From the Executive Director:

Executive Update for August, 2004
Posted by Joseph Rowlands on 8/31/2004, 4:58pm

As promised, this is my first monthly update for SOLOHQ. The intention here is to keep everyone posted on what SOLO is up to, and track all of the new features, people, etc. We'll still do news items when we have new features or important information, but this monthly update will compile them.

It's been a busy month for SOLO. At the beginning of the month, we asked a "hypothetical" question: If we could hire people full time, who thinks they should work for us? We received a number of good replies, which makes us believe we should pursue that path. One consequence of this question is that we've added Barbara Branden and James Kilbourne to the staff. And a consequence of that is John Hospers, famous libertarian and philosopher, has contributed an article to the site, with hopefully more on the way.

We've added a number of features to the site, including the new SOLO Interest groups. These are groups you can join (either on your preference page, or on the Interest group front page) with their own forum, dedicated to discussions and projects on a particular area of thought. If you have an idea for an Interest group that is not presently available, let me know by email or SoloMail.

Also new is the new SOLO Think Tank, which is a private group dedicated to the advancement of Objectivist thought. And next to that is SOLO University, a new educational venture for SOLO. The goal is to train a new group of intellectuals. We've got a number of applicants already, but it's not too late to sign up.

And our primary goal of running 5 articles a week has been such an enormous success, measured by the number of articles being submitted, that we have expanded it to 7 days a week. And currently, we're running 2 articles a day.

The rest of this update is some highlights with brief descriptions. For more information on what SOLO has coming up, be sure to check out my article SOLO: Past, Present and Future.

New Staff

1.) Barbara Branden and James Kilbourne have been added to the staff under the position "Writer-in-Residence"
2.) Julia Duncan Brent is now the SOLO DC Coordinator
3.) Jennifer Iannolo is now the SOLO Food Leader
4.) David Bertelsen is now the SOLO Entrepreneur Leader

New Products

1.) Perigo! Politically Incorrect - Biography of Lindsay Perigo, Founder of SOLO

New SOLOHQ Features

Special SOLO organizations:
SOLO University – Professor Rowlands is taking applicants now.
SOLO Think Tank – A private forum for the advancement of Objectivism

New SOLO Groups: (See left sidebar on main page. Join the clubs you're interested in!)
SOLO Food – Great food, great drink, great attitude
SOLO Entrepreneurship – Money, and how to get more of it
SOLO Law – Philosophy of Law, a better Constitution, and Lawyer Jokes
SOLO Romance – Love, sex, and meeting people
SOLO Science – Philosophy of science, etc.

New Local Clubs:
SOLO DC – based in Washington, DC,
SOLO Silicon Valley – I've set this up

SOLOHQ Software News

1.) New Announcement Gallery, for SOLO Staff use only – This is the first use of this new gallery. This will be a convenient way of archiving important updates, as well as making sure they get enough attention on the front page.
2.) The front page now automatically displays a weeks worth of articles, no matter how long that is. This was necessary considering the volume of articles we've had recently
3.) As mentioned before, the "Unsanction" button has been removed. This was because some people abused it by going on vendettas, some people felt the need to post and complain whenever they received one, and too many people used it without letting the target know why they did. Since the "Unsanction" mechanism has now been removed, the old system of moderation (you're unmoderated at 10 Atlas points) must change as well. The moderators will decide when a participant should be on the "moderated" list.
4.) Spirit page Galleries are now listed alphabetically
5.) Gallery Author pages are now listed alphabetically
6.) Most section of SOLOHQ now have a unique header

Job Openings (no money, but fame and adoration)

1.) Internet Promoter – Somebody willing to go onto other forums and sites and relentlessly promote SOLO. Distributing this Executive Update is one possible function of the promoter.
2.) SOLO Science Leader – Someone interested in the club, will work on making the intro page, spur activity
3.) SOLO NZ Coordinator – someone to decorate the portal page, possibly coordinate conferences/meetings

Statistics

Articles on SOLOHQ: 755
Forum posts on SOLOHQ (total): 14,800
Author Count: 120
SOLOHQ Members: 519
Page Hits this month: 312,800

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