Rumor has it that this is the case. Can anyone shed more light on the matter?

WHAT?? RS buying our backstreet hang-out place ? :bawling:
You must be kidding, right? :rolleyes:
It's April 2nd, remember? No more stupid jokes. :stickout
Please tell me you're kidding. Please... :(

people make lots of jokes about rackshack anyway.
It's like they are treating rackshack as MS. Go figures.

Didn't matt try to sell wht a while ago?

Sorry didn't see this thread when I posted this...
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42923

It's not for sure WHT, but sounds like it could be.

Read it here - http://forum.rackshack.net/showthread.php?threadid=4875 - bottom of first post.

:bawling: :eek: :puke: :bawling: :kaioken: :look: :bomb: :crying:

wouldnt that make wht a biased forum then?

Originally posted by 9onlinehost
wouldnt that make wht a biased forum then? That's my worry.

I'm scared guys... :(

Hold me :bawling: !

Me is scared too. WHT must remain carrier/host/company neutral!

Originally posted by Tetraboy
WHT must remain carrier/host/company neutral!

EXACTLY

Not that I don't like RS (on the contrary) or anything...

If rackshack has bought WHT, I wonder if the current moderators will stay ?

I know I'm new here, but I have been lurking for ages, and it would be a shame to lose the mods :(

Also if rackshack increase the advertising income of WHT, it will make it a not so nice place to visit.
The current ads on WHT are ok cause there not so intrusive to our reading/posting on WHT.

If this is true, i can say for one i wont be ever posting here again and i know alot of other people who post here on a regular basis wont post here either. This forum would slowly die out if all the regular posters never came back.

I agree. :agree:
Me too, if I notice that this forum changes too much, I will leave. :mad: :bawling:

Hopefully this won't happen. Don't jump the whistle till the fat lady sings people.

We cannot jump to conclusions, we don't know anything for sure yet...

But in the case that RackShack did buy WHT, I think that we should all pitch in and buy it back from them, or buy it from Matt if they haven't signed the papers yet (it'll probably be too late to do the latter when we find out the truth).

If no one else wants to admin the site when "we" own it, I'd be more than happy to sell my company for $1 and admin WHT :D

Well ok assuming RackShack have not bought WHT.

What other prominent, high traffic, and well respected web properties in our industry do you think it could be ?

I'd definitely leave if the current rules and moderation change, but hell, there are many other hosting discussion forums that could be waiting for something like this. I might be fine with it if the only change was the ubersmith link was changed to a rackshack one.

But it could be just another one of those web sites :stickout . *cough* web hosting radio *cough* :D

as per usual

rackshack farts

everybody chokes

Well If rackshack have bought WHT, maybe they'll buy WHR also, that way Rewdog can make some $$$ :D

Would that mean us DJs get paid to do the shows too?

if they bought WHR, you would have to ask RackShack :)

I think if RS bought WHT, they would be idiots to try to change anything. I don't think they're idiots.

I think the most likely scenario is that RS buys WHT but leaves "editorial control" entirely in the hands of Chicken. Remember that Headsurfer has arranged for RS to make large (high-profile) charitable donations in the past, this would be no different.

If they try to impose restrictions, I'll be leaving; but if the forum (and moderators) maintain their independance then I see no problem.

OK, dumb question I guess, but why would RS be interested in WHT? Advertising?

Their own forums have already taken off, I just don't see the match other than trying to grab more customers.

Chicken, do you know anything?

Good point. :)

Chicken?

Originally posted by cperciva
I think if RS bought WHT, they would be idiots to try to change anything. I don't think they're idiots.

I think the most likely scenario is that RS buys WHT but leaves "editorial control" entirely in the hands of Chicken. Remember that Headsurfer has arranged for RS to make large (high-profile) charitable donations in the past, this would be no different.

If they try to impose restrictions, I'll be leaving; but if the forum (and moderators) maintain their independance then I see no problem.


I kind of agree. RS obviously aren't fools; the success of their business shows this. However, if you have a tool as powerful as WHT in your control, the urge to change it to suit your business may just become too great....

OK. I'll be the first to confirm that I have purchased Web Hosting Talk. Over the past few months, I have had significant discussions with Matt and was quite proud of what he has built. WHT is THE premier properrty for web hosting discussions.

My motives for buying WHT are many and wide ranging but there is one important than the rest: To keep Web Hosting Talk a FREE open forum for all. In the past, an open forum has been good and bad from an image perspective for Rackshack but there is not doubt that the WHT forum has helped build a number of our businesses.

Even you Charles, I am sure, have picked up a few clients here and will in the future.

WHT will continue to remain an independent site. Matt has agreed to staf around for a while and help out. It is my hope that Chicken and the others will also stick around.

There will be NO wholesale changes to the forum other than that the advertising rates will change. There will also likely be a few changes on the format and sizing of the ads. The ad revenue will be used to promote WHT as an open industry forum. We have partnered with a local advertising firm that will shortly begin handling advertising sales. We Intend to keep the level of advertising roughly equivelant to the current system.

It is my sincere hope that WHT can continue to be a FREE open forum for all to participate.

Hats off to Matt and the moderators here who have used hard work and good judgement to build an incredible resource!

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Will RackShack have priority over other advertisers, and will Voxel continue to host it, or will RackShack?

I _sincerely_ hope WHT continues to remain the valuable resource that Matt made it.

---
EDIT: Maybe I'm a little cynical :rolleyes:
---

let me be the first to congratulate you on this matter and especially the first to appreciate your good intention to keep WHT as an open/free forum! Best of wishes to you and WHT to come

cheers,
:beer:

0 : 15

Will RackShack have priority over other advertisers, and will Voxel continue to host it, or will RackShack?

Obviously we'll be advertising Rackshack on the forum but it won't be like the "Rackshack/WHT Forum". We will continue to operate 2 independent brands.

As far as Voxel, that will be up to them. I certainly hope they desire to continue the WHT relationship but we have not contacted them as yet.

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

When will the change over take place?

:cartman: Is this true? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SURELY NOT!. RackShack buying Web Hosting Talk I find it unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow

I don't know what to say.

I would have to say congratulations on wasting money buying the forum. So now your branching out to running forums and are now a advertising company. Its great to see that instead of using the money you spend on purchasing this, you didnt spend it on hiring an additional support representative, or perhaps purchasing a little better hardware.

The one thing that has made this forum so successful is that it has always been independent. For you too think a company can compete in a forum which is filled with companys trying to compete against you is well to say the least stupid.

For instance when webhostingtalk.com started offering ads, everyone complained. Of course there was nothing we could do about it, but imagine how people feel when a company owns it now.

Perhaps you should concentrate on your core business models. You will see that companys who try to branch outside of their core business models, 9 times out of 10 fail.

I thought at one time of purchasing this forum as well and could have but i realized that a community is just that, a group of people with different interest and feelings overseen by a anonymous 3rd party who has no interests in how the community conducts its affairs. Take a look at governments who have attempted to control and financially gain from their citizens.

I have a feeling you have just bit yourself in your own leg. Why do you think no other large company has tried to buy webhostingtalk.com.

Cant wait to see dare 2 compare, are you going to have a check mark next to:

1. Waste money we could be spending on our own customers.
2. Trying to govern the webhosting community, which are your clients.

Of course no doubt im going to get alot of flack for this. But have i ever cared before :)

If this is a april fools day joke, headsurfer is a idiot, as the joke wasnt posted on here or rackshacks forums until april 2nd. So if it is a april fools day joke you may want to make sure you learn what day april fools day is.

cbaker17, I totally agree with you. :)
Wanted to type that one myself, but you know how lazy I am. :D

Could one of the moderators or Matt himself confirm or deny this thread? I think that would help out here.

Wow. Speechless.

If I was paranoid I would say that RS bought WHT simply to drive their competition out of a single public forum.

Since I am not so paranoid I'll say that I think RS now access to all of the data warehoused by WHT which includes private messages, some personal information, and a lot of discussion from their direct competitors.

If I was even a little more paranoid I might scream "industrial espionage", but that obviously means something else -- almost entirely.

I will never again trust that a single word spoken on this board isn't being watched by some RS monkey in a research department.

So long, and thanks for all the fish. I hope to see a new community spring up to replace WHT's now commercial facade and I'd also be willing to contribute to such a new venture financially or by some other means if someone was to make it a go. The key is to keep it a cooperative and not a commercial run venture.

I'm sad. :(

2 cents:
No secret that wht was going to be bought out, the question was by who? Why all the animosity?

How is it different if rackshack bought it than some other hosting company like pwebtech or maybe burst? The chances were very high on the side that some hosting company was going to buy it anyway, and now a host has. It just so happens it is rackshack. Would it make us feel better if instead a very small hosting company bought it?

ANYONE who bought it would inherently have a bias to using it for their interests, not just rackshack. Effectively then, any host who offered to buy wht that we did not know about should also be the target of these remarks.

The only thing that I am concerned about is who will moderate the forums. Will the current moderators remain?? (I hope so)

If any of "RackShack's People" are to become moderators, how are we to ensure that other companies posts aren't modified or edited (or the like)???

Headsurfer, here's my suggestion ( I hope everyone agrees :) )

I suggest that you stay as a "normal" user on the board, meaning you can't moderate or directly admin the board. You will still be the owner, but doing it this way will calm everyone's nerves about the whole situation.

If Matt doesn't want to remain as a moderator and administrator, make it Chicken. This would keep the current independance of the forums and again, would dissolve any conflict that arises out of this whole issue.

Just my thoughts....:rolleyes:

Will the forum rules stay exactly the same? What if someone posts something bad about rackshack, will it dissapear? Will you still allow your competitors to make posts in the advertising forums?

I would feel much happier if someone totally independant bought it.

I hope they did buy it for headsurfers sake, as if this all turns out to be some joke. Hes going to have alot of people dislike him even more then they do now. If its not true hes pulled a lie not a joke.....

I look at it as being what I call a "prestige property" for Rackshack. That is, similar to a wealthy attorney buying a baseball team or newspaper/magazine who otherwise would have nothing to do with it, but likes the idea of owning something high-profile and "fun".

I do hope this is the case and WHT will continue unchanged

I say: Let's all move to HostingDiscussions. :)

Originally posted by allending
2 cents:
No secret that wht was going to be bought out, the question was by who? Why all the animosity?

How is it different if rackshack bought it than some other hosting company like pwebtech or maybe burst? The chances were very high on the side that some hosting company was going to buy it anyway, and now a host has. It just so happens it is rackshack. Would it make us feel better if instead a very small hosting company bought it?

ANYONE who bought it would inherently have a bias to using it for their interests, not just rackshack. Effectively then, any host who offered to buy wht that we did not know about should also be the target of these remarks.

I wouldn't like WHT being bought by any hosting company, I still say that it is a community and should be owned by the community, make someone an administrator and everyone donates to keep it alive.

I will again say, I have no problem at all donating $10 or $20 or more each year to WHT; multiply that buy the maybe 500 people that would donate and you could get at least $5000

Originally posted by voxtreme-matt
I would feel much happier if someone totally independant bought it.

Of course what you say is correct matt.

But in all honesty, what was the possibility of someone totally independent and not connected to any hosting company buying it? What group reads and knows about these forums the most in the first place? 1. Web hosts 2. People that are looking for web hosts

Group 2 probably had too little money to buy WHT, so that leaves group 1 :erm:

in this the only answer would be time will tell

Originally posted by cbaker17
I would have to say congratulations on wasting money buying the forum. So now your branching out to running forums and are now a advertising company. Its great to see that instead of using the money you spend on purchasing this, you didnt spend it on hiring an additional support representative, or perhaps purchasing a little better hardware.

The one thing that has made this forum so successful is that it has always been independent. For you too think a company can compete in a forum which is filled with companys trying to compete against you is well to say the least stupid.

For instance when webhostingtalk.com started offering ads, everyone complained. Of course there was nothing we could do about it, but imagine how people feel when a company owns it now.

Perhaps you should concentrate on your core business models. You will see that companys who try to branch outside of their core business models, 9 times out of 10 fail.

I thought at one time of purchasing this forum as well and could have but i realized that a community is just that, a group of people with different interest and feelings overseen by a anonymous 3rd party who has no interests in how the community conducts its affairs. Take a look at governments who have attempted to control and financially gain from their citizens.

I have a feeling you have just bit yourself in your own leg. Why do you think no other large company has tried to buy webhostingtalk.com.

Cant wait to see dare 2 compare, are you going to have a check mark next to:

1. Waste money we could be spending on our own customers.
2. Trying to govern the webhosting community, which are your clients.

Of course no doubt im going to get alot of flack for this. But have i ever cared before :)

Nicely put. I totally agree with you. I am afraid that this is just some kind of a Promotional Stunt. I mean, why else would HeadSurfer buy it rather than for financial gain. Just about the only time he comes around here is to post the odd ad in the Web Hosting Special Offers forum.

Absoulutly no offence is directed towards RackShack but I can't seem to figure out any other possible reason why he has purchased WHT. Some of you may not agree with what I have just stated but I will stand by this statment.

~James

-----
Will the forum rules stay exactly the same? What if someone posts something bad about rackshack, will it dissapear? Will you still allow your competitors to make posts in the advertising forums?
------

The strict fair-play rules will of course still be in play.

------
What if someone posts something bad about rackshack, will it dissapear?
-------

The forum will remain impartial.

To the end user the change will be transparent. It will still be WHT, Robert will run the site as an independent operation.

Let's avoid being too paranoid, ok?

Headsurfer tells us that MattF will be staying around for a while; he also tells us that he wants Chicken et al to remain. He further states that "there will be NO wholesale changes other than advertising rates".

Unless I'm missing something, this means that
1. Headsurfer is not going to suddenly become a moderator.
2. People will be able to keep on advertising (in the appropriate forums) as before.
3. The rules aren't going to suddenly change (except perhaps to remove the foolish stuff? April 1 is over, guys.)
4. Posts aren't going to be censored just because they criticize RS.

One thing to keep in mind... this forum can probably pay for itself in the long term from advertising revenues. It is not necessarily a bad investment.

I don't believe sh*t of what you 2 are saying/promising here. :bawling: :mad:
Welcome to hell, folks... :devil:

Originally posted by .::DefCon::.
Welcome to hell, folks... :devil:

...bit extreme maybe? :rolleyes:

Congratulations headsurfer and Matt for making the sale.

No complaints here, keep up the good work :cool:

1. I haven't seen any changes in the forum yet. (re moderating, bias, etc)
2. I might not see any changes even in the future.
3. I will wait and see.
4. Do we really have to do the ballsy thing and just leave just because Rs.net bought wht without even testing the waters to see if the forums will actually get worse first? If so, then we are making presuppositions not based on facts.
5. Why attack headsurfer and call him names when he has been totally civil? This is certainly very mature.

