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airedale · 09-23-2009, 08:34 PM

I thought this was very important to read! Seems what we thought, is indeed true.

Quote from: Tom Collier

I received your email regarding your conversation with Mr. Gibson. I regret that the exchange was not polite.

One of the items you mentioned was WBCCI's association with the forum. We are linked to the forum only as a customer and have control only for the rules of our site. WBCCI receives the service, at no cost, as a benefit for our membership. Proceeds from the classified advertisements go to the owner of the forum and not to WBCCI.

Our grievance policy states that a grievance is filed between WBCCI members. Again, I deeply regret that Greg Gibson was rude to you. We would prefer that all our members have good manners and public relations skills. I ask that you please not judge our organization based on the actions of one member.

Sincerely,

Tom Collier

This letter was not sent to myself, however, I was able to see it on the savewally.org forums. I felt the members should know who own the forums!

See more at SAVE WALLY

robandzoe · 09-23-2009, 10:06 PM

wow - I'm so anti this new WBCCI forum.. there's been just something about it since it opened.. and now I know why... does this mean that Greg is the owner? If not owned by the club... then I'm not participating to give someone an income!

airedale · 09-23-2009, 10:31 PM

Very True Rob. Well put!

Blue Pearl · 09-23-2009, 11:54 PM

Just remember folks, Andy makes money on this site, look at all the ads here. I say kudo's to Andy, to be able to make money and give us a great forum. I agree, the WBCCI should own their site. I talked to the International V.P. last week about it and the reason they didn't go with starting their own was cost. This was a way of getting a better forum then they had at no cost to the club.

LI Pets · 09-24-2009, 04:47 AM

That's is not correct ..cost?

They are soooo out of touch with the Internet, advise was offered.

This forum software that we all use cost $180

If the club needs to worry about that cost we all need to know where our dues go.

Gibson is their pet, you always love your pet no matter what they do.

dwightdi · 09-24-2009, 04:54 AM

The decision was a very unfortunate and uninformed one. It would seem to violate the conflict of interest requirements of the club's bylaws. The donation of the service should be canceled immediately and the club should pay the $500 to own their own forums. Our new forums would be free of ads that benefit only one member and should be moderated only by people who are members.

robandzoe · 09-24-2009, 05:01 AM

Any money made by the forums should be going to the club... not one member.... oh well.. maybe the IBT is using it to pay for their "in the red" costs of International... I won't be paying for that... I'll remain a member, to stay with the WDCU, but not for an International.. until changes are made. I offered some changes to the leadership, but was told I was cheap, and that if I was truly into it, I'd find a way... WRONG answer!

Airstream01 · 09-24-2009, 08:45 AM

Meh, its just the internet folks, who really cares who owns it as long as it promotes the club. I suppose I'm just too young to care.

**Janet H** · 09-24-2009, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Pearl

Just remember folks, Andy makes money on this site, look at all the ads here. I say kudo's to Andy, to be able to make money and give us a great forum.

Some of the ads here at AIR are rally ads. They are FREE to AIR members - heck we'll even design them for you. The classifieds are also FREE. The key here is to have content that is valuable to members and remembering why we all log in. It's about Airstreams, camping, nice people and having fun.

Buttercup · 09-24-2009, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwightdi

The decision was a very unfortunate and uninformed one. It would seem to violate the conflict of interest requirements of the club's bylaws. The donation of the service should be canceled immediately and the club should pay the $500 to own their own forums. Our new forums would be free of ads that benefit only one member and should be moderated only by people who are members.

Actually - The Charlie Burke had a "Zero Cost" option in front of him and he turned it down. I had offered to set up the whole thing for free in lieu of using Mr. Gibson's hosting - all for free in the interest of the club having and owning the whole thing.
The cost - Free. Software - free. Cost of a classified ad to the member - free. Number of "cooperative links to the vendor providing the service - zero. Number of banner ads that help the club - well, that depends of what the club wants.

Here is a question - for those of you actually using the forums, how many of you are getting blank pages or server timeout messages? Well, I as well as a few others are. A very clever girl may have found the answer. Apparently - there is a nice little hack that can target individuals and make them get blank pages, make them wait a long time for a page to load, make the "Server Busy" message pop up and all sorts of nasty things.
I can't prove it, but I suspect that the powers that be over at those forums may have installed that hack and may be using it to target certain users.
The info is HERE.
I have asked Cindy Reed to look into the matter and have given her all of the information.
BTW - If you ARE having trouble using the forums, please let me know by PM'ing me. I am compiling a list of others like myself who may be blocked or otherwise prevented from viewing the forums. I am a member in good standing in the WBCCI - If this is a "member benefit" and if I am indeed being blocked or otherwise screwed with, should I tolerate this?
IF........

