Without Our Forum

[RichardHarris123]

In the meantime whilst awaiting a better plan, please drop me a quick hello on my email. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

41 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

In the meantime whilst awaiting a better plan, please drop me a quick hello on my email. 

I have it, so until we get a lunch one day , nearly everyday is with my mum at the moment.

[oldhippy]

Don't forget Mark is a hard working watch maker so he is also tied up with work. I'm sure he is keeping his eye on this forum making sure it is running along nicely. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

2 hours ago, oldhippy said:

Don't forget Mark is a hard working watch maker so he is also tied up with work. I'm sure he is keeping his eye on this forum making sure it is running along nicely. 

Fully understood OH, not to sound negative in any way but life has a great way of screwing things up. 

[JohnR725]

21 hours ago, Waggy said:

and express our concerns and let us know the plans going forward?

did I miss the update of the message of something changing?

 

 

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, JohnR725 said:

did I miss the update of the message of something changing?

 

 

 

Not exactly John , just have a read through and give us your thoughts.

[Neverenoughwatches]

We seem to have gone a bit quiet on this ?  Do we all agree to ask Mark for some input on this matter, or is no-one really bothered. 

[RichardHarris123]

I'm bothered but I agree he's a busy man and I don't want to bother him.  In the meantime, we really do need to have other ways of contacting each other  

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

I'm bothered but I agree he's a busy man and I don't want to bother him.  In the meantime, we really do need to have other ways of contacting each other  

That was reason for asking for mark's input, i wasn't sure if going ahead with dealing with the contact information would be particularly well received. @oldhippy thoughts ?

[JohnR725]

2 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

We seem to have gone a bit quiet on this ?  Do we all agree to ask Mark for some input on this matter, or is no-one really bothered. 

yes by all means let's gather up our weapons tar feathers find the nearest tree in case Mark is not agreeable to our terms on our demands and storm his Castle.

I don't quite understand what you're trying to do here? In other words you want Mark to somehow guarantee that the group will live on forever no matter what? You want Mark to somehow change his business model of what is trying to do or should we just take the group away from him?

oh and is quite possible that Mark never realized that his discussion group would take on a life of its own. That the members of the group would like to continue on forever.

 

[RichardHarris123]

27 minutes ago, JohnR725 said:

yes by all means let's gather up our weapons tar feathers find the nearest tree in case Mark is not agreeable to our terms on our demands and storm his Castle.

I don't quite understand what you're trying to do here? In other words you want Mark to somehow guarantee that the group will live on forever no matter what? You want Mark to somehow change his business model of what is trying to do or should we just take the group away from him?

oh and is quite possible that Mark never realized that his discussion group would take on a life of its own. That the members of the group would like to continue on forever.

 

No John, we don't want Mark to change anything, we are just scared of losing a brilliant forum and losing contact with each other.  As pointed out, this forum is full of knowledge and I for one,  consider the regulars friends. I would hate to lose contact with you and the others.  

PS, this forum is really important to me. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

2 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

yes by all means let's gather up our weapons tar feathers find the nearest tree in case Mark is not agreeable to our terms on our demands and storm his Castle.

I don't quite understand what you're trying to do here? In other words you want Mark to somehow guarantee that the group will live on forever no matter what? You want Mark to somehow change his business model of what is trying to do or should we just take the group away from him?

oh and is quite possible that Mark never realized that his discussion group would take on a life of its own. That the members of the group would like to continue on forever.

 

i think your first statement is rather dramatic, but i will take it in good humour.  I think the thread speaks for itself John.  What we are aiming for and when i say we, thats not actually that many that have spoke up. Is to have a back up plan to keep members in touch in case the forum ever disappears. So in essence yes the group has maybe taken on a life of its own and would like to remain together forever ( i can also be dramatic )  maybe more members need to give some input of how they feel about it or say they are just not that bothered.  Either way at least the question gets answered. Can i ask what the forum means to you and how you would feel without it ?

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

No John, we don't want Mark to change anything, we are just scared of losing a brilliant forum and losing contact with each other.  As pointed out, this forum is full of knowledge and I for one,  consider the regulars friends. I would hate to lose contact with you and the others.  

PS, this forum is really important to me. 

Thats one answer Rich from one person, without knowing how others feel the thread was just a waste of time.

