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BleckleyProgress.com F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions)
By Dave Whitaker
Mar 28, 2006, 12:37

You may have come to this site via a friend's recommendation, not knowing who I am, what am I doing, or anything else. So let me tell you.

Who am I? My name is Dave Whitaker. I am a former resident of Cochran who now lives about a half a mile away from the county line in Twiggs County. I attended Bleckley County schools for the first seven grades, plus kindergarten. I'm a longtime sports fan, longtime supporter of Bleckley athletics. I've also been writing for several years.

Why a website? The old saying is "If you want something done, you've got to do it yourself." I believe that the Cochran-Bleckley County area has a lot of good things going on. Great sports teams (high school, middle school, recreation league) great people, and great events. I think there needs to be a place where those things can be covered. Where people can go pull up information like a team schedule in a hurry. Or read about the accomplishments of people, without having to sift through some of the bad news that seems to dominate the headlines.

Why all the pictures? Because people are visual. They like to have something they can see to go along with the words. That's why if I'm at an event, unless it's forbidden to do so, I'm going to be taking pictures.

But aren't there some pictures that don't belong on the Internet? Yes. And not every photo I take is intended for the website. When I'm covering a sporting event, or other function, my main goal is to get photographs of that function. But I take other pictures too. Memory pictures for those who ask me to. Or sometimes extra action pictures for a sports team's slide show. In some cases, I've taken pictures that were specifically designed to be used in a slide show. I am capable of discerning the difference of what is appropriate for the public, and what is meant to be private. Never the twain shall cross.

Why are some of the pictures so small? The program used to run the website has specific restrictions on size of pictures. Also, if a picture is too tall or wide, it can cause an ugly line you see called a page break. Sometimes though I forget to reduce a picture, and a page break happens. If you see one, don't hesitate to e-mail me and tell me about it.

Why are some pictures blurry? Because it's more difficult to take pictures in dark areas. And in terms of sports such as baseball and softball, it's extremely difficult. Especially given how I cannot use flash due to the risk of it possibly distracting or outright injuring one of the players.

I've noticed some pictures have names and captions under them, others don't. Why? Well, time does not permit to put captions under every picture every time. And there are cases where I don't know the name of someone, or not know how to spell it correctly. But if it's an important game, and I have the names of those involved, I will usually ID them in the pictures.

Do you sell pictures that are on the site? Absolutely. I can do pretty much any size, and do it well, and cheaper than other photo studios. E-mail me for more information. Also: please note that I am unable to keep full-sized copies of most pictures I take unless I know I will need them for something, so let me know right away if you see something you like.

What do you cover? Anything community related. Sports is a big part of the community. But I'll cover anything involving people. Church news, civic organization news, especially any good news. In terms of sports, I believe that all teams are important. I don't care if it's middle school or high school, boys sports, or girls sports. I believe everyone deserves to be covered. Does that mean sometimes I'll have to make decisions over specific games? Yes. I have before and will have to again.

Sometimes two things happen at the same time, and I can't be at both. Sometimes I make decisions on events based on what I think is more newsworthy, or in rare cases, I may have a personal interest in the story. But if I can't be at the other event, I'll try to make sure someone else can, or at least get a result up from the thing I missed.

If you notice, I have categories of news on the website. High School Sports, Middle School sports, community news, those are pretty much self-explanatory. Community sports is any sporting event that involves people from Bleckley County, but does not fit into the other categories.

One category that allows you to get involved is "saying thank you." That is an opportunity for you to say thank you. It can be to thank the community for kindness during the illness or loss of a loved one. It can be a thank you to a business who let your group do a fundraiser. Any way you look at it, it's a way for you to express appreciation for kindness shown.

Why don't you have anything about (insert sport) on the site? Good question. And it depends. If you're talking about Middle Georgia College, my news interest there is strictly local. Local people participating in things is of interest. As to other high school or middle school sports, it's simple as this. I will work with any coach who will work with me. I'll go take pictures, put up results, whatever I can do to help. But if I feel I'm not wanted somewhere, I'm going to go where I feel I can be useful. I also will not beg or cajole anyone who doesn't wish to be helpful.

Who is "BleckleyProgress.com contributor"? That's anyone who sent in a story, press release or any news used on the site. The name is generic to protect the privacy of the person contributing, and to also differentiate between that and any stories I or my dad do. I can always use contributed news and/or pictures, e-mail BleckleyProgress@aol.com to send something in.

How often do you update the site? As much as needed. If there's news that needs to go up, it will as soon as I can do it. I strive to be first, fast, and accurate. If it seems like the site goes without updates for more than one day, you can assume one of two things are happening. Either I've had no content for the site, or there is a technical issue which is preventing me from making updates.

What if I see an error on the website? By all means e-mal or call me. Please. I strive for accuracy in reporting. If I have an error of fact (IE: a time or date location incorrect) or a spelling/grammatical error, please feel free to let me know.

Not everyone has a computer. How do I let (my mom, uncle, etc.) who doesn't know how to work a computer see an article here? Very fair question. One option would be to print a copy. Each article has a printable version.

You may want somethig here in a newspaper in order to make sure more people see it. I understand that. However, I must ask that you do not directly copy and send to another media outlet any article here here without attribution for the information. This is to protect my work and my copyright.

So you're doing classified ads now? The idea behind classfied ads is two-fold. It provides a service to the community. But more importantly, having a classfied section increases website traffic. That increased traffic will (hopefully) get businesses to advertise with BleckleyProgress.com Please note that classified ads are free for individuals, but are $5 per week for businesses.

How are you going to make money? We (myself and my dad who is the business manager of the Bleckley Progress) have various ideas. They include advertising. But that's in the future.

One service now offered is transfering video to DVD. I now have a VCR/DVD recorder. For those of you who do not know, it is a device that not only can record video to DVD, it also can transfer VHS audio tapes to DVD. I also can transfer camcorder video to DVD.

How much does it cost? Here are prices. Transfer VHS to DVD (with you providing the DVD rewritable) $5. If I have to provide it, $10. Transfering camcorder video $10. Please note: all prices are per cassette.

Why did you never open the office? The short version is this. We had plans to open the office, but various factors delayed it. Once things got re-established, it became more cost-effective for the site to be operated out of our house. So as of January 31, the office lease was terminated.

How do I contact you? If you see me at a ballgame or event, come say hello. I'm the guy with the long hair, baseball cap, and most likely holding a big camera. I don't bite. You can call (478)230-6556. Or you can e-mail BleckleyProgress@aol.com Contact information is on the main page.

The goal of BleckleyProgress.com is to serve the community. So please let me know any way I can do that. Thanks for reading.


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