Passionate Plea To Diehard Cyclone Fanatics

  • After Iowa State won the Big 12, a Cyclone made a wonderful offer to We Will that now increases our match. Now all gifts up to $400,000 between now and the Final 4 will be matched. Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
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Jer

Opinionated
Feb 28, 2006
22,324
19,883
10,030
Full transparency - nobody asked me to write this, and in fact nobody even knows I'm writing this (surprise Chris:jimlad:)...


When I created this site almost 15 years ago, it's sole focus and intent was to give Cyclone fans a place to call home that didn't require paying multi-national companies like Rivals and Scout. Without any sort of revenue structure but a couple dollars here or there from donations (and a couple CF branded thong sales), and ever increasing hosting costs, it was simply a message board with frequent articles, news nuggets, and editorials about the inner-workings at ISU. Within a year, we grew to become one of the biggest web properties hosted in Iowa - and it only continued from there.

We had (and still have) an incredible set of moderators dedicating hundreds, and now thousands, of hours of their lives to help keep things community-oriented. And of course, we had (and still have) an ever growing base of Fanatics making it our home. Looking back, it always amazes me what we all built together - and how many people helped me learn and grow along the way. Outside of my family, it's what I take the most pride in from the past 38 years.

There came a point when Rhonda and I wanted to start having kids that I knew I wouldn't be able to give the same amount of energy or financial support to keeping this place the amazing community it had become. Enter Chris and team; not only did they promise to keep CF what it had always stood for, but they committed to introducing new content and access that I wasn't able to do as a 30-40 hr/wk hobby alongside my professional career.

Chris and others built a first-rate team that helped make CF more than just a community - it was always an awesome community - they added an entire media wing with full time employees. With that expansion came the cost of supporting employees, their families, equipment, travel, etc. They knew it would take a ton of work, a strong fanbase, and good advertising dollars to make it work. And it did, very well.

Then hit 2020 - what was looking to be the most promising of years turned into the ****-show we've all come to know it as. While every day brings a new challenge in our personal, professional, and family lives - it has also created an apocalyptic scenario for many news organizations, media outlets, and others dependent on ad revenue. With so much uncertainty in the world, that doesn't look to change well into next year, at the earliest. And sadly, the vast majority of what is disappearing simply won't ever return. With limited fans in the stands over the next 6 months, local ad revenue has also dried up.

So while I've purposely tried to stay under the radar for the past several years since handing over the reigns, though remain glued to the site, I wanted to take a few minutes to reminisce about how we got to where we are and how we as a community have an opportunity to say thank you to each-other, and most importantly, to the current team that runs CF.

While many have been hit hard by Covid-19 and the wide-range of impacts it's had (40 million+ unemployed, 160K+ dead, and the untold mental toll on all of us), there are some that have been fortunate to not be impacted financially. If you haven't been impacted financially, now is a great time to help make sure others aren't as well by giving back to the CycloneFanatic community and supporting the site.

If you enjoy the content or contributions of Chris, Brent, Jared, Rob, Jacqueline, Jay, Steph, Alisa, Connor, Kevin, Jeff, and Kirk - there has never been a more critical time to help ensure they and the site can continue to be so amazing. If you can, please strongly consider jumping onto the Super Fanatic premium tier, it starts at only $4.99/mo. If you can, the level 2 tier ($11.99/mo) would be tremendously beneficial to helping support this community as there are many who simply can't afford anything at this time.

Please, if you can, don't hesitate - subscribe before leaving this page. Not to mention, there are perks of being a subscriber beyond just keeping the site thriving:)

Subscribe Now

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Cycsk

Year-round tailgater
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Aug 17, 2009
26,965
14,897
113
I've really scaled back my presence on the site in recent months for various personal reasons. However, I've increased my donations.

CycloneFanatic.com is not just a website, it is a community . . . and it really needs our help right now.
 

ISU4Life

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Dec 15, 2008
580
589
93
In the grand scheme of things I don’t post much but I have been on this site almost daily for the past 11 and a half years. Unless things go south, I’ll continue to contribute and help to continue and enjoy this content from an amazing group of people and writers.
 

BoxsterCy

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 14, 2009
43,613
40,123
113
Minnesota
Are we going to have an enhanced Troll Patrol in September? If we indeed play football and the Hawks do not the site could be overrun with nasty postings. I support putting some of our dues into special agents to hunt down trolls.
 
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Shawker

This May Not Be Accurate
Jun 19, 2014
2,915
3,340
113
37
Des Moines
I may not be a Cyclone fan but this site is well run and I like to participate in the politics threads. It is a crappy time for a lot of people and businesses and I've been fortunate to keep my job. I will be signing up to do my small part to help out.

(I will pay $50/month if CyTwins can be perma-banned :jimlad:)