Ducati Monster Forum

I was curious just how much the re-vamping of the old DML has hurt its popularity, so I began tracking the number of posts today.

From about 1:30 pm to 6:00 pm today there were 32 posts.

During the same amount of time here at the DMF there were 330 posts.

Again, I'm reminded of the "New Coke" scandal some years back.  You've got the best thing going, so you decide to change it.  Stupid.

The "admin" over there finally pm'ed me about my many requests for a refund.  "He" said he would look into it.

Let me thank again all those responsible for creating this forum.

Interesting #'s NorDog....  I didn't think we would've surpassed 'them' by now, let alone by 10X!  Hehehe....  So glad to be a part of this!  [moto]

A lot of the posts are just squids fighting now also.

I miss new coke  :(

They still have a higher member count, but I think most the people who actually spent time there and contributed have made their way here. Our local board is a ghost town there. Maybe five post since the change.

Yeah, but I'm in that member count as well, but I sure ain't no member anymore.  I'm sure that count includes every guy/gal who registerd years ago and posted 5 times and hasn't been seen since.

I wonder if VS has ever seen this kind of reaction from a particular motorcycle group after they assimilated their forum?

Maybe this is the first resistance for them? We Monster riders are a different breed.  Which i always suspect. We are definitely more evolved then the rest of the forums out there. Hell we have the Monster bike to prove it. [thumbsup]

i am passingly curious as to what sort of reaction their takeovers have garnered on other forums.

What exactly is "VS" ? I mean what does that stand for?  Is that the company that bought the DML and if so it sounds like they have done this kind of thing before.

I've been a member for several years on the DML, I hadnt logged in for a few weeks, I come back and there was ZERO info explaining wtf happened...I was pretty confused.  And I think my vision has been permanently damaged by the obnoxious ads.  [roll]

VS is "Vertical Scope (http://www.verticalscope.com/)." they bought the DML, and a bunch of other forums. they might have a complete list on their website, but i'm not sure.

It occurred to Lance earlier today that he has a lot of moto peeps on his friends list at myspace so he sent
out a bulletin: I am including a response to it too. It covers just about everything. Read and enjoy...

----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From:Lance
Date: May 22, 2008 8:17 AM


Hey everyone, this bulletin goes out to all my Ducati peeps or Duc fans. I hope everyone has safely made the transition
 by now. However for anyone who may have been left behind at the old Ducati Monster List most all the cool kids have
 moved over to the Ducati Monster Forum. If you've been looking around the old site wondering where everyone is here
 is the answer. Linky: http://ducatimonsterworldwide. org/index. Hope to see everyone there, sorry it took me so long
 to send this out, I just don't check myspace very often and it only now occurred to me that this is another way to reach
 those left behind, since any mention of the new board if forbidden at the old place. Have fun, and keep the shiny side up!

Sounds EXACTLY like what happened over at "http://www.msplinks.com/R6messagenet. com in January.  It
was bought up by http://www.msplinks.com(owned by a company called Vertical Scope,) that's going around buying
everything.  The board sold to them, got plastered with ads and bullshit and slowed wayyyyy down.  Then they reduced
 your freedom, your mailbox size, and charged money for "premium membership" to remove the ads & get your freedom
 back. And now, to prevent people from ripping their posts down, you can only edit your posts for 15 minutes after you
 post them originally.

So a member bought a server and started R6central, and we all started telling everyone to go over there, so VS started
 filtering "http://www.msplinks.com/R6Central. com and was banning people advertising the new site.

VS is a joke, and I do see a Ducati Monster link on R6MN, I bet they're the ones that bought it right?

make the beast with two backsin joke.  R6MN had insane traffic every day with 30000 members, now they get like 50-100 posts a day.  There's
tumbleweeds floatin through that board, lol.  Good purchasing & management tactics guys!!!  Power to Vertical Scope!!! 
 Hahaha, jackasses.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share.

Peace man,
Danny

You should have seen it 24hrs AFTER the take-over/"redesigned" of ToB. It was total anarchy and chaos everywhere. Today they have cleaned up all the evidence by deleting posts and banning people that spoke out.

Thanks for the info.  Now I understand.  Wow so judging from looking at their site and what they do I am guessing we are talking about a substantial amount of money that they paid for the DML then huh?

