12-17-2010, 10:12 AM
As I look at all the great compliments and words of encouragement, I’m humbled. What happened to force us to relocate was two-fold. First there was the corporation that knew only how to run boards (still open to opinions) and then, the changes they made that disrupted our normal operation.
We heard some very sincere complaints from both our moderators and regular members. I personally took a “wait and see what happens” attitude and thought that we could convince the new owners that, while they knew about running boards, they knew nothing about the deep set camaraderie and passions of hobbyists in general. I have learned this, over the years, in Car Clubs, Railroad Clubs, Racing Organizations, and in sports fans dedicated to “Their Team”.
I thought that maybe the new owners would learn what we were about, by observing. It seemed, to our dismay and frustration, they observed only from the view from the “Bottom line”, pity.
Soon, the Moderators convinced me that my efforts were being received by a brick wall. ezdays was having his own difficulties, fielding complaints and it seemed that all our efforts and more importantly, our friends here, were going to be lost unless we jumped ship. There were a few of us that voiced our opinions openly on their boards and were dismissed or banned altogether, something I have been against doing on any board.
With all the history of great information and of the past Admins, that I still think about, I finally gave in and decided that the ads and other distractions were too much for all of us to handle. Don & I began talking about our planned exodus and then the real fear set in: Who? How many? When?
To answer these questions, we would have to wait until December 17 2008, because there was no way to tell for sure; who would follow us over here. How many of our great modelers would trust a new board (remember, we were only using our online reputations as a lead-in) and finally “when” – that was the easy one to answer… A quick look at the membership times revealed that Shamus (The first real member) registered on December 17 2000, I came in 3 days later.
So, we started an e-mail tree, we told a few people, they told a few people and we waited…..
I think I refreshed the front page (member counts) about 500 times in 3 days
~~~~~~ I was more than relieved and more than surprised!!!!
I’d like to thank everyone for being here, for recommending us to other modelers that you know.. and most of all for the moral, modeling and financial support you contribute here.
As the saying goes, If you weren’t here, Don & I and a few mods would be trading stories.. and that would be horrible!!!!
~~~~ Thanks and have a Happy Anniversary Celebration!!
We heard some very sincere complaints from both our moderators and regular members. I personally took a “wait and see what happens” attitude and thought that we could convince the new owners that, while they knew about running boards, they knew nothing about the deep set camaraderie and passions of hobbyists in general. I have learned this, over the years, in Car Clubs, Railroad Clubs, Racing Organizations, and in sports fans dedicated to “Their Team”.
I thought that maybe the new owners would learn what we were about, by observing. It seemed, to our dismay and frustration, they observed only from the view from the “Bottom line”, pity.
Soon, the Moderators convinced me that my efforts were being received by a brick wall. ezdays was having his own difficulties, fielding complaints and it seemed that all our efforts and more importantly, our friends here, were going to be lost unless we jumped ship. There were a few of us that voiced our opinions openly on their boards and were dismissed or banned altogether, something I have been against doing on any board.
With all the history of great information and of the past Admins, that I still think about, I finally gave in and decided that the ads and other distractions were too much for all of us to handle. Don & I began talking about our planned exodus and then the real fear set in: Who? How many? When?
To answer these questions, we would have to wait until December 17 2008, because there was no way to tell for sure; who would follow us over here. How many of our great modelers would trust a new board (remember, we were only using our online reputations as a lead-in) and finally “when” – that was the easy one to answer… A quick look at the membership times revealed that Shamus (The first real member) registered on December 17 2000, I came in 3 days later.
So, we started an e-mail tree, we told a few people, they told a few people and we waited…..
I think I refreshed the front page (member counts) about 500 times in 3 days
~~~~~~ I was more than relieved and more than surprised!!!!
I’d like to thank everyone for being here, for recommending us to other modelers that you know.. and most of all for the moral, modeling and financial support you contribute here.
As the saying goes, If you weren’t here, Don & I and a few mods would be trading stories.. and that would be horrible!!!!
~~~~ Thanks and have a Happy Anniversary Celebration!!