Publisher Kept Close Eyes on Very Low Voting Numbers; Grateful to Those Wonderful People Who Voted

by G.A. Franklin, Publisher

Voting has concluded in the Poll about the usefulness of the current SLI.org Blog. For about 20 people, it is considered useful. Some said they actually check it daily. Trying to grow an electronic news medium in a newspaper town like Mayberry is probably the Impossible Dream, and at least numbers-wise that has proven to be true. At my previous blogspot web site I was accustomed to between 1,500 to 2,000 active participants per week even though the local membership was more like 200. There was never a dull moment. Even though I was retired, I still chose to leave while my work was at a high point.

The SilverLakeInstitute.org was different. It was formed in 2010 to provide an online voice to an organization, the Institute, which had minimal coverage. Although the blogspot was supposed to be News and feed-back oriented, it turned out that the many special pages and links became the numerical highlight. Readers would enjoy the special pages by the hundreds--they seemed to love the history of the Institute, the Silver Lake area, and the unique stories that went along with it such as the Heritage Walkway histories for which much credit should go to Suzanne Bristow for her many hours of work on that. The entire site continues to get very high marks from strangers just becoming aware of its presence on the web.

The Silver Lake Experience added yet another powerful dynamic in 2015 and 2017 to SLI and Asbury, and to the size and complexity of the Blog. According to readers, it blended nicely with all other publicity methods. Thanks to Loren Penman who helped to coordinate the publicity efforts, the little blogspot shown brightly. Thanks also to the sage advice of Roger Covell in addition to Lisa Schiske, Nancy Culley Sellar, Bill Schaefer, Pete Mairs, Kathy Schaefer, Suzanne Bristow, and unnamed others who await the special love of the Institute to reach and touch them.

There is a time and a season for all things and I continue to contemplate a second retirement which I have been considering for the last eight (8) months. Let me tell you, sole reporter, writer, proof-er, designer, and ad creator is not a job I would wish upon anyone--not even for pay! But this was a labor of love with an underlying morality about the well rounded human being--a project SLI got better and better at. For the most part, however, it was a thankless job, except for those rare individuals who did come up to me to offer thanks particularly for the winter "editions" when they were at home either out of state or considerably northwest of here, and so enjoyed news from the Institute.

For those who actually love the activeness portrayed in our year-round daily updates, maybe we could keep part of that going without any of the stories which require so much more investigation and time preparing. I will keep you posted as all the pieces come together for a decision in the coming days.

Updated: 10/27/17, 6:25 pm
Updated: 10/30/17, 9:30 am