2010 - Let's Save The Monkey

[Andrew Robertson]

Dear members,

As you are probably aware, it is very rare that I email the entire Aunty Monkey membership. However, it is the end of the year and I thought it was a good time for me to send out the Aunty Monkey equivalent of an Address to the Nation.

You will be able to tell that I am on holidays at the moment, because it is the only time I have to sit down and think about the site and where it is going.

For those who have been around Aunty Monkey for a while, you will know that about once a year I like to post my thoughts and opinions. Hopefully this won’t sound too much like a rant, but having just run the survey I am pretty sure that my thoughts reflect those of the majority of Aunty Monkey members.

Let me first tell you the main reasons why I ran the survey:

1. The average number of daily visitors to the site is half what it was last year. So in my opinion the Monkey is starting to die and now is the time to resuscitate it. I want to see if we can bring it back to the glory it once enjoyed.

2. More importantly, I (like many others) have been losing interest in the site. So for my own sake, the site needs a new injection of life, otherwise it will stagnate further and I will focus my attention on working on my Guitar Hero career.

There really were few surprises in the survey results. I had pretty much heard the same feedback through the grapevine and the majority of the thoughts (except for the individual who wanted to see more of me on the site) reflected my own feelings.

I am not going to bore you with tables of starts and pie charts. Instead, let me give you a summary of the main feedback and the things I am going to do to try and turn this site around.

Aunty Monkey is not Facebook
I had heard quite a lot of mumblings about this before and the survey has definitely confirmed this. The biggest concern that people have is that Aunty Monkey is becoming more like Facebook. The general, non-ballooning chatter is driving people insane and subsequently away from the site (ironically many are going to Facebook). Obviously it would be inappropriate to single any people out or start banning people for just being enthusiastic; however there are a few things I have done or am planning to do to fix this, including:

1. I removed a couple of features from the "Latest activity" section of the home page, including comments between individuals and showing when people become friends with each other. This should bring the emphasis back to the ballooning content rather than the social chatter.

2. I have decided that I will introduce Groups onto the site (for a trial period) in the next month or so. In the survey, 60% of recipients said they would like groups. I also think that this is a really good way to localise some discussions and content that is of interest to smaller groups and not necessarily the greater Aunty Monkey community. RC Balloons is a really good example of this. It was really interesting to see how many people indicated they wanted more RC Balloon stuff and how many people wanted less.

3. Finally the only other thing I can really do here is plea that everyone thinks about what they post on the site and think about if it is the right place to post it. Most people will know that I hate having to moderate content and thankfully (until now) I really have not had to do it much in the past. However, over the next few months I will keep an eye on things and will (privately) let people know if I feel like the content they are adding to the site is not necessarily appropriate.

Photos
With 32,000 photos on the site and 54% of people saying that photos are their favourite feature on the site, it is obvious that photos are the biggest feature of the site. There were a few comments about photos that are worth sharing:

1. People are getting a bit sick of a lot of photos that are exactly the same (e.g. uploading 10 photos that are almost identical). Please don’t dump the contents of your camera’s SD card on the site. Select the best few and upload them.

2. Add details about the photo (including where it was taken)

3. Please keep the photos somewhat ballooning focused. If they are people shots, tell us who they are and where they are. We all love context.

Ballooning Cards
All I can say here is please don't ask people for ballooning cards. You wouldn't believe (actually you probably would) the colourful language that came through in the survey around people asking them for cards. Please keep this activity to ballooning events and not online. Most people feel like being hassled for cards on the site is the equivalent of spam.

Selling Stuff
From the day Aunty Monkey was born (some 16 years ago), the philosophy has always been that it would be a “non-political and non-profit” community. We will never make money from the site or allow others to do so. There are other sites out there that allow you to sell things. We are already losing people’s interest and I believe selling stuff would not only be the final nail in the coffin, but would destroy the Aunty Monkey ethos.

There were a few other comments that are worth addressing (while I am on a role).

Friends: There were a few comments by members requesting that “friend collectors” don’t try to befriend everyone. There is nothing I can really do to stop this, but obviously use your common sense.

Events: There have been a few requests to have an events calendar on the site. I have been keen for a while to make this happen; I just need to find a way to do this without relying on a person (i.e. me) to have to administer it. This will be my project over the next few months and I am hopeful that we will see some sort of way of promoting events appear on the site.

