Thank you,
@brutus79! I do have many high expectations for this site. This may seem like youthful idealism and optimism but I simply want to make a difference in the world. And what better way to do that than to focus on a topic I enjoy and in a community that I identify with more than almost any other group. The goals include education, harm reduction, political awareness and activism among others.
Traffic is an explicit goal. The more people that MESO can reach, the greater the positive impact it can have on the AAS subculture.
SEO is important too but MESO has no secret tactics. A few years ago, MESO's traffic dropped 50% literally overnight due to a change in Google's algorithm. This made it clear that MESO had to better understand Google. We basically read and re-read the extensive documentation provided by Google (Google webmaster guidelines), studied it and learned how to implement it. After we learned how to do that, we basically focused on producing high-quality, original content and have been doing so ever since. It's all about producing high-quality content to complement community building; the non-forum content receives as much traffic as the forum.
I don't disagree at all with your sentiment regarding sources. The "steroid underground" subforum was not created for them as a marketing forum. It was created for the community to discuss sources for informational purposes. That is an important distinction that hasn't always been readily apparent to everyone.
However, in the interest of free speech, I think it is important to allow all sides to be represented. This is why the participation of sources in the dialogue is permitted. This provides visitors with as much relevant information as possible that can be used to make decisions.
I cringe every time I hear someone say "meso sources" or "sources affiliated with meso" when referring to some of the sources participating in the forum. MESO is not a "source forum" or a source-driven forum.
The forum's freedom of speech and lack of moderation was intended to make the community entirely independent and unbeholden to sources; I think over time, the forum has increasingly understood, appreciated and made the most of this independence.
The MESO "experiment" has evolved beautifully. Too much undeserved credit is sent my way for this. MESO may have provided the platform. But the forum is 100% community-driven. It's what the community needs. It's what the community wants. It's a reflection of the hard work of the community itself. Thank YOU! Together we ARE making a difference!