“P2Pnet used to be an excellent issues-oriented news site, but lately it’s decended into a cesspool of tabloid trash.

“I can understand the need to attract a wider audience, but why not expand into other fields that many longtime core readers might find more interesting — like science, technology, or even gadgetry – instead of celeb gossip?

“Or how about starting another site for the trash articles, and leave this one uncontaminated.”

The comment above comes from p2pnet Top 10 most-read: Sept 26.

And under that:

I agree with the poster above. P2Pnet used to be about p2p, not Vanessa Hudgens and Britney Spears.

To me, P2Pnet has changed from quality to quantity. It’s become a Wal-Mart, bloated and trashy.

I know that if the stories continue to be so off topic, I’ll stop visiting the website.

There’s another in the same vein underneath, and there have been a few similar Reader’s Writes under stories.

The language suggests they’re by the same person, but whether that’s the case or no, No worries. They’re comments, and that’s fine.

Like the NPR

I feel a little like national public radio or viewer-supported community television. In my own very small way, I’m trying to offer an alternatative to corporate media.

But there’s a BIG difference.

In the latter two cases, funding comes from deep-pocket sponsors, from people who use the services, from corporate donors and from government, and the people who run them are paid salaries which are probably well above the average.

However, p2pnet also used to be supported principally by the revenue from five P2P application companies, including Blubster.

Then, due wholly to pressure from the entertainment cartels, the advertisers – the people who’d kept me and p2pnet going – either folded altogether or have become shadows of what they used to be.

Either way, I lost their income.

These days, I’m supported by Pablo Soto over in Spain: he runs Blubster and he’s been solidly behind p2pnet from Day One.

Then, when it looked like I’d have to sell p2pnet, someone in the US who, for his own excellent reasons, remains anonymous, stepped in, and he’s been providing most of p2pnet’s income.

But Pablo and Mr X barely cover costs and I live month to month, not a lot of fun.

And because the Canadian dollar has now reached virtual parity with the US dollar, my income has just dropped even further.

Staying online

I have a wife and daughter, a mortgage and all the expenses everyone else has and believe me, there’s nothing left over – no fat savings account, nothing for a rainy day, no pension, no medical plan.

We don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, eat in fancy restaurants, go for nice holidays in the sun, etc. Nothing like that.

Does p2pnet provide a service? I try and I try hard. I’m only one person and despite the fact I carry quite a few quality articles from intelligent people on subjects I believe are of interest and importance to a lot of people, I produce just about all of the remaining content by myself.

It could be a lot better, but as I say, I’m only one person.

I could, of course, become another link site with little actual content. But that’d be the easy way out.

In a bid to boost my income, I recently started carrying in-text advertisements. The idea is: when the cursor moves over a words underlined in green, a box comes up and people click on the links to go to that advertiser. If they don’t click, nothing happens.

The in-text ads were bringing in only a couple of dollars a day, and I mean that literally.

02 September 2007 $6.78
02 September 2007 $3.27
03 September 2007 $3.90
04 September 2007 $0.57
05 September 2007 $1.55
06 September 2007 $4.31
07 September 2007 $3.22
08 September 2007 $9.41
09 September 2007 $1.18

But it was better than a slap in the face with a wet codfish.

Freedom of speech

“p2pnet.net went online in August, 2002,” says the mission statement. “It was the first Internet web page to carry daily, frequently updated news, stories, features and commentaries on digital media, distributed computing and associated technologies and events which haven’t been spun, filtered and pre-digested by vested corporate interests.

“It places special emphasis on freedom of speech and p2p sharing.”

I’d also recently been thinking p2pnet had been around for almost five years and it was about time I tried to reach people I hadn’t really considered before, people who might be defined as ‘consumers,’ that’s to say the men, women and children who provide the money which keeps the entertainment cartels in luxury.

And that meant including items which might interest them.

By sheer chance, on the day of my first serious foray into the world of mainstream entertainment, the Vanessa Hudgens nude pix event had just started and and I did a post. And since Britney’s VMA debacle was also being headlined, I did an item on her as well.

I was totally blown away.

Vanessa and Britney generated thousands of visits —– and $634.52 from the in-text ads!

Like WOW!!!

Or course, it was a one-off and and yesterday produced $20.85. But 20 bucks is better than 57 cents and in my position, it all helps.

In other words, the Hudgens/Spears-type stories not only pulled in new readers, they provided desperately needed dollars.

So if I have to include items on Vanessa and Britney, and anyone else, to stay online, so be it.

Because meanwhile, the ‘traditional’ content is the same as it’s always been, and nor have I decreased it.

I’ll keep on keeping on

You think p2pnet is renaging? How? There’s no mandate, no board of directors, no enforced policy.

Why do I publish p2pnet although I’m currently faced with two heavy duty lawsuits with another in the wings? Because corny though it may seem, it’s become a commitment not only for me, but for my family.

Yes, I’m having a hell of a time keeping the site going. But I’ll keep on posting for as long as I have an online connection and for as long as Pablo and my anonymous sponsor continue to contribute.

If and when they stop, I’ll come up with something else and in fact, at the moment, I’m working on and offline project to provide income. Will it take off? Who knows? But I’m trying.

I could say a lot more, but this is enough.

So please, keep on posting, and so will I.

You don’t like Vanessa or Britney?

Don’t read the stories.

And if, like the anonymous poster at the beginning you think p2pnet has “decended into a cesspool of tabloid trash,” feel free to move right along.

Cheers! And thanks. And all the best …

Jon Newton

Slashdot it!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 6:36 am and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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