From Digitalscream & TTony

Chalky

Don't go guys.  Seriously.  What would it take for you to change your minds and stay?  Or to return after a short holiday?

Flanging_Fred

Thank you for all your hard work chaps.  I can’t say that I blame you for wanting to take a break,  I’ve met (and now played with) loads of great people via this forum now. It’s given me a huge amount of pleasure and in no small measure to all the hard work you’ve put in.

Enjoy taking the yoke off.

Strat_a_tat_tat

Chalky said:

Don't go guys.  Seriously.  What would it take for you to change your minds and stay?  Or to return after a short holiday?

Chalky raises a good point. If there are changes to be made (that could mean you guys stay around)... then I'd say... do whatever needs to be done.

breakstuff

Sad news for the forum,but I've seen this coming TBH.When you think about how much time and effort you both put in,I'm surprised you've lasted this long.

Thanks for everything guys,and sincerely hope you both come back,in whatever role,in the near future.

Iamnobody

Jimbro66 said:

I'm really sorry to hear this @TTony and @Digitalscream. You've created something very special with this forum. It's clear that you are getting far more than a fare share of the negatives whereas for most of us the positives far outweigh them. We're not on the front line.

A lot of the crap that we can see seems to be coming from the classifieds, particularly from freeloaders who resent following a few simple rules. Somehow this needs to be addressed if @Roland and @Jalapeno are not soon to feel as disillusioned as you are.

Yes there have been a few personal vendettas on here (as there can be in society generally) and also a few who seem unable to respect the differing opinions of others, BUT overall this is a great place to hang out - and unique. Don't underestimate what you have achieved.

Huge thanks to you both and enjoy your break. After a while call in as members and see just how good it mostly looks when you are not saddled with chores.

Thanks also to @Roland and @Jalapeno for agreeing to continue. I'm sure they'll get whatever support they might need. No-one wants to lose this place.

Great post that sums up a lot of my own thoughts...

Thanks both for setting this place up and persisting with it. It would be just as easy for you to pull the plug completely and I respect the decision to not do that (for now) and just hope that by taking the well deserved break it allows you to mill things over and do what’s best for you.

Deadman

All the best lads and cheers. I'm definitely one of the 'outsiders', probably due to my inability to become a truly established guitarist but hope I haven't caused you too much grief over the years. Good health and happiness to you both.

Fuengi

Firstly, many thanks to you both for goodness knows how many hours dedicated to running this forum.

I'm relatively new around here - 'bout 18 months - but I must say from my perspective the forum has been a brilliant place to be over that time. Of course, I don't know what it was like beforehand. 

I've learned so much about guitars, amp and pedals from here. I've also bought and sold a few low value items and everyone has been an absolute pleasure to deal with. 

I've seen the odd testy exchange threads, but really not so many. 

Basically, I think it's a brilliant forum and you both be incredibly proud. Hope you see you both back here some time soon. 

Grangousier

First of all, apologies if this post seems a bit random. 

Last year I spent a lot of time running - psychologically I needed the endorphins to keep going, and eventually the combination of sheer amount of time running, the fatigue and creeping drop foot meant that I tripped up and came crashing down, breaking my hand and putting me off both work and guitar playing for what seemed like forever but which was probably just a couple of months. During which a random web search brought me to this site, (last October-ish, so possibly just after a major meltdown situation. Sometimes it's difficult to tell). So, ironically, I began to spend most of my time reading about guitars during a period when the one thing I couldn't do was play the guitar. 

But I don't know that I have much to contribute apart from reading, favouriting wherever possible (in particular WOW-ing the gorgeous work that turns up on Making and Modding) and buying stuff. Because, in a weird way, buying stuff on here is a way of working my way through what I've read and appreciate and learned from on the site. And I'm still at the stage of waiting and watching to see if there is anything I can contribute. Because it still feels like anything I can say will either come across as weird and nonsensical or an attempt to teach my grandmother to suck eggs -  there's so much experience here that dwarfs any insights I might have. 

