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[Louis Cyphre]

I subscribed before for a month but the reality is I didn't see much in premium content to keep paying. Pachter Factor is alright but most of his answers are pretty much self explanatory.

 

[BUNTING1243]

this thread is weird

 

[Jerry Orbach]

We absolutely started it with a sustainable business plan. You don't have to have VC money to create a successful business. The site has lasted two years. Over 90 percent of sites don't make it past the first year. You're telling me to give up and that I don't deserve to run by own business. That's pretty heartless and not at all accurate. I ran GameTrailers for seven years during its heyday. I know how to run a business, and particularly a business in this industry. All I need is a budget. People should give me money to keep running it because they like it and want it to stick around. As this thread shows, the site hasn't even scratched the surface of its potential because of a lack of marketing. I wasn't asking for sympathy. I was explaining why the site is in do-or-die mode and I can't put any more of my own money into it.

Site Is Fine Thanks, Dude

 

[Glass Shark]

The site wasn't necessarily created for young people with tons of disposable time. It's a service for adults who are incredibly busy and don't have time anymore to visit 15 sites a day or search through dozens of pages on message boards or social media for stuff they actually care about.

I'm an adult in my 30's with a family, a full-time job, and side hustle. Yet I can still pretty much get the lay of the land on the most important gaming news of the day by visiting the first page of threads on this site or casually scrolling through my Twitter feed on any given day.

As an outsider, it really seems like the entire content aggregation aspect of what you're doing is just burning cycles, and I don't even understand how that meshes with the original content you're creating. Seems like two totally separate businesses that you've tried to cram together for some reason. What are you most passionate about? What is the mission statement of your business? Are you sold out for creating the best content aggregator in the world covering video games, or is the video content what really revs your engine? If I don't know that as a potential viewer/customer, I think you have a problem on your hands.

I honestly don't know much about the content you make outside of what you've shared in this thread. Some of it sounds like it could be interesting. But as I mentioned earlier, I don't think I've ever seen a clip or quote from anything on your site made into a thread here. Happens all the time with other sources. What is it about your content that is making that the case? Is it not compelling enough? Is it not saying anything noteworthy? Is it not exposed to enough people, or the right people?

 

[OléGunner]

Shane, you desperately need to put some of your old premium content on SIFTD YT page.
Give people a chance to see your USP and personalities on your gaming shows.

I sub only for Pach, but it's rather shocking you don't give us a taste of the other content SIFTD has to offer.
Good luck.

 

[Wireframe]

this thread is weird

Nice shitpost there

 

[ClosingADoor]

Lots of feedback in this thread. From looking around a bit more on the site, it just seems like the site fails to actually show what it is supposed to do. With any successful site you arrive and go: this is about this and this, and it works that way. With SIFTD you are asking people to read a tutorial. Users don't take that time. They arrive on your site, look around 3 seconds and if they are not hooked, they are gone. It's harsh, it's annoying, it's a reason a ton of sites fail, but you got to fix that somehow.

What I'd do is put your own content front and center. That is your selling point: premium content. Because that is the thing they can't get anywhere else, it is unique.

Because everything is behind a paywall you have a visibility problem here. People simply can't find it, Google can't index it. The content you do show is not unique, so Google will ignore it also. Where are your visitors coming from at the moment, how are they going to discover your website? Google + Facebook is pretty much the way into the internet for most people and you don't have that much visibility on either.

I get that you want to provide a feed for busy people so they can quickly get their relevant content, but for the overwhelming amount of people, their current feeds are good enough.

Also, the responsive thing: this is because the site does some filtering at load time it seems, if you visit on desktop it will show it a bit different then loading on a phone.

I hate seeing gaming sites go under or into trouble. It's a tough world for them at the moment, but if something doesn't work, you got to adapt instead of sticking with a concept that simply didn't work. Rebuilt, get the visitors, then when you got the userbase, you can try new things around it.

