Wow, what a start to the year

Well it’s been quite a ride so far for Performancing. We’ve had to close down Metrics, but have promised to help release it as open source this year, we’ve just announced the closure of our blog advertising program, though behind the scenes some interesting discussions are being had with friends of the companies regarding that and briefly, I resigned as CEO and we had Chris takeover.

Im sad to say that Chris has decided he’s better off working on his ongoing projects , though he will remain a part of the community and will certainly remain a good friend of the company’s.. If you’ve not caught it, I highly recommend a subscription to his personal blog at Chrisg.org. Chris ‘ formal departure will be a huge loss for us, and I in particular will be at a loss when in need of advice regarding the community here — hopefully he’ll still feel compelled to add his 2c occasionally 🙂

Farewell Chris, and thankyou for everything. It was an honor.

I dont know about you guys, but even im a fed up with the constant news and announcements coming out of Performancing recently — so apart from to say that ongoing Partners obligations will be met according to plan, I’ll leave you with these thoughts:

  • We are still interested in talking to potential partners that could help us relaunch our adnetwork – there is a ton of functionality never released and I’d love to have conversations with serious players re the possibilities.
  • ScribeFire also needs some help. Jed Brown has gone MIA and we need some hlep talking it further.
  • We still plan to open source Metrics, but there is no firm time frame
  • And lastly, but by no means least. I intend to correct some of the mistakes I’ve made with community functionality and management here at Performancing, and again, am entirely open to suggestions and partnerships that will take us forward in 2007
  • Many of the changes you will see in the coming weeks will be done without fanfare or fuss — enough with the BS

You can catch me at [email protected]

Did I miss anything?

17 thoughts on “Wow, what a start to the year

  1. Great to see you going back to your roots a little. Clearly the collective said they wanted the content back. That is a very good move.

    Really sad to see Chris go – his post were one’s I enjoyed the most.

    Also a very good move on the commenting policy.

    I still think ScribeFire should be scrapped and the Firefox add-on should be rolled back into the Perf brand – just my 2 cents there.

    What a wild ride for you guys! But I’m rooting for you to get it back together and you have my full support and encouragement – and if you keep on the road of producing great content I’d like to get involved in some small way, if possible.

  2. Nick, I’m glad to hear that things are going to work out. Performancing needs to work to add some further legitimacy to our space, and I for one will do whatever I can to help you if I can. You have my full support, if only in words if that’s all I can give

  3. That is clever, it wouldn’t let me post as “Andy Beard” probably because that is an existing user name, though there was only a red box, no message that that user already exists

  4. You mean us camera shy people can share the limelight now? 😉

    Seriously, I am not camera shy, but decided on a simple logo for branding rather than a face.

    I didn’t blog about any demise here, because if something was happening, it would be mentioned on multiple sites.

    Testing out posting without logging in 😉

  5. I am so glad you will be publishing content again. That was what attracted me to the site to begin with.

    And I think the advertising network could be a big hit… but you are going to have to look at the big boys and see what is working for them and what you can do to be different.

    Metrics. Well, never used it so I am not sure about what you should do with that. Open source is definitely a good idea.

    And the usernames and avatars. I don’t mind having an avatar, but I would prefer not to post my picture all over the place. And being able to use the same username I use everywhere else is also nice. So I am glad you are lifting the requirements for username and pictures. Although I must say that seeing the pictures did add a nice touch. Even though I didn’t want tp post my own, it was nice to see other author’s pictures next to their post. Made it more personal.

    Good luck on the coming year. I’ll be watching.

  6. Done!

    I’ve actually removed pics altogether. Im sick of seeing me as well, and frankly, it’s a pain in the arse trying to convice ppl to use pics of themselves and real author names so they can go on the homepage — i’d rather go with the flow..

    so go ahead, call yourself mrtinklebump and use your cat as your pic, i dont care, if your post is good, it’ll go out on the homepage/rss anyway!

    hehe..

  7. He’s been back for 5 minutes and already I can’t stand the sight of him…

    Get a new avatar Wilson!

    😉

  8. Nick, regarding metrics not being ready for prime time, that’s OK

    In this slightly academic paper on http://arxiv.org/pdf/cs.CY/0612071 (PDF) on “Why is Open Access Development so Successful? Stigmergic organization and the economics of information” the author points out that Open Source is much like the termites who build towers in the desert – leave a little drop of mud and then some other termites can build on that to make a finished product. My preference would be to cut out the non-gpl stuff, publish it (perhaps on google projects?) and let everyone else take care of adding back that functionality.

    Regarding the changes at Performacing – best of luck in the continued adventures. I’ll certainly still be reading and getting involved in the projects.

  9. @Perf:

    This has indeed been a roller-coaster ride, Nick. And I am sorry to hear that Chris has left.

    Does this mean that Perf will again resume publishing Community content like it used to? I’d really like that… In fact, when I heard that you guys were taking focus off community content I was quite disappointed, as I had read some really good insights here, and had some really good interactions..

    But, I guess, the past is past, and I am looking forward to a new day here.

    My best wishes to the Perf team. Let’s hope we have come out stronger in this exchange.

    Cheers!
    Shri.

  10. Unfortunately it’s a little more complicated than “just releasing it”. It’s not usuable as is, and needs to have a non-gpl component pulled out and replaced.

    Thanks for all the support guys. I know I have email to answer, and I will get to it first thing in the morning!

  11. SO with Chris leaving, was he the best choice to head up the organization? Are you returning to that position? WHat’s changed in the past few weeks, from “Chris is our man” to “Chris isn’t anymore”?

  12. Performancing is killing itself.
    Metrics is a vital part of the performancing.com domain, and why people find their way here.

    If you plan to delay the release by “teasing”, I suggest not. It’s a way to get less and less people to come here.

    Make it opensource, publish the service again and you’ll find yourself with a strong userbase.

  13. Of course I just couldn’t resist posting this latest news on my blog. Since I’ve always stuck with Performancing (albeit rather quietly) since close to the beginning, I’ve got no problem tagging along during the troubled times as well. Frankly, I didn’t really care for the direction that Performancing seemed to be going meaning, with more talk of services and such and less good righteous content. Both equally would have been ok but less of one and more of the other was a bit straining.

    Much luck and good thoughts your way Nick. Hope everything works out just fine. Meanwhile, I’ll give out my usual three and a half cents worth now and then and kick you guys around in my blog when the feeling hits me. 🙂

  14. Probably not the right place to say this, but what the hell!
    Can I just say Nick that I am so pleased that Performancing appears to be finding its feet again, and although the loss of Chris is a blow, I’m sure he’ll continue with his successes. It was the ‘old’ Performancing that really helped me out with blogging last year, and despite all the recent issues, the little steps you are implementing/planning to implement are heading in the right direction. Wishing you the best of luck.

  15. GAS, yes. That’s partly the plan.

    I’d like to start appointing Performancing editors to categories – revamping the whole system, turning off the need to register to comment and enabling the formation of organic groups so that organizations, alliances and blog networks can have a place to call home, and functionality that matches their needs.

    Easy to say, but i will begin work on it asap.

    Jason, im at [email protected], you’re always welcome to chat..

  16. To tell you frankly, I was really dissapointed when you guys stopped publishing content a few months ago.. I think performancing was much more interesting back then. Why not go back to what it was before?

  17. Great post and I am sorry to see Chris go, though know he will go onwards with great projects and amazing success stories in years to come.

    Nick, get in touch. Let’s chat!

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