Should we move forums?

[CortinaDave]

With the disappearance of the management again, we're on a bit of a sticky wicket. No new registrations have been approved since December and anyone who changes email etc is not able to get back in. Makes me think next time we get spammed/ the forum falls over then it wont be coming back and we'll lose autoshite for good.

 

Seems like the many times suggested idea that we get a few new mods just purely to keep things going has died a death again too.

 

With that in mind - should we seriousy think about upping sticks en masse and moving to a new forum before we lose this one and are snookered? Just wondered what your thoughts are....

[Wilko220]

In two minds really. On a practical note, I think it makes a lot of sense.

However, two points against:

1) We would lose a lot of history in terms of what has already been posted and is a great, searchable reference tool. I've found so much useful info and advice by searching old posts on here.

2) As Mr Bo11 has already pointed out, having no mods is in many ways a good thing. I would hate for us to move elsewhere with new mods and for it to turn into RetroRides with a different colour scheme.

[Spiny Norman]

There sort of is already another forum, isn't there? Fred's AS999 one seems to be set out in much the same way as this, all it needs is for people to use it.

 

I would far rather try to pursue the management on this one, and get to the bottom of why they're inactive. Is it as has been suggested because there's some genuine technical issue or can they just not be arsed?

Does anyone know for instance where the forum is hosted from? Is it a third party hosting service (who could let the admins back in if there's a tech bug that stops them logging in, as has been suggested) or is the server actually owned and operated by one of the admins?

[cort16]

I think it needs a user buy out so the control and management of the site is passed to someone else if the current management don't want to do it although then again why would they?

It's like the 999 forum when this went down. It was a valiant effort but it just wasn't the same.

[Barry Cade]

I vote we sell it to BMW for a quid.

[Jack_Harpers_Teeth]

It certainly seems an odd situation that the Admins have gone AWOL, but I like the way this forum is just so different to other ones, it just adds to the quirkiness of it all.

[cort16]

Sell it to disney then have mr b0ll0x and dollywobbler appear in vodaphone commercials for mega £££ endorsment cash ins.

[Guest]

Top Plan, but we need to have new people joining, otherwise we will in time all become as old, cranky, and rubbish as our cars are. I know several people who would love to join the mayhem, but are shut out on their arses because the Mods have been kidnapped by Space Aliens, or sent to jail for offences relating to beige, or something.

[warren t claim]

I think that things seem to be going fine on here at the mo.

 

I think this is the longest we've ever gone without a fist fight over the subject of Retro Rides, Practical Classics or Top Gear.

[flat4alfa]

I would far rather try to pursue the management on this one, and get to the bottom of why they're inactive

This.

[CortinaDave]

It certainly seems an odd situation that the Admins have gone AWOL, but I like the way this forum is just so different to other ones, it just adds to the quirkiness of it all.

 

Absoultely - thats why I like it too... but theres a real chance we're going to click on this one day soon to find its just not there anymore. Its not a case of "this forums shit lets move" - its trying to avoid that happening which is looking more and more likely unless we get at least passing interest from da management

 

100% the best solution would be to sort out whatever the problem is here - but as the months roll on its looking less and less like theyre arsed and/or they can fix whatever is stopping new member approvals etc - so do we just roll on and hope it doesnt go pear shaped?

[RedSparrow]

I think that things seem to be going fine on here at the mo.

 

I think this is the longest we've ever gone without a fist fight over the subject of Retro Rides, Practical Classics or Top Gear.

 

Or banger racing, spam, threads about spam, Americans or whether or not there are too many cat pictures.

 

There's always moto-scat.

 

Some admin/moderation would be nice.

[Split_Pin]

I agree that it would be a shame to lose the colourful (beige) and quirky history of AS but December is too long.

 

I think the 999 Forum quickly established a character and I would be happy to use it.

 

Definitely don't need mods though.

[RichardMoss]

Who are the management here? Whoever they are, they have a moral responsibility to maintain the forum or hand it to someone who will. I still look after www.rover800.info some 3 years after I last owned an 800.

