WBCCI's Forums Down?

[Buttercup]

Ha! - Holiday Inn! I love it. Well, I think it is important to point out that the issue with me registering a domain name was resolved peaceably with me pointing the domain to the new forums. There have been less favorable outcomes for the club - like Region 3 for example who had their domain name hijacked. To the best of my knowledge, nothing was done about that for years.

[wheel interested]

Has it been less than a week between two Airstream forums going down, WBCCI and Save Wally? Now the only game in town is Air Forums which is a great forum but I thought the other two forums took some of the traffic off the main Airstream forum. I have no idea why both folded spontaneously but now thank heavens we have Air Forums to post to. There most be something to be said for staying the course and not going under. I am glad we have a place to express our comments. Thanks Andy!!!

[Andy R]

Originally Posted by LI Pets

Andy, there's a big difference in the current IP's position/attitude in running the club along with his next two successors, they are very different from his predecessors.

That's refreshing. I hope it's true because it would be a LOT nicer around here to have people chatting about all the positive changes instead of all the ongoing gripes they have had in the past years. I wish them the best of luck.

Originally Posted by LI Pets

Also the Committee didn't send him the letter

I would be willing to bet a soda that it was someone on the committee or someone working with the committee asked for the C&D to be issued. Heck, someone even contacted our software vendor & ISP trying to get AIR Forums closed based on some false claims. He was speaking on behalf of the WBCCI because in the signature of his emails to the above vendors it was signed with "Airstream Community Forums - The Original Airstream Owners Club - Come join us!". If it was not the actual committee that was aggressively going after people it was their colleagues.

Heck, look at the damage that was done when they ran off Rob Baker and sent him a C&D for the Birthday bash. Talk about pushing out some of the best and most passionate members and burning bridges. I hope the new guard can make amends with some of these wonderful passionate people who have only wanted to help make the club more modern, fiscally responsible and meet the needs of future generations. Time will tell...

[byamcaravanner]

Originally Posted by LI Pets

Hey Tim maybe you should contact them again and submit your name to be on that standing committee, that way it would be done right.

... or threaten to file a lawsuit... these days that seems to result in a committee position.

[LI Pets]

Originally Posted by Andy R

I would be willing to bet a soda that it was someone on the committee or someone working with the committee asked for the C&D to be issued.

I'll pass on that bet, we all know who it was, he apparently is gone.

One door closes..........................

The IBT current and past, are aware they have to change or there will be a huge drop in membership, perhaps fatal.

.

[Buttercup]

When it comes to me being on any committee dealing with the forums or any WBCCI web infrastructure, I am betting it will not happen. There is one committee member on the ECC as far as I know and that is Charlie Burke. I am not aware of any other qualified people on that committee. I can guarantee everyone reading these forums that I have thoroughly done my part to burn bridges between us over my opposition on the forums and the way it was structured.
That being said, it still does not invalidate my concerns on how they were set up and what the outcome was for them and for the club.

[soldiermedic]

Looks like the WBCCI forum went back online. Here is what I just received via email.

[wkerfoot]

Steve,

I received the same email. I read it as WBCCI is out of the forum business, Charlie Burke has resigned as chair of the electronic communication committee and Gibson has taken the forum private. With no connection to WBCCI. He is now in competition with AirForums.

Bill

[soldiermedic]

Right you are Bill.

Some of the links still point to foums.wbcci.com and the page comes up as a 404 error.

Looks like Gibson is in for the long haul against AIR. No way he can compete though.

Steve

[wkerfoot]

Looking at the visitor page of the "new" forum, there are a lot of posts for a new forum. I wonder if they came from the WBCCI forum?

Bill

[Ganglin]

Interesting choice of names for the new forum - when there is and has been one out there of basically the same name....


Vintage Airstream Forums - News From The Vintage Trailer World!

[Nuvite-F]

Sounds like it's time for another flurry of Cease and Desist letters. Dinsmore & Shohles must be laughing all the way to the bank.

