Yes, it's me, back from the grave, so to speak.
Quick disclaimer: SSS is no longer part of SMBHQ, but I am no longer on the SSS staff, so my opinion doesn't necessarily represent that of SSS or any of its staff members. My opinion MIGHT represent that of the Sprite Section, but it's still 2005 there, so we can all forgive it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleOrl  As for my 50%, I consider it a return on an investment at this point. For about five years (from 1997-2001) I put a lot of time and effort to creating and updating and turning SMBHQ into what it is. Most of that effort was undertaken for little or no pay at the time, and I was happy to do it because of my love for Mario and the community around him and the site. But that's not to say I never planned to make money off the site, and now that I'm able to, I'm not going to apologize for it. Many business owners and entrepreneurs put money/effort into unprofitable projects in the hopes it will pay off in the future, and that's the way I look at my relationship to SMBHQ at this point.
Does this make the site a little uglier than it would be, ad free? Yes. But really, ads are an integral part of the Internet now. If you can't be bothered to just move your eyes past them quickly, there are ad-blocking add-ons for most major browsers, and I can't stop you from using them.
Is this "stealing" from the subsection editors, as Metal Man alleges? As far as I can remember, no subsection editor has quit over the lack of pay for their work at SMBHQ. If they threatened to do that, I would probably take it under a case by case basis, based on how much work they were doing on the site and how much revenue I felt could be spared for that level of work, much like any business owner would evaluate pay for any employee. In any case, it's not really an issue to be argued out in public. |
Holy crap, do you actually believe this nonsense?
Kyle, let me explain something to you. Back in the day, SMBHQ was great, sure. You did good work and everyone appreciates that. But nothing you did ever came close to the accomplishments of some of your "subsection editors". By far the biggest parts of SMBHQ in your time were NC, which you had no involvement with, and SSS, which you had only marginally started and then handed off. Both of them had, and for a long time continued to have, huge audiences independently of anything going on in your domain. So don't go acting like all of the dusty crap sitting on SMBHQ's front page is some big accomplishment of yours; it's mostly cruft, and the most popular parts of your website had nothing to do with you.
And even before SSS, long before anyone left here even remembers, all of the best parts of your website were things done by other people. SMBHQ used to have a ton more in the way of fan contributions and original entertainment; strangely, none of that good stuff is even on the website anymore. What happened to it, I wonder?
And after SSS? There were folks like Metal and Sean Kelly doing all of the good work around here. You were pretty much gone.
Your only legacy here is slowly letting your website die, first by smothering and ripping off your subsection authors (which may be why the turnover was so damned high), then by smearing disgusting ads and nonsense all over the front page (Believe it or not, there is such a thing as tastefully done ads). You've effectively been raping SMBHQ for the last 8 years. Good job, kemo sabe.
EDIT: Almost forgot... Jay, I know we've had our differences, but I'd like for you to know that I never had anything but admiration for you. In my opinion, you and NC were always the best SMBHQ had to offer. Your loss is a sore blow to the web.