WarriorForum Traffic Picking up (ALEXA)

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Whatever changes the new admins put in place are having a positive effect.

  • Profile picture of the author sparrow
    that's interesting, seems like the Warrior Forum is starting to find it's voice
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  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author LindyUK
      Originally Posted by DWolfe View Post

      Considering if you look at the actual numbers of people logged on to the forum. It has been getting worse. Wonder how Alexa is saying the site is improving when traffic numbers are the showing the opposite.

      Hello DWolfe

      Where do you find the number of people who are logged in?

      I have been a member since 2013 but have never had the time to be a frequent visitor. I come when I can as I am not here to learn, I just like helping others if I am able to.

      It was a vibrant community back then with over 730,000 members. One thread I taught in had 52,634 views, even though it had to be closed early due to threats from 3 idiots. Most threads had thousands of views and very active participation..

      Now it seems like a ghost town in here, views are mainly in the hundreds, if that. It looks as though there are only a few hundred active members.

      I see some clues, since I have been back the last few weeks I have had 3 posts removed and banned once for 4 days. That would not have happened in Alan's day, or even in the years after he sold WF. It was a thriving family back then, now it is more like a graveyard.

      So sad. What happened here?

      Cheers
      Lindy
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      • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
        Originally Posted by LindyUK View Post

        Hello DWolfe

        Where do you find the number of people who are logged in?

        I have been a member since 2013 but have never had the time to be a frequent visitor. I come when I can as I am not here to learn, I just like helping others if I am able to.

        It was a vibrant community back then with over 730,000 members. One thread I taught in had 52,634 views, even though it had to be closed early due to threats from 3 idiots. Most threads had thousands of views and very active participation..

        Now it seems like a ghost town in here, views are mainly in the hundreds, if that. It looks as though there are only a few hundred active members.

        I see some clues, since I have been back the last few weeks I have had 3 posts removed and banned once for 4 days. That would not have happened in Alan's day, or even in the years after he sold WF. It was a thriving family back then, now it is more like a graveyard.

        So sad. What happened here?

        Cheers
        Lindy
        Yes, Lindy, alexa results can be deceptive, or l have been to forums with traffic numbers considerably higher than here, but the place is dead or deader than here.

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  • Profile picture of the author LindyUK
    I notice that DWolfe's post has disappeared. Are our posts being removed if we speak the truth in the Warrior Forum now? If so I guess mine may be next to go.


    Lindy
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  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    If you click on the Classic View when you log in Lindy. Than Scroll to the bottom you will see current users. Those that are signed in to the Warrior Forum and those that are guests. Some people never log out of the Warrior Forum because of various reasons.

    Your post above should be safe. I removed my post because of other issues and dd not finish what I started to write.
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  • Profile picture of the author LindyUK
    Actually I just checked the figures after DWolfe showed me how, it said there was 1,447,963 members, but showed only 147 of them online plus 4,578 guests.

    We usually get a few hundred more than that (the number of members logged in) when we hold private webinars or conference sessions for our clients.

    I don't understand what has driven everyone away. Does anyone know?

    Lindy
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    • Profile picture of the author SARubin
      Originally Posted by LindyUK View Post

      Actually I just checked the figures after DWolfe showed me how, it said there was 1,447,963 members, but showed only 147 of them online plus 4,578 guests.

      We usually get a few hundred more than that (the number of members logged in) when we hold private webinars or conference sessions for our clients.

      I don't understand what has driven everyone away. Does anyone know?

      Lindy
      Is that rhetorical question, Lindy? Or are you honestly wondering?

      Assuming that you're actually asking for the sake of comprehension, and not simply musing hypotheticals, I'll offer a possible (albeit indefinite) answer...

      (I guess this could be the first chapter of your book, DWolfe?)



      People move on for a variety of reasons.

      Some past members are likely hanging out on facebook groups, or some other platform that's more niched to their particular interests.

