How does Celticsblog benefit from being part of SB Nation?

[dark_lord]

I rarely weigh in on forums being a mod/author - especially these kind of questions and topics because it makes me scratch my head and wonder in utter amazement how people come to find such things like these inquiries to be any of their business.

It is in fact your right to inquire I guess, but what would you do exactly with Jeff's answer - if he provides it? Will you then want to debate the decision he made as if you had any "sweat equity" in this place over the years or as if you had some other true vested interest other than you like this place?

Are you somehow  using this information to better your own life because now you know something personal about another persons business and personal decisions? Dark Lord why is it "disappointing" to you that you didn't get exactly what you want in terms of quick response? What actually does a mod or staff member (or Jeff for that matter) really owe you personally in terms of responding to every question someone like you or BMD860  might decide to pose? While this may be something you find interesting to pry into, it is in all actuality none of your business? Dark Lord how dare they mods or Jeff not immediately respond to something you and a few others want to know. 

Bare with me a second here if you two can read the following and try to see another perspective:

Imagine driving down the street and seeing a small business that someone you vaguely know as the owner but are very familiar with the product he provides. You may or may not realize this owner originally built this business (that you have frequented for years) from the ground up day in and day out. Today however, you suddenly drop in and see lots of things you enjoyed about this business have changed!!!  The parking lot is now smaller or larger. The front door has been moved, and more doors had been added. The sign out front of this business has also been changed and is now fancier.The whole place outside now has a different feel to it. Now please keep in mind that this business you like to frequent was built primarily by the idea and work of one guy who poured his heart and soul into this business over the years. He spent endless hours every single day constructing the building, filling it with things you liked to read or use. He originally paid for this himself in both cash and lots and lots of sweat equity (do you know what that term means?)

Day in and day out he kept building and working on his product and built a good client base for this totally free product that  you yourself enjoyed every time you stopped by and it was always open! Never closed, always fresh, always clean, always free!

Also Imagine this product and place of business was unique in that the owner was always fair with his clients. He was always letting them have a chance to contribute to his product and he always provided a place to share their ideas not to mention he provided  rooms to go in, sit down and discuss all kinds of various subjects while keeping those subjects and topics organized. He also kept out the people who wanted to bully other people around in these rooms within his business by not letting them cuss or put down other people or cut off those who had a different opinion. In short it was a friendly free product and you enjoyed it I assume because you kept coming back.

But one day the owner wanted something more, something different, something new for the business he built. Maybe someone wanted to become a partner in his business, and perhaps they approached them, or maybe they approached him (it doesn't matter and certainly none of my business or yours).  Perhaps they bought his business outright but they wanted him to run it, or maybe some other arrangement took place that the original owner wanted to try for himself (for what ever reason he wanted to try a product with new people) . Once again this would be nobody's business to butt in and find out why this occurred, as they are just clients and/or patrons of the small business that was fun to be a client of.

Now these new people and perhaps the original owner decide in some capacity hat they wanted to change some things of this business, And so ......here comes the new parking lot you just noticed as you drove by a couple of days ago, some new signage is out front that you may find ugly, new colors, new place to sit when you drop by and maybe some new rooms and new seating arrangements.

You think this sucks as it just doesn't feel right. You hate the changes to one of your favorite places to hang out (for free) . So now something in your mind implores you to send the dedicated original owner a note that essentially says" Hey Mr Jeff how much has your new partner/owner and their ideas benefited you? Have they been good people and keep their promises? Did they force you to make these changes?  How much did revenue improve?  etc etc....

Really? Name a business owner who would allow you to come into his place of business (that you been enjoying for free) and start asking these type questions who would then be gracious enough to give you an answer? Jeff might be the one owner who would because he really is a nice guy who takes pride in what he does, what he has built and he truly seems to appreciates most, if not all, of his loyal clients. He wants them to be happy He might give you some answer.

However most small business owners that I know (and after 35 years in business I know a lot small business owners who have built their business from the ground up - including me) would take offense to your questions and insistence they be answered. They most likely would also abruptly show each of you two the new front door and tell you not to let it hit you in your arse on the way out.

In short, you should be thanking Jeff for all the enjoyment of the site he built and wish him well. If it is too much change for you, then that is your right. Go find another blog site that you like or perhaps build your own. But to ask these type of personal and inappropriate questions that in my opinion don't even deserve an answer seems rude.

Stay and adapt and hopefully enjoy.... or move your prying mind on down the road a bit further. Peace

lol.....wow, just wow.  no comment

[Celtics18]

and in my opinion it wasn't ...no meanness intended on my part. I said he the right to ask it! and he did. We have different opinion and I expressed mine... it irritated me, confused me and did my best to explain why.

