Online - Don't Use Squidoo

Online tools will be important for managing information such as team calendar, documents, registration, information about game locations, etc.  For game location information I wanted an online tool that would allow me to capture information about where a game would be played, where people could eat afterwards, was there restrooms at the field, driving directions, map, address, etc.  The perfect tool seemed to be to use a service called Squidoo, http://www.squidoo.com/.  Very clever tool - you don't need to know how to create a web page, you add modules to a page, then publish.  The idea is that you collect links to other resources and provide some descriptions for the links - this collection of links and content is called a lens.  If you get enough traffic to the lens, then they actually give you money!  I wasn't really interested in the money, just a web tool that was easy to capture this information quickly.

The bad news

I worked hard to setup a lens for game information for my son's basketball team.  Three weeks later, Squidoo locked it and shut it down.  The reason?  I didn't have quality content.  Really?!?!?  I had information about places the team played, did the location provide concessions, how to enter the building, travel time and distance, places to eat, address, etc.  Not quality???  So I lost all that work.

Recommendations and lessons learned:

Don't use Squidoo.  It's not worth the risk of putting effort into this, then loose that work.

Setup a domain name for you team through a service like www.hostway.com.  These services will allow you to point your domain name to any other web site.  So you can give out a domain name for the team to people and switch if the tool you're using changes.

A service similar to Squidoo that I'm trying is www.hubpages.com.  Will let you know how it works.

What ever service you pick, see if the service will allow you to download the content you have authored.  Squidoo allows this.  It's still a very manual effort to cut and paste but is better than nothing.

Did I say don't use Squidoo?