NOTE: This topic concerns 2 of my other web ventures, Lifesupporters.com and Good-Samaritan.net.
Any decision made here will not impact Band of Others.
...
I've been struggling with this for a while now and I'm just not able to make up my mind on the matter.
So instead I'll give you some insight into why I pose this question and see if you fine folks can help me decide.
It's important that you please keep in mind that if Lifesupporters were to be taken down it would be to get another, existing site off the ground.
The other website in question is a side project I was working on years ago called Good-Samaritan Good-Samaritan.net | Honoring the Honorable.
What follows is insight into both sites, the reasons for their existence and my unfettered, honest opinion on each.
Lifesupporters.com
Why Lifesupporters was created:
Lifesupporters.com was established in 2004 created on equal parts experimentation and me suffering from depression. This was around the time I went from seeing my daughter all the time to having her once every second weekend.
I was also very unhappy at work and just felt malaise about life in general all fueling my depression for which I was medicated for a short time.
Meds didn't help so I took to the Internet and thought I'd just post about it and see what happens.
Well, others chimed in and not only tried to understand what I was going through but shared their issues as well.
It was Peer Support at its finest and the foundation upon which Lifesupporters.com was created.
What works:
This has never been a hugely busy site but it's been popular from a traffic standpoint. At one time we were drawing so much traffic that we were rated in the Top 100,000 sites online (according to Alexa.com).
We regularly see new registrations and meet new people here because we've been online so long we rank high in the Search Engines for a lot of social issues.
What's broken:
There was always a major flaw in the design of Lifesupporters.com and that was the Community thrived on the backs of a few people.
Once these people left the site would literally die. People would still register but post once about their issue and most of the time, disappear into the abyss.
Lifesupporters also relies on people "returning the favor" and/or "paying the generosity forward" which few do.
This has been my torment for over a decade now and honestly, I'm tired of it.
It's quite baffling to me that someone can come to a place like this, pour their heart out, milk the responses for everything they can and then disappear. It's the most selfish act I've ever seen and it's shaken my faith in my fellow man.
How does one not recognize the effort people (who are not paid professionals) put into these responses and their attempts to help you back on your feet? How do people not feel a debt to return the favor to someone else in need?
I've heard so many opinions over the years on why people disappear and I'm sorry but there all pretty much bull. It doesn't matter how you feel, what you feel is an experience and experience can be shared, always!!!
It's called Peer Support and it doesn't work overnight. Peer Support only works if you put in some effort and stick with it. Peer Support only works if you make an attempt to reach out to people while having them reach out to you.
It's absolutely beautiful when it works but sadly around here, it rarely does.
My apologies for the "colorful" response above but honestly, if you've seen even a small portion of what I've seen for more than a decade now I'd be surprised if you'd be half this composed.
Fixing whats broken:
This is no easy task because we've been broken since day one and will continue to remain broken if we allow new membership to decide our fate.
I never truly realized how difficult it would be to depend on people who are caught up in themselves. I honestly felt people were looking for an outlet and once found would remain at that outlet.
Since this is not the case I don't know how to fix it?
All I can do is lock Lifesupporters down and force people down a path as I see fit prior to allowing them to post their issues.
I just don't see this working because all it's going to take is one roadblock too many and the site dies.
As it stands this site isn't the busiest but a little elbow grease, restoration of the blog on an updated platform and forum overhaul will see us tip top.
My guess is we could easily double our traffic in the first year after all this work is done.
Having said that, the recipe will still be the same. People will come and go and if we're lucky we may see what, 1 or 2 remain over the calendar year?
The content will still be heavy as well forcing those who stick around to post sometimes dark, serious, responses only to have those people disappear as usual.
Does this sound appealing to anyone?
The workload required to do all this comes in at around 100 hours and unfortunately it's not work I can hand off.
Some of this work has to be done anyway as even if I choose to not continue with Lifesupporters.com it will still require some level of restoration in order to sell the domain.
Good-Samaritan.net
Why Good Samaritan was created:
Years ago my parents were involved in a rather serious motor vehicle accident.
Although they were fine, they were quite literally trapped in a snow storm that could have spelled disaster if not for a Good Samaritan who happened by.
Not only did he "rescue them" for lack of a better term, him and his wife took care of any needs they perceived until such time as my brother and I could arrive.
This couple truly went over and above and are the inspiration behind Good Samaritan as you can see in this article here: Good Samaritans Tom and Jan of Hope BC | Good-Samaritan.net
What works:
The system has not been flushed out enough to determine at this time.
I do know the platform used to create this site is horribly cumbersome so it will require a rebuild on better software.
