[munter]

I see the traders forum cleaned out with a statement saying something about twelve months of inaction and you are gone.

I was surprised to say the least.

Did I miss the memo?

 

[conti_rowland]

Yes it's a real problem.
There was a huge amount of information in my how to threads...
Andi

 

[justDave]

That's crazy! There's a huge amount of value in old posts and threads. This isn't Instagram or TikTok. Can the mods do something to reinstate those files? It makes me nervous about the forthcoming update....

 

[munter]

I was hoping to see a comment from admin/moderator by now explaining what is going on in this forum.

Waiting waiting.......

 

[Angelo Amato]

It was bad enough losing the gallery with all my photos, now this

 

[Dr_C]

Fingers crossed its not lost but maybe just toggled into archive mode?

c

 

[conti_rowland]

Also I don't actually believe there has been no updates in there in one year.
Andi

 

[scuderia_turini]

Has any trader tried a test to create a new post in the Hobby Traders forum? That would give an indication of sorts. It was not exactly a hotbed of traffic.

Leo

 

[conti_rowland]

I am wondering if it is an odd way to request more money from anyone advertising on the forum?
A way to say 'if you are making money from us we want more'.
I had understood that the plus membership did that but realise that system is currently broken?

 

[munter]

That could be so, Andi. Another thought I had was to do some pruning before the switch over to the new platform.
@Leo the area where each of us had a place with a title to freely post our wares has gone, disappeared so there is no where to begin a new thread.

What I am mainly concerned with was the lack of warning and zero communication about it from the the mods , the administration and from VS.
In the past the team never made a blanket decision without contacting those involved so what is really going on behind the scenes is a mystery.

Still waiting

 

[conti_rowland]

I have always been very happy with the work our mods do, this issue was first raised in a thread about a week ago but I've not seen any comment from the mods yet.
It does seem really very odd and extraordinarily disappointing.
A

 

[Gripping Pneus]

It was not exactly a hotbed of traffic.

But it was not supposed to be. It was a reference directory, and a very useful one. If someone made a deliberate decision to do this, it was a very short-sighted, illogical and disappointing one.

 

[Gripping Pneus]

Having just read the "ANNOUNCEMENT" thread in full, I fear that the Hobby Traders thread has already migrated - but to where?

I fear and loathe updates of software or hardware of any kind. Things always go wrong, and at best loads of time is lost, at worst loads of data is lost too. When its all over, I am back to where I started but with different screen layouts which have to be learned, and a few milliseconds gained here and there. The time spent sorting the mess will never be regained by the extra speed. It all appears to be "churning" to keep the software developers in a job.

Look at Autocad. I learned on version 10 in about 1984. We are now up in the mid 20's I think, and every version does almost exactly the same as #10 but with different icons. It was right the first time and did not need tweaking, except for a small minority of users who used the more obscure commands. There is a huge organisation behind it though, and the developers must be kept developing or the house of cards will collapse. Codswallop.

 

[scuderia_turini]

I see that Chappy has created a new sub-forum in the Hobby Traders Archive, as of 17th May:

Leo

 

[MrFlippant]

Unlikely he had any knowledge of the existing forums disappearing, let alone any control over it.

We already know that the new owner DGAF about us, why are we surprised by this?

It sucks, to be sure. I had a lot of time into the posts in my forum, never mind things I wouldn't mind updating or adding.

But, it's not like this whole site isn't breaking up as we speak. Hopefully the new forum software will fix things, but I'm not going to be holding by breath for a split second expecting that. My expectation is that we will have to start from scratch, so at least I can be pleasantly surprised if something manages to stick around.

 

[munter]

But where is the communication from those in the control room?

 

[MrFlippant]

Have they ever communicated with us since the buyout? Even the mods/admins don't get much in the way of communication from the new owners. This is just another place to sell advertising for them. They D. G. A. F!!

 

[munter]

Still waiting....

A wise man once said nothing....I guess I am not wise.

 

[conti_rowland]

I have PMed Chappy.
In short he says that he is working hard to try to get the forum restored.
Apparently it disappeared because the whole forum reached some Kind of data limit.
I'm unsure why he has chosen not to talk publicly but assume its because more questions will be asked to him directly, more aggressive discussions will take place and he doesn't need that.
I have back ups of my how to guide sand can supply them. In the meantime I'm backing up my posts from my build threads down the years. Not the whole thread but just my posts. It's a compromise but at least the actual info will be saved if it all goes wrong, if not the full conversion.
Andi

 

[munter]

I get that Chappy doesn't need more grief but a short statement, locked, would shut me up.

My seventeen years membership has got to be worth something.

Thanks for taking the step, Andi.... should have come from the other direction though.