Dear readers,
After receiving numerous feedback from you via emails and from the poll below of which an overwhelming 80% want us to keep the domain name “wayangparty.com”, we will transfer the domain name to our new site instead of registering a new one.
The key reason why we have harbored thoughts of changing this blog’s name is out of consideration of the feelings of members and supporters of the Workers’ Party.
As you may know, the term “wayang party” was coined by Dr Ng Eng Hen as a snide reference to the Workers’ Party during the 2006 General Election for “doing nothing other than talking.”
This blog was set up in 2007 initially to be a “watchdog” of the Workers’ Party. However, with the departure of one of our co-founders - “thinknothing” who was vehemently against the Workers’ Party’s political stance and style, we have since moderated our anti-WP rhetoric. In fact, we have hardly written any article on WP since March 2008.
We would like to offer a sincere apology to the leaders, members and supporters of the Workers’ Party whose feelings we may have hurt through some articles we have published previously here.
The name of this blog “Wayang Party” has since become anachronistic and the only reason why we are keeping it is because of the unexpected prominence it has gained in Singapore’s blogosphere.
Each day, “wayangparty”, “wayang party” and “wayang party club” receive a combined search of over 2,000 on search engines driving readers to our blog and if we were to give up the name now, we will lose 20% of our readership.
We do not have the intention to perpetuate the ill-will and feud with the Workers’ Party which our predecessors have started. However, we do understand that the continued existence of this name - “wayang party” will be a thorn in the flesh of some aggrieved members and supporters.
As a sort of compensation, we offer to publicize all of the Workers’ Party’s activities here. Articles written by WP’s leaders, members and bloggers will also get published on our blog with a link to their sites. This does not mean we will refrain from criticizing its leaders as with those of all other parties should they make some gaffe again like Yaw Shin Leong. When the occasion arsies, we will not hesitate to call a spade a “spade” so as to speak of.
The opposition cannot afford to be fragmented and split further. We have to unite to deal with a far greater adversary ahead of us instead of continuing to fight among ourselves and flame one another over petty differences of opinions and grievances. We would also like to take this opportunity to appeal to the leaders of the Workers’ Party to be more open to collaboration with other opposition parties as well as civil society groups and bloggers.
THE EDITORIAL TEAM
Posted by wayangparty on January 23, 2009
Dear readers,
Due to the explosion in our daily readership, from just 200 plus 3 months ago to over 10,000 now, the present wordpress platform is inadequate to cater to the needs of our readers from diverse backgrounds as well as to expand our readership in the future.
As such, we have decided to move our blog to a paid server with a new design to accommodate more subsections. The design will be similar to that of our sister blog - The Singapore Enquirer.
In addition to socio-political affairs, we will be adding other sections such as lifestyle, showbiz, sports and travelogues to our blog. We will also be setting up a Chinese section for the Chinese-educated so that they will not be left out of the happenings here. However, the main thrust of our blog will still be on politics and our stance towards the establishment shall remain unchanged.
Please email us at [email protected] if you are interested to anchor these non-political sections especially the Chinese section.
The Wayangparty Club has grown from a small fish fighting everyday for its survival in a mud pool to a big fish now. This mud pool has become too small for us. We have to move out to the open seas soon in order to grow and expand further.
If we continue to focus exclusively on politics, our pool of readers will always be limited to the same group of netizens who are a minority amongst the total number of net users in Singapore. We have to find other ways and means to attract other ”non-political” netizens to our site so that they can be exposed and “educated” as well.
Without the support of you readers, we will not be able to find a footing in Singapore’s blogosphere. According to the latest Alexa data, we have almost reached TOC’s readership and we are confident that we will overtake TOC pretty soon after we move to the new site. Three days ago, our daily readership exceeded even TODAY’s. Once we are able to overtake them in daily traffic, they can no longer monopolize the flow of information in Singapore.
Do you want us to be more radical or moderate ? Shall we reach out to the pro-PAP netizens or continue to be ostracized by them ?
Please participate in the surveys below to help us assess how we can run the new site better. The result of this survery will determine our editorial stance and policy in the future. Every one of you has a stake in this blog.
With your support, we will endeavor to make Wayangparty become the Malaysia Today of Singapore and Singapore Enquirer the equivalent of Malaysiakini.
THE EDITORIAL TEAM
http://wayangparty.com