View Full Version : LawnSite.com Part of A Family
Sean Adams
04-22-2008, 04:14 PM
Since this is the very first blog entry, I want to explain a few things about this site and the exciting things we have in store for this community as well.
First - for those of you who do not know what a "blog" is, you are not alone... I read this morning that random people were polled in New York City and they were asked what a blog is - less than half had a clue.... So here is a definition...
Blog - which stands for "Web LOG" is a journal kept on the Internet. This journal is often updated and contains all information that the person maintaining the BLOG (the blogger) wishes to share with the audience. ...
LawnSite.com is a very large forum. There are a lot of people who use this site for many reasons. At the time I am writing this, we are almost at 70,000 registered members. Crazy, huh?
It has been a very interesting experience watching this site grow from the early days (lawnicure.com and hallofforums.com) as some of you veterans may recall, to what it is now - the largest and most visited web site in the entire green industry.
But this is where things are really going to get exciting. As some of you may or may not know, I was the owner of LawnSite.com (and PlowSite.com) up until October of 2006.
Knowing the potential of the site, I made the decision that it was time for me to accept the fact that I had taken the site as far as I could take it on my own. It was time to find a solution - a way to keep the site moving forward and find ways to make the site better. It was that simple....
Moose River Media, the publisher of TURF Magazine, Landscape Construction Magazine, Tree Services Magazine, and others, who we have had a long relationship with, took over ownership officially at the end of 2006. I am still involved in the same fashion as I was before, just a different "title" now.
Now Moose River is not just another media company or publishing company. The true reason I chose to partner and turn the forums over to this company was because these people really truly care about the Green Industry. They are normal people like you and me - not stuffy, suit-wearing types....:dizzy:
This is very important because if any other company would have gotten their hands on this community, they probably would have made so many changes that none of us would even recognize it.
They understand that "landscapers" and particularly the ones who are members of this community are "cut from a different cloth". There is an atmosphere around this forum that really makes it special. I know this for sure because I study every forum I can find, and rarely will you see the kind of comraderie you find at LawnSite.com.
But Moose River Media is not satisfied with things coming to a halt. Since I am a part of Moose River Media (notice my sweet title in my signature line), it is OK for me to say "we" at Moose River Media....
We at Moose River Media are working on adding fantastic new features and options to the forum. We are also soon going to unveil some really impressive, informative, and creative web sites for the magazines that we offer as well.
This is really cutting edge stuff! I guarantee you will enjoy these additions and features and I will update everyone when things are ready.
In the meantime.... remember this....
LawnSite.com is all about the members and Moose River knows this and understands this. I can assure you that the goal is to not only maintain what we have going on here now, but to make things even more informative and educational.
We always want to hear what you think, what you suggest, and what you prefer, so don't be shy.... I probably didn't have to even say that with this group :rolleyes:, but I figured I should end this first blog entry with something that would invite you to speak up!
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog and I promise you that each new entry will be something different and even fun.... I wanted to use this first entry to let you know the intentions for the future of this great site!
Until Next Time....
GravelyNut
04-22-2008, 04:28 PM
Thanks! :waving:
Lawn-Sharks
04-22-2008, 04:32 PM
okey doekey
It has been a very interesting experience watching this site grow from the early days (lawnicure.com and hallofforums.com) as some of you veterans may recall, to what it is now - the largest and most visited web site in the entire green industry.
But this is where things are really going to get exciting. As some of you may or may not know, I was the owner of LawnSite.com (and PlowSite.com) up until October of 2006.
Knowing the potential of the site, I made the decision that it was time for me to accept the fact that I had taken the site as far as I could take it on my own. It was time to find a solution - a way to keep the site moving forward and find ways to make the site better. It was that simple....
What about Chuck K., he is the one who actually started these forums.
Sean Adams
04-22-2008, 06:18 PM
No doubt....Chuck started the forums and you can't forget EricELM either - a very significant role was played by Eric in getting the people involved and keeping the conversations on topic and interesting....also, of course the moderators, specifically Jodi, Charles and of course, Michael Donovan. Believe it or not, when the first forum was "tinkered with" it was right around 1998...
