Thetownend.com

The Moonraker website.

https://themoonraker.counterpress.media/opinion/11-07-2024-moonraker-aims-change-direction-regional-sports-journalism-returning-matter

If you aren't aware then please check out this brand new Swindon Town news related website containing news, discussion, features and interviews with current and ex Swindon players and staff.

This is an independent self funding via subscription only with no adverts. The cost is £5 per month (or £50 for the year).

The site will have excusive content that Swindon fans of all ages will be interested in with new content daily.

Its owned and run entirely by Sam Morshead the ex Adver and The Ink journalist and is independant and not affliated with the club.

Please support this new venture if you are able to.


This post is not sponsored by requested by Sam Morshead/The Moonraker its entirely for information only.

Also I am sure that any genuine constructive criticism will be taken on board if posted in this thread.

I am already in..

I signed up for a year. Looks like a great project and clearly one which Sam is very passionate about and has put a lot of work into it. He spoke very well about it on the LSPOD. Hopefully it will be a roaring success.

I'm signed up for the year. Hopefully Sam can get some real insight into what is actually going on at the club.

I hope so, but he can only report what he’s told or can verify.
I’m sure if he gets too critical the club will stop talking to him, I guess that in itself will speak volumes about how open & transparent they really are

The thing about football people is that they all love to talk, it's such a part time gig (hours wise).  Lee Power used to call up the local rag in Cambridge to spread rumours himself.

This is great.

Not so great news for the adver though on the other hand.

Feel for Joe a bit.

I hope it does well enough that they can hire Joe, his writing is too good to be behind the terrible Newsquest website.

I think there is room for two STFC reporters. Personally I prefer Joe’s output - probably the best I can remember.

I've just signed up for the year, the site is great and the quality of the writing exactly what you'd expect from Sam. Hope it proves to be tremendously successful.

One minor issue (and it might just be me) - there appears to be a Match Previews section at https://themoonraker.counterpress.media/match-previews/ (https://themoonraker.counterpress.media/match-previews/), however this isn't listed in the top menu so I had no idea it was there until the preview for tonight popped up on the homepage.

@Sam am I being blind, or is there a link missing from the top menu?

Afternoon - sorry just clocked this. Still work to be done on how we present content, user journey, and various other elements - as I guess you'd expect from a young platform, but this is useful feedback and we are looking to make changes this weekend.

As for other comments above, I'd like to think there's scope for a broader Town media ecosystem, and I think Joe does a good job given the constraints of Newsquest. What we're trying to build is different - focused on community and creator - and delivering a reading experience that the local newspaper readers of old might have come to expect, before large publishers slashed and slashed resource.

It's not a full-time gig to begin with for me, but if there is the uptake - and I really hope there is - then it can be, or it would allow me to employ others. We've picked up 442 Moonrakers in 15 days to date, which is a fantastic start.

To everyone on TEF who's backing it, I'm really very very grateful.

Well done Sam, enjoying the content so far.

Is there any way it can be changed so we dont have to sign in everytime?

This.
I was going to DM Sam that myself. It’s a pain in the ass.

It is something our team slack is non-stop on at the moment, as we appreciate it's a nuisance. We think it is affecting those coming directly to the site via Twitter/X links. Is this the experience you've both had?

It seems to be whenever I leave the site and go back the following day mate, regardless of how I’ve got there.

Ok thank you. We are actively working on this, but please be patient. Thanks again for supporting the project, it means a lot that so many have.

Same issue here, just tried again now and was when I went direct to the page, not from X.

It's like the sign in only lasts for a limited period - actually very similar to this site which when you log in allows you to remain logged in for a certain number of minutes or permanently (why anyone would want the former I don't know, but it's an option!)

Ditto

That's a fantastic start and bang on the money at 5 quid per month. I'll be joining soon.

Only another 350 and you'll be in that 10% matchday fanbase window of subscribers. Which means about 800 subs and c£4k pm incoming. I think you can get to there by mid season.

As with publications like The Athletic, people will pay for decent, well thought out, balanced and opinion based independent journalism. Town fans are blessed to have such a true independent option/choice and I truly wish you every success.

