The future of FAOL
The end of May was a very bad month for the fly fishing community. It lost one of the sports most vocal and respected advocates. Not everyone agreed with Jim Birkholm (aka JC / James Castwell) but everyone I know of respected him. Jim brought a lot of passion and conviction and technical ability with him. He had taught celebrities, and complete unknowns with the same level of professionalism and enthusiasm toward everyone he helped. Jim had definite ideas of what was right, or wrong in his world, and tried to expand the art of fly fishing by leading, teaching, and getting as many people enthused and on the "right" path as he could in his lifetime.
Deanna (aka Ladyfisher) was probably the perfect compliment for Jim. I've known them for years, and had never seen them fight. Dee was Jim's anchor, and brought her own level of expertise to the sport. Dee was an accomplished outdoor writer for Scripps/Howard and Cox newspapers, Fly Fishing In Saltwater, and the Anglers Journal Magazine before helping found FAOL. In addition to her technical ability Dee was responsible for the "feel" of FAOL. She is the prime architect of the welcome home atmosphere you get when you visit the site. Dee is also the publisher and web developer for the site.
As for my personal involvement with FAOL, there is very little. I am a confessed worm drowner, and never learned to cast. Your reels are on the wrong side of the grip for crying out loud... My role was simply to provide emergency help as the situation warranted, and occasionally lend a hand with a side project every now and then.
For the last year the three of us have been debating as to what FAOL needed to do to update itself and stay current while keeping to it's core values. A topic that neither Jim or Dee would budge on. The site, it was determined would need to evolve and where appropriate it would need to incorporate sound and video. A facelift was also in order. With Jim doing graphics work, and Dee doing web page development, there was little time to keep skills up to speed with evolving technologies. This needed to change and all agreed. Jim was like moving a rock however when it came to the type of content that would be allowed. Jim and Dee are old school in their beliefs of family values.
To that extent a lot of time and effort has been expended to keep the site and the bulletin board as free from spam, and vulgarities as possible. "The site must be a site that you would want to bring your kids to", was pretty much the mandate that was laid down. Well, Jim left us a bit too early, but his and Deanna's mission still exists. Bring a quality site full of information and useful content to the masses, and do it in a fashion that you would be proud to show it off to your grandchildren. That won't change.
So then. What will change? Well, for one we will be bringing in some volunteers to help with some of the day to day operations. We already have some people that host chat rooms, or keep watch on the BB for us. Without them we would be in sad shape. The thanks of the whole FAOL community are in order for these fine individuals. But with the loss of Jim and the need for Dee to step back and fill in a lot of the behind the scenes roles, a little bit of restructuring is in order. In the coming month I will try to assemble a team of competent people that can help me recode decades of web pages to fit into a format that makes the information easy to find, and provides a more pleasant experience. In techie geek speak I will be looking for a few people that want to expend tons of time for no other reason than they love the sport and this is a way to give back. These folks will be proficient in html coding and understand css in at least it's simplest form. I can train as required for anything else, but some knowledge will be needed. I also will need to come up with a good (RELIABLE) graphics dude that can help lay out the pages.
The new look of the site will necessarily contain just a bit more in advertising. Most likely a couple of ads down the left side, with a consistent header and a pull down menu to navigate straight to the information you want. This is an early prototype of one of the layouts discussed. You can see the pull down scrolling menu. The final look will undoubtably be very different, but I thought you would like a sneak peak at what JC, Deanna, and I had been discussing as possibilities.
As to the advertisers, THANK YOU. FAOL is not a site that rakes in the dough. It makes enough to keep the doors open most months, but not much more. The advertisers are chosen amongst the many that might be on the site due to the belief that they provide a quality product or service. The specific advertiser you see may not be a perfect fit for you or your price range, but without these fine folks FAOL would simply not exist. Please show your appreciation by including them in your search the next time you need a product or service that they offer. They already support you after all.
How can YOU help? Well beside the support our advertiser request above, we will be streamlining the ability for those that wish to publish an article. Not everyone gets to be on the main web site, but this is a sport of the community, and that means those with the ability to write interesting pieces, take great photos, or shoot interesting videos will be welcome. Keep in mind that means submissions will need to be edited and we will have to format it to fit the FAOL web presence, but your content will need to be worthy and complete.
Beyond all that **PARTICIPATE** in the discussion forums on the BB that you can contribute to. And most importantly, become a mentor. Get others interested in your sport, and introduce them to FAOL to help them along. We are your support team and resource. You are the ambassadors of your sport. Your actions and manners in and out of the streams lakes and oceans matter. They matter to the environment. They matter to your fellow anglers. And they directly reflect your community at large. So be good stewards. And leave those worms for me :)