1. Other organizations' web sites
   As more and more organizations start their own web sites, the information provided by The Literary Events Page starts to be duplicated elsewhere and there becomes less and less reason to post it here. I can see a time in the not-too-distant future when every literary reading series has a web site, making the Events Page unnecessary. While not all reading series have web sites yet, those that do generally do a good job of keeping them up-to-date with upcoming readings. As I become aware of reading series web sites, I'll add them to the list of links on the main page.
2. Timeliness of material
   People cannot seem to send me information a few months (or even weeks) in advance. I keep telling people, "send me the information as soon as you have it. The computer ain't gonna forget!" But for some reason, I still get an e-mail on Wednesday for an event that happens on Friday. Am I supposed to spend every second evening updating the site just so I don't miss anything? Excuse me, I do have a life! Besides, how much exposure are you going to get in one or two days? People just don't visit the site that often!
3. Lack of cooperation
   I find a contact for a particular reading series, send off an e-mail telling them about the Events Page and receive back, well... Sometimes a deafening silense. Sometimes they send me information for a month or two, then someone else takes over and my e-mail addy is not passed on, or else they just plain forget about my existence. I refuse to chase people for information. I make people  aware of the service, and if they choose not to take advantage of it, that's their loss.
4. Lack of response
   I can count on the fingers of one hand (well, maybe both), the number of e-mails I've got expressing any appreciation for the information on the site. I'm not exactly looking for high praise, but if I were to judge the usefulness of the site by the feedback alone, I would have to conclude I'm basically wasting my time.
5. Lack of time
   I guess I have trouble saying "no", but it seems I've gotten myself heavily involved in a number of projects that are taking up my time. You'd be surprised at the number of hours per week I used to spend updating the Events Page! It seems now to be so low on my priority list that I can't devote the time necessary to do it effectively. Better to just shut it down that do a half-assed job, eh?

So much for the nice, carefully-reasoned arguments. If you read between the lines, you will probably have picked up the fact that basically I'm tired of it. In the beginning when HTML was a new and wacky new tool, I could impress everyone by putting up a web site with some useful information on it. "Wow, man. A web site! That people actually visit!" Now of course it's old hat, everybody and his dog has a web site, and nobody's impressed. So it goes. We all move on now.

-- Kevin
November 9, 2000

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