Fortunately the aesthetic is simple and content light that making a software change is not a huge task.
What I like the most about Good Samaritan however is the content. It's very nature ensures that negative content is spun positive and it's about people helping people which I what I hoped Lifesupporters would have been.
What's broken:
Aside from software and alterations to the core principles, it isn't clear what's broken at this time?
The system will have to prove or disprove itself over a set period in time yet to be determined.
Fixing what's broken:
As stated previously it's hard to determine what's broken beyond a software change.
I'd consider adding a Community to this site just to give people a place to discuss things as well.
What I like about a Community here is it's likely the content will be much more positive in nature enticing people to come back.
...
Now if you've read this far thank you!
There is a little more to go yet in order to give you the bigger picture which you need in order to make an informed decision.
...
Viewed from a humanitarian standpoint:
If you've understood the above it would appear that Good Samaritan is the clear direction we should go in. On paper, Good Samaritan comes out ahead in virtually every category except one crucial one and that is...
Good Samaritan helps no one.
All Good Samaritan does is place the focus on giving thanks and that's it. This is a slight oversimplification but essentially an unarguable fact.
Lifesupporters on the other hand reaches out and says "we'll help you no matter what" and "we'll be here always assuming you care to return".
These are very powerful words and they feed the soul. Unfortunately the content is dark and few stick around so there is no balance whatsoever.
The only satisfaction one can draw from Lifesupporters.com is that at the end of the day, their response may have helped someone in their time of need.
It's very selfless for the few who choose to return and respond to the plethora of issues posted here.
Is this enough? Only you can decide.
...
When viewed from a business standpoint:
Lifesupporters.com: should have been taken offline 8 - 10 years ago.
Good-Samaritan.net: Promising venture if people use it correctly.
As you can see from the above, both offer pros and cons. From a business standpoint though I can assure you that Good-Samaritan offers promise whereas Lifesupporters has a history of one and only one direction.
So lets pretend you owned Lifesupporters.com, what would you do in this position and why?
Thank you for responses.
Sincerely,
Ken
Any decision made here will not impact Band of Others.
...
I've been struggling with this for a while now and I'm just not able to make up my mind on the matter.
So instead I'll give you some insight into why I pose this question and see if you fine folks can help me decide.
It's important that you please keep in mind that if Lifesupporters were to be taken down it would be to get another, existing site off the ground.
The other website in question is a side project I was working on years ago called Good-Samaritan Good-Samaritan.net | Honoring the Honorable.
What follows is insight into both sites, the reasons for their existence and my unfettered, honest opinion on each.
Lifesupporters.com
Why Lifesupporters was created:
Lifesupporters.com was established in 2004 created on equal parts experimentation and me suffering from depression. This was around the time I went from seeing my daughter all the time to having her once every second weekend.
I was also very unhappy at work and just felt malaise about life in general all fueling my depression for which I was medicated for a short time.
Meds didn't help so I took to the Internet and thought I'd just post about it and see what happens.
Well, others chimed in and not only tried to understand what I was going through but shared their issues as well.
It was Peer Support at its finest and the foundation upon which Lifesupporters.com was created.
What works:
This has never been a hugely busy site but it's been popular from a traffic standpoint. At one time we were drawing so much traffic that we were rated in the Top 100,000 sites online (according to Alexa.com).
We regularly see new registrations and meet new people here because we've been online so long we rank high in the Search Engines for a lot of social issues.
What's broken:
There was always a major flaw in the design of Lifesupporters.com and that was the Community thrived on the backs of a few people.
Once these people left the site would literally die. People would still register but post once about their issue and most of the time, disappear into the abyss.
Lifesupporters also relies on people "returning the favor" and/or "paying the generosity forward" which few do.
This has been my torment for over a decade now and honestly, I'm tired of it.
It's quite baffling to me that someone can come to a place like this, pour their heart out, milk the responses for everything they can and then disappear. It's the most selfish act I've ever seen and it's shaken my faith in my fellow man.
How does one not recognize the effort people (who are not paid professionals) put into these responses and their attempts to help you back on your feet? How do people not feel a debt to return the favor to someone else in need?
I've heard so many opinions over the years on why people disappear and I'm sorry but there all pretty much bull. It doesn't matter how you feel, what you feel is an experience and experience can be shared, always!!!
It's called Peer Support and it doesn't work overnight. Peer Support only works if you put in some effort and stick with it. Peer Support only works if you make an attempt to reach out to people while having them reach out to you.
It's absolutely beautiful when it works but sadly around here, it rarely does.
