Carpe Diem Fredrickville is at a crossroads.
First the bad news:
Informal research suggests that readership and number of page hits are at an all time low. Even without specific data to back up this point, the 4 month long Gripe Corner shutdown has taken its toll on the site.
An interesting catch-22 is at play here:
The Gripe Corner is the most visible aspect of Fredrickville. When users post on it, they show each other and the admins that Fredrickville is active. Activity on Fredrickville encourages end users to keep coming back and encourages admins to post more. When there's an apparent downturn in visible users, admins get discouraged and don't work as hard to produce new content.
With less content being produced, users at the margin stop coming on the site, but the Gripe Corner alone is enough to sustain a small core community.
The PGC shutdown over the last few months took away every semblance of user visibility save for a few comment posts and a two or three admin articles (total!), thus eliminating the last shred of the core community and plunging the site into hibernation. If we want FV to return to its former high traffic, high interest state, we must aggressively reform its business model and simultaneously launch a reintroduction campaign to attract a new user base in addition to re-appropriating the old.
Let me make a note that the reason for the PGC shutdown was to introduce a new PGC (currently the 5th incarnation, I believe, although the difference between 3 and 4 was only cosmetic.) The new PGC was part of an FV expansion campaign that, due to labor and time costs, has been stagnant.
But fear not, things can be turned around.
Looking at the 2003-2007 period: 2003-2004 saw the highest level of total FV activity between number of gripe corner users and number of posts generated. Yes, this was in part because Wobert was a posting machine, but, more generally it is due to the fact that for lack of a better term, FV morale was high. There was action and debate to be had on the PGC and there was content to read. The visible use encouraged other endeavors such as the War in Iraq special updates, the quiz and picture contests, and the real life invitational gatherings.
2005-2006 were subject to a slowing but continued use of FV, part of which can be attributed, in this author's opinion, to the major constituency of FV leaving for college or "coming of age" in some way. This period of course also coincided with the rise of "Web 2.0" where sites like Myspace, Youtube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Blogs, and other user-oriented material became widely utilized.
Fredrickville is clearly built on a Web 1.0 model. It is a site where admins and subcontractors generate content and where users passively receive that content, limited only to interactivity on the Gripe Corner and in the comments section. It is in my opinion that this is why the PGC has and will always be the most active and contentious portion of the site. This is not, of course, to disparage the quality of the admin generated material. While it is variable in its release schedule and sometimes better than at other times, it has generally been enough to attract and hold new visitors long enough to get them involved in the community.
However, Web 2.0 is a difficult trend to combat under the current FV model. Note that in 2006 FV experienced a SpIkE in popularity when it introduced the conceptual FVR portion of the site - where indie bands could get web hosting and exposure.
In 2007-2008 more than ever, FV saw a downturn in interest and user visibility. Because of the codependence issue illustrated earlier, this also coincided with a drop in admin productivity. It is unclear which caused which, although I suspect they act on one another more or less equally. Behind the scenes social issues between some of the constituency also eroded some of the core base. This was capped off by the PGC shutdown, which took visibility to effectively zero.
What we must do:
With the types of aggressively marketed content on the Internet right now, FV must prioritize who it can attract, if anyone. News, image boards, flash sites, lolcats type spam images, Youtube, and social networking are our competitors for peoples' time on the Internet. What can we do to get them to click our links and spend some of their day on this site?
This is the type of humor you are up against.
First, we need to identify a winnable demographic. In this author's opinion, that demographic must be significantly younger than the one which has been targeted from 2006 onward (the 20 and up demographic). Fredrickville started as a high school project and could do well to remember its roots. Kids love gossiping, posting angsty rants, having access to downloadable signed hall passes and blank fieldtrip forms, and generally de-stressing about the biggest part of their day. This is a demographic we can take from Facebook in that FV is about communal gripe rather than just engaging in a massive session of "check out the person next to you." I said it once before and I'll say it again - complaining about Biology and math classes is the fuel of Fredrickville.