RickDavis · 09-24-2009, 10:51 AM

I am a member of that forum and check it many times a day. I have NEVER had trouble accessing it or received a "server busy" message. It was down several hours this morning for "maintenance and software upgrades"
I hate to think that any member of the public or of the club would be blocked from viewing the public pages however it appears to be happening. This appears to be round 2.

Buttercup · 09-24-2009, 11:38 AM

Yes - and I have just received some more information that the Miserable Users hack is indeed probably installed. Awaiting the proof... What users are attributed, and more importantly, what IP addressses are attributed to those members will be the important key. You can add a user to the forums with any name - say that it was a spammer of sorts and add that to the Miserable users list. And for that user, attribute any IP address - like mine or another outspoken user of the forums - and press the save button. Bam - user effective blocked.
If that is the case, i would be asking for the server logs - the admin logs, the users logs for the forums and I would ask the simple question - why use this hack when you can just ban the IP address? Why screw with people??? Oh wait - I think I know that answer.
I can use a proxy and do to view the forums. It is pretty hard to block them, but there are ways to try. Problem is that eventually, you block the very people you actually WANT to see your forums.
Bottom line is this - it is still Gibson's forums and he can block whomever he wants. What say does WBCCI have?

Over59 · 09-24-2009, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airedale

I thought this was very important to read! Seems what we thought, is indeed true.

Quote from: Tom Collier

I received your email regarding your conversation with Mr. Gibson. I regret that the exchange was not polite.

One of the items you mentioned was WBCCI's association with the forum. We are linked to the forum only as a customer and have control only for the rules of our site. WBCCI receives the service, at no cost, as a benefit for our membership. Proceeds from the classified advertisements go to the owner of the forum and not to WBCCI.

Our grievance policy states that a grievance is filed between WBCCI members. Again, I deeply regret that Greg Gibson was rude to you. We would prefer that all our members have good manners and public relations skills. I ask that you please not judge our organization based on the actions of one member.

Sincerely,

Tom Collier

This letter was not sent to myself, however, I was able to see it on the savewally.org forums. I felt the members should know who own the forums!

See more at SAVE WALLY

WBCCI not owning their own forum is about the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time. This is what happens at all levels of the club when a handful of people need to keep absolute controll.

robandzoe · 09-24-2009, 01:42 PM

Only if I could go on there, and click, and click, to get a percentage off my annual dues based on utilization rate and $$$ I make...... only if.. I know, I'm dreaming, or make the IBT their money back on all their loses.... what a shame.

jimmini · 09-24-2009, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Over59

WBCCI not owning their own forum is about the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time. This is what happens at all levels of the club when a handful of people need to keep absolute controll.

No one ever said the folks that run the WBCCI/IBT where or are in touch with the internet world or the members.

Sadly the new website is as useless to me as the Blue Beret magazine.

But as long as we have units like the 4CU I will just keep having fun with them and let the one that run the WBCCI have their fun thinking they are running the WBCCI.

wheel interested · 09-25-2009, 10:30 PM

Achy Breaky Blues

There's plenty of activity from Gibson's forum now.

WBCCI Forums are not WBCCI's

3streams · 09-26-2009, 07:31 AM

I knew there was something wrong from the very beginning. I was contacted by Greg back in June - before the website was launched to the public- to start a virtual unit via the new forums. I of course said that I was a happy member and officer of the WDCU and had no reason to charter another unit. Then I posed the question: Wouldn't a new unit have to be chartered through headquarters? and got the response: no we could just start a virtual one via the forums! At this point I severed communication with this individual.

The whole thing is bad news- we have a great forum here to talk about everything Airstream- not just WBCCI- and let the units of WBCCI develop their own forms of communication (facebook, yahoo groups, ect).

Doohickey · 09-26-2009, 02:30 PM

Just to let everyone know this is why I dont belong to WBCCI and any other "you do as we say" organization. Quit or shut up... this is lame and getting no where. Stop whinning and get a life!!!!!!

dwightdi · 09-26-2009, 04:29 PM

There are a few bad apples in any organization. It is up to the members to let the leaders know that there should be some corrections made. If the leaders do not do it, then the general membership should make a bigger noise so the leaders are aware how many members are upset. To crawl under a rock is no way to solve the problem.

Skater · 09-26-2009, 06:52 PM

Uh...I actually prefer forums that aren't owned by the organization in question. I find them to be much more impartial. For example, if you're on a forum owned by XYZ Corp, and you say something bad about a product, sometimes XYZ Corp will delete the posts... quite stifling for discussion. Not every "independently" owned forum is better, mind you - some will bow over to demands from the organization in question - but usually they are.

And I doubt he's making money on it. He's lucky if he is breaking even. I say this as someone that runs his own forums for the B-van (which I don't have ads on - I pay for it out of my pocket, because I know I'd never sell enough ads to make it worthwhile) along with two other websites. I pay about $200/year for my hosting, and my sites aren't even that popular - something like the WBCCI forums, with more users, would certainly cost quite a bit more.