Still Seeking a Top Dog for Codey's World

[Rutabaga]

As everyone is aware, John and I have gotten Codey's World back on the air at its new URL, and the vast majority of broken links have been fixed.  Google has reported that people are clicking through to that site from web searches.  But we really need someone to take the reins, figure out what the future of the site should be, and carry that future out.  At present the site is basically dormant, and has been since Colin disappeared.

John (@Alien Son) and I can continue to provide technical support for the CW site, but the housekeeping for the AwesomeDude site keeps us both pretty busy.  We need someone with the available bandwidth to take a look at what's there on the CW site and decide where it should grow, change, or whatever.  Should new stories be solicited?  Should the non-story areas be augmented?  Is there obsolete content that should be updated or eliminated?  Are there new features that should be added? 

Please speak up, either here or in a private message to John or me, if you have any suggestions on this or want to volunteer to take on this assignment.

Cheers,

R  

[Cole Parker]

CW was a site for younger kids, which was how it was built intentionally.  When Colin got stories from me for the site, they were tamed down to a PG rating.  I'd suggest that sort of limittion should be maintained if the site is continued.

C

 

C

[Rutabaga]

19 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

CW was a site for younger kids, which was how it was built intentionally.  When Colin got stories from me for the site, they were tamed down to a PG rating.  I'd suggest that sort of limitation should be maintained if the site is continued.

C

What might be helpful would be for someone to do some online research to see what is available for that age group and demographic.  In this day and age of instant everything, it may be that sites full of static stories and helpful articles are kind of passé.  On the other hand, it may be that interesting things to read might appeal to the young adults who are more socially timid or feel disconnected from the mainstream.  That could be an important lifeline for some.  

How can we get this train moving?

R

[Talo Segura]

This hardly counts too much as research. However, there are some sites out there where younger teens can read stories for free. Free is the word to keep in mind. Young teens looking for gay themed stories they can identify with probably aren't looking to buy books. So those free sites, the competition:

https://www.wattpad.com/list/40391579-bl-teens

Probably the biggest site, commercial, with lots of content, but no quality control, anybody can post anything, but authors can get feedback, there is interaction.

https://raysstories.com/novels.php#Jeremys_Swimming_Lessons

Link to a novel (chosen at random), the site has stories, needs further investigation.

https://www.alexsanchez.com/gay-teen-books

Same as above, a site with stories.

https://blog.reedsy.com/short-stories/gay/

Big commercial site, but one I find friendly. It has a free section and some gay stories. Feedback, interaction?

https://www.quotev.com/stories/Gay+Short+Story

A source of free stories, need to look closer.

https://lgbtqreads.com/access/free-lgbtqreads/

Nice site, free reads.

That then is the competition which appears on a Google search for free young teen gay themed stories. Apart from these story sites there is huge competition from the short gay films on YouTube.

Question number one is: is there a place for Codey's World?

If there is, then what should it look like to be pertinent and attractive, and what are the rules?

My opinion reflects Cole's and what has always been fundamental to the site, no porn, no blatant over the top sex, some quality control, and most important some feedback, even if it is only vague site numbers. 

Next up the site, home page needs a revamp. Cut down and focused. One or two promoted stories. Yes it needs authors and new material, but not any old crap! I'm not sure how you get a site named Codey's World to appear in the search engines, not from the title. Obviously you want to keep that name, I would underline it with a sub-title on the home page. Something like: Gay themed stories for teens.

You asked if the site should concentrate only on stories and my answer is yes. Don't get into giving advice or solving problems, you can't be a Jack of all trades! I kind of like the idea of story artwork, so the stories have an attractive cover. The site needs to be appealing to the audience. I'd also see developing a small group from the readership to select, comment, vote on stories. The participation is important. I'd seek authors, artwork, and the judges/commentators. And those judges/commentators would be young adults.

My thoughts. The site has a place and that place can be summed up by: quality gay themed stories for teens.

 

[Rutabaga]

Thanks @Talo Segura for the shoe leather in research.  There is some very high quality stuff at Codey's World if a visitor knows how to find it.  We have added a Google-linked site map to help this happen via searches.  

The design of the home page has been fairly similar over the years, after an initial bit of weirdness.

2007: https://web.archive.org/web/20070621221109/http://www.codeysworld.com/home.html (glad the garish red theme is gone now)

2010: https://web.archive.org/web/20100105032825/http://codeysworld.com/ 

2014: https://web.archive.org/web/20140625122929/http://www.codeysworld.com/

2018: https://web.archive.org/web/20180706175204/http://www.codeysworld.com/

2022: https://web.archive.org/web/20220630233034/http://www.codeysworld.com/

I did some experimenting to see whether it made any sense to look at a Wordpress installation to facilitate the site, but so far I don't see it as helpful -- it just moves the same amount of effort into different places.  The Castle Roland story site uses a custom Wordpress theme but I'm not persuaded that it really helps things -- in its own way, that site seems as mysterious to navigate as Codey's World.  

