Van Halen could've made it without Roth

[Andertime]

Brett, If it's such a pain in the ass to keep your site going, why do you keep doing it? I'm not trying to be an ass, I'm just curious.

[Travis Bickle]

Originally posted by Brett
I'd like to see any of you spend your own bread and start a board, and let's see how long it takes you to keep it going with 13,000 members for over 5 years.

No one but you gives a fuck about how many members you have or how much money you spend.

Hey, it's the holiday season. There's plenty of crosses around. Grab one and nail yourself to it for all of your sacrifices. You hero, you.

[Brett]

Everyone cares!! Gosh darn it, I know they do. They told me they do.

It's called a "martyr" not a "hero" BTW dummy.

[Brett]

Originally posted by Andertime
Brett, If it's such a pain in the ass to keep your site going, why do you keep doing it? i'm not trying to be an ass, I'm just curious.

Seems kind of shitty to just cut everyone off at this point. It's a community for a lot of people, most of them just like to shoot the shit with each other, like they do here. Van Halen is almost secondary at this point, at least to those I've talked with. I never post about Van Halen much on there myself, because I'm bored with all of it.

It's a total 100% pain in the ass, and I don't really know why I keep it open, I just do. Put in a lot of work over the years, and just not ready to say bye yet I guess. Same reason Sarge didn't just walk away from here when it was gone for a year or so. I get no personal satisfaction from running it anymore, zero. I'd rather just post and enjoy myself at all these other sites anonymously that's for sure.

[RogueHorseman]

Originally posted by Brett
It's not a competition, I'm glad you have a successful site. You should know what a fucking pain in the ass it is then, certainly with that many members.

I'm totally civil on here when discussing VH, which is rare in itself because I simply don't care about the band much anymore. But I'm always able to see other's opinions. Plus, I think I take the mostly vicious comments pretty lightly.

You must have me confused with my many "fans" and the mass amounts of idiots who come here slamming Dave 24/7.

No Brett, I know who you are and don't have you confused with anyone else.

And yes, I can appreciate the effort of running a high traffic site. I do it for the payday, mostly, but there is a "help your fellow human being" thread among it all as well that in the end gives me the most satisfaction.

Consider this- I know for a fact that the CVH base dwarfs the Hagar era from radio listener research surveys, and the gap only widens yearly as time marches on. It is a legitimate landslide in CVH's favor. No contest, to the point of being an eye-opener even for those knowledgeable of the sales facts. But..... All one really need do is turn on the radio to know it, as major market programmers in ratings battles go by these listerner surveys like the gospel. It is, literally, what people want (and do not want) to hear.

Point being, when I've visited the links I get no sense of the CVH era truly being celebrated and honored. Especially, when it comes to one David Roth and his towering presence (to this day and forevermore) in regards to the band and their influence on the rock landscape.

Apparently, you have no interest in growing the site, but from a pure marketing standpoint you are catering to the minority segment of the VH niche.

[Brett]

I don't cater to any group of fan, you guys have made that distinction because people who like all eras of the band post there. And the idea that fans of Dave can't post there, or they're banned. Please, people are banned because they deserved to be banned. And the list is very short, you guys are under the impression everyone is banned. Give me a break, I think maybe now there are a total of 5 or 6 different people banned...people who come back with 50 different aliases. And hell, I've removed bans and given second chances to just about anyone who has asked me.

You know, believe it or not, there are some huge Dave-era only fans on my site who won't post here or DDLR because they don't like the atmospheres and attitudes here. These are the same people get into heated debates at my site about how much they hate Sam, but don't feel comfortable here. So it does go both ways.

Rogue, if I'm doing such a bad job, why are the numbers so good? If I'm catering to the wrong crowd, why am I getting 5 million page views a month? Go on Alexa.com, I don't know how accurate that is, but we're beating this site significantly, destroying the VHND, and now getting more views than the Official VH Site. And all this with me not doing much. So what am I missing here?

Right, there is no financial benefit for running the site, it's all based on personal satisfaction. And when I wander around and see people saying unbelievably cruel and untrue things to me, I get very little satisfaction from any of it. Which is why I want no part of it anymore, and you wouldn't either.

[jojo2371]

i read an interveiw with chris holmes were he stated that if it weren't
for dave ,eddie and alex would right now be playin a barmitzvah in someones backyard in pasedena!!!!!!!! classic and true !!!!!!!!

[RogueHorseman]

Originally posted by Brett
I don't cater to any group of fan, you guys have made that distinction because people who like all eras of the band post there. And the idea that fans of Dave can't post there, or they're banned. Please, people are banned because they deserved to be banned. And the list is very short, you guys are under the impression everyone is banned. Give me a break, I think maybe now there are a total of 5 or 6 different people banned...people who come back with 50 different aliases.

You know, believe it or not, there are some huge Dave-era only fans on my site who won't post here or DDLR because they don't like the atmospheres and attitudes here. These are the same people get into heated debates at my site about how much they hate Sam, but don't feel comfortable here. So it does go both ways.

