Seacoast History Blog #03
November 3. 2008

The decision to revise SeacoastNH.com to an "All History" format has not come easily. Those modifications will begin soon. In fact, they begin today with the elimination of the monthly Contest. As small an item as it may seem, it sucks up a lot of time – and money. With roughly 150 contests completed, the end had come. If you’re reading this site only for the free prize, I must bid you adieu. (Continued)

Changes Coming to SeacoastNH.com

The bottom line is that, although I am fascinated by many topics, history has become my passion. After 12 years of going in too many directions, I will take Abraham Lincoln’s advice and not try to please all of the people all of the time. Back in 1996 when the Web was young I made one clear decision. The plan was to aggregate historical info about this region onto one web site. I knew instinctively that lots of people would write about the arts, dining, business, politics, housing, sports, weddings, etc. My goal was to gather information that was not current, but to write about it in an engaging way that, as the cliché goes, makes history "come alive" for modern readers. This I did for hundreds, probably thousands of web pages. I never really kept count. I never looked back. We did write about food and books and recreation and movies and for a few years I ran a weekly review of other web sites. The bigger the site got, the more I wanted to please incoming readers, but there are too few hours in the day. So I’m going to drop the Directory. Keeping stats fresh on thousands of local web sites is too much. I had hoped someone would come along who wanted to maintain that section for me – originally SeacoastSearch.com – but I admit that isn’t going to happen. Same for the Events Calendar. I started it because, like the Directory, I was unhappy with what was available locally. But it is possible to work day and night filling in events and still not make a dime. And each day you wake up, yesterday’s hard-won content is valueless. My goal is much the opposite. I want to create an archive that increases its value over time. The value may be esoteric, not commercial, but that is fine with me. The more local history I can post – assuming it is accurate and well written – the more useful this web site will be. In the last dozen years other web sites and publications have grown up. We currently have local web sites devoted to food, to the arts, to events, to home improvement and decorating. History is the one topic that no one does better. That has become my "brand" and I am stepping up to the role. The plan is to discontinue content that you can find elsewhere and spend that time creating new and better web pages about history in the Piscataqua Region and, occasionally, beyond. The changes will be subtle. Some readers may not even notice. But from this end, it is like giving up an old dream in favor of a new one.

© 2008 J. Dennis Robinson. All rights reserved.