 

[Ben Morales]

The carousel at the top of the home page on your site should have video clips consisting of highlights from your original shows. I would also put those same videos with highlights on your YouTube channel so it's not just the Pachter Channel. Then you could leave a link to your site with information on how to get the full episodes. I didn't even realize you had multiple shows... Also, give Patreon a try. The flexibility in pricing and transparency of the reward tiers would help alleviate a lot of confusion and apprehension in registering.

I would honestly dial back the aggregator stuff. The first link I clicked on lead to a blank page saying there were too many redirects. This happened with a few links actually.

Also, like another poster said, something is off about your SEO. Not only is your site missing from the first page of Google's results for "gaming news aggregators", but the first result is a gaming news aggregator which works incredibly well. And after using it for a few minutes, it just made SIFTD look even worse in comparison. They didn't have as many options for filtering as yours did but it was way snappier and more pleasant to use.

And you still haven't updated your Twitch page lol...

 

[dickroach]

Also, like another poster said, something is off about your SEO. Not only is your site missing from the first page of Google's results for "gaming news aggregators", but the first result is a gaming news aggregator which works incredibly well.

oh god. it doesn't even show up at all if you search that. (or, I don't think so. I gave up after 10 pages. same for "video game news aggregator," which rottentomatoes shows up on the second page of)

 

[luchadork]

lol cant even be fucked with the meta description. have you never googled your own company?


shane, https://placementlabs.com/SEO-checklist/

 

[Jebusman]

lol cant even be fucked with the meta description. have you never googled your own company?


shane, https://placementlabs.com/SEO-checklist/

Either he just fixed this or something broke on your end:

(Should note that the 4th result was this thread lol).

 

[Vinc]

I actually kinda like the idea of Siftd, in the way that I'd imagined it would work when I first read about it.

I feel like it would work better if it sorta read your mind, checked your web utilization and what you spent a lot of time looking at... I don't know. Having to set your priorities and what you like yourself after registering on the site sounds like more work than just googling what I already know I like. I'm also not a huge fan of the site's layout. It's also, frankly not something I'm sure I'd want to pay for...

 

[Jebusman]

Now I'm not a web designer, by any stretch of the imagination, but are home pages normally one long, giant page with a bunch of template declarations for what I assume are the subpages?

Like this for example:

Did a miss a new design paradigm in my time away from HTML?

 

[caenix]

It's because luchadork is logged in to SIFTD and you are not, so that webpage is read differently. Either way, there is no meta descriptions and it should be fixed.

The Easy Allies webpage has the same issue as well.

 

[PaulLFC]

Some very good, constructive feedback in here. From those any my personal opinion I would say these are important areas to focus on:

1. Advertise your content. This is crucial. By that I don't solely mean "run advertisements" costing money. The simplest way to do this, as pointed out, is to make your premium content free after a certain period of time - a year, a month, a week, whatever.

This needs to happen, otherwise nobody can see what they're getting by subscribing and why they should give you money. After you settle on a time after which content is free, as well as making the videos / podcasts past that time free on your site, upload them to YouTube. Upload everything that's free to view. It keeps your YT channel active and helps get word out about the site.

Put clips on Twitter. Live stream bits of the shows on Facebook (a podcast I listen to and pay for does this - live streams for ~5 minutes of an hour-long premium show to give people a taster). Even look into having the free shows loop on Twitch when you aren't live streaming. If you have the time and resources, schedule out a full week of shows or something so there's always something different to watch (if that's allowed, not sure on the rules of Twitch in regards to 'non-live' content).

I notice the subscription offers a trial period, but this could be improved - another premium site I visit (football/soccer related site theblizzard.co.uk) offers 3 free articles per month, without having to subscribe. I'm not clear on the technical implementation of this but it likely uses cookies to track the number of articles read.

2. Start a Patreon. I see this suggested a lot, and with good reason. Besides pride, I can't see a reason to persist with the website subscription model when Patreon exists which can do the same thing. Yes, they take a cut. But the increased visibility should more than make up for that. It's like Kickstarter - start a project on Kickstarter who take a cut, or put it on your own website and keep the cut, but get substantially less traffic. In the end, you lose out on money even factoring in the website's cut.

