Back Online - Details and more here.

[Charlie]

First of all: Hooray - my beloved forum is back online!!!!
Thank you Sharp and Daz for all your efforts

Regarding the future: I would be ready to donate or pay a membership-fee, I would accept ads if they dont get in my way and are gear-related (no pop-up-ads) ... but I'd go for Korg + ad-free + free access. IMHO that ensures the biggest user-base and that's what keeps a forum alive.

I would try to agree with Korg on terms for running this forum on their server, because they will have to ensure certain standards here, because they are a company and have (to have) policies. These standards won't differ from what happened here befor (remember: our mods close threads, erase threads and ban users if necessary). These standards should be made public so that everybody knows how Korg could interfere and how they wouldn't. This increases credibility.

Korg knows the basics of marketing. It would be stupid to interfere with criticism on Korg products in a forum. A large part of all forums deal with problems with products - no matter if they are due to malfunction or ignorance of the user. So all forums in a way "criticise". And helping users to overcome these problems if possible is a great marketing tool. A lively community is a great marketing tool in itself. Censoring criticism would kill it all.

Another reason I'd go for Korg was mentioned already. We might get more Korg people here. This again is good for the community - and in the longrun for Korg as well. Nothing is healthier for a company than listening to its customers. Many companies spend lots of money on surveys etc. - a forum contributes parts of this for free. Believe me: I run a company and I would LOVE to have an INDEPENDENT forum for my products run by my customers and getting all the feedback - good and bad - including reducing service and support costs and all that for financing a web-server.

[Pecca]

My opinion is that KORG should let the Forums be independet and kindly donate a server Member donations is for short term solutions imo. Ads would be the next best solution, but not optimal.

All KORG risks with a independent server donation is more sales thanks to this fine site that gather people with invaluable info and hunger for KORG user product support. Not to mention the great free downloads in the download section.

Afterall i think the admins of this forum has done a great job for the interest of KORG.

2 cents gone

[Daz]

FYI: The outage today (Friday 12th September) was unrelated to the issues we had last week. Our hosting service had a more general problem.

Daz.

[mdh]

Thanks Daz for the great work in getting our beloved forum back.

Seeing the "down" page & talks about the future my thought was why doesn't Korg sponsor the forum? It could be hosted with Datapipe or similar colo facility so that Korg don't have to get into the IT hosting business and can concentrate on what they do well; Korg bump up their RRP's by a certain percentage on their products to cover the yearly cost of hosting there - lets face it with $10k for an OASYS an extra $200 is neither here nor there...
You can link into the korguser.net authentication so Korg owners get into the support forums (not idiot trolls) and toss in Adwords because you'll get extra pocketmoney from focussed ads. I hate ads as much as the next guy but think the benefits outweigh the costs here (especially with adwords which is pretty non-obtrusive).

As for the legalities, Korg *sponsor* the forums, they don't run or own them and the usual disclaimers apply (opinions expressed within are the responsibility of the individual making them and doesn't reflect on Korg yadda yadda) Just like if Toyo sponsor a motor race they're not responsible for the outcome or any vehicle damage. The Korg staff we know and love here have always sung the company tune and behaved in a professional manner and will no doubt continue to. Perhaps with revenue from adwords we could buy more of their time from Korg.

Otherwise I'm all for the subscription model, I'll give up Livejournal paid access to come here instead.



But only if you upgrade to phpBB3

[sewa]

I have been away for a while and had no idea what was going on. I think that with that kind of traffic, advertisments are the best way to raise funds.

[ausser]

Well, personally - I would prefer the board to be kept ad-free.
As it stands, the ad-free-ness of the site has a quality and feel that keeps it very original and ecletic, in comparison to a lot of other muso sites out there.
Then there are issues of ad placement, and then comparitive moderation issues might arise also - so NAY to advertisements IMO.

Also, I have no problem at all making a donation to the site upkeep - nor have I a problem if a lot of other site members are unable to make a donation at this time for whatever reason.
If we can get enough donations up per-annum to cover the costs, this would be the best way IMO to pay for a more suitable service provider.

