From the Executive Director:

Executive Update for June, 2005
Posted by Joseph Rowlands on 7/01, 2:41pm

Very good growth numbers this month. We got 134 new members, 61 new articles, 7 new authors, and 5800 forum posts, and 40 Extended Profiles.

Let me start by welcoming our new SoloHQ editor, Andrew Bissell. He just started a couple nights ago, freeing Lindsay to put his time and energy into different channels. I'm very happy to have Andrew on the staff. Since he's started frequenting SOLO, he's show himself to be smart and clear-headed, not to mention his refreshing sense of humor. Welcome aboard Andrew! Remember to help him out by submitting some new articles.

Some of you may have noticed a new software feature we've added to SOLO. It's called Extended Profiles. It's additional information you can list about yourself to let others know a little about you. The database can be searched to find people with similar interests. You can learn more about it here, or go to the 'People' page on the top menu, and you'll see a link to the profiles there. Those that have created an Extended Profile will have this symbol

on their User page and forum posts, which you can click to find out more about them.

I've also created a User Webpages page. This page accesses the Extended Profile database and grabs everyone's webpages, linking to them, and organizing it by person. If you like external links to your own webpages, you should enter a Extended Profile now.

Even though this feature has not been officially announced, with only a handful of people told about it, it already has 40 profiles added. It looks like it may be a popular feature.

We've added another major feature. The new War Room Project Manager. This feature puts a new emphasis on activism. Projects can now be created for the War Room and assigned owners. The owner can then create a number of specific tasks he wants to have done. The task list will be display in the War Room, and recent tasks will show up on the Front Page. When someone signs up for a task, they can complete it by filing a report. A new system of 'Battle Points', similar to 'Atlas Points', has been created to reward/recognize those people that have contributed.

A new icon,

, will show you how many Battle Points you've gained, displayed similarly to Atlas Icons. Completing a task will earn you a fixed number of Battle Points, but you can also be "Saluted" for additional points. Similar to the 'Sanction' system we have for galleries and posts, "Salutes" give the contributor additional Battle Points. Unlike the Sanction system, Salutes to not increase in voting power when you gain more Battle Points. We're trying something new.

For a complete list of the War Room Projects currently created, go to: http://solohq.com/War/Projects/

If you're interested in creating a Project, contact me.

We also have a new interest group created. SOLO Architecture will be run by long-time SOLO contributor, Peter Cresswell.

New Staff

1.) Andrew Bissell is the new SoloHQ Editor
2.) Scott Schiff is the SOLO Kansas Coordinator
3.) Derek McGovern is the new SOLO Homo Leader
4.) Peter Cresswell is the new SOLO Architecture Leader

New SOLOHQ Features:

1.) Extended Profiles
2.) User Webpages
3.) War Room Project Manager
4.) SOLO Architecture

SOLO Feature review:

We have a gallery called Objectipedia that lists sightings of Objectivism or Ayn Rand in the culture. Peruse the entrees to see what kind of items we're looking for, and then contribute something of your own.

Available Positions:

Interested in running an interest group? We have some without leaders right now.
1.) SOLO Food
2.) SOLO Education
3.) SOLO Law
4.) SOLO Romance

In addition, there have been discussions of other interest groups but we're waiting for someone to take a leadership role. SOLO Psychology was one. Maybe a history one as well? If you have ideas, just contact me.

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: 1261 (58 this month)
Forum posts on SOLOHQ: 50,000 (5800 this month)
Author Count: 156 (7 new authors this month – Nathan Hawking, Richard D. Engle, Eve V. Stenson, Randy Mahoney, Luke J. Morris, Roger E. Bissell, Laure Chipman)
SOLOHQ Members: 1554 (134 new members this month)
Extended Profiles: 40
Page Hits: 574,000

Discuss this Announcement (100 messages)