Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts
-
Friends, see below the latest minutes from the @Curators meetings. This time I've combined the last two because they were close together and Nov 4 was a continuation of Oct 14. As usual, this thread will move to Oppodocs for archiving after a couple of days. Enjoy!
In attendance
CarsofFortLangley
Chariotoflove
ClassicDatsunDebate
davesaddiction
derp
ITA97
jminer
MM54
RallyDarkstrike
Shop_Teacher
Snakesm13Financial report
August
Recurring Donations: $152.76 from 20 donors
One-Time Donations: $71.36 from 3 donorsHosting Costs: $253.81 to AWS
Email: $18
Misc costs: $563.49 + one case McRib coupons to anti-chicken tax lobbyists.September
Recurring Donations: $148.39 from 19 donors
One-Time Donations: $115.54 from 2 donors
Sticker proceeds: $183.05Hosting Costs: $249.85 to AWS
Email: $18
Misc. costs: $122.63 for Dave & Buster’s ski-ball tournamentMerch report
- Sales over Summer/Fall
Total orders: 54
April: 36
May: 0
June: 3
July: 2
Aug: 10
Sep: 1
Oct: 1Total out (cost of product): 1465.10
April: 972.92
May: 0
June: 57.66
July: 78.24
Aug: 293.68
Sep: 42.91
Oct: 19.69Total in: 1815.69
Paypal: 166.65
Shopify:
Apr: 979.88
May: 70.26
Jun: 72.37
Jul: 97.06
Aug: 362.47
Sep: 44.40
Oct: 22.60Total profit: 350.59
-
Four limited run shirts: two are available on the Merch Store right now, one more for Liberation Day week, and another before the Holiday season.
-
Very limited run Liberation Day Edition Oppositeclock desk/wall clock coming soon.
-
Online Hyphen 2022 calendar—Each month will feature a member’s car (chosen by Hyphen staff from submissions).
Liberation Day
-
The Hyphen was created on 11/6/20. Oppositelock Liberation day is hereby declared to be the day Kinja cut us loose to be on our own: 11/16/20. Festivities to celebrate out first anniversary shall take place:
-
The Creator (aka El Jefe, High Priest, Head Reprobate, etc.) put out a one year retrospective post on creation of The Hyphen.
-
A call for Liberation Day logo art went out, along with US Thanksgiving Day logo solicitations for 11/25.
-
A call was put out on Twitter to remind Oppo and Jalop alums to come by and register/post in celebration.
-
We posted a Google form to encourage submissions that will flesh out the Oppo Glossary of Terms.
-
Other potential activities suggested: A “roast the Curators” thread, and a thread for best Oppo memories and stories.
Site building/community growth
We generally agreed that now that the site has achieved stability, we need to create long term growth in readership and accessibility for ultimate survival as a community. We discussed goals for the coming year toward this end.
- A priority for growth is to create a viable Front Page to serve as landing page for the Web at large, a front end for entry into the forum, and a place to showcase creative content in a more accessible form. We have and have been testing a Word Press construct that will allow us to achieve these aims, but only in a cumbersome and labor-intensive manner. We therefore outlined short term and long term strategies:
-
In the short term, we are developing a streamlined protocol for displaying forum content on the FP that all the Curators can be comfortable using before we open it for general use.
-
Longer term, we are looking at the ever-developing Node BB tools for streamlining the interface between FP and forum, and possibly testing them on our development server. We are not opposed to considering platform change in the future, but for now we are not planning such a drastic move.
- To gain site exposure and grow readership, we revisited the ideas of partnering with our members that have a presence on YouTube or other media to promote Oppo as a great community. We also decided to reach out to Regular Car Reviews to see if they would be interested in reviewing Oppo cars. We considered these ideas in previous discussions, but we resolved to act on them in the coming months.
-
"Misc costs: $563.49 + one case McRib coupons to anti-chicken tax lobbyists."
Remind me, how many coupons come in a case, it's been so long since I've purchased a full case...gotta be at least 1,000 right?
-
@chariotoflove I plan on getting some limited-edition special stuff out for Liberation Day. Also, as we grow it might be fun to give members here before that day a "Founders" badge, or something.
In regards to gaining exposure and readership, we may be two degrees of separation from VinWIKI, where some members or curators could share their stories and give The Hyphen some publicity.
I'm on board for the fun. I'm also still not used to having a space to talk cars in longer form, so maybe I can finally let that piece of me breath again!
-
@chariotoflove as far as money coming in, you saw a big spike of merch sales but it is slowing down month to month. Are the coffers trending negative in the future outlook without new merch releases to stimulate cash flow?
Also, we are in that curious spot of the future serious direction vs. stay as a fun hobby. Jalopnik kinda died going forward from that point. So we need to keep good heads about us.
Getting on the map..boy, yes we need hookups so to speak. RCR, donut, vinwiki would all be good places and are most similar to us. I wonder if any of them do read the site at least.
Matt Brown has moved to bigger better I guess. He writes really well, long form too.
If and when we go move to be a more serious article place, we could encourage guys like those to post up here with things that don’t have a solid peg to be hung on. RCR on the logistics of doing a shoot, Brown on working at spaceX, Donut guys on mishaps or screw ups…
Just ideas. But I’m following and interested in how we jump to the next position.
-
@chariotoflove This has reminded me that now I am fiscally stable I should setup a monthly donation... Complete. This is the only website on the entirety of the internet I'm willing to pay for!
