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Nov 10, 2023 23:24:32 GMT -8
NickelNine
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June 2013
resoup
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Post by NickelNine on Oct 27, 2021 18:00:50 GMT -8
Patrick Clinger General Manager, ProBoards VerticalScope Inc. DISCLAIMER: The following is of my own personal opinion and may or may not be accurate. I have concerns. You went from "President and CEO" to "General Manager". Your mini-profile now just shows you as "ProBoards Founder" instead of "President and CEO". This tells me that ProBoards now really belongs to VerticalScope instead of you. Please know that I am not intending to disrespect them, but if they now own ProBoards, who is to say that it will not end up forgotten down the road? How can the community be assured that they will not just decide one day to shut ProBoards down? This sounds like a merger to me and that VerticalScope is now the parent company. My concerns are derived from having seen mergers in the past where something great went to crap because the parent company did not want to bother with it anymore, or for whatever other reason. In my opinion, ProBoards has the best Support Staff that I have encountered. It would be a sad day if the amazing support ended up being hindered at some point. Again, I have nothing against VerticalScope and I truly hope that my concerns turn out to be baseless - but only time will tell that, as I know of no one who can see into the future to see what lies ahead. I have read your entire post at least twice. I am truly glad that ProBoards sees this as an exciting change, but the post alone does not dispel my concerns. I have noticed two new Admins on Proboards. There may be more, but I did not look at the Staff Member List to see. I have also noticed that neither one has even posted something in, perhaps, the Welcome board to let everyone know they are here. I would presume that they are not here to chat, but a quick "hello" seems (in my opinion) the courteous thing to do ... considering they are now ProBoards Admins (unless there is another member group with red names). Please feel free to do what you like with this post. I am sure that there are many who are probably rolling their eyes at me right now. I seem to have developed a reputation here where many would probably wish that I just did not post and just "go with the flow". Regards, Kitty I have no stake in this game, but given that all of their other assets use XenForo, an acquisition of Proboards would only lead to more sustained development of the platform since it means they'd no longer have to pay licensing for the software. In all likelihood, the other forum networks will probably end up on V6 or a v7 at some point in the future.
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Mar 20, 2021 4:25:23 GMT -8
:~:Sarapha:~:
Happy 16th birthday to my RPG!
1,925
December 2007
sarapha
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Post by :~:Sarapha:~: on Oct 27, 2021 18:31:50 GMT -8
I'm conflicted in my reaction to this news. On one hand, I'm very excited for the same reasons the staff is excited; new possibilities, more staff, etc.
On the other hand... In every instance I personally have been involved in, a company buy out has never benefitted "the little guy" as much as anticipated. The parent company takes what they want, and discards the rest. Most notably, my beloved former job with a somewhat small cell phone company. We were bought out by a larger cell phone company. They promised us better phones, better software, better... Everything. They told us how much they loved our reputation for being the only company with a call center exclusively in the US. We were promised the biggest boost in everything needed to push us to bigger reach. A year after the merge, they outsourced our call center to Guatamala after lying to us for 8 months, saying that they were only building that center to better assist Spanish speaking customers. They then fired everyone who worked at the call center, and laughed their way to the bank along with the millions of users who were none the wiser until they called customer service to find that they could no longer understand the CSR.
I've got a big stake in this. I've got a forum turning 15 years old that I've been on basically every day since I was 15 years old. I'm very scared at what's at risk if this merger is less 'boost Proboards' and more 'acquire Proboards user base, abandon ship'. I'm also one to be very worried about the future if there's a lot of unknowns.
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Sept 28, 2023 13:31:20 GMT -8
VS Admin
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Post by VS Admin on Oct 28, 2021 10:14:38 GMT -8
I'm conflicted in my reaction to this news. On one hand, I'm very excited for the same reasons the staff is excited; new possibilities, more staff, etc. On the other hand... In every instance I personally have been involved in, a company buy out has never benefitted "the little guy" as much as anticipated. The parent company takes what they want, and discards the rest. Most notably, my beloved former job with a somewhat small cell phone company. We were bought out by a larger cell phone company. They promised us better phones, better software, better... Everything. They told us how much they loved our reputation for being the only company with a call center exclusively in the US. We were promised the biggest boost in everything needed to push us to bigger reach. A year after the merge, they outsourced our call center to Guatamala after lying to us for 8 months, saying that they were only building that center to better assist Spanish speaking customers. They then fired everyone who worked at the call center, and laughed their way to the bank along with the millions of users who were none the wiser until they called customer service to find that they could no longer understand the CSR. I've got a big stake in this. I've got a forum turning 15 years old that I've been on basically every day since I was 15 years old. I'm very scared at what's at risk if this merger is less 'boost Proboards' and more 'acquire Proboards user base, abandon ship'. I'm also one to be very worried about the future if there's a lot of unknowns. :~:Sarapha:~:, thanks for expressing your concerns, and thank you for being a member of ProBoards for such a long time! I can tell you from my experience with the VerticalScope team that they are a very smart and diligent. They wouldn't acquire ProBoards just to turn around and "abandon ship." That wouldn't make much sense. As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the VS team wants to express a "steady as she goes" approach here. We have the same great team working on the same great software. VerticalScope has expressed their support for our platform and for our communities, and really wants to see us all grow and thrive. Patrick
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Mar 20, 2021 4:25:23 GMT -8
:~:Sarapha:~:
Happy 16th birthday to my RPG!
