...is he gone for good....

Well, I for one, am looking forward to the return of both Thirsty, and tmacklin (who voluntarily exiled himself to show solidarity with brother T....).

The forums have been a very, boring place ever since.

Mushtang said:

WAS. It grew large enough to catch attention of someone that wanted to buy it. I'm guessing a profit was made by the seller. A profit is also being made by the new owners.

Woody, do you go to your job every day and do so without ever getting a paycheck? You seem to be very against anybody making a profit.

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What I am against is that making a profit off our personal search info on a dedicated rocketry website! Since the rules say we can't negociate a personal pattern of influence other than rocketry, we should, anyone, should not be subject to adverts pertaining to anything else than rocketry on such said web site.
I'm sure it was sold as a profit for the seller. I'm sure the new owner makes money. I bet he has nothing to do with rocketry!
He's just another spoiled educated ediot taking advantage of the people that have an interest.
Personally, that is corrupt!
Closing it will only make him loose money.
Selling it, if we stand up for our rights, will also prove in a money lose.
The old saying goes, "A king that rules with an Iron fist rules by fear, and has no loyal followers. A king that rules with compassion has the masses follow him the welfare of all".
This is a kingship of teariney, we are subject to things we do not want, just to belong.
At anytime, the king can turn on us without any recoarse of action on our part.
Corruption in it's purest form!

Woody, if you set up a new, free rocketry forum, I'll join. But this is kind of like telling your neighbor what to do with his property. Nobody here is corrupt. This is America. We're capitalists. There is no free lunch. Someone, somewhere is paying for this. If they can turn a profit, that's not a crime, nor is it immoral.

The_Lone_Beagle said:

Well, I for one, am looking forward to the return of both Thirsty, and tmacklin (who voluntarily exiled himself to show solidarity with brother T....).

The forums have been a very, boring place ever since.

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I agree we've been suffering a humor defecit, but I'm not sure about boring. Afterall, there was that Area 66 public self-immolation thing.

Bat-mite said:

Woody, if you set up a new, free rocketry forum, I'll join. But this is kind of like telling your neighbor what to do with his property. Nobody here is corrupt. This is America. We're capitalists. There is no free lunch. Someone, somewhere is paying for this. If they can turn a profit, that's not a crime, nor is it immoral.

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Ahhhhh I agree with you John. The price is not so bad either. Wanna drop the ads? Drop a few $$$$ to make them go away. I find it hard to believe anyone is making a "killing" off this place. Too cheap to pay? Then just shutup and put up. Nobody is asking people to stay. We're all guests here and if decorum is not maintained to the level expected from the provider, leave and start your own group. Kurt

If you can't take the Care Bears there is always YORF with the banned.

+1 Bat-mite
I disagree with some of Austin's choices, specifically using an ad system that pushes content that is against forum rules (political ads, ads for dating services with naughty girls [seriously], etc.). But this is his sandbox and if he wants to do it that way, it's his choice.

I'm free to participate or not. And I'm still here so there we are.

I was a paid supporter for a year. I didn't mind paying to support the site, even if it was lining pockets for someone else's profit. He was running a service I valued highly and used extensively. Though I run ad block, the paid membership gave me ad free android app usage which is valuable to me.

I let my membership lapse due primarily to what seems like much less engagement by him recently. The convenient picture upload button still doesn't work, for example. And if he had given Thirsty a concrete reply early on the situation may not have escalated to a banning. I just get the sense he is harvesting rather than maintaining investing. If or when things change I may re-up for paid membership.

I like the site and the community here, I'm just not quite at the point where I want to pay, beyond my posts that add content. starship Excalibur build thread coming soon.

Marc

Wow- as my Scottish Granda would say-'tempest in a teapot'! I would no sooner approach anybody on the flying field and try to impress my opinions on him than I would the man in the moon. Why would I try to do that here? I like it here. I learn stuff and fixes to the problems I have. I can't live at a launch site and look over everybody's shoulders. Most all of us contribute what we've learned either the hard way or thru innovation. That is what essentially I do here-learn by osmosis. I bailed on the net discussion groups (CompuServe anyone?) a long time ago (if you want to know how small it was-we actually had 'yellow pages' with every web address- I wish I never wouda chucked them- nobody would believe me now!) Darrell got me back online with this place and I've made some wonderful friends both virtual and real. The TRF 'reunion' at SpringFest in Vegas was an eye-opener as to how many of us (who don't know each other by sight) come to these launches. Some of you I'll never meet and most I hope to eventually. There is a true brotherhood here and I don't want to see it torn apart for the sake of some principle like not seeing ads. It's the times we live in. as much as I don't like it. Used to be you went fishing to get away from phones and crowds. My new boss didn't understand that I didn't have a cell phone and didn't want to carry a pager (I did when I was an engineer and it ruined many family celebrations and holidays, etc.) but 'instant access' is gospel now. Mass connectivity, Hive mind, Socialism...take it where you want. It's here, just like the Cloud. But this is a hobby-something relaxing and enjoyful with like-minded individuals who do the same thing-just this one thing. We're not all into motorcycles, Hot Rods, stamp collecting or surfing-those are other aspects that round out an individual. Rockets. Just rockets. Any kind, size shape or flavor. That's why I'm here. Everything else is gravy or not worth bothering about. Nose cone av-bays? I'm all over them! Politicians?-Meh. Advertisements makes you crazy or lets you know of a product available you may have not known about. Been around since the first days of Radio. It's the price of progress as backwards as it sounds. If I have to suffer though some ads to 'talk' to my buddies, I'll do that-gritted teeth and all. I'm NOT saying "why can't we all get along" because we can't-that's unrealistic. But if you walk up to me with a rocket in your hand at a launch-I could care less if you are Republican or Catholic or purple. YOU are a rocketeer-some of the best people around. I have faith we can get thru this and yes- I miss Eric a lot, but he's okay. We have THIS- a rocketry forum for all types and walks of life. I like it here. I hope everybody else does, too. >RANT OFF<