Rogue, if I'm doing such a bad job, why are the numbers so good? If I'm catering to the wrong crowd, why am I getting 5 million page views a month? Go on Alexa.com, I don't know how accurate that is, but we're beating this site significantly, destroying the VHND, and almost getting more views than the Official VH Site. And all this with me not doing much. So what am I missing here?

Right, there is no financial benefit for running the site, it's all based on pesonal satisfaction. And when I wander around and see people saying unbelievably cruel and untrue things to me, I get very little satisfaction from any of it. Which is why I want no part of it anymore.

I don't think you so much set out to cater to that niche, as much as it was perhaps allowed to happen over time.

I really have no idea of what your guidelines are, nor the mindset of your moderators as a collective. Still, the site as a whole comes off as disrespectful to David.

Some of the wild types here are the trade-off, I suppose, of having a wide open forum. I could post at length about certain issues and problems here, but overall the trade-off has to be counted in the positive column if you ask me.

Alexa is somewhat accurate, at least for higher traffic sites. This place, for one thing, does not achieve very high SERPS in Google, etc. on key phrases people would search for with Van Halen in mind.

Likewise, the long down time here further hurts search engine ranks, as does the large number of re-directs employed here... The VHND became a joke, and nothing more than a vehicle to hawk wares. Nuff said there.

Bottom line, given all that the traffic here is very substantial and impressive according to Alexa. It greatly surpasses Dave's official site, as does my business site. No promotion, no SEO gets you nowhere as mentioned above... that applies to the official VH site as well. I kick their ass, too.

My "minority of the niche" comment holds water like the Hoover Dam however, no two ways about it. What you are seeing is mostly an effect of the "active" base being more centereed around this past summer tour, etc. If Dave were to rejoin, you'd see your traffic quadruple overnight. I guarantee it.

[DrMaddVibe]

WTF?

Go away!

[RogueHorseman]

Just did a quick Alexa scan for sh*ts and giggles, and really all the sites we're discussing are in the same relative ballpark...

Alexa rankings for 12/29/04

88,168 - rotharmy.com
81,929 - Official Van Halen site
79,713 - vhlinks.com

(keep in mind friends, the lower the number the higher the traffic)

[Brett]

There are all types of people on there. People disrespect Sam, Dave, Eddie, Al, Mike, Gary, Sherman the dog, nothing's gonna change that. What do you want me to do, make it an exclusive club like this one? The site is for Van Halen, that's what I cater to. Point blank, that's it. Dave fans like it here because they can do whatever they want, and say whatever they want, and know they're going to get backed up for sure. And hey that's great, why do I care? I appreciate what this site accomplishes.

What do you want me to do, hang out a sign and say, VHLinks likes Classic Van Halen? Ok for you I will.

Rogue, I don't know about all that Alexa stuff, people like you just did, tell me it's fairly accurate and a good measure of traffic.

I just get a laugh out of all of you guys telling me how shitty my site is, how it's a failure, and nobody wants to go there. How I suck, don't know what I'm doing, etc. etc. Yet somehow, I'm kicking everyone's ass including the official site. What promotion do I get? Where has VHLinks ever been mentioned? Nowhere. The Army has been mentioned in articles, and on VH1. I have no promotion, I get dicked on Yahoo's search results, yet somehow the site is still on top. I'm not taking away from this site's success, I think it's a testament to hard work. But to suggest I just sort of lucked out into this thing is pretty fucking insulting dude. I've put in the time, I just don't much anymore, it runs itself after all this time.

[Brett]

Originally posted by RogueHorseman
Just did a quick Alexa scan for sh*ts and giggles, and really all the sites we're discussing are in the same relative ballpark...

Alexa rankings for 12/29/04

88,168 - rotharmy.com
81,929 - Official Van Halen site
79,713 - vhlinks.com

(keep in mind friends, the lower the number the higher the traffic)

There ya go. Thanks for posting that. Don't forget the VHND sitting at like 160,000 or something.

Come on man, you don't think it's in some way cool that a stupid fan site is beating the Official VH Site? Shit this place almost is too, and probably will be soon.

[academic punk]

Originally posted by aesop
Is Brett (2 T's) the same as Bret (1 T)? Just curious...

I doubt it. Brett is an all right guy and doesn't attempt to goad people with his posts.

this guy is just a plain douche trying to give Brett a bad name, I assume he's doing this b/c he can't get laid and his mommy is a crack whore.

[Brett]

Yes Bret with one "T" is me, I really never liked my name having two T's, so I decided that I'd register a username on this particular board with the one, so that I can finally rid myself of this goddamn burden my parents saddled me with.

[RogueHorseman]

I can remember when the talk was hot of Dave returning a few years ago and the Alexa rank here was like 40,000 something.

Don't know what you were drawing during that time Brett, but I seriously doubt the official site has ever achieved such traffic.

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised at how quickly traffic to this place regained to a high clip considering the long downtime it went through.