Fasten your seat belts

Wednesday, 18 October 2006

My dear, dearer and dearest Mo'people,

Some of you may be aware that Mo'time was born in the summer of 2003... you may remember eon, banzai, joe london, nakedandalive, alohalani, calgal, limine, pulp, joe schmuck and many others back in the very first weeks (am I forgetting anyone from the charter days??). Of course a lot of those people are miraculously still here. We piggy-backed Mo'time off of Splinder.com, the Italian version of the platform that is the market leader in the land of vespas and red-tiled roofs, just to see if it could survive on the international scene without any marketing or advertising support after the 500 bucks that we spent on a Google ad campaign.

And here you are, 3.5 years later still making this place a somehow unique corner of the Internet, sheltered from the storms that blow around the net from time to time.

Our idea has always been to take this as far as we could on our own, using the proceeds from our instant messaging technology to fund the blogging sites. When Murdoch bought MySpace and the buzzwords "social networking" and "web 2.0" were all the rage, our Italian blogging community caught the attention of the large media companies and the more successful Internet companies -- the ones that survived the bust.

Last week we actually signed the papers. Tipic, Inc. the creator and owner of Mo'time and Splinder was purchased by Dada S.p.A., a company specializing in digital communities, entertainment and content products for mobile devices. Read the press release here.

What does this mean for you?

For the immediate future, not much will change around here. Soon we will be able to finally offer you cool new templates for your blogs, creating a system to make browsing your blogs on cell phones easier, to post photos, videos and text directly from your cell phone to your blogs and other improvements.

Eventually, we may change the name of the platform, and the graphic look and feel will be evolved and improved along the way. However, the same people that created Mo'time, myself included, are staying right here! All I can tell you is that we are still dedicated to giving you the tools you need to do the stuff that you want to do. We want to make it easier to use while giving you more options.

It has been a long haul of lots and lots of very late nights, and dragging along our laptops everyday, rain or shine, on vacations, on weekends and, well, all the time! It pleases me to declare in no uncertain terms that we are really happy about this and convinced that our new managers share our ideals and plans for making Mo'time and Splinder grow. Of course, we will be looking at ways that this project can make money -- but we will be doing so without destroying the very atmosphere that allowed us to grow!

On a personal level, I have learned a lot from all of you and am amazed at the honesty and integrity that so many of your bring to this place. I'll haul out that old chestnut that I've learned a lot about myself, too, doing this work. So before I get all misty, I'll just sign out here. Thanks, everybody, I think we're really going to take this blogging thing up a few notches!!

posted by: howard at 22:34 | link | comments (33) |
news, blogosphere, thank you
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Comments:

#1 18 October 2006 - 22:46

Howard, i don't think I was one of the charter members, but pretty close. I think my first motime blog was in Sept 03. But I want to thank you for all you have done and for your patience and diligence in helpiing us neophytes through the maze of blogdom. The fascinating thing to me, and for this I give you all the credit, is that we have established in Motime a real world-wide community. I am glad that you will still be with us, and will continue to guide and nurture us....congrats on signing the papers, and I am sure that I speak for all Motimers when I say that we look forward to future great things from you.

Rog

JustMe63

#2 18 October 2006 - 22:51

i love to motime!

thank you for adding this joy into my life.

motime forever, baby!

faaraa

faaraa

#3 18 October 2006 - 22:54

yes, rog, you were in pretty early and I give you a tip of the Mo'time hat!!! You started out with a current events quiz, if I recall. :-)

howard

#4 18 October 2006 - 22:56

actually it was a quiz on US health care....and thanks H for the hat!!

JustMe63

#5 18 October 2006 - 22:57

Thank goodness you're still going to be here - wouldn't know what to do without you.

mafidl

#6 19 October 2006 - 01:33

Oh my gosh... this makes me weepy. I remember coming here for the first time a few years back being AvalonAngel with Here In Avalon... and to see how far the place has come and now it's going even beyond this. Wow...

I'm a little nervous. I don't want to lose the feel of this community. But if you say it's gonna be the same, only better, Howard... I'll hang around for the ride.

Ladyinthemoon

#7 19 October 2006 - 03:37

Congrats and thanks H, a world without Motime would suck. Hope the new owners put in some good vending machines for you. Sounds like i'm going to have to retire the two Donald Duck orange juice cans with a piece of string and get a cell phone.

rustymadgal

#8 19 October 2006 - 09:43

Sounds interesting!

Jackal

#9 19 October 2006 - 10:05

i feel old.

seriously, Howard, i wish you and your people the best. let this be a fruitful new chapter in mo'time history.

there's friendster, myspace and all that...but this little space here stays close to my heart.

BD

BanzaiDescent

#10 19 October 2006 - 13:54

Howard, what great news!!!

