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Exeweb Steering Committee Statement

GrecianLez

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
8,991
Exeweb Steering Committee Statement – The Next Steps

Firstly, we would like to take this opportunity to send our most sincere thanks to Steve Morris for all his work over the past 12+ years in keeping Exeweb alive. The new steering committee for Exeweb wish him all the best for the future. Steve will always be warmly welcomed in the future.

We are all well aware that this handover of Exeweb will result in lots of questions and opinions from members - maybe even some hostility. We hope that this brief statement and FAQ will go some way to explain our reasoning for getting involved and our plans for the future.

Can we ask that any questions or comments that specifically relate to the handover of Exeweb are made in the exeweb.com development forum and not elsewhere. This is primarily so that we can keep the rest of Exeweb the place it usually is and not overshadow the regular discussions that usually go on.

Thanks!
Lez
(Chair – Exeweb Steering Committee)

Tada

Why is Exeweb changing hands?

Steve Morris has done a sterling job at the Exeweb helm for a long time, but - as you have heard from him - due to his own time constraints it has been his wish to hang up his boots and let someone else take over for a little while. As a group of like-minded individuals, we have decided to get together, form a committee and put some funds in a pot to take over the running of the site and ensure that the Exeweb legacy can continue, grow and prosper. A fair amount of effort has already gone on behind the scenes over the past couple of months to make this happen and we're pleased to now be in a position to announce it to everyone.

Exeweb has been an important part of many people's lives for a long time. It has been through good times and bad times and it's as important now as it ever has been. We want to preserve that and ensure it can continue to remain a useful tool for city fans all over.

Who is part of the new Exeweb Steering Committee?

This new Exeweb Steering Committee comprises :-

GrecianLez – Chairman
lmartin – Vice Chair & Comms
LammieLammieLammie – Treasurer
Sumner7 – Secretary
Spank the Monkey – Forum & Mod Management
Hants_Red
NDMBigBanker

All members of the steering committee have contributed to the cost of keeping Exeweb operating. The Steering Committee is also taking external advice, particularly in regards to the legal side of operating online forums.

How will the new Exeweb Steering Committee operate?

We are in the process of drafting and fomalising a constitution that we will use to govern the Steering Committee – and we’ll make it available once it’s finished. But the bottom line is that we want to be as open and transparent with members as possible. The members of the steering committee are involved with Exeweb to see it survive and prosper. None of us will be personally profiting in any way whatsoever from our involvement in Exeweb. It is our intention to publish a report and accounts on a yearly basis that demonstrates this.

What happens next?

We will be moving Exeweb over to a new server and this will happen at some point before Feb 1st. We will let you know exactly when a there will be a short period of (mostly overnight) downtime.

After that the new Steering Committee will assume responsibility for all aspects of the site.

Will the rules be changing?

We are currently in the process of drafting a new ‘Code of Conduct’ for Exeweb. This will be very similar to and heavily inspired by the existing “Forum Guidelines”. Although we do wish to improve certain aspects of the atmosphere on Exeweb, the last thing any of us want to do is stifle free speech and discourage debate. In fact, we want to welcome and promote those kinds of discussions. The new ‘Code of Conduct’ will primarily focus on stamping out abuse of other members, affirming our position on unacceptable racism and homophobia as well as including all the legal don’ts that could (and do) land forum owners in trouble!

We welcome any feedback members have on the existing regulations and any ideas you may have for the new ‘Code of Conduct’. So if you have anything you want to say please come talk to us in the exeweb.com development forum.

It is our sincere hope that members are able to adhere to our ‘Code of Conduct’ and thus we can have a ‘light touch’ to moderation. Once it is complete, we will be asking all members to accept it in order to continue posting.

Who will be moderating the site?

Several of the existing moderating team have very kindly agreed to continue moderating the site and each member of the new steering committee will also be given moderator privileges. In the future, where we need new moderators, we plan to experiment with conducting an open recruitment process with a system of nomination and voting amongst all members of Exeweb.

Will the procedure for issuing disciplinaries change?

The new ‘Code of Conduct’ will include an open policy on the issuance of infraction points and the process we will follow if we feel a user needs to be banned. Banning users will always remain a last resort and will, in future, require a consensus amongst the moderating team. No single moderator will have the power to issue bans except in very extreme circumstances.

