The Future of HarpersGlobe.com
The news is out - HarpersGlobe.com, the community, the videos, and the wiki will all be taken offline sometime after the conclusion of Harper's Island.
There is currently no plan from CBS to keep HarpersGlobe.com up and running after the TV series finale. We appreciate all your support, it's been a great community. For me, personally, it's been a wonderful experience being your Site Admin and watching this community grow.
Some of you have asked me what can be done to keep the site alive. That's really not my area. If you want to get CBS's attention, that's of course, your choice.
This serves as quite the blow to the Harper's Globe community, which has been growing steadily each week (around 500 users weekly). The desire to discontinue support for the site (and the forums) is understandable, considering CBS owns the brand. Why continue a brand that was created to support a show you have no interest in continuing? The entire site, however, is another matter altogether, as it houses valuable information - as well as the Harper's Globe videos - that were and are intended to further experience of Harper's Island, which has yet to air in many countries, and will be available on DVD on September 8, 2009.
EQAL has expressed interest in furthering the Harper's Globe series, creating great interest among fans of the show. Should the series continue, EQAL would be free to recreate the show in new and exciting ways, as they would no longer be tied to an already-filmed television series. (Not to mention eliminating the current spoiler problem on the site.)
Due to the interest in a continuation of Harper's Globe, and generally just wanting to keep HarpersGlobe.com and its information around (even in an archived state, if need be), community member FemaleProdigy has created an online petition to convince CBS of the value of the site, even after the run of Harper's Island has ceased.
Please click here to sign the petition and voice your opinion. The community can make a difference.
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Posts
The fact that CBS wabts to take down the wiki really pisses me off. *signs petition*
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd love for the series to continue. I'd rather have LG15, but this is the next best thing and I love it.
I agree with FH. I've spent countless hours working on the wiki and I know a lot of others have too.
ReplyDeleteNot to deter you from signing the petition, but I'm formulating a backup plan to preserve the wiki if need be.
ReplyDeleteEveryone make a tweet on twitter with the tag #keepHGalive let's make it a trending topic!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy would Eqal continue HG when they've already stated they have no interest in continuing original content from a financial perspective? ESPECIALLY since CBS won't be on board this time around?
ReplyDeleteLets just be real here and not go into it naively.
that'll be good if need be, Shiori. but I hope they listen to the petition.
ReplyDeleteand I kind of agree with anon. unless some famous company or celebrity figure hops on board, EQAL most likely won't renew HG for a second season. with no HI, they probably will not follow Robin's story after the events of Season 1. hell, they left Jonas and Maggie hanging and Daniel and Reed chilling and Sarah and Lucy ascending. they have no interest in their roots anymore. the economy sucks and HG is no more :[. they better keep the website up.
If Eqal actually agreed to conditions where the site will be taken off line they need to have their collective brains examined. Is that what they call a "social show". It just does not seem likely they would do something that would end any future hope their business model might have.
ReplyDeleteActions which disrespect user generated content would be the kiss of death for Eqal's business model and they have to know that. Ending the show is one thing....... ending the site would essentially end any trust users have in Eqal so it is hard to believe they would do such a thing.
Would it not have been fair for Eqal, Inc. to tell us this up front? They had to know and some people have put a lot of work into this site. This is just deceptive business practices at their worst.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why Eqal would make such a deal in the first place and as a private company they are entitled to do what they want. However their choices do have ramifications and if you abuse your user base like this then you basically just destroy your brand.
To put this all on CBS is just not realistic. Eqal has been a partner in this all along and should have done the right thing up from by setting user expectations accordingly.
Great idea modelmotion. Tell fans up front that the site and online series will all go away whenever CBS cancels the show. This way, there will be little incentive for fans to put time and effort into the project. If they knew this from the beginning is it deceiving not to tell us? probably, but who can blame them? In fact, it was probably a good thing not to tell. a lot of people's experience was better because of it.
ReplyDeleteWHEEEE. Another EQAL disappointment. Glad I wasn't involved this time around.
ReplyDeleteAHHH...it's so GOOD being' free!!
If you're free, why are you still here then?
ReplyDelete"In fact, it was probably a good thing not to tell. a lot of people's experience was better because of it."
ReplyDelete- trust is something that is difficult to win, but easy to loose. If Eqal damages their reputation by doing this who, will ever trust them again? When you are dealing with user generated content on the web trust is vital.
We have all been burned by sites that go bankrupt and that could certainly happen again with Eqal. However this is not bankruptcy. This was a contractual agreement between CBS and Eqal. Miles deliberately and knowingly signed on the bottom line of whatever that contract was so clearly he knew what he was doing. Clearly he knew that fans would spend a lot of time building the site. Clearly he knew up front what would eventually happen to that content. If fans feel that he has betrayed their trust who can blame them? Will they ever trust Eqal again? Only time will tell.
mm, the title on the top bar leading to this article seems a tad misleading. While the blame to put on Eqal can be debatable (Though I must admit you make a compelling argument). It should probably say one of two things:
ReplyDeleteWill CBS kill Harper's Globe?
or...
Will CBS and EQAL kill Harper's Globe?
Really, if I understand all the contractual stuff, this only about 50% on EQAL, the other 50% is on CBS. And the CBS part is universally agreed upon.
We have openly invited Eqal, Inc. to comment and so far they have been silent. Should they want to post a comment to clarify their involvement and how they got us into this mess they are more than welcome to do so.
ReplyDeleteI would say that because Eqal were the supposed "new media experts" brought in by CBS to teach them about online content and communities, it was Eqal's responsibility to better inform CBS of the consequences of these types of actions, and therefore, more than 50% of the blame lies with Eqal.
ReplyDeleteEqal is responsible. They build the site and they are running it. Now if Eqal boxed them self into a corner by screwing up the contract with CBS that is still their problem. The only way Eqal could not be responsible is if CBS breached the original contract and does anyone really think that is likely?
ReplyDeleteThis does not mean that CBS is faultless but as "anon" stated CBS has been relying on the expertise of Eqal to build and manage an online community and that is what they did. Are we expected to believe that Eqal did that with no prior knowledge of what would happen to that community?