Comment
The YamYam’s gooin’ away…
The last edition of the YamYam will be published on 28 February 2011.
I have been producing the YamYam on a daily basis for the past two years and have reached a point where it is no longer possible for one person to continue working full-time delivering a free service which generates little income.
I would like to thank you, the readers, for your terrific support, the professional journalists whose content has been aggregated, the advertisers who have covered my server costs and of course, Walsall’s bloggers, most of whom I have never (knowingly) met but many of whom have become good virtual friends.
I do believe that Walsall now has a very distinctive and increasingly powerful blogging voice in the region and that the local online community will continue to grow but now, sadly, without the YamYam. I wish you all well.
Up the Saddlers!
Oh no! really sad to hear this news.
As someone who used to live in Walsall and still spends a lot of time there I’ve found the YamYam to be a really informative source of news and goings-on….such a shame things are coming to an end.
Is there any way the site can be automated to take some of the man hours out of the equation and still be a useful resource?
Thanks for all of your time and effort Mark!
Thanks James. Automating the site would be a major project which even Google News struggles to do. It could work after a fashion but would still require manual intervention.
Dear Mark,
As one of the few who have had the chance to meet you, I can safely say that it’s been great knowing you.
I have the utmost respect for you, your journalistic professionalism, your tireless work for Walsall with TheYamYam, and your immense and unstinting support for the Walsall blogging community as well as the ‘local’ dead wood press who would not have nearly as many hits on their websites were it not for TheYamYam.
It won’t be the same without you and TheYamYam, but we will just have to soldier on, ranting and raving, as best we can.
Meanwhile, may I wish you the very best for the future – and I hope some suitably lucrative journalistic endeavour will soon come your way!
Sincere regards,
Stuart
–
Stuart Williams
Edditer & Publisher
The Bloxidge Tallygraph
Thanks Stuart, the Bloxidge Tallygraph is one of virtual Walsall’s cornerstones
I can’t even begin to put into words how sad this announcement makes me feel. Mark has been a great mate and friend to me. We’ve never met, but the encouragement he gave through featuring my work on the YamYam and twitter etc. made the difference between the Brownhills Blog dying and becoming what it is today.
I will say here and now, that there have been times when I would have jacked it in were it not for this site, it’s generous and loyal creator, and the community around it he has nurtured.
It’s not often that you feel you were present during a revolution. I was and we have been. What the YamYam did was unite Walsall’s previously unheard commentarians and give them a voice that authority has heard and become nervous of.
The YamYam has been vital in creating the vibrant, diverse, argumentative and eloquent online community that exists here in Walsall today. Mark has been our virtual godfather and I personally will miss his influence dreadfully. My work, and that of the community as a whole, will no longer resonate quite so loudly.
Careful how you go, old chap. There’s always a cup of earl grey and a piece of spongecake at the Brownhills Blog with your name on it.
A true mate.
Bob
Thanks fat boy
As a Bloxweegen born & bred. I will miss you. You have done a grand job. We, in our part of the borough do not receive any of the free newspapers so I rely on you to keep me up to date on what is happening. I will miss you.
Thank you for all your hard work
Thanks Chris, I didn’t know you didn’t get the weeklies in Bloxwich. Perhaps you’ll find your copy in the local recycling bin courtesy of the local paper boy, at least that’s what happens in Chuckery…
Yeah, okay, right. Now get back to work, you lazy good for nothing work-shy slacker.
How else is my rubbish little blog going to generate 100 times more traffic than it deserves? How else will a barely house-trained, drunken derelict hippo reach his gullible audience without you doing all the work?
Get back to your keyboard. Chop chop. We are all in this together.
Guess who has just farted in Hatherton lake, again? I do hope the Arbo lottery grant has made provision for removing dead water buffalo…
That rush of wind you detected was the collective sigh of relief coming out of the Council House and the Civic Centre. Removing dead water buffalo will have to wait until May.
This is a real blow for independent bloggers and publishers. The YamYam has extended beyond Walsall. Can’t we persuade you to do a weekly version?
Anyway thanks for your effort Mark.
Thanks mate, a weekly, are you volunteering?
Mark -
This is terrible news for all of us in Walsall who value your incredible contribution to the news agenda.
It has been a fantastic platform for the small, but growing, blogging community in the borough, and I thank you for linking not just to my blog (when I actually get round to updating it) but to Common People, the Pelsall news blog. It’s clear that a lot of traffic arrives via The Yam Yam.
It’s understandable that it is difficult to continue when there is just one person at the helm. I wish there was a way it could stay in operation … is there?
If there isn’t, then there will be a gaping hole in cyberspace, but I hope our paths will continue to cross.
Jayne
Thanks Jayne. Heh, I’m glad the YamYam has been able to help all you common people in Pelsall…
Really sad news, such a shame to see an independent site shutting its virtual doors.
But having run The Lichfield Blog for two years (thankfully with the help of others), I can understand that there comes a point where you need to make a decision.