Are we going to start seeing more ads on Exeweb?

As you may have noticed, Exeweb does show occasional advertising. We wish to make it no secret that we do intend to build on this.

Our initial aim is to get Exeweb to pay for itself as soon as we can – but without intruding on the Exeweb experience. Steve has already said that his own costs to run the site over the past decade have amounted to a 5 figure sum. There are server hosting costs, domain renewals and software licensing fees we have to think about that amount to several hundred pounds a year.

Once this has been achieved, we intend to look at ways in which we may be able to further generate funds to put back into the club or local community in some way. If we can do this, then it would be our plan to involve the membership as much as possible. So if there are a few small club projects that we could theoretically fund, for example, we will look at having a poll for members to help us decide on which project deserves the funds most.

Throughout the process we will be as transparent as we can be and at no stage do we want advertising or revenue to detract from the main purpose of the site – bringing fans together. For example, we may choose to do this by showing more ads to visitors who are not logged in regular visitors (since many of them are merely Argyle fans after all!).

Will Exeweb always be free?

This is absolutely our intention. If Exeweb ever got to the stage where it was necessary to charge just to keep it running, we believe it more likely Exeweb would simply close. None of us want that to happen and don’t think it will. The steering committee is committed to supporting the site for at least the next 12 months during which time we plan for the ad revenue to take over supporting the site.

One thing we may decide to do is offer a subscription service where for a small monthly fee you can turn off all the ads. But we will always ask for member input where possible.

Are any changes or improvements planned?

We want to take things one step at a time, so for now we will be keeping the handover fairly simple. We don’t want to come in all guns blazing and making sweeping changes. We also want to listen to members' views on what they think Exeweb should be and involve them wherever possible in the decisions we take managing the site.

It is our plan to build on the forum aspect of Exeweb by adding a ‘frontend’ to the website which could include news / blogs / media / twitter-stream / match info etc. We will be inviting any contributions on what people think we could include over the coming weeks.

We would like to see Exeweb grow. The more visitors and pageviews Exeweb gets, the more potential there is for us to generate ad revenue – and since any excess funds past the ‘break even’ point will go towards club projects or good causes that, we believe, is a reasonable aim.

Will the forums be changing?

We will be reviewing the forums over the coming weeks with a view to ensuring they are as distinct as possible. But don’t worry, the word on well street is not going anywhere!

Will the design be changing?

We currently have no plans regarding changing the Exeweb design. Although it would be fair to say that in the future a facelift is probably inevitable. When we do this though, we will always take member opinion into account and where possible will continue to provide the existing Exeweb theme as one you can switch to if you prefer it – just as you can switch to the default vBulletin theme now.

Is Exeweb still independent?

YES! Exeweb remains independent and it is our intention to keep it that way!
 

Alistair20000

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
May 5, 2009
Messages
52,234
Location
Avoiding the Hundred
So, we have a gang of seven.
 

RaeUK

Cleaner
Staff member
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
12,506
Location
On hiatus.
Cool. A good start and I like the look of the Steering Committee. Best wishes for the future ... [y]
 

Grecian_Jay

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
12,125
Location
Hanging up the boots.
F*ck me! Hants and Spanky in charge. I better get some multi accounts set up. There goes free speech.
 

elginCity

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Jul 29, 2004
Messages
12,935
Location
Swindon
Not another BoS!
 

Antony Moxey

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
42,714
Location
Exmuff
Best of luck Lez.

:)
 

Red the Paper

Banned
Joined
Jun 9, 2006
Messages
9,843
This is a joke isn't it?
 

wemissmoxey

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
11,793
Location
Cheesedale PLC, Cotswolds.
Feck me !

Hants dream has come true !

Good to see Spanker on board, he seems like a good chap who can actually handle plenty of banter.

Good luck.
 

spanky

exeweb.com eejit
Staff member
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Messages
3,557
F*ck me! Hants and Spanky in charge. I better get some multi accounts set up. There goes free speech.
I wouldn't do that Jayney. Instant banning offence... Well, for you it will be...

;)
 

Grecian_Jay

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
12,125
Location
Hanging up the boots.
Feck me !

Hants dream has come true !

Good to see Spanker on board, he seems like a good chap who can actually handle plenty of banter.

Good luck.
Hants will be along later, he is currently creaming himself...
 
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