Matt made an offer for someone to buy wht. Headsurfer did. It was an open offer. Me you Microsoft , thousands of other people, and my grandmother could have made offers. It was an open market. You dont just go around lambasting people for buying something that someone offered.
That matt decided to go with rs shows that headsurfer made the best offer.

Originally posted by allending
Me you Microsoft , thousands of other people, and my grandmother could have made offers.

Are you saying that your grandmother isn't a person? :D

Originally posted by cperciva
4. Posts aren't going to be censored just because they criticize RS.

The true test will be if this thread survives the change of ownership. I suggest we all bookmark it so we can keep tabs on it. :D

Originally posted by cperciva


Are you saying that your grandmother isn't a person? :D

She is! :p

But seriously,

My motives for buying WHT are many and wide ranging but there is one important than the rest: To keep Web Hosting Talk a FREE open forum for all. In the past, an open forum has been good and bad from an image perspective for Rackshack but there is not doubt that the WHT forum has helped build a number of our businesses.

Headsurfer himself says that he intends to keep WHT open. Can't we give him a little benefit of the doubt, and wait to see how it pans out before just packing our bags? Am I missing something?

I am surprised why people are surprised about this. You all know that Matt had planned to sell WHT since months ago. Who do you think Matt will sell this forum? To somebody "independent of webhosting", and what will it be? A car dealerhip (which have nothing to do with WHT)? An individual (which will have no money to buy this forum)? You all know that whoever buys this forum will be somebody related to web hosting industry and may in fact be a web hosting provider. There is no surprise for me, and not for all of us. We have expected this to happen, one day, sooner or later.

And also, as cperciva said, let's not being paranoid right now ...

cheers,
:beer:

Well, it was fun while it lasted

We all knew WHT was for sale, and not everybody could have stepped up to the plate but a company with allot of $$, RackShack is on of those companies .. I remain to see if this is to be another propaganda site for them, if it does .. well, it's so long to an old friend

I totally understand Charles reaction, as mine was the same, we allways loved WHT, even with all the nuts comign here and posting the most stupid of offers, it was allways a "neutral" ground .. will it remain the same ? .. As much as Matt and Robert tryes to assure us, I truly dont' believe so.

hey, maybe it's time to revive hostcoalition

Im not suprised, if i was matt and was offered enough money i would sell it to rackshack too. But having rackshack own the forum can not in anyway shape of form make this a better place, it only serves a companys interests. That imho doesnt make this a community anymore. Furthermore someone presented the scary though that rackshack can and prob. will mine all the information from thousands of peoples email address's to thousands and thousands of private messages.

All in all this could create a terrible public image for rackshack.

I believe I like most will have to sort through this. My emotions ranges from concern....always concern about changes....to anger...because others were never even considered in the process. I, like many others, contacted Matt through email, pm, forum, every way possible, but after a very initial reply never received the courtesy of any other reply. I had a group put together (very sizable) all willing to keep it totally independent. If that had not have been satisfactory, I was prepared to pay for it myself. But the biggest complaint is that we were totally ignored from almost the time the initial notice was posted.

Frankly, I haven't decided what I will do....continue here as I have, find an alternative, or open a new forum. Mostly, trying to digest it all.

However, I do know that if it becomes a vehicle to benefit rackshack (such as predominately Rackshack advertising), I will no longer feel comfortable.

New advertising rates concerns me....could they be prohibitive for anyone but rackshack?

And, the very fact that it was posted on the Rackshack forum as a rackshack purchase contradicts independence. There is clearly no effort to keep the relationship hidden in any form.

So....taking my worried self away to take a few aspirin...maybe a tums....and try to figure out the meaning of all this.

Originally posted by voxtreme-matt
EDIT: Maybe I'm a little cynical :rolleyes:
--- As an active participant in the RS forums and a sometimes active member here, I don't see why anyone would worry about what HeadSurfer would do with this as far as editorial control.

Hell, he doesn't even edit his own forum very often. I've never seen it done where someone was bashing him.. In fact, the only times I can remember something being edited was when it was something that was so tasteless that it was requested by several members that it be removed.

If their own RackShack forums allow open discussion of their own company in front of all their clients, current and prospective, I seriously doubt that any control would be effected here.

Personally, I don't really understand the move, quite frankly, what I see here mostly is host bashing of this one or that one and some helpful information in the cobalt section..

but it does not worry me.

Shortz

All i can say is, yeuck!

:bawling: :angry: :kaioken: :sickface: :erm: :uhh: :argue: :disagree: :mad:


I think those icons display my feelings very well.

Anybody know how to delete an account around here? :mad:

As long as everything remains the way it is and headsurfer doesn't moderate, I'm staying...anyone else care to side with me??

I think that it is all just a promotional stunt, and just another way to try and beat the compitition. Alot of major hosting companies hang around here so RackShack will have acess to alot of fragile information. I think this is just going to give RackShack a bad name in the end.

I think Matt should step in and say if this is true or no.

Originally posted by TimPD
I think Matt should step in and say if this is true or no.

he's already commented-it's on page 4 about 1/2 way down...

:look:

its april 3 here. :o

Whoa . . . . . .

I start readin' and get done with a page and another page is added.

Finally, I'm caught up and can post. :D



I'm Stayin'


'nuff said

Can you imagine how high the Setup Charge will be to post on WHT/RS Forums now?
:stickout :D :stickout :D

Everyone is blaming or badmouthing RackShack.

What ever happened to Matt? it seems everyone is still choking up to him like his a GOD.

After all, it takes two to complete a sale and it seems in the end, matt didn't give a rats ass who he sold to. Like I said manytimes, we inquired about asking about the sale, he never responded.

Its a two way street, if you want to bad mouth Rackshack, better up the ante on matt as well

You know, when Matt announced he was ready to sell WHT a lot of users talked about the possibility of buying it themselves; including many who are hosts themselves. Of course every one of them convinced that they'd be able to run it with no bias in spite of being in the business.

So why is this different? Because it's RackShack? Sure, everyone knows the bigger the company the more evil they are! Would it be less objectionable if WHT were purchased by a reseller with five customers? What evidence is there, other than their having been successful in growing their business, that anyone at RackShack would be more biased than anyone else?

Why is there anything inherently wrong with the forum being owned by or run by people in the hosting business? Hostcoalition is run by a host, WebHostingRadio is is run by a host...

On a slightly different tangent:
And, the very fact that it was posted on the Rackshack forum as a rackshack purchase contradicts independence. There is clearly no effort to keep the relationship hidden in any form. I disagree with that strongly -- making it public proves that there will be bias? You'd rather there were an effort to keep the relationship hidden? Yeah, right... imagine the firestorm if it were found out that RackShack's management "secretly" purchased WHT! Talk about a no-win situation.

And... Furthermore someone presented the scary though that rackshack can and prob. will mine all the information from thousands of peoples email address's to thousands and thousands of private messages. This from another host. Is that what you would do if you owned the forum? Of course not... so why do you think that someone else would? They "probably will?"

Personally, I plan on staying. Nowhere specific to go anyway. But I have read many posts in this thread from people concerned that RS will have access to tons of information within profiles, PM's, etc. That is true since it appears they are taking over control of WHT. However, unless they specify in a Privacy Policy here how they intend to use that information, if they use it in any unethical or undocumented way without making it known first, they become liable to lawsuits. I'm not particularly worried but will keep an extra eye on how things operate in the future.

Your missing the point, the point is whether it was rackshack or intenseinfo.com or spashhost it would be wrong. The only way i would be ok with it changing hands would be if it went to a individual who was attempting to make money off of ads and not affiliated with a hosting company period.

This has nothing to do with rackshack other then the fact they are the ones who decided to buy it.

Originally posted by AlaskanWolf
Everyone is blaming or badmouthing RackShack.

What ever happened to Matt? it seems everyone is still choking up to him like his a GOD.

After all, it takes two to complete a sale and it seems in the end, matt didn't give a rats ass who he sold to. Like I said manytimes, we inquired about asking about the sale, he never responded.

Its a two way street, if you want to bad mouth Rackshack, better up the ante on matt as well

I agree ;)

cbaker17: I agree also, a hosting/dedicated business should have not bought out WHT.

I hope all goes well, but we'd have to think twice before sending emails or private messages through this board anymore :(


Life goes on people :eek:

... but if anyone were to offer me the space/bw, I'd gladly setup a new bulletin board. I'm not a webhost, just an independent programmer trying to eek out a living.

The reason I need the space/bw is my sites are currently stationed at RS and I don't think anyone (excluding myself) would appreciate the irony. :D

Mass panic among the masses!

I find this interesting. I am not sure what my opinion is here, but I find some of the posts interesting.

No offense meant, Carlos, as I count you as a friend, but you are referring people away from WHT because it is now owned by a host and referring them to HostCoalition which is owned by a host. I know the owners of HostCoalition well and agree that they do not take advantage of their ownership there, but we have no evidence that RS will here. I am an RS customer and have been on their forums a lot and you can go there and read the good and bad about RS. They do not delete the bad.

Somebody suggested HostingDiscussions.com. I note that some if not all the moderators are employed or affiliated with hosting companies. Seems that this is not much different.

In short, WHT was for sale, RS bought it, and only time will tell what that means.

I am probably going to get flamed for this but here goes. I am going to take the wait and see approach before I do any complaining about the change. I know none of us are real happy when change occurs but sometimes it turns out for the best.

From my past observations the Head Surfer has been upfront and honest. I have seen where he takes criticism quite well and acts on it in a positive fashion. He believes in everyone getting a good value for their dollar and since he plans to keep WHT basically free then I believe we are getting a great value. The unfortunate fact is for WHT to survive financially it has to become more self supportive and the financial backing of RS will help it survive.

Lets not forget how WHT has helped all of us in the past, we all need to try to continue to give back and to help make it work for the future members that will continue to come here for knowledge. It would be sad for all of us not to at least give it a chance to transition before we all throw in the towel and go elsewhere.

Don't get me wrong, if things get ugly and it changes for the worst then the one way to help motivate positive change is not to visit any longer but it would not be fair to throw in the towel before any negative changes have actually taken place.

I would suggest to all to just give it a chance!

And no I am not a RS customer :)

well i can open a forum like this one. i'm an independent :D

Hi All,

I realise it is difficult to understand what will happen now MattF has sold WHT but we can only wait and see.

I have faith in MattF, and I am sure nobody will be running around WHT reading your private messages or invading your privacy, after all MattF has done for this forum I dont think he would simply let people run all over it and ruin everything he has created.

As far as I can see RS has purchased the rights to own the forum, therefore as far as I can see they will take the earnings from the advertisements placed on the site, they will also probably have the advantage of being able to place their own adverts on the site but I can only speculate on this.

I am sure any complaints about them will not be removed from the forum, if they do remove them then I for one would not continue to moderate the forum, and I dont think many members would remain if it were to happen. Therefore abusing their status would simply be to shoot themselves in the foot, they would end up ruining their investment.

So people, all I can ask it that you stay faithful to WHT, dont leave simply because of a simple buy out, check out what the future holds and if it does turn sour then you can go about cursing RS and WHT, I for one will be sticking around to see what happens in the future.

Long Live WHT ! :)

well, i just read thread completely,

after reading first page, i thought it was april fool but second page turned out to be an breaking news for me.

as some one above suggested wait and watch policy will be good however i will no longer be doing PMs.

congratulations to Robert Marsh. :)

i am learning lots of things from you. ;)

BTW i usesually don't visit other forms, only come at lounge for chit chat. :D

Hi,

I'm still new here. I didn't know this place was for sale. Could someone share info or a link on *any* of the following? Thanks!


What/when was the offer to sell this forum?

What were the reasons for the sale?

Is operating the forum a money losing effort due to the cost of doing so .vs the revenue that one can get from advertising and whatever? Numbers?

What was the asking (or even sale) price? Even any ballpark price ranges talked about; i.e. what would it cost to buy a place like this?

Also, what would it cost to operate this place on an ongoing basis? Does advertising (or other) revenue cover the operating expenses?

Thanks, because I've grown quite fond of this place and am very curious. I hope it continues to be a great forum.

Thank you,

Louis

Congrats HS!

stlouislouis.

AFAIK nobody knows anything about the sale, i think its covered by an NDA and only MaffF or the buyer can tell you what you want to know.

I think some people are missing the big picture here. While I doubt things will change much (much less degenerate into anarchy) I can certainly sympathize with those who decide to leave. If Microsoft were to buy out a browser forum, I certainly wouldn't expect the Netscapes, Mozillas etc to stick around.

That said, this is a good place to vent as you can be sure the suit(s) at RS will be following this thread closely, and perhaps shape their policies accordingly.

Some of you folks need to go back to looking for your black helicopters..... put down the cool-aide!!

Motivations are a strange thing. RS buying WHT may confuse most of us but does anyone really believe all of the hysteria being stirred up by a few regualr posters here today?

I think that the true damage to WHT is being done by folks that are now bashing WHT, Matt, Robert and RS. These critics are the ones that do NOT have WHT best interests in mind!!! You guys know who you are.... so just keep on bashing and keep on with your conspiracies. You will eventually succeed and take down WHT if allowed to continue.

Everyone should take a hard look at the critics and what their motivation is..... you can be sure that they are looking out for themselves... not the community!

I am with you Charles, if that is true, I am gone.

Originally posted by indyjon
I think that the true damage to WHT is being done by folks that are now bashing WHT, Matt, Robert and RS. These critics are the ones that do NOT have WHT best interests in mind!!! You guys know who you are.... so just keep on bashing and keep on with your conspiracies. You will eventually succeed and take down WHT if allowed to continue.

Very well said.

Originally posted by CRego3D
Well, it was fun while it lasted

We all knew WHT was for sale, and not everybody could have stepped up to the plate but a company with allot of $$, RackShack is on of those companies .. I remain to see if this is to be another propaganda site for them, if it does .. well, it's so long to an old friend

I totally understand Charles reaction, as mine was the same, we allways loved WHT, even with all the nuts comign here and posting the most stupid of offers, it was allways a "neutral" ground .. will it remain the same ? .. As much as Matt and Robert tryes to assure us, I truly dont' believe so.

hey, maybe it's time to revive hostcoalition

I'm with you and Charles, I wasnt going to comment on this at all but changed my mind rather quickly...

If everything will stay the same and the ownership change will remain transparent to the end users, what was the WHOLE PURPOSE of bringing this to the public??? This could have taken place without any announcement and nobody would have known the difference if this was TRUELY the case!! But it wasn't so care to explain what the motives were behind this??

