Hobbes Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 There was a thread on the Observer board that Dave posted in just a day or two ago that I can't seem to find, but Dave said the site is doing very well right now, and is driven largely just by WWE and UFC. I also recall Bryan a few weeks ago saying that the site had the lowest percentage of subscriber loss post-WrestleMania that they've had a in a long time, maybe ever. When people requested more old Observers in the online archive, Dave asked if a $1 a month subscription increase would be worth it. Are the old Observers that much of a money maker or that hard to transcribe that it would take a dollar month until the end of time to subsidize having them being put on the site faster than one a week? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El McKell Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 When people requested more old Observers in the online archive, Dave asked if a $1 a month subscription increase would be worth it. Are the old Observers that much of a money maker or that hard to transcribe that it would take a dollar month until the end of time to subsidize having them being put on the site faster than one a week? Most of those old observers would only exist in physical paper form, I'd bet that for the one a week that gets uploaded they have someone type out the full thing cover to cover and put it on the website. So yeah Dave & Bryan probably think it'd be a big investment of time or money to upload 3 - 5 old observers per week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherwagner Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 I wish I could remember the details but for some reason or another in the early 00's once or twice I got Wordperfect copies of the Observer that Dave emailed to me. I will assume that Dave has been good keeping safe copies of those in digital format so it's probably only the really old ones that need to be transcribed. Back then Wordperfect was already out of style - I wonder if Dave still uses it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 When people requested more old Observers in the online archive, Dave asked if a $1 a month subscription increase would be worth it. Are the old Observers that much of a money maker or that hard to transcribe that it would take a dollar month until the end of time to subsidize having them being put on the site faster than one a week? Most of those old observers would only exist in physical paper form, I'd bet that for the one a week that gets uploaded they have someone type out the full thing cover to cover and put it on the website. So yeah Dave & Bryan probably think it'd be a big investment of time or money to upload 3 - 5 old observers per week. You are saying these papers can't be scanned and uploaded as pdfs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakla Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 Maybe Grant Zwarych's side business of selling old Observers might be holding back uploading/transcribing pre-1991 issues too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 There's not a ton of need for pre-91 issues I think. Anyone who really wants those already has them. Search-ability would be nice for research purposes, but yeah. Unless, of course it was 83 and prior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 I'd love pre-91 issues of the Observer. I love reading the recaps of 80's Observers on here. Being able to read them would be just splendid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victory Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 I'd love pre-91 issues of the Observer. I love reading the recaps of 80's Observers on here. Being able to read them would be just splendid. I agree. I was kind of hoping at least the 80's yearbooks would be uploaded at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanClingman Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 I'd love pre-91 issues of the Observer. I love reading the recaps of 80's Observers on here. Being able to read them would be just splendid. I too agree with this, but a few weeks ago I had to torrent an issue from 1990 to find Dave's Tsuruta/Misawa recap for a piece I was writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted September 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 It would be cool to also get his columns that appeared in The National. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 19, 2015 Report Share Posted September 19, 2015 My point was that the 84-91 Observers aren't hard to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 That was one of the main things I mentioned when filling out the survey they posted for members. Nothing makes the site look more bush league when they get emails from random people then publish them as columns on the front page. This has legitimately happened with one of my friends. He sent Dave an email about something or another, not intending for it to be published on the site, and it was up on the site later that day. He was confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted September 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 I anxiously await the day that a recovered password email is posted as a guest editorial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parties Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 Wow: timely redesign. Aesthetically it's both an improvement and containing some weird choices, but they have segmented reader contributions into their own section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 On the negative side functionality wise it is a complete mess as member login does not work (it seems as if the user database has not been ported yet). Alvarez sayed that they had to switch to the new site months before they planned to do without having it tested (or apparently having all functionality in place). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 "HAD to switch"? That's... uh... weird. As for startup bugs, I also noticed that at least one or two of the free podcasts refused to play and insisted I had to be a member to hear them. Hey, Bix, just sayin'... wouldn't it be awful if the new website JUST SO HAPPENED to mysteriously erase Jeff Hamlin's Raw recaps every week? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 Seems like their old hosting company shat the bed on them and that was apparently the trigger for them to go ahead and jump forward on their relaunch plans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted September 24, 2015 Report Share Posted September 24, 2015 They should really put the new shows up for free until the site is operational. I hope they actually have some new ideas for content on the site and they don't just expect a new coat of paint to cover up how lacklustre it's been for the last year or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted September 25, 2015 Report Share Posted September 25, 2015 I can't even find the log in button this site now. The audio archive page link doesn't work either. I finally found the page that contains the last 15 audio shows so at least that is good. Whoever taught Dave HTML needs to be fired Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanClingman Posted September 26, 2015 Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 I guess I am going to fall even further behind on podcasts now. I already have a two or so month backlog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted September 26, 2015 Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 I'm having trouble accessing archive newsletters. I tend to read them on lunch breaks with a sandwich and all I got was a "page not found" message. Not an enjoyable way to eat a sandwich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted September 27, 2015 Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 That is because they did not upload the archives to the new servers until a couple of hours ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted September 27, 2015 Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 That is because they did not upload the archives to the new servers until a couple of hours ago. Where was you when I was ordering my sandwich? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 are we really supposed to believe that all the people watching the New Japan show on the 12th were complaining that Mauro Ronallo (can never remember his name) and Josh Barnett aren't commentating. Most of the people watching the show were watching the Japanese version of commentary. By "all" he must mean the 50 people with a Wrestling observer board member name and a new Japan World subscription I can't wait for the end of Wrestle Kingdom 2016 when Meltzer shit over the show because Striker and Kevin Kelly are calling the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Liska Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 Discussion about how good Memphis wrestling was on the Observer board, and this is Dave's synopsis of it. My head almost exploded - "Jerry Lawler was one of the greatest weekly performers in the history of wrestling, and Lance & Dave were the best announcing duo of all-time. Jerry Jarrett was a booker ahead of his time. And Jimmy Hart was a phenomenal manager. Aside from that, and guys like Eaton and all the guys who started that became stars later, it was pretty overrated. Take Lawler away and it really wouldn't have been much, that's how important Lawler was." I don't know. I guess the level of head-explosion depends on what he means by "and guys like Eaton who started that became stars later", because that's a lot of people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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