Point being, if this is ruled by a "family forum" rule set, then those adds should also be filtered as such.
If not, than that is corruption on the owners part to make money off add run on the forum.
I see no reason a person shouldn't make a profit off the forum if the income is directly related to it's rules and guidelines.
If those rules and guidelines are crossed by the individual, they are punished.
If the owner does it, to make money, that's ok? I don't think so you corrupt bastard.
Follow your own rules, or throw the rules out the window. Be fair at it you greedy SOB, worthless human being. (To Austin, or whomever owns this forum)

Woody's Workshop said:

Be fair at it you greedy SOB, worthless human being. (To Austin, or whomever owns this forum)

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Seriously dude? Worthless human being? Come on now...

What ever happened to the adage, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?

This large community seems to been taken over by a small number of polarized personalities that think its okay to be complete douches to one another.

In the future, I'll only post things are that are completely self serving, it seems to be the trend around here now. :sad:

With that being said:

Woody's Workshop said:

Point being, if this is ruled by a "family forum" rule set, then those adds should also be filtered as such.

Click to expand...

Don't forget, the "family values" are an old TRF tradition. They were long established and held up by the previous owners (Carl, Troy, Kevin) and the mods. The new owner (Austin) doesn't appear particularly attached to rules like "no politics". With regards to ads, they create more work (filtering out these ads) and probably diminish add revenue. On the other hand, his "stewards" - the mods - still keep up the old values.

I hope this gets cleared up soon, although we are not exactly entitled to it.

Reinhard

Reinhard said:

... With regards to ads, they create more work (filtering out these ads) and probably diminish add revenue. ...
Reinhard

Click to expand...

Greetings Reinhard. I'm curious, having not done any web surfing outside of the U.S. myself, what do the ads look like in your locale ?

Woody's Workshop said:

Point being, if this is ruled by a "family forum" rule set, then those adds should also be filtered as such.
If not, than that is corruption on the owners part to make money off add run on the forum.
I see no reason a person shouldn't make a profit off the forum if the income is directly related to it's rules and guidelines.
If those rules and guidelines are crossed by the individual, they are punished.
If the owner does it, to make money, that's ok? I don't think so you corrupt bastard.
Follow your own rules, or throw the rules out the window. Be fair at it you greedy SOB, worthless human being. (To Austin, or whomever owns this forum)

Click to expand...

Really? That is one of the most over the top and immature posts I have seen in a while. The current owners purchased TRF to make money. The ads revenue is how they do this. How does this make anyone a worthless SOB? Would you have preferred that when Troj tired of running the site that he just turned it off instead of selling it?

If you do not like it maybe you should start your own forum? A colo server, domain name, v-bulletin , and some web programming. Do a little research and see what it would cost you monthly or annually and then see why there are adds.

Can we merge this thread with the other twenty threads about ads so they're all in one handy, easy-to-remember place?

I don't get what all the hubub is about :eyepop: I only notice the ads that contain images of my interests. If it dosn't have an image of my interest I rarely notice the ads. For example, because I looked at carbon fiber products I have an ad from a producer of that product. I actually had to scroll to the top of the page to see it, because I didn't see the ad when I first opened this page.
I remember when I first joined TRF I noticed all the rocketry ads, but I never noticed when the change happened because if I am not interested in the product my brain automatically deletes it and it goes into my brains trash bin (at my age there is more in the trash bin than my brain:wink It would have to be very risqué or fraudulent advertising to offend me to action.
What disappoints me is the personal attacks by TRF Members on other members, Mod., Admin, and the ads themselves. Come on man, there are more important things in life to get riled up about than advertising. If an ad offends you go after the people/company/organization that the ad promotes.