      Some probably became disillusioned at the direction of the forum when it changed ownership. It could be because they didn't like the direction the platform was moving, or simply because they couldn't reconcile with the concept of change (change always causes turbulence in peoples lives. Change is not always a bad thing, but some people become anxious at the mere expectation of uncertainty)

      Some members may have gotten pissed off because it appeared that the new owners where trying to sanitize the forums, and ban people for things that were previously acceptable. (You recently got banned for a few days for speaking your mind... How did that make you feel?)

      And still other noble warriors may have moved on to create their own empires, and simply don't have the time to hang out here anymore. Looking at your profile I see that even you, yourself, disappeared from this forum for more than two years before you recently came back a couple months ago.


      I'm sure that when I say people move on for a variety of reasons, I'm not telling you anything you don't already understand, Lindy.

      But for anyone else who's wondering the same question, maybe we could use that question as a catalyst to ask a different question...


      "What can we do to make this a place where more people want to come back and participate?"

      Or maybe that would be a rhetorical question also (Since we have little control over what the owners of this platform do)


      On the other hand, perhaps I'm just overthinking it. It wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of that. In fact, about a year ago someone told me that I overthink stuff too much. And everyday I still wake up wondering what she could've meant by that...
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      • Profile picture of the author LindyUK
        Originally Posted by SARubin View Post

        Is that rhetorical question, Lindy? Or are you honestly wondering?

        Assuming that you're actually asking for the sake of comprehension, and not simply musing hypotheticals, I'll offer a possible (albeit indefinite) answer...

        (I guess this could be the first chapter of your book, DWolfe?)



        People move on for a variety of reasons.

        Some past members are likely hanging out on facebook groups, or some other platform that's more niched to their particular interests.

        Some probably became disillusioned at the direction of the forum when it changed ownership. It could be because they didn't like the direction the platform was moving, or simply because they couldn't reconcile with the concept of change (change always causes turbulence in peoples lives. Change is not always a bad thing, but some people become anxious at the mere expectation of uncertainty)

        Some members may have gotten pissed off because it appeared that the new owners where trying to sanitize the forums, and ban people for things that were previously acceptable. (You recently got banned for a few days for speaking your mind... How did that make you feel?)

        And still other noble warriors may have moved on to create their own empires, and simply don't have the time to hang out here anymore. Looking at your profile I see that even you, yourself, disappeared from this forum for more than two years before you recently came back a couple months ago.


        I'm sure that when I say people move on for a variety of reasons, I'm not telling you anything you don't already understand, Lindy.

        But for anyone else who's wondering the same question, maybe we could use that question as a catalyst to ask a different question...


        "What can we do to make this a place where more people want to come back and participate?"

        Or maybe that would be a rhetorical question also (Since we have little control over what the owners of this platform do)


        On the other hand, perhaps I'm just overthinking it. It wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of that. In fact, about a year ago someone told me that I overthink stuff too much. And everyday I still wake up wondering what she could've meant by that...

        Hello SARubin

        My question was genuine, I can still hardly believe it has fallen off the cliff as it has. To come to the point where thread views are counted in the hundreds if they are lucky, and posts often hover as low as 7, is really shocking. I mentioned one thread that I taught in that had 52,634 views, and likely would have had many more if we had been able to continue to post.

        As you say, I have been an infrequent visitor over the years. That just comes down to lack of time to come here. My Dad and I still often work 16 to 18 hour days. Then I suppose the fact that the way we work is so different to most also plays a part. It means I am not really coming here to learn anything as we go our own very very different ways. One example of that is how most people here are really hung up on how to get Google rankings. We go the opposite way, we actually hide our websites from Google search and sometimes advise our clients to do the same.

        Re "Some members may have gotten pissed off because it appeared that the new owners where trying to sanitize the forums, and ban people for things that were previously acceptable. (You recently got banned for a few days for speaking your mind... How did that make you feel?)"

