Greeting 2015 - developers thoughts

Hello, friends of the 'loops & a happy new year to all of you out there!

Sitting at my desk on the first day of 2015, I'm about to send out the annual new-years greetings email again. Sounds like routine, but in difference to 2014,
this one will be going out to more than 20.000 musicians around the globe.

I don't know if any of you have faced a similar task, to me, this is one of those moments where it seems a little hard to imagine all this is really happening -
The fact that so many people took interest in my little online-jam-concept is still a bit strange.
And I imagine, especially to our new members, it might be just as strange to find out this whole site is run by one single guy,
who happened to enjoy realizing a long kept idea by learning how to code a website.
If you look at my "joined"-date stated on the left, you'll know the day I installed the very first version of what is now wikiloops - and it is one of those coincidences that our 20.000ths member signed up exactly four years later.

[i]So how does that feel?[/i]
I believe few people really wonder about that when visiting a website - we are so used to things "just being there" online, and a smooth web surfing experience forbids thinking about the motives or amount of work behind each website we come across.
Still, some may be interested, so let me try an answer.
When recalling the 2014 experience, the honest answer is: It has been quite a rollercoaster ride, including some "oh no, how do I control the monster i created?" situations.
Thinking about it now, the comparison to "Frankenstein" is excellent, that is what we (the creators of websites, social networks or search engines) are, the Frankensteins of the digital age.
This may serve as an explanation why I am sticking to the wikiloops "open lab" idea and keep addressing development issues prior to making changes - my sincere thanks to all who have given feedback and invested time to think along.

[i]So, how is the "creature" wikiloops behaving, then?[/i]
It is a gifted thing, I'd say! At the age of four, it plays 24 instruments astoundingly well, sings beautifully in male and female voices and managed to learn 14.000 new tracks in 2014.
It performed night and day last year and only took a few short naps. It speaks four languages and is secretly learning some more, too.
One incident where it really got itself in trouble last year was when someone fed wikiloops with cover versions of copyright protected tracks.
The following legal hickup was one of the rather unpleasant experiences, and I can only ask for your support to make sure there are no copyright violations taking place here.
Listening to some tracks and being allowed to download them from wikiloops is amazing enough to occupy most people at first - when thinking about the "nature" or behavior of this creature a little, some more things can be observed. For some reason, wikiloops seems to attract people who are truly willing to collaborate, to listen to each other and to share music, and obviously it is encouraging enough for those people to stick around.
I'd even say those who enjoy the collaborative aspect more than searching the self-presentation-thrill are bound to have the most fun with wikiloops being the way it is.
What strikes me just as much as many members who stay around a little, is the overall feeling of respect, fun, curiosity and encouragement that is present all over the place.
I certainly did not code that, it is something we all created together, and it seems to be possible even tho wikiloops is growing and growing.
Seriously, how many places do you know where people from all around the globe get together in a positive way like that?
The only real flaw about wikiloops the way it is today is its growing hunger.
The amount of time needed to run the place is constantly growing along, same must be said about the cost for servers.
I have created a gifted and friendly monster, it is plundering my fridge quite hard, tho.
I am known to think about things ahead of time, but I must admit I did not expect the point where successful fundraising becomes a crucial issue to come so quickly.
I am in good faith that it will be possible to solve this, introducing the "supporting membership" this year was a good start to get there without endangering the spirit of wikiloops.
Still, with each added track and each new member, the responsibility to make ends meet grows, too.
My thanks go out to those who have heard my calls for support and offered help.

[i]So, what is coming up in 2015?[/i]
Well, lots of great tracks I'd expect!
On the development side, we just rolled out the wikiloops 7.0 update a few weeks ago, so besides some maintenance jobs and fine tuning, there is no major update on schedule right now.
I'll be focusing on the annual "wikiloops 2014 - the numbers" report where the wikiloops statistics and funds are made transparent.
Contacting possible sponsors for wikiloops will be the main task of the next weeks, and chances are there will be the second wikiloops member meeting to organize, too. Yes.

[i]Now, assuming 20.000 musicians are about to stop by and read this, what's the new years message? In one sentence, please?[/i]
Keep listening, keep playing, stay curious and: Lets go on giving an example that people from all around the globe can work together peacefully.

Thank you for the read, feel free to leave a comment if you like to &
a jamming start into 2015!