The Forum is Being Sold to Group Builder

[akrvbob]

As is obvious now, we have sold the forum. I know just how much of a shock and surprise that is, and I’m certain that your initial thoughts when it happened are of grief, anger, sadness and even doom. But, before you let your emotions run away with you, please hear me out—there is a reason why it happened and we hope it is not a negative thing, but in the long-run we believe it is a very good thing.

In fact, I have reason to believe that instead of being a disaster, its sale ensures the long-term future and health of the forum.

First, I’ve been doing this a very long time now and I’m getting older (66) and tired. I’ve reached the point in my life where I want to actually slow down and enjoy my golden years! But, it’s very important to me that all the work I have done in the last 16 years to spread the good news of nomadic living not die out with me—I want it to go on for many years to come to bring hope and joy to as many people as it possibly can.

Here’s how selling the Forum fits into that.

When I started cheaprvliving.com in 2005 and the forum in 2011, I did all the work myself and because I have very low technical skills and knew nothing about websites or forums I did a pretty poor job of it, as you are aware, on a regular basis it crashes and we cobble together solutions and have just barely been able to keep it running.

Recently I decided to bring in an editor and webmaster to restart, redesign and modernize the main website, cheaprvliving.com and to do that I must update to the very latest version of PHP. While the website is built on Wordpress, Wordpress itself runs on PHP) because the forum is a subpage of cheaprvliving.com/forums, the forum is also running on PHP and it must be updated as well.

The problem is that both the website and forum are running on very old versions of PHP because every time in the past when we went to update to the latest version, the forum crashed and would not run again until we went back to the old version of PHP.

It’s just some weird, buggy, fault of the old MyBB software that the forum is built on that will not let it work with the latest versions of PHP.

We have reached the point where we are ready to publish the redesigned and rebuilt cheaprvliving.com, but it must be on the latest version of PHP to work properly with the latest versions of Wordpress, the Themes and Plug-ins—they all expect the latest version of PHP.

However, because the forum will not allow me to update to the latest version without crashing, the new website is dead in the water. That forces me to choose between them.

My decision to sacrifice the forum is based on the certainty that the crap software the forum is built on will ultimately breakdown and no longer work, and at the same time will hold back rebuilding the website until then.

That way we would end up without either of them. Obviously, that isn’t acceptable to me. The only option was to build a whole new forum built on good software, but I am looking for a way to do less, not to begin building a whole new forum.

The decision was made, if we couldn’t find a way to allow the forum to coexist with the modernized website, we were going to close the forum. In fact we were searching for an alternative, and couldn’t find one so the plans were in the works to close the forum.

Then, out of the blue, I got a letter from a company offering to buy the forum. We looked into the company and what they had in mind and when we were satisfied they were legit, we met with them and began discussions with them. All of us felt really good about the new company and felt like they really wanted what was best for the forum in the long run.

So we completed the sale and transfer of the forum to them. I’m certain this is the only way to continue the good works the forum is doing for so many people.

And don’t forget, if they weren’t buying it, this would be a “Why I am Closing the Forum Letter” instead!

I know this was a long letter, but I thought it was important that I told you the whole story about how we have arrived here. I want you to know that with all my heart I believe this is the very best thing for the long-term future of the forum, this is the only way it is going to keep going and keep serving people in the future.

It will require some minor sacrifices such as having a few ads—but we will all gain so much more than we will lose that eventually we will all look back and be very glad this sale happened!

 

[Dust-In-the-Wind]

Works for me.

 

[bullfrog]

In the 24/7 chat about anything thread it goes to the top of the last page when I select the latest post but when I scroll down to the last post on the last page it is an older post from November.

 

[Honeys Park]

My ad blocker works fine.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

this is a bit like going to your local pizza shop to find out one of big chains bought it out, which one you wonder. You arrive home hungry to find a letter from Flavio the old owner thanking you for your years of patronage then tells you that he gave your name, address, email and phone number out to the new owners, so they can keep delivering and sending out menus.

 

[Dwellerose]

As is obvious now, we have sold the forum. I know just how much of a shock and surprise that is, and I’m certain that your initial thoughts when it happened are of grief, anger, sadness and even doom. But, before you let your emotions run away with you, please hear me out—there is a reason why it happened and we hope it is not a negative thing, but in the long-run we believe it is a very good thing.

In fact, I have reason to believe that instead of being a disaster, its sale ensures the long-term future and health of the forum.

