!

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j_ung    0

j_ung
Quote

He better not have the HH title. That should stay with you and you only!

We should call him something else. Can we make suggestions for his title?



No HH for me. That'll forever be Willem's. Feel free to make suggestions. I can take it. ;)

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j_ung    0

j_ung
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I assume you'll have the red name of site admin? How about Red Whuffo?

Jumps : 1


:|


Right now, I'd bet money that's scarier to me than it is you. I'm afraid I probably can't say much to counter it, so let's just put it out there for folks to mull... I've jumped once. And I had a guy strapped to my back when I did it.

I guess I can say this: I won't do anything here without some hefty advice seeking before hand. I only hope most folks will hold their judgment of me until they can make it based on my actions. And I like boobies.

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guppie01    0

guppie01

Hi Jay,

I'm Gia otherwise known as the potty mouthed midget. I try to keep it low, but there are times I will get feisty and drop the F%^% bomb left and right.

Oh and if I tell you to FUCKOFF, it's not a PA, it's me having fun! But I'll do my best to refrain from getting in trouble.

WELCOME!!!! Oh, and good luck!!!! ;)

g

"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?"
Raddest Ho this side of Jersey #1 - MISS YOU
OMG, is she okay?

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skymama    37

skymama
Quote

I've jumped once. And I had a guy strapped to my back when I did it.



Tandem Masters sometimes refer to passengers as "hauling meat". One could say that you're "fresh meat" here. Hmmm, I see a trend forming here...

Wait...can you ban people yet? I was just kidding, really! :)
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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skymama    37

skymama
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Better be careful there...we have selective humor in here!



He said he likes boobies. I have boobies. That means he's gotta be cool with me, right? :ph34r:
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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danielcroft    2

danielcroft

I'd like to see the forum software updated a bit but I know (based on experience being a mod through the same transition on another site) that has some fairly serious repercussions.

Otherwise slow and steady is the best policy.

I was a member (and a mod for a while) of a relatively popular and well known forum in the motorcycling community. The owners sold out to Vertical Scope who own many of the motorcycling forums around the internet as well as motorcycle.com. The announced agreement was that changes to the site would be very gradual and always involve the community and moderation team. The MO of the original board was low key, well targeted advertising. The community supported this as well as the vendors. As it turned out, the main point of the take over was to fill the site with annoying and irrelevant advertising. This took place (to my eyes) over the space of a week. What was allegedly a ~4000 member and very active community turned into a ghost town in months. Some of the mods from that site started another forum (they weren't contractually obligated by a non-compete to not do so - luckily for us) that now has ~3500 members, most of whom came from the original forum.

Moral of the story is that you can't make money if there aren't any members. Much as dramazone.com seem to have a bad rep amongst some, people come here for a reason, if that changes too much or too quickly it can defeat the purpose of the purchase in the first place.

Best of luck running the joint, I can only imagine that it's a royal PITA! ;)

Also, you might want to make one skydive, just, you know, cause it's awesome? [:D]

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