My anouncement re the MK1 site.

[Mini4Ever]

I can only agree with all the positive words on Mark's excellent site. I however also fully understand the burden of managing especially the forum.

[pad4]

there comes a time in every business , every project , where the words DELEGATE are often spoken by the wise and experianced otherwise the boots you are wearing will become far to big and heavy to walk forward in ....

pad

[pad4]

You never see the scenery if you drive all the time

be a passenger for once and enjoy whats going by

pad

[mk1]

Hi Folks,

Thank you for all your kind comments & suggestions as well of offers for help.

Having had a weekend and a bit to mull things over I am still in no doubt that I would rather step down & to all intents & purposes disappear from the scene, in the hope that one day I will get my Mojo back.

If my opinion is of any consequence I would rather hand the whole site over lock stock & barrel to a group of interested individuals who would share the responsibility & hopefully be interested in continuing the work that I have started. I have had this suggested by a number of members of the forum, I do not however intend to embarrass them here by naming them.

If any interested parties want to try & get together to thrash through the practicalities & am looking forward to receiving any proposals that you may have & will of course offer any information & help that you may need. I am however not prepared to coordinate the work myself.

I look forward to & hope to hear from a consortium in due course.

Thank you,

Mark F

[Pete]

Made me chuckle when I had a quick read of this topic on The Mini Forum(yes I know...) where at least one of their stout upright posters is suggesting hacking the Mk1 website. If that's the level that other Mini forums operate at then that's as good a reason as any to make sure this one survives.

[mk1coopers]

I had had to post a couple of times on that thread to, I didn't put anything about the thread on this one as it would just prove Marks point about ill-informed comments on Forums

[foxy52]

Ah !!..you see that's the nature of the beast..an open forum for like minded people to discuss/debate all things mini in our cases...theres a wealth of information to be gleaned and as sure as eggs are eggs spats and dissagreement about points made will always occur etc.!!... these sites are a wonderfull source of info for all...tis the same for example on 2 fishing forums I frequent.. always some dumbass with his whisk ??!! lol... marks site and the MCR,s are an invaluable source of info ..that's my take... foxy52

[Frogeye61]

Seems to me there are several ways to go.
As Mark said, a group of interested individuals.

As someone suggested on MCR, incorporate into MCR. http://forum.minicooper.org/showthread. ... =mk1-forum

As someone suggested on TMF, incorporate into TMF. http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/to ... 38208forum

Either way, it had been suggested (by "OldBob" on TMF) that the value of a website has to do with the ability of it making money. Which implies that a group of individuals would have to find financing enough to pay Mark his due.
Incorporating into larger websites will possibly, or possibly not, increase their visitor count and therefore the advertising value. This would then be the basis for compensating Mark.

Just my two cents.
Donn.

[Mini4Ever]

value of a website has to do with the ability of it making money

In my view, the value in this case lies in the effort that Mark has made to painstakingly gather all the information on at least the main site and therefore / plus the value of the URLs (mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk and mk1-forum.net), which is largely determined by the popularity of these websites (for example, in the number of accesses, number of active forum members, etc). I believe the first part on Mark's effort has the most value to all of us and hence should - in my view - be a key in determining the value money-wise. Making money on a website or forum like what is in place now is basically only possible when they are cluttered with lots of ads. Since the information on the site(s) has basically been freely available (if not from the current websites then from the original sources), I would have difficulties with the idea that the information itself can be sold. It is similar to books like Parnell's book. Anyone could in principle redo his tremendous effort to gather the same information as it is out there somewhere. However, no one does so as it is too much effort. Buying the book gives Parnell the credits for the effort that you do not have to redo yourself. Don't know how things work from a legal perspective though...

Mark should in anyway get proper acknowledgement for his work, even after a sale.

Just my 2 cents.

[hanlminiman]

always some dumbass with his whisk ??!! lol...
foxy52

Just had a lovely piece of Salmon, not quite dumbass nor related to sea bass but delicious all the same!

[guru_1071]

Made me chuckle when I had a quick read of this topic on The Mini Forum(yes I know...) where at least one of their stout upright posters is suggesting hacking the Mk1 website. If that's the level that other Mini forums operate at then that's as good a reason as any to make sure this one survives.

I notice that the thread on tmf has had a serious haircut since yesterday!