[bugdoc]

Originally Posted by 65GT

The IP's Oct Prez Corner said it all, forecasting what actually happened. He doesn't believe in forums for a communication method and right there alone you can roll back this administration to pre-2006. Change is in the air alright...
__

The IP comment in the Oct Blue Beret was "Forums on the Internet are fine, but for me will never substitute for open discussion, which includes body language, smiles or frowns, and hand shakes when agreement is reached."

I do not see your implication in this statement, but rather a view of the value of personal meeting. As a Member of the Revision Committee we were directed by the same IP to use all forms of electronic media, including the Forum, to inform our work.

In Bozeman both you and I spoke to a previous IBT about the potential problems with the proposed WBCCI Forum, which came to be. All of the problems we both enumerated came to pass and we are now without a WBCCI forum because the current IP, I believe, saw the error of having a froum that did not address the needs of the club and had its own agenda.

I look forward to the replacement, meanwhile we have the excellent Air Forum as a valuable place for input to the Revision Committee.

Tom

[Buttercup]

This is nothing short of a hijacking of WBCCI's forums, nothing else. I do know that the owner of those forums has desired to slay the giant (his own words publicly expressed on various vBulletin admin forums and documented in grievances against him) and now he is going to take a stab at it!
This is nothing short of a grievous moment for WBCCI. The club has been taken advantage of in grand fashion by that man and some of us predicted this from the start. In my opinion, anybody who supports those forums, is supporting only an overpriced used Airstream Trailer dealers dream to shut down AirForums.
How sad for WBCCI.....

[wheel interested]

How sad for WBCCI members, I think. The communication chair resigns and the WBCCI pulls out of the forum without notifying their members, i.e...no communication? You say you want answers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hopNAI8Pefg

[Buttercup]

I do not expect an apology... But really, the WBCCI was raped at the hands of this used trailer salesman - no question. He only got into this in my opinion to legitimise his business - nothing else! WBCCI can recover from this but it will take a lot to earn the trust of the members back.
My opinion - everybody who signed up for those forums ought to immediately request to be un-registered from them, especially if they are a WBCCI member! I am not kidding!
Now, I REALLY wonder if the moderation staff of those old forums are still involved and support the new effort. Lets see how deep the support goes.....
Lets see who the new "moderators" of these forums are... I have a prediction.... Anybody care to hear it??

[wheel interested]

WBCCI censorship was the end of WBCCI forums not ownership by a private webmaster. Don't get so absorbed with other issues that we fail to concentrate on the future of member to leadership communication within the club. Let's not divert attention from the impact of the direction and gravity of the IBT's recent decisions. Leo is correct, this is a major setback. Just in the past five years or so we are looking at the third round of committees that are supposed to bring about relief and modernization. Also probably no less than three serious surveys have been taken and recorded and still as pointed out the only action item the IBT wants to consider is allowing other brand motorhomes into an Airstream only club so they can continue to lead regardless of membership criteria to accommodate themselves and friends irregardless of their duty of guardianship to the WBCCI. This may be a bigger deal to members as another member value just gone belly up without a word but it isn't even a glancing blow to the IBT and their pursuits. It's been a good year for stomping out confrontation and competition for them and it appears to be continuing unchecked.

[Buttercup]

WBCCI put its trust in one person to manage the modernization of the communications for the club. That person put his trust in one person, who was not a member in good standing in WBCCI, to provide those assets to the club.
That trust was misplaced in my opinion. and that is what caused the closure and hijacking of the clubs forums.
Look, this forums stuff isn't the easiest to figure out at times. The owner of those new forums didn't even know how to properly set them up and frequently had to ask for help in getting it going. He even had to ask how to set up his own "Miserable Users" hack for crying out loud!
The WBCCI can come through this hijacking! But it needs to have a skilled team of people to do it. I wonder, how mant WBCCI members would volunteer to be sure that this happens for the club?

[Frank's Trailer Works]

I wanted to thank all of you for MORE good entertainment. I will not comment. I am just going to follow along. Carry on, your doing just great...

[RickDavis]

Originally Posted by Nuvite-F

Sounds like it's time for another flurry of Cease and Desist letters. Dinsmore & Shohles must be laughing all the way to the bank.

But there is only $1000 in the budget for legal again this year.