Prosperity and all great things for the motime gang.

xox

Leigh

#11 19 October 2006 - 14:51

kind of amazing the connections made and the fondness developed within our little bloggy world. or as Data would say, "my neural pathways have become accustomed to your sensory input patterns." just wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

thanks so much howard.

congratulations!

limine

#12 19 October 2006 - 15:16

I feel the same way...I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I was introduced to motime by my friend Joe Schmuck...I knew he was an original...didn't know he was an original motimer!
I am happy for you, Howard, and hope things don't change too much around here.

brutallycurious

#13 19 October 2006 - 22:02

It couldn't have happened to a nicer blog crew!

I would get all weepy if I started writing about how much Motime has meant to me for the past couple of years, so I'll spare you the waterworks, but consider yourself "smacked" - In the nice sense of the word!

Your hard work and dedication deserves this reward and the many that surely will follow. Kudos!

P.S. - What's my cut? :)

AmericanGirl

#14 19 October 2006 - 22:02

September '03 for me, as well. Has it been that long? I just started a new journey back then and somehow stumbled upon Motime. It's been a trip fo all of us! Hope there are many, many more to come. :)

merserene

#15 19 October 2006 - 22:10

it's great to hear all of your voices and it just confirms that you guys are the coolest. Listen up, I'm in NY from the 1st to the 7th of November. The drinks are on me. If anyone is interested in organizing a happy hour that goes on for much longer than an hour, let me know!!

howard

#16 21 October 2006 - 15:44

conscious capitalism?? hippies rule

EmmaPele

#17 22 October 2006 - 00:13

I am very happy about this. I have only ben here for a few months and I am adicted to Mo'time, I guess I should be the new host. Well, I can not wait until we see the final product.

mgrhetos2

#18 22 October 2006 - 06:13

I'm glad you and the rest of the crew are sticking around. Thank you so much, Howard!

PS. So you're coming to New York, huh?

Yoshick

#19 23 October 2006 - 00:22

Wow alot of us started out here in Sep. 2003. Congrats to all of us! And those who are to come!

thebigbaton

psmartin

#20 24 October 2006 - 05:11

truth is, one of the things i love about motime is its not being mainstream, unlike myspace.

but, i knew this thing would be inevitable and i'm glad that you're happy with the deal.

and gladder you cleared that part about still being on board!

Congratulations H.

onesmallgirl

#21 25 October 2006 - 09:58

Had to come out of hiding to wish you well.

Buona fortuna!

Mary.

maxinejones

#22 25 October 2006 - 14:04

a bit later in '03 for me, but this place and the people that hang here have a special place in my life. thanks for all your hard work howard. wish i could toast you in person in nyc next week, hope some other can make it.

bluematrix

#23 26 October 2006 - 21:26

I'll stay as long as Howard does.

#24 31 October 2006 - 14:22

Thanks a lot for all your work, Howard, about time you can cash in a bit, too. I hope to be able to go on using motime for a long time!

KnutAlbert

#25 04 November 2006 - 11:18

congratulations howard and the rest of you laptop-trotting guys!

i was here since 2003! but that was with my old blog that i "accidentally" deleted in 2005, which left me drunk and mourning for some weekends.

more power to motime. i swear i wouldn't leave this place---unless you boot me out of course. ;)

exgroupie

#26 06 November 2006 - 12:12

Motime is the best because Howard and the all motime peope are the best.

Congratulations&Thanks!

[w]

wendy

#27 07 November 2006 - 10:56

time does indeed fly! thanks howard for everything - motime kept me company whilst i was alone studying in Perth and it's been impossible to leave and start a blog anywhere else! xoxo. glad to see it grow so much!

crysalis

#28 11 November 2006 - 14:38

As usual, I am behind on all of the news...but I'm GLAD you will still be here Howard!

sweetpeas

#29 12 November 2006 - 20:56

Wow, I didn't know that when I started in September 2003, motime hadn't been around all that long. I guess I was in early on, too. :-) And still sticking around...... happily.

Ulrike

#30 13 November 2006 - 22:14

Heh, been here since the August of that hazy long ago summer. Can't imagine life without my bloggy and Motime. Here's to many more years I say!!!!

Sheol

#31 25 November 2006 - 13:51

Another Sept 2003 guy here, and pretty happy with Mo'time (except for the copying of stuff in word that adds double lines for every paragraph).

Sorry my boring pro-democracy politics has made me less active in the community -- there are more and more interesting on-line newspaper substitutes coming.

Plus I'm learning Joomla!

Howard, you're wrong on politics, but right about a lot of good mo'time stuff, IMHO.
Thanks.

TomGrey

#32 21 December 2006 - 20:26

Mo'time was the first place I learned about blogging back in good old September 2003, and it will remain the place I blog until.. who knows what.

Will the name be changing drastically? I like the name mo'time!

cloudycow921

#33 19 January 2007 - 18:07

congratulations & hooray Howard. man, this is what happens when I Step Away From the Blog for a few months. holy acquisition batman.

i'm a newbie - sept 2004 - but can't believe it's been 2 years and some. wow wow wow!