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Post by JSB33 on Apr 3, 2022 8:23:52 GMT -5
Of not only starting over, but the forum and the layout itself.
As I was building it, I wrestled with the idea of cutting out a lot and really simplifying things or adding in even more sub forums. I chose to mimic what we had with a few subtractions.
Thoughts?
Pros
The cost, even if we go for the upgraded package the cost will be less than 5% of the other site.
I think we can do just about everything here that we did over there and as Tom pointed out, somethings are even better. The pictures are bigger, there are more features available and the speed is pretty damn fast.
Again thinking about cost, I do like the idea of not shoveling cash to someone when we can get it for free.
While it can also be a negative, a fresh start can be a good thing.
Cons
Staring over, Ugh!
We may lose a number of members who do not come over.
Cost be damned, the other site was very reliable. I have no idea how well this forum will run or what type of support we can expect.
It is a very daunting task to think about moving threads, what stays and what goes?
We sort of lose some control over things.
I have no idea how any new people will find us to join, losing the influx of new people could impact us down the road.
In the end, there is little choice here, it was getting progressively harder to justify what S143 was costing. The cost was beyond my ability to cover and long term, we were going to have to close it and walk away and have nothing. I went to bed Friday night fully thinking that the run was over.Speaking with Andy a lot about this over the years, hearing from Tom and Ian and even speaking with Jerry about this last year really showed me that this place means a lot to everybody and I was already feeling like I was letting you all down. So this site is my "Hail Mary" pass to try and keep the band together. I know it will not be the same, I know there will be issues but I am willing to make the best of what we have. And as always, your feedback makes all the difference.
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Post by oldirish33 on Apr 3, 2022 10:39:34 GMT -5
First and foremost Jeff, closing S143 is not letting anyone down. If anything, you have financially carried that forum almost single handedly for years. Saying enough owes an apology to no one.
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Post by JSB33 on Apr 3, 2022 10:44:31 GMT -5
Thanks for that Jerry. Believe me, nobody twisted my arm to keep this place going. And all the support from everyone was very sobering. Without all of you we would have never had the community we did over the last 10 plus years.
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Post by Tom on Apr 3, 2022 10:50:15 GMT -5
Let's start out by saying that you weren't letting anyone down, Jeff. Though I knew this moment would come eventually, I was surprised that you managed to keep it going for so long as I knew things were tight and the old forum cost a lot to run. I'm very happy with what you managed to come up with, looks like we have 98% of the functionality for a fraction of the price. As you say the reliability is yet unknown, we will just see what comes our way. It starts to feel like the old place already and I'm actually looking forward to going through my posts to weed out the bad and add the good. Maybe a fresh start is a good thing, as my old thread was hardly up to date anymore. If we manage to convince the most active members to move, those who enjoyed the old place will find us again over time. There aren’t that many diecast forums around anymore- I was even considering mass-partycrashing on diecastxchange.  Looking forward to making this place a great resource like S143 was! |
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Post by JSB33 on Apr 3, 2022 10:57:00 GMT -5
Than You Tom,
It is indeed, bittersweet but also somewhat exciting to have a fresh start. Hoping everyone sees things the same way.
Funny you mention Diecastxchange as I did try reestablishing a presence there but there was little to none interest in anything I posted ad truth be told, I had very little interest in 90% of what they were posting.
We have the best thing for us right here.
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Post by jager on Apr 3, 2022 20:19:44 GMT -5
I think most people will follow us over here, even more so when the lights go out at S143.
To make the transition easier, once S143 is shut down, I wonder if its possible to set up a redirection, so whenever someone enters that URL they get redirected here?
Secondly, Martin asked me if he needed to register, or if he could just log on with his S-143 credentials here? It made me wonder, as moderators, if could we set up up accounts for everyone here that mirrored their S143 username? We could create a temporary Password for them, that they change when they first login. Would that make it easier for people.
On the subject of usernames, is it an appropriate time to move away from alias and get people to register with their actual names (Maybe first name and first letter of their surname?). We mostly all know each other by name anyway which is one of the things I've liked about S143, so maybe its time to take that a step further ?
