Forums being taken over

[Rod.s]

Ok don't panic.....I'm a member of lots of forums and recently one forum was taken over by VerticalScope and the adds started coming, so far the site has been slower to refresh/load etc, but that's all so far, but we are not convinced.

The debate has raged over the positives and negatives of the takeover, but the general consensus is that the members would liked to have been part of the process from the beginning, other options should have been discussed first before selling out. This organisation is buying up the forums to use as a profit making tool and have little respect for the members or the content. Once owned, the entire site becomes theres and so does all the content/data/photos etc.

Do a little digging on the net and you will see the issues.

So why bring this up? Well, I would hate for this site to follow many others, I'd like to propose that we safe guard the owner of this site. Yes we have contributions and the owner foots the bill for the rest. We need to discuss this openly and also with the owner and ensure that they are happy with the current arrangement, before its to late.

Rod

[sanddune51]

I quite agree with everything you've said,but who does own the forum?
How can we safeguard it in it's current form?
I just love the fact that it's not plagued with bloody advertising.

I'll even make a contribution towards its running Will that make me a sponsor.That would give me a very warm feeling inside

Mark

[Stankflapper]

The couple of Brisbane forums that I have been involved with have been totally screwed and completely stuffed by the, over the top ego, power hungry, administration. Cobber will back me on this one!

[Rod.s]

The couple of Brisbane forums that I have been involved with have been totally screwed and completely stuffed by the, over the top ego, power hungry, administration. Cobber will back me on this one!

Mate out on a limb here....would you pay a small amount to advertise on the forum?

[Rod.s]

I quite agree with everything you've said,but who does own the forum?
How can we safeguard it in it's current form?
I just love the fact that it's not plagued with bloody advertising.

I'll even make a contribution towards its running Will that make me a sponsor.That would give me a very warm feeling inside

Mark

In the deeps of an English winter you need a warm feeling inside just go to paypal and donate as much as you like.....TRXsponsors@trx850.com

Rod

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

Yes Macca your not wrong there mate... Glad to see your bringing this out and making all aware Rod Even tho I'm not very financial myself I'll find something to put towards keeping this gound sacred...

[phuk72]

Just keep encouraging everyone to donate and there will not be any problems. In fact, if all of the registered users donated just 50p (or a buck) a year we would more than cover costs.

The software on this forum is open source and so the only real costs are hosting - none of the admins / mods charge for time and all donations (less paypal fees) go directly to the running of the site.

Jak will be along shortly to give more detail

[Jak]

... who does own the forum?

Me

Short history ... in August 2011 Max stepped down and I took over and moved us to trx850.com; Max had taken over back in September 2006 when Dugy's freebb site got spammed to hell and then disappeared for good. Not sure if Dugy's was the first incarnation but that's the one I found when I first bought my TRX in 2004.


I didn't know that some forums were selling up, I'm sure the attraction of both ££ and not having to spend hours on admin would appeal to some webmasters, however ... I promise you that this place will NOT be sold if/when I want to step down I'm sure there will be someone else to take over from within the forum. This forum is for TRX-love and general banter, any advertising has to be either TRX-related, or members own businesses.

As for supporting the forum, check out this thread click for link

[Yoozy]

Funny, I've just been asked to sell Tuonoworld. Right out the blue and unsolicited. It crossed my mind for about 5 minutes, never got to the money talks though but I soon came to my senses. We've got a great set of fuds over there who regularly meet up and some have made firm friends and socialize regularly. Places like that and this, where their isn't massive amounts of posting but usually quality posting are a godsend imho. What I can add though is that it takes a huge amount of effort to keep these forums the way they are, ticking over nicely and keeping things in order. Hosting cost and technical help can be expensive so anyone who donates, whether financially or time wise, no matter how much should be applauded.
I look at it like this, you've got your corner shop where you know who goes there and what's on the shelves and your supermarkets full of strangers and stuff you don't want.

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

Thanks for enlightening us on your own experience on this Nob.. Sitting down having a coffee with Rod while picking corn today he made me aware of the agenda in the cyber world. The TRX forum may be smaler compared to some of the others out there but theres a market and people will exploit it and control it to their advantage once they have it. Gotta look after the troops

[Kayla]

Thanks for enlightening us on your own experience on this Nob.. Sitting down having a coffee with Rod while picking corn today he made me aware of the agenda in the cyber world. The TRX forum may be smaler compared to some of the others out there but theres a market and people will exploit it and control it to their advantage once they have it. Gotta look after the troops

But, the thing is, is that as soon as a forum becomes crap another free one that's better will pop up and become 'the place to go' surely?

[Tarwetijger]

I had never heard of this but this says it all:
http://www.verticalscope.com/solutions/our-clients.html

Yamaha is one of them... Mabye it is a good entry to ask for an all-new TRX1200?

[phuk72]

It's fairly common and I'm on a few forums that have recently been bought out.

The MO seems to be spam the shite out of everyone - raising revenue through advertisers. Or you can pay them direct to be a member and have the ads supressed (to a degree)

[Kevtrx849]

... who does own the forum?

Me

Max had taken over back in September 2006 when Dugy's freebb site got spammed to hell and then disappeared for good. Not sure if Dugy's was the first incarnation but that's the one I found when I first bought my TRX in 2004.

Dougy (Towoomba) took over from Alistair (Brisbane) back in 2002. Alistair started TRX850.com.au back in 1998 and once he sold his rex he lost interest. Dougy transfered everything into myfreeb but couldn't handle the costs which is what he told me and shut it down before Max picked it up. I became a member in 2000 (time flies)

[phuk72]

... who does own the forum?

Me

Max had taken over back in September 2006 when Dugy's freebb site got spammed to hell and then disappeared for good. Not sure if Dugy's was the first incarnation but that's the one I found when I first bought my TRX in 2004.

Dougy (Towoomba) took over from Alistair (Brisbane) back in 2002. Alistair started TRX850.com.au back in 1998 and once he sold his rex he lost interest. Dougy transfered everything into myfreeb but couldn't handle the costs which is what he told me and shut it down before Max picked it up. I became a member in 2000 (time flies)

There were a couple of UK based forums as well but they were more blog type entries than discussions