Last Updated on 08/30/2011 by Chris Gampat
Dearest readers,
Not long ago, I found myself in an extremely tough situation with nothing but darkness surrounding me. As a stubborn 24 year old, I’ve often found myself only asking for help as a last resort. Since then, things have improved. I’m not saying that they’re excellent, in fact they’re far from it. However, as stated previously during the time of darkness, I never ask for much.
Today is the second to last day of August 2011, and I’m proud to announce that The Phoblographer is doing better, the staff is in good spirits, and that my vision for the site is renewed. Each day I wake up, run the site from my phone during my commute to work, come back from work, and pour over analytics and statistics on top of reviewing products and editing. And most recently, I’ve started the Phoblographer Academy Huddle on Google +, which takes up even more time.
For the most part, our evolution has been welcomed by you, the readers. Our Field Reviews are now done differently, we’ve been publishing more tips and tricks, engaging you more through supplementary videos, and most recently I finished the long asked for Reviews Index.
So what’s the point of this blog post?
I’m not sure how much this will mean to many of you; but despite all the filler around this paragraph, this blog post is a genuine thank you to you–the readers. When I started this site almost two years ago, I was a fresh out of college graduate facing one of the toughest economic situations that the United States has ever faced. Feeling defeated, I sat there on my bed and told myself, “I’m sick of being unemployed and not having enough freelance work.” And so I started The Phoblographer.
Some of you have been with us since the start, some of you have come along throughout the ride, but I don’t feel that enough Editor In Chiefs express their love for their readers. And I cannot tell you guys just how amazing it is to have you come to us everyday. It’s synonymous to having lots of guests over your house every day just because they enjoy your company. And like any host, it is my honor to give you all the best hospitality that I can and ensure that the staff treats you with the same respect.
With all of this said though, we are working on making the site better. There are always ideas churning around. Due to what some readers have found as a flawed review, we’re all working behind the scenes to give you even better content overall.
However, we need your continued support. You can keep this site running by clicking on the sharing buttons on each posting, click on the banners or links in my postings to support me (who funds the site) and by clicking on the links in my staff’s postings (which help each staffer accordingly.)
Additionally, we’re looking for more guest writers with the potential of you becoming a staff member. Running a site like this is an amazing amount of work for five guys. I’ve received a couple of emails already about this and will be getting to them soon. But if you’re interested, you can email me at chrisgampat[at]thephoblographer[dot]com.
But most of all, we encourage you to be vocal with us and keep coming back every day.
In the end, this posting is overall just a thank you and I hope that this letter hits home with many of you.
Sincerely,
Chris Gampat
Editor-in-Chief
The Phoblographer