Have any of the RS bashers ever taken a look at RS forum?
If you ever do, you will realize that RS is hardly ever moderating the posts and mostly they do it if asked for by the members of the forum.
I even see posts in this thread, like this being a bad move for RS and 9 out of 10 businesses go out of business when the start branching to another business.
RS should be spending their money in "better places"
You're saying something like better hardware.
like what? The only "better" hardware missing so far could be SCSI
what else would you consider "better"
Have you seen the servers they offer and the price they offer it for?
Who are you to tell RS how to do business?
How successful are you running your business?
What if this is only a hobby for the HS and he doesn't even need to make money of it?
Another post says RS will make all this money of advertisers on WHT.
If WHT would generate or be able to generate that much money from advertisers, the owner of WHT wouldn't have had to sell it in first place.
It's as easy as get out if you don't like it, there is enough room on the internet to open another forum.
But if you make your decisions based on not proven assumptions, I must say you're a very poor decision maker.

How good competitors can and do work together has been proven by RS forum.
Most likely 90% of the members at RS forum are web hosts helping each other and not once have I seen that one host is flaming another for his/her service, support or whatever.

So, wait and see, you are in no way forced to stay here if you don't like it.

Cyborg

Ps. To the WHR host.
I was listening to your show, because I thought I would hear something informative, but all I hear is: you making fun of RS support people like Brian. What has he's got to do with all this?
I also would have liked to call you, but while you where announcing your phone number 5 times during the time I was listening, I couldn't understand it once.
I first thought it's me, since English is not my native language, bur after getting my neighbor to listen and he couldn’t understand it either, I would say if you would like people to call you, announce you phone number slowly and in clear English.

Originally posted by DigitalXWeb


I'm with you and Charles, I wasnt going to comment on this at all but changed my mind rather quickly...

If everything will stay the same and the ownership change will remain transparent to the end users, what was the WHOLE PURPOSE of bringing this to the public??? This could have taken place without any announcement and nobody would have known the difference if this was TRUELY the case!! But it wasn't so care to explain what the motives were behind this??

Its a lose lose situation then. If everything was kept behind the scenes and in secret, then some people would be sure to say that the very secrecy proves that headsurfer had ulterior motives in this purchase when it was found out (and it would eventually).

Personally, I am going to just wait and see what happens with the forums. Who knows, nothing much might change.

Originally posted by DigitalXWeb
This could have taken place without any announcement and nobody would have known the difference if this was TRUELY the case!! But it wasn't so care to explain what the motives were behind this??

And so when it was leaked 6-8 months later we would mass hysteria again... because RS secretly owned WHT!

Sheesh.

I think we should all calm down and take a wait and see attitude. You know what they say if we ASS-U-ME what will happen.

While I am not a RS customer, I have been looking through their forums to learn about dedicated hosting and I have been amazed at the amount of abuse that HeadSurfer puts up with. If they will allow that kind of freedom of expression on their own branded forum, then I can only hope that they will be even more dedicated to keeping WHT an open forum allowing free and uncensored expressions of opinion.

HeadSurfer is not stupid. WHT is an asset because it is an unbiased place to share information. He knows that if he changes this, we will all jump ship and find a new forum. Then WHT will be worthless to him and his company.

Again, let's all calm down and see what the future will bring.

Originally posted by DigitalXWeb
If everything will stay the same and the ownership change will remain transparent to the end users, what was the WHOLE PURPOSE of bringing this to the public??? This could have taken place without any announcement and nobody would have known the difference if this was TRUELY the case!!Besides, as allending pointed out and as I did in an earlier post, the fact that secrecy would have been a very bad PR move and created even more paranoia than exists currently; keeping a change of this significance private would have run completely counter to the way WHT has always been run.

When the site moves between servers, users are told. In fact, when we haven't told within a few hours of a move being apparent, people have panicked. Every detail down to the specifics of the hardware is public information. Who owns the site, and where he lives, etc., is openly available. When Matt began considering accepting advertising, he posted about that possibility. When he thought about selling, he did the same.

Members here know the details. That's good. Now people are suggesting that not keeping secret a very material change is bad.

To worry that things might change at the same time you are worrying that they haven't is the pinnacle of paranoia.

Cyborg you have 7 posts and you already attacking the regulars???? Too comment to your post which was off the wall:

1. Rackshack regularly buys cheap hardware or hardware which is being liquidated, headsurfer adv this, i wouldnt call that quality, futhermore compaq system in themselves are not known for quality. ALso most of the hard drives they have are 5400, etc etc etc..... But i wouldnt expect a whole lot for the price they offer it at.

2. If headsurfer is in this as a hobby, well thats just a rediulous statement, no one should run a business as a hobby.

3. As for us not having to come here anymore your right, and thats going to be the case, butyou sound like a idiot yelling at rewdog for what he does on his show, how about you JUST DONT GO THERE.

4. Infotainment calls such as the one made to rackshack, are for entertainment, i find them funny, everyone else i know finds them funny, if you dont, well DONT LISTEN.....

Once again another person not understanding this has nothing to do with rackshack, but simply to the principle. Rackshack was just the one to buy it.

Originally posted by cbaker17
Once again another person not understanding this has nothing to do with rackshack, but simply to the principle. Rackshack was just the one to buy it. [/B]

Well said.

I think it just makes it worse for rackshack clients to come here and say how great the RS forum is.

Also I think the sale is better in the open than in private, because as someone already said - people would be more annoyed if it was done behind everyones back - and they find out.
But having said that I understand the people that say it would have been better if we didn't know about it, cause we would've just assumed the forum would never change.

Wtf did Matt sell the forum anyway?
ALL the rackshack newbies are gonna start complaining HERE, and posting support questions HERE.

Well cya WHT, i'm logging of until RS drops it.

Originally posted by Shyne
Wtf did Matt sell the forum anyway?
ALL the rackshack newbies are gonna start complaining HERE, and posting support questions HERE.

Well cya WHT, i'm logging of until RS drops it.

Thats what were all dreading, the day that happens WHT will be no more :(

ALL the rackshack newbies are gonna start complaining HERE, and posting support questions HERE.Thats what were all dreading
And that'll be a change? Uh... where've you guys been?

Yep, last thing we want is for people to start posting support questions here!

Cyborg you have 7 posts and you already attacking the regulars???? Too comment to your post which was off the wall:

Hmm, let me see???? Ohh, does this mean I have to have more then 7 posts to have an opinion on this forum?
Could I get more posts by simply answering: "Yeahh", "Great" or "that's it",
to 90 percent of the posts in this forum?
I also was not attacking anyone personally (or do you see me using names?)
I stated my opinion to questions/statements made.

1. Rackshack regularly buys cheap hardware or hardware which .............

They don't necessary buy cheap hardware, they might buy expensive hardware for cheap prices (note the difference)
RS started out with Cobalt Raqs and still offers them, what are you offering your customers?

If headsurfer is in this as a hobby, well thats just a rediulous statement.

Where do you see the "statement" in that sentence?

But you sound like a idiot yelling at rewdog

Now you are attacking me personally, but since I don't get involved in flame wars, this is your lucky day.
BTW where do you see the "yelling"??????

Infotainment calls such as the one made to rackshack, are for entertainment, i find them funny, everyone else i know finds them funny, if you dont, well DONT LISTEN.....

One post states: "If you want more information on RS buying WHT, come to WHR and listen to the show".
That's why I went there in first place.

Once again another person not understanding this has nothing to do with rackshack

I understand perfectly, that's why I had to post my opinion.

But as you probably know, opinions are like A$$II0II&S, everybody got one and they all stink.

Cyborg

Neither for or Against. (sorry, I told rackshack I wouldn't post, cause I sent an e-mail...but hey...I gotta)

First. Until they totally destroy the forums you can't blast them.

If it remains impartial then everyone who has posted that they will leave won't. You know and and so do I. I for one have gotten lots of business of of WHT and would like to continue to do so. Instead of flaming...why not help them make it better.

Also if you want something free, then how about a bunch of you starting one.

1) Advertising prices should be so that EVERYONE can afford them. Matts current rates are good. If you charge a hostsearch type price then you are saying only the elite can advertise...this will hurt you.

2) If someone posts RACKSHACK sucks...then you gotta leave it. Impartial is just that..you take the good with the bad. You remove just one bad post about yourself and you gonna loose lots of people.

3) This shouldn't turn into an advertisers haven with pop up adverts and like 15 banner adds and buttons. It can't be impartial with lots of flashy adds all over the place.

4) Rackshack CANNOT plaster it's name everywhere so that every page you flip to has "Proudly hosted / owned by Rackshack"

As for me, these are the only things I would suggest. Stop hammering them and help them keep it like it was intended.

I am dissappointed that Matt sold it to a big boy without talking to several other hosts who wanted to do that big host coalition thingy. I know that I for one e-mailed and got no response. I just assumed he decided not to sell. But I guess money talks...

Ps. To the WHR host.
I was listening to your show, because I thought I would hear something informative, but all I hear is: you making fun of RS support people like Brian. What has he's got to do with all this?
I also would have liked to call you, but while you where announcing your phone number 5 times during the time I was listening, I couldn't understand it once.
I first thought it's me, since English is not my native language, bur after getting my neighbor to listen and he couldn’t understand it either, I would say if you would like people to call you, announce you phone number slowly and in clear English.

Not making fun of Brian at all, played our friday phone call at the request of our listeners. Brian was a good sport. HeadSurfer (Robert Marsh), Brian(Sales Rep), and Matt(Other sales rep laughing in the background of the call) who were listening today all had only good things to say about the call. We aren't bashing them, its entertainment.
That was only a short part of the 2 hour broadcast, I received calls from different members of WHT stating their opinions.
Sorry for my speech, I posted it in hosthideout.com where I communicate with my listeners. I'll work on my radio voice :) .

I'll be on at 7:00 EST, maybe even have headsurfer on. You can reach me then while I am on at 1-803-356-1981 . Heck, call right now if you don't want to talk on air.

I have no problem with the sale. I would think by now that you "regs" would have enough faith in Matt to know that he wouldn't do something that would ruin WHT. Can we at least stay here and wait tell they take control and judge them then?

Anyway, Here are my suggestions:

1. I'm going to suggest that you don't mod the forums either. IF you are an admin, that is fine. But if people see you editing and closing post related to their hosting business you know they will just shoot back with the "You are just doing this because you own Rackshack" excuse. Plus, There is just a conflict of interest.

2. Be careful of who you choose to moderate. From what I can tell so far the current mods will stick around. If they don't, make sure you still pick someone that has been in the community for longer then two weeks.

3. Can we at least keep the ads how they are now? The last thing I want to see is a big ***** ad at the top of the screen. You have a bunch of people coming here for advice on good hosts. It wouldn't look good to then go and recommend a host like them.

That's all for now...

Here is my opinion for what its worth, if I was a hosting company and I bought WHT, the first thing I'd do is eliminate the free advertising forums. Why would people pay for advertising at the top of the page when the free advertising forums are 20 times more targeted. I have clicked on one ad on the top of the pages here at WHT, but I have browsed thousands of the free ads. This is my major concern is that HeadSurfer bought this as a business, and he has stated that he has an interest in maximizing the advertising revenue. The logical first step to maximizing Ad Revenue is to stop giving advertising away. I sure hope this doesn't happen, but I would not be shocked if it does. I really like it here, so I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

Rackshacks seems to be so successful because they constantly squeeze diamonds out of a lump of coal. I am just waiting for him to squeeze this lump of coal and see what shakes out.

Mike

Charles, just an observation.....

If it wasn't about RS as you insist then why did you bring up hardware specs? Why does RS hardware specs have anything to do with RS buying WHT? So again, if its not about RS then why bash their product?

Also, since when have Compaq servers NOT been known for their quality as you say?

You bashed Cyborg for attacking regulars when he only has 7 posts.... why are you attacking the WHT community today with your 2000+ posts?

if they started squeezing. .woudlnt' some go to other hosting discussion spots opening up else where?

Some but not all, see these long time posters leaving is nothing for Rackshack to worry about, its how many new sign-ups a day and how many page views, as long as those continue to increase then advertising revenue will increase also.

Can I make a suggestion, and that it everyone chill out and see how things go before we all have a fit?

I think we're all assuming that just because RS bought this place that it will go to hell in a handbag. If they hold true to their word, the only visible changes we'll see is RS ad banners, and that's all. Until time proves otherwise, let's just drop it and be happy for WHT's owners, who probably made a nice chunk of change on the sale, which they rightfully deserve.

If things fall apart as a result of the sale, then bitch. Until then, assume the best, even considering this is RS, okay?

Mike-

Let me make another point as clear as possible. The FREE advertising forums will remain. In the end, the frequency of permitted posting may be changed but that's about it.

The forum has succeeded by being FREE for the vast majority of everything, including the FREE advertising forum.

We have no plan to mine the data at WHT. I didn't buy WHT to mine the data and invade anyones privacy. I would be personally appauled if ANYONE went in and mined the private messages of anyone.

In fact, I think it will be important to put into place a privacy policy that pretty well spells this out. Hopefully, this can be done over the next week or so.

WHT helped build Rackshack. To Matt, I'll always be greatful for that. Even when the posts were going against us, it was a great resource for new customers.

Likewise, WHT has helped to build others business. I believe that Sailor at Tranxactglogal has been helped by this forum. I also sure that there are many others. There is enough business out there for everyone and there is no reason for one company (such as RS) to exclusively take the advertising space or announcement space.

I am wholeheartedly in favor of maintaining the ability of others to advertise here (free and paid)! I'd also like to see WHT grow even bigger and we're committed to spending the $$$ that advertising generates to spread the word about WHT to the masses through ads in Hosting Tech and others.

I bought WHT to preserve it and keep it out of the hands of a competitor, not to kill it. I wanted to preserve it basically as it is, not make it into something it isn't.

I would like to see a realtime chat system added to the forum as well as links to a few hosting industry news sites. Aside from that, not much at all will change. You're not going to see Rackshack this and Rackshack that everywhere. We'll be represented in the forum and in the ads, but not to the exclusion of everyone else.

With the RS froum, I have exercised great restraint. There have been maybe 6 threads that have been deleted in the entire time that we've had it going. Four of those were blatentedly advertising related and two were excceedingly abusive containing foul language.

The RS forum and WHT will remain two seperate forums with two seperate groups of moderators. I sincerely hope that the existing WHT moderators will stick around. They've done a great job and can help build WHT and make it even better and bigger.