        Yes you are so right there. Over past weeks I have had a number of posts deleted and then I was banned for 4 days for "breaking" what I consider to be a non existent rule. (telling someone you will contact them in the Warrior Forum Messaging system. What do the moderators think it's there for, for gosh sake?)

        Those things have really peed me off to the point of considering not coming back to the forum, so I can understand why others may have left for the same reasons.

        Perhaps we should be contacting the new owners and expressing our point of view on how they have messed up, after all they paid over a million dollars to buy the Warrior Forum to then just flush it down the loo. That makes no sense at all from a business point of view.

        Cheers
        Lindy
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        • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
          Originally Posted by LindyUK View Post




          Perhaps we should be contacting the new owners and expressing our point of view on how they have messed up, after all they paid over a million dollars to buy the Warrior Forum to then just flush it down the loo. That makes no sense at all from a business point of view.

          Cheers
          Lindy
          NEW OWNERS? How long do you own something before it isn't new anymore? It has been years.

          What is it? The number 1 digital marketing forum and marketplace claims the title of the main forum. How did they determine the #1??? By alleged members?

          We don't know what their business point of view is, do we? THEY, have gone through several new admins in the last few years, each one with promises of getting things straightened out...last Sheriff came in with guns ablazin all Yosemite Samish and got run'd out of town.

          The view it was all one big happy family under the other guy, is simply untrue.

          One reason many marketers left, was the quality of their buyers went way down the hill, and some people haven't had a Warrior for a customer for years, and prefer to keep it that way.

          Others have found a home, selling WSO's to the masses of would be and wannabee marketers, so they are still here doing just fine.

          I respect the owner's business, as being THEIR business, and really just watch what happens, learning the last few years about what NOT to do with a forum. But it is a free forum, except for those paid parts. Even though I had the lifetime War Room, I insisted on turning it in a couple of years ago. And wouldn't rejoin if it were free.

          As WF gets folded into Freelancer's other Businesses, most notably, StartCon we can clearly see the direction the forum is taking.

          We have the option to participate or not, depends what you want from it. There are still 27 people who regularly and routinely contribute to the forum, TRYING to help those who are struggling out, but often, the time wasters show up.

          For some, it is simply a litter box where a break is taken, and maybe just to watch the kids playing in the lumpy sandbox.

          GordonJ

          PS. What is it to you?
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    • Profile picture of the author perryny
      Originally Posted by LindyUK View Post


      I don't understand what has driven everyone away. Does anyone know?
      Yes. New owners took over, replaced the existing moderators with their own, followed nearly immediately by "AN INVASION OF IGNORANT SHORT-MONEY SEEKERS = A MASS EXODUS OF SENTIENT MARKETERS"

      https://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...e-excuses.html
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  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    Without writing a book, some were turned off by the take over here. Others got bored or moved on. Facebook hurt a lot of forums in general. The current Demographics here has also changed this place.

    Hopefully some of the older contributors return and better discussions take place. Could make a big impact on the numbers.
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  • Profile picture of the author CherryMiss
    It seems that it's latest Google update who had an impact on forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelQuinn
    Seems a book could be written on this subject from everything I've seen....
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Those things have really peed me off to the point of considering not coming back to the forum, so I can understand why others may have left for the same reasons.

    Freelancer took over the WF in Spring 2014 - paid over 3 million for it. It is a public forum but privately owned - and the owner makes the rules. tTese are not 'new' owners.



    You were not posting in 2014 - when FL was making changes....you posted here in 2015 and 2016 - and then nothing until spring 2019. Where can you go - offline or online - after a 2-3 year absence ....and find nothing has changed?



    You have experience and knowledge to share - and that's great. The WF needs more successful marketers giving advice. That does not excuse rude or argumentative posts toward moderators or members and such posts are often deleted.