There's a site I won't name (since their business model is their choice), but they produce games that are sold through their own site, using outdated DRM and restricted to a single machine licence. They have repeatedly been asked why they aren't on Steam in 2017, and asked to look at doing so. They have repeatedly refused, until recently when deciding to bring a couple of their older games to Steam. The newer games are still behind their site's DRM, and they reiterate they have no plans to bring newer or in-development games to Steam. Personally I won't even consider buying those games on their site, because when Steam offers the convenience of the vast majority of my library with DRM which is far less hostile, why would I? This is to illustrate that although you retain "more" of each subscription fund by using your own site, what you potentially lose out on in terms of customer base when using an established brand is huge.

Patreon is proof that personalities with a strong content offering can succeed. I already donate to Danny O'Dwyer's Noclip Patreon, so I'm not against subscribing when I enjoy the content. This brings us back to point 1, your content needs better promotion.

Choose some premium videos you think advertise your site well, make them free, put them on Patreon and supplement them with descriptions of the site's personalities and why people should subscribe. Then offer Premium access for a donation amount. Keep it at $4 or if you're adamant you don't want to give Patreon a cut, bump it to $5 so you're earning the same or more you would be on site.

Offer higher tiers with added rewards. Just like Kickstarter, this is where a good amount of money can be made monthly. Offer $10, $20, $50 etc rewards - shout outs on podcasts, show sponsorship, having the donator suggest a topic for a show / podcast, phone in shows, Q&As, listing Patrons after shows, etc etc. Plenty of things you can do, but you need to move beyond the site-only subscription. It very rarely works unless your site is established, and currently, yours isn't as established as it needs to be. You need to leverage other, already established tools and sites to make that happen.

 

[AAMARMO]

 

[luchadork]

Now I'm not a web designer, by any stretch of the imagination, but are home pages normally one long, giant page with a bunch of template declarations for what I assume are the subpages?

Like this for example:

Did a miss a new design paradigm in my time away from HTML?

yeh. javascript on the backend.

 

[AlanOC91]

Holy moley some of the posts here have terrified me.

I have been panic checking most of my own site to make sure everything is up to snuff (cross-browser compatible and the likes). Especially being the only one actively working on the site, some of these posts are the stuff of nightmares.

I can kind of sympathize with the websites owner. It's not easy running a site, especially one that has grown larger and larger but you really do have to take it all on the chin and push yourself to improve the site.

The main issue I can see is that you didn't design/create the site. That makes things 1000 times harder to fix when something breaks. I HIGHLY recommend learning the ins and outs of your site to help better develop it in the future.

I really do wish you the best of luck with it though, from the bottom of my heart.

This is also a HUGE issue.

Went to the home-page, first like 8 slides were for Premium members and I just left the site. New users need content ASAP from the moment they hit the landing page or else they have nothing to stay for.

 

[CookieWithMatt]

oh god. it doesn't even show up at all if you search that. (or, I don't think so. I gave up after 10 pages. same for "video game news aggregator," which rottentomatoes shows up on the second page of)

It doesn't have a listing at all. You can use tools such as https://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/keyword-position.html to get an approximate idea of your websites Google search results listing. Unless you're on the front page, nobody will ever find your website (where does an SEO expert hide a dead body? On the second page...heh).

As someone pointed out, you really need to work on your sites meta-descriptions. Not having that sorted out, two years after launching is not good enough. I also can’t see any alt tags on your image links (the ones I checked at least). This is incredibly important, as Google penalises websites significantly for neglecting them. Sort that out ASAP.

I also didn’t mention it in my earlier post, but it’s worth looking at conversion-rate-optimization. The register page ( https://siftd.net/#!/register ) has issues. The credit card entry field wasn’t immediately clear to me, taking me about 20 seconds before realising I had to scroll down the page to enter it. The username, password & e-mail forms aren’t immediately obvious either, mixed in next to social media links (why?) with the same grey tone. Our eyes tend to gloss over the text-specific details on sites, making assumptions as we go along based on past experience. My immediate reaction was to assume they were just related to social media sites, and ignored them entirely. Leverage Google Analytics here, find out how far users are getting on that page and then REFINE it. Refine it to a point where your conversion-rate gradually increases, and you get the best possible conversion rate with the best form submission page possible.