No doubt....Chuck started the forums and you can't forget EricELM either - a very significant role was played by Eric in getting the people involved and keeping the conversations on topic and interesting....also, of course the moderators, specifically Jodi, Charles and of course, Michael Donovan. Believe it or not, when the first forum was "tinkered with" it was right around 1998...
Sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh. I came here quite often for two years before I was a member and some of the original members had a wealth of information. Eric's knowledge was a big help for me in getting started.
Sean, you should tell in this blog about how you entered into the green industry. I would like to know about your lawn/landscaping company that you owned.
MarcSmith
04-22-2008, 07:33 PM
70K is a great number of registered users, but its not really indicative of the current acitivity, how many active users do we have..... Ie folks who post once a week or more? or how many different people posted at least once in the last calendar year...jst curious
Skimastr105
04-22-2008, 07:56 PM
70K is a great number of registered users, but its not really indicative of the current acitivity, how many active users do we have..... Ie folks who post once a week or more? or how many different people posted at least once in the last calendar year...jst curious
it would be interesting to see those numbers
Lawn Enforcer
04-22-2008, 08:13 PM
70K is a great number of registered users, but its not really indicative of the current acitivity, how many active users do we have..... Ie folks who post once a week or more? or how many different people posted at least once in the last calendar year...jst curious
That's what I was thinking. I know I am on here sometimes WAY TOO MUCH!:laugh:, so it probably makes up for those who don't get on the site very often
IndyChad
04-22-2008, 08:31 PM
I think it is kinda like a gang. Once your a member you are always a member. I believe you should have to be in business for a certain amount of years before you become a Senior Member. There are some people on here that just mowed their first yard last week and have over 1000 post and Senior Lawnsite Members??????
J&R Landscaping
04-22-2008, 08:50 PM
It kinda sucks the way some of the older guys with the expereince dont chime in much (MM lawn, 6'7 330, olderthandirt etc) I found a lot of their posts helpful...
Also speaking of which, where has John Gamba been lately? Havent seen much from him in sometime??
Supper Grassy
04-22-2008, 10:19 PM
Good Entry how often do you pan to post entries
lifetree
04-22-2008, 10:52 PM
it would be interesting to see those numbers
Yes, very interesting !!
DLAWNS
04-22-2008, 11:27 PM
Sounds good, I can't wait to see some of the changes and new features that are coming to the site.
PROCUT1
04-22-2008, 11:29 PM
It kinda sucks the way some of the older guys with the expereince dont chime in much (MM lawn, 6'7 330, olderthandirt etc) I found a lot of their posts helpful...
Also speaking of which, where has John Gamba been lately? Havent seen much from him in sometime??
The people you have mentioned have all parted company with this forum.
Sean Adams
04-22-2008, 11:29 PM
Not sure how many of the 70k are active in way of posting on the site. There are thousands of people who sign up and do nothing but read.
More importantly, how many people come to the site everyday and never even sign up? Right now there are 1,200 people on the site - 400 registered members and 800 lurkers.
Sean Adams
04-22-2008, 11:35 PM
The people you have mentioned have all parted company with this forum.
That is not true actually.
John Gamba is still around.
6'7 330 was not even a real person - he does not even exist.
Charles
04-23-2008, 05:17 AM
That is not true actually.
John Gamba is still around.
6'7 330 was not even a real person - he does not even exist.
Ya we had a regular soap opra going on here at one time. One of the charactors of the "show" had Mulitiple Personality Disorder and Delusions of Grandeur as well as a host of other mental problems. Lawnsite has seen it :laugh: all and it has been interesting and entertaining at times to go along with the educational.
People come and go. That is and always will be part of forum life. Some just take short breaks and come back
Charles
04-23-2008, 06:33 AM
It was really nice to have someone like Sean step up to the plate and take over LS from Chuck K(who did a nice job too). The forum didn't miss a beat from the smooth transition. Sean was and is very responsive to member wants and needs. Although some don't always get what they want and hence the soap opra(s) begin/began......:rolleyes::hammerhead::laugh::waving:
topsites
04-23-2008, 08:49 AM
Well, Sean...