I also agree with Cole's philosophy and that is why we need someone to be the "conscience" of Codey's World.  

Other thoughts, anyone?

R

 

[Altimexis]

I love the way you guys so quickly pulled together so much useful info. Depending on where one lives, the public library is an invaluable resource for young gay teens. Nearly all libraries offer on-line books that can be 'checked out' for free. Offer void where prohibited, such as in Florida, Texas and other red states. 

When Cody founded CW, he was himself a teen and he wanted to provide a resource for young gay teens and even tweens to access age-appropriate stories they could relate to - stories that could give them hope. The overriding imperative was that the content be sufficiently benign that it could get through most nanny filters. In other words, young teens could access content, even if their parents had blocked content from explicit sites. Sadly, Cody was a very sick teen who gave us so much, which is why a Codey memorial must remain a significant part of the CW site.

Much has changed since CW began and being an out gay teen is much more acceptable than was the case when I was growing up. However, the fact that some states are banning any gay-themed content from schools and libraries reminds us how fragile our gains really are. There's still a role for CW, but accessing it could be more daunting than ever. The one positive is that most kids today access content on their smartphones rather than by computer, and most parents don't even bother to even activate the content filters that are available in Android and iOS. Most parents don't even bother to check on which sites their kids visit on their smartphones, which is pretty scary, actually.

With the spotlight on social media, most parents wouldn't even think to check their kids phones browsing history, but there's still a risk. I hate to sound like an Apple snob, but the best advice I can give to kids who have the choice is to buy an iPhone and use a privacy-oriented browser such as Brave or Duck Duck Go. Antitrust issues aside, Apple makes their money from selling hardware. Google gives Android away and makes money from amassing and selling data. Most people don't seem to care but gay kids have reason to. Since kids don't always have a choice in what phone they use, helping kids avoid peril in using their phones is a must. But I digress…

I'd love to see CW revitalized and made more modern, with moderated, high-quality gay-themed stories for young teens and perhaps late tweens. Our more recent approach of allowing AD authors to post the same content to both sites won't meet that standard, so we may need to ask authors to go back and edit their stories appropriately for posting on CW. The most important thing is to have a young adult, preferably in their late teens or early twenties, take charge of CW and to make the site their own. I'm days away from turning 68 and although I'd like to think I'm too immature to be this age, I can't relate to kids who have grown up in today's world. I'd be happy to mentor someone who's willing to take this on, but I'm not the right person to run the site.

We're never going to find a new Top Dog to run CW by posting the request here. We need to reach out to other sites and maybe even social media to recruit someone with the right demographic and skill set. Perhaps we could read some of the existing content out there and identify promising authors who might be interested in taking this on.

[Rutabaga]

I wonder if someone who works (or had worked) as a teacher or counselor of teens would be a possible choice?

R

[Cole Parker]

Probably have the empathy and wisdom.  Maybe a recently retired one.

 

C

[Altimexis]

3 hours ago, Rutabaga said:

I wonder if someone who works (or had worked) as a teacher or counselor of teens would be a possible choice?

R

Don't look at me. I taught and mentored medical students, residents and graduate students. Although maturity was sometimes in short supply, they were adults.

[Rutabaga]

I have the impression that there was significant influence from The Mail Crew in the early days of CW.  I'm not sure but what Blue, one of the early architects, was part of that group.  But The Mail Crew is long gone, as noted here.  I don't know if there is a similar group still in existence somewhere in the English-speaking world.  It may be that the internet was still new enough in the early 2000s that there was a sense of adventure and pioneering then that does not exist any more.  

On the other hand, a nearby (to me) magnet school still has quite an active robotics club.  We need to find one or more people with the same blend of nerdiness and adventure that Mike brought to founding the original AD site.  

The need is still there, as we see when reading about adolescent depression in today's world.  Let's keep thinking, and looking.

R

[Cole Parker]

Maybe contact some high school couselors or advisors.  They'd know of tech nerds in their schools and popssibly some gay or gay-friendly ones who might be interested in this.  I do like the idea of a group rather than an individual, as per the Mail Crew.  Maybe schools with GSAs could be contacted.  The group would need some internet craft, but many tech-ordiencted teens have that.

[Merkin]

  It will be difficult to identify someone to take over Codey’s World who possesses Cody’s compassion and Colin’s commitment to keeping the site true to its principles and aimed toward a youthful audience.  The operant word here is youthful.  I’d rule out fogeys like us or even gay writer/editors over the age of, say, twenty-five or thirty. I think that what CW needs to successfully attract its particular readership is a manager who has one foot still planted in contemporary youth culture and who can be expected to maintain and grow a site aimed particularly at that culture.

[Alien Son]

9 hours ago, Rutabaga said:

I have the impression that there was significant influence from The Mail Crew in the early days of CW.  I'm not sure but what Blue, one of the early architects, was part of that group. 