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Post by oldirish33 on Apr 3, 2022 20:43:06 GMT -5
On the subject of usernames, is it an appropriate time to move away from alias and get people to register with their actual names (Maybe first name and first letter of their surname?). We mostly all know each other by name anyway which is one of the things I've liked about S143, so maybe its time to take that a step further ? I am in favor of that. Username could get difficult if you have multiple common names. The person's real first name in their signature should be required if not in the user name. |
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Post by JSB33 on Apr 4, 2022 4:54:25 GMT -5
On the subject of usernames, is it an appropriate time to move away from alias and get people to register with their actual names (Maybe first name and first letter of their surname?). We mostly all know each other by name anyway which is one of the things I've liked about S143, so maybe its time to take that a step further ? I am in favor of that. Username could get difficult if you have multiple common names. The person's real first name in their signature should be required if not in the user name. On the Username question, I am not sure that I want to "require" someone to "have" to use a name they may or may not want to. I have always shied away from rules like this. Some people still are very reluctant to share even the tiniest piece of information about themselves with the internet. I am not specifically talking about our core group of members who have known each other for almost a decade. But or the casual users, I would not want them to feel uncomfortable about this. If they stick around and feel comfortable, their actual will be known to us in due time anyway. My Dad is a perfect example of this, he goes to great lengths to hide any bit of information he can, he will not even through out any paper with his name on it. I showed him how I was able to look up his name online, show his age, the fact that he still has a mortgage and even how he voted in the last election! But he still burns all of his old mail  I think most people will follow us over here, even more so when the lights go out at S143. To make the transition easier, once S143 is shut down, I wonder if its possible to set up a redirection, so whenever someone enters that URL they get redirected here? Secondly, Martin asked me if he needed to register, or if he could just log on with his S-143 credentials here? It made me wonder, as moderators, if could we set up up accounts for everyone here that mirrored their S143 username? We could create a temporary Password for them, that they change when they first login. Would that make it easier for people. I think the redirection is a brilliant idea, I wonder of Douglas could set set that up? The pre made accounts was something that I had thought of for a brief second, but everyone who has registered here has said how easy it is and I wondered if it might be more difficult to change ones password than to just register? And if we do have people that want a new username (Brooks did) that might be made for difficult. Any feedback on this is welcome. |
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dbonser
Full Member
Administrator
Posts: 143
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Post by dbonser on Apr 4, 2022 7:56:43 GMT -5
I think most people will follow us over here, even more so when the lights go out at S143. To make the transition easier, once S143 is shut down, I wonder if its possible to set up a redirection, so whenever someone enters that URL they get redirected here? Secondly, Martin asked me if he needed to register, or if he could just log on with his S-143 credentials here? It made me wonder, as moderators, if could we set up up accounts for everyone here that mirrored their S143 username? We could create a temporary Password for them, that they change when they first login. Would that make it easier for people. On the subject of usernames, is it an appropriate time to move away from alias and get people to register with their actual names (Maybe first name and first letter of their surname?). We mostly all know each other by name anyway which is one of the things I've liked about S143, so maybe its time to take that a step further ? The only way to do this is if you still own the original domain name. In this case, scale143.com would need to be hosted somewhere and configured to redirect requests to modelscale143.freeforums.net. scale143.com is still hosted by SiteGround through the end of this year ( www.whois.com/whois/scale143.com) so there would be an opportunity to test this after the cutover to the new forum. Note that it does require paying an additional fee to have someone host the domain. |
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Post by Stewart on Apr 13, 2022 6:53:28 GMT -5
I think most people will follow us over here, even more so when the lights go out at S143. On the subject of usernames, is it an appropriate time to move away from alias and get people to register with their actual names (Maybe first name and first letter of their surname?). We mostly all know each other by name anyway which is one of the things I've liked about S143, so maybe its time to take that a step further ? When I registered here I tried to use my actual name Stewart Frazer as per S143 but it seemed that you couldn’t have spaces so I settled for Stewart which is fine. I agree that actual names would be good but not everyone would feel that way. |
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Post by MG Rocks On on Apr 13, 2022 7:11:39 GMT -5
I quite like user names, especially the more humourus ones!
I always sign my posts so everyone knows who I am.
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Post by Stewart on Apr 13, 2022 12:59:50 GMT -5
Right on David. Glad you brought your signature over with you
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Post by reeft1 on Apr 13, 2022 18:05:48 GMT -5
Few people like change but the world moves on and even techno dinosaurs like myself have to accept radical moves like decimalisation, the absence of a telephone switchboard and similar. My only “negative” comment is that it bothers me that many of us didn’t fully appreciate the pain/true cost this was causing you Jeff - had that been the case we would have collectively tried to find a quicker solution that would have avoided you having to sell some of your collection to keep the lights on on the old site. This move is 100% the right outcome.
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Post by JSB33 on Apr 14, 2022 10:44:08 GMT -5
Few people like change but the world moves on and even techno dinosaurs like myself have to accept radical moves like decimalisation, the absence of a telephone switchboard and similar. My only “negative” comment is that it bothers me that many of us didn’t fully appreciate the pain/true cost this was causing you Jeff - had that been the case we would have collectively tried to find a quicker solution that would have avoided you having to sell some of your collection to keep the lights on on the old site. This move is 100% the right outcome. Glad you found your way over Paul. No worries, its not like anyone twisted my arm and I still have about 1000 models to go |
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Post by raystaggs on Apr 17, 2022 8:57:04 GMT -5
I think it's great that there will still be a Forum with old and new threads going forward. Whatever the format, the important thing is that 'it's' still here in the ether. So much kudos to you Jeff for everything that the old forum achieved, and for having the enthusiasm to go again with a new Forum. I for one am really glad you have.... Thank you. Ryan
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