We always have perfect vision with Hindsight

[ellingly]

Ducatista
I took it one way, The japanese and HD bike experience is mainly about Bling, bright and flashy but lacking in substance, it's all about the look, The next sick Sticker kit or Chrome piece, so when VS launched there new look on the Japanese bike and Harley Forums it suited there way of thinking and didn't worry the majority of there memberships to much. VS's way of running and designing boards worked.

Ducati owners are more about the substance, style and the whole experience, which the old DML did very well, VS comes along and launches the minimal substance, max bling/neon look, which had worked elsewhere. Didn't do there homework, And the whole thing implodes. And I would put money on it they still don't know why it happened.

As a side note...
I also notice though that the Ducati.ms Forum (VS owned) is very average now, and I see the same sort of problem with a number of members that I saw with DML after the VS invasion, protesting about the advertising and the outrageous pricing being charged to members and sponsors.
so the same problem has arisen, good members have been forced out, There are still some good members there, but the majority have moved on and the daily post count is now very low.

I suspect that this Forum will grow and will no doubt need some sponsorship to survive, but how the old DML did it was the right way, make it easy for members to find the info they need, when they want it.
Unlike VS, who ram it down your throat, putting the priority on $$$ turnover and destroying the very community they claim they want build, support and nurture.

Gixxer.com got turned from an excellent resource into a pit of squids, imho.

I've owned several gsxrs, way back from an original 1985 to a 2003 model, and they completely ruined the best resource. It was comparable to the DML in its heyday, now it's mainly squids talking about how to get a 240 tyre onto the back, lenghtening the swingarm etc. You used to get that a bit, but it was drowned out by all the useful information floating around.

Obviously it makes VS some money; I don't know if it is a sustainable business model when it chokes forums - you can't keep buying all the forums forever... I guess some of the advertisers (more so on some of the other boards perhaps than TOB) don't care, they just see the raw numbers and go yeah, that'll work for us. Kinda like TV .