Facts, figures, and whys

[NaperVic]

Also, random tech question. What kind of bandwidth does this site consume and how are you funded (unless that's some sort of top secret piece of info)?

 

Hi RISC!

 

I can't speak about the bandwidth, but gayauthors is on dedicated server. Myr listed a couple statistics above with number of hits, etc.

 

As far as funding, GA gets some money from advertising, but most financial support comes through member donations. We have many generous members who support GA financially to try to keep it free for many teens or others who are unable to do so.

 

Here's a link to the support page if you are willing and able. Any dollar amount is helpful.

 

Take Care,

 

Vic

[Myr]

Also, random tech question. What kind of bandwidth does this site consume and how are you funded (unless that's some sort of top secret piece of info)?

We transferred around 42 GB this month. That is about 9 million hits.

4.5 Million hits are to the board section of the site and account for 63,000 unique visitors. (that is, unique IP numbers)

 

As Vic said, we are funded by donations and by ads. The vast majority is still donations though.

 

Myr

[Bao]

why was the soapbox removed. it was kinda fun the short time i got to to spend in there lol.

[Gregoire]

I had fun there, too. However, a lot of the discussions had to do with politics (and to a certain extent religion), which tend to be sensitive subjects that people feel strongly about, and that can cause dissension and bad feelings between people. We've got something pretty special here, and since the purpose of GA has nothing to do with politics anyway, it would be a shame to mess it up.

 

Kitty

 

Isn't this supposed to be a place where we can be open. Religion gets brought up every once in a while in Live Chat. Plus our views on things are part of us. Someone is always going to have a problem with something, if you start appeasing what's the next thing to be taken away?

 

Anyways, I'd sort of appreciate that sort of talk being an aspiring political scientist. I like knowing what people think. I like knowing and I'd like to discuss certain things that would be kind of weird to mention in live chat. Back before I got here I was on the GYC. There are some immature spammers and there is a little dissention...for example I really didn't appreciate people asking me for nude pictures...but those of us that cared and some that didn't put their opinions out there.

 

Maybe dissention could strenghten our little group. God, I hope I don't get in trouble for this but:

 

http://www.thegyc.com/simpleboard/Itemid,1...owcat/catid,16/

 

I haven't been on the site for almost a year...because I like you guys much better and they don't have stories...but this is proof that a site can survive controversy. I mean geez, why do you think people are like the US so much?

 

If we deny controversy aren't we denying ourselves? Think about that.

---Greg.

[AFriendlyFace]

Well personally I always enjoy discussing philosophy, morality, and religion, but I tend to avoid politics like the plague. (you know I've never actually had to avoid the plague, so that's a bad analogy) like onion rings (I can't stand onion rings! ). Why?

 

Basically because I can't help but see each side (or any political ideology) as meaning well, but ultimately pretty screwed up. Everyone's pretty much corrupt and bent on pushing their own agendas, but they also all tend to "mean well" and think their way is the best. I'm at the same time both too jaded AND too optimistic to trouble myself with politics. So I just don't bother. Politics will never be "fixed" and there's enough fairly decent people involved to keep it from becoming entirely evil, so as far as I'm concerned it's a headache I can do without.

 

Oh I may vote for or against specific things, but I'd never "fully support" any one side (Or likely any one candidate) because I'd never completely agree with any one side (or person) on all the issues. The only "set" of political ideologies I'm likely to completely agree with is the weird, and very random, amalgam which is my own (and I don't even claim my beliefs are any "better" they're just my own so I like them). SO unless everyone suddenly decides to put me in charge of everything I'm going to stay out of politics and political discussions as much as possible.

 

Anyway have an awesome day everyone, and take care

Kevin

Edited March 1, 2006 by AFriendlyFace

[Xandra Kitee]

Moderating such forums is a hell of a work. What is offensive and what is just an opinion ? The limit can be very very blur.

 

But I tend to agree with Mr. Greg.

Edited March 1, 2006 by Xandra Kitee

[Guest special guest]

Hey everyone

 

I just got an account here some minutes ago and I thought i might just share my reasons for why I chose to do it and why I didn't do it before... I've been reading stories here for quite a while now but I never really felt the need to discuss them with anyone except for myself in my own little head. And English is not my native language so it feels a bit weird to try to express what I want to say. A bit weird? Definitely weird. Normally I type in super-fast super-speed, now it takes me 5 minutes a sentence.

 

So, why am I doing it anyway? Because I just read that someone here wrote their reason for closing something called "the soapbox" (whatever that may have been, some kind of sub-forum?) was that the content of this site has nothing to do with politics. And sorry, but I strongly disagree. Equal rights for everyone, discrimination because of gender or just the construction of gender itself, these are very political issues! And even if most stories here discuss all of this in a rather personal, romantical manner it is simply not possible to talk about anything related to sexual orientation without thinking about its political context, society's role and so on and so forth.

