This weekend was an birthday of sorts for this website. Three years ago Saturday I wrote my first article on Telecom Ramblings, which happened to be a financial model for Level 3. I never imagined that I’d still be here 1,946 articles later, let alone that so many people would be reading them, responding to them, and helping me make sense of it all. Thank you to everyone out there for hanging out here with me.
Not everything has worked of course. The forums, now in hibernation again, simply never took off. Perhaps it’s that as Ramblings is by design primarily a vehicle for my voice (plus a few guest posters), it’s just not as suitable a platform for other conversations. I’ve considered starting a parallel site to run a forum on, and even bought a domain name for the concept. For now, it’s still on the drawing board along with a few other ideas, awaiting a combination of suitable software and elbow grease.
But I’m curious if anyone out there has any suggestions as to where I ought to take Ramblings from here? More tech, less tech. More financials, less financials. More interviews, less interviews. More opinions, or more detachment. More CDN, less CLEC, or whatever. Opinions?
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Personally I am more concerned with the tech and news than the financials. As long as they’re alive, I don’t care. I think if you cut back on XO or Level 3 reports, you might lose a lot of readers. Well, commenters at least. 😉
Congratulations Mr. Powell. You have done a great job and developed a meaningful forum for following telecom. I remember when I first read Ike Elliott’s blog and thought it was a great idea. He inspired me to blog–which I kept up with for a while but simply ran out of time and energy to continue. Ike stopped when he took a job at Level 3. Somewhere along the way, you began to blog as well—an you made yours stick! Thanks and keep it up.
One suggestion–those who have controversial comments or present information that they claim is factual (but don’t cite sources) should be required to identify themselves. Your site is a professional site–letting commenters hide behind anonymity is a blemish to your site.
Dan,
A thought. Anonymity can in fact enhance content on a site if the privilege is not abused. For valid professional reasons some might not post here or elsewhere if obliged to reveal their identity. Also, more often than not, the credibility of controversial claims by anonymous posters can be adjudicated by the quality of prior contributions. In most cases making the judgement is a complete no-brainer.
Anonymity is not an issue for me since my name is, in fact, en_ron_hubbard.
Congratulations!
🙂
As the saying goes, don’t fix what ain’t broke. This is by far the best blog on telecom out there. The only thing I would recommend is more of what you are already doing, if that is possible.
Rob,
The site is great. It is part of my morning ritual. Please keep doing what you’re doing. The M&A discussions are great. If you could add more about new product offerings I think that would be valuable.
Congrats and thanks! I am on the content side of the business and I see(firsthand)the explosion of HD/3D.
Following the level 3 et al manuevers in cdn and various consolidation stories keeps me aware of the evolution of the telecom business. XO, lvlt et al will probably get swallowed up???
Who knows where we will be in 3 years. Your insights are part of my morning coffee. The various comments are often quite insightful and the anonymity adds valuable insights.
All the best, Rob.
Congratulations on the three-year milestone, Rob! Telecom Ramblings is certainly required reading for many on our team at Bank Street Group and we’ve come to rely on you for news, commentary and insight on the companies and sectors that we follow. Keep up the great work!
Rob,
I’ve lost track of the number of times I have cited your stories, the number of people to whom I have recommended your blog and the number of times where you’ve provided interesting and important info. Yours is a must-read and thanks for your efforts.
Congratulations Rob!
🙂
As an ISP who relies heavily on a lot of these carriers to service my customers, I appreciate the useful information out on this site to keep me up-to-date with what’s going on out there.
I appreciate the effort you put into this site Rob!
Congrats + thanks you + thank you + thank you
Congrats! I do like TR as it is. Financials are great as long as you have some commentary with it such why their numbers may be up or down.
I also appreciate the interviews and posts that help describe a company’s business model. I still remember an interview you did with Allied Fiber. And its especially helpful now that so many telecom companies are expanding their services into other areas of the tech industry.
Congrats! I read all the time.
congrats on keeping the site fresh with lots of new content and interesting viewpoints for the past 3 years.
if i was a paying member, i’d vote for: more interviews, more behind-the-scenes info. less copy-paste of press releases whenever some carrier announces they got a new customer.
Congrats Rob,
Happy 3rd birthday. Your site is one of our mandatory stops every morning. Here’s to 3 more.
This site has proven to be an excellent source of relevant information for carriers large and small. I like the financial information and the technical information. Private telecom carriers have differnt issues from the publicly held LECs. CLECs that are thriving in 2011 have discovered their niche and enjoy competing with the national carriers. Thanks Rob for creating this environment. I do feel that someone providing data should identify themselves when they post so that they can be validated.
Congratulations on your 3 year anniversary and thank you for pointing this out. A lot of us probably take for granted your fountain of knowledge and sources, however it is becoming increasingly difficult to find accurate, intelligent and relevant information online. Thank you. My only suggestion is to incorporate a donation link since surely maintaining a website such as yours is no without a cost. Keep up the great work.