Cracking the Whip.

[timexit17]

Clearly a more ' commercially minded' owner is going to want tighter control over advertising since it has a direct effect on them and their decision to invest in the purchase of a website/forum.

However I'd suggest regular contributors and the new owners of the site night think at least twice before jumping into conclusions / actions lest you regret rocking a boat we have all spent far too long happily bobbing about in.
Just my twopenneth.

[Donnie]

Am I reading this right, that this forums been taken over by scootering now?

Well I hope that the owners got a decent price is all I can say

[Group Admin]

All info can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37220

[Timbo]

This is such a great shame. I can understand the time it takes to look after the site but would have looked at other alternatives. Scooterotica has always been strong in its independence and I'm not aware of many bust ups! It has attracted sensible scooterists with a wealth of knowledge and experience and has survived the challenge from Facebook. On line magazines and news papers aren't for me and Scootering magazine has improved in the last few months. Scooterotica being controlled by big brother will be its death....

[EddieStone]

Aanother forum I'm on (not scooter related) was recenty taken over by Time Warner, who cracked down on language (ie swearing) and politics and ended up banning a lot of users. The site is certainly worse for it, and although it continues, it's spirit is definitely gone.

Hopefully it won't happen here, because the banter and knowledge is a great combination.

[Doom Patrol]

Will Morton's now be removing all the previous sponsors links? If dealers can't post links it's difficult to see how it is any different. After all they are now "stealing traffic" and it would seem hypocritical otherwise.

[rosscla]

Wouldn't existing sponsorship agreements remain valid as 'transfers of undertakings'?

At least till the renewal invoices go out...

[eden]

but i understand the request sent to ALL dealers is to contribute to the content of the forum,
.

As for some reason I have recently been labelled as a dealer I would have thought from your post above that I should have got the request you refer too along with ALL the other listed dealers. I don't seem to have received anything Do I take it that your understanding of the situation is incorrect or that you are being misleading in your above post?

[Donnie]

All info can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37220

No it cant, certainly not my question anyway, though I guess it's none of my business really, but ill just say that I hope that "taken under the scootering wing" means that the original owners got decent and proper recompence as opposed to basically giving it away

Whichever, its going to be the death of this forum

[drunkmunkey6969]

Don't worry. The sky isn't falling in and the world hasn't ended...lol.

The deal was to sell the forum, not give it away, Sean and I were both happy with the deal.

Apart from the updated request not to spam the board with external links to divert traffic, there shouldn't be any other noticeable changes in the short term. Mortons will sell some advertising options (banners etc) as I previously did, in order to recoup the cost of their acquisition, but it will all be scooter related/relevant links.

Sean and I are currently running the 'front of house' activities. Though there was a bit of confusion about that on Monday when the initial transition took place, but since then the details have been clarified and they are pretty much leaving the day to day running to Sean and I now. So it's business as usual from our end.

Nobody has been banned, nobody has been removed, and EVERYONE has full access to their account now.

There were a couple of posts removed on Monday but that has now been discussed and unless there is a huge problem I am unaware of then actions like that shouldn't happen again. Despite the new ruling, and despite people's interpretations....external links are NOT banned. It's simply a request for all members of the forum to make posts which have active content in them which will benefit other members and retain the traffic. If that means a post which is otherwise full of content ends with a helpful link...then so be it. What's is not helpful though, is repeated links to external sites, with the post having zero other content. In retrospect, I think perhaps that point could could have been clarified and implemented in a better manner. But those discussions have now taken place with the relevant parties.

There is no plan for world domination, the world didn't end.

It is understood by the new owners, not everyone is a fan of Mortons, not everyone wants to read Scooteting, not everyone here actually even likes the forum, or the garage....or Sean and I. And that the scootering scene can be very 'tribal' and is full of unusual and interesting characters.

However this is a great forum, it is a great community, there is a wealth of knowledge and information both archived/searchable....and in the minds of members, waiting to be shared at the prompt of the relevant question being posted.

My hope is, that in due course, people continue to enjoy the forum as they have in the past, Mortons invest time/money into the forum infrastructure, Sean and I help out 'up front' and new members continue to join up and contribute as the new exposure kicks in. I'd also like to appoint another moderator at some point, so that in the long term I can become 'another member' and focus on the magazine.

That's all I have to say on the matter....I hope that helps.

Cheers

Dan



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