Blog Not Needed

I have been doing a lot of soul searching lately, and things in my life haven’t been turning out as I had planned, so I need to start making some radical changes, to try to right this ship that is my life.

One of those changes, I believe is, closing the book on DIYSearch. I’ve owned this site since 1996, that’s 12 years. In that time, there has been so much of my life absorbed in trying to make this thing work that I think it is now time to say, I’m not up to the task.

I don’t just want to close the doors, and pretend this didn’t happen. What I’d like to do is sell the site, the data and all the code to someone or organization that could possibly realize the real value I think this site, this community has to offer. I’m just the wrong person to do that. I thought for a long time I was, but after doing this soul searching, I have to face facts, look at the past and realize that the best thing I could do is let this go.

This DOES NOT mean I’m not going to continue to approve links, and make sure the site is running. Hell, I got it back on page 1 of Google (keyword: DIY), from page 14. That’s not too bad.

So, if you know of an organization or someone who is serious, I’d love to talk to them. The domain doesn’t expire for another year, so there isn’t any panic, there isn’t any urgency and nothing is going away. I just have come to the realization that I have to start backing away, and let someone else realize the greatness that I think is in here, hiding.

I feel like a failure, and writing this is difficult. This is not easy for me. But its a rare case when doing the right thing is easy.

I’ve seen two long term relationships fail in the time I’ve run this site, I’ve seen jobs come and go, and cities come and go, I’ve seen the death of my mother, so much history and baggage is tied up in this site for me, and I don’t want it to be like that. I’m pretty much hitting the bottom of a very long trip down and if I’m going to climb up, I have to cut off some weight. I believe this is one of those things.

I feel sorry for those who have been there all along, I promise that this site isn’t going to just go away. Even if I don’t find a buyer (which I find highly likely) I will find a way to back away from this so I can start over, but also not abandon those who have put a lot of faith in this site and this community. I don’t know how exactly I’m going to do this, but again, I’m not in a hurry.

So, that’s pretty much it. I know I talked about having a sister site launched (Autonomic) and believe it or not, I am still working on that. Will that be scrapped? No, I honestly don’t think so. I’d like to finish it, get it launched and then have that go with its big brother. I even have designs for a DIYSearch re-design that I’d like to share with who ever takes it over, so there is a lot here, its just something I don’t think I can faithfully execute.

I’m going to wrap up this entry with a request for help. If you have ideas, I want to hear them. Please help.