Thanks for the many comments on The State of the TechSideline Union, Part 1. As I type this, there are 112 comments on that article, including my responses. Sorry I couldn’t answer all the comments, but there were too many, in addition to emails and message board posts. But I read them all.

Part 2 is up next: The Challenges We Face. It occurs to me that following Part 1 with this topic is going to make things sound like gloom and doom, but that’s not my intent. Many of you took the things I said in Part 1 to be some sort of harbinger of doom, but that’s not it at all. Some comments were even along the lines of “sorry about the downturn,” but if you go back and read it, I (mostly) wasn’t describing a downturn at all. Subscriptions are flat, TPA revenue (third party ad revenue) has risen but has plateaued and is starting to fall, and sponsorships are at a peak. So, good news-bad news there.

The good news is that we have done a good job with all three revenue streams, but the bad news is that still doesn’t get us where we need to be.

Similarly, this part will sound at times ominous and depressing, but what this part is intended to convey is that we see some trends coming that aren’t good for us, and we must respond to those trends.

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