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Originally posted by Host Visions
Until time proves otherwise, let's just drop it and be happy for WHT's owners, who probably made a nice chunk of change on the sale

I think people have a right to be paranoid and complain, your statement above also means someone PAID a big chunk of change for this place. History tells us that when someone is selling a business, the buyer usually has a plan to make it more profitable. Allowing your competitors to advertise to your potential customers without compensating you would not be good for Rackshack or WHT if he is trying to turn a profit off of this site, and you have to ask yourself why else would he buy it, this sure would be one expensive hobby, most celebrities buy sports franchises to either make money or get tax relief.

There are plenty of valid things to be worried about with this transaction. Hopefully things will not change much, but I seriously doubt it. Things have to change to make this "business" profitable.

.

Headsurfer's intension seems to be all good. The only thing anyone can do is give it a little time and we'll see how much it changes. Well it's better RackShack bought it than Bill G.

Originally posted by headsurfer

Let me make another point as clear as possible. The FREE advertising forums will remain. In the end, the frequency of permitted posting may be changed but that's about it.


Elaborate, please.

Robert,

Can we still do things like :uzi:RackShack?










:dgrin:

Originally posted by headsurfer
Mike-
Let me make another point as clear as possible. The FREE advertising forums will remain. In the end, the frequency of permitted posting may be changed but that's about it.


So it will stay free but the amount of times you are allowed to post will be limited? A lot of little changes like this will add up quick, I hope you don't ruin this place. I do have to say to you though, it was a smart business move, you are a smart business man.

I have a question I'll hope you'll answer. You seem very technically inclined, I am wondering if you went to college for technical stuff or business?

I want to know why RackShack would spend over $30,000 to buy WHT, but they still haven't bought rackshack.com. :)

Based on robert's post, it sounds like they purchased WHT as sort of a charitable idea, to keep it a free open forum.

"To keep Web Hosting Talk a FREE open forum for all."
"The ad revenue will be used to promote WHT as an open industry forum."

But he speaks of it as a property and he's super excited about his acquisition of it.

"Rackshack has just completed the purchase of one of the most prominent, high traffic, and well respected web properties in our industry."
"I AM very excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

You would think that he would instead announce that he is excited to take an active role in supporting WHT by purchasing it in order to secure it's future as a free open forum. If that were his intentions. Not advertising that he's excited about buying a one of a kind valuable piece of property.

There is a big difference between buying a wildlife preserve to preserve the wildlife, and buying a wildlife preserve just so that you can say that you own it and no one else does.

Well my prediction remains:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34340

If things change, the visitors will flee, and WHT will be worthless. Actually, this could happen anyway, just as a result of the change of ownership.

Originally posted by bitserve
"To keep Web Hosting Talk a FREE open forum for all."


Maybe he should have said "FREE with limitations, On Approved Credit, Equal Oppurtunity Lender, See store for details."

You know I just thought of a good way to increase revenue for this site, 1 free post per month then $39.95 each additional post. This what you had in mind Surfer?

Ack! It's really hard to go navigate through the wild, rushing waters of this thread without bumping headlong into the sharp, jagged points of the numerous (vested) interests and (vested) opinions contained herein.... :D

I bought WHT to preserve it and keep it out of the hands of a competitor, not to kill it. I wanted to preserve it basically as it is, not make it into something it isn't.The motive. To keep it out of the hands of a competitor. I guess then that it is understandable your competitors might not be so thrilled by this.

I am not your competitor, but I worry about them leaving because I have found some great people to talk with and learn from here. I fear those days may be numbered.

As to whether or not you'll be mining the data, I guess we have to take your word on that. There is no easy way to prove otherwise.

Ta ta

Originally posted by DizixCom
As to whether or not you'll be mining the data, I guess we have to take your word on that. There is no easy way to prove otherwise.

Well if we all start receiving spam about rackshack services, I think that would be proof enough :angry:

Web Hosting Radio

Well its my new home, thats about all i can say

Joe

This thread is exactly what I would have expected:

1) The majority of posters have doomsday and/or conspiracy theories in the face of change
2) A handful of posters are taking a moderate "wait and see" stance in the face of change
3) People are posting pretty much the same thing over and over
4) Matt isn't saying much
5) Charles Baker is complaining

Seems like business-as-usual at WebHostingTalk.

Originally posted by DizixCom
The motive. To keep it out of the hands of a competitor. I guess then that it is understandable your competitors might not be so thrilled by this.Sure. Some, as can be seen by their posts, aren't happy because another host bought the forum and they wanted to.

I am not your competitor, but I worry about them leaving because I have found some great people to talk with and learn from here. I fear those days may be numbered.If the free advertising forums remain, most won't leave. If the free advertising forums disappear or are greatly restricted; anyone who leaves because of that won't be missed as far as I'm concerned.

As long as there are people -- hosting consumers, the people this forum is supposed to be here for -- visiting, hosts who are helpful and professional will profit by their own presence. Profit financially and hopefully by simply enjoying the place and by enjoying being helpful. I won't personally feel much sympathy for any host who leaves because they feel this forum is no longer worth their time if it happens that RackShack has more banner space here than they can get.

But if it's true that RS will spend money on marketing the forum, and will add more resources to this site, it's likely that traffic -- traffic from consumers -- will increase. Regardless of whether a few hosts drop away (which, of course, has always happened), WHT will become a better consumer resource. And as it grows, those who leave will quickly find their places taken by newly-arrived hosting companies.

Originally posted by bitserve
I want to know why RackShack would spend over $30,000 to buy WHT, but they still haven't bought rackshack.com. :)

Well that news to my ear, when offered £20,000 (yes, pounds) for the sale of WHT Matt said he did not want to sell it. :puke:

Kind Regards
Shazad

WE don't do the email marketing thing except an occasional announcement to our own customers.

I've said it once and I'll say it again. It is our intention to NOT mine the data and I can tell you that we will NOT be mining the data from WHT.

The suggestion earlier that we would invade PMs between users is just silly. There is nothing good that could come from that.

Let me also clarify. I made the decision to pursue WHT to keep it out of the hands of a competitor. Believe it or not, for just the same reasons that many of you have commented on in this forum.

It is a community. I may have bought the domain name, software, etc. But, no one person owns any community! I'd say I'd be more like a Mayor of a town and that town is WHT.

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Originally posted by JBIZ718
Web Hosting Radio

Well its my new home, thats about all i can sayWhat?!?!? How could you even think that? Web Hosting Radio is run by... a host! :eek2:

Originally posted by cabalstudios

Well that news to my ear, when offered £20,000 (yes, pounds) for the sale of WHT Matt said he did not want to sell it. :puke:

Kind Regards
Shazad
:eek: You mean you tried to buy WHT?? And yet you said earliler in this thread:
Originally posted by cabalstudios


I agree ;)

cbaker17: I agree also, a hosting/dedicated business should have not bought out WHT. . . . . . . . . . . . :rolleyes:

what host is whr run by

WHR is not run by any host at all. The site is on a server, but it is neutral .

My company nor anyone elses had anything to do with whr


Joe

SoftWareRevue,

It was not for me, it was a friend... He was investing in it...

Regards
Shazad

what host is whr run by

WHR is not run by any host at all. The site is on a server, but it is neutral .

From a familar signature:

eMegaWeb.net Web Hosting Solutions
WebHostingRadio.com Web Hosting Station!

Now I don't think there's anything wrong with it, just like I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a host owning WHT. But wouldn't that imply that Rewdog, the founder of WebHostingRadio, billed as the owner on the site, also runs "eMegaWeb.net Web Hosting Solutions."

Or am I jumping to some unreasonable conclusion based on that vague evidence?

And you're billed on the site as the manager of WebHostingRadio, and you're a host... right? Or am I missing something?

<<NOTE/DISCLAIMER: all of this post is my own opinion only, and does not represent the opinion of RackShack, other moderators, or any associated parties. This opinion is *mine* alone and should not be construed any other way.>>

Just in case anyone's wondering...

Just before I went to sleep last night voxtreme posted this thread and I thought, bah, another April Fools joke. I'll just go to bed now.

8 hours later that single post has turned into a 9/10 page thread.

I should note that none of the moderators to my knowledge knew about this sale at all. I certainly had heard absolutely nothing of it until now. While saddening, the sale doesn't surprise me at all. False hope only lasts you so long.

At this stage, I would encourage all users to stick with WHT. I would remind all of you that it is you who make this forum independent. The mods clean up the bits and pieces; however, it is you, the WHT user/regular/addict/newbie who collaboratively combine to make what WHT is today.

While I'm happy to accept Robert's assurances of WHT's independence in operations, it's not this current moment which is the make all or break all. It's the next few months that will see whether Robert keeps his promise in full and leaves WHT alone to run its operations as independently and successfully as it has been.

However, I understand if users leave due to what they perceive as Rackshack's decision to purchase WHT or Matt's desire to sell it or other similar reason. I too will be inclined to head that way if RS do try and push it too far. Ultimately, Rackshack loses out if they lose sight of WHT's objectives, and become a financial bugbear for them.

As for my own personal position, I am currently re-evaluating my responsibilities as a moderator and will make a decision in the next few days. Either way, I intend to stick with WHT and see what kind of direction RS pushes it in.

BC

I am ceo of a hosting company, but my company has nothing to do with it at all.

There are no advertisments for intenseinfo.com on there and will never. I have 3 years expierence doin this.

Just because i own a hosting company doesnt mean anything, as long as my company remains no where listed on the site. which it currently does not

Overall you are jumpin to conclusion

Joe

Originally posted by JBIZ718
Overall you are jumpin to conclusionHardly.

Advertising never was mentioned; and I neither implied nor considered any evil hidden agendas. But Rewdog's a host. You're a host. Therefore, "WebHostingRadio is run by web hosts."

Again, there's nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned. But it's a simple fact.

Congrats to WHT and RS. I trust that Robert Marsh will act admirably with his new powers instead of abusing them.

I must say, he is one of the most trustworthy people around here. Would you rather have WHT owned by someone who speaks through his real name and runs a successful hosting company, or someone who runs 2-bit-host.com and rants about how MS is satan?

With his acquisition, I hope that RS will become more involved in WHT. Instead of just posting in the zillionth flame thread against their company, I hope Mr. Marsh can post his tips that obviously led him to success.

I see this as a good thing. Obviously, if we see all of the anti-RS threads deleted and all other hosts banned, we should all change our opinions. At least give RS a chance. They know we are watching and will abandon WHT if the slightest thing goes wrong. They aren't stupid...if they were, how could they be so successful?

Give 'em a chance, it will end up being a completely positive thing for these forums. Think before you flame! :)

Originally posted by JayC
. . . . . . . there's nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned. But it's a simple fact. Nothing wrong with that.
And nothing wrong with this.

Originally posted by JBIZ718
Web Hosting Radio
Well its my new home, thats about all i can say
Joe
Hey Joe, don't forget that WHR would never have come in to being without WHT, and--in my opinion--if you try and separate WHR from WHT WHR will cease to flourish.

This is rediculous!

This thread is exactly what I would have expected:

1. Intelligent Hosting posts a unintelligent response.

Seems like business as usual.

Originally posted by cbaker17
This thread is exactly what I would have expected:

1. Intelligent Hosting posts a unintelligent response.

Seems like business as usual. :blush: Zinger! I wasn't expecting that one!

Originally posted by JayC


From a familar signature:

eMegaWeb.net Web Hosting Solutions
WebHostingRadio.com Web Hosting Station!

Now I don't think there's anything wrong with it, just like I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a host owning WHT. But wouldn't that imply that Rewdog, the founder of WebHostingRadio, billed as the owner on the site, also runs "eMegaWeb.net Web Hosting Solutions."

Or am I jumping to some unreasonable conclusion based on that vague evidence?

And you're billed on the site as the manager of WebHostingRadio, and you're a host... right? Or am I missing something?
Kevin Stratvert owns it eMegaWeb.net
I am an employee of eMegaWeb.net
eMegaWeb hosts WebHostingRadio.com's Web Site
I, Andrew Capobianco aka Rewdog, soley own WHR.
eMegaWeb does not own any part of WHR.

Rackshack owns WHT. Robert Marsh does not own WHT, the company does (So I understand).

And with the other guy, I agree WHT has been a huge factor in making WHR a sucess.

Headsurfer will be on WHR live in a few moments...
Will have it recorded as well.

Better tune in :)

Don't see any problems with RS buying WHT... since we have their words that they wouldn't change this or that here and there at WHT what exactly is the problem?

Here's my thoughts on this. I have been around and seen what goes on and all the good and bad stuff.

My opinion is this; I agree with both sides of this debate. I don't think it matters who owns it, but a competitor owning it, will matter, it has to -- at some point.

Robert seems like an okay guy, so far. I have no real reason to assume that's going to change.

My problem and my departure of this site, will come when and if any moderators are changed here. Barring any changes that ruin the community here, I will have a problem with who runs the place. I say this, because Robert mentioned wanting a live chat. Allow me to explain my problem. I have issues with how his current RS live chat works now. I work late and couldn't call RS's number to ask a question about getting a dedicated server, and their order forms were off-line anyway. I then went to the live chat they have to ask a simple question and for no reason at all. the "RS regulars" started telling me to go to ***** (of all people) and were literally attacking me, as they didn't understand my very simple question I wanted answered about the servers and how they are set up -- people were insulting me, calling me names, etc. saying I was a moron for asking the same question over and over, and getting the same answer each time (this was not the case, they simply didn't understand the subject due to their lack of technical knowledge (*and even the staff there were guilty of this and were telling me different things*)). It turned rather ugly and I found it ridiculous. Those "regulars" were just scum, I have no other way to put it. I don't blame Robert for this at all, but the staff involved in that chat were basically the same way and it was just a mess. I ended up just telling them all off and I'll never do business with RS based on my experience. Now, I don't care, this is just a forum, not my life, but I know that I will leave in a heart beat if any of these user's or RS people infect this forum in any capacity, especially if they are put into the position of moderator.

Again, it's just a forum, but I'll tell you, my experience in RS' chat, even though it might not have been a good reflection of what can happen here, was so horrible, that I was tempted to just leave WHT here and now based solely on this buy-out by HS. Again, my action will be based on what happens in the obvious capacity, as well as what user's start ****ing up this forum or not. Ultimately, I don't care, but it is no fun to have an experience like I had in that area of RS here. But, few people would allow this. I just know it'll be more likely if moderation changes here. Otherwise, I don't see the big deal or the big difference. I recall when Matt said he was selling it, people were coming to me asking if I was going to buy it and were trying to convince me to. I personally had no interest, because it's not expensive software and free hosting on a system for free advertisements (or was at that point at that time this happened). I don't see WHT as being worth over the price of the software license and I don't think I'd have paid over $200 for it al. However, even then, I'd just be spending $200 for a site with a lot of rumors and whatnot. It really doesn't matter to me, but I'll tell you, if I was Matt and I could get $1,000 or more for it, I'd have sold it too, to anyone. After all, why pay to run a site for everyone else to use, when you can sell it and at least make money from it.


