This Bites

[Hodad]

I've tried don't know any other way to put it. The absolutely last thing in the world was to cause any diversity in the Washington VTX Rider group. My understanding of the requirements for a Chapter Forum was a couple of users wanting it. I asked about this and got good feedback from the WA VTX owners registered here on this board. We hang out here, we know each other and wanted a hang out to talk bikes. In no way was I trying replace the old board. For me, it did not meet my needs as an owner. Hell, it was all I could do to understand my new bike and get to enjoy it. There was not, IMHO any tech discussion going on the old site just rides, so I stayed here and check in once in a while on the VTX Rider forum on Delphi. We got to talking recently(some of us here) about getting together. I met Winterlion and was trying to hook up with BigBlue and Craneguy and all thru the tech board. That's where we met and had our first conversations.

I felt bad about tying up the top threads on topics other then tech and asked about having a Chapter forum and that's where we are now. I feel bad the old board is gone and all this is happening. I am not trying to fracture the group but I just want to exercise my freedom to stay here. I am not representing anyone else but me. I wanted to try a group ride and had a blast and made some new friends and that's all good with me, now I feel in danger of losing friends over things like this of which I depise more then anything 'politics'. I've tried to set aside how I feel about things and not done too good a job with containing my displeasure and for this, I apologize. I was registered on the old board within days after I bought my ride but fell off because what was most important was learning my ride. Now, my focus is different. I want to take more rides longer then my daily commute of 130 total daily 5 days a week. My first group experiece was pleasurable and I felt I wanted to give back. Now, I am not so sure.

So with this, with no malice, I wish you all the best with your forum and group and apologize for my part in any misunderstandings. I am hoping Lamont will keep this forum for us loyal users of the VTXOA for gather and socialize. For all practical purposes, the transition seems to be to Tony and the official forum hosted on Delphi. I am good with this, but will exercise my freedom to not participate.

Good luck to Tony and the group. Peaceful and safe riding to all.

[craneguy]

:shock: Al I think this is a good thing. I wouldn't take on too much personaly. I believe in the continuing evolution of all things, boards included. No 1 person can bring down a forum like a message board, you can only add to the whole and hope for the best. What ever direction the other board goes is not something you can control or have too much influence over. It appears to me that they were on the cusp of a change anyway. Take heart, all things work out as they will, man is only a small player in the game, live everyday doing as little harm as possible and enjoying as much as you can. The greatest things in life are out there, not on the computer.
Humble Paul

[Hodad]

Appreciate those words of wisdom my brutha. I know what you mean, I feel like totally unplugging. I spend way too much time on this damn thing and ought to take your advice. Man, I sure did enjoy meeting you and Bill and Kirby and having lunch.

I'll try my friend. My new seat is due in tomorrow which I cannot wait to get installed. Can't go too far from home this weekend, going live with a new system.

Take care and Ride Safe.

[Jim and Colleen]

Being out here, I am actually closer to Washington than Oregon. So I hover between Washington and Oregon boards, looking for a home. Frankly, the Washington group is my home.
I've seen boards come and go in the last two years-- two years! The vtxoa board is the most stable, the most professionally run. It will endure, guys.
I think the WA Xers is a great group. I've ridden with you twice and I love the group. (Except for those jerks Brian & Frank, of course). The Leavenworth ride was ... well, it was awesome. We can do that kind of ride again if we stick together. (Am I sounding a little like the colonial orators?) I think Chris Lee is doing a tough, demanding job very well. I would so hate to see the group splinter... I think we need one board. More than one confuses and dilutes communication.
The best place for us to be is the vtxoa board. It is the most stable board. (And, no ads! I hate those ads.)
But heck, I'm living out here inthe wilderness, what do I know?
JimT

[Hodad]

Being out here, I am actually closer to Washington than Oregon. So I hover between Washington and Oregon boards, looking for a home. Frankly, the Washington group is my home.
I've seen boards come and go in the last two years-- two years! The vtxoa board is the most stable, the most professionally run. It will endure, guys.
I think the WA Xers is a great group. I've ridden with you twice and I love the group. (Except for those jerks Brian & Frank, of course). The Leavenworth ride was ... well, it was awesome. We can do that kind of ride again if we stick together. (Am I sounding a little like the colonial orators?) I think Chris Lee is doing a tough, demanding job very well. I would so hate to see the group splinter... I think we need one board. More than one confuses and dilutes communication.
The best place for us to be is the vtxoa board. It is the most stable board. (And, no ads! I hate those ads.)
But heck, I'm living out here inthe wilderness, what do I know?
JimT

Thanks for your opinion Jim. I think you're right. You Washington X Riders should move on to Delphi and let us that just wish to have a place to mix an list small get togethers live in peace. I've explained my position and I am sure this forum is not going away.

You all seem to want organization that is good IMHO, maybe it will drive it towards your goal. You know, if enough people get pissed about something they'll do something bout it. I am on the outside looking in, you've all been together for some time, so it's me that's the big time loser here. But I don't really feel that way. I have friends, we think alike, hell I get people from the OVTX group pmin me about stuff. So I know where I stand.

