Let’s hope for the best for the board. I suspect the best is that they don’t even notice we’re here.
Very interesting. I like that they hired an editor who was fired from the LA Times for resisting staff reductions. That shows a bit of style and principle. (Unless the Times was woefully overmanned and bloated, in which case maybe O’Shea was just too stubborn.)
Ivan Zinn, and Ben is out.
I just said about the same thing on one of the spin-off boards. At this point the best hope is they don’t notice they own the SDMB for a while. What is known about Atalaya?
I disagree. The best hope is that they fire most of the people running this place and hire some skilled business managers who will make this a profitable and successful venture.
The SDMB is NOT being run properly. It’s about time we had some new leadership.
Ed or TubaDiva, have you guys heard anything about what this means for the boards? Also, if the worst comes to pass and the SDMB goes away, do you have any idea if we’ll get some notice, or will the site just go dark? I’m pretty troubled by this:
I understand if you can’t talk about it, of course.
On a new and totally different topic, anonymous and/or sock accounts are not forbidden on another message board I post at sometimes if that would make it easier for the staff to speak unequivocally off the record…
Giraffe, as I’m sure you know the SDMB is an asset. Yes, it’s probably still a money losing asset, but nonetheless someone on staff would probably point out that it would be more beneficial to sell it than to turn it off (*if *they wanted to be rid of it).
Also, the movement that Atalaya has made - hiring prominent newspaper people - seems to indicate that they will try to turn the business around. If they wanted to carve it up and sell it they would hire very different people.
I hope you’re right. The board clearly has value, my fear would be if they just chopped the company up for parts and didn’t take the time to try to extract maximum value from each piece, at which point it could get lost in the shuffle. (Although maybe we could buy the server in the firesale auction and stick it in someone’s basement.)
Wow.
Here I am, thinking I missed something, and then, to see that this was JUST today, JUST 3 or so hours ago, and from the AJC [[A handful of blocks down from where I live]] I am shocked to see all of this.
One thing that struck me, is that it said “No Layoffs” a few times. It also said to make things more profitable.
Just a WAG here, but, I think it would be an overall negative to lose SDMB. The … entry into new media is already here, and we have seen new Advertising options on the boards, which is a good thing, [Even if we could care less that Moe Howard died for our sins.]
I think at the very least, we got a few more months here, and best case, I think we are staying put.
The PAPER is dying, not the Internet. And that pretty much sums it up. Sacrifice this, to feed something that is terminal ? I doubt it .
I couldn’t help but think that “Atalaya” is the name of the Jehova’s Witnesses’ magazine, now THAT would’ve been interesting.
No more posting on Saturday! :eek:
This reminds me, I should ask Twickster if Playboy owns GAMES Magazine.
Good luck to the staff - having been through a buyout in 05/06 I know that it is a stressful and uncertain time. I hope it goes smoothly for you!
I know no more about this than you. As you know they’ve brought in an old *Tribune *guy who is well thought of. Ben Eason took a dour view, but he was in an adversarial position. I don’t expect they’ll shut the SDMB down without notice, and it seems to me the company is worth more intact than if it were broken up. But that’s about all I can say with any confidence now.
My local channel just reported that they said they’re going to keep all the alternative papers going, and that they planned on introducing an online *somethingorother *for the Tampa Bay area…Straight Dope Tampa Bay?
Thanks, I really appreciate the update.
A money losing asset? That sounds like a liability and something you would want to get rid off pronto.
Not if it has the potential to be a highly profitable asset.
Here are the keys words: proper management and solid business model. You tell me, do those two things exist right now at this online site with thousands of members?
This place is a toy. It has never been anything but a toy. It is a comfortable little sidelight that allows those of us who enjoy the Straight Dope to hobnob and pass our time goofing off posting our opinions, passing our opinions off as fact, and chatting about whatnot. It has never BEEN about making money.
Thousands of members, yes, but how many are truly active posters here? My guess: the vast majority of posts here are made by a relatively limited number of people. In light of the fact that increasingly large numbers of posters here decline to offer up $15 a year to help the place out monetarily (a trivial sum, really), I find the idea that we could be a money mint to be ludicrous.
We will be lucky if we are allowed to continue in our ways, hanging on mainly through benign neglect from upper-management of the buyers of the Chicago Reader.
Why wasn’t Chicago mentioned as part of this? I understand that there was an original set of cities involved, but if the purchase of the Reader was what sunk the company, shouldn’t it be part of the search for a resolution?