    One of my favorites: If you think you are the smartest person in the room, you are probably in the wrong room.
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    • Profile picture of the author LindyUK
      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      Freelancer took over the WF in Spring 2014 - paid over 3 million for it. It is a public forum but privately owned - and the owner makes the rules. tTese are not 'new' owners.



      You were not posting in 2014 - when FL was making changes....you posted here in 2015 and 2016 - and then nothing until spring 2019. Where can you go - offline or online - after a 2-3 year absence ....and find nothing has changed?



      You have experience and knowledge to share - and that's great. The WF needs more successful marketers giving advice. That does not excuse rude or argumentative posts toward moderators or members and such posts are often deleted.



      One of my favorites: If you think you are the smartest person in the room, you are probably in the wrong room.

      Hello Kay

      Re: "Freelancer took over the WF in Spring 2014 - paid over 3 million for it. It is a public forum but privately owned - and the owner makes the rules. tTese are not 'new' owners."

      I know it is a public forum but is privately owned. That has always been the case. And yes, the owner obviously has the right to make the rules, but when their decisions and rules have driven away MOST of the members, leaving the WF a sad shadow of it's former self, any thinking person would question those decisions and rules. As far as "not new owners" go, they are new from the original or previous owner.

      Re: You were not posting in 2014 - when FL was making changes....you posted here in 2015 and 2016 - and then nothing until spring 2019.

      You do not know our involvement with the Warrior Forum. I may not have found it until 2015, but my Dad, who is also an Australian like Allen Says was a member from near the beginning, long before I met him and certainly before you joined the forum. I'm not a frequent visitor, I only have 300 or so posts here compared to your 22,000 or so, but I am running a large business, I just don't have the time to spare as you obviously do. I often wonder how anyone could have spent time so much time here making thousands of posts and still have time to build and run a large business. I would find that impossible to do, and I have 78 staff at my disposal. Even finding time to post as I do, I'm usually having to dictate my replies to Dragon or to a PA to type them. I am of the opinion that anyone running a small IM business would certainly not have a fraction of the experience or knowledge to match me.

      Re: Where can you go - offline or online - after a 2-3 year absence ....and find nothing has changed?

      Yes you are right, but you would expect or at least hope that when you returned to whatever site, it would be even better than the last time you visited. You can not in your right mind tell me the WF has gone ahead in those years.

      Re: You have experience and knowledge to share - and that's great. The WF needs more successful marketers giving advice. That does not excuse rude or argumentative posts toward moderators or members and such posts are often deleted.

      As far as the WF needing more successful marketers giving advice. That is true, otherwise all you have here is the blind leading the blind. So why drive them out? It makes no sense. That's not only my opinion, even in this thread others have the same opinion.

      I say it like it is, if someone is being bullied I will certainly defend them. If a Moderator bans me for breaking a non existent rule I will certainly not go crawling under a rock. I will certainly make my complaints heard.

      Re: One of my favorites: If you think you are the smartest person in the room, you are probably in the wrong room.

      So that quote is aimed at me is it? I'm obviously just a dumb little blonde running a US$21 Million a year business. Just a dime a dozen I guess. I often meet people, usually Guys though, that think I'm not that smart, they usually learn the opposite. It is a great advantage to have in business, your competitors discount you and by the time they wake up to the facts they are dust at your feet. I actually love the advantage that gives.When I was in my 20's I used to fight in Karate comps. I am Blackbelt 2nd Dan in Kyokushin which is full contact fighting. I often had to fight Guys who towered over me and thought they had advantage from their size and strength, and if they didn't know me, saw me as a pushover. Most of them woke up on the floor wondering what had happened. They might have agreed with your view of me at first, but I doubt they did later.

      Cheers
      Lindy
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      • Profile picture of the author socialentry
        Originally Posted by LindyUK View Post

        I am Blackbelt 2nd Dan in Kyokushin which is full contact fighting. I often had to fight Guys who towered over me and if they didn't know me, saw me as a pushover. Most of them woke up on the floor wondering what had happened. They might have agreed with your view of me at first, but I doubt they did later.

