My anouncement re the MK1 site.

[Gordon]

Gutted. A place to come and lose myself in all things Mini and take in loads of information from a fantastic resource of information. This has been a place of inspiration and the projects people have recorded here have left me feeling very much a novice. I think most people who visit forums such as this rarely consider those who give of themselves to set up, monitor and maintain such an under rated service for all of us Mini lovers. I do hope someone will step up to the task of continuing the forum, or at very least I hope the information that has already been posted can remain as a resource for others in the future. It would be criminal for this information to be lost forever.

Many thanks Mark for all you have done for us occasional visitors, browsers and general surfers of the forum. Life moves on and things do change and we all have to respect your choices and decisions. Good luck for the future.

Gordon

[mab01uk]

I presume it is the Mk1 forum which creates most work, hassle and maintenance due to the daily interaction with members, posts, moderation, etc.
If the worst does happen and the forum closes in October would it in any way be possible to just maintain the Mk1 Performance website online and therefore all its valuable archive information for early Mini's.....even if static or 'frozen in time' as a reference?
It would be a great loss for all this info to disappear, I have added some contributions of period material myself over the years and it is the only way many of us can share such information collected with others around the world, rather than just having it stored away in the loft! If there is an annual cost involved i would be more than willing to contribute (as before) whenever necessary as I,m sure would many other members.

[Benny]

Having only been a member for a few months, I have no idea who these problem makers are, and what the nature of this silly "drama" is....I've seen none of it. Maybe this is overly simplistic, but why not just ban the problem makers?

Assuming Mark has passed the point of no return (sounds like it), from a practical standpoint, we the users need to start making plans to take over the site. It sounds like the task of moderating the site it too big of a job for any one person, so perhaps the task needs to be shared by 5-6+ people. I have zero experience with this sort of thing, but I'd be happy to give it a whirl by becoming the moderator of one of the forum pages. Anyone else willing to give that a try? Perhaps with this shared burden, Mark would be willing to stay on to mentor these new moderators.

[970s]

We have witness the born of Mk1 Forum, and this is the only Forum I browse for period Minis, thanks to all the time and effort Mark devoted through out this years! and all the other members' support on posting, Mark, a real gentleman I met in UK and a real period Mini lover! deserve to retire from this full time job to maintain the Forum, as we all knew it is very tiring! But very sad we will never see another Forum like this again!
We all share our hobby and please rememeber what we had been taught when we are kids! Share our toys, show and tell, Mini being a toys, as we all agree, it is not life and death, whenever we talk about Mini, we should have a happy mood!

SO many thanks again to Mark, and I am glad to see 99.99% of the members all support Mark!

Al

[Tim]

I agree with Benny, we mustn't let the forum or Mark's archive fade away. I think we need to have a discussion about the best way to keep things going.

Tim

[Benny]

I agree with Benny, we mustn't let the forum or Mark's archive fade away.

Mark put that out there as a suggestion.....I think I read all of the posts on this thread, and I believe I was the first person to offer to help keep it alive....amazing.

Again, I have no experience in this "world", but I think it's worth a try, especially if shared amongst a number of us.

[Tim]

I'd be prepared to be involved. I'm a member of several different Mini, Moke and other car related forums but this is the one that I'd least like to see go under.

I'm reasonably skilled with computers.

Tim

[almondgreen]

I would offer my help too.....

[bubbacluby]

I'd be prepared to be involved. I'm a member of several different Mini, Moke and other car related forums but this is the one that I'd least like to see go under.

I'm reasonably skilled with computers.

Tim

I vote Tim

Thanks for your effort into this site Mark, and this is my favourite forum for non aussie minis. Will be a real shame if no-body takes it on.

[Pete]

I believe I was the first person to offer to help keep it alive....amazing.

I'm sure there are things happening behind the scenes though Benny.

Cheers

Pete

[Frogeye61]

I'm with Benny. Though I know nothing about running a forum, maybe a few can get together to share the load.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7607

[In the shed]

This is the only mini forum I read.

I am prepared to help in time.

[miniminor]

How about charging a membership fee, either annually or as a one off payment to Mark in order for him to be reimbursed for his sterling work, £5 - 10 per member wouldn't be unreasonable to still be able to access this brilliant resource.

[irlmin]

I am also quiet happy to contribute , unfortunately I don't have the 'IT' skills to help run the site but I am happy to send some money if it helps , as regards the 'few' who have caused this I would propose a 'zero' tolerance policy just ban the b**ta**s if they step out of line or can't keep their ego's in control . Mark you have the BIG majority on your side ---don't let the small minority 'grind' you down .
G

[coopertim]

Count me in for help, volenteering and anything that will keep this oasis alive!

Tim

[alexm]

I too would like to say I would be very sad to see this forum fold. It's been invaluable to me so far and I've still got so many questions to ask. The vast majority of people on here are like minded, happy to help and probably use this forum as a bit of a daily escape like me!

I would certainly pay £5 to £10 a year, and welcome a new group of moderators to share the policing. I would also promise to behave myself!

[App K]

How about charging a membership fee, either annually or as a one off payment to Mark in order for him to be reimbursed for his sterling work, £5 - 10 per member wouldn't be unreasonable to still be able to access this brilliant resource.

Thats a bloody good idea actually?

1300+ Members...think about it Mark?

[Benny]

Thats a bloody good idea actually?

1300+ Members...think about it Mark?

For my MGB fetish, I belong to mgexperience.net....that site has voluntary membership fees, and people can contribute at a couple of different rates, depending on their interest level. I thi I the basic rate is something like $25/year, and the next one is $35/year.

Each member can see who has contributed, and who has not, so it's sort of self-motivating, and I would say a vast majority of regular contributors are paying members.

The owner of that site has about 10-12 sites that he moderates, all with multiple boards on each site. He's nowhere near as 'hands-on' as what I've seen from Mark, so fights do break out, but users are inclined to self-moderate, and when it get too bad, the fights are reported to te site owner. I've seen him ban a few members who are a pain in his a**, and as a whole, I'd say we have very few sh*t stirrers.....his model seems to work well.

[66S]

Like many others, I can't imagine life without the Mk1 Forum but totally understand how you have tired Mark. I am hoping things will somehow workout and the great things about this forum will be saved. I can't think of anything else to say.

Al

[dazibee]

This site is too good to stop. An awful amount of work and commitment for one man to do single handed. If any parties were to carry on this site look at the turbominis forum for examples on the way forward. Several moderators there look after the day to day running. Server costs are covered by voluntary small donations done by a click of the mouse, the member then gets a badge such as "I helped the mk1 forum". Troublemakers get banned. Simple