First, I’ve been doing this a very long time now and I’m getting older (66) and tired. I’ve reached the point in my life where I want to actually slow down and enjoy my golden years! But, it’s very important to me that all the work I have done in the last 16 years to spread the good news of nomadic living not die out with me—I want it to go on for many years to come to bring hope and joy to as many people as it possibly can.

Here’s how selling the Forum fits into that.

When I started cheaprvliving.com in 2005 and the forum in 2011, I did all the work myself and because I have very low technical skills and knew nothing about websites or forums I did a pretty poor job of it, as you are aware, on a regular basis it crashes and we cobble together solutions and have just barely been able to keep it running.

Recently I decided to bring in an editor and webmaster to restart, redesign and modernize the main website, cheaprvliving.com and to do that I must update to the very latest version of PHP. While the website is built on Wordpress, Wordpress itself runs on PHP) because the forum is a subpage of cheaprvliving.com/forums, the forum is also running on PHP and it must be updated as well.

The problem is that both the website and forum are running on very old versions of PHP because every time in the past when we went to update to the latest version, the forum crashed and would not run again until we went back to the old version of PHP.

It’s just some weird, buggy, fault of the old MyBB software that the forum is built on that will not let it work with the latest versions of PHP.

We have reached the point where we are ready to publish the redesigned and rebuilt cheaprvliving.com, but it must be on the latest version of PHP to work properly with the latest versions of Wordpress, the Themes and Plug-ins—they all expect the latest version of PHP.

However, because the forum will not allow me to update to the latest version without crashing, the new website is dead in the water. That forces me to choose between them.

My decision to sacrifice the forum is based on the certainty that the crap software the forum is built on will ultimately breakdown and no longer work, and at the same time will hold back rebuilding the website until then.

That way we would end up without either of them. Obviously, that isn’t acceptable to me. The only option was to build a whole new forum built on good software, but I am looking for a way to do less, not to begin building a whole new forum.

The decision was made, if we couldn’t find a way to allow the forum to coexist with the modernized website, we were going to close the forum. In fact we were searching for an alternative, and couldn’t find one so the plans were in the works to close the forum.

Then, out of the blue, I got a letter from a company offering to buy the forum. We looked into the company and what they had in mind and when we were satisfied they were legit, we met with them and began discussions with them. All of us felt really good about the new company and felt like they really wanted what was best for the forum in the long run.

So we completed the sale and transfer of the forum to them. I’m certain this is the only way to continue the good works the forum is doing for so many people.

And don’t forget, if they weren’t buying it, this would be a “Why I am Closing the Forum Letter” instead!

I know this was a long letter, but I thought it was important that I told you the whole story about how we have arrived here. I want you to know that with all my heart I believe this is the very best thing for the long-term future of the forum, this is the only way it is going to keep going and keep serving people in the future.

It will require some minor sacrifices such as having a few ads—but we will all gain so much more than we will lose that eventually we will all look back and be very glad this sale happened!

Bob, if there wasn't a long letter here, it wouldn't be YOU : )
We appreciate that you are so thorough, both in your writings and in your interviews and forums. You're doing what you were born to do. Thanks for covering the bases thoroughly, in whichever form of communication . . . we appreciate you!
Merry Christmas, Rose

 

[SierraVanCampers]

Understand. My RV website which was in the process of being sold to a large cloud based digital community platform company fell through for similar reasons relating to old open source software (PHP and SMF) it had been running on for years. I was bummed but instead moved the site to a robust platform where it will hopefully live on. Wish you the best and enjoy the slower pace. Cheers,

 

[Lefty]

I've only been a member since March but even in that short a period of time it seemed to me anyway that the forum was stagnating. I think the decision to sell was a good one for the future survivability of the forum. The new XenForo software will invigorate the forum and drive new membership.

May I ask who the forum's benefactor/s are? Just noisy... LOL

 

[Coffee Tim]

Bob… THANK YOU for many years of enjoyment!
MERRY CHRISTMAS to you!!!

 

[Cheapritz]

As is obvious now, we have sold the forum. I know just how much of a shock and surprise that is, and I’m certain that your initial thoughts when it happened are of grief, anger, sadness and even doom. But, before you let your emotions run away with you, please hear me out—there is a reason why it happened and we hope it is not a negative thing, but in the long-run we believe it is a very good thing.

In fact, I have reason to believe that instead of being a disaster, its sale ensures the long-term future and health of the forum.

