Looking back, looking ahead

Balatarin
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Jahanshah Javid
by Jahanshah Javid
05-Jan-2011
 

It's been an interesting day, to say the least. I'm very excited to announce that iranian.com has entered a new phase with the official handover of our former investors' shares to the new. We had a phone conference on Skype and went over the last details.

All I did basically was listen with mixed emotions -- feeling good about the wide-open possibilities and at the same time nostalgic about the past.

It's been more than four years since iranian.com became a private company with several Iranian-American and American investors bringing in about $120,000 to modernize the site. This included installing a content management system, implementing a new design and integrating some 12 years of content. It was a giant step forward. The most important was making the site more interactive with the introduction of blogs and comments.

With the formation of Iranian LLC, we became one of the handful of the biggest Iranian websites to become a formal company without the support of any government or institution. It allowed us to remain completely independent from any outside influence, essential for a free and open forum.

During this period, the company made enough money from ads, events and a one-time fund-raising campaign to cover current expenses but never enough to invest in major upgrades. And investors certainly never gained a profit. We were running out of options and falling behind other sites in offering new and better tools to our visitors while burdened with a huge debt to our investors.

About a year ago I began discussing the possibility of a partnership with a friend who had expressed interest in iranian.com on a number of occasions in the past. Over the years I've developed great respect for him as I watched him become one of the most successful Iranian-Americans on the internet. He's best known as the founder of IranianPersonals.com, which I'm sure many of you are familiar with, but he's also been a major player in several other internet sites and projects. A few months ago he started negotiations with iranian.com investors and an agreement was finally worked out.

So as of today I'm officially working with new partners. There are a lot of unknowns about the future but all that means is that we are open to any changes necessary to make iranian.com realize it's full potential. I'm confident that it will only become better, with better interactivity, more user-friendlyness, and hopefully some social networking tools. When will you start seeing the changes? I'm guessing over the next three to six months. Your input is essential. Leave comments here and tell us what you would like to see.

Will the site become more financially successful? I hope so. But that's not my area of expertise. I'm a journalist turned publisher of sorts. All I know is content. I don't understand money, business or finance. I did not read the contract I signed with the outgoing investors and didn't read more than a page of the new. Not very smart, nevertheless I've relied completely on trust. Show me a ten-page contract full of legal terms and my mind goes completely blank! I'm confident I'm going to be working with a good, smart, capable team and that's enough for me.

As much as I'm excited about the future, I'm sad to say goodbye to my old team who have been incredibly supportive, hard-working and full of good faith. I'm particularly grateful to my dear friend Kayvan who had the vision to turn iranian.com into a company and brought a group of investors who put their faith in me and iranian.com. He worked his butt off without earning a dime, especially in the past year as the sole manager of the company. My admiration for his honesty and professionalism increased tremendously. The man is as solid as they come with a heart of gold.

And I owe a big thank you to Wayne who acted as manager for the first two plus years, also without a salary or any financial gain. I learned a lot (although not nearly enough) from his efficient no non-sense style, great organizational skills and sharp business sense. We all loved his great sense of humor too, especially in the most unexpected moments of our serious weekly meetings on Skype!

Finally, my hats off to Foaad who did a tremendous job not only in implementing and maintaining iranian.com's current design but more so for caring so much about everything that went on here with great sincerity. In many ways this site has been his baby too and I know he will miss being behind the scenes. I surely will miss him and I hope I can always turn to him for advice and inspiration.

I am well aware that I share much of the blame for the fact that iranian.com did not become the financial success investors had hoped. After all, most of the ideas about how the site should be organized and maintained were mine and everyone put their trust in me. But I hope they can feel good about their part in building this wonderful, vibrant community that has made a significant contribution to the virtual Iranian civil society, if not the actual.

It's now time to build the future on lessons learned...

Enough talk! Let's do it!

Balatarin
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Maryam Hojjat

Thanks JJ for all

by Maryam Hojjat on Wed Jan 05, 2011 08:37 AM PST

info sharing with us.  Good Luck. 


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Esfand Aashena

I'll miss Fooad the most! He was always helpful.

by Esfand Aashena on Wed Jan 05, 2011 08:20 AM PST

So what is Fooad's new username?!

My requests based on order of importance:

1. Ability to control comments in your own blog.  Just about everywhere in the blogsphere you have this option except i.com, which BTW is most abused by commentators.

2. Allow bloggers to post their own photo essays in their blogs, maybe give them a maximum quota or something.

3. Provide a mailing address where people can send donations by check or money order during fund raisings. 

4. Allow the profile of the blocked users to remain "public".  The blogger should also be able to delete his/her blogs despite being blocked.

5. Provide users with an iranian.com free email address.

6. Last and certainly not least, do not make i.com fee based where you have to pay to become a member! 

Everything is sacred


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default

Thank You Bro!

by PedramMoallemian on Wed Jan 05, 2011 08:06 AM PST

 

 

 


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Red Wine

...

by Red Wine on Wed Jan 05, 2011 07:56 AM PST

جنابِ حضرتِ الاَشرَفّْ اَلمُکّرَمْ..بزرگْ جهانشاه خانِ گرامی‌.

