Southology

Happy New 2010!

By Betty ⋅ January 1, 2010 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅

One of my favorite “Happy New Year” messages received via text this year: “Well, here’s to the start [of] another year… May it not suck as bad as 2009.”

Cheerful, aren’t I? ;)

No matter. Forget that 2009 was the year of–well, I’ll just leave this unsaid. (Forget nga, e.) It’s the start of a new year, and fresh beginnings are always a good thing.

I posted my announcement about giving away a Starbucks planner a little late, so there hasn’t been much feedback yet. But I’m surprised and gratified to get comments from both familiar and new names: anyone who says they’re an avid follower gives me that much more reason to keep going. While I make no resolutions or promises about what can be done with the site this year, here are my plans, at least:

I’m pulling the team together again–with some of the much-loved old names, and lots of new ones. I’ll introduce them a little better this time, possibly through the forums, or in some other way; but I hope you get to know them as people and find a bit more to relate to and a bit more to talk about. First off is Nolan, my brother and Southbound’s new resident travel expert; he’s asked me to tell you that all your travel questions are welcome, as well as any requests and suggestions for simple organized tours, in the South or elsewhere. There’s Hanz, arguably Southbound’s most loyal contributor / reader / fan, who is also my go-to car guy and whom I am volunteering here (without his knowledge, hahaha) as a great resource for questions on car shops, clubs, and whatnot in the South (and he loves to eat, too). There’s the original team, whom I am calling back from retirement (they don’t know I’ve come out and said this yet; they’ll just be surprised to read this, I suppose)–Jamie, Aweng, Ria, Frannie–and a new batch of contributors whom I am “The Secret-ing” into existence. The point is, I’ve learned that doing it all myself is a recipe for a very, very quiet site. I may not be too good at it, but I hope to bring the community together to develop truly informative and updated content. Slowly. :)

The best way I can think of right now to come up with regular updates is by updating the directory, and coming up with a short commentary to go with it. My OC self feels a bit let down–detailed posts with lots of drool-inducing pictures are what Southbound became known for, after all–but better to have the info out there than stored somewhere in my hard disk (and on random strips of paper all over my house) waiting for the perfect post. Therefore, expect random bits of information to start popping up all over the site; at the same time I’ll try to tie them all together with proper tags and cross-references.

Another minor update that has grown to major proportions in my mind: I need to update the back end for the site, update the various installations of Wordpress and PHPBB and all that. Urgh.

Finally, something for businesses, advertisers, and the commercial sector of the South that (c’mon, admit it) makes it so vibrant: you’re all welcome to send your announcements, promos, and events for posting on the Community Billboard. The basic rule is, if it’s about an event of interest to the community, or if it’s a promo or sale that customers will benefit from knowing, it goes on the Billboard for free. Same goes for village, school, and organization announcements.

So there. That’s about it. It may sound like more of the same (it does to me, since I’ve been chewing on this in my head for years now) but I hope you’ll find something that will benefit you, or something that will move you to contribute, or help out. Please leave comments below if you have suggestions and would like to offer your (free) services to help keep up the site. Or email southbound.ph@gmail.com. Or add us as a Facebook friend (same email; page up soon, promise!), or follow us on Twitter (southboundph). ;) And help keep the Southbound community alive. :D

Welcome, 2010, and may you be a good year.

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