I'm curious about that too.  Who actually owned DML originally?  And is he now involved with DMF?  Gotta feel a little sorry for the VS crew who swoop into town probably planning to make some slight revisions and to keep everyone happy, then they end up with a pile of crap.  Clearly they didn't get a good feel for the community they were moving into.  I wonder how long those advertisers will stay.

No wonder some of the other boards I've seen look exactly the same!  It trips me out that companies wish to make money based on the knowledge and support of the community members.

I can block the ads, but I rather not, so I come here and so far everyone I've PM'm or spoken to has been friendly and helpful.

Thanks to the owners for setting this up  [thumbsup]

If you read the thread "why we're here" it will answer your questions.

The owner of the DML is NOT involved with the DMF.  There was one person that owned the DML, and only one person benefited from the sale of the DML. 

*Personally* I got zero bad feelings towards Jeff (the old owner of the DML), he had his reasons for the sale and we still have our community. 

I went there to delete my account however it would seem I don't exist anyway cos I couldn't log in, was I upset ... NAH, saved me a job.

I stuck around and looked at some of the posts in NMC and it seemed to be a bunch of wankers letting rip at each other and going hard out to piss each other off ... good one guys!!.

The stupid thing is they were like a bunch of kids without the teacher in the classroom.

Anyway, have deleted DML from my bookmarks now and won't bother going back, it was one of the best forums around.   

i still stick my nose in every once in a while to see if any stragglers show up (the 'i haven't been here in a few weeks... WTF HAPPENED' kind).  leave the occasional post trying to inform them of what did happen in the last few weeks.  or i just harass the admin.  it is amazing how much he dislikes the truth [evil]

The admin at ToB is probably some dude in India. Kind of like when you call Dell for tech support.

Good riddance to bad rubbish

VS keeps sending emails to come back to ducati.ms (the other Ducati board they purchased)

I did get a email from ToB to tell me how to use the cool features of the new site - funny I never needed instructions before
to use a website.

i fixed it for yah  [thumbsup]

Many of the "communities" that Vertical Scope decimated have abandoned ship and regrouped on enthusiast run sights much like we have here. Have the others regrouped as quickly or successfully as we have. I doubt it, we were fortunate that the DMF  was built as an "insurance policy"  therefore giving our community a place to go before VS could even get their flag to half mast.

For those of you interested enough I found an interview with the CEO of VS. I find it interesting because he seems completely aware of how and why Internet communities exist. Yet his business practices run in a totally opposite manner. Noting this guys age might be of interest to some as well.

Interview.
http://evergeek.thestar.com/Features/2849.aspx (http://evergeek.thestar.com/Features/2849.aspx)


I guess desire really is the root of all evil.

wondered about this myself. also noticed that most of the TOB sponsors are no longer represented.......? maybe i missed them, or maybe they decided not to pay the premium to advertise with VS.

I would bet that "sponsors" can get a package deal when they pony up to advertise with VS. one (large) price gets them advertising on all the VS boards. that is prolly attractive to the big merchants.

isnt most internet advertising driven by "hits" to a site, or something? if this is true, then every time someone ends up on a VS site due to it goming up on google, the chances of the advertisers getting a hit improve........? so then it has nothing to do with the communitee, or the value of the members experience. instead, it is all about traffic flow.

or maybe i am even more of a moron than my high school physics teacher thought.... [roll]

hehe, i got a new avatar.  he's really ugly so it may not last long   [laugh]

Yep, just got back from a quick trip to the ghost town. I kicked around a bit, but not much sign of life in the old broad... I mean board  ;D

It`s even worse with the time difference for me :o

What I noticed over there is that a lot of the posts seem to be generated by VS in order to increase traffic.
The technical content is zero now, I don't bother to go there no more.

Here's the response to my request for a refund:

"Unfortunately Jeff H was still collecting the subscription money at that time. Any issue you have about wanting a refund should be brought up with him.

Admin"

Talk about BS.

Numbers since 1:30 yesterday...

DML: 99 posts

DMF: 1815 posts

That's about an 18:1 ratio.

how are people seeing the IP addresses of the posters?  i know a few people already called out some of the new members based on IP addresses

Thanks much better

Another member made this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZuy149I9y4

I think it encompasses the situation perfectly  ;D