 

As I mentioned before, I don't really know what this soapbox-thing was. But I think it is very important to see that homosexuality always has to deal with homophobia and that homophobes are not just some idiots that don't know any better, but they are products of their society, of discriminating role-models, of sexism etc. I am not trying to create some kind of "victim mentality" or to say "Uuuh, poor gays, bad society", my point is: Minorities get discriminated in this system as long as they don't organize and fight for their rights. That means we either need a better system or political awareness within the communities. I guess the first won't happen any time soon, so we must be careful not to forget about the second one.

 

And that's an aspect I'm missing here, by the way.

 

Well. I feel as if it all came out a whole lot more confused than I intended. But you know. The language problem. Blame it on the language. All of it. Ha.

 

Goodbye. Au revoir. Auf Wiedersehen. La revedere. Na shledanou.

[NaperVic]

why was the soapbox removed. it was kinda fun the short time i got to to spend in there lol.

 

I had fun there, too. However, a lot of the discussions had to do with politics (and to a certain extent religion), which tend to be sensitive subjects that people feel strongly about, and that can cause dissension and bad feelings between people. We've got something pretty special here, and since the purpose of GA has nothing to do with politics anyway, it would be a shame to mess it up.

 

Kitty

 

Moderating such forums is a hell of a work. What is offensive and what is just an opinion ? The limit can be very very blur.

 

GA is a story site first and foremost. As I recall, the soapbox was generating so many complaints and taking up so much moderator time that it was taking away from the ability to provide for GA's Mission.

 

Blogs were opened up to provide an avenue for people to discuss their personal and political opinions and such. And as Mr.Greg pointed out, there are other sites out there that might be better suited for such topics.

 

Personally, I would prefer Myr spend his time posting story updates, do his own writing, and improve the GA site overall instead of babysitting and responding to petty squabbles.

 

Take Care

Edited March 1, 2006 by naper_vic

[Dio]

Lets beat the dead horse with a stick why don't we? The GA comitee wasn't infringing on your right to express yourself Greg, or anyone else who feels the same way. In fact a couple topics carried over into the General Discussion (I seem to remember a suicide thread migrating across). No one has said that you aren't allowed to express your personal opinions, or spark some controversy either.

 

Denying ourselves by denying controversy? Closing a forum isn't the end of the world. If you're denying yourself, it's no ones fault but your own. You have blog don't you? Go nuts. Make it into your own personal soapbox. Get members to submit ideas for topics, and have at each other. Rawr!

 

Anyways, I fail to really see how controversy applies to the topic in question. If we need to make users hot and bothered to get them to post, then I think we're doing something wrong.

 

As to special guest's comments, um, I'm not really sure what you're getting at. I don't think GA is supposed to be a politically active tool to accuse governments of such and such, or society in general.

 

For the lazy folks, here's the fabled mission statement:

Mission Statement

 

The purpose of this site is to support authors and readers of the Gay Male stories by hosting author websites, a discussion board for Authors, Editors, Readers and Review seekers, and a list of links to other authors and story hosting sites.

 

What is our Goal?

 

The goal of Gay Authors is to help promote authors of gay fiction, both net published and commericially published. We hope to do this through our Discussion Forums, our a href="."/list/index.php">Top Site List page, our extensive a href="."/archive/index.php">Story Archive, and by a href="."/hosted.php">Hosting Net Authors. We hope that by building a community of active writers, editors and readers, we can promote and improve the quality of gay fiction or gay-themed fiction for everyone.

 

How Can You Help?

 

There are a number of ways to support our efforts here. The best way is to participate in our community. Join the Discussion Forums, rate the stories in the Story Archive, suggest new links to other sites, suggest new stories we should add to the archive or visit our a href="."/support.php">Support page and help us fiscally.

 

 

edit: BLAH! Vic beat me to it.

hugz,

-db

[Guest special guest]

As to special guest's comments, um, I'm not really sure what you're getting at. I don't think GA is supposed to be a politically active tool to accuse governments of such and such, or society in general.

 

Yes, I know it's not supposed to be that. But I think it should though. Because everything's connected.

 

But I also see that there's not much point in discussing this here, so just forget about it.

 

Bye

[Xandra Kitee]

If we need to make users hot to get them to post, then I think we're doing something right.

There. Fixed for Great Justice ! XD

 

More seriously -and here I'll speak only for myself- I like to know where we stand on some very important matters. Without that, I feel like the sunshine and puppies atmosphere is more a wall than something to bond people.

 

I repeat that this is only my personal feeling. It's not even an opinion.

[TheZot]

More seriously -and here I'll speak only for myself- I like to know where we stand on some very important matters. Without that, I feel like the sunshine and puppies atmosphere is more a wall than something to bond people.

Sunshine and puppies do get in the way of deep disscussion, this is true. And as someone pointed out, everything is in one way or another connected.

 

That doesn't mean that any place you happen to be is the appropriate place to discuss everything. Most, arguably all, venues have appropriate and inappropriate subjects. There's nothing wrong with that; having and knowing the boundaries both gives structure and a sense of safety to the people involved. Work, class, on the subway, in the carpool van, on the subway -- every place you're at has an implied set of OK and not OK subjects for discussion, which generally tie into the actual purpose of the place you're at, and that's fine. The point of your Calc II class is calculus. Discussions of women's rights in third world countries are inappropriate there, and get in the way of the explicit purpose of the class.