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

No John, we don't want Mark to change anything, we are just scared of losing a brilliant forum and losing contact with each other.  As pointed out, this forum is full of knowledge and I for one,  consider the regulars friends. I would hate to lose contact with you and the others.  

PS, this forum is really important to me. 

Aw Rich are you saying you'd miss me ? I'm touched

[Waggy]

I think we all get a lot out of this group, and it has been pivotal in my development by the sharing of knowledge, experience and learning from more seasoned experts such as @JohnR725 and others (you know who you are!) as well as fellow novices. I think that having a backup communication plan in reserve so that if there is a future problem just makes good sense. I don't think anyone is trying to undermine the forum, but if something unthinkable happens, like the Ranfft website for example, then it would be good if those who are willing can still keep in contact.

Speaking personally, and I know I risk a charge of heresy, it would be good if Mark could be a little more visible in this forum, and maybe give any insight from time to time on the future/progress of forum and instructional videos etc. even if its just to confirm the status quo. I appreciate he is a busy man with a full time job, but so are most of the rest of us and to post a few lines every now and then shouldn't be too much to ask to reassure the restless villagers.

Best outcome for me would be a message saying something along the lines of: "Hi guys, all good, no planned changes... enjoy the forum, will message again next month!"

Just my two cents.

[oldhippy]

Mark keeps a close eye on his forum. I'm sure if you asked him he will reply, he might not do it right away but you will receive his answer.  

[Neverenoughwatches]

36 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Mark keeps a close eye on his forum. I'm sure if you asked him he will reply, he might not do it right away but you will receive his answer.  

For me any input from Mark would be great. If he's keeping a close eye i would imagine he has read about our concerns here. But specifically i would like to know if he is ok with us collecting each others contact information for those of us that wish to provide them. 

[JohnR725]

10 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

i think your first statement is rather dramatic

While you might have seen it as a humorous/Dramatic remark was done very deliberately so I could get an answer.

Let me quote myself?

12 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

oh and is quite possible that Mark never realized that his discussion group would take on a life of its own. That the members of the group would like to continue on forever.

The simplistic of this entire discussion is the group would like the last forever.

 

7 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Mark keeps a close eye on his forum.

If you go to the top of the discussion group you'll find something to click on that says staff. Then you click on Mark's name and you find out interesting things? For instance he was last here on Saturday so yes he is here. If there is a crisis or a problem he is going to be here. You will also find a list of his activity although that's only the public activity. There's a lot of work that goes into running message boards and he probably does a lot of stuff in the background that we don't see to keep it going. Unfortunately message boards do not run themselves.

10 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

I'm sure if you asked him he will reply, he might not do it right away but you will receive his answer.  

Then regarding this did you notice you can message Mark and ask him.

Then if somebody, we could elect somebody from this discussion such as @Neverenoughwatches To reach out I would really keep the message super simple like? You could refer him to this discussion but I would really keep it simple Like for instance the group enjoys his message board and what could we do to keep it going Forever?

Then regarding all of the other suggestions comments helpful remarks or ideas? When was the last time any of you bothered to read the message board rules? This is covered which is one of the reasons I did the dramatic things I did to provoke a response of the basics as opposed to starting to suggest or seemingly suggesting all sorts of ideas which are covered by one of the rules found in the section on rules. In other words I'm going to quote something from the rules of the message board.

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

39 minutes ago, JohnR725 said:

While you might have seen it as a humorous/Dramatic remark was done very deliberately so I could get an answer.

You would always get an answer John, you dont need to be dramatic or humerous to get one, but it was appreciated anyway

39 minutes ago, JohnR725 said:

The simplistic of this entire discussion is the group would like the last forever.

 

Kind of, for those of us that wish to stay in touch and continue to learn from each other in case the forum ever dissappears then yes i suppose so . I  hope that you would also count yourself in , what we learn from you is invaluable,  how you benefit from that exactly I'm not sure, being able to teach ?

39 minutes ago, JohnR725 said:

Then if somebody, we could elect somebody from this discussion such as @Neverenoughwatches To reach out I would really keep the message super simple like? You could refer him to this discussion. 

I did say is it ok to ask mark for some input John and suggested that he might read the thread that explains how some of us feel. I dont see how its really discussing forum policy, but in all honesty i wish i had never even bothered now.