Games: Once again the request for ballooning games has come in. Let me answer this the same way as I always do. If you build a game and it is good, we will put it on the site. Games take thousands of hours to build and if not done by professionals, they are generally crap. If you really want games on Aunty Monkey, then you probably need to spend more time outside. Maybe try going ballooning ;-)

Dating: And finally a bit of advice to the person who requested a dating facility be added to the site. All I can say is that nothing will ever be a substitute to going to a ballooning event and having a few post flight drinks. It has worked for so many in the past, just ask around.

Let's Save the Monkey
Overall, I think we are at a really important turning point and while Aunty Monkey has deviated slightly from the desirable path, I believe it won’t take much to bring it back to where it should be. So I hope that together we can resurrect the Monkey.

That’s enough from me. Have a wonderful New Year and let’s make 2010 the Year of the Monkey.

Regards,

Andrew

[Michael Toulson]

OMG i missed so much in the survey! i fail

[Phil Whittington]

OK
Andrew, truthfully all the guy's & girls i know on AM are on facebook, and i must admit I use that at lot more than AM.
AM is just another page to go to , so honestly I don't think you will be missed. it was a graet service until people got the hang of FB.
Thanks for all you help over the years.
Phil Whittington

[Andy Broker]

I personally hope AM goes nowhere. True, I don't go here everyday like I used to but I don't think it's cuz of anything here. When I first was told about AM, I was just getting back into ballooning and really had nothing else going on then. Now I am crewing whenever I can which includes shooting everything I do and then of course making the videos. I am always working on new and different ideas to hopefully make my videos better with each one. So with that and still making time for the family and my bowling leagues, I just don't have the free time I used to. I like the idea of groups and all that. My brother and I have talked about taking pics of AM members at the festivals we go to this year and of course post them here. Maybe other ppl should do that as well in other areas. I will also start to add details with most of the pics I've added. I wasn't sure if ppl really cared to read that or not so I never really said much.

Andy

[Andrew Robertson]

Phil, thanks for the comment, but I think you misunderstood the purpose of the post. Aunty Monkey is not going away. All I am saying is that the site is a place to share information, experiences and anything about ballooning.

[Shawn Mackinga]

Hi Andrew, Yes, we are all busy and spend too much time on the computer and too little time ballooning. However, I find that the time that I do spend on AM is quality time with quality friends. I am glad that it is there to help balloonists stay in contact, especially when the weather is shit. If you could automatize an events part, the world needs a good site for events. I am on FB but treat friend requests with perhaps less respect than on AM. I encourage you to continue and thank you for your time. Smiles, Shawn

[Scoolover]

I completely disagree with Phil. I believe that there is definitely a need for AM. There is a need for a place where we can come and discuss ballooning issues. I am also very happy with the photos and videos. One thing that I would like to see is a map where we could mark red zones. To be honest, I am not even sure if it's possible but I think it would be cool. I really enjoy AM.

[Andrew Robertson]

Just a quick note to say you can now add events to the site. Enjoy!

[Michael Fairbanks]

I enjoy reading about Ballooning History. Gas ballooning or early hot air ballooning. I have a box of archives on the Cleveland Balloon Club of 1931 to 1939 (The War ended the club's activity). I am trying to find the time to write an article with photos for Ballooning Journal. Someone should write about the first Glens Falls Balloon Festival and list the pilots. Mike Fairbanks

[Michael Fairbanks]

I would like to read more about Ultra Light balloons. Who is building these balloons and where are they being flown. Concerning size, payload, cost, limitations for their use, etc.

[Drew Egerton]

So I can't get a date on AM? Crap!

Actually, me and my now girlfriend started talking through AM a couple of years ago and it went from there. I do agree with the post flight drinks though!

On a serious note, I love the groups ideas for RC, competition, etc. and also love keeping some of the info off of the home page activity, that was a little stalkerish. The caldendar is a good idea too.

One suggestion, I didn't get this in an email and just happened to stumble on it on the site. Some of the folks that have abondoned AM might not ever see it, so maybe a PM would be good. If not, everybody that does see it try to spread word around.

Thanks for all you're doing Andrew, happy '10 AM!