As I've mentioned before, I, too think that the existing model, although experimental, had legs. It just hadn't found them yet.

BUT

@ned, I usually work as CTO, and I'm usually the founder. When I bring on a CEO, I'm always clear about many things but one is the biggest: You're here to ensure this thing makes money. If I get in the way of that, yo usay so, because if we don't make money this whole thing won't be here at all. So:

1. Yeah, I bet that @dan did fight ya tooth and nail on this one.
2. (speaking personally) I hire CEOs because I don't like to think about money. Being CEO sucks real bad when it's bad and it's real fun when it's fun. I've been a CEO. It's incredibly challenging (and in fact the fun of being CEO comes from the challenge entirely) anyway here's my point: At the end of the day, as CTO, I'd defer to the CEO, because well, everyone in the company eats from their strategy.

My advice: Take one last look around, have a beer/whisky/joint with @dan and the rest of the crew, too, get everyone's opinion, feel out their ideas, and then take an instinctive jump in what you think is the right direction for the site. Tell the internal and external stakeholders exactly why you think it's the right direction, and don't look back.

In the end, either way, everything might go to shit, and it might be your fault. The saving grace?

You'll have fulfilled your role to the best of your abilities.

The other saving grace?

You just might have jumped in the right direction. So, my bottom line here is like this:

• I actually agree with @officialfuzzy
• What I think about this only matters inasmuch as I am a member of the community, and surely not the biggest one with respect to content or to stake.
  • Corollary of the above: Companies (thank god) are not democracies. They're little tiny fiefdoms and everyone (board, other founders, team....) has given you the express authority to make decisions that will support the business.
  • As a community member, I'm telling you to act on your gut feeling. I'll even back you up on it, even if I agree with fuzzy right now, because well, one of the things that makes companies effective is delegation. So, there you have it. Maybe not @officialfuzzy's mandate, but certainly mine.

And with this call, win, lose or draw,one thing that I hope will enable you to sleep (Sleep? WTF is that? I bet you're thinking) is that this site has positively impacted a great many people. I don't think it's a scam, I think it's a technosocial roller-coaster. Get everyone buckled up, and let's go!