I'm glad that Burst or someone else like them didn't buy it though. I don't know why anyone would buy this place for very much, to be honest, but so far I'm not going to let the actions of the RS staff and "regulars" in the RS chat room dictate my decision if I should leave or not. Again, if these morons from the chat come here and aren't blocked, or anyone of them or a RS staff member, other than Robert is moderating, I'm gone too. But, I'm just one user out of many -- and I'm sure it's just an insignificant matter. I did tell people though, when they tried to convince me to buy this place (which I wasn't interested in), that every time I see a community of users that have a good percentage or more of them close, that when a buy out like this happens, it usually ruins the place. Perhaps this will happen or not, but it's up to the community to allow it to happen (or not). I really don't care anyway, but if what I said my concerns are happen, other than the obvious I didn't mention, I'm gone, for one. If this is a big deal to anyone, it still could have been a lot worse, and whose to say this is bad yet anyway? I think it's got the potential, but hey, if the worst happens, I'll just start a forum myself, if I even care to. It's not the end of the world, it's just a discussion forum, using software any of us can buy a license to use too. I wouldn't worry, at all, either way.

Webhostingradio.com is sweet, can you ask Robert Marsh what the plans of Rackshack are for the future? What about Australia? Trying to crack the market?

jbiz is doing the interview, we may talk to Robert again about just rackshack :)

I am going to have to do some heavy thinking about staying around, if you look at the list of users logged in on the main page, you will see that headsurfer is bolded, meaning that he is a moderator. Bad move, :(

With $3million dollars a month I am sure they can hire another 20 permanent staff!

Originally posted by headsurfer

WHT will continue to remain an independent site. Matt has agreed to staf around for a while and help out. It is my hope that Chicken and the others will also stick around.

I hope RackShack starts to compensate "Chicken" for moderating WHT now that it's owned by a highly profitable company :D.

headsurfer why are you acting so inocent?

It's obvious that rackshack aquired this forum to make $$$ money $$$. Oh yes I'm sure it was for the love and good of the community. You spent $30k just to do as a favour? Just like you said that you'll be promoting WHT in hostng tech and other sources, but at the same time rackshack will be making more $$$.

I think the better question would be why are you acting like such a jerk?

Is it impossible for someone to do something nice? Of course they will make some moeny off advertising, but they will probally spend more too. Just because they are making money doesn't meen that they don't care about the community. Just remember that Matt made money off of WHT too.

$30K for WHT? Wow! Anyone that spends that much for a place like this, deserves to do what they want with it, as far as I'm concerned. The community of people can always move on. I'm not saying Matt did sell out, but I'd totally sell you all out for $30K! Ha ha ha... Seriously, I don't mean that in a bad way, but this isn't some site with customized services and such and there's not that many members in my opinion, so I'd have sold you all out in a second for that much (again, not saying Matt did that)! Anyway, good job working that deal out, Matt! As for headsurfer making money from it, losing some, breaking even of making a profit -- so what? What does that have to do with anything? Why can't he make money too, as long as things don't go South here? If they do, we all know what will happen.

Yes, what are you buying with WHT? The software and a group of people. These people are not held here, so what if they leave? WHT will close, another question why spend thousands of dollars on advertising in magazines? You don't expect to spend this money and not get something back.

As far as I'm concerned $30k is expensive. This money could have been spent on a support staff member.

The only thing I really have to say about this whole thing is that if you guys over at RS have the money to blow on some forums can you please and I mean PLEASE get better support. Not saying that support has not improved at all but there is ALOT of room for improvement. Maybe get enough support to where we can work hands on over the phone with support to work on issues instead of trouble ticket system. Hell dont even make it toll-free it would be worth the toll-call. Other than that best of luck to HS and WHT and I just hope all promises that have been given will be kept up and not over run WHT as many people fear.

Dear HostQuote
I then went to the live chat they have to ask a simple question and for no reason at all. the "RS regulars" started telling me to go to *****

I'm a RS "regular" and tell you that none of the RS "regulars would ever do something like this.
BTW, how could you tell that these where RS "regulars"?
Most of RS "regulars" that I know of tempt to stay away from the chat.

they didn't understand my very simple question I wanted answered about the servers and how they are set up

You must be kidding, right??
Go to RS forum and ask the "regulars" a question about anything server related and you'll find out what they know.

Those "regulars" were just scum
What an insult.

I don't see WHT as being worth over the price of the software license and I don't think I'd have paid over $200 for it al. However, even then, I'd just be spending $200 for a site with a lot of rumors and whatnot

Now you're done with bashing RS and move on to bash WHT.

Here's my thoughts on this. I post under another handle here (this is just a never-used alias, until now), and am well known, etc. I have been around and seen what goes on and all the good and bad stuff.

I kept the best for last, I don't believe you, because you wouldn't even spend $200.00 for a site like WHT with all its rumors (this also shows how much you know about business.

I guess now you can go and signup again with a freshly new handle.
And just in case you are a "regular" here at WHT, I feel very sorry for you.

Cyborg (my real handle) here, on the RS forum, on DSLR and a couple of other forums.

I don't understand what's with all the sad faces.

Everything is pomised to stay the same, so what are all the worries about?

If I had 30k in my pocket, I would also buy WHT just for the heck of it. If you think of this as a business, this site will cost much more in the future.

My membership here has been sold, oh well.. :D

Eh, I don't get it either. The only reason I'm somewhat unhappy is because of all the fools saying they're going to leave. That's sad. Nothing's changed, unless they are complete idiots rackshack won't do anything stupid, and if they do, you can move. Who gives a s*** if this place is owned by a hosting company? It's not like they'll be altering your special offers, making modifcations so they always get the first response to requests, putting popups all over, reading you PMs, and deleting anything negative RackShack and sticky-ing everything anti-you. Calm down, it's not a big deal. You knew Matt wanted to sell WHT, and it happened. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by MattF
-----
Will the forum rules stay exactly the same? What if someone posts something bad about rackshack, will it dissapear? Will you still allow your competitors to make posts in the advertising forums?
------

The strict fair-play rules will of course still be in play.

------
What if someone posts something bad about rackshack, will it dissapear?
-------

The forum will remain impartial.

To the end user the change will be transparent. It will still be WHT, Robert will run the site as an independent operation.

This forum has never been impartial. I have watched threads disappear that were critical of moderators, companies the moderators liked.... To say its will remain impartial? Make it impartial first.....

Originally posted by DrChaos


This forum has never been impartial. I have watched threads disappear that were critical of moderators, companies the moderators liked.... To say its will remain impartial? Make it impartial first..... LOL :D

Your post might carry more weight; if not for your impartial signature. :eek:

Looking for an impartial forum to discuss hosting matters? Look no further! http://www.*****************.com


Edited by me because the referenced signature was.

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
LOL :D
Your post might carry more weight; if not for your impartial signature. :eek:

Ya, I excpect to see a bunch of these "me too" Web hosting discussion boards pop up. As long as Rackshack doesn't mess with the formula, WHT will always be king.

Ha!! Thanks for the good laugh y'all. This thread has been quite amusing to read. I find most of it quite hilarious.

Good luck, Matt, Headsurfer, and all the mods. Don't worry about losing any of the regular members. They'll be too busy bitching about the place to ever actually leave.

:D

Originally posted by Cyborg
Dear HostQuote
I then went to the live chat they have to ask a simple question and for no reason at all. the "RS regulars" started telling me to go to *****

I'm a RS "regular" and tell you that none of the RS "regulars would ever do something like this.
BTW, how could you tell that these where RS "regulars"?
Most of RS "regulars" that I know of tempt to stay away from the chat.



Hmmm, let's see. People that host with RS, know each other, obviously very well and are regulars. Shall we come up with a few other things that can mean? I said the regulars there, not you. You stated yourself that most RS "regulars" stay away. So, you're not a "chat room regular" there I assume. Apparently, the regulars there, actually DO do things such as this.


they didn't understand my very simple question I wanted answered about the servers and how they are set up

You must be kidding, right??
Go to RS forum and ask the "regulars" a question about anything server related and you'll find out what they know.


Did my post start with "knock-knock"? I don't think I'm kidding. And, when did I ever state that I asked any of the "regulars" any question. Read my post, I had to use the chat to be able to talk to the staff members. What the regulars that decided to attack me for (for no reason), is irrelevant. They are RS clients, RS regulars, the techs couldn't agree or answer a simple question and I was wholly attacked all around. This was allowed to happen, and it makes me wonder what would be allowed here (assuming RS staff moderated here, or one of those other "regulars"). Of course that didn't mean "everyone" at RS and I should have been clear. However, my comments stand, in regards to the regulars participating in the chat anyway.


Those "regulars" were just scum
What an insult.


I tell it like it is. Again, I apologize for not being clear and posting every single detail -- or at least enough to be clear that didn't include every single RS member. Just all the users and all the staff I had the unfortunate experience to deal with thus far -- and enough to not want to try and see who *might* be a rational person.


I don't see WHT as being worth over the price of the software license and I don't think I'd have paid over $200 for it al. However, even then, I'd just be spending $200 for a site with a lot of rumors and whatnot

Now you're done with bashing RS and move on to bash WHT.


Pay attention, Mr. Defensive. I simply expressed my concerns in regards to RS taking over WHT, nothing more. I gave reasons why. Deal with it... As for bashing WHT, my opinion on how much a damn web board license with a few thousand users and much much it would be worth to me, is not an insult or a bash session. Well, welcome to another RS user's input, I guess. This is a good example. Again, to be clear, I don't assume all of them are like that, or like you. You took my post the wrong way, and I'm not going to get drawn into an argument with you about MY opinions and MY experience with RS. I expressed my concerns and the reasons. My opinion that it's not a big deal and it's not a costly thing to start a site like this, is no indication of your accusation having any merit, so end it here.


Here's my thoughts on this. I have been around and seen what goes on and all the good and bad stuff.

I kept the best for last,


Really? That's the best you've got, huh? Well, what exactly does this have to do with my point and post? Nothing.


I don't believe you, because you wouldn't even spend $200.00 for a site like WHT with all its rumors (this also shows how much you know about business.


I don't know about business, based on you not agreeing with me? Well, I guess I do have a lot to learn after all. Now I think I'm prepared to take on the business world... what was I thinking!? Anyway, indeed, $200 for a liscense, $9 for a domain, free hosting in exchange for a link on the site "hosted by 'fill in the blank'". Add a few thousand users, post links in the webmaster news groups and other boards and a few sites telling people to come there (to the forum) for help, answers, etc. and what do we have? My calculations is "time invested + $209". Will that work for everyone or often? No. Does it mean it's that difficult to achieve? No. Let's see, sitepointforums, devshed, webhostingtalk, webmastertalk, etc., etc., etc. Some of us have ran popular sites, you should realize. I'm not saying the user number doesn't mean anything, but that's all you've got -- an established site with some users. Figure, pretty much, the same 100 or 200 user's use it every day and make up for the majority of traffic. These people having had their experiences and are in a position where they are not a good marketing target. New users in and out every day, and a ton of idle handles never seen posting or only but rarely. To ME, that is not worth much, because it can go a lot faster than it (they) came. Wasting a multitude of thousands of dollars for this place, is, in my mind, completely too much. I don't see a lot of value, perhaps you do. Not agreeing with your opinion, hardly justifies such a stupid comment.


I guess now you can go and signup again with a freshly new handle.
And just in case you are a "regular" here at WHT, I feel very sorry for you.


You feel sorry for me, because I have a different opinion than you do? Interesting and just pure genius. Geez...



...and completely irrlevant. Another shining example. Whooptiedoo... and whatever...

Originally posted by DrChaos
This forum has never been impartial. I have watched threads disappear that were critical of moderators, companies the moderators liked.... To say its will remain impartial? Make it impartial first.....
Although SoftWareReview already covered this one, note that threads critical of the moderators and the forum are not removed. Threads about forum policy and that policy applied to a particular member, post, or thread have and will be removed. The forum will not be used to discuss actions that have been taken against a member or post (thread, etc.), and this will be addressed, but it will be addressed off-board via email, directly with the person(s) invloved and will not be allowed to be debated publicly (for various reasons).

This is to be fair and private to the person involved, and due to the fact that the members often do not have the information we have in order to post their opinion on the matter.

This is pretty standard forum policy at other forums as well.

Originally posted by option
I hope RackShack starts to compensate "Chicken" for moderating WHT now that it's owned by a highly profitable company :D.
I like the way this option fellow thinks! ;)

Also...

Please keep in mind that many of you will have strong opinions on this (and this is understandable). No one is right or wrong for having an opinion and I hope you are able understand that there will be strong feelings on this and not attack eachother's viewpoints.

Ownership of the forum will change. The forum may change, and when it does, you will have to decide if you would like to continue, or discontinue, visiting.

I'm taking my own advice and can only suggest that you do the same. Note, I said suggest...

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
LOL :D

Your post might carry more weight; if not for your impartial signature. :eek:




Edited by me because the referenced signature was.



Uhmmm, it was an impartial sig, it broke no rules. I don't own it, I don't moderate it, I just frequent it. And before you say anything, read them, then stop and think. I just checked the rules, and I didn't break any...now I am banned from the forums? Saying I am not impartial when you don't have a clue? Take your head out of the sand and see the real world. So why wasn't I notified if there was a problem...no warnings? Again I say.... Impartial? My butt...
Headsurfer, if you want this impartial, why am I banned? email me and let me know......

DrChaos

Originally posted by Doc2002
Uhmmm, it was an impartial sig, it broke no rules. I don't own it, I don't moderate it, I just frequent it. And before you say anything, read them, then stop and think. I just checked the rules, and I didn't break any...now I am banned from the forums? Saying I am not impartial when you don't have a clue? Take your head out of the sand and see the real world. So why wasn't I notified if there was a problem...no warnings? Again I say.... Impartial? My butt...
Headsurfer, if you want this impartial, why am I banned? email me and let me know......
DrChaos Originally posted by Chicken
. . . . . . note that threads critical of the moderators and the forum are not removed. Threads about forum policy and that policy applied to a particular member, post, or thread have and will be removed. The forum will not be used to discuss actions that have been taken against a member or post (thread, etc.), and this will be addressed, but it will be addressed off-board via email, directly with the person(s) invloved and will not be allowed to be debated publicly (for various reasons).

This is to be fair and private to the person involved, and due to the fact that the members often do not have the information we have in order to post their opinion on the matter.. . . . . . . . . . . .

