My Thoughts on the Yahoo! Buying Associated Content Thing

I've been messing around with other little bits of work this morning, really trying to avoid this subject altogether.  I had planned on writing about AC's image gallery and page view boosts but I need to write on this today.  I'll tackle those subjects later.

If your here looking for soothing words from me, I have none.  To be honest, I'm a bit apprehensive myself.  As the Barefoot says in the video below, I don't have all my eggs in one basket.  I write for Examiner.com and have a number of good blogs.  But AC is my highest source of income and if I lose that, I might as well bite the bullet and go out to get a traditional job again.



What does it all mean?  Again, I don't know.  I know, a lot of help I am, right?  What I've gathered from reports is that Yahoo! spent millions on AC and all the staff is "happy" about it but they want to keep their jobs so they have to seem happy, whether they are or not.  Darnell couldn't very well tell us otherwise.  To do so would be like opening the panic doors even further than they already are.

I pretty much agree with what the Barefoot says in the video about being nervous but I'm not going to be as pessimistic as he is being about it.  So I am viewing this transaction with light anxiousness.  But "Shutting down" AC in the third quarter could mean that Yahoo! will absorb the site into their own massive web but still allow contributors to do what they are doing.  Does it make sense to get rid of contributors when it is the contributors who have made this site what it is?  Not really.  But I'm still cautious, as everyone should be.

There will almost certainly be changes.  That's a given fact when a new company takes over something.  Some we might like, some we won't.  It's what change is all about.

On the flip side, while I still remain cautious and a bit fearful at what will happen next, I also can see the things that could happen that would be great for us.  Yahoo! could feature some of us on their front page occasionally.  There could be an opportunity to move up in the world of writing.  We could get bigger offers if we still can get upfronts.  I don't know.  But it seems like in imagining the worst, maybe you could switch that to see the best, too.

What I do wish would happen is straight forward talk between Yahoo! and AC's contributors.  The AC staff may or may not have been told what immediate plans are so don't suggest that they know something other than what they are telling us.  Whether it's right or not, the suggestion is impolite.  Please realize that they have jobs they wish to protect as well.  We know all on our own that the reports we've all read have been all over the place.  Yahoo! says one thing, AC says something different. 

So it is my official request that Yahoo! and AC confer, get their report straight and release a statement together via the AC Blog, as an AC article, or in the forums if they wish it to be kept between them and contributors.  It would relieve the rampant panic and speculation.  I feel like the staff and Yahoo! owe it to us to give us more information then what we can find.  After all, we're the cheap labor (that's what all the reports say anyway) that keeps the site going.  Don't piss off the bread for your butter.

Thanks and have a great day everyone.

ETA: I'm had the opportunity to read Luke Beatty's blog post and a FAQ's page.  I feel a bit better for now but I still remain apprehensive.  Like I said earlier, I can see the good this can do with our views, status, and exposure.  I hope it comes out the way it's being told.

Will I be slacking off on submitting content?  Are you crazy?  Hell no!  I'm at the peak of my game as of late, averaging almost 1500 page views daily and enjoying what I do immensely.  I've sped through to clout 9, am sliding my way through to 200,000 page views (and just think, my original goal was hitting just 100,000 by June 1).  While I'm still a little nervous at the "newness" of all this, I will tread on and show that I'm not gonna hide when something I don't know about comes along.  Let's see where it takes us.