In 24 hours the Fool, as we have known it, goes dark. Aaargh!
But wait! A bright new day awaits on the other side, or so we are told. Having moved a couple of businesses from one location to another, I am leery of promising a lot. I recall one meme that went around at our Chicago studios was “It will all be fixed in the new place.” Ha! As if.
That said, I take great hope that the Fool even bothered to continue having free boards, these having been pretty much a financial bust for them these past 25 years. So they’re investing something in keeping this side of the business open, and that should be good news for all.
Now it may be that the new software will be terrible, or confusing, or all our wants and desires won’t be fulfilled, or that Cosmic Women From Space will land and nuke Fool HQ on Friday midnight, we won’t know until we get past this bump in the road.
I plan on being here for the “after” and the “new”, at least for a while. I hope to see all of you, and perhaps somehow (?) some new voices too and that things continue apace; I have learned too much and enjoyed myself through these last 38,524 posts (more actually if you count the old AOL boards), and I hope to continue.
On the off chance that you don’t make it around the bend, I thank you for being here and for contributing, and if I don’t, well, it’s been swell, and thanks for all the fish.
A bright new day awaits on the other side, or so we are told.
It will be exciting to see the theology of the Fool universe.
It may be that we will all be judged for our faith in TMF investment strategy, with only a few considered deserving enough to join the new boards. That would be the Christian experience.
Then there is the Muslim version where each of the deserving will be assigned a board composed of 72 newbies.
Or perhaps everyone gets to the new boards but are given different personas, i.e., Hindu reincarnation.
TMF Atheists do not believe in the existence of the Fool. They have never tasted the sweetness of the TMF boards and are doomed to the advice of Jim Cramer.
these having been pretty much a financial bust for them these past 25 years.
I see this statement a lot - that the free boards lose money - but I also see banner ads on every page here and it is fair to assume that even if those do not generate enough profit to cover the cost of the board that these boards are the loss leader* that drives the revenue they generate from the paid boards and services.
We all know of hundreds if not thousands of free sites with message boards. I can’t imagine that they all do it at a loss. I also find it very doubtful that TMF has run these free boards for 20 years at a net loss.
Hawkwin
Who notes that as you stated, TMF is investing something in keeping this side of the business open so it must be providing value.
I suspect TMF can’t measure accurately how much revenue the boards do generate. I was a free member for years before I upped for a subscription. I only subscribed because of interactions on the free boards with other paying members. Does TMF know that?
But the costs are clearly definable. TMF knows how much the computers, disk space, electricity, maintenance, backups and moderation costs. So a bean counter somewhere calculated how much money TMF would save if they removed all the old posts.