Some good, some bad, some uncertainty about the new forums

[Raptor]

Overall I like the stripped down look. There were too many sections to the last forums, and visually the new one is eye catching.

The problems are that, while this was coming online, I did not see anything to advertise it, or direct me here. All I kept getting was a 500 error. I would have hoped that Gibson would have migrated our usernames over to this forum, now we have to recreate a profile, and signature. This leaves the possibility of someone taking someone elses old username, intentionally or by accident.

The biggest concern I have is for the information accrued on the old forum. I have been a part of these forums since about 2002. Originally the format was small, similar to what it is now. There were years of information, important and good information on just about every topic. A lot of the people who contributed that information no longer come here, so their important contributions are lost now. Will the same thing happen with the information that accrued in the last forums? I hope not. Surely someone can copy the posts on the old forums over here so we won't lose that information too. I for one had contributed about 1600 posts to the old forums, and most of them were more than "cool guitar". It makes me wonder if Gibson really does appreciate our contributions. Most of us give positive support to Gibson and their products, yet it seems like they do not care about that. It really makes me wonder if they are truly committed to having a Forum at all.

My other concern is if there will be a moderator regularly visiting the forums? On the first forum, and for a while on the second incarnation of it, someone was available to answer questions, and monitor and remove spam or rude posts. Then it got to a point where you had to e-mail Gibson and they would remove the posts. Then they stopped caring all together. What point is there to having these forums if people can post improper things, and break the forum rules with impunity?

I hope you (Gibson) get it right this time, and are committed to this Forum as much as your regular users, and best customers are.

[dubstar]

I sent this last week...

 

To:

xxxx

Gibson Internet Group

 

Hi xxxx:

 

In the event that new forums are created for epiphone and gibson, would it be possible to archive the old forums or migrate the posts? There is a wealth of practical information on both forums, as well as valuable historical data.

 

My friend was able to do it on an independently run forum by simply deactivating the old one, leaving it searchable, and creating a pinned link to the old forum from the new. See here:

 

http://www.newyorksurf.com/modules/ipboard/index.php?showforum=4

 

thanks for the consideration

[rabbit]

I agree with Raptor. There is indeed a great wealth of information on the old forum. The sheer volume of very, very useful info for guitarists is staggering. There have been a heckuva lot of knowledgeable and articulate contributors who have shared FAR TOO MUCH to be simply wiped out ( and Raptor has definitely been a MAJOR contributor with his amazing knowledge of guitars and his willingness to share so much with others. )

Please, Gibson, don't let us down. I have already seen this very thing happen a few years ago to another forum that contained a treasure trove of information. The entire thing was permanently erased. What a senseless waste ........

Dubstar's example of what his friend did ( deactivate the old forum and make it searchable, etc. ) would seem to be an ideal way to handle the situation here on these forums.