In repsonse to: "SEAN MULLIGAN DO YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ABOUT EXPANDING THE MISSION OF YOUR SITE? " :-) It's been a couple of days since I've been logged on here. I returned home from work to a flurry of personal emails about this message board, potential changes, and the yahoo groups board that I started a while back. After signing on here this morning now I realize why I got those emails. So... This discussion has been hashed out on here many times. I always hesitate at jumping in because there are many different options and viewpoints and as Dave noted , there have been , for lack of a better term, "politics" involved in the past. However, since I was specifically referred to, and asked to respond, I will. Please note, however, I fully understand and am aware that I am a relative new-comer to this list and my thoughts and opinions are strictly that, my thoughts and opinions. They are not meant to irritate anyone, change anyone's mind, indicate that they are the "answer", or that I even have the right to make or influence the decision of the group. I don't, nor do I want to. I love this group for what it is. We are hundreds of individuals with a common interest that brings us together. I have made so many good friends from the contacts I've made on this list and would never want to jeopardize that. So I'll give my 2 cents on the topic and you can take it for what it's worth, but please do not be offended in any way. This has been a very sensitive subject in the past. First, I want to say Thank You to the guys that got us all together in the first place. The existing sites have been maintained for a long time and served us well as a community. A couple years back there was talk about doing an Owner's Registry. A previous one that had been kept was no longer available and there seemed to be quite a bit of interest in making one. I had seen a function available on the Yahoo Groups pages and used by others to do something similar. So, I set one up. What I did not want to do, though, was to step on ANYONES toes, or to splinter our group. Yes, the Yahoo Groups pages do allow for message boards and picture uploads, however, we already had two websites that were handling both functions very well. So I created the Yahoo Group "Montyowners" and only enabled the database function so that we could utilize it to create a voluntary Owner's Registry. It has seen limited success with roughly 110 folks entering their boats in the database. Not to long after that the MSOGphotosite was going though changes. Bill who was running it began talking about shutting it down, or at least making it inactive for future updates. Then we had the Montgomeryowners.com creation. Some may remember and some may not, or may be new to the list, but there was some controversy here about some issues. There were vocal folks on both side of the isle of which I was one. I have good friends that agreed with me and good friends that didn't. As far as I know we are still good friends and just agree to disagree. The new site did and does still offer a much more modern layout. Some have chosen to use it, some have not. I really do not want to get into or re-hash that whole deal again. Suffice it to say, that it's success for, whatever reason, seems to be limited. And I make that statement based on nothing more than looking at the activity on that site vs this one. For me personally, there were some issues that caused me to make the choice for myself, and only for myself, not to utilize that site. Please make you own decision here. That is not being said to try to influence anyone in any way. There were some hard feelings left behind here between some folks and that certainly is not something that we want to re-live. We all come together because we enjoy the camaraderie and the common interest, certainly not to experience conflict and strife. Next came the Trailersailor board opening up a Montgomery page. I visited Trailersailor often before the Montgomery board was in place and like their format. I do use that forum and enjoy being able to post pictures in my post and more importantly, to be able to see others pictures. So, there are already a number of different venues that we have. Unfortunately, they are broke up into numerous different sites. Many many hours of time have been spent by the creators of each site putting together a venue for all of us to come together. Yes, there is always "the next big thing" as technology rolls along. It seems you no sooner set something up and it's obsolete, and the same goes for all these websites. I am certainly not against a one stop shop type of venue for all of us Monty folks and I like a lot of the advanced features like photo sharing just like most of you. However, I have the utmost respect for those guys/gals that have been serving us for so long with the sites we have and without their consent I am not willing to create a competing group that will do nothing other than splinter our group discussions. We all realize how awesome it is to get on here and pose a question and get such a wealth of knowledge back. That comes from the shear number of participants of the group all sharing. If we splinter out into multiple break away groups we lose that. My suggestion would be this. If there is a real desire to move this discussion board to a more modern venue then the discussion should go through the creator and moderator of the board and we all move as a group to the decided upon new venue or not at all. I believe that Keith Diehl has been maintaining this board for the group for many years. His email is on the main info page. I think that it would be appropriate for anyone with a proposal to move to a more modern venue to contact him and go from there. I feel that would be the respectful thing to do. Yes I have the Yahoo "MontyOwners" page. For now only the database function will be enabled for the reasons I have discussed. These are just my views and there is absolutely nothing that prevents someone from creating another yahoo page with all the features enabled if they so choose. If I was contacted by Keith and he indicated that he agrees with those that are looking to move the forum and he would like to move the forum also, then I would be happy to turn on the additional features of the Montyowners page. I would have no problem turning over admin rights to him as well if he wanted to remain the group moderator. I would also have no problem moving to the info a the Montyowners page to whatever other venue he and the group chose to go to. It is very possible that there may be a group member out there that has the ability and desire to build the "ultimate Monty page" and that would be great too. I just don't want to splinter the group up. So that's why the Yahoo Groups Montyowners page is restricted the way it is. I agree that a one-stop, more modern venue could be a really good thing for us. But out of respect for those that have been, and are serving us so well for so many years I don't want to change things unless they are onboard and we can make the move as a group. OK...maybe that was 5 cents worth! ;-) Please be gentle in your responses..I know from past experiences that this is such a touchy subject and hope I have not offended anyone. Sean M23 "Dauntless" Proud to be a member of the MSOG!
