I’m Doing The Best I Can (Site Hacked)

Random Notes 33 Comments

First off thanks to the few, but vocal readers that reached out to me in the past few days, wondering if I was passed out in a ditch or something after a week elapsed without any new articles. No, I was not on a vacation. Truth is I’ve been working as hard as ever to Save Country Music, but unfortunately that work involved trying to figure out how to regain control of savingcountrymusic.com.

Yes my friends, the site was hacked. Though people were still able to leave comments, and the calendar, message board, etc. was unaffected, I was unable to add or edit any content on the main site. I would love to say that this “hack” came from a malevolent source. When you’ve sqeezed off as many rounds as I have, you have to expect return fire. Like FDR once said “Judge me by the enemies I have made.” Though this certainly is a possibility, it could have been caused by some hackbot that didn’t know this site from Adam.

But all is well now, and further precautions have been made to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Only casualty has been the wonderful comments left on the last five articles that were deleted in the reboot. Like I always say, the best part about what happens here is YOUR comments, and I’ll be working to restore them. Except for that, we’re good to go, and we’ve laid some groundwork on getting a whole new site put together that will hopefully be debuting shortly, with many new features like nesting comments, easier ways for you to share articles and other content through Facebook/Twitter/MySpace etc, and other new toys.

And since this is a non-music, house-cleaning post, I think this is a good place to explain to everyone that I am doing the best I can.

It has come to my attention recently that there are a few bands, podcasters, and individuals that don’t think too highly of me, or what I am doing here, sometimes because of what I cover, and sometimes because I do not cover them enough. In the ideal world I wouldn’t have to work a full time job and could devote my life to this site, but since it is anti-profit (I spend more than I make), I have limited time and resources.

With the time I do have to spend on it, I do my best to cover what I think needs to be covered, and what I can cover passionately, and what I think people want to read about. Sometimes I hit, sometimes I miss. In an ideal world, everyone would get the attention they deserve. But we don’t live in an ideal world. For 2 ½ years I’ve been working many hours a week pro bono trying to get attention for people that deserve more than they’re getting.

Every week I get loaded down with requests for reviews and promotion. I do the best I can. I have also created other resources like the message board, podcast page and the calendar to help promote bands and podcasts, and give YOU the opportunity to talk about/promote bands or other things that you think deserve it.

Another thing that has weighed me down is the death of MySpace, the rise of Facebook, and the polarization of Hank III. There are people who’ve been loyal readers for years that no longer come here because they think I hate Hank III. There’s probably an equal amount of people who don’t come here because they think I’m Hank III’s house organ. Of course the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Back in the MySpace days, I could keep up with everyone on a personal level. Now that there are so many daily readers, it is hard to, and harder to keep up with people through Facebook. Sometimes things need to be promoted that I never see, but people just expect or assume I do. People get mad that I don’t comment on their status that I never see because of Facebook’s dumb format. Please, feel free to send me a direct message any time. I love feedback and suggestions.

There’s also a ton of work I do behind the scenes, whether it is fixing a hacked site, helping touring bands book shows, pushing causes and leaving comments on other sites, writing for other sites, etc.

And please, I’m not fishing for pity or praise. I’m just trying to explain the daunting task I wake up to every morning by some ill-advised, monetarily-compromising drive I have to promote music that deserves its due.

So yes, I may not fulfill everyone’s desires or expectations, but I’m doing the best I can, and that is all I can do.

Now, let’s go save country music.

© 2024 Saving Country Music

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