I think all the debate needs to stop. I've read Lamont's reply to Tony and I can tell you I agree 100% with him. Tony had no right coming here promoting and slamming. And IMV that is exactly what he did. I have no use for that, but I know he had some good intentions, and we get carried away, cause I woulda too except I couldn't post a message there last night to save my soul.

My apologies for offending anyone, good luck, good riding and hope things pan out. I am only concerned with riding this summer and meeting up with some I've only pm'd with.

Ride Safe, Peaceful Ridin'

[Grinch]

Thanks for your opinion Jim. I think you're right. You Washington X Riders should move on to Delphi and let us that just wish to have a place to mix an list small get togethers live in peace. I've explained my position and I am sure this forum is not going away.

It sounds, to me, like Jim was supporting this site... not the Delphi forum! Your message has a tone of dismissal about it, and I think it's a bit early to be doing that. Even though that jerk from Oregon stepped into the ranks of those supporting one site over the other (and it happened to be yours, if I read it right), the issue is still quite hot. So hold on, brother! Give this thing a chance to iron itself out. If we want this to work (and I believe most of us do), it has to be resolved by all involved. I'm hoping you got my PM, last night... let's keep up the dialog.
If it matters (and I'm sure Jim and Frank will say it does not), my opinion is that this is a decent board. The fact is that VTXOA has been around since before there was a Washington contingent! That it IS national, as well, has both positive and negative connotations. I personally like the Delphi format. As you have said, it's unlikely this one is going away. It's a conundrum.

[Hodad]

Thanks for your opinion Jim. I think you're right. You Washington X Riders should move on to Delphi and let us that just wish to have a place to mix an list small get togethers live in peace. I've explained my position and I am sure this forum is not going away.

It sounds, to me, like Jim was supporting this site... not the Delphi forum! Your message has a tone of dismissal about it, and I think it's a bit early to be doing that. Even though that jerk from Oregon stepped into the ranks of those supporting one site over the other (and it happened to be yours, if I read it right), the issue is still quite hot. So hold on, brother! Give this thing a chance to iron itself out. If we want this to work (and I believe most of us do), it has to be resolved by all involved. I'm hoping you got my PM, last night... let's keep up the dialog.
If it matters (and I'm sure Jim and Frank will say it does not), my opinion is that this is a decent board. The fact is that VTXOA has been around since before there was a Washington contingent! That it IS national, as well, has both positive and negative connotations. I personally like the Delphi format. As you have said, it's unlikely this one is going away. It's a conundrum.

I did, and replied to your email address Brian. Thanks. I am not dismissing anything. I am saying I will remain here no matter what and others are free to do so as well. I did not agree with Tony or his message and went on record for that..

Post ride info, club info or anything you want. This forum is unmoderated until someone breaks common rules. It is provided by HDL, they pay the bill so it's there house, they been kind enough to give us "owners" residing WA a safe secure spot to do riding biz or just to chew the rag. I would like things to tone down, so others might feel free to enter in the conversations. I will abide by this if others will as well.

As a side note, a couple months ago, we and I can say we, went through some real growing pains here. Board crashes and the like, what I saw was an unselfish like comaraderie of owners here pitch in and help keep our home afloat. Tapper spent days moving our data onto newer,bigger,faster servers and disk which resulted in a net gains that will serve us for well into the future.

Can't say enough about the people here and their willingness to pitch in and help. These people who host this site take alot of crap and in stride too. So, that is why I am an addict here and prefer the company here. I've learned more about my ride and have shared more then I can imagine and made tons of friends in the process.

So, let it begin. Have fun, lighten the load. Grab yer coffee and have some fun. :pepper1: Afterall, it's in the :mcrider:

[craneguy]

:D Right on Al, It's all about the fun. I think the folks here at HDL have done us a great service! They have never sent spam or any other garbage for that matter. I have not reregistered on the delphi board because of the amount of info they gather for me to be able to get on :evil: I honestly don't believe that anyone is trying to get inside my "demographic " it just looks that way.

[Hodad]

:D Right on Al, It's all about the fun. I think the folks here at HDL have done us a great service! They have never sent spam or any other garbage for that matter. I have not reregistered on the delphi board because of the amount of info they gather for me to be able to get on :evil: I honestly don't believe that anyone is trying to get inside my "demographic " it just looks that way.

Thanks Craneguy. Appreciate the feedback. Glad to have you stop by. Haven't heard anything from Winterlion since Saturday. Gonna have to give him a call. Also waiting to hear how BigBlue's trip went.

TTYL. Just trying to follow those rules.. :lol: For some reason, I keep thinking bout the story of the old bull and the young bull... :lol:

Have a good evening.

Perusing all these forum posts about the new sites I see too many bruised egos, and I think for little reason. In my heart, I don't believe for a moment that Al was trying to take over VTXWA or break up the organization.

What really happened?
Indy decided to hand off the VTXWA site at the same time that Al was asking about a place on the VTXOA for Washington riders to talk non-tech, personal stuff and not tie up the tech forum. Coincidence of timing, not planned by anyone with malice of forethought. Personally, I liked the idea of a WA/OR forum, either way, they were never envisioned as organizations, just forums to chat.

