Do you think...

[frog]

acf had been around for ages, I think it was the second of Mr Walker's efforts in the wonderful worlds of webbie things.

At this time Future were under threat from a pair of forum members who were supposedly going to take them to court because of the things which were said about them. Future reacted by hiring the moderator from hell. That got everyone's back up - especially when the mod contacted one member's employer to tell him he was on the internet during work time.

acf was very handy and became a refuge overnight to quite a lot of us. It was only later the problems with acf started, mainly fuelled by accusations of cliqueness.

Mr Walker even ran the C+ forum for a time as well as writing for the mag.

 

[mosschops2]

I doubt it will get a mention.

Since BR's inception, there have been 300 new members here, and I recall reading on BR somewhere (but don't ask me where - as apparently I'm physically incapable of finding the same post twice. Oh yes, that's because there are like 30 different places it might have been.) that along with Cyclechat being buoyed by C+ers (no doubt amongst others), some 130 procycle-ers have also gone elsewhere....

I look there occasionally, but cakestop is dead, and the level of input is pretty low.... It's going to take some serious turning around....

 

[Yorkshireman]

One of the editors did mention (in a post that has either been `removed` or is somewhere other than where I thought it was) that the senior management were taken aback somewhat by the amount and `tone`of complaints and were rather alarmed at the number of defections across all boards. As a result all stops were to be pulled out to get everything running as soon as possible (well I read it as something like that :?: ).

 

[Arch]

Doubt it'll be mentioned. The last great exodus wasn't. Nor was the Baby Elephant takeover!

No, I noticed they started to lose their sense of humour at that point!

I'm just hoping the next issue isn't in a plaggy bag, so I can have a sneaky look in Smiths! I never bought it regularly anyway - after a while it all got a bit samey, and not being into racing or anything like that, or having ££££££££ to spend on bikes, there wasn't much for me...

This whole debacle has had a positive aspect for me though. When it all changed, I was pretty depressed, but finding this place, and seeing so many people having the same idea, and the same feelings, makes me feel I was right after all. This is much nicer. Just for once, the ordinary man in the street has voted with their feet (or mice) and said "sod off" to the big corp...

 

[Andy in Sig]

I

I look there occasionally, but cakestop is dead, and the level of input is pretty low.... It's going to take some serious turning around....

I think that with every day this site progresses and it is really beginning to take on an identity now, that it becomes less and less relevant if they do turn it round. What are they offering which is better than what we have hear? As far as I can see the key differences are that it is a site run by a publishing house, which means that it is run in line with a company policy and it has adverts. What benefit in comparison to this site would we get from either?

 

[Rhythm Thief]

It doesn't matter to me if they do turn it around. All my virtual friends are here, I have no particular interest in C+ as such - I just liked the forum. BikeRadar doesn't do it for me and never will, with such a huge memberlist and so many adverts.

 

[Yorkshireman]

I think that with every day this site progresses and it is really beginning to take on an identity now, that it becomes less and less relevant if they do turn it round. What are they offering which is better than what we have hear? As far as I can see the key differences are that it is a site run by a publishing house, which means that it is run in line with a company policy and it has adverts. What benefit in comparison to this site would we get from either?

I agree with you about the way this site is going Andy, considering most of us on here now were from C+ its no surprise that it`s looking very C+ish. If one has no intention to ever use BR then it is irrelevant whether it sinks or swims. What they have to offer (potentially - it seems that there`s a lot more to come besides the forum) is a totaly different forum - it can`t be the same as this one - it`s a different animal. Any benefit would depend on what you/we/I would be likely to use other than the forum itself ie There is a mass of information, articles etc (not just advertising) on site but outside the forum, but if one is not interested in that sort of thing it wont be either use or benefit. I wonder if one of the problems is that Future senior management (who are a pile of smelly dogs doos in my opinion) thought that they were onto a winner by providing a free (to us) all singing all dancing multi-faceted cycling facility for cyclists but what cyclists saw was a muddle of fora that wasn`t even ready to use ... we didn`t see `The Big Picture`. Lets not forget ... Future are in the business of making money, so if they corner the market in cycling publication (and they have been buying ) ...
Just my `take` on it all - and I`m often wrong anyway :?: .

 

[Andy in Sig]

That's all true enough Yorkshireman and of course I have no objection to anybody who frequents both or more sites. OTH I have no doubt that we will build up our own library of knowledge here and that this site will also develop its own character. From a purely personal point of view, BR is beginning to look ever less relevant.