[foxy52]

always some dumbass with his whisk ??!! lol...
foxy52

Just had a lovely piece of Salmon, not quite dumbass nor related to sea bass but delicious all the same!

...There is no such thing as a sea Bass (Caps)in U.K waters ?!,its a Bass pure and simple caught in the open sea and estuaries...I have caught many up to and over 10lbs..as opposed to say Bass in Canada (the large mouth variety) I have caught in numerous lakes in around Ontario,..a relative of the british Bass making something of a comeback due prev depleted stocks is the Sea Bream..now u will notice the word sea put in front ?!.that is to determine the sea variant as opposed to the freshwater bream which is very common but none the less a purely freshwater species....I hope your Salmon was a wild fish ?..the farmed rubbish does not look or taste the same..the bass that u see on fishmongers slabs are invariably farmed also and imported (all small and of a uniform size)..they are even worse !!..its always been a problem that Bass are an inshore species and though now line caught and sold (that's the wild ones)..they were never that commercially viable though highly valuable from a netsmans viewpoint.. they could not catch enough!!.. that's why farmed fishing came to pass !!!..I,.m just off to the Western Isles for a week to fish for wild Sea Trout and Salmon in Lochs and Sea pools...Not dumb at all trying to enlighten you ...foxy52

[Vegard]

Made me chuckle when I had a quick read of this topic on The Mini Forum(yes I know...) where at least one of their stout upright posters is suggesting hacking the Mk1 website. If that's the level that other Mini forums operate at then that's as good a reason as any to make sure this one survives.

I notice that the thread on tmf has had a serious haircut since yesterday!

Maybe you could point the people who did this in Richs direction?

[shifty]

Made me chuckle when I had a quick read of this topic on The Mini Forum(yes I know...) where at least one of their stout upright posters is suggesting hacking the Mk1 website. If that's the level that other Mini forums operate at then that's as good a reason as any to make sure this one survives.

I notice that the thread on tmf has had a serious haircut since yesterday!

Maybe you could point the people who did this in Richs direction?

Hi, I'm an admin on TMF and I can assure you that nothing has had 'A haircut'!!

I think there's been some mis understanding about what was said, no one wanted to hack this site.

Matter of fact that couldn't be further from the truth as I've been speaking to Mark about TMF helping to keep this site going.

If you guys can save it between yourselves then thats great but our offer of help will always be on the table.

Shifty(on behalf of The Mini Forum

[guru_1071]

shifty

my apologies, there are two theads of the tfm,

its this one that I had seen

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/to ... ite/page-2

[Pete]

[ no one wanted to hack this site.

Odd to discuss the possibilty though eh ?

[shifty]

[ no one wanted to hack this site.

Odd to discuss the possibilty though eh ?

As far as I can see there is no mention of it. What was discussed was the downloading of the site to preserve it.

I didn't join up just to argue about who said what.

[pad4]

Personally I think if it was incorporated into TMF it would be ruined within weeks , now don't think im slagging of TMF members or making out that MK1 members are a bit snobbish but theres a massive difference in the type and quality of postings and answers and info between the 2 sites - TMF- great for all things minis and all mini things and theres some quality stuff on there but I feel (and its my opinion only) thats theres a very narrow band of professional and knowledgeable set of folk on here that you dont really see all over the show - people that share a truly period old school mini thing , its hard to explain without seeming derogatory to other forums.

rather like the special supplement at the back of the workshop manual.

Would it be right for the MCR - For me no, again totally different types of forums, i think the MK1 site / forum is to generalistic for the MCR and its a niche thing in a very big world, as soon as it looses its niche place, its gone and Marks work doesn't deserve that.

Maybe mark could arrange a locked part of the forum to 'invite' interested parties to discuss - Not with the intention of being secretive but sometimes people who want to talk, want to talk business behind closed doors before airing things in public.

Anyway - thats my tuppence worth - damn it , im on the bloody forum again instead of doing my work.........

Pad

[mk1]

As far as I am concerned the financial aspect is absolutely irrelevant. If an interested consortium of current users was to present a proposal that kept the site (essentially) & if possible the forum going in it's current form without commercial sponsorship, of any sort I would be prepared to hand the whole shebang over for nothing.

M

[mk1]

I cannot create a locked page or forum as members need to register to get access. Probably better for someone to start an e-mail address list via PM. That is totally private, even from me.

Mark F