MomsLikeMe

[jsteele]

Gannett just announced that they are shutting down their chain of Mom's websites on Friday. Back when they launched dc.momslikeme.com, I was concerned that DCUM would sort of be competing with a major corporate-backed effort. That concern lasted about 5 minutes. I saw that the Gannett had produced the anti-DCUM. They did everything we wouldn't do. Still, it appears that some of the regional sites were led by committed and able individuals and that they established loyal followings. If any of those site admins stumble across this message, get in touch. I'll be happy to help you get back up and running whether that is simply by providing some free advice, or potentially discussing how we might work together.

[Anonymous]

I now live in a Moms Like Me jurisdiction and I've found the site to be nowhere near as useful as DCUM (not even within same universe of utility). If you can spread your DCUM magic around a bit, it would be much appreciated by former DC dwellers now residing in other cities.

[Anonymous]

That's really nice of you, Jeff.

[Anonymous]

I've never been on the site. Just curious Jeff, how is it different - what things do you think make DCUM so successful?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I've never been on the site. Just curious Jeff, how is it different - what things do you think make DCUM so successful?

The site is very web 2.0 in its design which I think is way too busy. Then, it tries to be everything -- sort of like a Facebook for moms. It has blogs, photos, forums, a Groupon-like feature and so on. Then, they have all these regional sites that all seem to have paid staff. They launched most of this stuff from day one before they had built up a community. As a result, the site -- at least the DC site -- doesn't seem to have developed an identity.

When we launched this version of the site, we also had ideas for doing a bunch of different things. But, I soon realized that we had to concentrate on our strength which is the discussion forums. Even the home page blog has been a big disappointment. Imagine DCUM with a half dozen failed features that are given equal billing as the forums. We didn't want that, and cut down to our strength. But, what makes us successful is that we've always had a critical mass. We started with one General Discussion forum and only added forums when there was enough interest to keep those forums going. Then, we've dropped forums that had low traffic. There is nothing worse then a forum that only has a few new messages a day. Our forums are active and, if they aren't, they get changed. Also, we are accessible. You don't need an account. You can post anonymously. Our design is simple. This helps with accessibility. Look how many successful websites are downright ugly. Craigslist is the best example. I think that simple designs -- even if they aren't that attractive -- stand the test of time better than busy designs. Finally, and most importantly, DCUM has a personality. It might not be a personality that everyone likes. It may be a personality that local alternative newspapers can mock, but it is a personality. And, that personality is almost entirely user-created. We let you post almost anything. Users set the tone, not moderators (though I happen to really enjoy the tone that our users set). I think this givens our users a sense of ownership or at least a sense of having a stake in DCUM.

[Anonymous]

I heart Jeff. Swoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heart Jeff. Swoon.

+1. And Maria too!