I don't know if anyone has noticed this but the activity here is based around only 20 maybe 30 regular visitors. The rest just seem to be one off fleeting enquirers.  

Edited April 30 by Neverenoughwatches

[Michael1962]

I used to be quite active on The Lotus Forum when I owned my Esprit. I was there for so long, Bibs asked me to be a moderator. I'm not sure how long I did that for, but I think I turned into the second longest serving moderator. When I 'handed back my keys', Bibs made me a Full Forum Member. Normally this is a paid membership. My reward I suppose for helping out for many years.

Bibs (forum owner) is quite active on there and if I am not wrong, don't quote me in other words, I think he once said that the money from memberships didn't cover the running cost. He adds money himself to keep it going.

Does Mark have any sort of subscription scheme on here? I'll admit that I never paid to be a member on TLF. I should have. I never did.

I agree that it would be a good idea that there is some sort of contingency plan for this forum. I intend on becoming more active on here. Life has just been getting in the way recently.

I enrolled on Mark's watch course and was keenly doing that, but even that has had to take a back seat for a while.

I am looking forward to getting back into that and also starting to do work on the clocks that I have been amassing. To do that successfully, I see myself needing to lean on the other members here.

If for whatever reason this forum was to close, I think a great many of us would struggle.

[Neverenoughwatches]

On 4/30/2024 at 11:29 AM, Michael1962 said:

I used to be quite active on The Lotus Forum when I owned my Esprit. I was there for so long, Bibs asked me to be a moderator. I'm not sure how long I did that for, but I think I turned into the second longest serving moderator. When I 'handed back my keys', Bibs made me a Full Forum Member. Normally this is a paid membership. My reward I suppose for helping out for many years.

Bibs (forum owner) is quite active on there and if I am not wrong, don't quote me in other words, I think he once said that the money from memberships didn't cover the running cost. He adds money himself to keep it going.

Does Mark have any sort of subscription scheme on here? I'll admit that I never paid to be a member on TLF. I should have. I never did.

I agree that it would be a good idea that there is some sort of contingency plan for this forum. I intend on becoming more active on here. Life has just been getting in the way recently.

I enrolled on Mark's watch course and was keenly doing that, but even that has had to take a back seat for a while.

I am looking forward to getting back into that and also starting to do work on the clocks that I have been amassing. To do that successfully, I see myself needing to lean on the other members here.

If for whatever reason this forum was to close, I think a great many of us would struggle.

We dont seem to be any further on. Shall i just give up on it ?

[RichardHarris123]

If all else fails we could just email each other, not the best solution but better than nothing or the one drive idea.

[Michael1962]

As much as I hate Facebook, can a forum-like place be set up on there? Free and the ownership can be taken over by the next person whenever.

[RichardHarris123]

I for one would have to pass, I'm not joining Facebook. 

[oldhippy]

Facebook is a big NO from me. I have nothing to do with any of these sorts of places. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

I for one would have to pass, I'm not joining Facebook. 

What I've found with Facebook groups and yes i am in a few , its good to have more than one source of information on specialised areas such as lathe restoration or just military watches etc. They dont have the same ethics that we have here, we all seem to look out for each other here, a good close knit group that encourage new members and each other daily. We have a laugh sometimes and really help each other out and support each other. All the support i received about my mum was so kind, i wouldn't have got that anywhere else. A lot of these facebook groups are full of aholes and sarcastic gate keepers. I consider our forum to be very unique, but the subject of # if it ever Dissappears # honestly i think does need addressing .

1 hour ago, Michael1962 said:

As much as I hate Facebook, can a forum-like place be set up on there? Free and the ownership can be taken over by the next person whenever.

We're really just after a connection site Michael not a full function chat group. Just a way to re-connect if something happens. But the other big thing is all the stored information how that can remain accessible. 

Edited May 9 by Neverenoughwatches

[SamLiddle]

Hello,

I hope you don't mind me responding. I'm brand new to this forum, and the hobby (it's a hobby for me rather than a profession). I just wanted to say that if I've recently joined, there must be hope for the forum. The forum pops up on a lot of google-searched watch questions, which drew me to it.

It certainly doesn't look like a forum in trouble, in fact it seems highly responsive and relevant.

Just a perspective from a newbie, hope it helps.

 

Sam