And, most people owning a Korg WS these days have access to some kind of net plastic - so a reasonable yearly membership fee would also be fine with me.
If some one really needed to join the forum but had 'plastic problems' a soloution could be worked out with admin, I'm sure.

However, the Korg offer sounds very interesting indeed - provided they wouldn't try to Kontrol things....
If its genuine charity - or more - genuine gratitude for Sharp & Team efforts and generosity in providing a fabulous resource for Korg owners over the years - then the Korg offer is the way to go - IMO.
But - the details of agreement need to be in writing - ie should the partnership go sour for whatever reason - IA retains full control and propriety rights over any previous and subsequent site content that is non-contractual with respect to Korg employees.
ie. whats posted - unless stated directly by Korg employees who post - is owned by IA/Korg Support and namely Sharp & Team.
Also in respect to this offer - I would prefer that IA insist a non-advertisement site.
This doesn't mean that Korg can't advertise - in the usual IA way, via a sticky post in Latest News section.
But it would mean Sharp & Team, have control over HOW such advertisements or solicitations are presented.

Peace
Ausser.

[kenackr]

I didn't know anything had happened until this morning when I tried to get on the forums and got a Forbidden Server error message.

I find it very interesting to see there were recent server problems, but I guess that's the way it goes when you have to do things at absolute minimum cost.

Even though I don't post alot, I do read the forums almost every day and it is an enjoyable and bright spot for me (except when trolls and spoiled brats come along).

At any rate, I concur with those who have said to go with the Korg server. I think it is a very good idea with the caveat that others have stipulated that Korg doesn't get to interfere. That doesn't mean they couldn't participate more if they wanted to.

If funds were required in addition to that, then some sort of "advertising" might be OK if it was not intrusive. AND would have to have the stipulation that there would be no data collection bots etc in the link stream to infest our machines with.

There are people out there advertising through "agencies" who don't realize that 3rd party ad agencies are always trying to stick these bots in for a little more revenue for themselves and don't always tell the advertiser that.

By the way, if a new BB program is under consideration, I would suggest one with a spell checker as an improvement to the site.

Ken

PS - On the subject of fees, I would gladly pay a reasonable rate to keep this excellent forum afloat if that's the way it had to be.

[Dr.InnoVation]

I've tried to reach Sharp for the past few months without any sort of Irish luck

What I wanted to propose is that since I released a sound set which includes some high quality and elaborate sounds for the Triton Extreme....I would offer to donate a portion of each sale to Sharp to help with costs associated with running this invaluable site ...

I feel it's a win win for anyone wanting new sounds and a way to sustain this site's longevity...

What are your thoughts members?

[Sharp]

HI Dr.InnoVation.

Don't take it personal, but the last few weeks for me have been hell. I'm not ignoring you, but I kid you not when I say I have over 100 emails I have yet to open. So please accept my apologies.

Thank you for your very kind offer, but what plans need to be made can't involve quick fixes by injecting cash into what we already have. A complete change needs to take place and we are working on this. I wish you will with our project and I hope it's a success.

Kind Regards.
Sharp.

[Dr.InnoVation]

HI Dr.InnoVation.

Don't take it personal, but the last few weeks for me have been hell. I'm not ignoring you, but I kid you not when I say I have over 100 emails I have yet to open. So please accept my apologies.

Thank you for your very kind offer, but what plans need to be made can't involve quick fixes by injecting cash into what we already have. A complete change needs to take place and we are working on this. I wish you will with our project and I hope it's a success.

Kind Regards.
Sharp.

Nothing personal was taken sir (hence the wink smiley after that first comment I made)
I can appreciate you're a busy guy and have lots to do, and many notes to weed through.

My offer to help in any way still stands....
*now if I could just get these babies sold*

I don't think 60USD is a lot for 164 Combi's?
Not including the infinite PCG's I've tweaked to make those Combi's, and the drum kits.