ICE BASKETBALL

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please Read


July 14, 2001
Dear UNCbasketball.com visitor,

About five years ago, this diehard Tar Heel fan sought a forum with which to both communicate with those who shared a passion for Carolina basketball and at the same time pursue career aspirations as a budding sports journalist. The Internet provided the ideal venue.

The web site began as a ragged collection of photos, logos, news and links on a free server. A counter recorded the dozen or so who would happen upon the small site - and I began to get to know the small group of visitors, providing updates for the likes of Terri, Rick, Mike and company.

Over time, the site's content increased and, by word of mouth, the site's audience grew. I began to find that Tar Heel fans enjoyed the grassroots effort and some even volunteered to participate. "I" became "we," as fans contributed editorials, game write-ups, photos, etc. Michelle jumped on board less than two years ago, bringing technical expertise and a professional design to the site. And then we added a message board, which took on a life of its own. The once 20 daily visitors to UNCbasketball.com has now become a community of over 10,000.

This brief recollection of the site's history brings us to the summer of 2001 and an important announcement. We've made the decision to join forces with the publication Inside Carolina. We will continue to present the same blitz of daily information, but now with the addition of press pass access to provide on-location game coverage of the Tar Heel season - and under the Inside Carolina heading.

Understand that this was not an easy decision for me. I have endured some sleepless nights and have spent hours on end debating the decision. This is a difficult change, but I am confident that this is the best move for both the future of the site and my own future.



Please take a few minutes to read the following FAQ I've put together which hopefully will address any questions you might have about this development. If you still have questions, or just want to send me some feedback, please e-mail me.

1. Why are you doing this?

Post-college life is rapidly approaching, and with that in mind, I knew I was going to have to make a monumental decision about the site. Over the past year, the site's financial situation has been very stressful. Our rapidly growing bandwidth meant a huge server bill. We greatly appreciate the sponsors who stepped forward and kept the site alive. Simply put: without them, the site would have died last year. And, in addition, we're also very thankful for the dedication of the visitors who dutifully clicked ads to keep the site's heart ticking for the past six months.

Also, the need to change the name of the site has been hanging over our heads for some time now. The Collegiate Licensing Company has threatened legal action (because "UNC" is trademarked) and the University wouldn't recognize our site for similar reasons. The domain name was going to need to be changed shortly, regardless.

With the upcoming changes in my life, I had anticipated several possibilities, among the most likely options included turning over the operation of the site to someone else or the painful prospect of simply ending the site and walking away. I have received a number of offers for the site in the past, but I turned them all down because they would have irrevocably and irretrievably altered what UNCbasketball.com was and is - a great community.

This opportunity with Inside Carolina is qualitatively different, a chance to retain the integrity of the site, whereby the key features and, most importantly the community can be retained. It is the ideal situation I had been looking for, but just hadn't pictured as a possibility.

2. So, what is Inside Carolina all about?

My relationship with Inside Carolina now comes full circle. Back in the summer of 1995, I submitted a Fan's View column about Rasheed Wallace that was published in IC. Less than a year later, I wrote a column about a run-in with Jerry Stackhouse that appeared on their web site. Shortly thereafter, UNCbasketball.com was born.

I have been long-time friends with the magazine's co-editors, J.B. Cissell (a former UNCb writer) and Tommy Ashley, and the publication has a new owner, Buck Sanders - of The Tar Pit fame - who has a great vision for the magazine and site, which is right in line with our beliefs.

3. How will this change the content?

This merger is not a change in ownership. I still own and run the basketball content and Michelle is still Assistant Editor/Producer, under the Inside Carolina heading. The content won't be hurt by the merger - but rather improved. I'll be providing the same extensive daily updates, but now the site will have something we didn't have before - media access. The addition of season locker-room coverage will make our site THE home for basketball fans (and football fans, too, since Buck and Co. will be providing in-depth Tar Heel gridiron coverage).

The name won't be the same, but the UNCbasketball.com content and community will live on at Inside Carolina.

4. Does this mean you'll be using the cookie-cutter network layout?

Unfortunately, a drawback of this move is that we have less freedom in terms of design. It might not look as good, but our top priority has always been content, not design, and the content will be enhanced. Freed from the administrative hassles and distractions, we'll be able to focus our energy on further improving the site. We'll do our best to make the information both presentable and easy to access.

5. What about the message board?

The message board has become an integral part of UNCbasketball.com - a community of thousands of fans and journalists - and it will continue at Inside Carolina. All five moderators (myself, Michelle, Brownie, Jetson and TexasHeel) have agreed to stay onboard.

IC's EZBoard software is admittedly not as good as the UBB software we currently use, but it's quite similar and we'll make every effort to make the posters comfortable in the new location.

Everyone will need to register at the new location, and we'll try to ensure that posters retain their user names. We are not sure yet if we will be able to restore post counts and we sincerely apologize for the major inconvenience.

6. Will the Inside Carolina site cost money to read?

The network that Inside Carolina belongs to does indeed take part in premium content. A few months ago, we made an appeal to visitors to help us find sponsors, and though there were many replies, in the end we added only one new sponsor. The prospect of continuing to rely on banner ad click-throughs just to keep our heads above water is not appealing. There is going to need to be a little profit from the site, in light of the daily dedication the site requires. UNCbasketball.com has never been about making money - but I hope you understand that at this stage in my life I can't invest so much time with no financial yield.

I must acknowledge that while much of the daily UNCbasketball.com information that you've grown accustomed to will remain free of charge, some of our features will now be part of a subscription fee. The much-improved daily news, game reports, commentary, etc. will not cost a penny. However, the recruiting information that you can't get elsewhere - our trademark scoops and tournament coverage, which will be even better - will be part of a subscription fee. Subscribers will also get exclusive football recruiting info with the same fee.

The charge will amount to mere pennies per day. We had hoped that the site could be entirely free forever, but the reality of the industry is that this is the only way to keep the site at its best. I hope that you will support our site by subscribing - you won't be disappointed.

7. When will the merger take place?

We've begun the transition today (July 14), moving files over and setting up camp at InsideCarolina.com. We're hard at work this weekend and aim to have everything up and running smoothly by the end of the weekend. We encourage message board posters to head over to the new message board (entitled "UNCbasketball") and register ASAP. As for the subscriber service, that isn't up yet - so, for now, everything is free. We'll keep you posted on subscription information. We're making every effort to make this transition as smooth as possible and we appreciate your cooperation and understanding.

We will keep UNCbasketball.com's main site and content visible during the early stages of the transition. If you maintain a site with links to UNCbasketball.com content, you will need to change those links as we will not leave up the old content permanently.

In conclusion, UNCbasketball.com is partnering with Inside Carolina to create the ultimate Tar Heel web site. I've given a lot of thought to this, and truly believe it is the best way to maintain the UNCbasketball.com community.

Sincerely,
Ben Sherman



So come on over and join us at Inside Carolina!