        Cheers
        Lindy
        Mike Tyson fought a world title with Gonnorhea. Also he once beat up a bull with 3 punches. Once he was at the zoo, and he saw a silver back gorilla getting bullied by another gorilla. He wanted to jump in but the zoo staff did not give him the key to rescue the bullied gorilla.


        However, I am certain his rescue would have been successful if the zoo staff weren't wimps.
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        • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
          Originally Posted by socialentry View Post

          Mike Tyson fought a world title with Gonnorhea.
          Obviously I've heard of Mike Tyson, but I've never heard of this boxer called Gonnorhea. When did this bout between the two take place? Is it on YouTube?
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  • See?

    You don't ban me in an age & evocative possibilities blossom.

    But hey, on a purely speculative ticket, gotta hope all this +++ smoochies out OK far as whatevah lips you wanna kiss on kinda self-purse your way.

    All I know is, I missed out on the glory days before all the Troo Warrior Saints vaporised, but I so glad we got a potential internexus of BLAMMO gonna fix up evrywan ain't no malefic goober.

    Any way you look at that scenario, gotta be positive, I guess.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    I say it like it is,

    Maybe - but tthers may not agree with how you think 'it is' - and rudeness to other members doesn't work here for long.



    So that quote is aimed at me is it?

    Nope - as I said, it's one of my favorite quotes and I've posted it here before.



    It's funny how people react to it. Some laugh, some agree - and some feel they need to prove they ARE the smartest/toughest person in the room. Never had the desire to make anyone 'dust' under my feet but to each his/her own.


    I'm also a 'not dumb' blonde so that tactic doesn't work with me - though I've been known to call the WF the 'old boy's club' on occasion..
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    • Profile picture of the author LindyUK
      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      Maybe - but tthers may not agree with how you think 'it is' - and rudeness to other members doesn't work here for long.






      Nope - as I said, it's one of my favorite quotes and I've posted it here before.



      It's funny how people react to it. Some laugh, some agree - and some feel they need to prove they ARE the smartest/toughest person in the room. Never had the desire to make anyone 'dust' under my feet but to each his/her own.


      I'm also a 'not dumb' blonde so that tactic doesn't work with me - though I've been known to call the WF the 'old boy's club' on occasion..

      Hello Kay

      RE: "and rudeness to other members doesn't work here for long." You have made similar comments to me a number of times now. I don't believe I was rude but have it your own way.

      I likely won't bother posting in the Warrior Forum again, I'll joint the other million and more members who have given it up.

      Cheers
      Lindy
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      • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
        Originally Posted by LindyUK View Post


        I likely won't bother posting in the Warrior Forum again, I'll joint the other million and more members who have given it up.

        Cheers
        Lindy
        You, like so many others who come here and whine and bitch about how the WF isn't what it used to be, and you miss those glorious days of yesteryear...don't and haven't bothered to post anything in the last few years, why take any time out of that 16 hour work day to bother yourself now?

        You are free to join the millions, and seemingly have joined with those that flee, or you could join the few who have stayed and offered their experiences to the few hundred thousand that have remained here seeking useful and practical advice.

        I bothered myself to address this whining this one time only, won't bother again (maybe).

        GordonJ

        PS. There are millions of people who aren't lucky enough to have a daddy in business who can help one get started.
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        • Profile picture of the author LindyUK
          Originally Posted by GordonJ View Post

          You, like so many others who come here and whine and bitch about how the WF isn't what it used to be, and you miss those glorious days of yesteryear...don't and haven't bothered to post anything in the last few years, why take any time out of that 16 hour work day to bother yourself now?

          You are free to join the millions, and seemingly have joined with those that flee, or you could join the few who have stayed and offered their experiences to the few hundred thousand that have remained here seeking useful and practical advice.

