No Fact Zone State of the Union address

Yes, Zoners, it’s about that time where I like to give a few status updates on some of the more behind-the-scenes aspects of how we do what we do here at No Fact Zone, and invite you all to continue to help me make this the best Stephen Colbert and ‘Colbert Report’ fan site on the web.

First, I would like to give a huge round of applause and thanks to our crew of Zoner Completists who consistently help me get the readers of this site the best Colbert-centric news on the web. I’d like to give a special thanks to Justine Marie and Nerdygirl for the tasks that they do that are much more behind-the-scenes than you will see from the other Completists. Justine Marie has done an amazing job with keeping up with the No Fact Zone calendar page, keeping us up to date on all of the special events and TCR/TDS guests each week. Nerdygirl has also been a huge help with keeping the Episode Guide archive up to date. I’m also especially proud of Jordan, Wren, Val, and Lady Nocturne for their weekly posts that give the site a consistency that takes our content above anything else out there like it on the web. Katt and Tiger are still new here, but doing an excellent job of learning how to keep up with our Six Degrees content for all of you fans of the ‘Daily Show’ and people who have made an impact in the Colbertverse. And of course, I simply could not do this without Ann G. and MsInterpreted, who work to get you the news every single day, and making sure you get the Stephen Colbert news as soon as it breaks.

But most of all, I could not do this without you Zoners. We get so much great content from people who send us tips every single day, and I know personally I get so very much fulfillment from seeing people discuss the stories of the day in the comments. We have a very happy and active readership, and the culture that we have built here at No Fact Zone is unlike any other in the Colbert fandom. Truth be told, that is the thing that I am most proud of when it comes to this site. I’m so thankful that all of you come here, day after day, and read the post and comment and send tips about stories that you think other Zoners might enjoy. It’s a really amazing feeling to know that we’ve built this tiny little section of the Colbert Nation into something that I really believe Stephen is thankful for.

Please click through to read more about the future of Colbert University, our call for new Completists, how our fundraising fund stands, and a lovely piece of eye candy.

Colbert University

I’ve received a lot of e-mails recently asking about the state of Colbert University. Long story short, Colbert University is no more. However, a replacement is currently in the works, and we should be debuting it here very shortly. In a nutshell, Colbert University was built on a software called Joomla, which is an open source content management system. However, it was also a very insecure software, and we were hacked multiple times. We decided it would be best to move the content from CU onto WordPress, which we’ve been working with on this site for close to four years and which I know how to secure. We also made the decision to go ahead and start fresh with the content, with a different structure and a different name.

The new site – the Colbrary – is still under construction, but all of the CU content has been preserved, and we will get you news on how to access this site as soon as we can. Lisa has been singlehandedly and painstakingly worked towards recreating as much of the CU content into the new structure of the Colbrary, and I have full faith that she will have this project done as soon as she is able.

Be a No Fact Zone Completist!

While we all work as hard as we can on No Fact Zone, there’s even more work that needs to be done that we simply don’t have time to do. So we’d like to open the floor again to invite those of you who would like to help with the site to join the Completist team. Every year, our Completist team gets larger and larger, and the work we put in is most definitely reflected in the strength of the content on this site.

Specifically, we’re looking at 1-2 people who would be willing to work on carnival-type posts (Six Degrees, Zeitgeist, TDS) as well as breaking news. What I’m looking for in new Completists are these qualifications:

• HTML/WordPress experience (LJ or Blogger experience is acceptable)
• 2-3 hours a week to contribute 1-2 weekly posts
• The ability to work with a team of bloggers to collaborate on post ideas and site concepts

If you are interested in joining our team, please e-mail me (db (@at) nofactzone.net) with your qualifications and I will be more than happy to discuss with you the specifics of what your duties would entail as a Completists and see if we can find a match.

Fundraiser Status

Some of you who have been around a while may remember the fundraiser we had about six months or so ago to help defray the cost of the servers that we use to run No Fact Zone. Of the funds that were raised, we currently have $792 dollars remaining. Our server bill comes to $139/month, which means that we have approximately 5 months worth of server paid for before we’ll need to do another fundraising drive.

After the drive, I did my best to monetize the site by trying different types of ad services – Google and Chitika mostly, as well as Amazon affiliate links. Unfortunately, after 6 months of ads, we made a whopping $107. Obviously, this attempt at monetizing simply wasn’t going to work. Also, I have to be honest with all of you – I hate the ads on the site. Not only was there the aesthetic issue (they were godawful ugly), but I take great pride in the fact that I do this for the fun of it, not because I get paid to do it. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been asked after telling people that I run the #1 Stephen Colbert fan site on the net, “Wow, really? So how much money do you make off the site?” And when I answer, “None”, they look at me like I just put ketchup on a taco.

None of the staff ever gets paid a dime for the work that has been done here. I would be willing to bet that among the Completists alone, there are hundreds of hours a month put into the maintenance of the site. I know personally I spend at least 20+ hours a week on the site. We all do this simply because we love being a part of the Colbert Nation, and working on the site gives us all so much personal satisfaction. Yes, there are mornings that I’d rather sleep in instead of doing an episode guide, or days where I stay home to blog about the Emmy awards instead of attending parties with my friends. But when it gets the craziest, when news is breaking left and right and we can barely keep up with it all, days where I spend 14+ hours in front of my computer searching and blogging and e-mailing, and laughing with the other Completists about how insane our hobby is, those are the very best days of all.

Anyway, the point I was making with all of that is that if you appreciate the work we do, I ask that you consider making a donation in the sidebar, and if you’re a Power Zoner, consider subscribing to the site at $2/month. We want to continue to do what we do, and it will be much easier if we can get financial help with that. Thank you.

Again, thank you for all that you do as readers and commenters and tipsters and Completists and everyone. I cannot do this alone, and I appreciate all of you for what you do for our little Zoner family here. As a reward for listening to my blather, here’s a lovely piece of eye candy.

• Please don’t sue us – An open letter to Tony Fox, PR rep for Viacom
• Reasons why it sucks that Hulu is dropping Comedy Central programming
• Time Warner Cable can gargle my mansack
• In my mind, I’m already on a relaxing beach