Congratulations ...Headsurfer :)

Future Predicts..
HEADSURFER = BILL GATES of HOSTING INDUSTRY :D

With an active participation at RS forums..I do not see any problem in RS being the owner of WHT now. Even when people are flaming rackshack the posts are not deleted at RS forums and you can always see headsurfer learning and listening to even the most criticising posts..

Its a wonderful move and everybody should welcome it....Communities can not simply work on charity...Sure its time for some hosting co's... competitors of Rackshack to get pissed off . But see the other side folks...RS has got suffieicent funds ..resources and a willingness to continue & make this community a much better place.

<<Edited: You've seen it, no need for OT to remain>>

Your URL in your profile is not only rude and troll-like, it is rude and troll-like against a moderator of this forum (myself) thus you were banned by another moderator who felt you undeserving of one warning.


How in the world was my sig rude to you??? Undeserving? Make it up as you go along, now? Lets discuss it via pm or email...you should have several you never responded too

I have to agree with inquisitive. There is a lot of bashing that does occur on RS' own forums, yet no censorship. And I do believe they listen - their new 60 gb 7200 RPM drives is a sign of that imo.

I just dont understand why everyone is yelling and flailing their arms around. Matt and HeadSurfer have both said things will not change other than the actual advertising. HS himself categorically stated that he wants Matt, Chicken, and the other moderators to stay on.

I would think that it would be obviously best to wait until the sale is deemed 'complete' and we see what exactly HS does with the site.

By HostQuote
Whooptiedoo... and whatever...
this is something I can agree with you.

Cyborg

Originally posted by cbaker17
If this is true, i can say for one i wont be ever posting here again and i know alot of other people who post here on a regular basis wont post here either. This forum would slowly die out if all the regular posters never came back.

I have a few RackShack servers, and I've been known to complain a time or two about their 1 solution to all problems (OS restore) and slow reboot times (I haven't needed one for ages so I hear it's better now).

I just dunno it seems like any hosting "owning" this forum means censorship is gonna happen sooner or later.

I will stay until things change for the worse. I suggest patience and observation. It will be very evident in 2-3 months whether WHT will change for the worse or not. Take a "wait and see" mode. If everyone does their part to keep WHT "as is" and do not contribute to its down-fall, it may have a chance. As it is, some have already made up their minds that WHT does NOT have a chance.

I am not a RS customer and am not exactly happy/comfortable with the change of ownership (although I have absolutely nothing against them), but I am willing to try to be postitive about it. Every change moves persons out of their comfort zone.

Will the changes be positive or negative? Only time will tell, and I'm willing to give it that time.

-Lamar

I'll only say this... I have never gotten one cent for being a moderator here these past couple of years. When Voxtel became a sponsor, I did edit/remove a couple of posts in violation of the forum guidelines, emailed them as if they were anyone else. They were understanding, and I don't thinik any of you noticed it.

Now, I would give them a couple more chances than a non-sponsor before banning them ;)

I posted a thread in the Related Offers & Request forum, and wanted to post another but the forum stopped me (damn 5 day rule). I had to wait 5 days just like everyone else. I could have removed my old thread or moved a thread from somewhere else to get around the filter, but that doesn't exactly set a good example. So I waited and then posted, heh... :D

Originally posted by DanielP
All i can say is, yeuck!

:bawling: :angry: :sickface: :erm: :uhh: :argue: :disagree: :mad:


I think those icons display my feelings very well.

Anybody know how to delete an account around here? :mad:

Daniel, LOL

WHT is now tainted :bawling:

Originally posted by .::DefCon::.
I say: Let's all move to HostingDiscussions. :)

heheh LoL - up to <<removed>>

LoL :)

Originally posted by Chicken
I'll only say this... I have never gotten one cent for being a moderator here these past couple of yearsNo real financial rewards, Chicken, but you really do have our respect and gratitude. Kinda like being a teacher, heh? ;)

Originally posted by headsurfer
OK. I'll be the first to confirm that I have purchased Web Hosting Talk. Over the past few months, I have had significant discussions with Matt and was quite proud of what he has built. WHT is THE premier properrty for web hosting discussions.

My motives for buying WHT are many and wide ranging but there is one important than the rest: To keep Web Hosting Talk a FREE open forum for all. In the past, an open forum has been good and bad from an image perspective for Rackshack but there is not doubt that the WHT forum has helped build a number of our businesses.

Even you Charles, I am sure, have picked up a few clients here and will in the future.

WHT will continue to remain an independent site. Matt has agreed to staf around for a while and help out. It is my hope that Chicken and the others will also stick around.

There will be NO wholesale changes to the forum other than that the advertising rates will change. There will also likely be a few changes on the format and sizing of the ads. The ad revenue will be used to promote WHT as an open industry forum. We have partnered with a local advertising firm that will shortly begin handling advertising sales. We Intend to keep the level of advertising roughly equivelant to the current system.

It is my sincere hope that WHT can continue to be a FREE open forum for all to participate.

Hats off to Matt and the moderators here who have used hard work and good judgement to build an incredible resource!

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Well That's all said pretty well but wonder if we think RackShack sucks? I mean, A host that owns WHT is like the president of the US presiding more than a total of 8 years. It's just not good. I've heard more than one say it.

eh, heck with it. You've got the money I guess you can just darn well buy anything you want now can't we. :mad:

Not a good marketing move I'm affraid. Maybe we can sit down sometime and discuss the negatives of this type of situation.

Originally posted by NewMerchant


Well That's all said pretty well but wonder if we think RackShack sucks? I mean, A host that owns WHT is like the president of the US presiding more than a total of 8 years. It's just not good. I've heard more than one say it.

eh, heck with it. You've got the money I guess you can just darn well buy anything you want now can't we. :mad:

Not a good marketing move I'm affraid. Maybe we can sit down sometime and discuss the negatives of this type of situation. I've read a lot of strange posts in this thread. But, I'll be doogled if I can figure this one out.:cartman:

Simple. Negative publicity. Sometimes even negative publicity is good though. Some will not like this and it will cost them money. Either way, I don't think a community like this needs a bill gates.

If RS does do what he says he is going to do (which I personally believe he will), then the negative factor will be extremely minor to a very small number of people, and for the rest it probably either wouldn't make a difference or be a positive thing.

and re: Bill Gates, when was the last time you saw him posting in a public discussion forum?

Censoring has already started - LOL

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43059

It’s probably been said already – I’ve read so many posts in this thread I’m now cross-eyed ;)

From my personal point of view ‘Who’ owns WHT is irrelevant. It’s what WHT stands for – it’s principles, values and contribution to the web hosting community that matters. ‘If’ and ‘when’ the ethos is changed, then it’s time to worry.

After all WHT isn’t about RackShack or Matt – ‘we’ every single one of us ‘ARE’ WHT, without ‘us’ there would be nothing. So why worry about what might or might not happen? We are doing them a favour – not the other way around.

UPDATE ----- UPDATE ----- UPDATE

Oh GREAT ! Now headsurfer is a moderator on WHT... :bawling:

WTF ??????? :eek:
This is going the wrong way, fellows... :rolleyes:

:(

Well, I can't say it's going wrong way. Things change.
What I want to know is.. did HS buy WHT?
Then Matt is no longer a mod?
I don't have anything against rackshack buying WHT but I have a little worries HS for being a mod.

Originally posted by .::DefCon::.
UPDATE ----- UPDATE ----- UPDATE

Oh GREAT ! Now headsurfer is a moderator on WHT... :bawling:

WTF ??????? :eek:
This is going the wrong way, fellows... :rolleyes:

:(

I know I just posted this on the poll thread, but about Robert being a mod.

If you guys were the owner, wouldn't you be a moderator?

I would bet you would.

Everyone needs to worry about their business and their customers rather than worrying about what is happening with this forum

Originally posted by gagsplus
If you guys were the owner, wouldn't you be a moderator?
I would bet you would.

Err... not in this situation I wouldn't ! By becoming a mod, the content of all threads/articles on WHT becomes intrustworthy (or how do you guys say that in English? :rolleyes: :D ).
RS concurrents' posts' existance will no longer remain secure/safe/trustworthy, since they can at any time have been edited by the 'enemy'.
I mean, that's like a Jew giving a speech for freedom in Hitler's home town, full of nazi's, in WWII !! :D

This can't be, guys. This can't be... :rolleyes:

This is certainly an entertaining thread. I side with the "wait and see" folks. My biggest concern regards what Robert said earlier about handing advertising over to an agency (sorry, can't find the reference in this long thread), and I would like Robert to clarify this. Ads here have been vetted up to now: they were rejected unless from companies that were known to have good reputations and honest dealings with their customers. If this practice is not continued and ads are accepted from any company that can pay, that will be the time I decide to leave. As was said earlier, the last thing we want to see here are ads from companies like *****, Interland, ADDR.com, etc.

Originally posted by Deb Suran
This is certainly an entertaining thread. I side with the "wait and see" folks. My biggest concern regards what Robert said earlier about handing advertising over to an agency (sorry, can't find the reference in this long thread), and I would like Robert to clarify this. Ads here have been vetted up to now: they were rejected unless from companies that were known to have good reputations and honest dealings with their customers. If this practice is not continued and ads are accepted from any company that can pay, that will be the time I decide to leave. As was said earlier, the last thing we want to see here are ads from companies like *****, Interland, ADDR.com, etc.

Now that is a sensible post. I, too, would not like seeing the advertising go in that direction.

With almost 8000 views and 200 replies to this thread, I will add my congrats to RS!
Wishing you the best!:beer:

Is there some sort of announcement on WHT?

Originally posted by klisis
. . . . . . . . I don't have anything against rackshack buying WHT but I have a little worries HS for being a mod.
I have seen this addressed since someone noticed headsurfer's name in bold on the index page. I would imagine, and expect, any owner of any forum to be in the Administrators group. There are just too many things that need attending to.
I, for one, am more appreciative of the openness and honesty of headsurfer. He could, just as easily, have created a user group with administrative/ moderator rights and made it so the name didn't come up bold in the who's on line. He could have; but he didn't.
He could have registered a different user name; then introduced a new mod. He could have; but he didn't.
He could have stayed away from this thread and let the conspiracy theorists play their "what if" songs. He could have; but he didn't.

I am not concerned over the ownership of WHT. I am more concerned of the content herein. I have learned so much from this community; I shall be forever grateful to you all. The only way I would consider not returning, is if it were to end up too much like a commercial venture. I see no reason for any concerns at this time.





:pimp:Okay Robert; where's my $5 now?

Well, what worries me most is things are developing sneakily. HS became what, but no announcement or whatsoever (Or am I missing something?)
You know, whenever a new mod was aligned, that there was always an announcement explaining why and when he became mod.
Unless I've missed the announcement, things are going sneakily. (Which I dislike)

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
I have seen this addressed since someone noticed headsurfer's name in bold on the index page. I would imagine, and expect, any owner of any forum to be in the Administrators group. There are just too many things that need attending to.
I, for one, am more appreciative of the openness and honesty of headsurfer. He could, just as easily, have created a user group with administrative/ moderator rights and made it so the name didn't come up bold in the who's on line. He could have; but he didn't.
He could have registered a different user name; then introduced a new mod. He could have; but he didn't.
He could have stayed away from this thread and let the conspiracy theorists play their "what if" songs. He could have; but he didn't.

I am not concerned over the ownership of WHT. I am more concerned of the content herein. I have learned so much from this community; I shall be forever grateful to you all. The only way I would consider not returning, is if it were to end up too much like a commercial venture. I see no reason for any concerns at this time.





:pimp:Okay Robert; where's my $5 now?

Since it's officially confirmed that WHT is now owned by RackShack. Damn! it took me about an hour to read all the pages/posts.

All I have to say is:

1) Since Matt is making some kind of profit, it's only fair that he should at least share some of it with the moderators who helped to maintain and police WHT to what it is today.

2) Since RackShack is a business concern, they cannot expect the moderators to work for free, there must be some kind of retainer fee or compensation for them.

3) It will be a sad day to see our beloved chicken leaving WHT. Since headsurfer is an excellent businessman and a shrewd one, I hope he will work out something for the moderators.

4)Although people makes this forum, finding good moderator such as chicken and the other moderators of WHT would be difficult and if the new owner are thinking of replacing them, it will be more like committing suicide, as they were the pioneers/key people that have build and proven themselves and for them to continue to serve WHT it's only fair that some kind of payment must be paid to them.

Just my views.

Questions:

1) Is HS really a mod now??
2) Is chicken (or other mods) really leaving???
3) Will new "RS" mods be coming in??

Originally posted by Deb Suran
This is certainly an entertaining thread. I side with the "wait and see" folks. My biggest concern regards what Robert said earlier about handing advertising over to an agency (sorry, can't find the reference in this long thread), and I would like Robert to clarify this. Ads here have been vetted up to now: they were rejected unless from companies that were known to have good reputations and honest dealings with their customers. If this practice is not continued and ads are accepted from any company that can pay, that will be the time I decide to leave. As was said earlier, the last thing we want to see here are ads from companies like *****, Interland, ADDR.com, etc.
I think the advertising agency is to advertise WHT, not to get advertisers. Headsurfer wants WHT BIG.

Let's wait and let's see.. by the way - this is good way to post something and increase post amount ;)

ApolloDuDe

Originally posted by akashd
Questions:

1) Is HS really a mod now??
2) Is chicken (or other mods) really leaving???
3) Will new "RS" mods be coming in??

1) HS is a mod, but has said he would not be editing/deleting any posts. He might just want to be a mod to see statistics, have access to the admin cp, ect.

2) Chicken has already stated he isn't planning on leaving yet, and the other mods stated the same. Robert knows that the current moderatorship has made WHT great.

3) No RS staff members will become mods, no need to look for new ones or replacements as the current staff is already functioning.

How do I know this? I listened to WHR last night and read every post in this thread.

Originally posted by Rewdog


1) HS is a mod, but has said he would not be editing/deleting any posts. He might just want to be a mod to see statistics, have access to the admin cp, ect.

2) Chicken has already stated he isn't planning on leaving yet, and the other mods stated the same. Robert knows that the current moderatorship has made WHT great.

3) No RS staff members will become mods, no need to look for new ones or replacements as the current staff is already functioning.

How do I know this? I listened to WHR last night and read every post in this thread.

thanks for all the answers....

at least Chicken's not leaving :)

Originally posted by klisis
Well, what worries me most is things are developing sneakily. HS became what, but no announcement or whatsoever (Or am I missing something?)
You know, whenever a new mod was aligned, that there was always an announcement explaining why and when he became mod.
Unless I've missed the announcement, things are going sneakily. (Which I dislike)

There's no announcement because this was posted before anything could be said. From what I remember, way back from page one, someone noticed a comment on Rackshack's site about them acquiring a "large web hosting forum" and posted the information here. I'm sure that had this not been so widely discussed there would have been a formal announcement. There may still be and honestly should be to keep anyone not reading this thread informed. But also to try again to dispel any myths that things will change. I don't know if anything will change but I'd rather wait and see than jump ship and find out in a few months that WHT is running better than ever.