          I bothered myself to address this whining this one time only, won't bother again (maybe).

          GordonJ

          PS. There are millions of people who aren't lucky enough to have a daddy in business who can help one get started.
          Hello GordonJ

          This post will be long as it WILL be my last

          A number of members have urged me to respond to your post. I resisted at first as I had said I was unlikely to post again, but then one pointed out you were sowing the seeds of untruth in regard to something I have been passionate in teaching here, that you can overcome any negatives in your life and turn your life around no matter what. When my Dad was just my mentor, he drilled into me that I could overcome my past, that I could become anyone I wanted to be, that I could do anything I wanted to do, if I had the drive and passion, and the determination to not let the past rule my future.

          Your "PS. There are millions of people who aren't lucky enough to have a daddy in business who can help one get started", is the reason I have come back to answer you. I wasn't born with a rich Dad who just paved the way to getting me started in business with little or no effort on my own part.

          I have told my story, parts of it at least, a number of times here in the WF, in the hope that it will help others overcome similar things that may hold them back from achieving success in life.

          I was not born to rich parents who helped put me into business without effort on my part. I was born to parents who did not love me. I was born to a father who held a high lay position in his church, but who sexually assaulted me from the age of 12 to 16, and shared me with his friends and at sex parties he hosted for money from the time I was 14. I was born to a mother who when I first told told what he was doing, told me he was not really hurting me, and if I told anyone else, I would be sent to a girls home and never see my friends again. I was threatened, I was spanked and strapped and hit. I was forced to do these things and have them done to me on nearly a daily basis. Every day on the walk home from school I knew what awaited me. My mother would often walk in to the living room while I was naked and he was assaulting me, he ended up not even bothering to take me to my bedroom. She would just walk out again as if nothing was happening. This continued until after I became pregnant to my High School boyfriend before I turned 17, then they insisted I have an abortion as my pregnancy would embarrass them in front of their church friends. I refused and they kicked me out of home, the only good thing that they ever did for me I think.

          So I'll now go on to my new Dad, he was the one who helped me into business, but he didn't just hand it to me. I had started in IM myself at 23, didn't know what I was doing, made only US$408 for my whole first year. Then I met him in a chatroom started talking and found that he was making his living from IM. He was 54 then and lived in Australia. I asked him if he would mentor me, he said no but that we could have a few chats.

          I asked and asked and asked until he finally said yes but with tough conditions.

          I was working full time as a researcher at BBC Television by that time, though had not been able to find full time work until I was 20, due to having to look after Sherri. One of his conditions to mentor me was that I had to work 2 hours a day for him , seven days a week for free, then he would mentor me for 1 or 2 hours a day. He did pay for some of my education, he would buy a book every week from Amazon and have it sent to me. I had to read it and comprehend it in a week, so we could then talk about it. This was difficult for me as I had failed every class at school (other than art and music), no doubt due to my life at home. But even though I had told him some of that by now, and was telling him it would take me a month or more to read a book, his answer was that I had a week, and if I couldn't do it I was wasting his time. He then showed me how to break it down, so many pages in the morning, so many pages each night, and I found I could do it.

          Similar things came about when he started to teach me how to design websites. He bought and sent me FrontPage and a book called FrontPage For Dummies. At first look at FrontPage and the book, I told him I couldn't learn it, it seemed so complicated. I got back, your wasting my time then, and he set about teaching me aspects of web design in his conference room. A few days later he set an assignment for me, to design a simple website, again I thought I couldn't do it. His reply was I had 5 days, don't bother coming back without a website. That gave me 100% incentive as I didn't want to lose someone who seemed to care about me, even with his very direct and gruff ways. A long way forward, I came to realize he had more confidence in me than I had in myself, and that he had pushed me to succeed, knowing I could, when I did not know I could at that stage.

