Changes at TalkBass HQ... A letter from Paul

[paul]

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years...

Since 1998 when I started TalkBass, I've been its sole employee. As forum administrator, IT guy, marketing dept, accountant, etc, this job has been very dynamic and always a challenge, and always rewarding seeing TB grow. But lately, as we've grown to such a huge community, I've become frustrated with myself - I have a lot of projects that I want to do for TalkBass, but never seem to get done. We've got a ton of really great moderators, but each mod has been a 'direct report' to me - that is, I handled all issues that escalated or required a second opinion, all policy decisions, all user complaints, customer service, etc. I feel lately that I've become the owner of a 'job' and not the owner of a 'business' - that is to say that TalkBass as a business has very little leadership and long term development planning, with its owner bogged down in day-to-day operations. And, as a bassist, I've felt that my life has become too unbalanced, with my music/practice time available decreasing to almost nothing.

In February I made up my mind: that it is in the best interest of TalkBass, if I start to delegate authority. It's a tough thing to do - I feel like this is "my baby" - and I'm sure many other small business owners here can relate. But I'm very fortunate, that I have over many years worked with and gotten to know such a fantastic core of volunteer moderators. Many of these guys have had my back for years, and have made it very easy for me to make this transition free of worry.

So, I'm very pleased to announce today that John Turner, Chris Fitzgerald, and David Wilson have been promoted to the role of Forum Administrator. They will from now on, form a 3-member staff panel that will have a major influence on TB Forum policy, a primary role in incident resolution, and customer service issues. I will still be around the forums, and may chime in from time to time, but for the most part I have given these three authority to act as I have previously for so many years. While issues escalated above moderators always used to be "Ask Paul", you'll now have a much more involved, responsive staff to consult with. Just hit the "contact us" link in the footer of any forum page, to contact the forum administration. A friendly reminder to all: While we do not allow the public discussion of moderation decisions, if you ever wish to voice a mod complaint, hit that 'contact us' link and we will seriously weigh your thoughts.

I'm really looking forward to my new job as well - I have a lot of projects I'd like to see done here, and I'm very excited about what TalkBass could be, going forward And I'm really looking forward to having the time to do it! Thanks to every TB member, it's you who continue to make TalkBass THE best forum community on the web, and a big thanks to all of our supporting members for their incredible financial support. A very special thanks to our current forum moderators, who do so much work every day for this community as volunteers. And lastly thanks to John, Chris, and David for stepping up to this new role - I'm looking forward to working with you all.

Best regards,

Paul