These are just my opinions, though...

My guess is that RS paid a bit more then $30K for this place, as some folks made offers close to that and never even got a return email back!

As Tim said earlier, you can't be mad at Matt for selling-out for as much as he was able to get.

I hope he shares some of those profits he got from the sale with the moderators, since they are the ones who primarily put in such great efforts and time the last couple years.

Matt, throw each of them a few bones man, it's only fair since you benifited from their hard work!

Anyhow, no biggie, if HS/RS screw it up, it's simply a matter of pointing your browser to another community, and helping that community become the next WHT.

That's the beauty of the net, WHT is nothing more then a $100 license on a couple thousand dollar server, with a few hundred bucks a month in bandwidth. And most of this donated to the WHT community!

The value and intangible asset to WHT is the moderators and users! Without either of these, all you have is a domain name and a server.

Point is, well, RS is obviously interested in the members and traffic flow to this site. Sites much bigger then WHT have come and gone because of stupid moves and decisions by the investors/owners.

It is in RS' best interest to keep this place fair, but only time will tell. You can't spend more then $30K for something, as a business decision, and not hope to make that back.

Unless HS purchased it out of his own income, and not under the RS umbrella?

Anyhow, I'm staying, for now, as I'm here to learn and not pick-up many customers, although I have picked up a couple higher-end ones from here awhile ago, now most of my new business is word of mouth.

I don't typically compete with and don't want to start competiting with sub-$200 providers anyhow, I'd rather have 50 customers paying $400 to $500 a month for quality and professional services on top end hardware, then 100 users paying $99/month on low-end trouble prone hardware and requiring hours of customer support per day.

My opinion only, and this is how how I operate my business and how my business plan is structured.

Good luck to all, and for the folks who said they are going, please stick around, and at least watch and see what becomes. If/when it falls apart, I'm sure you can have the pleasure of saying "See, I told you so!!".

tjk

Well I may be a nobody here but since every other person is making their opinions I will to! :stickout

1) Would you all stop eating at your local Burger King becuase you find out the new owner also owns the McDonalds down the street? Of course not!

The forum is under new management and that's it. Sure a few rules might change and different ads show up but it's still going to be basically the same place.

2) And a suggestion to all those that claim they're going to leave. Do yourself and everyone a favor and make sure you have your account killed...

I'm serious! As a moderator at Maximum PC Magazines forum I've seen atleast 2 "mass exoduses" of people becuase of certain changing issues. These people claim the forum sucked and that they would never come back. But low and behold a few months later they DO come back. They start posting and they always end up saying something like "Now I remember why I left 2 months ago, this place still sucks". All it does is cuase problems!

:angry:

As an FYI, if you missed what headsurfer said on this topic, we are playing last night's show. It will be rotating all day.

,

By the way ya I believe they sold it more then $30k as we said we gotten an offer to sell at $20k and he refused so he had to get more then 30k or he wouldnt' have it.I believe. I believe you all are over reacting. RackShack has did NOTHING to us and all you do is bash them. RackShack will do nothing but make WHT bigger. They may put a little ad or two at the top where advertising is who wouldn't? If I owned it I would to. Ya people just need to become more mature and realize. I believe WHT will stay the same Robert said it would and if he breaks his promise then it would be a lie for him and his company RackShack. Some of you are totalling over reacting saying i'm leaving WHT due to the fact of RackShack taking over. If they don't invade our privacy as he said they won't then why leave? Just because there may be a RackShack ad that is no good reason for you to leave still. I had plans to leave if he was going to be invading PM (Private Messages) to people and sell i was going to myself. But after last nite him talking on the show of WHR it really did help matters alot and clear things up with me. Robert seems like a nice guy and I don't think he would totally screw up WHT for us and our users. I know ya are going to be running bitching about me posting this but please act your age not your shoe size in most cases your shoe is smaller number then your age. If ya want to listen to the WHR show with him go feel free http://webhostingradio.com but ya people need to stop bashing RackShack if you NEVER used them and don't know a damn thing about them but what you heard. Never judge a company until you use them. If this doesn't help some of you then I don't know what will. Also, There is no need to bring a Petition in here and TRY to force RackShack to give up WHT after buying it. I heard a user talkinga about bringing in a Petition but no point in it. Just making things worse then what they're already. People got one word for some of you but not all of you "GROW UP!"

Originally posted by yeatsie
with RS now owning the forum of which 99% of all webhosters are a part of

Huh? What do you mean by that? :confused:

Originally posted by Dexter
These people claim the forum sucked and that they would never come back. But low and behold a few months later they DO come back. You know, I was thinking about this yesterday; those in the US will probably know what I'm talking about... before the last presidential election, a number of Hollywood celebrities were quoted saying that if George W. Bush won they'd leave the country. Well, as far as I know none of them have.

So it'll be interesting to see how many of the people who've said in this thread "if this is true I won't be posing here any more" and the like will actually move on. I suspect the answer will be... none.

with RS now owning the forum of which 99% of all webhosters are a part of
That is soooooooo not true. There are only 12,000 members of WHT, probably not even half of those are web hosts. I bet there are over 100,000 web hosting companies in today's market. WHT is not the web hosting industry, it is just a small part of it. RS wants WHT to reach every web host.

Hi Rewdog,

You stated in an earlier post that the interview from last night would play all day today.

For the benefit of those who can't listen till this evening or night, could you please let in play continuously through tonight, please?

I (and I'll bet many others) would like to listen, but can't until later. Also, maybe posting a later replay time or even providing a download would be helpful to many.

Thank you very, very much!

Last night, I caught just the last few minutes; it was the first time I had ever listened to webhostradio...and I'll be back!

Thanks again,

Louis

Sure, will keep it playing through the night :)
As far as a download, that could use up quite a bit of bandwidth, but we'll look into it :)

Thank you very much, Rewdog!

Originally posted by .::DefCon::.


Err... not in this situation I wouldn't ! By becoming a mod, the content of all threads/articles on WHT becomes intrustworthy (or how do you guys say that in English? :rolleyes: :D ).
RS concurrents' posts' existance will no longer remain secure/safe/trustworthy, since they can at any time have been edited by the 'enemy'.
I mean, that's like a Jew giving a speech for freedom in Hitler's home town, full of nazi's, in WWII !! :D

This can't be, guys. This can't be... :rolleyes:


DefCon.....2 words...........grow up........like someone in another thread said, its really pathedic how some of you guys are taking this, you act like its worse then 9/11. In 2 weeks, everyone on this board will be back to normal.

If you do not like RS owning this board. Go find another board and leave everyone else on this board who really doesnt give a rats ass in peace. No one is forcing you to come to this board on a daily basis NOR even post here.

Well excùùse me, Alaskan Wolf... :mad:
I'm just expressing my feelings/opinion here. Isn't that what Bulletin Boards are all about?? :confused:

BTW, to headsurfer: I would really like it if you'd reply to some of the questions that have been asked here on the last 10 pages. :D
It has been very quiet from your side for a few days now, and I'd really like to know your reaction on all of these statements... :)

Originally posted by .::DefCon::.
BTW, to headsurfer: I would really like it if you'd reply to some of the questions that have been asked here on the last 10 pages.Hey, why should the "enemy," to use your word, care what you'd like?

I think HS's answers are clear: there'll be only a few changes, wait and see. It's clear that some people aren't willing to take his statements on the matter at face value so if I were him I wouldn't bother carrying on long discussions about it in this thread.

What's said doesn't matter, what happens will have to develop over time.

I suppose the future will bestow upon us the intentions of RS. Perhaps they are geniune, I know of no reason to suspect otherwise. What would be really nice is if we never really saw their presence and could just go about business as usual. It sounds like that may be the case, let's hope.

Originally posted by JayC
Hey, why should the "enemy," to use your word, care what you'd like?
I think HS's answers are clear...

Why are you all so unkind to me? :(

Originally posted by .::DefCon::.

BTW, to headsurfer: I would really like it if you'd reply to some of the questions that have been asked here on the last 10 pages. :D
It has been very quiet from your side for a few days now, and I'd really like to know your reaction on all of these statements... :)

In HS's defence, I'm sure he has lots of important things to do - far more important than answering threads on WHT.

voxtreme-matt, look at the post I made above yours. ;)


:bawling:

Originally posted by .::DefCon::.
Why are you all so unkind to me? :( DefCon, it might help if you didn't post in thread 43049 (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43049) that this is all just a game to you to get to 500 posts.
Originally posted by .::DefCon::.
Let's do it together! Deal? Let's race up to 500 posts!
Tell me if you're in... There is such a thing a quality versus quantity.

:rolleyes:

Originally posted by 4solutions
DefCon, it might help if you didn't post in thread 43049 (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43049) that this is all just a game to you to get to 500 posts.
There is such a thing a quality versus quantity.

:rolleyes:

lol, True to that... but it isn't a game...and i quote the bean "Itsa Race!"

Oh guys, come on! I'm just trying to make a little fun! I'm not going to spam the entire WHT community or anything! :eek:
Gosh... :D

Hmm... :rolleyes:
Okay; I promise not to lower the -already too low- quality of my posts due to this competition with akashd. :)

BTW:When I posted 'Why are you all so unkind to me?', I hadn't started that competition yet! You guys were already treating me like a 4-year old kid! :bawling: (okay, maybe I AM a 4-year old kid :D)
I mean, I'm not as bad as it seems, right? Not as bad as OPTIX, right? :eek: :confused: (anyone remember optix? funny little guy :D )

<<EDITED... I'm off thread here>>

I once "spat the dummy" over WHT and yet I am still posting :rolleyes: .

Just on the issue of the microeconomics of the web hosting industry, comparing RS to Microsoft is just silly. The barriers to entry in hosting are very low. Just look at how many hosts enter the industry every day (and leave). It is no-where near the same thing as the natural monopoly of desktop OS software. It is the natural monopoly nature of the desktop OS market that has allowed MS to abuse market power.

All this can also be good thing.

Maybe I will finaly be able to advertise my firm now on WHT. My money was no "good" to past owner's.

I hope HEAD with like my money more then they :)

It's USA dolar all the way....

Wow... well I managed to keep up with this entire thread (albeit skimming most of the posts) and I TRIED to keep out of it, but oh well.

If I were "headersurfer", I would be embarrassed to own such a forum. I mean, look at this thread... over 200 posts of us members ripping each others heads off. To reiterate what a majority of posters already said, I think it is best to continue using WHT just the way we did before Rack Shack bought it. I am pretty confident that RS would not be so stupid to change things here, knowing they would lose many members.

And another thing, I would really like to see an announcement from MattF about this and what's going on. No offense to him, but he's doing a pretty lousy job of letting us know what's going on and reassuring us.

Ok, I'm done here.......... please don't rip my head off. :rolleyes: :)

Originally posted by mindboggle
Wow... well I managed to keep up with this entire thread (albeit skimming most of the posts) and I TRIED to keep out of it, but oh well.

['El Snippo]

And another thing, I would really like to see an announcement from MattF about this and what's going on. No offense to him, but he's doing a pretty lousy job of letting us know what's going on and reassuring us.

Ok, I'm done here.......... please don't rip my head off. :rolleyes: :)

Okay, just to keep in the spirit of the thread, I'll rip your head off now. :-)

Seriously though, my take on this is simply this; This is a free forum. We don't pay to use it or be members. Matt is under no obligation to disclose any details, nor is Robert. Really, what do we need to know anyway? Why are any of them obligated? I can understand people wanting to know what's going on -- but we know, and it's simple.

I don't see any reason why people are acting like we should have all been told. We aren't a partner in this, this was a site Matt put up, got traffic to and it got popular. He sold it once it became something of value. It sounds to me, like he got one heck of an offer and took it. Really, be it things stay the same or change, I fail to understand the problem people are having here? Sure, it might suck to have this place be 'ruined', but there's other places, and who's to even say this place will change at all?

I'm serious about this. I recall running some very popular sites that I put together, and I can relate to this type of thing. Any changes and people freak out and it's ridiculous. People tearing into Robert for wanting to be a moderator of his own forum that he paid a huge amount to own, like he shouldn't have control over the site he bought, just to please people that want to act like he should not be able to run his own site? Isn't it a big weird to expect him to keep Matt in charge and start paying moderators? This wasn't agreed to. Mods help out, because they volunteer. And, this paranoia of Robert reading people's PM's and using people's private information. Why would anyone dare and come to that assumption? If people are so affected by a simple change of who's name is on the domain or officially owns the site, to start accusing people of having the potential to do illegal, immoral and unethical things, then you seriously need to review yourself a little. What can possibly change that will be so bad? Advertisements from *****, huh? Stuff like that? Fine, we all leave, because we won't be a part in a site that will have such low values that they'd allow such a company to advertise here. So, the ads issue is resolved by the users that have ethics, leaving to not support the site.

What else is there to worry about? Him or his staff reading PM's and editing posts? Would in the world would he want to anyway? Talk about a boring mission that would be. That's just not going to happen. If he did read PM's, how would you know or prove it? If you could and they did, he'd be sued and lose everything he has. That's not going to happen. So, what else is there? What is everyone worried about changing? It's still the same software, the same forum names, the same layout, it's still free. What the heck are some of these people bitching about? Perhaps if you could have advertised your dedicated servers before here, but not now (via a banner ad, for example), that's a real issue and relevant. The same holds true for anything else. Robert has the right to do what he wants, including shutting this place down, since he's not obligated to keep it up, but why would he bother to buy the place and do that?

It's funny, that for a free site that is simply a site that uses a single forum software license that allows free memberships, that people expect and/or demand information/disclosure and answers. Whatever happens, will happen and you'll have to deal with it accordingly. It's just a forum, and this is a very, very tiny part of the web hosting community. I seriously doubt that people will not be able to post questions and answers and just general chats, just like they have always been able to do -- and that's all a forum is good for -- so what is going to change -- what could possibly change that affects the purpose of this forum so much? I was serious before, I'd have sold this site in a heart beat for anywhere near what Matt got (and I don't even know what he actually got). Matt put this site together for whatever reasons and got it big, he ceased the opportunity to sell it.. he sold it, someone else now owns it. We know the story, and there's not really that much that can change.

