blonde, going forward.

[Dingdell]

It's a sad thing to read but I'm finding myself agreeing with a lot of what Ariston and Flushy are saying, certainly from a business point of view.   The missing money from PT obviously didn't help, but Tikay has said that even with that it wouldn't solve the problem, so what will solve the problem is the question?   Is it not an option for the shareholders to invest more in to their business while their share holdings are worth a reasonable amount?  Without some investment things don't look too good, but even with it, what's going to change to stop blonde being back in this situation in a few months time?   Asking people to pay for the updates is putting a plaster over a gaping wound in my opinion.

I do hope you get things sorted, I'd be gutted if the place was go close.

I think whatTikay has said in a previoous post is that the shareholders really don't want to invest any more money, most of them aren't really that active in the business.

[goldfoxdom]

ROB YONG TO THE RESCUE WITH A BLONDE BUY OUT

[Graham C]

I'm sure they don't want to, nobody that owns a business that isnt' doing to well wants to put more of their own money into it, but if needs must, you have to consider it to keep things afloat.   If a couple of the shareholders are serious about selling there shares, then they want blonde to be worth a premium otherwise their not going to be able to get what they want for their holding.  Didn't Tikay say someone was negotiating with one of the shareholders recently?  I'd expect if Live Updates are dropped, the price to buy just came down.

[danafish]

Is it too cheeky to ask how much a two person GUKPT or DTD update costs?

Depends on whether we were using staff updaters or freelancers

There's a daily rate for each updater, a food allowance and then travel and hotel costs

For a four day GUKPT manned by two people, one a freelancer, both needing a hotel you are looking at £1,000-£1,500. In the good old days updaters shared rooms too which helped a bit

Less for a two day DTD-er

EPTs were horrific

This is quite simply not true, I'm afraid. I have never had my own hotel room while working for blonde - the updaters have ALWAYS shared rooms, whether there were two or three of us at any given event. The number of times I have shared a bed with Floppy makes me shudder (no offence, man, I'm certain you feel the same way about sharing with me ). At Monte Carlo the year before last, Jen, Floppy and Snoopy actually shared one bed between the three of them. In addition, the freelance rate that blonde paid us was roughly half that which we got working for other update sites. Every last corner was cut with the updates, and the fact that blonde could still not pay us on time suggests some very serious problems with the business plan.

[Dingdell]

I'm sure they don't want to, nobody that owns a business that isnt' doing to well wants to put more of their own money into it, but if needs must, you have to consider it to keep things afloat.   If a couple of the shareholders are serious about selling there shares, then they want blonde to be worth a premium otherwise their not going to be able to get what they want for their holding.  Didn't Tikay say someone was negotiating with one of the shareholders recently?  I'd expect if Live Updates are dropped, the price to buy just came down.

I think Tikay will have to answer that one but from experience salling and valuing shares in a small company like this one where most of the shareholders are sleeping is very difficult.  

[Ginger]

Yeah, Rich is EVIL!!! He even made me share a room with Kev when we updated DTD... twice!

[pokerram]

lol

[Div]

It's a real shame things have come to this but I like to think if I were in a similar situation I'd act with the same integrity Tikay and the rest of the team have shown.

Better to cut back now and live to fight another day, than put the head in the sand and run up unsustainable debts before collapsing the company and stiffing a whole bunch of good people.

As has been said elsewhere I'm sure there will be plenty informal updating going on during the most popular events - especially now so many people have Blackberries, iPhones, G-Phones, etc.

My own tuppence on the revenue (as opposed to costs) side of things is I don't see any harm in a voluntary donate button on the site, or specific threads, and I also don't see any harm in being a bit more pushy about affiliate deals - be they for Amazon, Dell, or whoever - so long as the marketing is more along the lines of 'if you are going to buy here please use our link' rather than random spam.

[AndrewT]

So you're saying that if I'd volunteered to do an update at some point, I'd have had the chance to share a bed with either Jen, Dana, Floppy or Snoopy?

I wouldn't have minded risking that 50/50.

[Graham C]

So you're saying that if I'd volunteered to do an update at some point, I'd have had the chance to share a bed with either Jen, Dana, Floppy or Snoopy?

I wouldn't have minded risking that 50/50.

Blonde's very own Corrs Gamble

[tikay]

It's a sad thing to read but I'm finding myself agreeing with a lot of what Ariston and Flushy are saying, certainly from a business point of view.   The missing money from PT obviously didn't help, but Tikay has said that even with that it wouldn't solve the problem, so what will solve the problem is the question?   Is it not an option for the shareholders to invest more in to their business while their share holdings are worth a reasonable amount?  Without some investment things don't look too good, but even with it, what's going to change to stop blonde being back in this situation in a few months time?   Asking people to pay for the updates is putting a plaster over a gaping wound in my opinion.

I do hope you get things sorted, I'd be gutted if the place was go close.

1) The place is NOT going to close. I've explained that. It's here to stay, permanent. No question, no doubts. The Cardroom is profitable, so is the Site without the Update Costs. The Forum costs 250 per month, which I have now signed up to fund personally. They both stay. The Updates & Home Page, we'll have to see "if & when". I'm hopeful we will be "buiness as usual" asap.

2) People paying for Updates. It's not practical, or viable, imo, because of how the Internet works. It's free, everywhere, & Cut & Paste-able. I've always stated this position. Paying for Updates is a Plaster over a gaping wound? Not sure about that, there is no gaping wound. We just cannot Fund Live Updates at the mo, that's all.

3) Shareholders investing more? I've invested more than enough, far too much in fact, & the other major shareholders are not active any more.

4) The Site goes foward for now as Forum & Cardroom. If more folks play on the Cardroom, we'll restore the Home Page & Updates.

Some most interesting offers from big players to play on blonde have come in this evening - huge players. Some of them said they never realised playing on blonde would help, & have agreed to start rght away.

Let's hope they do.

Many have said, in Henrik's Poll, that they are not fussed about the Updates.

[Colchester Kev]

So you're saying that if I'd volunteered to do an update at some point, I'd have had the chance to share a bed with either Jen, Dana, Floppy or Snoopy?

I wouldn't have minded risking that 50/50.

or ME !

[NoflopsHomer]

So you're saying that if I'd volunteered to do an update at some point, I'd have had the chance to share a bed with either Jen, Dana, Floppy or Snoopy?

I wouldn't have minded risking that 50/50.

Or JC, it's actually a 60/40.

Btw, it wasn't actual sharing of beds, but usually twins next to each other.

[Ironside]

So you're saying that if I'd volunteered to do an update at some point, I'd have had the chance to share a bed with either Jen, Dana, Floppy or Snoopy?

I wouldn't have minded risking that 50/50.

not quite 50/50 if you throw in junglecat

[Ironside]

So you're saying that if I'd volunteered to do an update at some point, I'd have had the chance to share a bed with either Jen, Dana, Floppy or Snoopy?

I wouldn't have minded risking that 50/50.

Or JC, it's actually a 60/40.

Btw, it wasn't actual sharing of beds, but usually twins next to each other.

bring back chili and its 50/50 again