Now we have some folks feeling they are under attack to change their group allegiance, and others who feel under attack for causing a rift. I don't think either is actually the case. I think what we have here is different people with different needs. There were people on both forums/groups who are group and organization minded and people in both groups (like myself) who came to the forums primarily for technical chat and the opportunity to hook up with like minded folks for a ride now and then, or to shoot the breeze, without feeling a need for a formal organization.

I think the new forum on Delphi can work out as an organizational site for those who want that. That is the role the VTXWA site played before, but there was very little activity on the forum and the tech aspect was practically nil. If you want tech info I think all would agree that the VTXOA is now not just a national, but a global community. The new VTXOA WA chapter forum, perhaps the term (chapter) used by VTXOA for their state forums, is responsible for getting some folks paranoia flowing, is a good place to quickly check out for local news and chat while getting one's daily global VTX fix.

Personally I have no time in my life for commercials and zero tolerance for sites which require me to turn on cookies so they can groom the ads I see; I don't want to see any ads in the first place and find the targeting of ads offensive, JMHO. That said, I won't be spending time on Delphi, and it's because of the site, not the people.

To sum up; relax everyone! We live in a wealth of diversity and there are forums and organizations enough for everyone, well, almost :) I think the organization folks will gravitate to the "Official" site on Delphi and the non-organization or tech folks to VTXOA and most will look in on both. I also peruse the Big Bike Riders and the ST1300 sites, as well as others and I've seen some familiar names on those places too. So, disengage the egos, get your fixes where you prefer, and ride those bikes!

[BIGBLUE]

After reading all the threads posted on this subject, I must say that I agree 100 % with BilDal's assessment. Personally, I find the vtxoa forum to be much more to my liking as I like the format and to me it is more user friendly. I remember when Al first threw out the idea of haveing aWashington X'ers forum on vtxoa so we could talk about non tech related stuff that doesn't belong on the tech board. I for one said it was a great idea and I thank Al for his efforts. However, I am also signed up on the Delphi site. I consider all Washington x'ers to be in the same group regardless of which web site they prefer.

[Hodad]

I appreciate both of you and your comments. I like to know what others are thinking and vice versa. The forums are a great way to do this. I guess I don't have to tell you the business side of running systems, they aren't free no matter where you go. Someone somewhere is footing the bill. For this reason, I understand from my POV reasoning behind the ads.

I am glad you are enjoying this forum. It will provide you and others the feel the same as you, the forum to communicate in. But it is open to everyone and anyone. I'd like this to remain. I am also glad that we are all learning something from this change and things are getting better.

There will be group organized rides, and one offs like the one I did yesterday. Quick blurbs, that say hey I'm going. These type of rides are spurs, forget the daytimers or PDA's just if you can, strap on yer lid an go. That's something I like about our hobby. The roads call and you just answer them. Large group rides take time, energy and have to be tailored to everyone's schedule, not bad IMHO, but take alot to get going.

Anyhow, I will do like I've done for all along and that is checking in both places. They are both great places to talk and coordinate.

Take care, have a good day.

:D

[Winter Lion]

Far as I could tell as a casual observer while at least some of this happened, you did what all should do in a large group. you had an idea, you thought about it seriously and then bounced it off people that would not cause trouble with it. I was caught by surprise by the Delphi site and very disapointed in the pkg that was leased. I feel like i.m in a telephone booth on its side, and to see the threads you have to look from the bottom. What's with the little hearts and fem images in all the advertising, i find it unsettling to be launched into Delphi's full page advertising every other click, its not even bike stuff. The worst is the spybots that are being fed to members computers by our club page itself. I would expect Delphi to try to spy on me, but not the club itself being involved. If I am wrong about the admins knowing, then they are innocent of anything except being too green to run that site. I will probably never go back to that site again. Couldn't even find someone to show me how to run the navigation and brief me on my share of the cost.
Maybe it will get better as they get more time to organize it, but they could have the best setup ever and I would still consider the spybots as unacceptable on a private web page that is not profit based and supposedly run by your brothers. I guess I wil continue my search for information on all of this, because I don't want to get left behind, yet, I find vtxoa to be the page i enjoy the most. I guess more than a few people found themselves in the same situation as me. The majority of the nicks looked unfamilar and I could find but a few guys that I knew in the forum. Course they could have been posting right next to me and I would have missed em in all the ads. Sure is great, reduced to writing this crap to myself and nobody answering email. Pm isn't even an option at the Delphi site. If I don't run across you soon, I will call later in the week. no idea if you will even be backs to check your open threads, see ya soon, I hope!

After writing this and venting the conflict I have been absorbing lately, I settled down and reread the posts in this thread. I am a lot less confused about the whole thing now, as a lot of what I saw over there is being witnessed and rejected by the people who are why i wanted to be here anyways. I for one will do as well advised above and continue to enjoy what I have here, it was set up by people that realized that its about riding and the bikes, not about command structure and ego massage.
Check you guys tomorrow, don't lock the back door when you leave as I lost my key. hehe!