To expand into this demographic, we need outreach into high schools by contacts on the ground - I am reminded on an anecdote of FV lore in which we narrowly lost the opportunity to be advertised in the newspaper of another school. I think one way to do this would be to start a guerrilla campaign centered on battles of the bands, community center functions, and word of mouth to get kids interested in a site that's less "mainstream" and therefore less "toolish" or "conformist" than Facebook. Facebook, after all, is run by the Man, and that man routinely upsets his users by changing the layout, adding annoying features, and running a site with a sterile blue and white exterior. FV is not sterile. FV is the mob. FV has an air of rebellion, and on this leg can we stand.
Secondly, we can no longer be providers of information to passive masses. We must implement a (moderated of course) discussion section that contends hot button issues and allows for grandstanding by the user base - this makes people feel important and gets them coming back for more - and better yet, fighting with each other, which in turn keeps the audience gripped with anticipation over what will happen next.
Thirdly, the material we provide needs to be more dynamic. Editorials, yes, because the quality of writing here has never been prohibitively bad, and because it instigates discussion and dissemination of the website onto other sites, but beyond editorials, we need to expand into pictures and humor - and not of the cheap Ebaumsworld variety. I mentioned before about photocopying pre-signed hall passes. This type of gimmick could be given an interactive flavor - you get a hall pass one day at school, you send it to FV, we Photoshop blank it except for the basic fields and the signature, and we repost it for download and repeated use. We could have a bank of these from schools everywhere. We could have a repository of study resources if anyone cares. We could have a calendar of community (or subculture) events like battles of the bands and parties. We would of course, take no responsibility for the promotion of private events (and maybe avoid it entirely), but at the battle of the bands, for instance, we could sponsor and advertise, get in good with the public's' heroes and use them to promote us further.
With a sizeable base, FV may again be able to achieve widespread currency or even turn a profit, or expand into other demographics. I've never believed in real life merchandise sales or website ads, but I think cheap subscription features are great.
I also want to note as an aside that the Friday Night Guide was hilarious and should be revived. That was forward thinking. That was user generated content.
This is our stand to make, or not.
  Posted on October 24th, 2008 | Comments [1] Back to the Future Well, here we go again -
About a year ago, when I was living quite the life indeed, I went on a tear about how some time in 7th grade some woman told the class to write letters to ourselves which would then be posted back to us some years hence.
Naturally, the practicality of this last part weighed on my mind back then, and continued to do so through the years - what if the price of stamps went up? What if the price of lettuce went up? What if Ms Thompson moved or changed jobs and decided to toss the letters out? Well, turns out, I was a little premature in my worry - I had the delivery timetable wrong - it was not in fact to be when we all turned 21, but rather, 10 years from the time we wrote them (approx.)
So here it is, August, 2008, and I'm sitting upstairs eating cool-whip off of the sharp edge of a fillet knife when the mail comes in. And there's this letter. And the handwriting on the address and return address is atrocious, AND it has TWO 32c stamps on it, and the return and mailing addresses are the SAME ADDRESS i.e. my own. W'at(?). Exactly. So I look at it. Bio-warfare attack on my person, probably. Probably anthrax, or egg yolk. Suggested make omelet. Irrelevant anyway, but I immediately began to wonder who had it in him to try to poison me. So as I'm looking at this, it hits me what it is, and I loudly curse my 7th grade self for my poor penmanship, and open the letter. Below is presented its full text:
_| ) 9-8-98
Dear Spoonman,
Today is the first week of 7th grade. I wonder what the rest of the year will be like. What is 2008 like? Is it much differant? These are the things I really wonder: What job do I have? What was y2K like? Last year I was on the track team; how many more years did I join? What is the latest fashion? What collage did I go to? How do people look? How do machines look? Are Rick and Logan still your friends? What new laws are there? Have we colonized planets? I guess it's really not that far away, I'm just impatient. Well, I'll know when I'm there.
