AirLockAlpha.com

Every once in a while, I like to pop over to the Battlestar Wiki site to see how Joe Beaudoin and crew are doing. Not only is the Battlestar Wiki a great resource on everything you ever wanted to know about "Battlestar Galactica," but I've known Joe online here for many, many years, dating back to our days working in the Galactica Newsletter Network.

One of the neat things to read over at Battlestar Wiki is Joe's blog. Normally, I don't talk about what other sites -- especially those that some might consider competition -- is doing, but this was something I found interesting. Earlier this week, Joe shared a very detailed story about how Wikia offered him $2,500 to sell his site to them.

Go ahead and take a minute to read Joe's post. It will open in a new window, so you can always come back here. Of course, if you're business-minded like me, you might be thinking, "Sheesh, that's an awful lot of information to be sharing ... maybe it's too much?"

That's exactly what I felt when I first read it, because I'm not sure if I would've publicized offers being made for my site (and by the way, good job Joe in turning down $2,500 ... I wouldn't even accept that as a deposit for buying this site). I even talked to a fellow Webmaster about it, and I said, "I like Joe a lot, but wow, is that a discussion that should've been made public?"

Well, this fellow Webmaster apparently knew me a bit better than I knew myself. He said, "Mike, don't be so dumb." And he's right, I was being dumb, and I was raising an eyebrow about something that I do, and do a lot.

I would like to think that you come to Airlock Alpha because you love the stories, you love our staff, or you simply like the pretty colors on the screen. But a lot of you have stuck around for years and years because I do talk about things that I shouldn't talk about. Whether it be good things like us heading off to cool press junkets, or bad things like internal battles that nearly shut the site down ... I share it all. And that's what separates us from other sites that are just giving you content, but not really adding any zest, or something to humanize it.

It's so hard to be human here in the black and white world (or in this case, the blue and white world) of text communication. I mean, you're already on a machine to call up the site, and then you read my words which probably sound like they were written by an unimaginative screen. Yet, you probably know more about what I'm doing and what I'm about than I do.

It's weird going to conventions, where people recognize you, and then they start talking about things that they really shouldn't know about me. I guess that's what I get for being such an open book, but at the same time, it has allowed us to not just be someone who gives you information, but welcomes you as part of our family as you welcome us as a part of your family.

So Joe, keep up what you're doing over there. It's good to visit a site, and see open honesty, even when it might not be in your overall best interests to be open and honest. To me, that builds credibility and trust, and I'm proud to have us included alongside Battlestar Wiki and others in trying to build that with you, our most important reader.

SyBits

We have some prize packs to give away. First of all, we were giving away a "Kyle XY" prize pack that includes a Season 1 DVD set of the show along with a Season 1 soundtrack and a 2008 calendar that is only really worth about 11 months now.

Anyway, congratulations to our winner of the "Kyle XY" prize pack, Charles Harris of Mobile, Ala.

We also have three Ray Harryhausen DVD prize packs to give away. Congratulations to our winners: Kenneth Willoughby of Parkersburg, W.V.; Jason McCready of New Castle, Pa.; and Audrey Hawkes of Elk Grove, Calif.

Congratulations again!

Some letters, shall we?

I have not seen a single frame of "Star Trek" and my biggest complaint is it is a prequel. With a prequel, usually the main characters have to survive.

Due to them being in the main show/movie series/book series, second any other main characters introduced will 99 percent of the time either die or turn evil or disappear at the end of the prequels.

My second complaint with the movie is it is supposed to be a reboot of the series. Reboots usually don't work.

-- Bruce Cox

I'm with you Bruce, but I like reboots. I don't want to discount this movie just yet, even if it is a prequel in a way ... what I am hearing about story and such is quite interesting, and I am very excited to see the film this Christmas.

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Have a great week, and don't be a stranger!

Michael Hinman, a 22-time winner of the British lottery and heir to three Nigerian fortunes, is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com