dfk41 I do look at some of the posts. However tempting it may be to post, I have resisted the temptation by not even signing in.

A good example is the our old Vostok thread. It’s losing the relevance, if not already. It’s a shame some experienced long timers don’t even get it. 😊

    CFUK gets around 3 times less posts per day than us. A lot of recent posts have been quite toxic.

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    I’ve not signed in since the move but I’ve used it once or twice as a search engine to get answers to my more “beginner” questions.

    Unsurprising that things have become toxic when the heart of it has been removed.

      Baldrick I’ve not signed in since the move but I’ve used it once or twice as a search engine to get answers to my more “beginner” questions.

      Unsurprising that things have become toxic when the heart of it has been removed.

      I think once the moderators (me Systemic and Rob left), then posting started to return to type, sometimes from new members and also from other members who ought to know better. We would never have let it go that far. I’m quite glad we have all moved on and so far in our community, there has been no need to moderate anything and hopefully it will stay that way. Moderation is one of the least interesting aspects of a forum.

      I think the thing to make absolutely clear to people is: Vertical are a large corporate, they don’t care if the forum dies, it makes no difference to their bottom line. They will show 7 adds boxes per page that change to give 14 impressions. Every page you look at will generate 14 impressions if you spend any time on it. They advertise almost anything, and high value stuff.

      • If you use an ad blocker, they don’t care, the ads are still served and they get paid for the impressions. They make money every time you look, or will once they migrate the forum.
      • If no one ever posts, they don’t care (you have seen the dead forums in the links I gave)
      • The supposed honeypot of data attracts new fish, who join post a few times and leave due to a dead forum
      • The actual data and data quality isn’t important, just the SEO…they keywords used, as it acts like a fishing net when people do searches. Quantity not quality
      • You can’t hurt them or their bottom line
      • They did suffer a massive data breach, but there shouldn’t be any private data on there to concern you

      I didn’t set up this forum to hurt them, or even try to hurt them. I set this up to give us a community space that wasn’t commoditised. I’m fed up with helping forum owners who crap on the membership. I have seen with amazement mention of the good old days by a few, who have no idea of how much the first forum owner crapped on them before selling up to Tait, for a lot of money, and I mean a LOT.

      It might help set an example to other communities/forums…I don’t know. All I do know is, this felt like the right thing to do.

      I certainly don’t want to give Vertical any more data to monetise for their corporate pockets. UK forum, Canadian company, even their taxes are not paid here, and soon the forum will migrate to Xenforo and be a standard “cookie cutter forum” hosted in Canada. They always seem to find volunteer moderators to help paid admins who have 30 forums to manage or possibly much more (keeps their costs to the minimum). I felt sorry for the Moderator with almost 9K posts on the GTA Aquariums forum, she was obviously an active member before they took over, and it took her a while to realise what was going on and stop posting..but eventually the dead forum sucked the life out of her.

      I am sure they will find moderators for CFUK and good luck to them…me I will just look on and shake my head in amazement. The 3 of us moderators managed to save CFUK from closure, make it profitable…We had no choice, and still it was sold, for short term gain and a community destroyed.

      I’m not angry, but after almost 20 years of non-profit in coffee, as a hobby, I do get fed up with the bull I see spouted from all those making money from it. Patrick Rob and I have proved we can run a forum well and create a community space…and we will continue to do our best here..

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          DavecUK well I’m grateful that you and the other guys have done so. I’ve said so in a few posts that I’ve been surprised with the generosity (and patience) of the people in this forum. But it certainly warrants saying so again 😉
          So thank you to all.

          It’s a sad state of affairs where communities can be monetised in such a way.

            Just had a little peep at CFUK, saw a post trying to warn members about Verticalscrote. I’m surprised so many people (including an advertiser) don’t seem to get what’s really happened, and going to happen to that forum.

            They really ought to read this thread…. because that forum dying, is absolutely the right thing to happen. I think VS activities in destroying communities need to be tempered by people realising how easy it is to do what we have done. Especially when free platforms exist to run forums that are not businesses, and won’t be sold out from under the members. VS only want the 11 years of posts. It was very saddening to see a post extolling the good old days and some Christmas globe. Especially when the destruction of that forum really started the day Glenn (1st owner) sold it a few years ago, rather than give it to the members. I was rather shocked when Tait told me how much he had paid Glenn for the forum…and I’m not easily shocked.

            I hope more CFUK members wake up and smell the coffee in the new year, and join us here. I suspect there are still some people who don’t understand why we jumped ship.

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              DavecUK I agree. We do hope the members from elsewhere join us here.

              There is a risk though, some — even some seasoned - members from there won’t hesitate to start a mud-slinging match here requiring

              Giphy - 😊

                DavecUK Your message reminded me to go to the Mara X OPV mod thread and place the following message:

                I doubt it will help much, but can’t see a reason not to do it.

                On a positive note it seems VS won’t even bother to look at and remove all the messages there pointing here.

                  DavecUK Tait told me how much he had paid Glenn for the forum…and I’m not easily shocked.

                  Everything has a monetary value. I don’t think anyone who earns money in order to make ends meet would think twice about selling something rather than giving it away (I’m thinking Glenn here). The outcome, for the seller, is the same: they will dispose of their asset. If they can get money for it, then, they might as well do it, specially if that money would come in handy. Unfortunately, the cycle is then perpetuated: someone (E.g: Tait) buys the forum because he thought it was a good asset and, because he paid for it, he expects it to grow and eventually be sold for more money. I don’t think anyone, unless they have a money tree, would just buy a forum for the good of the community out there. If the buyer hasn’t done the homework to check the forum was in a sorry state beforehand, that, in my book, is plain stupidity. The world of business is cruel after all, and you got to be smart. Of course, because Tait paid silly money for the forum, it’s just natural he would do anything to at least recoup the investment he made initially. We all knew he was not interested in coffee after all. And so he did. For him, whether CFUK went to VS or a coffee-loving bunch, it would not have made any difference. He most likely just sold to the first buyer which showed interest.

                  CFUK unfortunately is now history. I think some posters there are just starting to realise what’s happened.

                    Well I know three people have followed my link here since the 18th December. Not much but hopefully will just continue as I doubt VS will ever discover it. If everyone changes their avatar/signature to point to the forum hopefully the message will get out to more people.

                    Also, it might be a lot of work but you can effectively remove content if you reupload anything you’ve posted there on third party hosts. E.G Youtube videos, google drive, or images hosted on any of the many image hosting sites out there. You could even just alter videos and images you’ve linked to in some cases to redirect here.

                    Glenn built and sold the forum on a community spirit, when in truth, he could not have given a toss. The whole thing was a charade and money go round. They were just hard nosed business decisions designed to take people in and fleece them in the name of community spirit, akin to putting lipstick on a pig. It is no wonder that he took the money and ran, selling out to an owner who cared even less. I am still genuinely surprised that the last owner was able to find a new owner who cared even less than he did…….but, you cannot turn back time……..a .lot of CFUK members only log on once a month and so are probably not aware of what has really gone on.

                    I think the most vibrant thing about Coffeetime, is that the important members, those with knowledge, have migrated across to CFUK.

                    https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

                    I tried to put the link to here on my signature but it does now allow me. I had to make sure it wasn’t a link.

                    • Rob1 replied to this.

                      MediumRoastSteam

                      You’d just have to space it out.

                      After about 5 years or so I finally got around to uploading an avatar and then I found a whole bunch of posts to contribute to, funnily enough, one in every sub-forum of the main board and beyond.

                          Very encouraging the way this new forum has taken off. Lot’s of original members, same topics, good banter, well done all.