-
@grindintosecond said in Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts:
@chariotoflove as far as money coming in, you saw a big spike of merch sales but it is slowing down month to month. Are the coffers trending negative in the future outlook without new merch releases to stimulate cash flow?
We’re holding steady over time with covering a bit more than costs each month on average. Some months are a bit light but we just bank any overages for those times.
As we hit a year in age we’ve started to focus on growth now that we’re solid and stable. We’ve always open to ideas or connections folks have.
-
@pyroholtz said in Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts:
"Misc costs: $563.49 + one case McRib coupons to anti-chicken tax lobbyists."
Remind me, how many coupons come in a case, it's been so long since I've purchased a full case...gotta be at least 1,000 right?
I think ten gross. At least that’s what the nice man told me when he sold them to me from the trunk of his Delta 88
-
@kitt222 said in Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts:
@chariotoflove I plan on getting some limited-edition special stuff out for Liberation Day. Also, as we grow it might be fun to give members here before that day a "Founders" badge, or something.
In regards to gaining exposure and readership, we may be two degrees of separation from VinWIKI, where some members or curators could share their stories and give The Hyphen some publicity.
I'm on board for the fun. I'm also still not used to having a space to talk cars in longer form, so maybe I can finally let that piece of me breath again!
You should! I like the VinWIKI idea. We just need a foot in the door.
-
@grindintosecond
I think you have a good idea of what we’re facing. Making those connections and getting those folks to recognize the value of taking advantage. In my mind, part of that is looking like more than just a small forum, and a functioning FP will help with that.The merch brings in a nice bit of dough in those spurts, but we went into it knowing that it probably would not be a big cash generator. Its biggest role is as a community builder and a bit of advertising. So be sure to wear your Oppo shirt whenever you go to an event.
-
@chariotoflove Does anyone have any connections to any YouTubers that they could pull for exposure? Mr. Regular is a good one, I think there's a decent amount of us in the same geographic area. Also that guy in Jersey with the gloves who's always fixing things, name escapes me, Scotty Kilmer?
-
@chariotoflove said in Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts:
we need to create long term growth in readership and accessibility for ultimate survival as a community.
Have the curators reached a view on how much we want to grow? 100% agree we need to at least bring in enough new blood to cover the inevitable dropout rate, but I wonder if there’s an “optimum” number for a healthy community. Too many and you lose sight of the people you “know” and it just becomes random commenters (see:Dunbar’s Number) plus there’s the increasing difficulty of maintaining the “be excellent” thing.
Not a today problem - better to face the problem of getting too big than the one of dying out. Just curious if it’s been discussed.
-
@ranwhenparked
We’ve got a couple in our ranks, like @Danny-Korecki and @TheDutchTexan . I wonder if Doug remembers us. Any other connections would be welcome. -
@distraxi
Honestly, we haven’t really worried much about that. Oppo of old was bigger by far but still retained its magic. I think absolute size isn’t as important as number of regular or semi-regular contributors. I really want to reach that kind of member. We do that, and I have faith we can keep the vibe we cherish. -
@chariotoflove Oh I am not a YouTuber, just a writer who makes some YouTube videos on the side. Thanks for thinking of me though!
-
@danny-korecki
Well maybe we can still find a way for you to be wearing an Oppo shirt or have your sticker in view or something. Every little bit helps! -
@chariotoflove get someone to design an Oppo wrap for my bike. That could be fun for awhile
-
@aestheticsinmotion said in Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts:
@chariotoflove get someone to design an Oppo wrap for my bike. That could be fun for awhile
Hmm, we also were talking about Oppo cycling jerseys for a minute a while back.
-
@kitt222 said in Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts:
In regards to gaining exposure and readership, we may be two degrees of separation from VinWIKI, where some members or curators could share their stories and give The Hyphen some publicity.
Oh that would be a great story! @jminer could get an interview on getting Oppo afloat again after Kinja murdered us!
-
@chariotoflove I'd love to put my weight behind OPPO. Too bad it is merely a feather and YouTube as of late has been rewarding me with ever diminishing view counts despite my content being of the same level as it was at the beginning of the year. I expected the revenue drop in the beginning of the year but the views and subscriber count becoming half is not something I foreseen. And it still isn't turning around which worries me. Never had a downturn like this. The end of the year used to be the money maker. Now? Not so much.
Anyway, I am definitely willing to talk about OPPO in front of one of my car show videos, I just wouldn't expect 1 million subscriber youtuber results from a 10,000 sub one.
-
@thedutchtexan Anything helps! I’m just sorry you’re shrinking and not growing. That must be upsetting.
-
@chariotoflove pretty much. 2020 was my best year ever, now I am back to 2017 levels which is absolutely disheartening.
-
@ranwhenparked said in Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts:
Also that guy in Jersey with the gloves who's always fixing things, name escapes me, Scotty Kilmer?
Oh God please no...
-
@chariotoflove Our own @GibbsEmphasis has been making more videos of late as well?
-
@rallydarkstrike said in Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts:
@chariotoflove Our own @GibbsEmphasis has been making more videos of late as well?
Yes. I hear that guy is way2new, but I bet he’ll gain momentum!
-
@chariotoflove said in Minutes from October 14 and November 4: A Curator Meeting in Two Parts:
@distraxi
Honestly, we haven’t really worried much about that. Oppo of old was bigger by far but still retained its magic. I think absolute size isn’t as important as number of regular or semi-regular contributors. I really want to reach that kind of member. We do that, and I have faith we can keep the vibe we cherish.So...size doesn't matter?