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Post by steve on Feb 2, 2011 21:13:19 GMT
We will soon be entering the next stage of setting up these new forums and a domain name has been purchased which will soon be the one you will need to bookmark to enter these forums That will be www.Garden-Friends.co.uk I am not too certain how the transition will go? whether there will be a redirection sign on the old forum name for a while? so what I will do is email all the members with the new address, then all you will need to do is click on the new address and save it to favourites once we have moved to it, that is just in case we are not redirected, it means the proboards bit will be dropped, so it will look better and be easier to remember. Hopefully at the same time or shortly after... the advertisement banners will be removed by a payment from a sponsor we have secured, The sponsor we are looking at is Thompson & Morgan, they will pay for some of the fees we need to keep this running smoothly and quickly and also pay for and host the new forum domain name.....eventually we may be able to move on to their own servers which will end the ties with proboards completely but that may be some time away yet So why would they do this for us? well it does have to be a two way thing they are paying cash to help us and in return will probably have a link on the forums which when clicked will take you to their site, this may be similar to some of the banners appearing now but will at least be plant related and if you need to look up a veg, flower, plant, tree or shrub name for a post or to look at cultivation details for something then it is only a click away, a safe click and you know where you will be taken Other seed or plant companies can and will still be discussed, as will other products from other companies, Free speech on the forums is a must, all we ask is that you refrain from posting anything really out of order or libellous regarding T&M ...but as a bonus if you have ever had bad service, poor germination, poor plants, order gone missing or not delivered, then we will point this out to them and ask them to look in to it, It may also be that we get prior notice of certain offers or sale items?  |
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Post by Lou78W on Feb 2, 2011 21:24:51 GMT
This sounds good Steve; I hadn't realised we were going as far as to having our own domain name. I assumed we had found our "new home". Are T&M definately sponsoring us?.....and how long for; will they have any say in the running of the forums/ or have an influence if we go onto their server? ....bearing in mind we all seem to be happier not having to "watch what we say"......  |
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Post by steve on Feb 2, 2011 21:43:35 GMT
Other seed or plant companies can and will still be discussed, as will other products from other companies, Free speech on the forums is a must, all we ask is that you refrain from posting anything really out of order or libellous regarding T&M ...but as a bonus if you have ever had bad service, poor germination, poor plants, order gone missing or not delivered, then we will point this out to them and ask them to look in to it,
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longs
Full Member
Posts: 128
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Post by longs on Feb 2, 2011 21:46:23 GMT
From past experience I don't now use T and M's products, but that's a personal thing. I very much appreciate all the hard work and effort you have put into this new forum and that, I am sure, is shared by all of us. However, I'm more than a little disappointed that we are depending on another Company to support us as I believe it may have been possible to do this amongst ourselves. Offers have been made over financial contributions, server space, bandwidth etc. to fund this project in order not to be beholden to others.
Just my 2 pence worth - don't wish to upset the apple cart.
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Post by Rosie on Feb 2, 2011 22:05:50 GMT
Personally i think it is a very positive move for the forum, whenever we have spoken about different plant/seed suppliers T&M have always come out on top. We will still have free speech and can rate other companies we have used as well as T&M. We have had long discussions before on the old forum about companies good and bad and this will continue. I think T&M will be great for the board  |
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Post by grindle on Feb 3, 2011 6:30:20 GMT
this all sounds exciting, a big thanks to you all for all your hard work getting all this up and running for us 
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Post by Tel on Feb 3, 2011 7:02:05 GMT
It just concerns me, that if we get into bed with T&M, that just like Garden News, down the line they pull the plug on all of us.
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longs
Full Member
Posts: 128
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Post by longs on Feb 3, 2011 7:59:30 GMT
Just another thought. Proboards are free and server issues etc are dealt with by them. The only 'downside' would seem to be the ads which most of us seem to accept and/or disregard.
So what advantage would there be by being tied to T and M? They would have 'ads' just the same.
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Post by steve on Feb 3, 2011 8:03:27 GMT
Let me try to allay some of the fears noted by Longs and Tel, also I might not have explained it too well or been a bit misleading All T&M are doing is buying a name which will cover the proboards name and rid us of the adverts currently slowing the page loading of the forums, there is no contract or anything of that sort being entered in to, it will still remain a Proboards hosted forum If at a future date T&M host their own garden forum on their own servers, they may well ask some or all of the Mods here and the membership to help and join them and their own team but Proboards do not allow a forum to migrate so they couldn't take this one complete as it is and place it on their site, they would have to start a new one (EG: this one will always exist) They have purchased the new name www.garden-friends.co.uk and could in theory if they wished at a future date use this for their own forum......if they did then at that point we would either revert to the Proboards name or buy a new one of our own to cover the Proboards name and the result then would be 2 forums exisiting...this one you are a member of and a T&M one that you may or may not wish to join Like Longs said we could have paid for this ourselves, but I think deciding who contributed, doing it fairly or sharing the costs would have been very difficult, we have already in just over 2 weeks passed the $7 dollars a month cost and are on the next level of $14 a month for getting rid of the adverts, the more popular the forum gets the higher this cost goes up, It might well be these could get too high for a sponsor in that case it would be hello adverts or give me your direct debit details Lastly there is no guarantee in these economical times that Proboards will exist forever |
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Post by piskie on Feb 3, 2011 8:22:20 GMT
My 2' 6d (hey, I'm worth it!)......
....I am a long standing and continuing, very satisifed customer of T&M and more than happy for their sponsorship.
I am equally happy to pay for this site.
So, I'm happy with whatever you decide
Easy aren't I ;D
PS - I'm not being lazy here by not offering any pros/cons, as a couple of my customers run sites, forums etc I (sometimes) see the issues they have to deal with and totally trust Steve to make the best decision for the group.
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longs
Full Member
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Post by longs on Feb 3, 2011 8:29:43 GMT
As T and M have now bought the 'garden-friends' domain name do I assume then the deal is already done?
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Feb 3, 2011 8:46:45 GMT
I wake up in the morning, post my gibberish, read some excellent advice then go out side and attack my garden with a little more knowledge. Long may it continue. My only concern is the amount of time the mods have to give up for my life to continue to tick along as it always has. I hope all three of you are comfortable on your pedestals  I don't care where I log on as long as I can log on. |
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Post by Rosie on Feb 3, 2011 8:58:43 GMT
I wake up in the morning, post my gibberish, read some excellent advice then go out side and attack my garden with a little more knowledge. Long may it continue. My only concern is the amount of time the mods have to give up for my life to continue to tick along as it always has. I hope all three of you are comfortable on your pedestals I don't care where I log on as long as I can log on. Well i for one love doing the moderating, it's never a chore and i enjoy reading all the posts, when i have to stop what i'm doing for a while it's a great way for me to 'chill' with a cup of tea |
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Post by piskie on Feb 3, 2011 9:00:50 GMT
I second the pedestalling of Mods ;D |
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Post by Geranium on Feb 3, 2011 9:11:57 GMT
I'll third that - and Steve gets the tallest pedestal! ;D  |
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