I don’t have an opinion of your product one way or another, however I think there’s some work you should be putting into your digital marketing strategy that will help in the long-run.

Might I also suggest getting rid of "SAVE OUR SIFTD" and "Dire straits" as an article headline from the front page? All it's doing is driving people away from converting. Nobody wants to buy a ticket to board a sinking ship!

 

[Shadowhelper]

LOL some of you guys are being really unduly harsh.

I do think GameFace and PachtorFactor are actually really good and interesting relative to all the other podcasts and videos I've seen.

Shane wanted to do the show with Brendon from Easy Allies, but I think the other dude he has, Mat, is far more intelligent and interesting. Not sure how comfortable he is on camera though.

But you do need a way to get your name out there. A better name, changing how the paywall works, as someone mentioned make the videos free for a day or two before hiding it behind a paywall, and some form of marketing.

I do think the content is quite good, relatively speaking, but you might need to consider some other things Shane. Perhaps break GameFace up into two pieces over the week. More frequent content.

You are going after Giantbombcast type audience. Your audience does exist. Really think you need a podcast Shane. People are extremely used to free podcasts, and its going to be really difficult dissuading people from that. A podcast will also help you get your name out there. I hope everything works out for your site, but its probably not going to be easy.

 

[Patrick Young]

A video would be better at selling me on Siftd.

Even if it did, it would have to be a real banger. If Siftd was was that great I'd already be all over it. I remember registering when it launched and that's about that.

Even then, I feel more obligated to contribute to others that have already provided me with stuff I enjoy, like Cloth Map, Noclip and Digital Foundry. These guys are already in the queue.

I might pay $1 for a Michael Pachter podcast, but how much more spare time does he want to give?

 

[Jimrpg]

Holy moley some of the posts here have terrified me.

I have been panic checking most of my own site to make sure everything is up to snuff (cross-browser compatible and the likes). Especially being the only one actively working on the site, some of these posts are the stuff of nightmares.

I can kind of sympathize with the websites owner. It's not easy running a site, especially one that has grown larger and larger but you really do have to take it all on the chin and push yourself to improve the site.

The main issue I can see is that you didn't design/create the site. That makes things 1000 times harder to fix when something breaks. I HIGHLY recommend learning the ins and outs of your site to help better develop it in the future.

I really do wish you the best of luck with it though, from the bottom of my heart.



This is also a HUGE issue.

Went to the home-page, first like 8 slides were for Premium members and I just left the site. New users need content ASAP from the moment they hit the landing page or else they have nothing to stay for.

You hit on something important though and that is - why even make a website at all? There's tons of great tools to help people get to close to a professional site these days.

So if you're a content creator why not just focus on that?

If you're a programmer then yes you should do a website because that's what you're good at.

I know Shane is employing someone to do the site, but seems like a lot of extra trouble. People are subscribing to watch premium content so there should be more focus on that as well as getting that stuff out there to non premium folks.

 

[Bolivar687]

I really liked Siftd. The site always scaled and performed well on all my devices and GameFace is a pretty great show to tune into and chill in the chat. The paywall really did it's job, too, it's one of the best communities I've ever been a part of. In a lot of ways, it's the kind of quality discussion venue that GAF tries to hold itself out to be. The reality is, there just isn't value to a news aggregator, period, and there were some days where I would see the same stories at the top of my list. I think part of the problem with the busy, mature adult demographic is that you're competing against real life. When you're a young professional, your time can always be better spent than reading and talking about video games online.

I agree Patreon makes more sense, let the diehards subsidize content everyone can enjoy, which then organically grows the base. The Siftd family has some of the most passionate supporters I've ever encountered. Also, Shane's value had always been in developing talent to produce quality content, instead of trying to do it all himself. I know he's been through a lot in the years since leaving GameTrailers but I hope he can turn it around or move on to a new project that better leverages his expertise.

