Modern Vespa

For those of you that frequent ADVrider, they've been sold to Virtual Scope and many of the members aren't too happy about it, so ADVbikes has been started, with hope that it rekindles the old magic. Cheers

https://advbikes.com/threads/welcome-to-advbikes-com.37/

I followed ADVrider but didn't post there much. Just created an account on this one. Thanks for the link.

All of the bike forums and publications are being bought up. Every year or so someone comes along and tries to buy YouMotorcycle.com.

I used to speak to the guys who used to run indie sweethearts like MotorScooterGuide, HappyWrench, WebBikeWorld... They've all been bought up, they get mass-churned out content that no longer resembles the kind of quality that they used to get or the site the kind of flavor they used to have.

This is happening at all levels in the motorcycle world, not just with the little guys. Just look into who owns Revzilla. CoMoto. Same people that own JP Cycle. Same people that own CycleGear.

Support your local small indie forums and websites. We're the last of the mohicans, fighting off the borg's assimilation...

it's not just bike forums and sites, it's everything. the VC vultures come in and scoop up sites, appoint a whole bunch of C-level friends to guzzle up the money while they slather the whole thing in ads and pivot to video. driving off all the users (and their eyeballs needed for that sweet ad monies) as well as all the content creators (why those eyeballs were there in the first place) and then the tail spin starts. a husk remains, picked clean.

then they're on to the next one.

They haven't made Jess an offer he can't refuse yet I guess.

I'm so grateful to Jess and this forum.

And thanks for this link. I just created a profile.

I love rider forums for riders!!

Love you MV peeps ❤️

They have been relentless, actually. Over the years, I have been contacted by VerticalScope countless times about selling.

This was my latest response, just a couple weeks ago:

The truth is that when it comes to forums, you can either care about your community, or you can make a profit. It's rare that a forum can do both of these things simultaneously. I can think of maybe one off the top of my head.

I'm just guessing here, but you're not suggesting Facebook falls in this category...

Your integrity is greatly appreciated, jess.

Ravelry isn't a good example, unfortunately. Their 2020 redesign fiasco went down like a lead balloon because of how they handled their community. The ripples of that FUBAR is how I learned about that site.

You could of course spin off the MP3 sub forum and sell that. That's gotta be worth at least the price of a cheese burger. Maybe fries too if you're a good negotiator.

Better to sell of geographical chunks methinks....

Did not know that.