Ducati Monster Forum

I just tried checking in on the DML to see if there were any stragglers on DucatiMOB and received this message:

You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.

Date the ban will be lifted: Never

I guess someone is checking when we give hints when people ask where everyone went.  I figured I could help out on the DucatiMOB local area site once in a while.  Oh well.  That gives me a better reason to never go back.

If any of you still have valid accounts over there, you might see if you can provide guidance to the stragglers - until you get banned too.  I never gave full links, just hinted that they should place "forum" in front of the .org to get here.

I guess it's fitting that the last post was on the 8th of this month in the "Where'd Everyone Go?" thread.   [laugh]

I check in every now and then, but never post. 

So what did you do, Scott?  C'mon, 'fess up.   [cheeky]

Probably my last ten or so posts on that site, over several months, were giving hints to "lost souls" so that they could find the true Ducati Monster Forum.  Other than the one post with the photos of me burning my DML sticker, I haven't really said anything bad on there.  I've only done that here and on BARF.  ;)

Photos, if you missed the sticker burning:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/scottrnelson/Ducati/ByeByeDML1.jpg (http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/scottrnelson/Ducati/ByeByeDML1.jpg)
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/scottrnelson/Ducati/ByeByeDML2.jpg (http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/scottrnelson/Ducati/ByeByeDML2.jpg)
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/scottrnelson/Ducati/ByeByeDML3.jpg (http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/scottrnelson/Ducati/ByeByeDML3.jpg)

Being evangelical about another forum on a competing board seems not to be received so well.  [laugh]   However, I was shocked when they started banning people for it.  I was content to stay on the DML until they did that.  It sent shivers up my spine, and I bailed.  I completely understand that it might not be proper etiquette to promote one forum on another, but actively trying to stop it was just kinda creepy in my book. 

We even have them beat on google.. We come up first for the keywords "Ducati Monster Forum"...

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=ducati+monster+forum (http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=ducati+monster+forum)

They got us beat for keywords "Monster Forum" though.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=monster+forum (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=monster+forum)

We should change our meta-tags to indicate we are Non-Profit/minimal adverts so that is visible on Google..

I go back and look every coupla weeks.  I was banned pretty much as soon as I resigned as a DML moderator and I don't plan on registering for another account just so that I can pick up stragglers.

A better way might be just to PM people and tell them where we are.  I think there's enough info out there in the MOB section that folks can figure it out.  However, while I generally wouldn't encourage people to try to recruit from the DML to the DMF, for the MOB it's different.  If Bay Area rider are looking for a local club to meet up in person, I think it's only right to tell them where we are if they want to join us for rides or whatever.  It's not fair that they post up on the DML looking for the MOB and are met with a big ole silence.  

The important search is for "Ducati monster."  The DML is the first to appear and the DMF is the third.  Ducati is going to de-list the DML as a DOC, which will remove a link to the DML from Ducati's website.  That might affect the google rankings a bit.  I feel like I shouldn't care about the google rankings or about the DML in general.  But I still kinda do.  :-\  I don't want new riders to google "Ducati Monster", find the DML, and think that the DML is all that monster riders have to offer.  We're a good group of folks and are pretty helpful, something that is not reflected on the current DML.  I'd hate for them to think that the DML is representative of the monster riding community. 

So Scott- THEY have you pegged as an internet PIRATE? How cute you would be dressed up tomorrow as a pirate with a DML sticker on your eye patch! [thumbsup]

I was going back to the old site and using my banner as advertisement to come here but I eventually gave up.

Oddly enough I still have access, even to the stats info, and traffic is well under half what it was.

I go back there every once in a while, but it is like a ghost town. Sad, really.

Seriously.
Has anyone heard anything from Jeff H since his sale announcement? Just curious.

I haven't spoken with him on the phone since we all moved over to the DMF.   We've emailed some.  I got an email from his last week asking how Spain was.  He was in England for a while.  My sense--not from anything he said--was that he is keeping his head down, avoiding any VS schrapnel related to his non-compete agreement, and focusing on monsterparts.com.  I saw that he is no longer an admin of the DML, so mebbe VS let him out of that part of his contract? 

I hope he wanders over here soon.

I hope he does too.  He's a good guy.

Jeff H posted to the old original Micapeak e-mail list in July, so he's still around.  That list list is probably completely safe from whatever non-compete clause he might have signed.

I used to go over there every once in a while looking for a straggler, but all I get are "the sound of crickets chirping in the evening". I think the "grass & weeds" will eventually choke the whole place out, and the DML will cease to be.

That makes sense. For some reason I wasn't even considering non-compete. Thanks, man!