 

[killroy87]

Might I also suggest getting rid of "SAVE OUR SIFTD" and "Dire straits" as an article headline from the front page? All it's doing is driving people away from converting. Nobody wants to buy a ticket to board a sinking ship!

Yeah, that's actually a big issue. For new users coming in, that's an incredibly easy way to turn them off from wanting to invest their money in the site.

 

[FaintDeftone]

Holy moley some of the posts here have terrified me.

I have been panic checking most of my own site to make sure everything is up to snuff (cross-browser compatible and the likes). Especially being the only one actively working on the site, some of these posts are the stuff of nightmares.

I can kind of sympathize with the websites owner. It's not easy running a site, especially one that has grown larger and larger but you really do have to take it all on the chin and push yourself to improve the site.

The main issue I can see is that you didn't design/create the site. That makes things 1000 times harder to fix when something breaks. I HIGHLY recommend learning the ins and outs of your site to help better develop it in the future.

I really do wish you the best of luck with it though, from the bottom of my heart.

Yeah dude. As someone who has a website to promote a mildly successful podcast series, a lot of these comments are pretty freaky. I feel for Shane and I have genuinely liked the guy since he was with Gametrailers and I wish him well. I hope he can figure this out.

I can totally understand where he's coming from though. We simply used Wordpress and templates to create our site, but since I have very limited coding experience and restrictions to what we can alter and change to the template, it can be hard to know when goofs arise or users run into problems. Although, our website is mainly for marketing the show, not the product in itself.

That being said, we're not a for-profit company and mostly a hobby. I'm sure if my livelihood and family was relying on this, I would be picking my website apart and taking it much more seriously. I feel Shane needs to put himself in the user's shoes for a little bit and really dig deep into that website and partner with his designer to vastly improve it. I'm sure Shane knows many industry journalists who can maybe give him a hand and do a little focus testing of sorts.

 

[killroy87]

Threads like this sell me on a service like Squarespace more than any podcast ad would.

 

[OttoSporteman]

Either he just fixed this or something broke on your end:

(Should note that the 4th result was this thread lol).

Mine is broken as well.

 

[killroy87]

Fixing the search results for Siftd is the last thing he needs to worry about, because why would someone who isn't already somewhat aware of Siftd ever just randomly search for the term "Siftd"?

 

[Bisonian]

Fixing the search results for Siftd is the last thing he needs to worry about, because why would someone who isn't already somewhat aware of Siftd ever just randomly search for the term "Siftd"?

Anything else you try to search for that will result in Siftd popping will do the same thing. Pachter Factor for example. Basically you are saying "no one will ever find this site on google, so why bother?".

 

[ItsTheNew]

Fixing the search results for Siftd is the last thing he needs to worry about, because why would someone who isn't already somewhat aware of Siftd ever just randomly search for the term "Siftd"?

It's usually a sign that the SEO on the site is in poor shape and will never show up as a search result if someone is searching for X game. You want it to be accurate so google has a higher chance of returning your site.

 

[UrbanDandy]

I understand Mr. Satterfield's dilema here, but there are some points from my perspective to sate:

I understand that you want to do the office setup because you wanted to be professional. I respect that. But I believe you're doing this at the wrong time. The economy being as is, it's just too expensive to rent office space, and the way your landlord double the rent, is no surprise. I am certain you had a plan for this should it occur.

Other site like Giant Bomb, IGN, Gamespot etc also have premium subscriptions. One of the ways they balance it out is by having some free content for the audience to see. From my understanding, All of you segments are premium (Pachter Factor, Bad Dudes), correct? Select which content you are willing to show for free, that way you would have more people see what SIFTD is all about.

Having curated content is convenient and I commend you for being one of the few who has applied it for video games. However, it's only going to get you so far.

 

[killroy87]

Anything else you try to search for that will result in Siftd popping will do the same thing. Pachter Factor for example. Basically you are saying "no one will ever find this site on google, so why bother?".

Seems fine to me.

