Re: [TomAiello] Introducing Jay Young
Hi everybody,
I’m pretty pleased to meet you! Just to make it official, yep, I’m the guy who has ultimate responsibility for Basejumper.com and, by the way, I’m not a BASE jumper. Hell, I’m not even a skydiver. My masters at Namemedia (just kidding!) hired me to run all three of Willem and Daniel’s websites – Rockclimbing.com, DZ and Basejumper.com, because they felt that RC.com had the most growth potential, and I’m a climber of 22 years. Basejumper.com was part of the package. While Namemedia is headquartered in Boston, I work from home near the New River Gorge. I moved here to climb and, aside from that, I raft, swim whitewater and snowboard. So, while I don’t have a clue what BASE jumping is like, I do have a two-decade-plus history of hanging my ass out there in the name of fun, and I certainly know what it’s like to lose friends and loved ones who pass in the pursuit of same. Surely, that makes us at least distant cousins, no?
Anyway, I guess the question on everybody’s minds is what next. It’s pretty simple, really. I’m going to stay out of your way. I have little to no understanding of your culture and community and, unless I put substantial personal effort into becoming a BASE jumper, I never really will. It’s clear that rambling through here mandating changes and getting all strategic-direction-y would pretty much end the party. And if I and my corporate overlords (kiddeeeeeeng) have any interest here at all, it’s in making sure the party keeps going.
There is one thing I will immediately do. As of now I’m taking over responsibility for getting bugs fixed and making sure the site runs quickly and smoothly for you. Tom, I’ve subscribed to the S&F Forum, so as long as any such feedback gets posted there, I should get a regular email notifying me of its existence.
Lastly, I’ve been through the Announcement thread about the Namemedia buy out and I think I can address several points:
1. Tom Aiello is still the go-to guy for everything except site performance issues, and he’ll remain so until he no longer wants the job.
2. Private messages are PRIVATE. Quite literally, the only way I or anybody at Namemedia will ever read what’s in a private message is if one of you quotes it and forwards it on to us. Whether or not we have the ability to read them is irrelevant. We won’t. Ever.
3. Encrypting PMs yourselves is no longer allowed.
4. Just kidding! Please feel free to encrypt.
5. Namemedia’s official policy on handing information over to courts or law enforcement is that, unless we are bound by law to do so, the answer is a polite no. I’m not sure it makes a difference, since Namemedia is US based, but the servers are still located in Vancouver and we currently have no plans to relocate them to Boston. If we ever do relocate them to Boston, I’ll let you know in advance.
6. Every delete button you had before you still have, and they all function exactly the same way they did before. However, if you thought the way they functioned before was to completely eliminate the information you deleted, you may have fundamentally misunderstood how computers work. Refer to numbers 3 and 4 above for additional information.
7. Any pop-up ads you get while on Basejumper.com are NOT our doing. Clean your machine every once in a while and resist the urge to surf disreputable websites.
8. You will, however, probably occasionally see a banner ad you don’t really care for. Sorry about that.
9. No, I will not suck your balls, but if it were physically possible I would consider fucking myself.
That’s about all I have for you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I’ll keep checking this thread and respond as quickly as I can.
Otherwise, thanks for your time and, of course, for using Basejumper.com.
Jay Young