1,925
December 2007
sarapha
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Post by :~:Sarapha:~: on Oct 28, 2021 10:34:11 GMT -8
I'm conflicted in my reaction to this news. On one hand, I'm very excited for the same reasons the staff is excited; new possibilities, more staff, etc. On the other hand... In every instance I personally have been involved in, a company buy out has never benefitted "the little guy" as much as anticipated. The parent company takes what they want, and discards the rest. Most notably, my beloved former job with a somewhat small cell phone company. We were bought out by a larger cell phone company. They promised us better phones, better software, better... Everything. They told us how much they loved our reputation for being the only company with a call center exclusively in the US. We were promised the biggest boost in everything needed to push us to bigger reach. A year after the merge, they outsourced our call center to Guatamala after lying to us for 8 months, saying that they were only building that center to better assist Spanish speaking customers. They then fired everyone who worked at the call center, and laughed their way to the bank along with the millions of users who were none the wiser until they called customer service to find that they could no longer understand the CSR. I've got a big stake in this. I've got a forum turning 15 years old that I've been on basically every day since I was 15 years old. I'm very scared at what's at risk if this merger is less 'boost Proboards' and more 'acquire Proboards user base, abandon ship'. I'm also one to be very worried about the future if there's a lot of unknowns. :~:Sarapha:~:, thanks for expressing your concerns, and thank you for being a member of ProBoards for such a long time! I can tell you from my experience with the VerticalScope team that they are a very smart and diligent. They wouldn't acquire ProBoards just to turn around and "abandon ship." That wouldn't make much sense. As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the VS team wants to express a "steady as she goes" approach here. We have the same great team working on the same great software. VerticalScope has expressed their support for our platform and for our communities, and really wants to see us all grow and thrive. Patrick Hi Patrick 😊 Firstly, thank you for founding Proboards. It's the best service, and I've never even considered other platforms. I've been very happy with Proboards over the last decade and a half, especially as new features have been introduced (whoever suggested the ability to put users into multiple groups gets the biggest virtual high five from me, seriously. It was a life saver haha) I remember the olden times before plug ins, when all forum modification, even a simple side table, needed to be done through the headers and footers. I remember breaking my forum a number of times because of this. I've grown and matured along with Proboards, and I've loved where life has taken us both. I've made all of my longest lasting friendships through my forum. It's opened my world to multiple different cultures, friends from all over the globe. Proboards is almost like a friend in that regards; we have so much history. So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Secondly, I appreciate you commenting back to me, it truly means a lot. I'm rooting for this merger all the way, even through my fears. You're right that it doesn't make much sense to oust "the little guy", but business is business, and things get messy. My fingers are crossed for our future here in this great platform 🥰
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Tommy
Junior Member
Posts: 339
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0
May 2, 2023 4:47:54 GMT -8
Tommy
339
February 2017
tommytdl
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Post by Tommy on Nov 9, 2021 11:51:23 GMT -8
I'm late in receiving this news and with all due respect I'm surprised that forum Admins were not informed when it was posted so we didn't have to hear through the grape vine that oh, by the way, Proboards got bought out. Especially when I'm still fielding questions from members about all that money we worked to raise a few months ago, how it was used and was it enough to keep Proboards floating and for how long. Maybe other admins hang out here on the support forum more but I tend to come here once in a while ... when I need ... well, support. Anyway, my sincere congratulations goes to the Proboards employee team! I'm happy that as of at least the middle of October you all had embraced the change and stayed on. I can imagine that going from the previous owner surprising (and embarrassing) forum Admins by mass PM'ing their members asking for money to pay staff, to being owned by a publicly traded company who just completed a C$143,830,500 IPO must be exciting from a where the money comes from standpoint. <Here comes the part where Kittykat :) and Kami and anyone else who wants to has permission to roll eyes me> Call me pessimistic and on this subject I would agree with you but trust me when I say this is hard-earned pessimism. Throughout my 30 year career in the printing industry I worked for three privately owned companies