از اَوایلِ سال ۱۹۹۷ تا به حال با شما هستیم و تا آخر شما را همیشه همراهی می‌کنیم،ما شِمرونیها مثل بعضی‌‌ها نیستیم که دوستان را تنها بگذاریم،ما تا آخَرَشْ با شما هستیم.شما را پُشتیبانی می‌کنیم و قَلم به دست..حمایت می‌کنیم.

از آن دوستان عزیز هم که این همه زحمت کشیده اند تا به حال سپاسگزاری می‌کنیم.

زنده باد ایران،پاینده باد ایرانیان.

اِرادتمند همیشگی‌ِ شما..

شرابِ قرمز.


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ebi amirhosseini

Foaad...

by ebi amirhosseini on Wed Jan 05, 2011 07:48 AM PST

We will miss him too.

Ebi aka Haaji


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Cost-of-Progress

Hope it all works out

by Cost-of-Progress on Wed Jan 05, 2011 07:42 AM PST

And thank you for bringing us this important website and trying to keep it viable.

I have to echo some of other posters' comments about upgrades:

1.  More user friendly word processing capabilities (spell checker, etc)

2. Ability to post photos (embedded) in comments

3. Some sort of comment ranking & management system - for example,  if a comment has too many nagative rankings, the comment should be hidden, not deleted - HIDDEN, where it can be retrieved with a click of a button, if so desired.

____________

IRAN FIRST

____________


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KingReza

Iranian.com

by KingReza on Wed Jan 05, 2011 05:15 AM PST

It is my go to website on all things Iranian. You're number one in my books.

People who've been here for awhile and know their way around won't notice this but this website could use a much better/clearer user interface.

I still don't know the difference between a blog entry, news piece, article.

The music section's interface could also use a facelift. It is impossible to navigate it unless you know where you're going.

That being said, I love this website and its community.


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Sargord Pirouz

Ability to embed photos into

by Sargord Pirouz on Wed Jan 05, 2011 04:51 AM PST

Ability to embed photos into comments would be nice.

Happy, frowny, etc. faces work well.

BTW: You really should have taken the time to read the new contract. That's one of the responsibilities of being a competent publisher. Odds are you'll regret not doing so in the future. 


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kazem0574

Change is part of human existence, hope it's for the better

by kazem0574 on Wed Jan 05, 2011 04:29 AM PST

Dear JJ,

The most important aspect of management change for I.C has to be the orientation of the new people. I hope you are still going to be in a position to influence things if they ever seem to deviate from the straight and narrow ie: a secular I.C and I hope there will never be any  covert links with the IR.

Suggestions:

* Easy cut and paste from other applications into I.C:   text, links, files videos
* A comprehensive user guide and help facility
* Comment grading system
* Clear access route to technical and publishing support
* Comment numbering, so one can refer to comment numbers
* More/better counters as a source of feedback on comments and blogs etc

I wish you and I.C the best of luck and please remain independent.


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Orang Gholikhani

in JJ, I trust ;-)

by Orang Gholikhani on Wed Jan 05, 2011 03:27 AM PST

Hi JJ,

As far as we can publish our thoughts without taboo and sacred, you can count on me.

I share your thanks to Foad and others who support us in this period.

May be the new organization will allow to publish a printed version "best of IC.com" An annual rythme should be fine.

Cheers.

Orang


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comrade

Business, my schmisiness

by comrade on Wed Jan 05, 2011 03:11 AM PST

 

 

What is it that you wanna hear now which you have not heard before, JJ?

Kidding yourself is fun, but don't kid business fellows, if they're the real deal.

Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

 


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Anahid Hojjati

Thanks Jahanshah for the update

by Anahid Hojjati on Wed Jan 05, 2011 02:47 AM PST

I second Majid about hating to see people like Keyvan and Foad go. I also have to say that it is great that on Iranian.com we can blog our poems and stories in Farsi. Many Iranian sites do not have this capability which to me is very important. Wish you best with the new team.


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No Fear

JJ,

by No Fear on Wed Jan 05, 2011 02:04 AM PST

I hope you can find a user friendly way so farsi and english text can co exist nicely beside each other without messing up the entire post.

Also, allowing all readers to give a thumb up or down to a comment would be a nice feature as well.

I wish you luck with the new team and i hope you generate enough money so you don't have to accept funds from selling questionable ads.

 


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Majid

Well

by Majid on Wed Jan 05, 2011 01:43 AM PST

 

I hate to see great contributers like Keyvan and Foad not being part of this new IC.com but I'm sure you (US) will still benefit from their blessings.

All you guys made this site second to none and I'm sure many members greatly appreciate that.

So.....good luck JJ in this new endeavor and wish you and the site success.

 


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