- City
- Dexter
- State
- MI
Ok folks, some of you may be sick to death of me talking about the rules around here or asking for people to think about stepping up to support the forum through a paid membership (link) for a few bucks (way less than a tank of gas) a month.
Well, here's the latest installment and I'll share a big part of why we do some of what we do. So if you're sick of hearing about this from me and actually clicked through to this post, then quit reading now.
There's a company out there that has bought up/is buying up automotive forums left and right, I will leave their name out of this and if you know it, please follow my lead please and do the same if you reply. They have tried to buy this forum multiple times. They have deep pockets.
For those of you who are Pirate forum members like me and get their email newsletter (which is also recycled, more or less, for a number of their other forums) you got this link in the latest one. It illustrates what the company is doing with these forums they are buying. Everything they buy is left up and running (most often without much of/any of the original admin crew) and kept up to date as far as forum software goes, but they jack the advertising rates through the roof (pushing out small companies on cost alone, I know from first-hand experience) because the forum is now part of their "network" and all they do is drive traffic back to their mothership general automotive blog:
http://www.autoguide.com/manufacturer/jeep/2015-jeep-wrangler-unlimited-review-4193.html
Read this "review" and laugh with me. It's comical, seriously LOL funny. And it came from a PIRATE newsletter.
However, what this company knows is that the simple link being in the email will cause a bunch of clicks, which ups their traffic, which allows them to sell more ads, which allows them to jack their ad rates. (And no, I don't care that if folks here click through on the link it ups traffic, bigger picture point being made
)
When this kind of thing goes on, what you end up with is a Jeep forum email "sponsored by Toyota". Seriously, it just happened last week.
Now, I'm a capitalist as much as anyone else, so good on them for finding a way to make a ton of money. BUT it makes me physically ill to think about what's been done to one of the most hardcore (and most rude, insulting, etc. but you can't argue the amount of information they have there) 4x4 forums on the internet. It's now just a glorified billboard being used by a company that could care less about that forum, it's content or it's members outside of keeping the lights on so they can continue to leech off of it. They clearly don't care about tailoring the articles they chose for the forum newsletter to the audience.
Matt and I care too damn much about this place to let that happen and we refuse to believe their promises of what will stay if they take over. If you visit those overtaken sites as an unpaid member now, you know how much advertising is shoved at you. They KNOW that new Jeep people will find out about those forums, know they have a ton of info to lure them in, and know that they'll force people into paid memberships if they ratchet up the annoyance factor. After all, there's thousands of active members and just look at all these subforums packed with stuff I want to know.
Matt and I also don't believe in annoy-ware advertising tactics and never have. So we made the free memberships WAY better than other forums out there and simply reserved some specific things for paid members and then offered a number of options for folks to help support the forum.
So here's my plea (if anyone's still reading): if you find this place helpful, I'd ask you to check out the options to help support the forum. We're fighting an ongoing battle against crap like these companies (and the above is just one example that hit my inbox today).
Think about the cost per month of ANY of these options and then think about how much time you spend here, knowledge you've gained, friends you've made, events you've attended, etc. on account of this place and see if there's enough value to you to want to help.
https://www.cj-8.com/account/upgrades
If you've already stepped up THANK YOU. Sincerely and from the bottom of my heart. I may not be on here as much as I have in the past, but that doesn't mean I care ANY less about this place or the members. THAT'S why we work to enforce the rules and help to see that this place stays as spam-free, as great, and as respectful as it is, because WE LOVE SCRAMBLERS and CJ-8.COM. Period. End of sentence.
Well, here's the latest installment and I'll share a big part of why we do some of what we do. So if you're sick of hearing about this from me and actually clicked through to this post, then quit reading now.
There's a company out there that has bought up/is buying up automotive forums left and right, I will leave their name out of this and if you know it, please follow my lead please and do the same if you reply. They have tried to buy this forum multiple times. They have deep pockets.
For those of you who are Pirate forum members like me and get their email newsletter (which is also recycled, more or less, for a number of their other forums) you got this link in the latest one. It illustrates what the company is doing with these forums they are buying. Everything they buy is left up and running (most often without much of/any of the original admin crew) and kept up to date as far as forum software goes, but they jack the advertising rates through the roof (pushing out small companies on cost alone, I know from first-hand experience) because the forum is now part of their "network" and all they do is drive traffic back to their mothership general automotive blog:
http://www.autoguide.com/manufacturer/jeep/2015-jeep-wrangler-unlimited-review-4193.html
Read this "review" and laugh with me. It's comical, seriously LOL funny. And it came from a PIRATE newsletter.
However, what this company knows is that the simple link being in the email will cause a bunch of clicks, which ups their traffic, which allows them to sell more ads, which allows them to jack their ad rates. (And no, I don't care that if folks here click through on the link it ups traffic, bigger picture point being made
)When this kind of thing goes on, what you end up with is a Jeep forum email "sponsored by Toyota". Seriously, it just happened last week.
Now, I'm a capitalist as much as anyone else, so good on them for finding a way to make a ton of money. BUT it makes me physically ill to think about what's been done to one of the most hardcore (and most rude, insulting, etc. but you can't argue the amount of information they have there) 4x4 forums on the internet. It's now just a glorified billboard being used by a company that could care less about that forum, it's content or it's members outside of keeping the lights on so they can continue to leech off of it. They clearly don't care about tailoring the articles they chose for the forum newsletter to the audience.
Matt and I care too damn much about this place to let that happen and we refuse to believe their promises of what will stay if they take over. If you visit those overtaken sites as an unpaid member now, you know how much advertising is shoved at you. They KNOW that new Jeep people will find out about those forums, know they have a ton of info to lure them in, and know that they'll force people into paid memberships if they ratchet up the annoyance factor. After all, there's thousands of active members and just look at all these subforums packed with stuff I want to know.
Matt and I also don't believe in annoy-ware advertising tactics and never have. So we made the free memberships WAY better than other forums out there and simply reserved some specific things for paid members and then offered a number of options for folks to help support the forum.
So here's my plea (if anyone's still reading): if you find this place helpful, I'd ask you to check out the options to help support the forum. We're fighting an ongoing battle against crap like these companies (and the above is just one example that hit my inbox today).
Think about the cost per month of ANY of these options and then think about how much time you spend here, knowledge you've gained, friends you've made, events you've attended, etc. on account of this place and see if there's enough value to you to want to help.
https://www.cj-8.com/account/upgrades
If you've already stepped up THANK YOU. Sincerely and from the bottom of my heart. I may not be on here as much as I have in the past, but that doesn't mean I care ANY less about this place or the members. THAT'S why we work to enforce the rules and help to see that this place stays as spam-free, as great, and as respectful as it is, because WE LOVE SCRAMBLERS and CJ-8.COM. Period. End of sentence.
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) So thanks to you Josh! 