in silicon valley all of whom were purchased by a larger company or corporation midway during my employment there. In every instance, without exaggeration or exception, the first thing the employees were told that nothing (major) is changing. That is what is said understandably to calm fears and prevent employee/customer exodus. In all three cases MAJOR changes ensued and in the end all three plants were shut down and what was left of the business shifted to plants in other states (or Mexico) where the cost of manufacturing is cheaper. It is a fact that companies like VerticalScope are in the business to make money and they do not purchase smaller companies because it brings them joy. Publicly traded companies are under intense scrutiny by the share holders to produce profits and generate dividends, and if they didn't see a mechanism to profit from the Proboards purchase it would not have happened. That being said I am strangely optimistic that with VerticalScope's existing forum platform assets in place this might signal a move in the right direction for the Proboards forum. What I am specifically talking about is it would be wonderful to finally solve the single most frustrating limitation of a Proboards forum which is photo storage. In today's age of smart devices and cheap cloud storage it's embarrassing that we have answer the "how do I upload photos" question over and over and over on our forum. So, in conclusion ... VerticalScope, take my money please! but in return please present us with a product that allows us to continue to grow our communities while FULLY integrating and embracing photos instead of working to limit and exclude them.
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Kami
Forum Cat
Posts: 40,002
Mini-Profile Theme: Kami's Mini-Profile
#f35f71
156500
0
Offline
Jul 24, 2021 11:48:29 GMT -8
Kami
40,002
July 2010
kamiyakaoru
Kami's Mini-Profile
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Post by Kami on Nov 9, 2021 12:59:35 GMT -8
I don't understand why everyone keeps thinking I'm going to roll my eyes at their misgivings when I've said repeatedly in this thread that I understand and share a lot of them. I can be excited for the potential capabilities of this change and still have concerns! If y'all are being pre-emptively defensive about your opinions, that's fine, but please leave me out of your bad faith assumptions about my actions
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Tommy
Junior Member
Posts: 339
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May 2, 2023 4:47:54 GMT -8
Tommy
339
February 2017
tommytdl
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Post by Tommy on Nov 9, 2021 14:33:18 GMT -8
I don't understand why everyone keeps thinking I'm going to roll my eyes at their misgivings when I've said repeatedly in this thread that I understand and share a lot of them. I can be excited for the potential capabilities of this change and still have concerns! If y'all are being pre-emptively defensive about your opinions, that's fine, but please leave me out of your bad faith assumptions about my actions I was just trying to be funny because of the previous exchange about eyes rolling
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Kami
Forum Cat
Posts: 40,002
Mini-Profile Theme: Kami's Mini-Profile
#f35f71
156500
0
Offline
Jul 24, 2021 11:48:29 GMT -8
Kami
40,002
July 2010
kamiyakaoru
Kami's Mini-Profile
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Post by Kami on Nov 9, 2021 15:53:29 GMT -8
I don't understand why everyone keeps thinking I'm going to roll my eyes at their misgivings when I've said repeatedly in this thread that I understand and share a lot of them. I can be excited for the potential capabilities of this change and still have concerns! If y'all are being pre-emptively defensive about your opinions, that's fine, but please leave me out of your bad faith assumptions about my actions I was just trying to be funny because of the previous exchange about eyes rolling
Fair enough! XD
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#e61919
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Sept 28, 2023 13:31:20 GMT -8
VS Admin
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admin
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Post by VS Admin on Nov 10, 2021 10:00:49 GMT -8
Tommy, thank you for your post, and for expressing your views. One thing we always appreciate about our members is the great communication we get to have openly with you. I totally understand that concerns exist based on past experience. However, let me state that over the past month while I have been an employee at VerticalScope I have had nothing but a positive experience. In this short time there has already been one huge benefit to ProBoards users, which is that we have reduced the number of ads users see on desktop. This is not something we could have done on our own, as VerticalScope has a whole team behind their ad operations. I would welcome other ProBoards team members to chime in here, but I think that I can say for all of us that we are excited to be a part of VerticalScope, and strongly believe that VerticalScope will be a huge help in continuing the growth of ProBoards and its communities.