For the last twenty or so years, while I've been mostly dedicated to playing the guitar it's been in areas that actually don't have anything to do with the stuff that's the meat and potatoes for this site - I've played an awful lot in front of people, but it's been solo, on nylon-string acoustic-electric guitar; I've played electric guitar, but mostly just recording, using Roland's VG-88 and VG-99 systems (and it's very interesting to read about people's relationship to Helix/etc, which mirror my relationship with the VG units in the early 2000s); and I was heavily into Guitar Craft for a long time, which is a difficult thing to describe to anyone who doesn't know what it was, but it's fair to say it doesn't translate easily to the wider world, however useful it might have been (and it was incredibly useful to me - learning about technique, working in groups and the technical aspects of performance). The main consequence is that I have many more Ovations than a normal person would consider sane (and I realise that for most people "far too many Ovation guitars" is ennumerated at one).

I've learned a fantastic amount here over what is in retrospect a very short time, and am enormously grateful to the site and all the people who've provided me with that information. And mostly the way that learning has been expressed is by buying stuff - I'm sitting here looking at all the gear I've bought via the site and am rather shocked, but pleased at the same time, not just because I have the stuff, but because my life is infinitely richer for it. Having spent a few minutes trying and failing to explain why, I hope it's not too melodramatic to say that my relationship with all the new guitars in my life is the only bright area in an increasingly bewildering and miserable world. Playing a partscaster that I fitted with an @Alegree loaded scratchplate through an Amplifire plugged into a JC40 through the effects return (all bought on here, including the cables I'm connecting them with, apart from the scratchplate which I got to via here), presses a button in my head that makes all the stupidity go away for a bit. In any case, the classifieds aren't separate from the discussion, they're more like a way of engaging with the stuff that people are talking about. 

(The only request I'd make there is that I find the seller feedback system more than a bit opaque, and I feel very guilty for not having used it, because every seller I've encountered has been awesome, and I'd recommend all of them, even the one that didn't work out, so if there's any way to make it work even for stupid and confused people like me that would be terrific).

And it's excellent to see the better interactions in the off-topic areas - the way people support people, particularly. And less excellent to see the less good interactions, of course. But, on the whole, from my slightly outside point of view, this place really does look like a genuine community. 

On the other hand, this shit - nastiness, underengagement and the wearing away of site managers' enthusiasm - is literally everywhere at the moment. It's the way that the world is affecting us. I so not say that as a way of minimising what must be a terrible experience for @Digitalscream and @TTony, for whom I've enormous respect and gratitude, but as a reassurance that it's not them at fault, it's the world in general. I came to this thread from a thread on Metafilter (a very different site and culture) who are having the same struggle, and I've seen them go through it many times before. Ironically, I find myself drifting away from them and towards this place as the first site I visit in the morning. 

However, places like this can be necessary islands in the ocean of shit we're all swimming in at the moment, and I'd suggest that the next conversation to happen would be: 1. What do individuals need in order that this can be such an island? 2. What can the site do so that the most common of those needs be provided for? 3. How can those things be done practically? 4. How can individuals support the site in doing those things? 

(Yes, it might not seem to be so, but 2. and 3. are actually different questions, trust me.)

But, again, thanks and best wishes to the people who've made the site possible.

vasselmeyer

Lee and Tony. Thank you so much for what you've put together. I'd done a couple of volunteer roles in my life and it really can be a life-sapping experience. I'm so glad you've lasted as long as you have.

To those of you saying you should pay to access the classifieds. That opens a massive can of worms as as soon as you take money from people, you end up with some legal obligations and that can get unpleasant, especially from the freeloading types who appear to have descended on the classifieds.

Can I suggest that, instead of money, you only open the classified to those who take part in the forum. Say 100 frets or higher lets you can buy from the forum, 500+ lets you sell. Then active participants can engage but freeloaders, who contribute nothing, won't want to stick around. Who knows, perhaps they would and then become valued members of the community.

