What is up with FPN?

[jor412]

OT: Taking a time out from eating popcorn to laugh @ Charlton Heston laughing. Is that from "Planet of the Apes"? Or one of the other films from the original series?

[79spitfire]

This photo was taken outside the building housing FPNs servers.
Attachment 2245

Attachment 2244

*ouch*

[HughC]

It's really striking how many people dislike the Admins ( especially Wim) yet most of the mods are very good. Also the 70,000 odd members would have to contain a lot of inactives, like the "away" group which is probably bigger than most would think, those that are dead and the one off sign ups. The number of members active on a monthly basis would provide a better picture, still I'd reckon 30,000 would pull it up in real terms at max. Posting volume gets distorted when you have people like "Ghost Plane" doing 5 to 6,000 a year (!!! or she did when I was there, one of poorer mods too).

Regards
Hugh

[david i]

Here is a tale of "premium membership" at FPN, told to me by a fellow at Fountain Pen Board...

Weird how Elaine Poleshuck and Gerry Einarsson (Admins there) spent years telling me FPN was just a low key place that merely wanted to pay expenses...

The story (not mine):

Wim tried to hassle me for paying 360USD per year because I was selling 10 nice pens at once and I was“kindly” invited to buy a Diamond account.

I’ve explained I was helping a friend, this is just a momentary need to sell more for the next 2 months, its less than 20 pen per months…) and asked to buy a Ruby account because 20 pens would be more than enough and that would be below the selling limit for an Ruby account, But he still demanded me to buy the Diamond account the same way because he say's that with such valuable pens I am a "professional seller"….

I really cannot understand why he has so many rules and then doesn't follow them. I´ve read the rules carefully and there is nothing in the new set of rules about the value of the pens sold there… so 20 its 20!!! Not 20 pens up to a maximum ofXXUSD or XX€. I told him that and it was like going against a wall….


After that I told him I would only sell 20 pens per month at max and that I would not put the expensive pens for sale there. He accepted me buying only the Ruby account but warned me that if I put valuable pens for sale I will have to upgrade for the Diamond account still…


I feel that in orderfor Wim to do this demand to me he should have previously defined in the rules a max value for all the levels of premium accounts… for me 20 pensare 20 pens no matter if I’m asking 1USD or 10000USD each.

I don’t have thedefinition of valuable pen from Wim, so this is also very subjective!! He is shaking the trees to see if money comes down from them!!!

At the end I did not bought any premium account with him and probably will refer to sell on ebay if i don't sell on Pentrace, FPG or FPnuts.

Is not the money he is asking, is how he is doing.... I accept and don't mind paying for each pen I sell sing a web site, I even think its fair, but dont point me a gun and ask money...

I bet he will not extend the premium membership to compensate down time...
This Europeans and fucked up guys ( it´s missing the finger icon on your forumPosted Image)!!!

Fascinating stuff.

regards

David

[seffrican]

There is more to the story because as I remember there was a particular thread that was the breaking point.

I remember that... :-)

I remember you. I went on holiday for a few days, came back and found FPN transformed and a whole bunch of active posters gone missing. I wondered where you had all gone.

[whych]

David,
Since most guys probably use paypal for payment, you may as well agree the price and give the guy a link to a 'buy it now' on ebay.
I am sure most guys that sell stuff on a regular basis would pay a percentage of the sale to the site, which makes it fairer for all.
Of course, the occasional sellers usually have a buyer lined up in any case from one in the forum discussions.

It's been said that forum software is cpu-hungry. Have you found this on FPB, or is it just buggy forum software and oversubscribed/unscupulous hosting providers?

[david i]

I remember you. I went on holiday for a few days, came back and found FPN transformed and a whole bunch of active posters gone missing. I wondered where you had all gone.

You can find me mainly on Fountain Pen Board, though something tells me I will be posting here at FPG a bit more often as well. This place needs a bit more on the old pens

regards

david

[79spitfire]

I don't dislike Wim. He has managed to recruit some stellar Admins. I read much of this thread and feel torn between extremes. In one respect In one respect it's easy to fall into the FPN 'basher' ranks, in the other it's easy to write off 'bashers' and carry on. I read the posts, the ones 'critical' of the changes and can't help but think that banning and then removing all their posts and threads is way over the top, for what amounted to a bit of criticism.

