From the Executive Director:

Executive Update for December, 2004
Posted by Joseph Rowlands on 12/31/2004, 6:53pm

December is always a slow month for SOLO, since most people are on vacation, spending time with family, or shopping. And yet, we managed to get over 3100 posts this month, our highest since I've started these updates. So the forum has been running at full speed.

Our membership is up by 81 people to 870. We've added 3 new authors, and 46 new articles. Our page hits this month are at a very reasonable 353,000, just a little below average. Thanks to all of the participants who continue to make SOLO better each month.

Being the end of a year, it's a good time to step back and take a look at what we've accomplished, and what we're all about. This month I started a series called 'SOLO In Review,' which attempts to give everyone an understanding of the changes SOLO has gone through, and the principles behind its existence. In addition to this series, George Cordero wrote a piece called SOLOing ), describing the value he finds in SOLO's online community. Luther Setzer published his plans to try to move Ayn Rand Meetup groups to SOLO, in Synergizing Meetup With SOLO. And finally, Lindsay Perigo has printed an end-of-year review of SOLO called Salutations, SOLOists!.

We're not the only ones doing a yearly evaluation. TOC have just made an announcement that they're moving to Washington DC, and making Ed Hudgins their Executive Director. I mention that here because it will probably have a strong impact on how SOLO and TOC interact in the future. We'll have to wait and see.

Solo Conference (SOLOC) 4 is on the way! We've decided on a venue and a date, to be announced as soon as we have confirmation. The plan is to rent a large beach house in LA, with sleeping accommodations for over 20 people. More details will follow, but it's going to be a lot of fun. Tune in to find out more!

Jeff has finally caught up with adding pictures for people who have sent them in. To celebrate the new year, I recommend everyone who hasn't sent one in do so, especially if you're a frequent poster on the site. Send them to admin@solohq.com. Thanks in advance.

New SOLOHQ Features:

1.) SOLO Clubs: - a general forum for the local SOLO club leaders to share their ideas with one another
2.) The Galleries sorted by category now have a "total" on the bottom of the page. You can easily see how many galleries of that type exist.
3.) The Forum page now has a "total" on the bottom of the page, letting you know how many total threads and total posts exist for the entire forum.

SOLO Feature review:

Some of the forums are private, but anyone can sign up. you can do this in one of two ways. Go to your preference page by going to the bottom of any SOLOHQ page, and clicking on your name. The preference page has a list of groups you can join.

In addition, local clubs and interest groups are displayed on the left hand sidebar of the front page. By clicking on the club your interested in, you'll find a "Join Club" button on that page. Click away. Some clubs are truly private, and so it won't give you the option to join.

Activists Wanted:

1.) Public Relations Director – Someone to present SOLO to the outside world. Part advertising, part communication, total passion.
2.) SOLO NZ Coordinator – someone to decorate the portal page, possibly coordinate conferences/meetings
3.) SOLO Economics Leader – Just someone to facilitate this group, set up the front page, etc. Preferably someone with an understanding and interest in economics.

Activism:

Want to help take over the world? Here are some simple ideas you can do to help.
1.) Take this time to contribute money and help pay for SOLOHQ. We take credit card.

2.) Write articles.

3.) Bookmark our Amazon referral page http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/importanceofp-20 so that we get a percent of Amazon's profits from your purchases. Lots of people use Amazon, and if you use our associate program, we benefit at no cost to you. You can right click on this link and "Add to Favorites" or "Bookmark this link".
4.) Put www.solohq.com in your email signature file. It's an easy way to spread the word about the best Objectivist website on the planet.
5.) Do you have a webpage? Add a link to SoloHQ.com. Also, add a link to our Ayn Rand page at http://www.solohq.com/ayn_rand/ayn_rand.shtml and our Objectivism page at http://www.solohq.com/Objectivism/. These improve our Google ranking and make it easier for young minds to find passionate reason and rational passion on the web.

Statistics:

Articles on SOLOHQ: 955 (46 this month)
Forum posts on SOLOHQ: 24,200 (3100 this month)
Author Count: 132 (3 new authors this month – Garin Hovannisian, Patrick Q. Scheper, Jamie Kelly)
SOLOHQ Members: 870(81 new members this month)
Page Hits: 353,388

Discuss this Announcement (4 messages)