First, I’ve been doing this a very long time now and I’m getting older (66) and tired. I’ve reached the point in my life where I want to actually slow down and enjoy my golden years! But, it’s very important to me that all the work I have done in the last 16 years to spread the good news of nomadic living not die out with me—I want it to go on for many years to come to bring hope and joy to as many people as it possibly can.

Here’s how selling the Forum fits into that.

When I started cheaprvliving.com in 2005 and the forum in 2011, I did all the work myself and because I have very low technical skills and knew nothing about websites or forums I did a pretty poor job of it, as you are aware, on a regular basis it crashes and we cobble together solutions and have just barely been able to keep it running.

Recently I decided to bring in an editor and webmaster to restart, redesign and modernize the main website, cheaprvliving.com and to do that I must update to the very latest version of PHP. While the website is built on Wordpress, Wordpress itself runs on PHP) because the forum is a subpage of cheaprvliving.com/forums, the forum is also running on PHP and it must be updated as well.

The problem is that both the website and forum are running on very old versions of PHP because every time in the past when we went to update to the latest version, the forum crashed and would not run again until we went back to the old version of PHP.

It’s just some weird, buggy, fault of the old MyBB software that the forum is built on that will not let it work with the latest versions of PHP.

We have reached the point where we are ready to publish the redesigned and rebuilt cheaprvliving.com, but it must be on the latest version of PHP to work properly with the latest versions of Wordpress, the Themes and Plug-ins—they all expect the latest version of PHP.

However, because the forum will not allow me to update to the latest version without crashing, the new website is dead in the water. That forces me to choose between them.

My decision to sacrifice the forum is based on the certainty that the crap software the forum is built on will ultimately breakdown and no longer work, and at the same time will hold back rebuilding the website until then.

That way we would end up without either of them. Obviously, that isn’t acceptable to me. The only option was to build a whole new forum built on good software, but I am looking for a way to do less, not to begin building a whole new forum.

The decision was made, if we couldn’t find a way to allow the forum to coexist with the modernized website, we were going to close the forum. In fact we were searching for an alternative, and couldn’t find one so the plans were in the works to close the forum.

Then, out of the blue, I got a letter from a company offering to buy the forum. We looked into the company and what they had in mind and when we were satisfied they were legit, we met with them and began discussions with them. All of us felt really good about the new company and felt like they really wanted what was best for the forum in the long run.

So we completed the sale and transfer of the forum to them. I’m certain this is the only way to continue the good works the forum is doing for so many people.

And don’t forget, if they weren’t buying it, this would be a “Why I am Closing the Forum Letter” instead!

I know this was a long letter, but I thought it was important that I told you the whole story about how we have arrived here. I want you to know that with all my heart I believe this is the very best thing for the long-term future of the forum, this is the only way it is going to keep going and keep serving people in the future.

It will require some minor sacrifices such as having a few ads—but we will all gain so much more than we will lose that eventually we will all look back and be very glad this sale happened!

This forum has been so very helpful and I shared it with so many friends of the road. I hope it will live on to help many more. Thank you, Bob, and all the people that make it work.

 

[morongobill]

As is obvious now, we have sold the forum. I know just how much of a shock and surprise that is, and I’m certain that your initial thoughts when it happened are of grief, anger, sadness and even doom. But, before you let your emotions run away with you, please hear me out—there is a reason why it happened and we hope it is not a negative thing, but in the long-run we believe it is a very good thing.

In fact, I have reason to believe that instead of being a disaster, its sale ensures the long-term future and health of the forum.

First, I’ve been doing this a very long time now and I’m getting older (66) and tired. I’ve reached the point in my life where I want to actually slow down and enjoy my golden years! But, it’s very important to me that all the work I have done in the last 16 years to spread the good news of nomadic living not die out with me—I want it to go on for many years to come to bring hope and joy to as many people as it possibly can.

Here’s how selling the Forum fits into that.

When I started cheaprvliving.com in 2005 and the forum in 2011, I did all the work myself and because I have very low technical skills and knew nothing about websites or forums I did a pretty poor job of it, as you are aware, on a regular basis it crashes and we cobble together solutions and have just barely been able to keep it running.

Recently I decided to bring in an editor and webmaster to restart, redesign and modernize the main website, cheaprvliving.com and to do that I must update to the very latest version of PHP. While the website is built on Wordpress, Wordpress itself runs on PHP) because the forum is a subpage of cheaprvliving.com/forums, the forum is also running on PHP and it must be updated as well.

The problem is that both the website and forum are running on very old versions of PHP because every time in the past when we went to update to the latest version, the forum crashed and would not run again until we went back to the old version of PHP.