Dumb question as I’ve not yet signed up. So re. Community element, have you reached out to Supermarine? There are a number of ‘dual supporters’ on this site. Plus the appeal to the wider community.

Hopefully addressing a couple of points:

1 - the logout issue is very annoying, and we are working on it. Appreciate that it's not just social links, and we've been talking about it today. Number one priority to sort at the mo. Your patience is really appreciated while we build this, and I promise we will get it right

2 - community: The Moonraker is a concept case for a wider platform which we hope will be picked up by other journos/content creators/fans with a passion to make a career out of covering a club. As part of this, the intention would be that the individual(s) running each outlet would make sure they generate a proper community around them (eg - commercial/advertising deals would only be done if they benefit the membership, or there would be an opportunity to engage in community events like social evenings as part of membership). I am definitely keen to hear how a linkup with Marine might work, and value anyone who engages with local journalism, but the scope of this project is very much limited to Town

3 - subs numbers: the market research we did in the 10 months prior to launch suggested to us that we had a 300-sub floor and 800-sub ceiling for Swindon Town. We've been incredibly excited and encouraged by takeup in 15 days as a result, and would love nothing more than the research being proved absolute dogshit

Again, thanks to all of you for backing this. It means a lot

Been meaning to sign up since I got back from holiday - just done so and pleasantly surprised that the early bird discount is still available. Thanks Sam, looks good so far.

Ah, the early 2000s when you either used the shared family PC or one at school / college and places auto signed you out so next person on couldn’t use your account.

Once Facebook became a thing it was ‘frape’

What a time to be alive…

I’ve never paid for content before on any platform (was tempted by the Athletic, but figured there would be lots on there I wouldn’t be interested in), but thought I’d back this local initiative. Glad I did, and even at this early stage feels worth the spend.

I concur on all of that.

Like others, had never considered paying for anything like this before, but I'm really glad I did, it's top quality stuff!

I paid because I trust Sam to deliver. Do I always agree with his assessments (e.g. recruitment), no.

 What's the point of reading stuff like this if it doesn't challenge your views.

Looking forward to more.

We've rolled out some updates today which will, in theory, dilute the number of times you're being asked to log in quite considerably. Please let me know if - after the next time you sign back in - your experiences don't change over the next couple of days. And thank you again for the feedback, really useful (and the kind messages too)

I got a message pop up saying your session has expired (signed in), then closed and opened again it kept me signed in.

I'm starting to suspect this whole endeavour is purely to give Sam somewhere to rant about steaming puddles of piss.  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Another good opinion piece by Sam which I think most of us on here will agree with.

Evening. How have those timeout errors been over recent days?

I haven't had any.

Ps - what do you think of a members only forum on here to discuss your articles? Not sure how we'd verify forum users to subscribers though

I'm happy in principle, but obvs can't do much GDPR-wise to verify who is and who isn't a member. I'd be happy for the forum to discuss stuff in general, without posting entire article texts

Loads better on both devices here.

Should it log me out on my phone, if I access the site on my laptop?

Basically every time I go back to the site on my phone I have to log in again if I have viewed the site on my laptop

I always have to log back in between sessions on my phone anyway (i.e. if I close Chrome then go back another time).

Yeah. I’m still having to do this. Bloody annoying.

I've found I have to login in again each time. Whether that's 1 hour or 24 doesn't make a difference.

Hi all,
Thanks for the ongoing feedback, and my apologies to those of you still experiencing frustrating issues. We are continuing to work on this to try and make the general UX as good as it can be. As a very new product, built from scratch, we were expecting some teething problems, but that does not take away from the negative UX.
Please bear with us as we address each of these issues. And I may be in touch with you directly to figure out what's going on.
Sam

Do you have any plans for comments sections at some point Sam? I know they do tend to be quite toxic, but considering it's a members only site anyway, it might be better? I was just thinking about it when reading your "we need to have a conversation about STFC" opinion piece - which is tricky, when there's no real forum for the conversation to take place!

Login wise I'd say it was better, but definitely nothing like a week or whatever it was for the token to expire - it goes pretty much every time I start a new browsing session.