IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!
September 1, 2006
To all of our visitors:
We wanted to inform you of an important change to be occurring with Hoosier Hoofprints. Early in 2006 (February/March), our web hosting service increased the costs associated with our site. At that time, we considered suspending the services which we currently support with our own time and money.
With the upcoming Indiana racing season, we decided to wait. Such a decision would make obtaining accurate and timely information difficult for our visitors. In addition, those racing on the Indiana Sired Fair Circuit (ISFC) have also come to rely on our website for information on those events. The ISFC events have now concluded for 2006, as the Finals and Consolations were raced during the Indiana State Fair.
Throughout the Summer, our own personal workload has increased tremendously. This has resulted in many long, late nights of working on the website. From looking at results from every racetrack in the country for Indiana Sired Season Leaders to updating news and deadlines, as well as writing original news and monitoring the forum, the time adds up. We spend an average of 5 hours each day keeping information up-to-date for our visitors.
No one here is compensated or reimbursed in any way for the time and money it takes to keep this site available and full of useful information. Simply having a website is not all that is necessary to keep visitors abreast of information. Someone has to take the time to find the information and know what needs to be made available to share.
Over the next few weeks, our main contributor to the website (Stacey Ruddick) will be making some important career decisions. She is considering accepting a new position in her employment. The new position would leave little or no time for maintaining the website. These decisions will be difficult, but necessary.
We have enjoyed 9 wonderful years of contributing to Indiana Harness Racing by making news and other information available for our visitors. The number of visitors to our site has increased nearly every month. Currently, we average around 5,000/day. We are certainly proud of those figures. Our work has shown everyone what it takes to properly and efficiently keep information available. We can only hope this standard of excellence is continued!
Thank you,
The Ruddicks
Harold, Beverly, and Stacey
Hoosier Hoofprints
"Providing up-to-date information to everyone in the Standardbred Industry"
11/1/2006 Update from Stacey Ruddick: There has been an interesting twist to the whole issue of funding for our site. I was approached by someone offering a private donation to keep it active. There is a lot more to it, but I have agreed to a short-term trial to see how it works. This will also buy me time to see how things shake out at work, with the recent events. I did not want to agree to an extended deal, in case it is a bad move. Plus, I do not think a single person should have to bear the costs over the long haul, when lots of people benefit. Our visitors should not see too many changes in the news portions of our site. The donor has basically left us free to continue to deliver the news, as we have always done. The biggest change visitors will see is that the forum is now administered by the Hitch-N-Post Administrator. Hoosier Hoofprints will continue to post news and updates, but the forum is not a direct extension of the core site. Those changes should be seen soon.
12/31/2006 Update from Stacey Ruddick: As some of you are aware, the agreement with the private donor to continue leaving all parts of our website active ends on January 1. I have been contacted by someone who wishes to fund our work for one more month. However, I have yet to see that check. Until I receive it, I am going to assume they were not serious about sending the contribution. If this is indeed the case, look for activity to cease. Best Wishes to everyone in 2007!
01/07/2007 Update from Stacey Ruddick: Our mail on Saturday, January 6, 2007, included the check promised as a donation to continue the activities of our website for another month. A few people have inquired as to whether the donor has attempted to impose any kind of constraints or demand any changes to the website. As with the previous donor, the answer is "NO". He/She wants us to keep doing exactly what we have always done. It makes us feel great that someone trusts us and wants to support the work we do with no strings attached. Thank you to our donor!