Poor moderation, unreasonable censorship, favoritism, abuse, power trips, unfair treatment for whatever reason, not being able to post your ad or post that you otherwise would have before, etc., are the type of things that would matter. If they happen, people will leave and the place becomes worthless and you'd not buy it if that was planned. I don't really care about the trivial aspects, since I come here to post when I have time, am bored, feel in the mood to share my knowledge or answer someone's question and just basically hang out online with a lot of other geeks that are into the technical and business aspects of web hosting... that aspect, I know at least, isn't going to change. If you expect more out of a web board and worry about it so much, you probably have more to worry about then who owns a forum.

I completely agree with you Tim. And I said this:

And another thing, I would really like to see an announcement from MattF about this and what's going on. No offense to him, but he's doing a pretty lousy job of letting us know what's going on and reassuring us.
Because the news had already gotten out and I thought that Matt should make an announcement about it all (since everyone was jumping to conclusions).

Originally posted by mindboggle
I completely agree with you Tim. And I said this:


Because the news had already gotten out and I thought that Matt should make an announcement about it all (since everyone was jumping to conclusions).

I'm glad you knew that my post wasn't in response to yours, and that I covered some different aspects. Really though, in that regard, I wonder what people want from Matt? I mean, what could he make an announcement about? Tell people that "things won't change other than _this_ might" and "no one's going to do anything drastic or read any PM's, etc."? He's already said that and that Robert bought WHT. I'm just curious of what an announcement will do? Since it's out of Matts' hands now anyway and not his site anymore, what could Matt say, or what would he say anyway? He's commented that he thinks Robert will run this site fine, and right or wrong about that opinion, that's ultimately in Roberts' hands now. Matt is "out of the picture" and him trying to encourage people is irrelevant. He's not involved in the same capacity as he was before and won't be again. He'll stick around, he says, but he won't know too much more than we will or any of the other mods.

Besides, people are going to jump to conclusions or not, and if Matt tried to explain how all these conclusions are irrelevant or too soon or outlandish, there will just be more that he'll have to respond to, and yet more after that. I don't think it would matter, but this is my view I'm speaking of about all of this and I could be wrong. I think this issue will die out as people don't see anything happening different. If they do, they'll bring it up or leave when it does happen. I'm not sure what Matt could cover in regards to that, and it's not his site anymore. We'll just have to see what Robert and/or RS do or don't do and pose the questions and concerns to them, if something bothers us. Personally, I don't care that much about this issue, and if I don't like something enough to be bothered, I'll just hang out elsewhere.

Well after reading all 16 pages (Was a challenge) I'd like to just say

1. If I was a webhosting company, and I had the money, I would also try to acquire this place to protect it. As Robert said he did, and I hope his intentions were true, the best thing is to protect this site from going to a competitor and being abused. It was inevitable someone with some interest in Webhosting would buy this place, what else did you expect?

2. What's wrong with him having admin access on a site he owns?

3. Matt made a post somewhere in page 2 - 5 I think. People speculated it was WHT Robert was buying in a two line comment on the RS Forums, and the official announcement was supposed to be next week. Can't really blame Matt.

4. As said, People make a site. Its very easy to buy a VB license, a domain and a server and setup another site. I'm hoping all will be well here. :)

Nobody is leaving :smash:

Nobody will leave anyway :)

I wish both parties the very best in this sale and respectfully believe they have earned the benifit of the doubt to see how things work out. Please don't bolt for the door and just hang out and see.

On the other hand <cough> it would have been nice if my own emails to buy the Board would have at least recieved a "no thank you" responce rather than nothing back. Since none of my emails contained a price but did contain very very detailed plans and I'm no stranger to management, I respect your decision and your right not to respond.

Good luck

WHT will stay the same I feel. :) Chicken and the others are sticking around lets hope :). I know Robert said they would just only if they accept ;). I think all the mods should get a free rackshack server for all there hard work and dedication...

Originally posted by TimPD
WHT will stay the same I feel. :) Chicken and the others are sticking around lets hope :). I know Robert said they would just only if they accept ;). I think all the mods should get a free rackshack server for all there hard work and dedication...

i think everyone should get a free rackshack server.....:D:D:D

seriously though,...

i sure do hope that matt's giving chicken and friends some sort of monetary compensation...and that HS will be rewarding the mods under the new ownership too

edited to insert sarcasm :D

no everyone shouldn't we don't all deserve one :p At least chicken and them do and myself even know i'm not a mod . LOL. Just for bringing up the idea I should get one ;).

While RackShack puts I a good face, I believe the true nature is hidden;

1. On Rackshack (and here) I see posts of people with problems with Rackshack Servers. They are typically attacked as not knowing what they are doing by other members (I have my own little conspiracy theory about that). Ensim finally released a fix for the Bandwidth Manager (known) problem this week. That means at least up until now any Ensim server sold by RackShack was unreliable and not well suited for hosting Business Class Accounts. However, fine for people using them for a hobby. (fully expect a few pro-RackShack people to post that thier server is fine, however, I suspected they do not have Ensim, have reconfigured their server or have a RAQ).

2. Users that are not supportive of RackShack disappear (what did happen to ones like Z28SS) if they get under the skin of Head-Surfer.

3. I will not have the faith in this forum that I once had.

RackShack Talks the Talk be in my humble opinion do not walk the walk.

Originally posted by Fish_Saver
While RackShack puts I a good face, I believe the true nature is hidden . . . . . . :eek: Dictator??????
:cartman: Is that you??????








:D

My two cents where they are not needed:

Above all else HeadSurfer is a business man, and I find it hard to believe he parted with $30,000 out of the kindness of his heart.

This is a business move, and as such we'll all just have to wait an see what happens. Or better yet, how about we continue with our conspiracy theories, those were so much more fun :)

1. On Rackshack (and here) I see posts of people with problems with Rackshack Servers. They are typically attacked as not knowing what they are doing by other members (I have my own little conspiracy theory about that).If people don't know how/can't fix common problems, they shouldn't have a dedicated server from RS in the first place, RS is setup for people who can manage a server themselves, but the majority of the time, people aren't attacked from what I've seen (at least not on the RS forums).Ensim finally released a fix for the Bandwidth Manager (known) problem this week. That means at least up until now any Ensim server sold by RackShack was unreliable and not well suited for hosting Business Class Accounts. However, fine for people using them for a hobby. (fully expect a few pro-RackShack people to post that thier server is fine, however, I suspected they do not have Ensim, have reconfigured their server or have a RAQ).Shouldn't Ensim be yelled at for that? RS got a product (that you aren't required to have/used) created a by another company, and not only used by RS.2. Users that are not supportive of RackShack disappear (what did happen to ones like Z28SS) if they get under the skin of Head-Surfer.The nature of people, if they don't like it, and are nasty about it, they tend not to want to stay. How that makes the RS forum any different than any other, I don't see it.

Originally posted by meballard
If people don't know how/can't fix common problems, they shouldn't have a dedicated server from RS in the first place,

['snip]



While that statement is likely very true, I do also believe that people that are serious about running anything but a hobby site on a dedicated server, would be looking for better servers. If RS would use just some different hardware and set their systems up a little better, that would not be an issue. So, I don't see them having anything but complaints, since the people that do know what they are doing, wouldn't get one of those systems. I'm sure they do fine for most people, but they do really need to change how they are set up and maybe offer some higher quality hardware. All in all, you're paying for the bandwidth, but at the same time, you should get a better package to choose from, which I don't think I've ever seen -- not yet. I guess I'll agree with the "what do you expect for the price", but if they'd offer another package that's more professional, that would be an advantage to them -- and people that knew to get those other servers, and even pay a little more for them, would rarely complain about stuff like people often do that get these low end servers/setups. It's not always true that people don't know what they are doing, but it is very common and likely more often the case, so I do agree.

Originally posted by Rewdog

That is soooooooo not true. There are only 12,000 members of WHT, probably not even half of those are web hosts.

I agree! I'm not even a client -- yet. But I do read this site, and make referrals here for friends so they can learn what a good host is, and what's a fair hosting price.

One can learn a lot here, and you guys are like a net family to me (I can imagine how a party with you guys would be like :D ). It's also one of the best managed sites I've come across, that still has some humor in it. ;)

As for Rackshack buying WHT, I just hope it will remain unbiased and that all of you can have equal opportunity to compete. Us consumers need the competition (hint, hint). Also wouldn't want to lose track of you.

(If anyone leaves :( please let me know. Hate to come back one day and you've disappeared!).

Chris
Still around but mainly in lurk mode

Holy crap. This tread is like the energizer bunny, keeps on going,and going, and going ect.

Last night in my dream, I saw RackShack :) And whole day I lurk here on WHT...

Help me :(

<<Removed: See http://www.webhostingtalk.com/misc.php?s=&action=forum-rules >>

there are already 50 others, no need to start a new WHT ;)

Originally posted by Tim_Greer

... I do also believe that people that are serious about running anything but a hobby site on a dedicated server, would be looking for better servers.
The same argument could easily apply to Mysql and even linux up to an extent. However, the fact remains that these solutions from a price/performance point of view are ideal for 99% of the sites out there. Competing with MFN is out of the question....;)
...If RS would use just some different hardware and set their systems up a little better, that would not be an issue. So, I don't see them having anything but complaints, since the people that do know what they are doing, wouldn't get one of those systems.
While the Compaq servers are good; I agree that higher end servers should be offered to the more discerning customer.
Headsurfer would probably look at it from a different angle, in view of his sun servers experience, where bad timing is to blame IMO.
The complaints are stastically negligible, and people that do know what they are doing owe it to themselves to give those systems a try.
...... I guess I'll agree with the "what do you expect for the price".......
One can only say, a lot less. The price/value ratio in this instance is out of this world.

Originally posted by Marshall

The same argument could easily apply to Mysql and even linux up to an extent. However, the fact remains that these solutions from a price/performance point of view are ideal for 99% of the sites out there. Competing with MFN is out of the question....;)


I don't really think that's the case. A preference of software used and how it's configured is up to the person, their knowledge and experience. The choice of the hardware, is another matter entirely. Some of these boards can't be upgraded, they have their server installs set for only certain image installs (so anyone can do it) and this results in a poor configuration that can't be changed. In regards to a user's comment about partition schemes is a great example -- and there's many reasons why you'd want a logical one. Without this done properly on a system that you might want to run a shared hosting environment on, you risk a lot of problems with; Peformance, Security, Data Inegrity, etc. This matters. This matters a lot.

Perhaps they will, one day, offer something that has a more professional layout, or at least offer something where it has an intelligent set up initially, where people can do the rest themselves. One drive with one root partition that everything resides on, gives you no options. It's a simple thing to change, so hopefully they will some day. I'm not sure what you meant by your Linux and MySQL comment/comparison, but they don't fit here. These are a choice and a preference or what's best to a certain job. I don't think Linux is the best choice for an OS, personally and a lot of documentation supports that fact and agrees with me that OS's like FreeBSD and OpenBSD are far superior. Plus, I like Sun/Solaris much better than Linux. And, is MysQL even needed for most or a lot of things and is it really better? A lot of the time, no. Perhaps that's what you meant too, when you mentioned it, but we're talking the difference between better a performing, more robust and better secured file system, and considerably less -- and something all hosts running Unix variants should practice. I find that a little behind and poor planning -- but again, perhaps they'll change that.

I won't argue that this is fine for (maybe not 99% of the people, but probably in the 80%+ margin), the hardware/systems, and even a lot of the configuration, for most people. Most people won't use anywhere near all that bandwidth either, and if they did, you can bet that would have a large impact on the profits RS is making here. Further, if they don't try and run a web hosting business with it (keep in mind my arguemnt is valid, since this is "webhostingtalk.com" and this is the target audiance here), because it will have the effects mentioned above -- at least potentially, if someone was to exploit these faults. Most people don't run into those issues though, and most people don't do a lot of client hosting and they are usually just hobby sites, be it they know or admit it or not. So, I see your point to, but realize my points here are very relevant.


While the Compaq servers are good; I agree that higher end servers should be offered to the more discerning customer.


I don't agree those are anywhere near what a true professional web host would want to run. I do agree with your comments that this is good for the majority of people and it should be all they need as far as hardware, etc. goes. However, for a professional web host doing shared hosting, it is not. It's simply not. We all know this isn't a deal for professional, serious people that want to do shared hosting like they could on other, better quality systems, and setups. However, few people know or are qualified to know the differences, reasons or really are genuine anyway. I'm not trying to insult anyone, I know these are great deals, but they just aren't quality enough in a lot of aspects for everyone.. this can't be argued -- and I won't say that's the case for everyone, or even most people -- just serious, professionals would know better. These are not the people RS appears to want to cater to -- which seems odd, since they don't want to or expect to offer the amount of support they mention that they do. :-)


Headsurfer would probably look at it from a different angle, in view of his sun servers experience, where bad timing is to blame IMO.


I wonder what type of Sun systems. I mean, not SPARC 5's or something, right? *L* Now, if we're talking about GOOD Sun models that he would have offered if he could have, then I can see at least there was some desire to cater to the real, professional hosts. However, this can be done at anytime, by simply getting better hardware and having better images to install more correct initial configurations that people aren't able to change, when it's important they should be able to. There's no denying that having one partition will make any experienced client assume you're an ammature, for example.


The complaints are stastically negligible, and people that do know what they are doing owe it to themselves to give those systems a try.


This is incorrect and I've only outlined some of the reasons. If things change hardware-wise, and equally important (configuration-wise), then this argument will be nonexistant. However, as it stands, unless changes are made, these are not the people that RS will or intends to cater to. That's fine, perhaps they don't want to, I have no problem with that. I'm simply saying why people that are serious and do know, will not be shopping around there, no matter how good the deals are, because there's too many cons to outweigh the pros of these deals. I think what people owe it to themselves, it to be educated about the reasons and the ramifications and to be honest about it. I simply am doing that, being honest. Not to discredit RS or their business model. It's perfectly fine if they don't intend to try and keep up with the market and target the professional web hosting clients. I realize that will offend people that think a Duron/Celeron system on a lower-quality board with one giant root partition is just as good as a P4 or Thunderbird system with an ASUS, Abit, or like board... but I can't help what people don't know is important.


One can only say, a lot less. The price/value ratio in this instance is out of this world.

Well, they have good prices on bandwidth, yes. I have issues with the other aspects, and I'm not sure that massive amounts of bandwidth justify this business model for professionals -- but I'm not saying they should. It's not my company, after all, I'm not a share holder or anything. I'm simply saying that we have to be realistic, and good prices and quantity does not equate to quality and the standards are different and they are important. Thanks for listening.

{I probably made a lot of typo's, as I'm short on time right now, and I didn't intend to make this so long, so ignore any typo's, I'm sure it's close enough to get the point across.}

Cheers!