 

Hosting is cheap - rover800.info is done for about £80 per year at godaddy with waaaaaaaaay more storage and bandwidth than needed.

[skattrd]

If we do move forums I vote for a cap on the number of new registrations, say 1 per week I quite like the cosiness of this place.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I would far rather try to pursue the management on this one, and get to the bottom of why they're inactive

This.

I agree, this is a good forum and it would be a shame to lose it just because the owner's lost interest. I guess the danger is that whoever pays the hosting bill just doesn't bother writing the cheque one year and the first we know of it is the forum redirects to 123-reg.co.uk.

 

Similarly, the problem with free forum hosts is that your forum is at the mercy of people who will wreck it in an instant in pursuit of profit, usually by riddling it with ads, and there's no chance of getting a database dump to move it.

 

If we do move forums I vote for a cap on the number of new registrations, say 1 per week I quite like the cosiness of this place.

Even if it ultimately kills the place, can't deny it's nice to have a forum where no-one new joins, typz in txt and doesn't know how to post pictures

[RedSparrow]

Ironically, the person who wrote out instructions for newcomers on how to post photos had a tantrum about some shit and went off crying, deleting it in the process.

LOL!

[Negative Creep]

2) As Mr Bo11 has already pointed out, having no mods is in many ways a good thing. I would hate for us to move elsewhere with new mods and for it to turn into RetroRides with a different colour scheme.

 

 

Ture to a degree, but the lack of new membersis worrying. Without them the forum will die

[dollywobbler]

That's my only concern. The hands-off approach works pretty well (now Spam attacks have been reduced) but we really do need folk to be able to sign up. On the plus side, spammers can't sign up either!

[Guest]

The domain expires in October, contact details for the registrar can be found using a Whois but whose to say the details from 2005 are still correct.

[Pillock]

There's nothing wrong with the forum really, but I agree it's not really the right direction - no new members and every so often an old, sometimes very active member leaves due to some shit or other. If we're going to keep upsetting people, we need to let new people in to upset in the future.

 

I don't want to see rabid moderation as I find that an excellent reason to leave a forum. VZi used to be well modded, plenty of them but one "overall" mod to mod the mods and make sure nobody went OTT. On a day to day basis you wouldn't even know it unless there were spam threads to be sorted out.

 

I don't want to create a new forum, I don't think it would replace this one then we'd have AS, AS999, MotoScat plus a new one all serving the same purpose.

[Cavcraft]

Definitely do NOT need another forum.

[DVee8]

Does anyone know who the management are? A lot of you lot know each other is anyone able to ring/knock on the door.When was the last time a mod was on?and when it was hit by spam who sorted it?

[Micrashed]

There's always moto-scat.

^^^

This.

 

There are a handful of people there at the moment, and I went there for my old car fix when AS fell over last time. I do however have very little time for the interweb these days so limit myself to one old car site at a time.

 

The other alternative is the AS page on Facebollox. Not quite the same, but has about the same attention span - post a pic, get a few likes, get a few "I had one of those once" comments then it disappears into oblivion. Lets face it if you really want to know how to change the window winder on a BX there are dedicated forums out there to help you.

[Guest]

Redacted

[Spiny Norman]

Probably not ideal posting the fella's name and address on t'internet, I'd take that down.

[Guest]

The information is in the public domain, anyone could get it by doing a Whois on the domain.

[Pillock]

But Motoscat and this site are wonderfully different.

Tell you what, try posting a thread about what your favourite shrubbery is, or a picture of your cat on motoscat and see what happens. I love this forum but some days I skip over the chaff on here and just go straight for the threads that sound like they might be about cars. That's why I don't post on Motoscat, I drive a Ford Focus and actually know very little about obscure old motors but it's brilliant to read threads from people that do.

 

As for posting the details, putting it in plain searchable text is not the same as having to initiate a search for it. My phone number is searchable on BT's eDQ but I'd be annoyed if it was on the forum where Google can see it.

[Guest]

ok point taken ill remove

[Pillock]

Cool...