August Was Great!

Shaggz

A strong 7
We'd like to thank all of you for contributing to record breaking site numbers this past August:

Unique Visitors (including guests): 3,303
Number of Unique Users Per Day: 359
Number of Visits: 12,468 (approx 4 visits per unique viewer)
Total Site Hits: 1,419,639
Pages Viewed: 72,448 (58 pages per user visit)
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Wow, those are some serious numbers. And Fred's been posting less these days. Man I can't imagine what September holds in store!
 

J-Dro

Well-Known Member
We'd like to thank all of you for contributing to record breaking site numbers this past August:

Unique Visitors (including guests): 3,303
Number of Unique Users Per Day: 359
Number of Visits: 12,468 (approx 4 visits per unique viewer)
Total Site Hits: 1,419,639
Pages Viewed: 72,448 (58 pages per user visit)

Steve, Congratulations on the increased traffic.

I hope I'm not putting you on the spot, but I have a couple of questions regarding mtbnj. There are no right or worng answers; I'm just curious about the motivations behind the scenes.
* What are the long term goals of mtbnj.com? Is it a labor of love? Or do you have aspirations of becoming a profitable business at some point? Both?
* Who currently pays the operating expenses for the site? Bandwidth fees, Web hosting fees, Race team salaries (just kidding), etc. And why?
* Is there a formal structure to the management of the site? Officers? Meetings?

There's been a lot of positive change around here lately with new Admins and moderators so it just got me thinking. My intent is not to just kick the bees nest but to understand all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i think congratulations are in order to shaggz and jake on the success of the site under their 'wings'(is it just me or does it stink in here?:D ), and thanks to jason, for starting and building this wonderful place.
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Steve, Congratulations on the increased traffic.

I hope I'm not putting you on the spot, but I have a couple of questions regarding mtbnj. There are no right or worng answers; I'm just curious about the motivations behind the scenes.
* What are the long term goals of mtbnj.com? Is it a labor of love? Or do you have aspirations of becoming a profitable business at some point? Both?
* Who currently pays the operating expenses for the site? Bandwidth fees, Web hosting fees, Race team salaries (just kidding), etc. And why?
* Is there a formal structure to the management of the site? Officers? Meetings?

There's been a lot of positive change around here lately with new Admins and moderators so it just got me thinking. My intent is not to just kick the bees nest but to understand all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

hey jeff- thanks for noticing! i guess that means we're actually doing something positive for the community. i can't speak entirely for steve (well, i can but... :D) but...

1. our goals still aren't 100% laid out for the long term. in the short term, what i can tell you is that we are trying to establish ourselves as THE destination for cycling related info in the "rock" garden state. we have some ideas, we have some goals, but a lot of the real long term stuff is still TBD. one of the main things we are trying to do in the "short" term is give our LBS folks in the state a way to be competitive with the giant mail order superstores. by doing this, we think everyone wins: you get the stuff you want at a competitive price, the shops get more of your hard earned dollars and we all help keep the lights on in the shops that we need to fix our bikes. we have a unique situation in this state where we are very close to NYC, CT and PA and i'm fairly sure that we pull a fair amount of mtbers out of those surrounding areas. we have an obligation to provide them with the best possible information. oh, did i mention that we want to ride a lot more and be able to provide the folks that come here with free stuff? yeah, free stuff is always good. just ask norm, he's full of free advice! :D
1a. it a labor of love? yes. do we have aspirations of becoming a profitable business at somepoint? um, well, we don't particularaly want to LOSE money, but at this point i don't see this being profitable anytime in the near future. as anyone that goes into business for themselves knows, it's not always about making money (it sure helps...) but more about doing something you love. that's about where steve and i are on this.

2. who pays? steve and i do and ultimately some of our sponsors/advertisers will offset the costs a bit. as i mentioned, we have a lot of ideas that we're going to try to implement to make this place a much more useful site in terms of actual searchable knowledge and still try to keep the "local brew pub" atmosphere. why do we pay? well, i suppose it's because we haven't asked you to pay yet. btw, would you like to? :D seriously though, we have a unique property that i think, we think, is very marketable considering the demographic profile of the state and surrounding areas.

3. there is no formal structure. i am the head muckity muck in charge of nothing, steve is the admin, norm is a super mod and walter is the third party. oh, and brett is a personal assistant to the CFO of AO. so, no.

the real limiting factor in all of this is time, a lot of which neither steve nor i have. hopefully as the next few months roll around and we get into the "off season" we'll be able to start really running with things. the picnic is the first big event and we hope to at the very least have the stickers and t-shirts ready to go. maybe hats, maybe a few other things. we'll have to see. hopefully that answers some of it jeff. feel free to fire away.

i think congratulations are in order to shaggz and jake on the success of the site under their 'wings'(is it just me or does it stink in here?:D ), and thanks to jason, for starting and building this wonderful place.

thanks sean. that smell is sausage burning. :D
 

Shaggz

A strong 7
Steve, Congratulations on the increased traffic.

