Never mind, re the missing reviews; the reason for them going makes sense now. The rest of my comment stands, however.

Hi Keith,

I will admit that I am curious who your favourite lord from Gondolin is. Zhie, for me it is either Ecthelion or Maeglin ;)

Anyway, I do have some more questions/observations:

In previous comments you said...
But I have been speaking with experienced users in the fan fiction space about new ideas and ways to do things differently and I think starting from scratch may be the better path to realising these ideas.

And


For the improvements I'm making to Twilight Archives, I've gone to extraordinary lengths to consult users - we have our own forum, I share screenshots, we talk about ideas, talk about design inspirations and lots more - I can't believe that anyone would question my desire to engage with the users. I've not done it here yet, but this is all still way off from happening.

I was at that forum the other day, the link given to the old forum is a death one, but the few posts you made there do not reflect this, I'm afraid to say. I didn't see elaborate threads on how folks eagerly discuss the changes to come, their input and what they like to see. For transparency sake, can you make this available? I think for those who still stick around, it would be a good idea what your common approach towards fans is. I would be however very cautious to implement anything the Twilight fans want here, simply because that particular fandom is brand new and crispy fresh compared to what you will find here - or what will be left of it at this rate. Here you deal with seasoned writers who can give you amazingly thought out input as long if you are willing to truly listen. You have answered a few things, but about much there is still quite some unrest. Your interviews in the past in how you see sites like this don’t bode well to be utterly honest.

interestingly, their perspective, which is also shared by Apple and others (to make it perfectly clear, I don't necessarily agree) is that users aren't always clear about what they want.

I am sorry to say this, but this all boils down to asking the right questions. Yes this is a true profession and art, but formulating questionnaires and follow through on them thoroughly is not too hard. I do know this from years of experience. This manner of reasoning, no I am not buying that at all. Sorry, as I mentioned above...especially considering that this community is on the opposite of the spectrum from Twilight fans.

I concede that Adora and I should have done a better job of communicating and consulting users, particularly the moderators and other volunteers, before the transfer was made. I wonder if Adora would have received a blessing, however, and whether Adora would have been unable to sell the site.

Will an apology towards the mods be forthcoming?

Tolkien Estate has not taken action against this site in the past 7-years and I don't see that this would change given that nothing on the site has changed as yet. And I don't see this position changing if we improve the site.

Oi, fey! I nearly banged my head against the table here. Such a statement clearly shows how utterly naïve you are. Do yourself a favour for starters do educate yourself with this Lord of the Rings domain fight enters realms of fantasy or this Tolkien Estate Lawsuits or this. The fact that the past 7-years this site has never ever received a form of communication relies on the fact that a) there have never been copyrighted maps here and b) the site owners and mods have never stated that they wanted to generate revenue or as you write on your blog (and have clearly stated in interviews in the past, that you would even sell the sites you rejuvenated): "The longer term thought is that with the combined user base, I’ll be able to quickly enter and dominate new fandoms, hopefully creating some returns." So you really think that your business won't be contacted, think again, the Estate sues for less, like Tolkien Estate Strikes Again: Forces Summer Camp To Change Name.

Adora, I think you honestly should have discussed this prior with the mods. If you say that they probably would have not wanted this, then deep down you also know that this would not go well with your member base. Besides that, you say that over the past months you came to know Keith well and we can only take your word on that. You had months to get to know him, but you can't shove this down the throats of others in a mere matter of days.

Best of luck with all of this.

I’ve taken time to read all the comments here and elsewhere and would like to respond to respond to everyone. Whilst you may disagree in what I believe, I hope that you will appreciate that I’m not choosing to ignore or censor peoples thoughts. I try to communicate with you respectfully and I ask you kindly you to do the same. Criticise you may, but profanity-filled vulgar personal messages are not welcomed.

I’m unhappy knowing that the change of ownership has upset some people. Adora and I have been discussing the reaction non-stop for days and we are reacting. We’ve just recently posted an update on the site which outlines that we’re open to changing the structure of the site ownership and management, depending largely on what the users want.

I want to address some comments here that have not yet been responded to (some of these responses are also reposted on my blog and on OTW's post).

@Esteliel/Lisse/ziggy: My previous messages alluded to the belief that the N-17 policy would not change in the immediate future and that you, the users, would be consulted should a change be suggested. I'd like to clarify this by sharing my outlook on the issue. Could this therefore mean a change in the future if not now? It could, yes, BUT only if you, the users, desire to see any change. As far as I’m concerned on the matter, my opinion is mute and I’m not going to impose my ethics on the policies. I would like to have an open discussion on this and make a collective agreement. It's now up to Adora to tackle this.