Whatever you do, I really hope you get a part of your leisure time back and, again,thank you for all you have contributed to this fantastic place.

strtdv

Sorry to hear that, for what it's worth you've been a very fair moderator, considerably more tolerant than I would be in the same situation.

sinbaadi

Good for you.  With sincerity, you don't want to deal with this stuff for the rest of your lives do you?

Everyone from the early days is immensely grateful for your time and efforts.

I won't waste time suggesting things that you have probably heard a hundred times before.
When you do return, spread the workload around a bit more.

Emp_Fab

That's the trouble with you two... always too nice to people.
I told you that when I was a mod.  DISCIPLINE!  That’s what’s needed in the ranks!  You can’t keep order without discipline!  What-ho.

If you need a break from this, I’m willing to step in as a special favour to my old comrades.  Reinstate my admin rights and I’ll have this place whipped into shape in no time.
Rename my profile to “Emperor Duterte” and after a month of proper discipline, the scum will be brushed out of here and those remaining will be too scared to give you any grief.

Whaddaya say boys ?

Tennnnnn SHUN!!

octatonic

Emp_Fab said:

That's the trouble with you two... always too nice to people.
I told you that when I was a mod.  DISCIPLINE!  That’s what’s needed in the ranks!  You can’t keep order without discipline!  What-ho.

If you need a break from this, I’m willing to step in as a special favour to my old comrades.  Reinstate my admin rights and I’ll have this place whipped into shape in no time.
Rename my profile to “Emperor Duterte” and after a month of proper discipline, the scum will be brushed out of here and those remaining will be too scared to give you any grief.

Whaddaya say boys ?

Tennnnnn SHUN!!

Depends on who you plan on kissing inappropriately at a press conference.

Put me down for a messy death squad murder instead.

Emp_Fab

You’re safe.  No kisses or death for you.

Kebabkid

vasselmeyer said:

To those of you saying you should pay to access the classifieds. That opens a massive can of worms as as soon as you take money from people, you end up with some legal obligations and that can get unpleasant, especially from the freeloading types who appear to have descended on the classifieds.

Can I suggest that, instead of money, you only open the classified to those who take part in the forum. Say 100 frets or higher lets you can buy from the forum, 500+ lets you sell. Then active participants can engage but freeloaders, who contribute nothing, won't want to stick around. Who knows, perhaps they would and then become valued members of the community.

Don't mind either @vasselmeyer, but with regard to the pay thing, hence my suggestion to talk to some moderators from another forum to see how their model works.

@TTony & @digitalscream and @Roland & @Jalapeno - do you require suggestions here and are you able to list specifically what's a pain so we can see what to do or try? You've mentioned some things but is it one particular area, like the Classifieds, that's causing issues? 

thecolourbox

As everybody else has said, sorry to hear this and sorry if anything I've been involved in has contributed. But primarily thanks for this site and for your efforts, you've been brilliant

DiscoStu

Is there a risk of the forum shutting down completely? That would be a travesty, there is so much knowledge held in this place it would be awful to lose it all the way we lost the MR stuff.

Kilgore

Thanks for all the hard graft chaps. Take a bow. Hope to see you back.

LuttiS

Wow! Bit of timing there to disengage with the rowdy forum kids on Father's Day! Was that a planned statement or just convenient timing? 

Very sad to see you go guys and I wish you all the best, you've both contributed a tremendous amount of knowledge beyond any admin rolls. 

Maybe time for a couple of smurf accounts so you can still have an oggle at pretty guitars and share a joke

Hugs and sloppy kisses! 

ronnyb

Yes very sad that it comes to that. I've been coming here 3 years now i don't contribute that much but it gives me a lot of pleasure and i probably visit 2 or 3 times a day. It's the only forum i'm on and i found it whilst searching for a particular guitar. All the best.