          Over time we became close, I started to love him like a Dad I had never had, and one night following a mentoring session where he talked about our British SAS and their motto Who Dares Wins, I decided to dare and try to win. A few nights later I asked him if he would be my Dad and Sherri's GrandDad, and he said yes. That moment was the most wonderful of my life.

          He wasn't rich or running a large business, he was making $50K to $70K a year from his IM business, so he didn't just hand me the reins to a large business. I often say he only decided he needed a large business after he found out how expensive Daughters and GrandDaughters could be. We started from scratch with a new business and it was him and I who built it. For the first 2 years I had to continue working at the BBC, and Anna at her job in a beauty salon. We were putting most of the profits back into our business. Eventually he gave us a small weekly allowance that we called our lippy stick allowance, as we joked it was barely enough to buy our lip stick. Over the years our lippy stick allowance has turned into an in joke. We are well paid now but at times we have wanted things that we could not personally afford from our savings, like a farm for our horses that was £1.5 million. So we told my Dad we needed a bigger lippy stick allowance, and when telling him the amount he said, What are you girls doing, buying bloody lipstick by the lorry load now? Before he moved over with us, some times he would be talking with Anna and she would tell him what she was cooking for dinner, like maybe a baked dinner, and he would tell her that he was going to cook a baked dinner too, but them he would add - baked beans on toast cause that's all I can afford with you girls spending all my money. That wasn't the case but he made our lives fun, and having fun is a big part of our work days now, for us and our staff.

          We have nearly everything one could imagine now but we continue to work hard to grow our business. You said " why take any time out of that 16 hour work day to bother yourself now?" I sleep for about 4 hours a day during the normal work week days, that only leaves 4 hours a day free and in that time I have to take care of everything else in my personal life. One hour of that day every morning after breakfast is taken up driving the 10 minutes to our farm to feed and care for our horses. I would suggest Gordon that you spend just one week trying to live my schedule, 4 hours sleep a night then work for 16 hours straight. Then see what you can fit in the 4 hours you have left. I do try and take the weekends off now but our business runs 3 shifts per day, 7 days a week, so it is still likely that my Dad and I will still spend some time on our business, perhaps just talking about it.

          It is not a case about being greedy, just piling up the millions in our bank accounts. We treat our staff like family, we pay them double the award rates, give them profit share, buy them cars, fully paid luxury holidays to Hawaii each year and a host of other benefits.

          We have everything we could possibly want so we give a lot of our profits away each year, likely at least £4 to £5 million a year. We sponsor hundreds of children from third world African and South American countries. (also run a drive each year to encourage our business clients to sponsor children, resulting in thousands more being sponsored yearly) We drill wells and build and fund schools in African countries. We buy rickshaws and sewing machines and supplies for people in India to help them start their own business's. Over here we fund sexual assault support centre's, we hold events for disadvantaged people in our local town, like a yearly picnic for pensioners in the ground of our home, and a Christmas party for them in town. We pay for the bus's to collect and return them and for the meals and presents and entertainment, and hampers to take home. We hold similar Christmas party with meals and presents for disadvantaged children from our town. We fund animal and dog rescue groups in the US and Romania. We rescue horses and donkeys over here and let them live out the rest of their lives in peace and love. That's actually just a short list of what we do with our money.

          We sometimes can make a very big difference in peoples lives, one such case resulted from a thread here in the WF where I was teaching. A woman messaged me asking if I would help with more personal advice. She said she and her husband needed to raise a large amount of money within a year. I asked why, and she told me about her young Daughter who had been given just one year to live without a major operation that they could not afford. They had no experience in IM but were hoping they could start an IM business and raise that money. I knew they had no hope of building a business that could raise that amount of profit within months so I talked to my Dad about them. He followed up with them to gain contact with their Doctors, to check out what they were saying, it was all true. Within weeks my Dad had arranged for the operation to be carried out, and paid more than US$240,000 from his own money to have it done. Two years later we flew their family to England to holiday with us, it was wonderful seeing her playing like any other precious little girl of her age.