Woody's Workshop said:

Be fair at it you greedy SOB, worthless human being. (To Austin, or whomever owns this forum)

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You've clearly crossed the iine here Woody. Even Thirsty had to learn the hard way when to STOP, even if he was trying to make a point that some of the Ads violated TRF rules (If the ads created porn links I guess the mods would take it more seriously?). But he kept at it after being warned to stop. I agree with the point he was trying to make but not keeping at it in violation of forum rules and using language that he knew better not to. It'll be good to see him back Tomorrow. Interestingly HE did not go over to another forum and trash TRF, unlike some here on TRF.

Anyway, NO PERSONAL ATTACKS

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?123160-Personal-Attacks

This is just a friendly reminder that personal attacks and disparaging remarks absolutely will not be tolerated here at Rocketry Forum. We advocate civil discussion and debate but do not allow it to cross over into insults or trolling remarks. If you see this type of behavior please use the Report Post or Report PM function so we can keep the community friendly and knowledgeable.

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See also this one:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?13110-Rules-and-Guidelines


Anyway, if you were unaware of the rules, now you are.

If you are aware of the rules, then are you purposely daring a moderator to give you an infraction for breaking the TRF rules? Because if you are, I say you ought to get one.

DO TAKE NOTE that some people who have gone over to YORF have "infested" it so badly lately, that finally YORF has had to go to full moderation of all posts in the "Free for All" section. Some of those who break the TRF rules so often and try to push nastiness and political garbage here, accumulated such a crucial mass there there that YORF was finally forced to do something about it.

- George Gassaway

samb said:

Greetings Reinhard. I'm curious, having not done any web surfing outside of the U.S. myself, what do the ads look like in your locale ?

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It depends. On my primary browser (Firefox), there are no ads because of some plugins like Adblock and Ghostery (prevents loading of third party content like ad networks and trackers).
On my secondary browser (Chrome, no plugins), that is only used when I suspect that the above mentioned plugins break a site, I see mostly consumer stuff like cars, travel, electronics stores, banking or browser games. This seems more like a best guess than something that is based on my browser history. All of these ads were localized and either by local companies or international companies with a local presence. There were two exceptions: banggood.com (english ads, RC aircraft related components, probably related to the content on TRF) and Texas Instruments (semiconductors, something that actually matches my recent search history).
Interestingly enough, my Android phone doesn't show anything related to my history either, even though it is aware of the Google related activity on my computer. For some reason it overestimates my interest in business topics (ERP, trading stocks).

Reinhard

On my Android, using the TRF app, I see ads. Due to Adblock on my PC/Browser, I don't see ads on the PC.

The ads on Android break down into three groups:
-Dating websites
-Political ads (Recently, due to election cycle)
-Horseback riding related

None of these three have anything to do with what I use the phone for. It's comical. But if it helps keeps the light on here, it's fine. It isn't worth it to me to do any of the below:
-Renew paid membership to get rid of them
-Do funky Android adblock stuff to get rid of them
-Start my own rocketry forum, called Super Marc's Rocketry Forum, or SMuRF for short

I like it here... I'm staying. But for the love of gosh Austin, find a fix for the picture upload thingie!

Marc

Please don't get my thread locked Start your own rant thread, I don't care, just take it out of here. (this is my longest thread ever )

Guys,

I am going to spell it out for you. The ads are here to stay. It costs $1000s a year to run this site. Ads pay for it.

Negative comments about the Admins and Moderators (many of whom are volunteers) are the very reason why volunteers, who spend multiple hours a day for decades and kept the forum going, get feed up one day and walk away. Many have left because of the abrasive and abusive behavior of our forum members.

Running a forum the size of TRF costs several thousand dollars a year for the server, bandwidth and software updates and that when the operation is totally volunteer. That's more than most folks with a family can afford to pay for years on end without some offsetting revenue. A forum as large at TRF has commercial value. Either your use ads to pay for it or you charge members a fee. It is that simple.

We has a great set up with a volunteer running it. There are not many folks who are willing to invest their own money in such a forum without a future gain. The volunteer gets feed up of the abuse. The members of the forum decided to break him so he sold. He accepts an offer from a group to keep the forum going.

The group runs the forum as a business and hires folks to provide hardware and software maintenance that the volunteer owners used to do. This increases the expense to run the forum and as a result the advertising revenue must be increase to offset the increased cost and to provide the white knight with a return for his investment. Whether or not you agree or like it, it's a fact of life, and without the ads the forum would go away as many other hobby forums have when the volunteers get feed up with the masses and walk away.

So I ask you, can we learn a lesson from this or are we going to make the same mistake again?

CoyoteNumber2 said:

Can we merge this thread with the other twenty threads about ads so they're all in one handy, easy-to-remember easy-to-ignore place?

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Tweaked the post a bit

Closed. Watch the abrasive comments.