Peace

It was specifically that last part where you basically said "if you don't like it, you can hit the road" that I found over the top.  I didn't think that either DarkLord or bdm deserved that type of response. 

They never said they didn't like the site, they simply were curious about its operations.  It's well within Jeff's right to decline to answer those questions, just as it's well within the rights of members to ask them.  As far as I can tell, they weren't breaking any forum rules. 

Imagine if one of the forum rules were:  "Do not inquire about the inner workings of CelticsBlog.  Failure to abide by this rule will result in expulsion from the site."

Now, that would be creepy.

[huzy]

lemme think about how to best answer this question but I think it is safe to say that there's a subtle difference between what I get out of the relationship and what CelticsBlog gets out of it (both are good, I assure you)

Quick observation. Jeff's polite, generally informative, and respectful response is a profound demonstration of professionalism that shows why he's the big cheese around here.

Jeff, for whatever its worth, I respect your approach to the inquiry. So far, handled with typical class.

I am pleased to hear that the relationship with SB nation is beneficial to you...well deserved.

[Jeff]

so clearly I haven't made a secret of my relationship with SBNation - in fact, this morning's article lays it out pretty plainly

Then a chance encounter led to a small but rapidly growing company named SBNation purchasing the rights to the blog. I no longer had to worry about the costs or the ads or the server or anything else that was secondary to running the site the best way I knew how. (I don't feel comfortable discussing the details of the deal but suffice to say I'm still working a day job but got a very fair price for the blog.) In short, I got to "sell out" without getting out. I finally realized my entrepreneurial dream.

That's the cliff notes version.  The details are personal and as PO and others have noted, are really nobodies business but mine.  And by the way, if you sense a little edginess, in PO's "voice" it is because he loves me and he's probably feeling a bit protective of me.  For that (and 1,000 other reasons) I love him too.

Anyway, somewhere in the middle is where I feel comfortable sharing so here goes.

My personal gain from this partnership is mostly money.  Solid, reliable money (as opposed to the fluctuating and fickle ad market).  I would do a lot of this for free, but not all of it.  And don't tell my bosses that. That's about all you have to know about that. 

Of course, I'm more than financially invested in this blog.  It is my baby.  So whatever benefits the blog makes me happy.

The blog itself benefits by having an ideal tech team working behind the scenes.  They are ideal because they not only are extremely advanced in their platforms and their solutions, but they just flat out know blogging.  It is all they do.

It also benefits by having a solid, stable environment on the server side. You can refute that if you like - there have been crashes and hicups in the last year - but when you consider the traffic this blog consumes, it is amazing how well that's been handled and how quickly it has been resolved.  In short, there's zero chance that a 3rd party vendor could maintain this traffic without it bankrupting me in fees.

Traffic by the way has increased on average of 30% a year.  In short, wow.

In addition, they let me run my blog like I want to.  There are some certain structural limitations (for example, in an ideal world I would prefer one log-in for the forums and the main site - but that's a really hard thing to do and probably not worth investing the time/money to accomplish).  There are some small behind the scenes things like that that I've asked for that they simply couldn't do for me because it would mean changing 300 other blogs too - not my place to do that.

On the flipside, wherever possible they've bent over backwards making exceptions for this blog.  We are one of very few blogs that supports a forum.  I don't know any others that have a chat room.  They love CelticsBlog and they've been amazing to me at every step.

As for this latest upgrade, to be honest I've been feeling like the blog format was getting stale for a year or two.  I'll say it again.  I love the new changes.  They take getting used to, and it isn't for everyone, but I think it is a huge step forward.

I hope that answers the relevant and intended questions.  I hope that I'm doing a good enough job running this site to earn a little bit of grace for anything that you are unhappy with.  But remember, SBNation is not "Big Corporation X" - at least I don't picture them that way.

They communicate continually with their blog managers and they work closely with us to refine our art and grow our communities.  As a company, SBNation has grown up much like CelticsBlog and I have.  One day at a time yet bold enough to break new ground when the time is right.

In short, I love SBNaiton, and if you like me and this blog then you can thank them for helping me to make it possible.

cheers

[kagry]

I think these are valid questions and I think Jeff answered them perfectly (although the cliff notes would have been suffice for me). I'm really glad the original poster asked these questions because they are questions that I've wondered about too. I work in IT so for me I visit this site numerous times a day for the awesome Celtics related content (both in the articles and the forum discussions) but sometimes I wonder about the inner workings of the site.

I don't think the questions are out of line and for me personally I don't really understand Master Po's response to it.  But I've been here since the start of the site so I totally respect Po and his point of view. Maybe if I was a small business owner I would understand but being an IT person I don't get it.

Thanks Jeff for answering the questions.  Hopefully they didn't offend you.  You and your staff (Moderators and Writers) do an excellent job by the way.