hey, davew: tiderinsider

Brothers’ Web site a big hit with Tide fans|
altusjz|
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Rodney Orr had spent 10 years in Texas working for a waste disposal company and knew nothing about computers.
One thing he did know: There was a lot of interest in Alabama football. Orr and his brother, Dalton, tapped into that obsession by forming TiderInsider.com in 1996, an interactive Web site that many Crimson Tide fans turn to discuss everything from recruiting to coaching searches.
‘‘We took the leap of faith and we thought, if it fails, so what,’’ Orr told The Tuscaloosa News in a story Thursday. ‘‘We’ve been growing ever since.’’
The Orr brothers initially envisioned a site to provide an in-depth look at Alabama recruiting. When the hits kept multiplying, they created an open forum for Tide fans.
The Web site has grown from 100 subscribers to nearly 5,000 subscribers paying $36 a year.
The site began eclipsing the 1 million mark in daily page views toward the end of the 2001 season and spiked even higher during the departures of football coaches Dennis Franchione and Mike Price and the ensuing searches.
‘‘I go on at least once a day to get updates,’’ said Jordan Coggin, an Alabama graduate who subscribes to TiderInsider.com’s forum. ‘‘There are certain screen names that are very reliable. You can just sit back and read all day.’’
Sometimes reading’s not enough. Rodney Orr’s constantly ringing phone attests to that, interrupting dinner, sleep and homeschooling sessions with his children.
‘‘People call you because they want to know about Alabama football and they’re so gung-ho about it 24-7,’’ said Orr, whose stepson, Brandon Avalos, plays football and baseball for the Tide. ‘‘I’ll tell you how I handle it — Caller ID is the greatest invention in the world.’’
Dalton Orr, who tends to the technical side of the site, calls on the numbers to explain the site’s popularity.
‘‘People ask how big the Web site is, and I usually say about 300 megabytes,’’ he said. ‘‘That doesn’t say much. But then I say, well, when the Price thing happened we had about 10,000 messages in one day.
‘‘When the Franchione thing happened we had 10,000 messages in one day. Then people know how popular it is.’’
The site includes virtually no advertising.
Rodney Orr, who also co-hosts a radio and television show, lives in Tuscaloosa while Dalton Orr is in Mobile. It’s definitely not a 9-to-5 job.
‘‘In August and on signing day and pretty much through the season, I’m doing the Web site from 6 in the morning until 2:30-3 in the morning,’’ Rodney Orr said. ‘‘During that time I don’t catch much air.’’
The origin of the name came from the school that Franchione defected to.
‘‘I’m not sure it’s a good idea to announce this, but I actually got the idea from a Texas A&M newsletter called ‘Aggie Insider,’’’ said Orr, who had been working for Browning-Ferris Industries. ‘‘I played around with it for a while and came up with Tider Insider.’’

 

i pay my $36 a year. Best site for footballl info and "rumors" on the web.

 

that's $180,000 per year for anyone doing the math.

 

memembership is probbaly about to triple also. (people not price) Anyone used to be able to read the "open forum" where a lot of info could be found. Now they had started a "closed members only" forum after the price fiasco because so much info was being said about what really happened. First it was just going to temporary but everyone like it so much they decided to keep it.