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donrockwell.com Seeking Forum Hosts


DonRocks

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Folks,

Traditionally, being asked to become a Forum Host here has been an honorary position - essentially a huge "Thank You!" for being such a valued and trusted member.

However, we're at the point now where we need Forum Hosts, in many Forums, that will roll up their sleeves and work. (I know some of our hosts do a lot of thankless, behind-the-scenes work that I don't know about, and I am genuinely, eternally grateful for them and their efforts - I know who you are.

Unfortunately, the majority - the vast majority - of our Forum Hosts don't do anything. In fact, some of them don't even sign on anymore.

I need help. This website is gargantuan, I am badly injured, and I cannot run this community without volunteers helping me. One day I hope to get some investment money (at which point, I'll probably be an employee of someone else), but until that day arrives, I'm on my own.

A special note to investors: We *may* be the second-busiest interactive restaurant website in the world, behind only Yelp, which has a market cap of nearly $3 billion, had millions of dollars in seed money, and employed incredibly unethical business practices in order to grow. We have no debt, minimal expenses, have never spent a dime on PR or marketing, have no salaried employees (not even me), are a company of one person, and I have lived my life with such high ethical standards that if Yama were standing on my shoulder, watching everything I did, he would one day direct me to Swarga. We have a very similar business model to Yelp, and I am willing to make whatever changes you feel are necessary in order to become financially viable - in fact, I *know* I need to make changes: We need a landing page, and a complete redesign on the "look and feel" of this website - I cannot do these things, and need someone to do them for me. I need to be paying our Forum Hosts and our Membership Director, but there's no revenue right now. I work something dangerously close to 100 hours a week on this website, am painted into a corner, and I desperately need help. I am not giving this website up after having poured so much of my life into it for twelve years, and if I should pass away, things are being set up so that the website will be a going concern, long, long after this dinosaur no longer roams the earth.

If Yelp can make $500 million in annual revenue, then we can make $500 million in annual revenue. Investors and venture capitalists: I just need *your* help, and we can do this. I'm a strong leader, but I'm a stronger follower, and that is a quality very few people have - and a quality that is desperately needed in this world.

Until that day arrives, if you want to help - and I mean really *help* - please write me. For now, I have nothing to offer you except a sincere thank you. Ask Pat about how annoying I am when it comes to that - the poor girl is probably sick of me thanking her, but she has been a proven, tried-and-true, loyal friend without whom the quality of our members would fall apart in short order. She is the single most valuable person working on this website - I say that, but then there is also cheezepowder, who has earned more respect and gratitude than I can put into words, and whose work on Restaurant Openings will be looked back upon as being historical in nature. What Cheezepowder has done is to create a document of such lasting importance that it will be referred to decades from now as reference standard material - I believe that even she doesn't realize the significance of what she has produced ... but I do. 

You've probably noticed that we're no longer a "Washington, DC restaurant website." Quite honestly, it's because overseeing a city such as Washington, DC became so easy that it bored the hell out of me, so I started to expand out of sheer boredom. My real expertise is in Wine, but the thought of running a wine forum bored the hell out of me too. Then came the Fine Arts Forum, which includes MusicSports, and several other of my passions, and I want to keep adding new areas - if you have a hobby that you love so much that you consider it a passion, write me, and we'll talk about creating a forum for it - it can be anything at all. This website is built, architecturally, so that there's no subject which cannot be covered, and as long as it's not obscene or indecent, I'm open to anything, and eager to dig new ground. We recently opened a Houston Forum thanks to Josh, before that it was Los Angeles thanks to Christine, and I'm currently working on yet another city which I consider to be one of the most important we'll have - I'm putting a tremendous amount of work into it because I want to do it right, the same way I did Houston and Los Angeles. The table is set, the party has started, and all we need now are guests to come and enjoy the free food and drink.

I need help running this website. I need an investor and/or a partner, perhaps even someone to lease it on *their own* website (yes, that can be arranged, and you'll have instant mega-content and a slew of readers for as long as you wish). Don't forget I also own the domain name dcdining.com, which I paid plenty for. And I need Forum Hosts - ideally, a small group of people who are willing to sign in each day - just like they do now - and instead of just reading, they'd need to organize and arrange things *while* they're reading. They probably wouldn't need to spend any more time on the website than they do now; they'd just be doing some work while they enjoy the content (I thoroughly enjoy the majority of the work I do here, because I get to read and add content at the same time I'm working, so it's "work" in quotes.

And if you're not interested in being a Forum Host, the best thing you can do to help would be to find me an investor. The second-best thing you can do to help would be to find new, quality members: I'd rather have one *great* member than one-hundred inactive ones.

At this point, people also need to be keenly aware of the severity of my injury, which may, or may not, be surgically correctable, but I need an accurate diagnosis first, and after 8+ years, I still don't have one, and things are getting worse with time. This week, I'll be having my first-ever 3 Tesla MRI - wish me luck: I need it. I kept this from the public for a long time, but I cannot keep it a secret any longer - my parents taught me, by sheer observation of their complete unselfishness, never to be a burden to people, and I refuse to burden you with my own personal problems, so I won't be discussing this on a regular basis, or even much at all. Please just be aware that I'm suffering 24/7, without any relief, and if you know of anyone who can potentially help me, please write and let me know - I'm sorry to even mention this, but I've crossed the line of desperation (to be honest, I crossed that line years ago; I just chose not to burden you. Although my heart goes out to them, I don't enjoy reading about people's suffering on Facebook, and I'm not going to force you to read about mine here - I want this community to be a community of happiness, and would gladly spend the rest of my life doing nothing but bringing joy to other people: I hope more than anything I get the chance to do so).