[david i]

David,
Since most guys probably use paypal for payment, you may as well agree the price and give the guy a link to a 'buy it now' on ebay.
I am sure most guys that sell stuff on a regular basis would pay a percentage of the sale to the site, which makes it fairer for all.
Of course, the occasional sellers usually have a buyer lined up in any case from one in the forum discussions.

It's been said that forum software is cpu-hungry. Have you found this on FPB, or is it just buggy forum software and oversubscribed/unscupulous hosting providers?

Hi Whych,

I'm not sure what you are discussing regarding the "buying/paypal" thing only because I don't recall raising those issues (maybe someone else?), but as for Forum Software, so far I have had nearly no problems. I work with a sound webhost to which I was referred by my friend Richard up in Nashua, NH. Had one Hack, but the host purged it and used the most recent of the 45 days of backed up data bases to restore the board. So far FPB seems to run smoothly and cleanly, but of course we have but 1200 members and probably 30 posts per day. I am using Invision Power boardware as does FPN, indeed I'm using a three year old version since it works well, and I've thus not felt pressure to do the upgrades multiple times each year.

regards

david

[PointyThings]

David,
Since most guys probably use paypal for payment, you may as well agree the price and give the guy a link to a 'buy it now' on ebay.
I am sure most guys that sell stuff on a regular basis would pay a percentage of the sale to the site, which makes it fairer for all.
Of course, the occasional sellers usually have a buyer lined up in any case from one in the forum discussions.

It's been said that forum software is cpu-hungry. Have you found this on FPB, or is it just buggy forum software and oversubscribed/unscupulous hosting providers?

Taking a percentage of the sale has potential legal ramifications for site owners because it brings them into the transaction, especially if they process the transaction to ensure getting their percentage of the sale.

As for the forum software, I'm also running IP.Board, the same as FPN and David I. on FPB. I chose to bite the bullet and upgrade my installation at the beginning of 2013 when support ceased for the version of the software I was running.

I have less activity than FPB, but a few more members. I'm running on a VPS hosting account, along with a few other sites of mine. Initially, I needed to purchase additional RAM to deal with the demands of IP.Board, but the annual server upgrade by my provider now gives my installation more than enough RAM to deal with IP.board and about 6 WordPress sites.

Of course, I haven't tested this configuration under heavier demands of more activity, so I can't speculate on how it would scale.

--Karl

[Pinkys.Brain]

About this time last year, I had a handwritten post simply titled, "Good Words" on FPN.
It had received, I would say, mostly favorable comments, but because the post had a "religious" element, a few members took exception to it, and cited the "prohibited topics" clause in the Chatter Forum.
Now, I was never really contacted by anyone from FPN Admin regarding the post, but a couple of members who I guess considered themselves "the thought police" gave their opinion, and in MY opinion needlessly started arguing with those who defended me.
Anyway, I just got so annoyed by the whole thing, I took down ALL my handwritten posts from photobucket just for spite - which I sort of regretted. But after I got to cool down a bit, I started handwritten posts again - in earnest. Right now, I have over 1,400 images in photobucket I could just delete...blip...and all gone from FPN. But I won't, because others just might find them helpful - if FPN ever gets running again (and it would just just take too much of my time). I will not be doing any significant posting there anymore either, I feel like my work there is done..off to greener pastures.
Thanks for having me here.

