I have to ask...from a site noob

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I came here and joined after being invited from the old Microskiff site, I was relatively new to that site, so forgive me for being ignorant…but what was the reason for creating this site? I see a lot of the names from the old site, and I gather something was going on there that people didn’t like. The only thing I saw that was iffy in my mind was the use of an AI bot to post…which was weird.

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Briefly, the company that owns that site does not care about their user community. There are some threads on here that shine some light on it if you really care to read it.

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MS Admin’s smug approach to users and deleting posts they didn’t agree with. Sending snide PM’s to members threatening to ban them access. Among other issues…

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@formula1 my experience began over the introduction of the bot. I and many others voiced our opinions over the use of a bot on a peer to peer platform. When the admin finally did address it, weeks later, they were rude, dismissive and downright disrespectful in their response. In the thread that was created by the admin in an effort to have an open dialogue and address the issues. The admin chose to delete or edit responses posted by members, showing only what they wanted the public to see. Then came the threatening PMs and Emails from the admin team. Basically saying tuff ■■■■, get on board or get off.

This platform was created to be a bot free, Ad Free, Member supported platform.

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Basic run down:

  1. AI bot secretly installed into the forum no announcement, warning or discussion. Just put upon the community.
  2. The community started to notice something was off/wrong with a new user called ForaFrank.
  3. Many posts started to pop up by the community on “what is this” “why do we have this” “who’s in charge here”
  4. Community started to create a lot of noise about this AI bot. Also took notice of it being implemented across the Vertical Scope network for forums. Those other forums the members didn’t appreciate or like it either. Basically seen as a universal flop and middle finger to those communities too.
  5. Site admin took WEEKS to respond.
  6. MS Admin response was and I’m quoting directly here “Stand down” on all and any conversation that they perceived negative to the implementation of ForaFrank.
  7. MS admin started to delete or change posts they didn’t like.
  8. They banned members and removed their nicknames, changing to short strings of letters and numbers.
  9. Or went into members profiles, changed passwords and email addresses, for example in my case my forum nickname remains (iMacattack) but they restricted me from accessing my old account.
  10. They banned their active moderators because they (privately) communicated that this was not a good idea.

So a small group of us decided the skiff community deserves better. Deserves a place where bots, AI or intrusive ads DON’T make up the community experience. We decided to make something different, better and permeant. See this post. As they say… “that escalated quickly”

Since then many among us see MS as an ever dimming reflection in the rearview mirror. We have a new and hopefully everyone feels a better home.

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@formula1 - to add to this, even before the ForaFrank disaster and the Admin’s treatment (Harvard business review case study on how NOT to handle a problem), the ads were getting out of control - covering sections, popping up constantly, interrupting typing, etc.

It’s pretty clear that the owners of MS and their other sites is a PE group and they are trying to juice their revenue in preparation for a sale - at the expense of the folks who create all the content and are, for all practical purposes, their product.

So, thanks to a few members, we now have a site that is member owned, no ads, no bots, and not profit-first driven.

It’s good to be home.

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Nothing to add to the earlier explanations.

Suffice it to say, if y’all like what you see and don’t see (No Frank, No ads, no corporate crap), the site needs your financial support. We all know this is an expensive hobby. But for the equivalent of $2.50 per month for a Charter Annual subscription or a Lifetime, 1X donation of $300, you can help offset start-up costs and the recurring bills (server time, domain renewal, biz licenses, etc.), and keep this community solvent for perpetuity.

For all members, if you haven’t done so already, please click on the Blue Support button in the banner at the top of any page and sign up as a supporting subscriber.

Thank you!

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This right here!:backhand_index_pointing_up:t2:

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