Hope things go right for you, wherever this virtual world sends you next.
All the best,
Ross & all at The Lichfield Blog
Thanks Ross, it’s good to see the Lichfield Blog grow from strength to strength in La di da Lichfield – as the Stymaster would say
Good luck to you guys.
Hyperlocal crosses the class divide ;o)
(Anyway, I’m a 395-er really not a la di da-er)
Burntwood?
Am devastated.
Thank you for everything. You’ve done an incredible job and I’m going to miss this so much. Good luck and very best wishes for the future.
Linda
And long may the old baggage ramble…
What they all said…
The Walsall and wider West Midlands blogging scene will be infinitely poorer without the wonderful YamYam. The number of succesful and articulate blogs in the Walsall area is a tribute to your efforts. To be honest, I never knew how you managed to keep it all going anyway. I wish you all the best in everything you do.
Hasta la victoria, siempre!
Thanks Bob, you honorary Walsall blogger
Illegitimi non carborundum!
I only just found The YamYam and I hadn’t realised that it wasn’t automated! I commend you in spending so much time collating all this news.
I wish you best wishes for the future and only wish I’d found The YamYam sooner
Heh, automated with the help of caffeine and alcohol
What can I say that others haven’t?
You’ve been an invaluable source, and probably the only thing apart from Bob directing any traffic to my big load of tat. I suppose the thing is, I’m just doing it as a hobby/platform for ranting/giggle, not anything more serious. What are you getting up to now?
Seriously, you’ll be missed more than you can imagine. How do I get my crap published to a wider audience than 2-3 mates, and how do I find all the local blogs now?
PS Please don’t let the squatters get the domain…..
I’m sure all the little piggies are already picking up your blog posts on RSS and Twatter
Problem is, to get my posts via RSS/Twatter you have to actively follow me, which means you’re in a pretty narrow field- local bloggers and my friends, mainly. The only time I pick up new commenters is when I’m rude about Lichfield (or about Walsall MBC, but that’s shooting fish in a barrel) and you link it
.
Keep in touch, won’t you?
This is a sad day for me a sad day for bloggers and a very sad day for Walsall.
You have been for a long time my first port of call each morning. The place I go to to find out what is going on in and around Walsall
Networking is an important, if not the most important part of a councillor’s job, The YamYam has helped me to bring a whole new dimension to that aspect of it.
You will be sadly missed. I don’t know which is worse the news a couple of years ago that the “Duke of Cambridge” was closing its doors or this the news that The YamYam is gooin away. Perhaps, like the “Duke of Cambridge” you’ll came back in another life.
Kind Regards
Ian
Thanks Ian, your blog was one of the few preceding the YamYam and in the early days helped me draw-in and encourage other bloggers.
I’m really sorry to hear this, Mark.
I value the chats we’ve had from time to time and the links to my – rather niche – tecky blog.
You’ve made a huge and lasting contribution to the media landscape of Walsall and shown a lot of people what was possible. You’ve also inspired a generation of bloggers.
That’s not a bad legacy.
I suspect The Yam Yam may be ahead of its time. I can’t help but think the future looks something like it and in years to come we’ll realise this.
Wearing my sad hyperlocal interested NUJ member hat I’d be absolutely fascinated to read an account of the lessons you’ve learned.
Couldn’t agree more – part of the fun of this hyperlocal is learning the lessons and helping out those around us. An account of the positives and negatives would prove hugely valuable.
Dan, Ross, I’ll do my best to blog on the ‘lessons’
Thats really sad news, and very disparraging for other bloggers or webmasters looking to contribute to the local community like you do.
I’d love to know why you feel it didnt work and what limited your visitors? how many did you get? and what do you plan to do when this is over?
I realise you cant slate Lichfield forever lol.
Thanks Nick, I’ll post that info in due course
Thsi is truly sad news and a great loss to the Walsall Community. I read the Yam Yam every day without fail and there are many things I read on the Yam Yam first. Our town will be a lesser place without the Yam Yam and its valuable source of information and local news.
As one of the bloggers who has met you, may I wish you nothing but good fortune for the future Mark and my wishes that it will return soon.
Thanks Derek, perhaps we may eventually get to have that pint down the Lyndon House Hotel…
Also, from a selfish point of view, very sorry to hear of the demise of the “Yam-Yam”. I’m a DH boy that spends a lot of time working in the Far East – it’s my main point of contact for news of the Garden City of Walsall. A sad day, but thanks for the past few years.
Thanks Alec, I’ve always been amazed by how many expats like yourself there are reading the YamYam.
I have written an update here: http://www.theyamyam.com/the-yamyam-reasons-to-be-cheerful
Please do not take the yamyam away from me, it is my first call for news of any kind, I hope that you are able to find a way to continue this wonderful site, if I were unemployed (and lived in Walsall) I would volunteer at the drop of a hat to help you, can you not get in contact with Walsall Voluntary Action and offer the opportunity for one or two people to help you find material and maintain the site?
Another good suggestion, thanks Adam