There are a lot of things that come to mind, most are not nearly as nice as the way you put them but then you might know me as the admin of what was once a million hits / day site... That is, I'm still not sure exactly how all that works with the hits and pages and visitors but much like yourself I had to lease a whole box and there was a time or two I got seriously concerned about overstepping bandwidth boundaries, so what I do know is you get to a point in this mess it becomes a real predicament.
In that sense my site never quite made it in the way yours did, and I see today where I went wrong from the start, but by the time I saw the error I just didn't have it in me... With a real world business to worry about and looking at what would have been a complete tear down and rebuild of this 5 or 6 gigabyte thing that sprawled more pages even Google could not crawl it all... I think at last count it was over 240,000 pages... And somewhere in all that I think the organization got lost :laugh:
So I guess what I'm trying to say is you found purpose or goal where I didn't, although I will also say I learned some hard lessons on the Web and much like yourself it is something I can say I might do again but likely won't... And on that note I reckon we all do what we must do and what we feel is best for ourselves and the community, now I best cut on out and wish you (and Turf) the best of luck!
Sean Adams
04-23-2008, 09:26 AM
Well, Sean...
There are a lot of things that come to mind, most are not nearly as nice as the way you put them but then you might know me as the admin of what was once a million hits / day site... That is, I'm still not sure exactly how all that works with the hits and pages and visitors but much like yourself I had to lease a whole box and there was a time or two I got seriously concerned about overstepping bandwidth boundaries, so what I do know is you get to a point in this mess it becomes a real predicament.
In that sense my site never quite made it in the way yours did, and I see today where I went wrong from the start, but by the time I saw the error I just didn't have it in me... With a real world business to worry about and looking at what would have been a complete tear down and rebuild of this 5 or 6 gigabyte thing that sprawled more pages even Google could not crawl it all... I think at last count it was over 240,000 pages... And somewhere in all that I think the organization got lost :laugh:
So I guess what I'm trying to say is you found purpose or goal where I didn't, although I will also say I learned some hard lessons on the Web and much like yourself it is something I can say I might do again but likely won't... And on that note I reckon we all do what we must do and what we feel is best for ourselves and the community, now I best cut on out and wish you (and Turf) the best of luck!
Appreciate the well wishes! And never say never....the bug may bite you once again and you never know what might happen!
MarcSmith
04-23-2008, 09:57 AM
Not sure how many of the 70k are active in way of posting on the site. There are thousands of people who sign up and do nothing but read.
Thats great that folks sign up just to read and never post, those are great numbers for the advertisers, IMO that does not make them an active member. Kinda like I'm a member of my local church (I go to church for their annual octoberfest) so while I'm a member, I'm not an active member.
Another reason folks register, is so they can access areas to read where they otherwise would not be allowed to as a guest
with the software there is to be a way to track the numbers. But I know if those numbers are published your ad rate drops. Like the Nielson ratings....higher numbers means more viewers which means more ad $$$$
what if---you had 70K registered members, but only 100 people actively posting each day...
Sean Adams
04-23-2008, 10:11 AM
Thats great that folks sign up just to read and never post, those are great numbers for the advertisers, IMO that does not make them an active member. Kinda like I'm a member of my local church (I go to church for their annual octoberfest) so while I'm a member, I'm not an active member.
Another reason folks register, is so they can access areas to read where they otherwise would not be allowed to as a guest
with the software there is to be a way to track the numbers. But I know if those numbers are published your ad rate drops. Like the Nielson ratings....higher numbers means more viewers which means more ad $$$$
what if---you had 70K registered members, but only 100 people actively posting each day...
Your assumptions and opinions are certainly welcome, but I can assure you that you are way off on this one. Our sponsors do not look at number of "members" as a deciding factor for sponsoring this forum. The question is never asked and the discussion is never had.
People are people - whether they register and participate about the industry, whether they register and try and cause unnecessary problems, or whether they register and never post one thing - people are people - and this includes people looking but never registering.