Edit: Aside from that broken last one, lol.

 

[ClosingADoor]

Seems fine to me.

Edit: Aside from that broken last one, lol.

Site has no meta descriptions. This is a problem, because that is what sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter use when they index your content. So you want to have a little description there instead of just letting them grab whatever text they see fit like a title, comment or whatever.

 

[Giftofgab24]

If I don't have a sample of premium content to view, why would I ever sign up for premium membership? Doesn't make sense. Make old content free.

 

[Bedlam]

Fixing the search results for Siftd is the last thing he needs to worry about, because why would someone who isn't already somewhat aware of Siftd ever just randomly search for the term "Siftd"?

Yup.

People have said it when the site launched already (I was among those): the name is shit. It's bonkers that Shane thought this was a good idea.

My other random thoughts about the site/concept:
- the site's layout is drab and sterile
- I don't want to put effort into maintaining my gaming preferences for a content aggregation place, too much of a hassle for something I do in my spare time
- I like looking outside of the box from time to time so I'm not sure I'd even want to block content that doesn't align with my current tastes; just ignoring headlines that don't interest me is easy enough
- why does a site that produces only a minimum of original content and mainly pushes 3rd party content need an office (especially in one of the most expensive cities in the world)?

I really like Shane and watched IW regularly during the GT days but I don't think this site, in its current form, has a bright future.

 

[Bisonian]

Seems fine to me.

Edit: Aside from that broken last one, lol.

Here's what it looks like for me:

 

[dickroach]

Shane's doing a livestream right now, "Siftd Summit." looks like he's asking for / taking advice from the community. i dunno. just tuned in
https://www.twitch.tv/siftdgames

 

[Murder]

I like the idea of SIFTD, but if anything they should focus on their own content. An aggregator that takes other sites (businesses) content and puts it into 1 spot doesn't seem like a solid business plan for longevity--probably why they branched out into original content which where the sweet spot is.

You don't wanna end up like digg

 

[Megasoum]

-

 

[Gnomist]

-

I don't think you said anything off-base. He did mention GAF multiple times and how he got constructive and not-very-constructive feedback, though he seemed to focus a bit more on the negative.

My big take away from this is that he straight up said how big of a pain it is to do the aggregate work. He lamented how exhausting and time-consuming it was and said he wished he could just crank out content for people. Over the course of the stream he mentioned 2 or 3 new show ideas. To me that says it all. If you're not waking up each day and looking forward to the primary role of the job you created for yourself, then what is the point?

That's not meant to be snarky or mean, but is a genuine question. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to pick what they do to earn a living. If you're one of those lucky few, then why not focus on what you're truly passionate about?

 

[Immortal Technique]

You're asking why he's not producing all those new shows instead of aggregating? I think the issue is, he doesn't have the budget to do them yet. Aggregation/curation is ultimately not what he wants to do (he wants to farm it out), but it is free work, so to speak.

 

[Immortal Technique]

some misconceptions here, and fair enough that if people think this way, that's partly a problem with the marketing of the site, no arguments there.

- I don't want to put effort into maintaining my gaming preferences for a content aggregation place, too much of a hassle for something I do in my spare time

It's not really any day-to-day effort if you don't want it to be. You fill out a form one time that asks you your preferences and you have a custom feed for life.

- I like looking outside of the box from time to time so I'm not sure I'd even want to block content that doesn't align with my current tastes; just ignoring headlines that don't interest me is easy enough

There's an option to block, but you don't have to block anything if you don't want to. The point of the sifting is not just blocking/whitelisting, but prioritization. Stuff that will interest you the most goes to the top of your feed. When you're having a slow day and have time to plumb the depths and go outside the box, it's all there. But on busier days, you still don't miss the stuff that you really need to know about.

- why does a site that produces only a minimum of original content and mainly pushes 3rd party content need an office (especially in one of the most expensive cities in the world)?

Shane's vision for the site is not to just have a 'minimum of original content'. This was discussed some on his live stream tonight. The office is an expense, but definitely not an expense that is sinking the company on its own, and it makes possible a lot of Shane's future plans.