Sincerely,
Spoonman
So to answer his questions (because my position on the question of inter-temporal identity preservation has changed slightly)
What is 2008 like?
It stinks with the stench of social inequality, high gas prices, corporate handouts, sweaty mobs of spineless losers who claim to support liberalism but are impotent to stop the looting of the world's morals, bubble tea, and portable mp3 devices. But I'm doing pretty well myself.
Is it much differant?
Note here that I'm not asking if 2008 is substantively different from 1998, but rather, posing the question of what the meaning (after the sense of Derrida, as signified of my use of the constructed word "differance") of the present year is to those who seek to interpret it. I think this is a complex question which can be answered in a number of ways, and I'll leave it alone for now, save to say that a textual reading of what "2008" signifies is not what those who were alive in 1998 would have expected of it.
What job do I have?
Telling it like it is.
What was y2K like?
Gore was elected to the Presidency, briefly.
Last year I was on the track team; how many more years did I join?
Six more.
What is the latest fashion?
Moon boots.
What collage did I go to?
This one, though strictly speaking, I think it's a mural.
What do people look like?
Orange with the stain of a thousand cans of spray-tan!
How do machines look?
Pretty iridescent...or should I say iri-decent!!1
Are Rick and Logan still your friends?
I think he meant "Nick". Look in the tunk. I think he meant trunk.*
What new laws are there?
Well, I can't speak to that, but W. Hubbs Rehnquist died and John G. Roberts is Chief Justice.
*This is especially funny, because not only does it quote a line from Ralph Wiggum et al. that sounds similar to what I said, but also, Logan actually did hide in a trunk on one occasion, circa 2003.
Clap clap.
Posted on August 7th, 2008 | Comments [3] Operation: Marmalade The following story is true. It was declassified in June of 2005 and withheld from the public for an additional two years. It will now be part of public knowledge. The names have been changed to protect those involved.
August 2-5, 2002. Loon Mountain Resort. "Soul-Fest", an enormous, two stage Christian music festival, which brings well in excess of 10,000 patrons. "Godtoberfest", Spoonman called it.
July 29, 2002: Spoonman sneaks off to Gregor's house while the former's parents are transacting business at a local bank. Gregor imparts a large, taped-up Folgers’s coffee can containing vinegar and garden slugs to Spoonman. Spoonman hides this parcel in his parents’ car and rides home.
July 30, 2002: Spoonman adds sliced turkey, milk, lemon juice, a raw egg, and about half a loaf of bread to the coffee can and caps it back up, shaking well. He duct-tapes around the lid and writes "Marmalade: Bio-Hazard", as well as a skull-and-crossbones, on the top in Sharpie. He leaves it in his garage to stew for the next few nights.
Aug 2, 2002: Spoonman, Fred, and Kikai arrive at Loon Mountain resort in a beat up Toyota, with food, tailgating equipment, cameras, and extra clothes. (A) It is decided that they won't be camping out, unlike the rest of the thousands of juiced up Jesus freaks on the mountainside, who, I might add, are ready to rock. (Rather, they'll use Fred's house as base camp.) In a plastic bag, stuffed under one of the Toyota's, Spoonman has hidden the Marmalade, still secured with tape.