Traffic is what matters, plain and simple. There is not a site in this industry that gets a mere fraction of the unique visitors and page views as this site does - it's a fact. It's numbers and nothing else...numbers don't lie.
Out of curiosity, why do you care or comment about the number of users, etc...we have? This is a free site that you have been a member of for quite some time. You have gained quite a bit of knowledge from this site and it hasn't cost you a penny. I understand there is always going to be those one or two people who like to stir the pot, but I'm just curious what your motivation is.
MarcSmith
04-23-2008, 12:54 PM
You dropped the membership numbers....and yes 70K registered members is really great....but IMO (which is worth what you pay for it :) ) its meaningless. By using that 70K you are saying that the guy from 5 years ago who made 3 posts is just as valuable as the guy from a year ago with 400 posts and growing...
I am currently registered at over 20 forums, from RC modeling, Auto racing, weight training, various horticulture, ect...but I am only active 5-6 forums, meaning I post at least once per week. so I'm only active in 20% of the forums I am registered
LS gets a lot of traffic..for instance right now Currently Active Users: 919 (144 members and 775 guests), and thats great. the guest numbers count as hits, and that keeps the ads in peoples faces and as such keeps the revenue coming in to keep LS a free site...which is great.
one a side note...I'd be willing to pay for LS if it was ad free and if it had membership restricted to those in the industry, this would keep out the trolls and the wannabe's
IMO this is the most important number. How many folks posting(active) /answering(active) does it take to keep the site fresh with the high traffic activity you currently see?
Those of us who are active help keep the site fresh where Moose River continues to get the high traffic such that they can continue to generate ad revenue off of a bunch folks sitting in front of a computer screen (which I have no problem with).
Sean, my desire was pure curiosity. How many of that 70K are actively contributing to LS? 10%, 5%, less ?? If its a trade secret, like the coke recipe, thats fine.
My guess....if you have 5% of the total registered users active in a given month, your doing good, but i don't think the number is that high. But I've been wrong before. In the end it really doesn't matter since if its 2% or 20% as long as the traffic volume stays up ad revenue stays up....Right...:)
Yes I have been known to "stir the pot" but business is numbers, and learning about the numbers and how to quantify and qualify those numbers is were you start making the money...no?
bill8379
04-23-2008, 05:05 PM
Not sure how many of the 70k are active in way of posting on the site. There are thousands of people who sign up and do nothing but read.
That other site makes you sign up if you do more then a few searches or go more then 3 pages deep. Big scam, I hate when sites do that especially now that I use forums for almost all info gathering. From researching the best cell phones, PDA's, diagnosing computer problems, building sheds, fixing cars..whatever happened to libraries?
I don't think you guys do that here, at least I hope not.
btw, the spell check on these forums is VERY POOR, sometimes I have to go to google and do my spell check there then copy/paste back here.:laugh:
I was also wondering what happens if you get into a situation like topsite was talking about, as far as having too many pages, too much memory dedicated to past threads. I make giant folders with bookmarks, though truthfully I don't revisit them too much, but at some point these pages must disappear.
Sites with reverse nav at the bottom are much easier to peruse.
Sean Adams
04-23-2008, 05:49 PM
That other site makes you sign up if you do more then a few searches or go more then 3 pages deep. Big scam, I hate when sites do that especially now that I use forums for almost all info gathering. From researching the best cell phones, PDA's, diagnosing computer problems, building sheds, fixing cars..whatever happened to libraries?
I don't think you guys do that here, at least I hope not.
btw, the spell check on these forums is VERY POOR, sometimes I have to go to google and do my spell check there then copy/paste back here.:laugh:
I was also wondering what happens if you get into a situation like topsite was talking about, as far as having too many pages, too much memory dedicated to past threads. I make giant folders with bookmarks, though truthfully I don't revisit them too much, but at some point these pages must disappear.
Sites with reverse nav at the bottom are much easier to peruse.
