OK, summer’s over – or at least it will be for me on Monday – and so now’s a good time to take stock of how many people we’ve helped, what we’ve done and what we can do to improve still further.

First of all, let’s get that first question out of the way. So far this year it’s 364,873.

This summer I had a long hard look at the idea behind the “community” we’ve built up on The Acer Guy. Apart from the usual suspects, there have been literally hundreds of people ready to offer advice (and criticism if I’m honest, although most of that has been constructive).

When I started this site, it was my firm belief that the people who I write for were the ones I had the biggest responsibility to get to know and whose thoughts I should value the most. That’s why I opened up the site first to User Reviews and then the fantastic Expert Voices.

Which brings me to the first change.

I’ve been in touch with a couple of key countries (USA, Italy, UK so far) and am trying to get TheAcerGuy listed as a “review site” (along the lines of CNET, ShinyShiny, etc.). But rather than doing the reviews myself – let’s face it, I am crap – the idea is get the regular visitors to the site to do them. How does that sound? TheAcerGuy has grown into a huge network of enthusiasts (Acer fans?) that can also serve as third party testing organization. I strongly believe that this is an area that TheAcerGuy could really excel at. And why the hell not?

Would you like to be one of the reviewers? Let me know.

But the next idea is even better. We do so much to help complete strangers on this site, and I think I’ve come up with the a way to transform this generosity into something tangible we can actually build together.

I call it Causes.

The idea is very simple really: With your help, I’m going to find causes worth sponsoring. We’re going to set objectives, use a specific plug-in called ChipIn to raise money (a plug in used to incredible success by one of the world’s most influential marketing bloggers, David Armano), and send Acer computers to worthwhile causes, wherever they may be in the world.

I’m talking schools, communities, hospitals, social and environmental movements, whatever. No matter where they are or what they do. As a “minor community” we’re small enough to stay under the political radar and keep things this simple: “We, the Acer community, are here to help.”

Obviously we’re providing Acer computers so I’m also going to notify Acer of this initiative in the hope that in some way we get favourable terms when we go to purchase.

I’m sharing this with you before talking to my bosses about it as I value your opinion just as much as I do theirs.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, my week starts on Monday. I’ll keep you posted on developments. It’s going to be a great year.