Dear Spot Members, Moderators and home theater enthusiasts,
I own Luxury Publishing Group Inc., the parent company for HomeTheaterReview.com, HDTVetc.com and now HomeTheaterSpot.com. We JUST acquired the site from the Spot’s founder literally days ago. The founder will likely not be involved in this site or community going forward however we have a new staff of moderators, writers and enthusiasts who will help massively reorganize and reenergize this specialty AV community.
Personally, I want you all to know that level of capital, labor and enthusiasm that my company and my staff will put into making this once-great site great again however without your support that task will be impossible. This site is about you, your opinions, your AV passion and beyond. And things are going to be changing for the better at HomeTheaterSpot.com. That is without question.
Currently, HomeTheaterSpot.com is going through a massive renovation and reorganization. Equipment sections will be reorganized, moved and updated. Software is being updated. New CSS pages are in place. Gone is the dog theme. We likely aren’t going to call people Spotties or use the term SpoT. Many of these changes are being made right now but expect the renovation to take a few more weeks. Email me at Jerry@hometheaterreview.com if you are having issues with elements of the site. Personally, the developer and I are working on known issues with Safari.
We will have a new user policy in a matter of days. Our lawyer for this type of work is updating that copy for the site over the weekend.
Exciting elements that you can expect to see going forward:
• Specific sweepstakes with TASTY prizes for Spot users.
• Special offers from our clients for Spot members (discounts, upgrades, special pricing etc..)
• All of the former membership sections made public and free. We may relaunch the membership program later with more goodies but for now – those sections are open to you for free.
• We’ve moved the site to a faster, more powerful server.
• No Google Ad words. Please click on our clients ads so we look good to them. It REALLY helps make the site a success.
• Posting of content from all over the world of AV – not just HomeTheaterReview.com. HTR is “the mothership” and we will of course post reviews and news from there but we are going to encourage posting from all of the best sites as long as its constructive.
• A zero tolerance policy for brand assassination (think: Lexicon-Oppo issue from other sites). This is going to be a respectful, friendly community. Period. There is room in the world for more than one opinion. Moreover, there are already enough AV forums where you can get flamed for seemingly no reason.
• We are looking down the road at some possible event-based trips/shows etc... That’s going to be a while however.
Currently the site is:
• A Google Page Rank 4
• Has an Alexa ranking of 717,000 (3 month average)
• Nearly 900,000 pages of content created since 2000.
I am hopeful that we can get the Alexa Ranking to under 100,000. AVS is 3,500!!!! We need to breath new life into this community to get there. I will be investing in top level SEO to help more people find more of our content and get involved. Word of mouth helps too!
Email me with any questions, comments or concerns if you would like a private conversation. Otherwise, post away on the site especially as we relaunch the site with its new look, feel and organization.
My promise to you is that we will put more money, effort, enthusiasm and energy into this site than ANY AV forum has ever received. Our hope is that you will build a mighty community that is vibrant and full of user generated content and loyalty supports our advertisers, clients and friends.
All the best!
Sincerely,
Jerry
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Jerry Del Colliano
Publisher
HomeTheaterReview.com
HDTVetc.com
HomeTheaterSpot.com
David Vaughn Diamond Level Member
Posts: 7234
Loc: Northern, CA
Reg: 07-04-02
Sounds good Jerry. Don't recall what the lowest Alexa ranking the Spot has had in it's earlier years, but it's been painful for me the last year or more to see the forum only get maybe one or two posts a day. As a moderator here (former?) I've loved helping people wherever I can and it was sad to not have much to post here.
Sounds good Jerry. Don't recall what the lowest Alexa ranking the Spot has had in it's earlier years, but it's been painful for me the last year or more to see the forum only get maybe one or two posts a day. As a moderator here (former?) I've loved helping people wherever I can and it was sad to not have much to post here.
Can't wait for some changes.
