Towards a New Online Home for Stay at Home Dads
Posted on 02. Nov, 2006 by Brian Reid in General
At the recommendation of Bruce R from SeattleDads, I’ve removed the link to slowlane.com in the right rail, and I will be systematically removing all of the hyperlinks in the archives in the coming weeks and months. I didn’t realize — until I made the post last week — how deep the disappointment about the site’s abandonment ran, and how passionately some at-home dad leaders felt about the need to replace it with something. Because links are the lifeblood of Google ranking, and because slowlane.com doesn’t offer web surfers the up-to-date compendium of resources that the No. 1 site for “stay at home dad” should, I’ve begun the link removal process.
This is not meant as an affront to Jay or all of the people who have helped and offered to help over the years — they have done great work in the past and been stellar spokesmen for at-home fathers. I respect those contributions. I will quickly and happily restore the links should the site be revived. But like it or not, it’s the landing site for a great many at-home dads, would-be at-home dads, and media, and I agree with many who have commented or e-mailed that it is not the best representation of the at-home dad community.
I know there are people interested in building the next generation definitive at-home dad site, and I stand at the ready to drive people to that site. If you’re working on such a project, keep me posted. I have already heard from Mike Biewenga, the guy behind ChicagoDads.com, who reiterated what he posted in the comments last week: he is interested in launching the site. If you’d like to help out, his e-mail is mike@digitalaltitudes.com.
Keep me posted, and I’ll immediately link to whatever you all come up with.
Phil
03. Nov, 2006
I remember checking out slowlane.com about two years after I started staying home (2000) and realized then it wasn’t updated. I contacted Jay in March about my new dads group in Nebraska, still nothing to be found. I salute the guys like Mike in Chicago and Mike in DC who want this dinosaur off the map.
Bill Ekhardt
03. Nov, 2006
Slowlane was my entry into the internet at-home-dad world over the last year and its demise sent me the clear message that the at-home-dad internet community barely existed if it existed at all. I was incredulous. How could a site with three year old dead links be the number one at-home-dad site? This community must have been a flash in the pan, I assumed.
I thank you for taking down the links. We would be so much better off if a local site like Chicago Dad’s was the first rank than a dead national site.
I’ll be at the convention in a couple of weeks. I’m a hobbyist web developer and new stay at home dad. If there’s a national site to contribute to, I’d be interested in offering some support.
Mike Biewenga
03. Nov, 2006
Guys -
My plan is to have a new national site available within the next few days. The design is a decent, quality, site that is structured to be sustainable and updateable over time - it is more than just a forum, yahoo group, or blog site.
If you’d like to be involved, please email me: mike@digitalaltitudes.com
Here are just a few of the things that could be useful:
-Gathering and organizing various existing content (links to other sites, some of the existing information on slowlane.com, etc)
-Figuring out how the mess of information should be organized,
-Participating on the message boards and other areas to keep things interesting until there’s enough of a regular audience for the activity to be self-sustaining.
-Moderating/editing/approving articles and other items to keep things clean and professional
-Writing original content and articles that people may find interesting
P.S. Phil - I added your groups information to the new site.
Phil
03. Nov, 2006
Thanks Mike!
See you next week in KC. I will be leading the discussion group on local groups and will need your info to pass on to new and existing groups. We can talk then.
Phil
03. Nov, 2006
Mike,
I guess you wont be in KC, but Bill will be there. I have your email from another message board and contact you that way.
BrianC
04. Nov, 2006
Mike,
As per our conversation a couple days ago, mentioning and getting the word out at the convention should be no problem!
It looks as if the buzz is abound and will be the talk of the convention! Again, I salute you for taking the initiative to get this thing going!
Mike
05. Nov, 2006
Hi All,
I am trying to get a Colorado site up and going for local metro Denver dads, and as all of you are sure to know, Computing time is minimal with a toddler in the House. My site is http://www.milehidad.com, please link to me if you see fit. I am still in the process of getting a group to meet. There has been local interest expressed from people Googling and finding me, I got a meeting location at our clubhouse, I just need help in getting the word out.
Thanks
-Mike
http://www.milehidad.com
sao95
14. Nov, 2006
in your rush to create a new dads site, you’ve forgotten that other sites besides slowlane already exist. dadstayshome.com is a great site with a fairly large following.
Rebel Dad
14. Nov, 2006
sao95: dadstayshome.com has been a prominent part of my blogroll for a long, long time (though it looks like I need to update the link to reflect the new address of the forum).