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So, here we are again thinking about Propeller and why so many people are upset. There have been various complaints, angry e-mails, vicious postcards and even a video posted (not really) that argued that the reloads, stalls, misposted posts and posts disappearing into the ether are simply unacceptable.

Despite my own considerable frustration, I’ve come to the conclusion that despite all of the hassle in dealing with the several problems that come up, there are a whole host of reasons why I’m still at Propeller and you should be too.

1. Propeller is free
Really. It costs me a grand total of nothing, zero, zip, nada and zilch per day, week or month. I can log on at midnight and stay logged in for 24 hours and I don’t pay a dime. True, I’ve got to tolerate some problems, but it’s not like I’m paying for the service.

2. Propeller is freedom
Think about it. For the most part you can post just about anything you want on Propeller. True, there are some limits, but the limits are pretty broad. If you want to post a story about how Jessica Simpson has bigger breasts than Amy Winehouse, have at it. If you have a good friends list and are willing to work it a little bit, you can even have a pretty good discussion about it.
You can say just about anything you want as well. Now, that has limits as well, but the Staff is pretty good at letting people get away with comments like “You’re so stupid” and “If idiocy was a state, you’d be the capital”. These are comments that are usually made in frustration and if it gets out of line the Staff clamps down.

3. The Staff
How lucky are we? Crazy lucky. On Propeller we have a Staff that is willing to tolerate crap from a raucous, obnoxious, educated, smarter (and holier) than thou crowd that wouldn’t be pleased if they were hung with a new rope. But, tolerate us they do. They get paid for it, of course, but it isn’t like they’re making a fortune working for Propeller. They certainly don’t get paid enough to be called some of the things I’ve heard them called and they absolutely don’t get paid enough to put up with the whining that some users do on a constant basis.
If you think about it a little, these are just some of the things they have to deal with:
1. There are several groups on here that get upset about the submissions. They don’t like this submission or that submission for reason X, Y or Z. So, the Staff get PM’s about it and then have to explain why they are keeping the submission up. Or if they happen to take the submission down, then they have to explain why they took it down to another group which liked the submission for whatever reason. Tails they lose, heads the lose some more.
2. Bitching, whining and moaning about how it took four reloads and two minutes to get to a specific page. Is that the way it should be? Of course it isn’t, but when the Staff has already told the users that they are working on a new version that will eliminate those problems it’s time to be patient about it. If the “new” Propeller comes out and it’s buggy, slow, hangs up and sends comments into the ether, well, imagine the bitching then.
3. Spam, spam and more spam. “Nuff said.
4. Submissions that don’t look like spam, but actually are. I’m thinking specifically about a particular user who was posting things to his/her website that was pulled from the original website and repackaged to look like their own. It’s called stealing people and the Staff has to be on the lookout.
5. And last, they have to deal with the inevitable submissions in the wrong categories, complaints about comments, finding their own submissions to post and policing the Propeller in general.

Are the Staff saints? Far from it, heaven knows I’ve had my issues with some of the things they’ve done, but all in all I think they do a pretty damn fine job.

So, in conclusion, I think we should do what we can to realize how good we have it instead of bitching about how it sucks. I mean think about how the mortgage meltdown has finally gotten rid of the “dancing shadow” ads! There are other places that we could go, but the majority of the “big dogs” are still here and some have left and come back. I’ve been on Propeller (nee Netscape) for almost two years now and I’ve seen good people come and go. But, many of us are still here for a very good reason and that is that it’s free, we have a great deal of freedom and the Staff generally rocks.

So, let’s cut them a little slack at least until we see Propeller 2.0. Have fun out there Propelling and…

PROPELLER FOREVER