Regards,
STeve
In 2005 and 2006 the Alexa rating for this site was in the top 10,000 and I believe the highest was around the 7,500 mark. It passed HTF and was the second most visited US home theater site behind AVS. There were a lot of calibrators that hung out here (Chuck and Craig especially), and many reviewers (Kris Deering, Ralph Potts, Chad Varnadore, Jeff Williams, Ray Charland, Scott Fitzgerald (I think that was his name), Jason Kuenkler, and myself) that drove a lot of traffic. When all of us left or were asked to leave, the site started losing too much content and people stopped coming.
Congrats Jerry. Like the others I can remember a time when this site flourished. I joined in 2001 and the amount of traffc and the quality of the people that frequented was really impressive. Good luck and it will be nice to feel welcomed here again.. ::
Regards,
Ralph Potts
Jerry Del Colliano Silver Level Member
Posts: 382
Loc: Beverly Hills
Reg: 01-02-10
In 2005 and 2006 the Alexa rating for this site was in the top 10,000 and I believe the highest was around the 7,500 mark. It passed HTF and was the second most visited US home theater site behind AVS. There were a lot of calibrators that hung out here (Chuck and Craig especially), and many reviewers (Kris Deering, Ralph Potts, Chad Varnadore, Jeff Williams, Ray Charland, Scott Fitzgerald (I think that was his name), Jason Kuenkler, and myself) that drove a lot of traffic. When all of us left or were asked to leave, the site started losing too much content and people stopped coming.
Would be great to see a lot of those names come back, if you guys keep in touch with any of them give them a ring, let them know we're trying to revamp the Spot.
I'm surprised Ray hasn't reappeared with the revival of the "scariest horror movie you've seen" thread! I know he actually posted again several months ago which was a bit of a shock, then disappeared again.
Well, I am still around, just haven't been on here too often, guess as David mentioned, hard to see what alot of us put alot of time into, just kinda falter.
I haven't personally spoken to the new owner yet, but It already looks like he's taking some much needed steps in making changes and updating the site.
Updates are looking good. Old friends are pourin' back in. Ahhh, it feels like home again, but let's make it better than ever. I might have to open up a can of whup ass around here and see what happens. Don't dare me to help everyone because I'll do it, ya know. Just Sayin'.
Panasonic TC-P54G10
Denon AVR-3808CI
Motorola DCH 3416 HD Cable DVR(Comcast)
Pioneer DV-588a(DVD Player)
Onkyo DX-C390(CD)
Paradigm Studio 60 v.5(Mains)
Paradigm Studio Esprit v.4(Center)
Axiom QS-8 v2(Surrounds)
SVS PB10-isd (LFE Sub front left)
Cerwin Vega LW15(LFE Sub rear right)
Monster THX Video and Audio Interconnects
Sony Playstation 3 60GB(HDMI)
Harmony One Uber-Cool Remote
Blu-ray Confidence Meter at 100% circa 2007
Predicted Early, Predicted Often
Easy to Call, Obvious to all
Jerry Del Colliano Silver Level Member
Posts: 382
Loc: Beverly Hills
Reg: 01-02-10
We could use you to help reorg some of these categories and sub categories.
MASSIVE changes coming. We are moving some serious Earth around here.
I am hopeful that in a day or two we will have the home page organized REALLY NICELY. THEN we are going for a DRASTICALLY upgraded sub forum structure. There's just so much crap on this site from the old days that needed to be cleared up. now we are doing it
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Jerry Del Colliano
Publisher
HomeTheaterReview.com
HDTVetc.com
HomeTheaterSpot.com
dpugh Full Upgradeitis
Posts: 799
Loc: Milwaukee WI
Reg: 03-18-02
I said it in another thread, It's nice to be back.
Kinda like moving back into your home after a major remodel. Same neighbors, better digs.
Mitsu WS-48413 Main Display
Samsung SP-R4232 In the Rec Room
Yamaha RX-V657 Receiver
Atlantis ATL-10 Mains
Boston Acoustics VRC
DefTech BP 1.2x Surrounds
DefTech Supercube II
Sony DVP-CX995V DVD Jukebox
HR22
AM21
H22
The wallet is now empty and I couldn't be happier