My apologies for the "colorful" response above but honestly, if you've seen even a small portion of what I've seen for more than a decade now I'd be surprised if you'd be half this composed.
Fixing whats broken:
This is no easy task because we've been broken since day one and will continue to remain broken if we allow new membership to decide our fate.
I never truly realized how difficult it would be to depend on people who are caught up in themselves. I honestly felt people were looking for an outlet and once found would remain at that outlet.
Since this is not the case I don't know how to fix it?
All I can do is lock Lifesupporters down and force people down a path as I see fit prior to allowing them to post their issues.
I just don't see this working because all it's going to take is one roadblock too many and the site dies.
As it stands this site isn't the busiest but a little elbow grease, restoration of the blog on an updated platform and forum overhaul will see us tip top.
My guess is we could easily double our traffic in the first year after all this work is done.
Having said that, the recipe will still be the same. People will come and go and if we're lucky we may see what, 1 or 2 remain over the calendar year?
The content will still be heavy as well forcing those who stick around to post sometimes dark, serious, responses only to have those people disappear as usual.
Does this sound appealing to anyone?
The workload required to do all this comes in at around 100 hours and unfortunately it's not work I can hand off.
Some of this work has to be done anyway as even if I choose to not continue with Lifesupporters.com it will still require some level of restoration in order to sell the domain.
Good-Samaritan.net
Why Good Samaritan was created:
Years ago my parents were involved in a rather serious motor vehicle accident.
Although they were fine, they were quite literally trapped in a snow storm that could have spelled disaster if not for a Good Samaritan who happened by.
Not only did he "rescue them" for lack of a better term, him and his wife took care of any needs they perceived until such time as my brother and I could arrive.
This couple truly went over and above and are the inspiration behind Good Samaritan as you can see in this article here: Good Samaritans Tom and Jan of Hope BC | Good-Samaritan.net
What works:
The system has not been flushed out enough to determine at this time.
I do know the platform used to create this site is horribly cumbersome so it will require a rebuild on better software.
Fortunately the aesthetic is simple and content light that making a software change is not a huge task.
What I like the most about Good Samaritan however is the content. It's very nature ensures that negative content is spun positive and it's about people helping people which I what I hoped Lifesupporters would have been.
What's broken:
Aside from software and alterations to the core principles, it isn't clear what's broken at this time?
The system will have to prove or disprove itself over a set period in time yet to be determined.
Fixing what's broken:
As stated previously it's hard to determine what's broken beyond a software change.
I'd consider adding a Community to this site just to give people a place to discuss things as well.
What I like about a Community here is it's likely the content will be much more positive in nature enticing people to come back.
...
Now if you've read this far thank you!
There is a little more to go yet in order to give you the bigger picture which you need in order to make an informed decision.
...
Viewed from a humanitarian standpoint:
If you've understood the above it would appear that Good Samaritan is the clear direction we should go in. On paper, Good Samaritan comes out ahead in virtually every category except one crucial one and that is...
Good Samaritan helps no one.
All Good Samaritan does is place the focus on giving thanks and that's it. This is a slight oversimplification but essentially an unarguable fact.
Lifesupporters on the other hand reaches out and says "we'll help you no matter what" and "we'll be here always assuming you care to return".
These are very powerful words and they feed the soul. Unfortunately the content is dark and few stick around so there is no balance whatsoever.
The only satisfaction one can draw from Lifesupporters.com is that at the end of the day, their response may have helped someone in their time of need.
It's very selfless for the few who choose to return and respond to the plethora of issues posted here.
Is this enough? Only you can decide.
...
When viewed from a business standpoint:
Lifesupporters.com: should have been taken offline 8 - 10 years ago.
- Helps people in their time of need
- Feeds the soul when you feel you've actually made a difference
- Continues to suffer from inactivity after 11 years online
- Suffers from the lack of return membership
- Offers mostly dark content
- Private and oftentimes emotionally charged content is not a fit for Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc).
- Is difficult to market and rank higher in Search Engines as Lifesupporters is a term I made up.
Good-Samaritan.net: Promising venture if people use it correctly.
- Helps no one
- May make a difference if people actually use it
- Has no proven history so the future remains uncertain
- Content will be more positive in nature.
- The very nature of this content is a natural fit for Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc).
- Is far easier to market and rank higher in Search Engines as Good Samaritan is a term everyone knows.
As you can see from the above, both offer pros and cons. From a business standpoint though I can assure you that Good-Samaritan offers promise whereas Lifesupporters has a history of one and only one direction.
So lets pretend you owned Lifesupporters.com, what would you do in this position and why?
Thank you for responses.
Sincerely,
Ken
Last edited:
