Big Blue Year IV

[ngauger]

. I recall Mike Chambers ( mod on RRL ) and I having about a 2 minute discussion about " zealot" , chuckling about the odd choice of names .

T

Yeah - that started a bunch of bad feelings all around, some arguing and soul searching too... both by the general membership and among the moderators..

................ it wasn't pretty

[ezdays]

Mikey , Don , when Big Blue started up was the Old Gauge still running or had it already shut down ?

T

Just to add to what Mikey said, the guy who bought the old Gauge also owned several other modeling sites. Each time he made some changes, there would be a rash of backlash and we'd lose members and even staff. One day we woke up finding out that we were joined at the hip to all these sites and no longer had our own identity. What we didn't know was that the owner was positioning the forums for maximum profit when he sold to the Crowdgather group. We can name a number of reasons why we spun off, the ads, the "chain of command", the loss of our identity and self-respect. This guy later admitted to us that it was a mistake to combine the forums, but it was too late. Once you mix two colors of paint together, you'll never be able to separate them, and that's what happened to our database there.

Anyway, here we are, we have our old forums back, our, "Big Blue" colors for those that missed them, and rather than take our old name, we go by our old nickname, just to minimize any conflict or confusion between sites.

[Sumpter250]

Anyway, here we are, we have our old forums back, our, "Big Blue" colors for those that missed them, and rather than take our old name, we go by our old nickname, just to minimize any conflict or confusion between sites.

It was one _______ of a ride, but, in the end well worth the Journey. We've managed to shed the the "dullcote" of "Z", and came back much the way we were before it all started. Mike, Don, a long overdue Thank You !!!!!!
This is still the best place on the internet !!

[teejay]

While I was technically a member of the Old Gauge ( I was Cobra ) I rarely posted over there as my time was spent on RRL as well as the Yahoo Groups Steel Modelers Forum ( posting on Yahoo is like something out of the Dark Ages , I avoid it at all costs , but the "steelies" want to keep that format ) , so I didn't realize all of the turmoil you guys were going through . Sounded like a real dog-and-pony show .
Well , all's well that ends well as Bill Shakespeare used to say . Good to be here .

T

[ngauger]

Thanks Peter.. and thanks (again) for all your help behind the scenes too!!!

T --- Yeah - it was unreal while it was going on - but all water under the bridge now

[BR60103]

I think we nay have missed a couple of members from the old Gauge because of a reluctance to use their facilities (posts or PMs) to recruit. I was contacted by someone who had my eMail.

[ezdays]

I think we nay have missed a couple of members from the old Gauge because of a reluctance to use their facilities (posts or PMs) to recruit. I was contacted by someone who had my eMail.

We intentionally avoided using the old forum in any way to let others know about the start of Big Blue, we just didn't think that was the right thing to do. As a result, we were only able to contact about 300 people that we knew their email addresses. We were hoping that word-of-mouth would help as time went by. We can hold our head up high in doing things that way. We had more than half of those register in the next few days and we had over 200 members within a month. Our growth has been steady, we should have our 1400th member register within the next few days, and we know that many of those are people we just didn't have the time or email addresses to invite back then. I know there were those that were wondering where we went, and again, we were reluctant to use Zealot to let anyone know. If anyone knows anybody from back then that hasn't registered here by now, please let them know where to find us. We couldn't reach everyone we wanted to at the time, and we're sorry that we couldn't. We'd hate to lose old friends because of that.

[FiatFan]

all water under the bridge now

It's nice that all that turmoil is behind us but I think it's important to remember so we don't fall back into that. Thanks to everyone for a great place to hang out.

Tom

[ngauger]

all water under the bridge now

It's nice that all that turmoil is behind us but I think it's important to remember so we don't fall back into that. Thanks to everyone for a great place to hang out.

Tom

.......... and that is the main reason that the "Donate" button is at the bottom of every page....

The members continue to pay for the site, so we should be able to survive without selling it, posting ads, or merging with another forum to save money

[faraway]

... and that is the main reason that the "Donate" button is at the bottom of every page......

Very good reminder!

[Herc Driver]

The only constant...is change.



Thanks for all you guys do...and for the great modeling contributors who post here. It is a special thing to keep an informative and family-friendly forum going nowadays - and the moderator staff should be commended for their efforts.

Mark

[ngauger]

The only constant...is change.



Thanks for all you guys do...and for the great modeling contributors who post here. It is a special thing to keep an informative and family-friendly forum going nowadays - and the moderator staff should be commended for their efforts.

Mark

Just remember - the members do help a lot with their great attitudes toward other members and our staff....

Thanks for your comments!!

[ezdays]

The only constant...is change.



Thanks for all you guys do...and for the great modeling contributors who post here. It is a special thing to keep an informative and family-friendly forum going nowadays - and the moderator staff should be commended for their efforts.

Mark

I agree, the moderating staff all need to take a bow. Mikey and I couldn't ask for a better bunch of volunteers to keep things here running smoothly. We've had very little turnover in our staff over the years and I think one reason is that our members all make their jobs easy. No fooling, how many shouting matches have we seen here in four years? Answer: we probably average one a year as apposed to a couple a day in some other places. How many members have we banned for cause? Answer: zippo, nada, none, zero. And, how many spammers have we banned from here? Answer: all of them ... yup, we get some before they even post, now how's that for a dedicated crew?

Yup, thanks to our moderators and members, Mikey and I can just sit back and sip Mint Juleps in the summer, and hot chocolate in the winter. Mmmmm, hot chocolate, Santa's favorite drink next to milk and cookies ..........

Hey Mikey, hand me one of those there chocolate chip thingies from over there. Yeah, the ones right next to the big bowl of Kit-Kats.....

[teejay]

Geez , chocolate , candy , ...not to mention peanuts , chips , ....I said DON'T mention it !

T

[ezdays]

Geez , chocolate , candy , ...not to mention peanuts , chips , ....I said DON'T mention it !

T

Whatever you do, DO NOT mention the Kit-Kats to any of the mods here, especially Ed (88fan), please, we could have a riot on our hands. I won't say anything regarding addiction, obsession or anything, but we've had a problem with Kit-Kats, our candy machine in the mods break room and... Well, Ed in particular....

So no, we never said anything about eating candy while we're lying on the Caribbean Beaches...