Where do we go from here?

This isn't meant to be an anti-GO post at all: I want to say that up front, so as not to confuse anyone. I used to work for GO. I was the news editor, and frankly, I wasn't very good at it. It bored me to tears, and took up time I'd rather had been using to read, play games, or chase ass. But I loved GO, or I wouldn't have done it in the first place. I never got paid or anything--just about twice a week I'd build up enough guilt to do post the news. Anyway, I worry about GO now. It's getting a moldy, New Orleans-esque, rotting aura about it. It's beautiful, but mainly for what it was, and the memories of that. John Wick's columns are gone. The staff has pretty much retreated into the background, and Nick--who is doing a damn excellent job, by the way--is left out in front. The forums actually have flames in them now. (I'm partially responsible for this, I know.) The code breaks--see the links, or don't, for an example--and we wait and sometimes it gets fixed and sometimes it doesn't. The game design forum is pretty much bereft of good discussion--Memento-Mori, our closet-eccentric mad designer, has decided to work on his games on his own site, and deep discussion has retreated to game-specific forums. We see a review every two weeks, maybe. We have good columns, but they're not edited, and to be frank, don't bring any one in. I think "Wicked Die" is kind of funny, but no one's going to stop and read it unless they read articles on GO already. I don't think GO's making any money. I see the "Snowball" thing, but isn't that IGN, who's not making any money anyway, and pays next to nothing to websites? I really could go on. I think we're on the spiral downwards, and mainly because we're stagnant. There's no evolution here. Where can we go? What hasn't been explored? What is the essential essence of what people want from GO, and how do we get that? More importantly, what can we give people that they didn't even know they wanted? I really don't know the answer. I'm working on another project now, and I see the exact same problems--we have the same type of forums, with the same type of articles, and the same type of users. And I know it's not going to work. -- Clinton R. Nixon acid-reflex we're deep-frying technology