Location: At the Beach (West Fenwick, DE) or TPA@0W3
Posts: 4,327
FEAR NOT - New ABW Owners Wear White Hats.
I have met the enemy and he is us - not the folks at iNET Interactive.
Sorry for twisting that quote just a bit. I again looked through the thread about the Sale of ABW to iNET Interactive (http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=125198). There are many congratulatory comments for Haiko, as well there should be. But I also detected a fairly strong undercurrent of worry about the direction of ABW under the new ownership. If there is an "enemy" at all it is certainly not the crew at iNET Interactive. It might be, however, speculation, supposition, paranoia and worry about what it is that is going to happen to our beloved forum.
Fear Not. (Please note that I am expressing my opinion here. The following is how I arrived at that opinion.)
This past weekend I had the opportunity to meet and talk, face-to-face, with two of the new crew. For three days last weekend Jill and I, along with many fine people in our industry, participated in ShareASale's incredible ThinkTank in California. A few of the ABW mods were also at ThinkTank (three of whom I actually know). Evidently the new owners realized they had an opportunity to personally meet some forum mods and (possibly/probably) a few other active ABW members - all in one place and only days after the acquisition. They flew out to Newport Beach on Saturday afternoon to meet with an ABW contingent (following the scheduled ThinkTank activities for the day). Likely because we are their first "new" customers they also took time to seek out and Jill and me. It was certainly good to meet Dennis (who has already introduced himself here as SoftWareReview) and Kevin, and to speak with them. That was followed by a lengthy meeting with the mods who were present. Michael Coley mentioned that HERE.
New customer? Yes. The day after Haiko's announcement I had the opportunity to speak directly the Kelly, Vice President of Sales, making arrangements and contracting for a new support forum here at ABW (for our soon-to-be-announced affiliate program). I spoke with her again this afternoon and sent her our header graphic. Hopefully there will be a "new" announcement sometime next week and Kelly is honestly concerned about "getting it right."
If there is an enemy it is (collectively) us - with conjecture, supposition, paranoia, worry, etc. My first impressions are that the new owners truly want to see ABW carry on as the premiere affiliate marketing forum that Haiko (and you and I and many other members) have created over the years. They will take a while to observe and to learn - and then will help us to grow even further. Haiko told me that these folks have their head(s) in the right place and they are ethical. After meeting three of the major players in the organization I have faith in Haiko's assessment. No Fear.
I also had a chance to chat a little with Dennis and Kevin from iNET, at a dinner during Think Tank. Couple that with having gone through a similar change-of-ownership experience when they purchased WebHostingTalk (which is still thriving years later, by the way), I'm pretty comfortable that the road ahead for ABW is going to be fairly smooth.
I don't expect to see a big change in the community side of things, but perhaps they will be monetizing the forum a bit more aggressively.
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The ABWer formerly known as 'ghoti'.
Bill has no reason to butt kiss. Neither does anyone else.
I am confident that the new owners will take good care of the community.
I'm sorry.
I posted that ONLY to put a smile on Mr.Bill's face Ms. Lox.
He knows me and knows I would never say anything bad about him. ( In public anyway ... I have PM privs ) -
Sometimes I don't consider that there are 1000's of other folks around here that don't know I'm a retard and to ignore my stupid warped sense of what I like to call humor..
I think I'm pretty damned funny most of the time, so at least one of us is laughing -
I have no problem what-so-ever w/ the new owners.
As a matter of fact, I look forward to it.
Sounds like a win-win.
Haiko is Happy. - ( Gratuitous Haiko But Kiss )
iNet actually seems to want to get involved.
Progress Is Good!
No Losers.
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Jimmy McDonald - Your Local Hard Working RemodelingGuy!
Couple that with having gone through a similar change-of-ownership experience when they purchased WebHostingTalk (which is still thriving years later, by the way), I'm pretty comfortable that the road ahead for ABW is going to be fairly smooth.
That's great to hear! I've been too busy to research the changes experienced by the other webmaster-related communities that they acquired (although I'm sure Haiko did), so it's good to hear first-hand from someone about how those went.
My impression is that they'll maintain the same leadership (moderators) and spirit of the community, that they'll be adding considerable new technology, and that they'll seek out ways to expand and improve.
I had a brief minute of opportunity to say hi to the new owners at TT between afternoon meetings with merchants. Both Dennis and Kevin seem to be regular folks like us and I trust the judgments of Michael and Bill as they had extensive conversations with them.
I just hope the new owners don't expand ABW's scope to welcome black-hatters, spammers and folks who peddle porn, gambling and pharma.
We had long discussions about the types of folks that we keep out. They are in total agreement. As has been said, the current mod team is staying in place and *we* wouldn't tolerate any of that nonsense.
Hopefully, the new owners do the right thing. But it is pretty easy to change hats.
Money tends to talk and integrity usually walks in the corporate world. At one time CJ, Linshare and a host of others all professed to be the guys in the white hats.
Hopefully, the new owners do the right thing. But it is pretty easy to change hats.
Money tends to talk and integrity usually walks in the corporate world. At one time CJ, Linshare and a host of others all professed to be the guys in the white hats.
We shall see.
If the new owners changed the community they would lose what built it. Then it would become useless and the money wouldn't come at all.
60,000 member emails addresses and 300,000 site visitors per month plus is not useless. And why wouldn't the money come in. Most of the merchant forums are already worthless right now, but they won't be dropping them at the chump change rate they have to pay to access the 60,000 members.
Getting just one good affiliate that generates sales pays for the forums 10 times over the course of the year.
But I guess as long as the 'initiated' are waiting for Godot and the Good Faery to save their bacon, take them to the Nirvana of Affiliate Marketing and that life is always good and mommy will save you, why change.
There WILL be changes, but only changes that will make ABW a better place. The people at iNET are not stupid. They know what makes ABW great, and they're not going to tinker with the fundamentals.
As for your last statement, I have no idea what you're trying to say so I'm not even going to try to respond to it.
They're planning on upgrading ABW to the newest version of vBulletin, which will bring a bunch of new features.
Change the look? Oh nooo Too many changes going on right now
__________________
leeann
Saints Pledge:"I pledge allegiance 2 da Saints & 2 da great city of N. O. & 2 da Super Bowl, 4 which we'll win, 1 city, B low C level, under God, with Mardi Gras, gumbo & alcohol 4 all."
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Affiliates - you have a long list of GAN merchants at your disposal that are listed with other networks.
Most of the merchant forums are already worthless right now, but they won't be dropping them at the chump change rate they have to pay to access the 60,000 members.
Looking at how inactive most sponsored merchant forums are, and how few views posts from some of those forums are, I can't figure out why so many advertisers are shelling out $2500/yr for their own forums. You don't need to waste $2500 a year to communicate with affiliates on ABW, but I guess as long as that opportunity exists, someone will rake in the cash.
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FEAR NOT - New ABW Owners Wear White Hats.
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