Gearspace hits rock bottom

[ruffrecords]

So now I have started getting unsolicited private messages from gearspace trying to sell me stuff. I my book that is spam. What is worse, there is now way to turn them off and they have now changed the user interface so you cannot log in unless you accept all their cookies. Time to vote with my feet.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JohnRoberts]

RIP

JR

 

[user 41968]

I go that one too. I think its a first and a new low for GS.

EDIT: Just went back to my GS inbox and they did this in 2021.

 

[Brian Roth]

I just noticed this today:

"Your account is currently unactivated. This means that you will be unable to post or edit your details.

We recently required accounts with a password older than 5 years to reactivate their accounts. Please check your email for a re-activation link. More information here.

If you recently registered or changed the email address on your account, you should have received an email with an activation link. Please follow this link to activate your account. You can also request a new activation email to be sent to you.

If you need further assistance, please contact [email protected]."

They have a very old email address for me that I haven't used in 8 or 10 years so they won't send me an "activation email".

Too bad because I was going to reply to a post which suggested using an o'scope to probe the AC mains line to look for noise....a VERY dangerous suggestion. I guess I'll just let the newbies electrocute themselves and/or blow up their scope.

Bri

 

[JohnRoberts]

Too bad because I was going to reply to a post which suggested using an o'scope to probe the AC mains line to look for noise....a VERY dangerous suggestion. I guess I'll just let the newbies electrocute themselves and/or blow up their scope.

Bri

do you recall the topic..? I just waded through several posts in one called mains hum mystery and it was full of bad advice about ground loops, but no advice about probing active mains.

JR

 

[Brian Roth]

John, post #25 in this thread:

https://gearspace.com/board/geekzone/1392936-years-unsolvable-rf-noise-stopping-everything.html
Bri

 

[JohnRoberts]

thx... I posted general warning over there to be careful...

JR

 

[iomegaman]

I got the PM SPAM message from Jules as well...Jules is a nice enough fellow, he started another forum for dads raising kids at one time which I have a bit of a soft spot for after being raised by my 5 kids as a single dad...but GS has taken several steps away from legitimacy for a number of years and the spam PM is just part of the "Synthetic Black Friday Sales disease" that has corrupted all things that require any kind of email connection ...GS is also now heavy synth focused which would have Slipperman spinning in his grave complaining about how the last real rock album made with an organ was "The Lamb Lies down on Broadway"...
Anyhoo...your mileage may vary.

 

[crazydoc]

I got the email a couple of days ago too - I had no memory of the site until I saw this thread.


Hi crazydoc,

Your password at Gearspace.com is more than 5 years old. To protect your account, you will need to re-activate your account using the link below, and choose a new password.

https://gearspace.com/board/join.php?a=....

If you are having trouble with the link above, you can request a new activation link here: https://gearspace.com/board/join.php?do=requestemail

To reassure you that this email is genuine, you can read about this change here (you will need to be logged in): Gearspace.com

Or navigate to Gearspace.com > Forums > Forum Issues and Suggestions > Old Account - Forced Password changes.

Thank you!
Gearspace.com

Must have been from my old mic and preamp group buy days ~15 years ago.
I just ignored it (like I am doing to most things these days.)

 

[user 37518]

So now I have started getting unsolicited private messages from gearspace trying to sell me stuff. I my book that is spam. What is worse, there is now way to turn them off and they have now changed the user interface so you cannot log in unless you accept all their cookies. Time to vote with my feet.

Cheers

Ian

For me it ended when they changed their name to appease the cancelation mob.

 

[scott2000]

For me it ended when they changed their name to appease the cancelation mob.

My exit was when some on there harrassed Ian many years ago. Can't recall what it was all about but it must have been pretty bad....actually thought he left then too...lol
... still lurk there sometimes though...

 

[capacitorless]

For me it ended when they changed their name to appease the cancelation mob.

I still spend time at Mod Wiggler, but was kind of disappointed in their name change as well.

 

[user 37518]

I still spend time at Mod Wiggler, but was kind of disappointed in their name change as well.

I really don't care for the name itself. What bothered me is that the forum had already become an 'ad machine' for audio companies, an avalanche of rants and flame wars, posts devoid of any reason other than "because it is expensive", and an abusing or bullying attitude from the forum administrators/moderators which leveled themselves to demigods that demanded worship from the lowly forum members; all of which was very annoying and could've been completely valid reasons to leave, but then Jules got scared of losing his milk cow and he changed the name. That was the last straw for me. I felt that whatever remained of the original identity of the forum was finally swept away with the name change, and I didn't find any reasons to stay anymore.

There is a proverb that goes something like "people don't like to be sold but they love to buy". When I was at GS, that is all that I felt, that I was being sold at every click. So the name change just made things easier for me to leave.

 

[JohnRoberts]

We could easily turn into a version of that. Many people who joined here were active over there and haven't been retrained (yet). It is a constant struggle to keep the plates spinning without wobbles or falling off.

JR

 

[Tubetec]

I think we are by degrees becoming more of an advertising platform , its a gradual chipping away at the core values so as to prevent a generalised revolt/downing of tools and mass desertion .

When I signed up for here I think GS knew and tried to spam me , tried to induce me into signing up , that mail account is long gone now , I should have saved the email , probably spam binned it . The ugliness of some attacks there was enough to make me hesitate to sign up , the spam sealed it for me ,

I use a browser add on to thwart pop ups and adds before I login, its a bit of a running battle nowadays .

 

[ruffrecords]

The bottom line is it costs money to provide a forum. That money has to come from somewhere. In the old days it came from adverts, white market subs and occasional gifts to Ethan. In that respect, not a lot has changed. What has changed is the forum software which, in general, is a significant improvement.

Cheers

Ian

 

[user 41968]

The bottom line is it costs money to provide a forum. That money has to come from somewhere. In the old days it came from adverts, white market subs and occasional gifts to Ethan. In that respect, not a lot has changed. What has changed is the forum software which, in general, is a significant improvement.

Cheers

Ian

It doesn't cost a lot. I pay $27.01 US per month to host 2 domains and 19 redirected sub-domains.

Including domain registration fees this site could be run for about $350/year.

 

[ruffrecords]

It doesn't cost a lot. I pay $27.01 US per month to host 2 domains and 19 redirected sub-domains.

Including domain registration fees this site could be run for about $350/year.

The real cost is not in registering domains, it is in hosting the data and paying for the required bandwisth. That will be cosiderably more than $350 a year.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JohnRoberts]

The real cost is not in registering domains, it is in hosting the data and paying for the required bandwisth. That will be cosiderably more than $350 a year.

Cheers

Ian

shhhh..... I am not holding my breath to get a balance sheet P&L statement for this web forum, but I recall Ethan struggling with the demands and this was a smaller community back then than now (>80k peeps). ''

JR

PS: I'm glad I'm old... Maybe Elon Musk can buy us.

 

[user 41968]

The real cost is not in registering domains, it is in hosting the data and paying for the required bandwisth. That will be cosiderably more than $350 a year.

Cheers

Ian

I have a forum, a store, 21 domains and know what those costs are. It's included in the $27.01/month.

My YTD bandwidth is around 300 GB and included in the price.

I pay nothing for the database - it's included in the monthly and my stored backups are probably 10X the size of of the entire site.

If I needed a dedicated server with unlimited BW it would be less than $100/month.

This place isn't YouTube.