TXTNLY

Fact. It is statistically proven that 100% of humans love to watch a car crash in slow motion. Links/references? No… I actually just made that up, but you need to stop living in the past if you want this relationship to work.

Instead, you should join us in watching as our former haunt, cVillain, lumbers toward a gruesome death. I’ll admit that I was impressed to see so many regulars reappear on the first couple of days post-relaunch, even bringing along chipper attitudes and optimism about the newly Lazarus-ified  blog.  However, there has been an undercurrent of change amongst the comments. Regulars are quickly tiring of fluff posts, and the site is quickly returning to having more interesting content in the threads than the articles themselves. I’d like to find out what’s going on inside the minds of the people that have been the lifeblood of the site for years.

To start, I’ll run you through my phases of disenchantment. I was one of the last active contributors on the site before the doors were closed, and I was part of the committee that discussed possibly keeping the site alive. After some basic logistics, we all realized that the site had peaked long before and was already well into its dénouement. At that time, the team of potential new owners decided to pass. Even for free, we felt that it was best left to die with some shred of dignity. Over the course of the next month, I happened across a few sites that had loaded up the cVillain shell and archives, presumably in consideration of taking the reins. I didn’t actually think much of them. Surely, anyone else would remember the post-sharktank episodes of Happy Days, and learn a lesson from them. Surely. Surely?

No.

Jump to early September, and a ‘little birdie’ whispered some cVillain relevant information in my ear. It was being resurrected. Beyond that, it was being brought back by someone that we never knew as an active member on the old site. A lurker maybe? Those details have yet to be explained. I managed to get a sneak peek of the site about a week before it was relaunched, and there was actually a healthy backlog of content. It was a promising start. It suggested that there would be some interesting content posted on the site, which the lack thereof was largely responsible for the demise of the previous iteration. Things were looking up.

There was a decent amount of buzz around town before the relaunch, and I heard many sides. There were some that were upset. There were some that were thrilled to see it return. There were those that could not care less, but really needed a good timesink for the working hours. Personally, I’ve been on both sides of the fence. Initially, I was annoyed with the fact that an outsider was handed the keys to the archives (and your email and IP addresses). I just didn’t feel that it was going to be the same site, and as such they didn’t deserve our archives. Once things relaunched, the pendulum swung to the other side for a bit as it was great so see so many regulars back together and champing at the bit. Nowadays, I suppose I’ve lost the momentum, because I’m somewhat apathetic toward the site. I do check it a few times a day, and backspace away a comment here and there. I’ve come to the realization that the new site has nothing to do with me, and it would be wrong of me to call out every fallacy and error that I see. Well, it would be wrong of me to do so there. There, I’m trying to abide by the rule of, ‘if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all’.  Here, it’s a free for all.

- Editing. It’s embarrassing at times. I’m a firm believer that poor spelling/grammar skills are a symptom of ignorance. I realize that there are exceptions to the rule, but I’d suggest a spellcheck at the very minimum before posting content. First impressions are difficult to overcome.

-User/Content Farming. This was a major point of contention on the last site, just on the possibility that it was happening. I don’t think that people are going to be impressed with the introductory post that mentions that it is a revenue producing venture. I’m not sure this requires much elucidation.

I really wanted to make a bullet point about the ‘$5K in the hole’ comment that was made today about operating costs to get the site back online. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I have spoken with two people that currently host cVillain elsewhere, and both were able to do so for zero dollars and zero cents… and an afternoon. I am aware that the live site requires more work than a hosted archive, but I believe hyperbole has been shooting people in the foot here.

Does anyone else see the bolts coming loose? How do you feel about cVillain 2.0? I’d like to see it succeed, but I don’t feel that it’s going to happen in the current scenario.