I hope I'm not putting you on the spot, but I have a couple of questions regarding mtbnj. There are no right or worng answers; I'm just curious about the motivations behind the scenes.
* What are the long term goals of mtbnj.com? Is it a labor of love? Or do you have aspirations of becoming a profitable business at some point? Both?
* Who currently pays the operating expenses for the site? Bandwidth fees, Web hosting fees, Race team salaries (just kidding), etc. And why?
* Is there a formal structure to the management of the site? Officers? Meetings?

There's been a lot of positive change around here lately with new Admins and moderators so it just got me thinking. My intent is not to just kick the bees nest but to understand all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.
This is a real group effort, but the real congrats go to all of you who stayed with us during the Dark Days, and who continue to promote the site. I think Jake answered or is answering this already, so I am just going to say, "what he says, +1, unless it is a disparaging comment about me :D"
 
T

tlnj

Guest
Well, I'll just say that I've been spending more time here lately than at some other mountain biking site.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
norm is a super mod

That, plus one dollar and 35 cents, will get me a small cup of coffee in the first floor cafeteria.

But, if I wanted to, I could edit your post and make me King Of Siam, according to you. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.

And to reiterate something Jeff asked, when do we get our first real check for the team? The first 4 bounced.
 

Shaggz

A strong 7
norm, you are close to getting moderated, OK?

Once again, I will touch upon what Sean said. Jason is the one ultimately responsible for this beast, and continues to help us carry it today.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
norm, you are close to getting moderated, OK?

Aw, come on! No yellow card first?

Once again, I will touch upon what Sean said. Jason is the one ultimately responsible for this beast, and continues to help us carry it today.

Yeah, props to Jason for setting it up and pushing the ball down the hill. It all seems to have some nice momentum right now.
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
oh my, i forgot to mention 'the god father' in all of this, jason. jason did a fantastic job with the site and really laid the ground work for steve and i. as steve mentioned, he continues to support us which we truly appreciate.

oh, and norm, check #5 is in the mail. :D
 

Shaggz

A strong 7
jeff, you asked about our motivations. i neglected to mention that when we met with jason, two of the main concerns the three of us shared were that the site stay "homegrown", meaning that it would not go to a LBS, special interest, or similar entity. while those were not "bad" options, any one of them could have effectively changed the complexion of the board. the other being that we would maintain our strategic alignment with JORBA, for obvious reasons.
 

ChrisG

Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
i think congratulations are in order to shaggz and jake on the success of the site under their 'wings', and thanks to jason, for starting and building this wonderful place.
This says it for me as well. Thank you!
 

walter

Fourth Party
3. there is no formal structure. i am the head muckity muck in charge of nothing, steve is the admin, norm is a super mod and walter is the third party. oh, and brett is a personal assistant to the CFO of AO. so, no.

Just to be clear, I have no affiliation with this website or the management team, other than the hours I spend in front of the screen soaking in all its goodness. My third party title comes from something else that somehow seemed to carry its way over here.

Like the others said, great job guys, looking forward to more future rides with all of you, and looking forward to the other great things in the works.
 

dirty bert

Banned
i spend more time on this site than MTBR. I lost interest in MTBR when I ran into the constant problem of gettting loged off, everytime I made a post.

it feels more personable being on this site, knowing that the people that i chat wit will be the people i will ride wit on the trails.

at the bbq, everyone should wear "hello my name is" tags but make them fill in their screen name. to identify the face with the screen name.

good luck and nice job wit the site.

~Db
 

walter

Fourth Party
i spend more time on this site than MTBR. I lost interest in MTBR when I ran into the constant problem of gettting loged off, everytime I made a post.

it feels more personable being on this site, knowing that the people that i chat wit will be the people i will ride wit on the trails.

at the bbq, everyone should wear "hello my name is" tags but make them fill in their screen name. to identify the face with the screen name.

good luck and nice job wit the site.

~Db

As you will see, ALOT of us on this site have ridden together. I think once the race season and summer picnic/bbq/nice weather family obligation stuff comes to an end, there will be alot more of the group ride stuff going on. I was talking to ChrisG last week at Allaire and I think I did more 20 degree group rides last winter than I have done 80 degree summer rides.
 

ArmyOfNone

Well-Known Member
There is nothing like Allaire on a 19 degree day.

Name tags have or will be taken care of. Good thought though.
 
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