If you're asking whether Blue was part of the Mail Crew, no, he wasn't. Those guys were very helpful to me when I was writing Black Dog (they vetted every chapter, and made suggestions and gave me helpful advice). Although I dealt mostly with Aaron and Rain, I got to know all of them, and Blue wasn't part of the group.

~ John

[Merkin]

I wonder if it would be useful to reach out to more recent contributors to the CW forums to see if they might have suggestions or even nominations concerning CW site management. If they have been faithful as CW readers they might have a lot to contribute to this conversation.

[Talo Segura]

If we're making suggestions, check out Arch Hunter:

https://twitter.com/archhunter0/

https://gayauthors.org/profile/36687-arch-hunter/

https://www.patreon.com/archhunter

About Me: I'm a gay dude, musician, gamer, and as of recently, author writing gay romance stories involving young teens. I was born and continue to live in Poland.

If you like I'll contact him, seems like the kind of ideal candidate, although who knows if he would even want to do it. But he has the right profile.

 

 

 

[Rutabaga]

My suggestion would be to contact this person and say that we are looking for candidates to take on this project, and ask not only if he would be interested but also whether he can think of anyone else we should talk to, especially if he says he is not interested.    

R

[Alien Son]

I have reservations about contacting this person. We need to be cautious. All we know about him is what he's chosen to reveal, and that could be fiction.

~ John

[Cole Parker]

Exactly.  Wish we could advertise.  I'd rather people got in touch with us, rather than our reaching out to them if we don't lknow them.

[Altimexis]

My sentiments too. CW fundamentally changed when Colin took it over, yet we knew him and could trust him to remain true to Codey’s vision. Whoever takes over will again change the nature of the site in fundamental ways.

Arch Hunter is a young author at GA and not yet a Promising Author, although he certainly has the potential. He might not want to take on the responsibility of editing a site until he’s more established. I’d be more interested in him as an AD author who might eventually move into the role of managing CW.

Perhaps therein lies the best approach - recruiting new talent to AD to carry on the legacy of AD and CW. GA is huge and it takes luck to build stature as an author. AD offers a more individual approach.

[Talo Segura]

4 hours ago, Alien Son said:

I have reservations about contacting this person. We need to be cautious. All we know about him is what he's chosen to reveal, and that could be fiction.

~ John

This I completely understand, you don't want to give the keys to the safe without knowing to whom you are entrusting the treasure. Arch Hunter, certainly a pseudonym, I talked to four years ago in August 2020 when I edited his first story. I disappeared for a few years and haven't talked to him since, nor have I kept emails from four years ago. What I can tell you, which you can see for yourself, is he's written a lot since then. His writing is young and contemporary. Who he is, that is as much a mystery as who anybody is here. What is true is he is Polish and lives in Poland, English is not his first language.

If you want my impressions, I agree with @Altimexis he's a promising author, I wouldn't count not being promoted on GA as meaning anything, because promotion there carries constraints, like publishing first, which prevents a lot of authors. Anyhow, more important is that you get a feeling for a person, even when contact is online, and my feeling is he's a good guy.

I'm not sure he would want to take on the job and as for publishing here, the big negative is feedback, which relies on the forum and occasional emails. That is just not enough, but that is another topic for another discussion.

Final point, if you really think someone is going to step up to the job without being head hunted, then, I'm sorry, but I think you might have a long wait. In my humble opinion, you got to push things and take what's available, after all you can still keep control. It's like appointing a director of operations, they can always get voted out! I would start by putting together the Board of directors from the guys you trust here and getting more recommendations for candidates.

[Alien Son]

17 hours ago, Talo Segura said:

Final point, if you really think someone is going to step up to the job without being head hunted, then, I'm sorry, but I think you might have a long wait. In my humble opinion, you got to push things and take what's available, after all you can still keep control. It's like appointing a director of operations, they can always get voted out! I would start by putting together the Board of directors from the guys you trust here and getting more recommendations for candidates.

I'd prefer to wait, given those choices!

I put together a group to take responsibility for AD after Mike died. That has only been marginally successful. I wouldn't want to repeat that for CW.

~ John

[Altimexis]

I was about to suggest once again that we attempt to contact former CW authors who might have an interest in generating new content. Then it dawned on me that one of my favorite CW authors, Grant Bentley, is a high school teacher. Even if he isn’t willing to take over running CW, he might be a good person to provide input into the future direction of the site. He might also be able to recommend someone who could become the next Colin.

[Cole Parker]

I thought of Grant, too.  I don't know him at all but assumed he was older.  Good writer.  Don't know if he has tech skills, or would be interested.

[Alien Son]

Go for it, Steve.

~ John

[Altimexis]

I sent an email to him at the address listed on the site, but haven't heard back. I'll try resending it from my Gmail account, as some people have trouble receiving mail from Yahoo!. It may be that he just isn't monitoring his author account anymore. I'll let everyone know if I hear back.