One year anniversary of this new board - official.....

Here it is, the first thread on the Hearth Room:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/7/

Nov. 17, 2005........

What a long strange trip it's been!

BB, that is the ultimate testimony to Hearth.com!

Now I can tell my advertisers that we definitely KNOW how to make people part with their $$$.

I think the entire crew deserves a pat on the back. I can't imagine any similar forum with so many posts - and so few problems. Heck, I even like Frank Ivy, Gideon.... well, compared to those folks, castiron is a pushover!

I hope the next year sees growth of the Wiki and the new Fuel Price Guide. After all, this is "web 2.0" (translation - the new web where we all are both giving and taking information)......

I've probably told this one before - but when I came up with the idea of Hearth.com, an industry contact told me it was a "Grandiose Scheme". That ws Tim Nissen of Homefire Stove in Salem Or (a GREAT shop for those close by).....

After things really got going, I looked forward to seeing 10,000 visitors in a month. That, to me, was a lofty height. I would have never imagined 250,000 to 400,000 site visits in a busy month as we had this past year!

A new word defines this type of thing: Meganiche
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/meganiche.html

"Now that more than a billion people have access to the Web, there is no longer a trade-off between size and specificity. The basic math is simple: A tiny piece of an immense pie is huge. A decade ago, reaching one-tenth of 1 percent of Web users amounted to 36,000 people, a number that compared favorably with the circulation of, say, the daily newspaper in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Back then, reaching a million users required a decidedly mainstream offering (Amazon.com and MSN come to mind). Now, getting niche can be the path to getting big; one-tenth of 1 percent of today's Web audience is a million people. Forget Bridgewater – the Net is chockablock with special-interest sites and services you've never heard of but whose user base exceeds the print circulation of The Washington Post."

BrotherBart said:

BTW Craig. How is the "Industry" side of the Forum doing?

Click to expand...

You're not missing anything! All the action is here. It has been my experience over the past 10 years that many in the industry are either:
1. Too busy
2. Not up on Internet matters (I tried to remedy this in many ways including seminars at the trade show and mass mailings)
3. Scared of sharing

or something else. Luckily, we have some top-notch industry people who tend to hang around here as much or more.

For year before this forum, I had an industry email list with 600-1000 members - but what happened (very typical with email lists) is that 10 people talked (mostly me) and 600 listened. So I axed it. This model is better - if them want to put out the energy to come and share/promote/help - then we are ready. If they don't - well, you can lead the deer to your bedroom....but.....