Please Read: RPG Bloggers Network Changes

October 20, 2009 from davethegame
Filed under: Featured!, RPGB_News

Dear RPG Bloggers Members & Readers:

Over the coming weeks the RPG Bloggers Network will be undergoing some major transitions. First and foremost the application and admission process has been closed for the time being while we work things out.

In addition some leadership changes have occurred – Phil has stepped down from the board and as Community Manager, Dave will be stepping down as leader of the board to a more secondary role as the Network moves forward, Graham will be stepping down as Technical Director, and Danny may still be involved in minor ways with the Network but not to the same extent.

We are searching for new leaders for the Network from amongst our membership and we welcome you to speak up if this is something you’d be interested in helping out with. While we would like to be involved in the process of who will take over the Network, we can also sit aside from that process if it is the will of the collective Network membership.

One of the biggest hurdles for running the Network is hosting. CPU requirements are considerable, even with supercache enabled. It basically has to load all of Wordpress just to retrieve an RSS feed. We experimented with a number of solutions, including shared server space, but ultimately did not find a best solution with the budget that had been available to us. So anyone wishing to take it over will need to carefully consider their hosting situation.

If a suitable new situation is presented, we will work to hand off all the data to make the process as seamless as possible, and sell the domain for the $20 we paid for it. Otherwise, we will probably have no choice but to shut the RPG Bloggers Network down.

Discussion is currently ongoing on the Mailing List.

Thank you,
The Former RPG Bloggers Network Board- Dave, Phil, Graham, Danny

Comments

11 Responses to “Please Read: RPG Bloggers Network Changes”

Sean Holland on October 20th, 2009 1:49 pm

Firstly, thank you, the Former RPG Bloggers Network Board, for all of the hard work and time you have put in so far getting RPG Bloggers rolling and maintained.

Second, I would like to see RPG Bloggers survive and I hope we can find some people with the technical skills and time to allow it to continue. I can contribute a small amount of money toward such as task but nothing useful on the tech side of things.
Chris Simmons on October 20th, 2009 1:52 pm

Have you considered offloading your RSS subscriptions to feedburner? It might help your hosting situation a bit.
Helmsman on October 20th, 2009 1:59 pm

I’m not a member of the network per-se, but have been following the network for almost a year now, and have been involved in writing for a couple members in that time.

I was wondering what the budget requirements to keep the network afloat are? I for one would be willing to consider spending a reasonable amount to keep the network going. Perhaps you could consider instituting a board of trustees or something along those lines?
Beth on October 20th, 2009 2:07 pm

I can imagine the amount of work it takes to keep the network humming. Thank you, Board Members for amazing work. Fingers crossed that everything works out….
Stargazer's World » The RPG Bloggers Network won’t die … on October 20th, 2009 2:07 pm

[...] unless we let it die. The former RPGBN board members have announced today that they step down from their posts after there was some (sometimes very emotional) criticism of [...]
davethegame on October 20th, 2009 2:16 pm

Sean and Beth: Thank you for being members.

Chris: Our own feeds are covered by Feedburner, but syndicating other people’s feeds here are what causes the problem.

Helmsman: I believe those are some of the proposals going on the mailing list. If you want to weigh in, that’s probably the best place to do so:
http://groups.google.com/group/rpgbloggers/
Milambus on October 20th, 2009 4:45 pm

Dave, can you append that link into your original post? It may help people find their way to the Google group.
anarkeith on October 20th, 2009 5:41 pm

Dave, I’m hoping that the mass exodus of the board is not a result of the criticism, but rather something that the board members had been considering. The time commitment to maintain and manage RPGBN must be significant, and I realize no one wants to be shackled to something, and then verbally abused despite all the behind-the-scenes work.

Thank you all for getting this mighty ball rolling!

However, saying, “Otherwise, we will probably have no choice but to shut the RPG Bloggers Network down” has a threatening note of finality to it. This contrasts with the proactive note you seemed to strike in the opening part of the post.

Anyone taking over the reins has to understand that they’ll be targets for some criticism. Much of it will probably not be valid, but administrators need to be prepared to face it, sift through it for the constructive bits, and forge ahead.
greywulf on October 20th, 2009 5:58 pm

I want to give a heartfelt thank you to Dave, Phil, Graham and Danny for making the RPG Bloggers Network and turning it into the best darned collation and community of RPG bloggers around. It quite literally would not exist without you.

I respect your decisions to step down – and I don’t care what your reasons are, neither. Everyone needs to be able to step back sometime, especially when it’s something you do primarily for fun. I’m pretty sure we can pick up the slack in your stead.

Tell me what you need me to do, and I’ll do it to help keep RPGBN going. Simple as that.

Oh, one last thing. We’re not going to miss you, because we’re not going to let you get away from us that easily
vbwyrde on October 23rd, 2009 10:23 pm

Thank you very much for hosting the RPG Bloggers Network. It’s a really fabulous resource. I think a lot of people would be pretty bummed out if you guys had to close down the shop. Please keep it going! It’s great!

Since so many people are stepping down it might help others who might be interested in picking up the mantel to know what the positions available are, what the responsabilities are, and what the expected time commitments would be. If you post that information I’ll definitely take a look and try to pitch in where I think it’s appropriate if I can.

Thanks again. You guys have done an AMAZING job! Please keep up the great work!!
Joseph Bloch on October 24th, 2009 4:02 am

Can you give some hard numbers on the bandwidth and CPU requirements, and so forth?

It would help to figure out if others might be in a position to take up the responsibility, from a technical standpoint.