I had your photobucket album bookmarked, and then yesterday it was suddenly password protected. That really broke my heart!!! -_-
I have a few dozen pics saved on my HDD, but I need more. Can't you just move them to a new subfolder on photobucket, so that their links change (if they really do), i.e. they don't appear on FPN anymore, but would still be accessible for those who want to delve into pure handwritten awesome.
Pretty PLEEEAAAZZZZZeee

[Manny]

About this time last year, I had a handwritten post simply titled, "Good Words" on FPN.
It had received, I would say, mostly favorable comments, but because the post had a "religious" element, a few members took exception to it, and cited the "prohibited topics" clause in the Chatter Forum.
Now, I was never really contacted by anyone from FPN Admin regarding the post, but a couple of members who I guess considered themselves "the thought police" gave their opinion, and in MY opinion needlessly started arguing with those who defended me.
Anyway, I just got so annoyed by the whole thing, I took down ALL my handwritten posts from photobucket just for spite - which I sort of regretted. But after I got to cool down a bit, I started handwritten posts again - in earnest. Right now, I have over 1,400 images in photobucket I could just delete...blip...and all gone from FPN. But I won't, because others just might find them helpful - if FPN ever gets running again (and it would just just take too much of my time). I will not be doing any significant posting there anymore either, I feel like my work there is done..off to greener pastures.
Thanks for having me here.

I had your photobucket album bookmarked, and then yesterday it was suddenly password protected. That really broke my heart!!! -_-
I have a few dozen pics saved on my HDD, but I need more. Can't you just move them to a new subfolder on photobucket, so that their links change (if they really do), i.e. they don't appear on FPN anymore, but would still be accessible for those who want to delve into pure handwritten awesome.
Pretty PLEEEAAAZZZZZeee

Ok, ok...unlocked...all of it.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Ditto what P's B said. Where can I find it?

[KrazyIvan]

Manny, it would have been a great loss for all those pics to just vanish. I understand your predicament. I have been contemplating the same thing with my posts. It would be a little more difficult for me since I post here also. I do pay for my photo hosting so I can have control of my own photos.

I do know that the far reaching fingers of FPN administration can come looking for me, even here. It has happened before.

I just think that FPN should have involved the community and get the community buy-in before doing all the changes. The transition would have been easier and not come off as a slap in face with a take it or leave it offer. I guess it comes down to respect. It reminds me of a video I watched in a management training class. It was of a CEO of a now defunct 80's airline and his speech to the company announcing the layoff's. It was an example of really bad people skills.

[david i]

SNIP


I do know that the far reaching fingers of FPN administration can come looking for me, even here. It has happened before.

SNIP

Facetiousness (?) in your post notwithstanding, I observe that people join hobby message boards to have fun. That so many have the view you cite regarding FPN, shows really that it is being run by something of a dick (to risk a rare for me possible Ad Hominem insult). Why people who want to have fun would embrace such an environment... I guess the disease that is collecting leaves folks gluttons for punishment

Come play where you don't have to worry about a Board following your actions at other Boards

regards

David

[KrazyIvan]

SNIP


I do know that the far reaching fingers of FPN administration can come looking for me, even here. It has happened before.

SNIP

Facetiousness (?) in your post notwithstanding, I observe that people join hobby message boards to have fun. That so many have the view you cite regarding FPN, shows really that it is being run by something of a dick (to risk a rare for me possible Ad Hominem insult). Why people who want to have fun would embrace such an environment... I guess the disease that is collecting leaves folks gluttons for punishment

Come play where you don't have to worry about a Board following your actions at other Boards

regards

David

I've been playing in the FPGeeks sandbox quite a while now and loving it.

[david i]

[QUOTE=KrazyIvan;23300][QUOTE=david i;23297]

SNIP
I've been playing in the FPGeeks sandbox quite a while now and loving it.

All good. The next big step is to cut ties with that which you don't like...

regards

d

[OcalaFlGuy]

I can attest to that!

Me, too! I'm always calling jbb "my fairy godmother" (from Penn Valley, no less!) because the stuff she sells works so well for me! Every pen freak should have a PEN Valley Fairy Godmother!

Me Pi!

She's my Blotter Paper Princess.

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[Manny]

I just realized...you can curse and swear here?!
This place is awesome! (Not that I curse or swear or anything, but if Jesus hung out with the unwashed while He was with us, then I think He'd be cool with me hangin' out with geeks.)

[picautomaton]

I like FPG the mods don't moderate HOORAY! Freedom of Speech forever