Aug 3, 2002: The trio hears "DC Talk" perform some filthy, inappropriate songs. (B) They wait in line interminably for autographs, for some reason. (C) Fred, ironically, has a plastic spoon autographed by Toby Mack. Spoonman has a poster of Fatalist/Atheist/pseudo Hindu? Arthur Schopenhauer autographed, instead. On the way out, they pass through a large crowd of overexcited folk. Spoonman asks, "Who touched me?” Fred mentions that the crowd is so thick that it is ridiculous to ask, "Who touched me?" But don't worry, he gets it. (D)
Aug 4, 2002: The trio encounters some paranoia-clauses on the hillside, wearing stoner shades, and chat with them awkwardly. (E) Fred's friend's brother is wearing a shirt that says "Jesus Freak" in thorns. Kikai goes swimming in a nearby brook. The others join, and rock-climb. (F)
Nightfall arrives on the 4th. Fred goes down to the main stage to listen to "Five Iron Frenzy" Kikai and Spoonman are in the hills. (G) Earlier, they discussed what would become Operation: Marmalade together and agreed. The target was to be the main stage. The exit strategy was to escape into the thick crowd. Spoonman leaves Kikai and returns to the parking lot to obtain the Marmalade, now several days old and quite ripe, by his reckoning.
In Spoon's own words:
"I recall wearing khaki shorts and a gray GAP shirt that night, very innocuous. My heart was racing as I picked up the supermarket bag containing the coffee can full of Marmalade. I checked that it was still taped up. It looked ominous, and evil. I walked back from the parking lot, along the side of the river, which in the summer had a very shallow draft. I considered using utter stealth and attempting to cross it over the protruding rocks, rather than risk entry past the ticket gate, but I realized that the only way to pull this off was to play it cool, as if nothing was going down. I walked confidently across the bridge. The ticket office personnel were not even paying attention to the comings and going of the concert attendees. I imagine people were going back for extra sweatshirts, blankets, food, and such, and I would have no trouble. With the Marmalade weighing quite heavy in my left hand - the plastic supermarket bag straining on my fingers, I walked by the ticket office, (H) flashed my concert wristband in an idle fashion (probably unnecessary), and walked on in. Had I been Mohammed Atta, it could not have been easier."
From there, Spoonman walked back up the hill with the Marmalade and met Kikai. The two conferred and decided that the main stage would be an incredibly dangerous target, and decided to defer to the secondary target - the sound stage, where technicians were controlling the output and overdrive of the huge ska-musical act going on. The sound stage (I), was a large structure on risers full of switchboards and mixing equipment. It had probably 200 large cables running out of it and down hidden conduits to the main stage. The back and sides were all open.
Kikai and Spoonman make their way down near the sound stage and stop to cut the tape off the lid. (J) All they have to accomplish this with are the Toyota's car keys. Suddenly, a flashlight beam shines at them, and a man's voice asks, "Can I help you?"
Spoonman and Kikai freeze, terror-possessed that they've been caught by security. They turn and look up slowly. Before them is a man in shorts and a golf shirt. Just a good honest Christian, looking to lend a hand. Kikai and Spoonman profess that they don't need his help and thank him. He leaves.
With the Marmalade open after some struggle, and breathing through their mouths, Spoonman and Kikai come up behind the sound stage and, leaning through its open side, dump out of the Folgers' can's contents onto the floor, near some buzzing equipment. The Marmalade comes out like sludge - its color indiscernible under the concert floodlights. Spoonman and Kikai leave hastily.
They find the nearest garbage and throw out the Folgers' can (L), each taking a whiff of it first, for posterity. The smell, attested by both, is so foul, that to say they both nearly puked right there would not even begin to describe it. It was a sweaty, warm, almost medical smell. With hints of oak and chocolate.
The two grab Fred from his post in the front row as 5IF winds up their act, and they all bolt for the car and drive home. They don't stay for the Aug 5th conclusion of Godtoberfest. Spoonman vows that the operation will not be made public until all parties involved had moved out of town. This occurred in 2005. The story was attempted twice, and finally written this night of September, 2007.
The map of Loon Mountain during SoulFest 2002, and the places described:
* * *
The indgredients of Marmalade
-Live Slugs
-Vinegar
-Sliced turkey breast cold cuts
-A raw egg, beaten
-Milk
-Lemon juice
-Bread, to solidify
Mix well and leave to stew for three nights.
Case closed. Amen and amen. Posted on September 22nd, 2007 | Comments [9] |
Spoons Editorial
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