@Farawein: Challenges and the features you mention are all items that could be potentially discussed in the future. I would like to improve the archives features, but for LOTR, this is now all on hold - you can read about that in our latest announcement - we've halted plans and re-evaluating the management of the site.

@?: I’m really quite a decent, likeable guy. I can see how some of my language, with buzzwords and money-orientated talk might paint a picture of me as a corporate tycoon relentlessly pursuing profit. It’s really just the language of the community I engage with at times. The language and buzzwords in fan fiction is also quite impregnable to the newcomer (slash, canon, and other words had me a bit thrown to begin with). I'm not a corporate big wig. Yes, I do operate a corporation, it's financially and legally prudent to do so. But there are no employees, there is no office, and there certainly isn't a yacht. I run a few websites which are pretty great, they eat up quite a lot of my time and I'd still like to eat. I am not rich. The business accounts are on public record.

@Rhapsody: Here's a screenshot from a hidden part of the Twilight Archives forum where we've been discussing the new site. I've also been discussing ideas with the former owner and high-profile members over email. I increasingly appreciate that the two sites are a world apart, but I'm sure there is some common ground work with the features that support sharing and reading stories. I'm sure you're right about asking the right questions. Words are tricky things after all.

@wider group of questions:

The belief in the addition of advertising to the site is a little presumptuous, although I can perfectly see how you'd arrive at this assertion. There are no ads on the site at present and there are no plans to add them either. I'm working on improving Twilight Archives, the users want it, and are engaged in providing feedback and working with me.

I have bought some sites, improved them and indeed generated some money from them. They also happen to be much better sites as a result and I've received accolade for these efforts. I've also seen this reflected in objective data too (more visitors, who stay longer, visit more pages and come back more often). I'm sure I didn't please everyone, but objective and anecdotal evidence suggests most users are happy. Adora contacted the prior owners of these other sites, a part of her due diligence on me - she found 100% of them to remark positively about the changes made to their sites.

You may see contradiction in my language as to my motives for what I do. I'm proud of the improvements I've made to my other sites and feel grateful that I'm able to afford the ability to dedicate a substantial amount of my time towards that cause. It's only possible because these sites generate a modest wage that have allowed me to eat and survive. It's important to understand the difference between surplus revenue being used to create a nominal wage versus how 'profit' is being portrayed in this evil corporate sense. As I talked about in interviews and on my blog, I do seek out sites created out of passion, truth be told there's just more that I can do with these sites; more improvements to be made and so my time and effort is more leveraged (ie. more comes out of it). There's more opportunity to make some money from these sites so that I can survive. I agree that theres limited money to be made, if any at all. I'm a very bad 'evil corporate evil mastermind' (as has been portrayed) to believe otherwise. To be frank: I did think I could create a kick-ass archive that people loved to use, could grow, and that might somehow provide me the means to survive (collectively with other sites I operate).

My understanding from Adora is that the site only ever received a few donations. It was a loss-making website for Adora. Users typically expect everything to be free on the internet and sometimes think they are. I've spoken to many people over the years who are amazed that Google and Facebook (companies I know very well) makes any money at all (let alone billions) or that they employ thousands of employees - the reality is that these services are not free - you pay by seeing ads. As OTW points out, Livejournal and Dreamwidth (services oft utilised by those involved in fandoms) are businesses. I wonder if you've ever read something on LiveJournal or viewed a video on YouTube (where content was contributed by users sharing their hard work and not seeking a profit) and thought that it was pretty cool that these for-profit services existed?

I'm confident that my income is substantially less than those who run LiveJournal, YouTube, FF.net and numerous others. These companies make money (through advertising or charging for the provision of said services) and use it to provide an excellent service to their users and allow its creators to do so.

I'm trying to be very honest and open. I'm engaging with everyone that I can. I know I've made mistakes in how I've handled things, my approach and how I've communicated - I'm making changes and I want to be a positive force. I'm willing to admit those mistakes. I will also stand my ground and oppose any overtly personal/ insulting messages, because that's just not cool.

On a final note, I've spotted a lot of people are calling me Mr. Mander. I've found it very quirky indeed. I'm pretty young and a quite a likeable, humble guy with many close friends (corporate evil mastermind, I think not), so let's drop the title please!

That’s a response to everybody for now. Feel free to continue this discussion here or elsewhere and I will respond when I can. If you'd like any clarification on anything I've said, please do ask.

If it ain't broke; don't fix it! I am relitively new and have been over joyed with the responce to my writing. Now to discover that the site might violate (by making money) copywrite law really troubles me. I get nothing but kind words for my efforts and that is more than enough. I have no problem donating to keep a site alive. I do not think this archive needs updating with bells and whistles. If you want to do that, start your own site. My only regret is that I cannot take it over...and keep it just like it is! The warm a friendly, supporive outlet for my creativity!