It's about time

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=39544

Stewie eventually gets in on it too.

**EDIT** Trip, I don't know if you're aware of it but Cycleforums was spun off from Sportbikes.net a few years back. A whole lot of the heavy posters moved over to Cycleforums in support of Rob. I kinda dragged my heels back then, until I started hearing (or maybe listening) to some truth.

I've never really understood the whole "VS hatred" thing. I mean if I buy a 'Busa and decide I want to make it into a drag bike and you and maybe a few others come over and drink a few beers and help me build it When it's all done,if someone comes along and offers me $50,000 for and I sell. I don't see how you can be mad at me. Then if the guy buys the bike and wrecks it two weeks later reckless driving,how you can be angry with him.

A lot of people who become mods on forums BEG for the opportunity and then lord it all over the rest of the board (especially at first). No one forces them to do it,it's a choice they make. If my neighbor wants to come out and help me wash my car every week,it doesn't mean that he now gets a say in how I drive it or what I do with it. He definitely doesn't get to tell the guy I sell the car to what to do with it.

Anyway,I do understand that people form a firm connection with forums and I personally would hate to lose this one but I would not blame Trip if he sold it personally,if I owned something intangible and someone offered me $50,000 for it,I'd probably sell.

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by TIGGER

I've never really understood the whole "VS hatred" thing. I mean if I buy a 'Busa and decide I want to make it into a drag bike and you and maybe a few others come over and drink a few beers and help me build it When it's all done,if someone comes along and offers me $50,000 for and I sell. I don't see how you can be mad at me. Then if the guy buys the bike and wrecks it two weeks later reckless driving,how you can be angry with him.

A lot of people who become mods on forums BEG for the opportunity and then lord it all over the rest of the board (especially at first). No one forces them to do it,it's a choice they make. If my neighbor wants to come out and help me wash my car every week,it doesn't mean that he now gets a say in how I drive it or what I do with it. He definitely doesn't get to tell the guy I sell the car to what to do with it.

Anyway,I do understand that people form a firm connection with forums and I personally would hate to lose this one but I would not blame Trip if he sold it personally,if I owned something intangible and someone offered me $50,000 for it,I'd probably sell.

I'm guessing that you haven't seen too many of the VS turn-overs then. I don't hate them, I understand them. They're strip miners, tearing up the forum landscape to get at the profitable material.

It's not like your Busa example. This is going to be a tough analogy, but try to stick with me. It's more like you have a neighbour with a big yard. He's a good guy, a good neighbour. His back yard abuts on the entire rest of the neighbourhood. One day he decides that he's going to finish his back yard as a party area for his neighbours. He builds a deck, a big brick BBQ, a pool, and a Gazebo. He provides all the materials and the whole neighbourhood kicks in the labour to build it.

Then something happens. Maybe someone offers him some unbelievable sum of money for it, that would make his life easy. Maybe (as in the case of CF) he has a problem that breaks him, and he has to sell in order to try and survive. He sells.

The new owners own all of that nice back yard, but realize that they'll make a lot of enemies if they fence things off. What do they do? Well they start by saying everything will stay exactly the same, and at first it is. Then, one day, there's a couple of local businesses handing out fliers as you enter the yard. Then you have to have a towel to go to the pool, but you aren't allowed to bring your own towel. They rent you one for $5.00. Next thing there's a corporate logo painted on the bottom of the pool and the local butcher is selling meat at a gate, just before you get to the BBQ. Oh yeah, and the deck? If you pay $30.00 per year you're allowed to sit up there, under a banner that says, "I paid $30.00 so that I could sit here."

Starting to see? When you've helped to build the yard, you start to feel angry that someone else is benefiting so much on the back of your labour.

[t-homo]

Wow. Incredible way to describe it. I still kinda agree with tigger though.

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by t-rock

Wow. Incredible way to describe it. I still kinda agree with tigger though.

Just trying to put the 'hate' in context. Different people obtain differing levels of connection to that sort of thing. Some will say that it's just an online forum, with no real world existence. Others will consider it to be a living, breathing community that their efforts helped to form. Then there are all of the shades of gray in between. Obviously you, Tigger, and I lean more toward the former, than the latter; the two of you more so than I. That doesn't mean that I don't feel bad for the folks who feel that they have lost a home, that was built with their own sweat. I thoroughly understand why they're so angry.