Excellent input - I have made notes of your suggestions and we are going to see what we can do to every suggestion one at a time.
americanlawn
04-23-2008, 06:54 PM
We have the utmost respect for Moose River and it's publications. Same goes with lawnsite -- you guys have been very understanding when members make questionable posts, but I know that's cuz these guys (us included) nearly always apologize once they realize their mistakes....we're all human. I also like the personal message feature -- got hundreds so far -- all good ones. We also enjoy the photos that members are able to share -- that's cool! If it were not for lawnsite, we would never have known several about new products that we ended up purchasing (we try to buy from your sponsors whenever we can). Last thing....the moderators---they are TOP NOTCH. Looking forward to the new features here. Thanks, L, C, M, D, J, D, N, M, N. (2 of our new guys still have not yet checked out lawnsite, but they will cuz it's a great source of information:usflag:)
bill8379
04-23-2008, 07:22 PM
We also enjoy the photos that members are able to share -- that's cool! If it were not for lawnsite, we would never have known several about new products that we ended up purchasing
Isn't that the truth. I'm buying a Shurflo back pack tomorrow. I would never have heard of it if not for the Pesticide section. The other day I picked up a br600 blower and my first commercial 21" mower, a Toro heavy duty proline with bbc.
the blower- simply amazing, it even sounds cool and has tons of power for clean ups (though I still think the bearcat Vac I have is a better solution for thatch at clean ups). I love the way you torque to the side when you crank up the power. Much better then the Echo home depot back pack blower I had/still have.
The mower- it must weigh twice as much as the recyclers and super recyclers I was using. It did take me 5 minutes to notice the blades weren't engaged and another 5 minutes to figure out HOW to engage them but I'll never buy a cheap mower again. Now I've bought 36" toro T-bar and a 21" proline heavy duty because of these forums.
I really like how Lawnsite hosts all the pics so that they never disappear. I've actually printed some of them out and hung them on my wall:laugh:
Lazer_Z
04-23-2008, 07:49 PM
That other site makes you sign up if you do more then a few searches or go more then 3 pages deep. Big scam, I hate when sites do that especially now that I use forums for almost all info gathering. From researching the best cell phones, PDA's, diagnosing computer problems, building sheds, fixing cars..whatever happened to libraries?
I don't think you guys do that here, at least I hope not.
btw, the spell check on these forums is VERY POOR, sometimes I have to go to google and do my spell check there then copy/paste back here.:laugh:
I was also wondering what happens if you get into a situation like topsite was talking about, as far as having too many pages, too much memory dedicated to past threads. I make giant folders with bookmarks, though truthfully I don't revisit them too much, but at some point these pages must disappear.
Sites with reverse nav at the bottom are much easier to peruse.bill, If I may make a suggestion, try MozillaFirefox as your browser. It's a ton better than any version of IE and has a built in spell check feature.
bill8379
04-23-2008, 08:06 PM
I love firefox, been using it for years. Only had one problem, one time it erased all my bookmarks during an update. I love the way you can restore all your pages after it crashes but I don't think it's as secure TODAY as it was once touted to be in the past. Many times I've done image searches and click on the image only to find it wants me to save a file of some sort to my computer.
Lazer_Z
04-23-2008, 08:07 PM
Sean, I've been enjoying LS for almost 5 years. Granted it's not as long as most guys here, but I have found tons of info here in the short time I've been a member. I also like coming here because it lets me interact with people literally from around the world. Although Charles and I have butted heads in the past and more recently,I have to say that I agree about the "characters" remark. I have been fortunate or unfortunate enough (depends on how you look at it :laugh:) to have seen some of the "characters" that have graced the LS community. I'm sure you will remember one with the initials B.G. and the infamous "Peeing in the bushes" thread that one will forever be an LS classic.
Sean, In closing I would like to thank you, The late Mr. Eric Elm, Chuck W., Charles, Jodi, Michael Donovan and the Moose River Media crew for keeping LawnSite interesting and a great place to call my "Home away from home" Thanks again to you all and may LS continue to grow. :drinkup::drinkup:
sbvfd592
04-23-2008, 08:23 PM
This site is great!!! good job to all of you
What ever happened to Chuck K.? I pm'ed him a while back and no response.
topsites
04-23-2008, 09:42 PM
Traffic is a funny thing...