          In the same way I enjoyed helping people here, and my number of posts don't really reflect the help I have given, as many people have asked for my help via the messaging system over the years. I have always tried to help them and many have kept in contact with me over the years. Many have had success from my advice and I know of one who has built a million dollar business over the space of about 4 years from following my detailed advice. At times I have bought books, courses, software and so on to help people who just did not have the money to purchase themselves.

          So our lives are filled, I have no need to whine like you said of me, I was addressing complaints which were valid. Many others who have left or who do not participate much now days have the same complaints as I voiced. I just read the thread that a former contributor and Moderator posted. (perryny) His post and many others in that thread lay out the same concerns as me, and tell why others who gave great value to the WF have left.

          You say "or you could join the few who have stayed and offered their experiences to the few hundred thousand that have remained here seeking useful and practical advice." I think you fool yourself with those numbers. "A few hundred thousand"? Checking login figures it is usually not even a few hundred members logged in, and maybe four or five thousand guests.. And post figures in threads can lag from less than 20 for days. I also notice that many giving advice really do not know what they are talking about, yet other people would be taking this advice for fact. It makes no sense at all to me to drive out most of the members who do have real experience to help people. Many spent a lot of their time here regarding it a bit like a family. I agree I was an infrequent visitor, governed by the time restraints of running a very large company, but I still tried to help people, giving advice from actual experience in building and running a US$21 Million a year and growing business.

          I'll just add -
          It was a similar situation when my Dad encouraged Sherri to start her own business when she was 14. We didn't give her thousands of pounds or set everything up for her. We gave her $200 and we mentored her. Today at 22 she owns 5 IM business's, 3 Teen/Twenty clothing boutiques stocking her own label, a 51% share in a computer service business that she set up for her boyfriend and a 40% share in a lollyshop.

          So it's not needing a Daddy in business who can help you, My Dad wasn't my Dad when we started out. You don't need much money either, Sherri started with the £200 we gave her, now has 10 employees. You perhaps need some help or free expert mentoring, but that was something you could get here before most of us with that knowledge were driven out. For me, I loved the time I spent here, little as it was as you and Kay King have told me. I loved making the friends that I have made here, though most have left before me. Enough said.

          Cheers
          Lindy
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  • that's amazing !
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    This is really cool. Looks like I am hopping back in at the right time
    Signature
    Ryan Biddulph helps you to be a successful blogger with his courses, manuals and blog at Blogging From Paradise
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Meaney
    Check this out.

    Traffic levels...


    Alexa rank...

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    • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
      Re: the graph below posted by Michael Meaney

      Does this show a peak of users in mid 2014, but a higher rank today? I'm sure it is self explanatory to most, but I don't understand how they define and measure a session. Could you shed some light on this for me, please?

      GordonJ

      PS. How many new sites get added every year, say since 2014 and how does Alexa add those to their metrics? Is it just by visitors to a page?
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Meaney
        Originally Posted by GordonJ View Post

        Re: the graph below posted by Michael Meaney

        Does this show a peak of users in mid 2014, but a higher rank today? I'm sure it is self explanatory to most, but I don't understand how they define and measure a session. Could you shed some light on this for me, please?

        GordonJ

        PS. How many new sites get added every year, say since 2014 and how does Alexa add those to their metrics? Is it just by visitors to a page?
        Sorry for the late reply Gordon.

        The higher the Alexa Rank, the less popular a site is.

        The lower the rank, the more popular.

        ...So a site with an Alexa Rank of #1 would be the most popular.

        The graph I posted shows the increase of Alexa Rank, as WF decreases in traffic.

        Alexa Rank generally should be taken with a pinch of salt because it's easy to manipulate.

        I tested this a few years ago and moved a site from 150,000 to 30,000 over the course of a couple of weeks.

        Measurements are taken from people with the Alexa toolbar installed on their browser, so it's widely regarded as unreliable.
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