If you've made it this far, much obliged,
Rocks

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On 12/11/2016 at 1:42 PM, DonRocks said:

Folks,

Traditionally, being asked to become a Forum Host here has been an honorary position - essentially a huge "Thank You!" for being such a valued and trusted member.

However, we're at the point now where we need Forum Hosts, in many Forums, that will roll up their sleeves and work. (I know some of our hosts do a lot of thankless, behind-the-scenes work that I don't know about, and I am genuinely, eternally grateful for them and their efforts - I know who you are.

Unfortunately, the majority - the vast majority - of our Forum Hosts don't do anything. In fact, some of them don't even sign on anymore.

I need help. This website is gargantuan, I am badly injured, and I cannot run this community without volunteers helping me. One day I hope to get some investment money (at which point, I'll probably be an employee of someone else), but until that day arrives, I'm on my own.

A special note to investors: We *may* be the second-busiest interactive restaurant website in the world, behind only Yelp, which has a market cap of nearly $3 billion, had millions of dollars in seed money, and employed incredibly unethical business practices in order to grow. We have no debt, minimal expenses, have never spent a dime on PR or marketing, have no salaried employees (not even me), are a company of one person, and I have lived my life with such high ethical standards that if Yama were standing on my shoulder, watching everything I did, he would one day direct me to Swarga. We have a very similar business model to Yelp, and I am willing to make whatever changes you feel are necessary in order to become financially viable - in fact, I *know* I need to make changes: We need a landing page, and a complete redesign on the "look and feel" of this website - I cannot do these things, and need someone to do them for me. I need to be paying our Forum Hosts and our Membership Director, but there's no revenue right now. I work something dangerously close to 100 hours a week on this website, am painted into a corner, and I desperately need help. I am not giving this website up after having poured so much of my life into it for twelve years, and if I should pass away, things are being set up so that the website will be a going concern, long, long after this dinosaur no longer roams the earth.

If Yelp can make $500 million in annual revenue, then we can make $500 million in annual revenue. Investors and venture capitalists: I just need *your* help, and we can do this. I'm a strong leader, but I'm a stronger follower, and that is a quality very few people have - and a quality that is desperately needed in this world.

Until that day arrives, if you want to help - and I mean really *help* - please write me. For now, I have nothing to offer you except a sincere thank you. Ask Pat about how annoying I am when it comes to that - the poor girl is probably sick of me thanking her, but she has been a proven, tried-and-true, loyal friend without whom the quality of our members would fall apart in short order. She is the single most valuable person working on this website - I say that, but then there is also cheezepowder, who has earned more respect and gratitude than I can put into words, and whose work on Restaurant Openings will be looked back upon as being historical in nature. What Cheezepowder has done is to create a document of such lasting importance that it will be referred to decades from now as reference standard material - I believe that even she doesn't realize the significance of what she has produced ... but I do. 

You've probably noticed that we're no longer a "Washington, DC restaurant website." Quite honestly, it's because overseeing a city such as Washington, DC became so easy that it bored the hell out of me, so I started to expand out of sheer boredom. My real expertise is in Wine, but the thought of running a wine forum bored the hell out of me too. Then came the Fine Arts Forum, which includes MusicSports, and several other of my passions, and I want to keep adding new areas - if you have a hobby that you love so much that you consider it a passion, write me, and we'll talk about creating a forum for it - it can be anything at all. This website is built, architecturally, so that there's no subject which cannot be covered, and as long as it's not obscene or indecent, I'm open to anything, and eager to dig new ground. We recently opened a Houston Forum thanks to Josh, before that it was Los Angeles thanks to Christine, and I'm currently working on yet another city which I consider to be one of the most important we'll have - I'm putting a tremendous amount of work into it because I want to do it right, the same way I did Houston and Los Angeles. The table is set, the party has started, and all we need now are guests to come and enjoy the free food and drink.

I need help running this website. I need an investor and/or a partner, perhaps even someone to lease it on *their own* website (yes, that can be arranged, and you'll have instant mega-content and a slew of readers for as long as you wish). Don't forget I also own the domain name dcdining.com, which I paid plenty for. And I need Forum Hosts - ideally, a small group of people who are willing to sign in each day - just like they do now - and instead of just reading, they'd need to organize and arrange things *while* they're reading. They probably wouldn't need to spend any more time on the website than they do now; they'd just be doing some work while they enjoy the content (I thoroughly enjoy the majority of the work I do here, because I get to read and add content at the same time I'm working, so it's "work" in quotes.

And if you're not interested in being a Forum Host, the best thing you can do to help would be to find me an investor. The second-best thing you can do to help would be to find new, quality members: I'd rather have one *great* member than one-hundred inactive ones.

At this point, people also need to be keenly aware of the severity of my injury, which may, or may not, be surgically correctable, but I need an accurate diagnosis first, and after 8+ years, I still don't have one, and things are getting worse with time. This week, I'll be having my first-ever 3 Tesla MRI - wish me luck: I need it. I kept this from the public for a long time, but I cannot keep it a secret any longer - my parents taught me, by sheer observation of their complete unselfishness, never to be a burden to people, and I refuse to burden you with my own personal problems, so I won't be discussing this on a regular basis, or even much at all. Please just be aware that I'm suffering 24/7, without any relief, and if you know of anyone who can potentially help me, please write and let me know - I'm sorry to even mention this, but I've crossed the line of desperation (to be honest, I crossed that line years ago; I just chose not to burden you. Although my heart goes out to them, I don't enjoy reading about people's suffering on Facebook, and I'm not going to force you to read about mine here - I want this community to be a community of happiness, and would gladly spend the rest of my life doing nothing but bringing joy to other people: I hope more than anything I get the chance to do so).

If you've made it this far, much obliged,
Rocks

I will spread the word vigilantly. 

Guardian angels come in many forms, perhaps one may be under your very nose.

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