Not a shameless plug at all! by Stu

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Dundee	Stu

Not a shameless plug at all!

27 March 2005

341.
Happy Easter, everyone! Do you want to know what I've been up to all day? Tough, because I'm going to tell you anyway - so if you have a low boredom threshold I would advise you to walk away now, and go and look at some real photographs instead of this ever so blatant plug. The main reason that I haven't been as particular as usual in doing my rounds and having a look at your pictures recently is all bound up in my decision a few days ago to withdraw my research centre's website from the internet. In what can only be described as a fit of pique, I deleted the whole lot from the server - six years worth of work! Why did I do this, I don't hear you ask? Well, I have been doing it all myself for a long time now, and, to be quite honest, it was getting a bit too much for me. The site was huge - with over 1500 pages, and receiving in excess of 120,000 hits each month. The Portuguese government gave it awards (I even got to meet two Portuguese presidents and a number of government ministers), and it was included in the Ministry of Education's national curriculum as required reading for secondary school students of history and politics. On top of all this, many university professors in the US, Canada, Europe and elsewhere had put it on their reading lists (can you even imagine the number of emails I get from undergraduate students wanting me to write their term papers for them!). Anyway, to cut a long story short, I just got fed up providing this service for free, and decided to take the whole lot down. Now I am in the middle of rebuilding the site - only this time if people want to get 'value-added' information (i.e. articles and analyses), then they are going to have to pay. I have also taken the opportunity to rationalise the CPHRC 'group' into various 'departments' - each of which offer different services (at a price). As you can see, I have added a photography section through which I will hopefully be able to sell some of my photographs. So, sorry for not commenting as I usually do, and very sorry for not putting up a real photo. I just wanted to give you some explanation (and most certainly not take the opportunity to shamelessly plug my businesses! But if you need my help, my rates are extremely reasonable!!).

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Leo Charette		28-Mar-2005 20:26
Best wishes on this... it is so difficult making money on the web. Your advantage is that you have a following. However, it does seem that most of your following is of the non-profit sectors. Would you offer a subscription rate to a library so it could include an entire campus or school? Maybe a trail timeframe should also be given. Good for you for giving this a try. I used to maintain several web resources and gave it up for the reasons you cited.

Gail Davison		28-Mar-2005 19:24
Good luck with this venture. Hope it works out well for you.

Elaine (etfitz)		28-Mar-2005 15:46
Good luck with your new launch!

jypsee		28-Mar-2005 15:43
Yup, the next time I need some Portugese translated, you da man, Stu!!

laine82		28-Mar-2005 12:24
Good luck with it Stu.

Ian Clowes		28-Mar-2005 12:13
:) keep plugging away!! Once you've made your first million you can give me tha highly paid consultancy role ;)

Karen Stuebing		28-Mar-2005 11:28
I agree. After a while it's no longer a labor of love but a job. And you should be paid.

Coleen Perilloux Landry		28-Mar-2005 08:16
You were right to do this, Stu. My brother had a site of genealogy and everyone used it and wrote books from it and made money and he did all the work. He is not so free with his knowledge these days. They did the same with his pictures of families. So, he pulled the plug.

Pepe Zyman		28-Mar-2005 07:06
Good luck! You are right.

Karen Leaf		28-Mar-2005 03:18
Good for you, Stu.

Gayle P. Clement		27-Mar-2005 22:25
Best of luck with this endeavor. It seems that you were doing a lot of work and planning during the time you weren't well.

Coleen Perilloux Landry		27-Mar-2005 22:13
Get off the medicine, Stu. It's making a crank out of you.

Gilles Navet		27-Mar-2005 22:02
It's a long week Stu, I don't forget you, just too much pressure. But now i have a little more time... Happy easter to you my friend. I will try to send you my tribut to you in April Gilles

Susanne		27-Mar-2005 21:47
This sounds like as if you had a very busy life. When did you work, between doing that educational thingy and Pbase? I have hardly time to comment on the few people I do and I only have another job and a bit of school! Did you sleep at all? You should get paid for services rendered, especially at the extend you were doing it.Happy Easter, get some rest!

John Finlayson		27-Mar-2005 21:46
Good for you, there is a limit as to how much we should give away for free, I hope it goes wel for you.

Guest		27-Mar-2005 21:21
not very impressed with this stu, black and white with a small amount of selective colouring looks nothing like a plug!! ;P

Apollo		27-Mar-2005 21:17
Enlightening to see how a little acorn can grow.

Guest		27-Mar-2005 21:12
It's a sign of the times with everyone expecting so much for free. You have to take a few things away for people to realise what they are worth.

David Clunas		27-Mar-2005 21:07
Hope it works out

Zak		27-Mar-2005 21:01
shameless spam! ;-) good luck with the relaunch and Happy Easter!

jude		27-Mar-2005 20:59
Good for you, Stu! I hope everything works out.. wow... impressive on the numbers and hits too!

Guest		27-Mar-2005 20:49
Good luck with the re-launch!