The Last Word |
We were wrong. We clearly
didn't understand. For some reason we thought a grass-roots effort could change Geocities.
We thought we could rebuild the sense of community that we once felt. We couldn't have
been more mistaken.
Geocities isn't a community. It's an exchange. Geo gives you free web space. You give them
content. It's a business transaction, and Geo makes the rules. If we don't like it, we can
go elsewhere. As one person wrote : "Adapt or move on." But we've been
treating it like it's a community. We've treated it like it's some non-profit looking to
enrich our lives, and the fact is, it's not. It's a business. And Geocities primary goal
is to make a profit, just like every other business in the world. There's no debate about
that.
So how did we go so wrong? What made us think we could treat Geocities like we would treat
a small
town? What made us think one person could make the difference?
The answer, as obvious as this may have been, lies within Geocities own policies. Geo
depends on thousands of volunteers to run their "communities." They work for
nothing. They are doing it for the good of the community. Geo even calls them Community
Leaders. They are Geo's most important
asset, because if they had to replace them with paid employees their payroll would
skyrocket by several million dollars per year.
So what happens when Community Leaders realize there's no community left to lead? What
happens when they come to realize, as I have, that Geocities is a business, we are their
business partners, and their advertisers are their customers? Will they still volunteer
their time to help Geocities
become profitable? Will they continue to donate their resources to help faill the pockets
of Intel, Yahoo, and Softbank?
Don't misunderstand me. Geocities has every right to make the choices they have made. But
if Geo is going to act like a big corporation, let's treat them like one. The community is
dead. The business is thriving.
But before angry CLs and Geo supporters start rejoicing, we didn't lose. We
were wrong. We were all wrong. We thought there was a community to save.
They thought it didn't need saving.
The fact is, our job is done. The people who care, the people who made
Geocities a community, they've already left. We helped them do it. We made an impact.
Maybe we only helped a few hundred people. But what we did, we did well, and
we did it with pride. I tried hard to make sure we treated everyone with respect,
and sometimes I failed, but when I did I admitted my failures.
So don't feel down. Don't feel like we couldn't do it. The fact is, we
did amazing things. We were in the New York Times, were quoted in the Industry
Standard and CNNinteractive. Web sites from all over took notice. And
Community Leaders and Liaisons took an active interest, sometimes writing to debate, other
times writing in with a secret or two. (Yes, even the Liaisons.) And if you
don't think Geo still pays attention to us, you might be interested to know that our
forum's Anonymoose writes to us from pico.geocities.com.
To all of you, to all of you who supported us, to those of you who questioned us,
and even those who outright opposed us, I say thank you. Thank you and goodbye.
Rather than fighting for nothing, we'll leave with the last word. |
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Buy
yourself a CD. It feels
good.
Everybody
else is doing it.
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