I never did quite figure out what exactly a million hits MEANS...
I do know a million hits can be anything from 10,000 TO 100,000 visitors, and still it's a rough guess....
Because googlebot can register a million hits IF there's that much in the way of content, just by crawling...
And it could be as little as 1-2,000 visitors, too...
All depends how long one stays, what they do, what there is to do.
See it never comes clear when all we have are statistics, and stats never tell the whole story, no matter how detailed. You have caches... A site can have a TON of traffic and the owner never knows it because almost ALL of it is regular visitors whose browsers have saved the site to their hard-drive and it's actually loading from their end, this never registers...
Then you have robots, not just all the engines (that too) but harvesters and trawlers and other ilk crawl sites all day long, I'd say 10-20% of ALL traffic consists of this robotic background noise... Some is good, some isn't.
There's always, as I found, traffic that registers on the statistics but it's not really mine... Not sure how to explain it, other than nothing or nobody ever visited the site and it's not a bot either, just weird stuff... Maybe pings... Leeches? Almost like someone's stealing server resources, or maybe the server is doing it on its own, but how?
So it's just weird, who knows, who really knows the truth?
People are people
Ain't that the truth.
Some folks visit daily, others weekly, some still more sporadically.
And what if they just read, or what if they come once and never again, for whatever reason?
Does it count?
Don't forget the backdoor scripting :laugh:
Oh and the spam, that somehow counts too.
It's just nuts.
But it is clear, LS is number one in its class, no doubt about it.
Just wait until you get the "Server too busy right now"
That to me says it all.
lawnman_scott
04-23-2008, 11:03 PM
That is not true actually.
John Gamba is still around.
6'7 330 was not even a real person - he does not even exist.I find it funny that anyone took him for real anyway. At christmas he said he bought his wife a caddilac and surprised her with it. Then he was posting all night about how happy she was. I would have been "busy", but thats just me......
lawnman_scott
04-23-2008, 11:10 PM
Thats great that folks sign up just to read and never post, those are great numbers for the advertisers, IMO that does not make them an active member. Kinda like I'm a member of my local church (I go to church for their annual octoberfest) so while I'm a member, I'm not an active member.
Another reason folks register, is so they can access areas to read where they otherwise would not be allowed to as a guest
with the software there is to be a way to track the numbers. But I know if those numbers are published your ad rate drops. Like the Nielson ratings....higher numbers means more viewers which means more ad $$$$
what if---you had 70K registered members, but only 100 people actively posting each day...Other places have an open customer list. Look at it sometime. About 1% have more than 1 post.
The truth is that this siet is like the original movie and the others are like the sequils.
Sean Adams
04-24-2008, 09:05 AM
I can say honestly that I would not change one thing that has happened at LawnSite over the years. It has been an education as well as an extreme pleasure to meet so many different people, learn from them, share with them, and most importantly - laugh with them.
Yes, this site has had it's problems - I have made mistakes and I'm sure I will continue to make some here and there :rolleyes:. But I can assure you, this site is focused on providing a place for people in this industry to call home and enjoy.
We appreciate every single member and our sponsors too, and this site would just be another online casualty if it weren't for the dedication and sincere passion everyone here shares for getting dirty and making things beautiful....
:drinkup:
MarcSmith
04-24-2008, 09:20 AM
We appreciate every single member and our sponsors too, and this site would just be another online casualty if it weren't for the dedication and sincere passion everyone here shares for getting dirty and making things beautiful....
'nuff said.
so...now you need the catch up on your blog, we are still waiting for thursday's blog...:)
Sean Adams
04-24-2008, 10:06 AM
'nuff said.
so...now you need the catch up on your blog, we are still waiting for thursday's blog...:)
Hmmm.... I try to be as interesting as I can but I'm not sure contributing to the blog every single day would be a good idea :laugh:
That being said, the goal is to make the blog as green industry related as possible, so I will do my best to post a new entry as often as I can... that being said, I have one for today which will be posted shortly.
lyndont
01-20-2011, 12:15 AM
This site is by far the best reference tool for my business. Thanks
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