[azoomm]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Just trying to put the 'hate' in context. Different people obtain differing levels of connection to that sort of thing. Some will say that it's just an online forum, with no real world existence. Others will consider it to be a living, breathing community that their efforts helped to form. Then there are all of the shades of gray in between. Obviously you, Tigger, and I lean more toward the former, than the latter; the two of you more so than I. That doesn't mean that I don't feel bad for the folks who feel that they have lost a home, that was built with their own sweat. I thoroughly understand why they're so angry.

Well done sir!!

Now, imagine if it wasn't just ONE neighbor... but the entire neighborhood. I've gone through four VS takeovers. The ones I'm most upset by are those that people fell off of never to be heard from again. With CF - we were on the quick strike because we didn't want to lose people that we saw as valuable [and assumed others would follow]. It's the slow drop off that crushes when those that wouldn't get online anyway, post rarely, but have epic information to share fall off the internet. That happened most with the Monster Board. grrrrrrrrrr

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Just trying to put the 'hate' in context. Different people obtain differing levels of connection to that sort of thing. Some will say that it's just an online forum, with no real world existence. Others will consider it to be a living, breathing community that their efforts helped to form. Then there are all of the shades of gray in between. Obviously you, Tigger, and I lean more toward the former, than the latter; the two of you more so than I. That doesn't mean that I don't feel bad for the folks who feel that they have lost a home, that was built with their own sweat. I thoroughly understand why they're so angry.

I really like your analogy,very well written ,Sir! Trust me,I know what you are saying and I have seen a couple take overs but you are right in saying that I don't become quite as attached as some people do. heck,I saw people cry real tears when their tv shows are taken off the air. I understand that people can become attached.

Here's the thing though,some of the people that do the LOUDEST bitching are people that hadn't REALLY done anything. I'm not talking about mods or admins that get displaced,I'm talking about people who only used these forums as a free way to communicate,get info or entertain themselves. Shit,some of these people probably never even became site supporters or bought a t-shirt. Where do they get off being angry that the person who put up all the money,effort and time got to turn a profit?

How about this; one guy pays for material and a few volunteers build a park on an acre of his land. Everyone is welcome to hangout there for free and hundreds/thousands do for years. Eventually the owner gets tired of paying the expenses/work of the park and accepts an offer from a company to buy it. The new company puts up the billboards and charges admission to get in,kinda sucks,ok but why do the freeloaders who were getting into the park all those years for free have a RIGHT to be angry with the guy who sold it? Or even with the new company for not being willing to do it for free?

[Papa_Complex]

People build communities in many ways. Sure, there are people who don't add much to a community and then bitch when it's gone, but the best contributions to a site are frequently those which have no monetary value. A turn of phrase ("I don't care if it's Hitler cake, it's still cake"). An iconic comment ("Then fuck her sister"). They may not help keep the lights on, but they sure do help to create the feeling of community. You can't buy that.

[Porkchop]

If "nice guy" says poachers one more time im going to hunt his ass down and strangle him....

The whole thing is silly really... becasue we all have a happy place now.

I've even tried to stay off SBN as much as possible tho. Havnt been there in months.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

People build communities in many ways. Sure, there are people who don't add much to a community and then bitch when it's gone, but the best contributions to a site are frequently those which have no monetary value. A turn of phrase ("I don't care if it's Hitler cake, it's still cake"). An iconic comment ("Then fuck her sister"). They may not help keep the lights on, but they sure do help to create the feeling of community. You can't buy that.

Oh sure,I understand that,it's just the anger at VS and the "sell outs" that I don't always understand. It was really funny,to me anyway,I really didn't know what had happened when TWF was bought out. Everyone was complaining about ads and what not. I was like,"WTF?". I use Firefox and didn't ever see them so didn't really notice any real difference. The funny part was that I had forgotten about adblocker,so I honestly had no idea what all the bitching was about.

[Amber Lamps]

Here's the other thing and this does involve a little ass kissing I guess,but we all should really appreciate Trip for putting up this forum for us. This is the time to appreciate what you have,otherwise you can sit and bitch after it's gone.