 

[Holundrian]

siftd summit is not archived will it at least be uploaded somewhere for people that couldn't make it cause timezone? I just checked man but as always for someone that has no interest in the site and would only subscribe for the content it's kinda almost impossible to try to assess if it's worth it. I'm trying again and keep up to date and see what the future direction now is but I'm honestly losing interest again for pretty much all the same reasons as before.

 

[RexFury]

siftd summit is not archived will it at least be uploaded somewhere for people that couldn't make it cause timezone? I just checked man but as always for someone that has no interest in the site and would only subscribe for the content it's kinda almost impossible to try to assess if it's worth it. I'm trying again and keep up to date and see what the future direction now is but I'm honestly losing interest again for pretty much all the same reasons as before.

I am a siftd member and on the site he said he will be archiving the video.

 

[Holundrian]

I am a siftd member and on the site he said he will be archiving the video.

Good I'll be keeping an eye on the youtube channel then, thx for the info!

 

[caenix]

It's basically decided that all original contents will be released publicly in the future.

 

[dickroach]

I don't get a website with a paid subscription model having a patreon, it seems like an either/or thing to me, but letting people see what they might be missing / could be getting early is definitely a good idea

 

[Hubble]

SIFTD already exists. It's called Google.

Or IGN.com, Gamespot.com, Reddit.

Or any gaming forums. Reddit too. People can get any of their gaming news from any of these hubs. It's not science where you need SIFTD to sort thousands of journal articles. I'm sorry but whoever thought SIFTD was going to be a success from people paying to sift/sort their news needs a wakeup call. I would have told my friend as a good friend that I don't mean to be rude but it's a dumb idea.

 

[Kaelan]

Then those websites were fucking up. Maybe it's not as applicable for larger groups, but you should absolutely know where your audience is coming from. Like, that's a damn given and the basics of SEO. If you aren't even engaging in SEO in general, you are fucking up, my man. Small websites need that shit like water in the desert. You want to reach more people? You need to make your website visible and user friendly.

And from what's being said here, your website is responsive for you, and not for others. That's a huge mistake. Other places might get away with it by the basis of their content (GB was mentioned, but they have a wiki that people can use, so it serves another purpose besides their natural content), but you don't.

Y'all need to really look at the whole pie instead of just making content.

This. Some people in this thread are being too nitpicky too tbh, I'm seeing a ton of great feedback though. In terms of the forum being able to "lurk" generally doesn't matter, I've only ever seen that phenomena here on neogaf and that's because of the extensive and exhaustive account process. I've ran a couple forums and yours seems to be on point. This post right here hits it on the nail though - you can have all the content in the world but if it's not in the best setup you're gonna fail

Look man. It's nothing personal, but there are many issues that have led you to this point; and as the leader/creator of it, you have to accept that. I DON'T want you to fail, but not everything needs saving; no matter how personally involved you are. I understand you're in a tough spot, but there has also been a ton of great advice offered in this thread, so I hope you take those to heart and let personal pride step aside.

This sure is an odd post.. I get not everything needs saving, but if him and other people want to save it, they damn sure can.

 

[El-Suave]

My big take away from this is that he straight up said how big of a pain it is to do the aggregate work. He lamented how exhausting and time-consuming it was and said he wished he could just crank out content for people. Over the course of the stream he mentioned 2 or 3 new show ideas. To me that says it all. If you're not waking up each day and looking forward to the primary role of the job you created for yourself, then what is the point?

Seems like the best option would be to try to sell the site and go full on content creating Patreon. Obviously he'll need to ask his community if they'd be willing to make the move with him, but I doubt people who like him will drop him without giving it a shot on Patreon. A big obstacle seems to be that it is a pride thing for him and he mentions not wanting to give a cut to Patreon. I'm no creator but I would assume that Patreon provides a few services for you that make it worth giving them a cut.
I really don't get it - he still has a bit of a name and a community and his passion is content creation. Should be a match made in heaven between him and Patreon, he'd just need to swallow his pride.