 

GA is here to discuss fiction and to a lesser extent provide a safe space for people to deal with the personal issues that arise because of their same-sex attractions. We could talk about corn futures, Phillipine politics, desktop fusion research, and the myriad of religious and political issues that surround being gay, but the problem is that those subjects are either way off-topic or they generate enough smoke and heat to get in the way of the purpose of GA. Worse, the bitterness that erupts (and it will. Hell, it already has) drives away the people who actually want to discuss the fiction and worse still it drives away the people who could actually get some help from being here.

 

That's not to say that the discussions themselves are wrong, because they're not. Just that here is the wrong place to have them.

 

If you want to have those discussions the right way to have 'em here is in the context of a piece of fiction. Write some (or find some) that explores the issues you want to bring up then, in the context of that piece, discuss them. It won't be a general discussion, rather one that relates to the opinion expressed in a story, but that's OK, as it tends to give everyone enough distance from the touchy subjects to be able to work things out relatively calmly.

 

-Dan

[NickolasJames8]

I understand why the Soapbox was closed, but I have to say that there was a notice in the desciption that said it wasn't for the weak of heart or mind. I think I can say for sure that I was personally responsible for at least one topic being closed by the moderators because it was getting haywire. But, I think that if Myr ever does bring it back, he ought to have it unmoderated, make sure that there's a notice under the link that says it's unmoderated and only respond to complaints if they involve people contacting other posters outside of the forum or making threats against them.

BTW, I don't think Mr. Greg said anything about his right to express himself being infringed like it was something being imposed on him. It looked to me like he was giving an opinion.

[Myr]

Yes, I know it's not supposed to be that. But I think it should though. Because everything's connected.

 

But I also see that there's not much point in discussing this here, so just forget about it.

 

Bye

 

 

The last two lines here are EXACTLY why we closed the Soapbox. We had more complaints, more bannings and more moderating in that forum then anyplace else. Add to the fact that I'm a "right-wing nut case" (owner of the site here), and most of the members are "Left-wing kooks", it tends to make it extremely aggrivating for the guy in charge. It is not worth the trouble. If you want debate, go to the blogs, or find another site that specializes in it.

 

Consider the subject of the Soapbox closed. It isn't coming back anytime in the near future. Period.

 

Myr

[glomph]

It seems like there was also some sort of legal complication relating to people who have some connection to a political campaign.

 

I don't miss the Soapbox. My politics are mostly moderately conservative with a broad libertarian streak that tends to be so far to the right it becomes left. I find "left-wing kooks" really annoying and "right-wing nut cases" even more so.

[Gregoire]

It seems like there was also some sort of legal complication relating to people who have some connection to a political campaign.

 

I don't miss the Soapbox. My politics are mostly moderately conservative with a broad libertarian streak that tends to be so far to the right it becomes left. I find "left-wing kooks" really annoying and "right-wing nut cases" even more so.

 

Yeah moderates are great...I just like making fun of everyone else. Nah, I just like to talk...hey here's a question...

 

What's do you consider yourself to be conservative or liberal...or liberal conservative...or conservative liberal...or you just don't care...or just something crazy fake or stupid

 

I'll go first...I am a conservative liberal...ask me what it means, I dare ya...wait...aren't I supposed to be somewhere not...being stupid?

 

Well I'm back to picking deodorant out of my armpits,

---Greg.

[NickolasJames8]

Yeah moderates are great...I just like making fun of everyone else. Nah, I just like to talk...hey here's a question...

 

What's do you consider yourself to be conservative or liberal...or liberal conservative...or conservative liberal...or you just don't care...or just something crazy fake or stupid

 

I'll go first...I am a conservative liberal...ask me what it means, I dare ya...wait...aren't I supposed to be somewhere not...being stupid?

 

Well I'm back to picking deodorant out of my armpits,

---Greg.

I'd say that fiscally I stand to the right of Clarence Thomas and socially I stand to the left of Hillary Clinton....wayyyyy to the left

[AFriendlyFace]

Well I'm back to picking deodorant out of my armpits,

socially I stand to the left of Hillary Clinton....wayyyyy to the left

 

....did Hillary forget to put on her deodorant?

 

 

 

I'm pretty much apolitical, but I guess more left than right.

[glomph]

I think of whatever I am as conservative, so I think a lot of "conservatives" aren't really. I'm old enough to have been a Republican before the pary was invaded by the racists and bigots. It wasn't the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt very much any more, but it went downhill fast after the departing Democrats showed up. I'm glad Lee Atwater repented on his deathbed. Whatever I am, I know I'm not a Democrat, though I find I have to vote for some a lot of times.

 

I'll add this:

 

Myr's signature "I want to keep the liberals out of my wallet and the conservatives out of my bedroom," probably sums up where a lot of us are, wherever we may be on the political spectrum.

Edited March 3, 2006 by glomph