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Nov 24, 2023 7:50:49 GMT -8
••GamingBoards.net••
Gamer looking for friends? GamingBoards.net - Where Gamers Unite!
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May 2015
gamingboardsnet
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Post by ••GamingBoards.net•• on Nov 11, 2021 12:03:36 GMT -8
Looking forward to seeing what this brings to the community, best of luck all involved!
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Mar 20, 2022 10:27:08 GMT -8
sharon
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sharon
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Post by sharon on Nov 13, 2021 19:30:12 GMT -8
I appreciate the update and look forward to continuing to use Proboards. I talk very highly of this service and support community. My forum has been around since 2005 and hope to keep it as part of my legacy.
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Nov 28, 2022 1:58:24 GMT -8
LadyoftheForest
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August 2014
2526jm
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Post by LadyoftheForest on Nov 20, 2021 5:21:51 GMT -8
I'm conflicted in my reaction to this news. On one hand, I'm very excited for the same reasons the staff is excited; new possibilities, more staff, etc. On the other hand... In every instance I personally have been involved in, a company buy out has never benefitted "the little guy" as much as anticipated. The parent company takes what they want, and discards the rest. Most notably, my beloved former job with a somewhat small cell phone company. We were bought out by a larger cell phone company. They promised us better phones, better software, better... Everything. They told us how much they loved our reputation for being the only company with a call center exclusively in the US. We were promised the biggest boost in everything needed to push us to bigger reach. A year after the merge, they outsourced our call center to Guatamala after lying to us for 8 months, saying that they were only building that center to better assist Spanish speaking customers. They then fired everyone who worked at the call center, and laughed their way to the bank along with the millions of users who were none the wiser until they called customer service to find that they could no longer understand the CSR. I've got a big stake in this. I've got a forum turning 15 years old that I've been on basically every day since I was 15 years old. I'm very scared at what's at risk if this merger is less 'boost Proboards' and more 'acquire Proboards user base, abandon ship'. I'm also one to be very worried about the future if there's a lot of unknowns. I have to second Sarapha’s concerns. I too (as have many, many others) have been with Proboards for a long time, October 10th was 16 years now., but my content has been online since 1995 in some form or another (yes, I’m that old). In that time, I’ve had numerous websites lost due to acquisitions/mergers over the years, I’ve never once seen one go well, they have never been good. I’ve lost full sites or had my content held hostage when the acquiring company went to a paid platform. In fact, I found Proboards 16 years ago directly because of one such loss. I had to completely recreated my content on Proboards because it was lost when a company closed. I understand mergers/acquisitions need to happen to try to keep companies afloat, we are seeing it everywhere right now because of the nature of our time. I just truly, truly hope none of these scenarios happen to Proboards, but I can’t honestly say that I’m not very worried again.
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#e61919
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Sept 28, 2023 13:31:20 GMT -8
VS Admin
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Post by VS Admin on Nov 22, 2021 9:23:13 GMT -8
LadyoftheForest, thank you for commenting I hope you can read some of my other responses in this thread to allay some of your fears. The entire ProBoards team has joined with VerticalScope and is committed to providing the same quality service we always have. Thank you for being a member for such a long time! Patrick
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#FF6600
Closet Spammer
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Mar 28, 2024 13:10:58 GMT -8
wildmaven
Fear the Flying Flocks of Fiery Fury!!
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October 2004
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Post by wildmaven on Nov 22, 2021 15:12:39 GMT -8
What I am specifically talking about is it would be wonderful to finally solve the single most frustrating limitation of a Proboards forum which is photo storage. In today's age of smart devices and cheap cloud storage it's embarrassing that we have answer the "how do I upload photos" question over and over and over on our forum. I would love to see that as well.
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Mar 20, 2021 4:25:23 GMT -8
:~:Sarapha:~:
Happy 16th birthday to my RPG!
1,925
December 2007
sarapha
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Post by :~:Sarapha:~: on Nov 23, 2021 9:33:40 GMT -8
What I am specifically talking about is it would be wonderful to finally solve the single most frustrating limitation of a Proboards forum which is photo storage. In today's age of smart devices and cheap cloud storage it's embarrassing that we have answer the "how do I upload photos" question over and over and over on our forum. I would love to see that as well. Gosh, that would be so wonderful for things like RPG signatures. I get so annoyed when a host goes dark and suddenly the forum is riddled with broken images. Do you delete them? What if the host comes back online? Leave them there? Then everything looks a mess. It's frustrating, to say the least.
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