Bigger and Better Things at ABI
For me it has been an exciting 4 years of running ABI, checking out the latest gadgets, working with manufactures on improving their products, and most of all getting a chance to interact with a lot of great people in our community forums. All in all it was always hard to call this work or a job. As the site grew to millions of page views it became much harder for me to maintain the software and servers running ABI- the more time I had to spend in an admin panel the more I missed the enjoyable parts of the site.
Faced with these issues my decision was to hire help and expand the ABI network or find the right partner that could take the weight and help ABI grow. Getting acquired by another company is always a scary prospect for site owners since you fear losing the vision of something you and your community been a part of for so long. However I was fortunate to find the right people.
CrowdGather is a network of forums with a talented staff that understands communities like ABI. After I had a met with them and had a chance to see what they have going on behind the scenes- the decision was easy. I saw that it was a perfect fit in that CrowdGather could improve ABI with their core competencies and I could lend my years of expertise running a successful site.
Other than a smoother running site, more content, and an improved user experience, not much will change here at ABI. I will be still be heading this site along with the other talented writers here. Additionally, however, I will be joining CrowdGather’s team to help them manage and grow their technology related sited. One closely related site you may be familiar with is ZuneBoards.com where I hope to add some insight from my work with the Microsoft MVP program as a Zune MVP.
I am really excited about this moving forward and will continue to find ways to improve the community experience here at Anythingbutipod.
Comments
Dil on November 10, 2009 12:45 PM
Hey! I'm Dil, One of the staff at Zuneboards. Congrats on selling the site, and I am looking forward to seeing you over at zuneboards!
temp on November 10, 2009 1:09 PM
congrats!
this is the best site for mp3 players, no doubt about it.
electron on November 10, 2009 3:34 PM
woah! I totally did not see this coming! What will this mean for mods and such?
Relyt on November 10, 2009 3:46 PM
Interesting and sudden...but if you think it's in the best idea of the site then I agree. I hope that you're right that not much will change though...
Andreas Ødegård on November 10, 2009 3:59 PM
@electron: Nothing and noone will be removed, it will stay the same and grow from there
electron on November 10, 2009 7:16 PM
if so, then it sounds awesome to me :)
Joseph on November 10, 2009 11:58 PM
'Fess up, you got taken over by Apple, didn't you? :-)
lawrence on November 11, 2009 2:36 AM
better be right about this one...
electron on November 11, 2009 2:03 PM
hey Joseph, I thought the same thing ;)
Joseph on November 11, 2009 4:54 PM
Electron, we'll know for sure if the domain name gets changed to AnythingForIpod.com. :-)
ultrauber on November 11, 2009 7:48 PM
Shortly after reading this i got my 1st popup ever on abi...coincidence or conspiracy?
PS on November 12, 2009 1:43 AM
Congratulations! You've done a fantastic job over the last few years. You're really worth the success!
Sanjay Sabnani on November 13, 2009 2:33 PM
I apologize for the temporary display of crappy ads. Whenever we switch relationships with ad networks they try to shove their higher yielding ads to the site hoping they will get away with it.
We are working on yelling at them and getting them to stop ASAP.
To repeat- I hate pop-ups and talking ads. We do not want them on the site and we are working on getting it to stop!
Warofart on November 16, 2009 2:14 PM
I've come here for ideas on what is better than ipod for ever, keep it up dawg.
Tejo.Hr on November 17, 2009 7:09 AM
Definitely the best site for enjoying music in the walk!
Keep up the good work :)