Starting with the site, linking to several blogs, it really looked like a newspaper site and a lot has changed since then. We've moved sections around, a number of excellent writers joined us and basically, we're still a bunch of volunteers, enjoying working for the SL Newspaper. But .. it all started with that one article, written by the CEO and founder, JamesT Juno.
Or ... actually, the paper started about 2 years ago as an experiment, as James explained. With only about 40 readers daily, the year before the actual start of the SLN, he already had a blog that he called the SL Newspaper. It was mostly about his newbie experiences in Second Life, and I found the real first article. And .. OMG .. I never realized that even our distinguished CEO, usually dressed up in his expensive suit, was once a newbie. And looked like one !!
Although new to Second Life, he wasn't new to writing and publishing. Even before this first article from September 2005, he had his own blog called '15 Timez', basically writing funny stories.
So, as I said, the SL Newspaper has started out as just a small blog, but now has grown to a newspaper that's read and appreciated by around 10,000 people per day. Correction: 10k not-unique hits per day. Which means that some people actually check the paper more than once per day. Isn't that flattering :-) By now we have 2 offices and a number of coffeshops and fan shops, scattered all over the grid. Soon we'll open our 10th location.
All in all, and I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of the entire staff and freelancers, we are very proud how he established that, how he made it grow into what the SL Newspaper is today. If he wasn't as persistant as he is, we wouldn't have all this fun working for the SLN and informing you people about things going on in Second Life.
And, to be honest, I'm very glad he lost the newbie spikey hair !! Now we just gotta get him to wear some jeans, instead of the CEO suit ....
By the way, of course there'll be big celebrations upcoming for the official first anniversary of the SL Newspaper in November. More about that later. And if you want to visit our latest new location, please follow this SLurl.