Sean, Thanks for all your postings, particularly this one! I registered yesterday in your Yahoo Groups Monty Owners' Registry. I have only been using this forum - as a passive listener - for 18 months; I am a rookie. How does Keith Diehl finance this site and what are the costs? I hope this forum lasts forever no matter its technical limitations; I love it for what it is: a great community of very helpful and knowledgeable sailors. The archives contain a wealth of information we must all help to preserve. Is there anything I can do to help or someone I could mail a small contribution to help with the expenses? Juan More M17 # 359
From: Nebwest2@aol.com Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 14:29:35 -0500 To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: M_Boats: MONTY SITES
In repsonse to:
"SEAN MULLIGAN DO YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ABOUT EXPANDING THE MISSION OF YOUR SITE? "
:-) It's been a couple of days since I've been logged on here. I returned home from work to a flurry of personal emails about this message board, potential changes, and the yahoo groups board that I started a while back. After signing on here this morning now I realize why I got those emails. So...
This discussion has been hashed out on here many times. I always hesitate at jumping in because there are many different options and viewpoints and as Dave noted , there have been , for lack of a better term, "politics" involved in the past. However, since I was specifically referred to, and asked to respond, I will. Please note, however, I fully understand and am aware that I am a relative new-comer to this list and my thoughts and opinions are strictly that, my thoughts and opinions. They are not meant to irritate anyone, change anyone's mind, indicate that they are the "answer", or that I even have the right to make or influence the decision of the group. I don't, nor do I want to. I love this group for what it is. We are hundreds of individuals with a common interest that brings us together. I have made so many good friends from the contacts I've made on this list and would never want to jeopardize that. So I'll give my 2 cents on the topic and you can take it for what it's worth, but please do not be offended in any way. This has been a very sensitive subject in the past.
First, I want to say Thank You to the guys that got us all together in the first place. The existing sites have been maintained for a long time and served us well as a community.
A couple years back there was talk about doing an Owner's Registry. A previous one that had been kept was no longer available and there seemed to be quite a bit of interest in making one. I had seen a function available on the Yahoo Groups pages and used by others to do something similar. So, I set one up. What I did not want to do, though, was to step on ANYONES toes, or to splinter our group. Yes, the Yahoo Groups pages do allow for message boards and picture uploads, however, we already had two websites that were handling both functions very well. So I created the Yahoo Group "Montyowners" and only enabled the database function so that we could utilize it to create a voluntary Owner's Registry. It has seen limited success with roughly 110 folks entering their boats in the database.
Not to long after that the MSOGphotosite was going though changes. Bill who was running it began talking about shutting it down, or at least making it inactive for future updates.
Then we had the Montgomeryowners.com creation. Some may remember and some may not, or may be new to the list, but there was some controversy here about some issues. There were vocal folks on both side of the isle of which I was one. I have good friends that agreed with me and good friends that didn't. As far as I know we are still good friends and just agree to disagree. The new site did and does still offer a much more modern layout. Some have chosen to use it, some have not. I really do not want to get into or re-hash that whole deal again. Suffice it to say, that it's success for, whatever reason, seems to be limited. And I make that statement based on nothing more than looking at the activity on that site vs this one. For me personally, there were some issues that caused me to make the choice for myself, and only for myself, not to utilize that site. Please make you own decision here. That is not being said to try to influence anyone in any way. There were some hard feelings left behind here between some folks and that certainly is not something that we want to re-live. We all come together because we enjoy the camaraderie and the common interest, certainly not to experience conflict and strife.
Next came the Trailersailor board opening up a Montgomery page. I visited Trailersailor often before the Montgomery board was in place and like their format. I do use that forum and enjoy being able to post pictures in my post and more importantly, to be able to see others pictures.
So, there are already a number of different venues that we have. Unfortunately, they are broke up into numerous different sites. Many many hours of time have been spent by the creators of each site putting together a venue for all of us to come together. Yes, there is always "the next big thing" as technology rolls along. It seems you no sooner set something up and it's obsolete, and the same goes for all these websites. I am certainly not against a one stop shop type of venue for all of us Monty folks and I like a lot of the advanced features like photo sharing just like most of you. However, I have the utmost respect for those guys/gals that have been serving us for so long with the sites we have and without their consent I am not willing to create a competing group that will do nothing other than splinter our group discussions. We all realize how awesome it is to get on here and pose a question and get such a wealth of knowledge back. That comes from the shear number of participants of the group all sharing. If we splinter out into multiple break away groups we lose that.
My suggestion would be this. If there is a real desire to move this discussion board to a more modern venue then the discussion should go through the creator and moderator of the board and we all move as a group to the decided upon new venue or not at all. I believe that Keith Diehl has been maintaining this board for the group for many years. His email is on the main info page. I think that it would be appropriate for anyone with a proposal to move to a more modern venue to contact him and go from there. I feel that would be the respectful thing to do.
Yes I have the Yahoo "MontyOwners" page. For now only the database function will be enabled for the reasons I have discussed. These are just my views and there is absolutely nothing that prevents someone from creating another yahoo page with all the features enabled if they so choose. If I was contacted by Keith and he indicated that he agrees with those that are looking to move the forum and he would like to move the forum also, then I would be happy to turn on the additional features of the Montyowners page. I would have no problem turning over admin rights to him as well if he wanted to remain the group moderator. I would also have no problem moving to the info a the Montyowners page to whatever other venue he and the group chose to go to. It is very possible that there may be a group member out there that has the ability and desire to build the "ultimate Monty page" and that would be great too. I just don't want to splinter the group up. So that's why the Yahoo Groups Montyowners page is restricted the way it is. I agree that a one-stop, more modern venue could be a really good thing for us. But out of respect for those that have been, and are serving us so well for so many years I don't want to change things unless they are onboard and we can make the move as a group.
OK...maybe that was 5 cents worth! ;-)
Please be gentle in your responses..I know from past experiences that this is such a touchy subject and hope I have not offended anyone.
Sean M23 "Dauntless" Proud to be a member of the MSOG! _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet!
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participants (2)
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Juan More -
Nebwest2＠aol.com