Forum problems

[DanEC]

When are the Keith Craft sponsor ads going away? Just wondering.

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by DanEC

When are the Keith Craft sponsor ads going away? Just wondering.

Does the term "not in your lifetime" mean anything to you?

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by DanEC

When are the Keith Craft sponsor ads going away? Just wondering.

Does the term "not in your lifetime" mean anything to you? I should purchase an advert as it will outlive me!

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by DanEC

When are the Keith Craft sponsor ads going away? Just wondering.

Does the term "not in your lifetime" mean anything to you? I should purchase an advert as it will outlive me!

[Tommy]

During the 22+ years I've been coming to this forum I've never criticized its management because I have never contributed anything more than content. I'll not start now but I will offer an opinion. Based on the obvious functional problems, the long out of date ads, and not-Cobra-related spammy social groups, it appears that the current and projected future income generated by this site is not sufficient to motivate management to spend its time and resources to make it better. I don't say this to criticize management but to acknowledge that interest in the Cobra hobby seems to have waned over the years, and that may be a root cause of the problem. Management may no longer find this site interesting or profitable enough to justify more than the glitchy experience I have come to expect.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by Tommy

During the 22+ years I've been coming to this forum I've never criticized its management because I have never contributed anything more than content. I'll not start now but I will offer an opinion. Based on the obvious functional problems, the long out of date ads, and not-Cobra-related spammy social groups, it appears that the current and projected future income generated by this site is not sufficient to motivate management to spend its time and resources to make it better. I don't say this to criticize management but to acknowledge that interest in the Cobra hobby seems to have waned over the years, and that may be a root cause of the problem. Management may no longer find this site interesting or profitable enough to justify more than the glitchy experience I have come to expect.

And do not fall into the trap of cash donations. Ask those that did on the premise that things woukd get fixed just how much value they received. I heard one person made a sizeable donation and nothing changed. I suppose the position would be "it didn't get any worse"

[eschaider]

This is not a management problem, Tony. It is an ownership problem!

The owner, whom I presume is Brent, stumbled onto something unexpected that spawned a life of its own along with some unexpected cash flow, at least for a while. Like a financially uninformed lottery winner, the site owner took the cash and spent it without reinvesting it into continuing operations.

By the time the money was gone, it was too late; the site had begun buckling at the knees due to a lack of ongoing maintenance. At this point, chewing gum and banding wire are all that are keeping this embarrassment alive. At some point in the not-too-distant future, that saga will also come to an inglorious end.

It will be a sad day for a once vibrant site — a day that did not have to happen. The original site and ongoing membership were/are much better than the owner deserved.

[twobjshelbys]

I also can't imagine that advertising revenue in forums could ever do much more than pay to keep the lights on. Certainly not funding retirement.. maybe a case of beer after expenses

[86Sebring]

as long as no life depends on the site being up, who cares.
I check in once in a while, if its not up, I'll check next time

[eschaider]

Pay attention to Tony's admonition in post #154. Throwing money at this problem is not going to fix the problem. It will reduce the amount of mad money you personally have available for your own Cobra projects!

The website's problems and performance are directly attributable to a lack of maintenance, mismanagement, indifference, and greed. Contributing money to this site is a gross strategic miscalculation.

Remember W.C fields immortal words, "A fool and his money are easily separated."

If you must throw money away, let me know, and I will provide you with a place to send it that will at least say thank you for the donation.

[767Jockey]

There is so much stored history and tribal knowledge on this site, it would be an absolute shame to let the site fade away and go down. For those of us who refuse to wade in the sewer that is social media (me), this is about the only game in town.
I've said it multiple times before but I'll repeat again - I am very confused as to the motivations, or lack thereof, of the owner of this site. On one hand, he seems to have grown disinterested in promoting and maintaining the site, and the advertising revenue seems to have reached about zero, as the ads haven't changed a bit in years. Yet when he's approached about selling the site to others who will inject some time, money, life and vitality back into the site, he apparently refuses to engage. Sort of "I don't want it any longer, but I don't want anyone else to have it either. I just don't get it.

[Ludachris]

Originally Posted by 767Jockey

On one hand, he seems to have grown disinterested in promoting and maintaining the site, and the advertising revenue seems to have reached about zero, as the ads haven't changed a bit in years. Yet when he's approached about selling the site to others who will inject some time, money, life and vitality back into the site, he apparently refuses to engage. Sort of "I don't want it any longer, but I don't want anyone else to have it either. I just don't get it.

Sadly, that's pretty common in the forum ownership world. Either that, or they sell the forum to a large network, who then usually runs it into the ground on autopilot with way more ads.

[S1965C]

There are stable alternatives to explore.


https://www.talkcobra.com/

[undy]

:I guess it's time to remove Brent from my Christmas gift list...

[Alfa02]

I've said this before, and will say it again, this site has been and continues to be the best source of information for our Cobras, to lose it would be a shame.
Now on a completely different note, this Club has come be a source of friendships all over the US and the world, I joked with Brent (EM-0785) Saturday, we could travel this great country and have a friends/club members garage every night for the Cobras to stay in.
We may have to sleep on the floor, but the Cobras would be safe & secure
Cheers TommyRot.

[twobjshelbys]

Forum maintenance is like a Cobra. Or a boat. Never ending money pit.

[eschaider]

I think we need more government control ...

[Kobura]

FWIW. I have experienced no problems and have an old iMac running OS 10.

[twobjshelbys]

Back after 3 days of unreachable.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

Back after 3 days of unreachable.

Kind of like phone service during the blitz.