It’s just some weird, buggy, fault of the old MyBB software that the forum is built on that will not let it work with the latest versions of PHP.

We have reached the point where we are ready to publish the redesigned and rebuilt cheaprvliving.com, but it must be on the latest version of PHP to work properly with the latest versions of Wordpress, the Themes and Plug-ins—they all expect the latest version of PHP.

However, because the forum will not allow me to update to the latest version without crashing, the new website is dead in the water. That forces me to choose between them.

My decision to sacrifice the forum is based on the certainty that the crap software the forum is built on will ultimately breakdown and no longer work, and at the same time will hold back rebuilding the website until then.

That way we would end up without either of them. Obviously, that isn’t acceptable to me. The only option was to build a whole new forum built on good software, but I am looking for a way to do less, not to begin building a whole new forum.

The decision was made, if we couldn’t find a way to allow the forum to coexist with the modernized website, we were going to close the forum. In fact we were searching for an alternative, and couldn’t find one so the plans were in the works to close the forum.

Then, out of the blue, I got a letter from a company offering to buy the forum. We looked into the company and what they had in mind and when we were satisfied they were legit, we met with them and began discussions with them. All of us felt really good about the new company and felt like they really wanted what was best for the forum in the long run.

So we completed the sale and transfer of the forum to them. I’m certain this is the only way to continue the good works the forum is doing for so many people.

And don’t forget, if they weren’t buying it, this would be a “Why I am Closing the Forum Letter” instead!

I know this was a long letter, but I thought it was important that I told you the whole story about how we have arrived here. I want you to know that with all my heart I believe this is the very best thing for the long-term future of the forum, this is the only way it is going to keep going and keep serving people in the future.

It will require some minor sacrifices such as having a few ads—but we will all gain so much more than we will lose that eventually we will all look back and be very glad this sale happened!

Bob, thanks for the update and I am looking forward to the new crv website. I hope your writings there will carry over to the new site. And please keep doing your interviews!

 

[DLTooley]

Thanks Bob for starting this Forum. Although I did not join until 2017 and learned most everything solo and frequently the hard way of definitely got my solar chops here.

I’ve also seen how many people have been helped here. I do believe I personally have helped a significant fraction of those.

However I presume that also with the similarly positive Scadden RTR, this move in response to the pressures of successful growth will be a fail.

If you wish to be a community leader you need to find ways of leading in ways that extend beyond a single campfire. The biggest part of that would have been to remain engaged in the forum itself including raising these current issues. Connecting HOWA to the forum would have also been important.

The spirit of what you created will live on, in the many campfires at Scadden and numerous other events as well as in other online groups.

Thank you again for that, but please spare us the BS rationalizations when you are clearly in over your head.

 

[PineyCruisin]

Thanks Bob for starting this Forum. Although I did not join until 2017 and learned most everything solo and frequently the hard way of definitely got my solar chops here.

I’ve also seen how many people have been helped here. I do believe I personally have helped a significant fraction of those.

However I presume that also with the similarly positive Scadden RTR, this move in response to the pressures of successful growth will be a fail.

If you wish to be a community leader you need to find ways of leading in ways that extend beyond a single campfire. The biggest part of that would have been to remain engaged in the forum itself including raising these current issues. Connecting HOWA to the forum would have also been important.

The spirit of what you created will live on, in the many campfires at Scadden and numerous other events as well as in other online groups.

Thank you again for that, but please spare us the BS rationalizations when you are clearly in over your head.

It astonishes me how some feel the need to dictate how other people should do things instead of merely doing it themselves. If you are such a born leader, why haven't you built your own forum and nonprofit to help nomads instead of criticizing and telling Bob what he should have done with his time?

 

[doublegregg]

thanks bob, for doing this all these years. if it weren't for you and your work, i doubt i'd be even where i am now (stuck in stix and brix, but still fighting to get out 'there'). as someone who has trouble with long windedness (i'm on the autistic spectrum, and have communication issues), i'll tell you str8: your post was pretty str8forward, to the point, and clear! don't let no one tell you different. they're full of it.
have a great rest of your life. you've earned it. and then some.
hope to see you on the road............

 

[drysailor]

Bob, your years of hard work on Cheap RV Living have made a discernable difference in the lives of many people, including some who may have run out of other options. Hope you enjoy a little free time now.

 

[Malamute]

Thanks for the heads up. The forum software upgrade should be a big help, it was getting a bit glitchy. The new layout is a big step forward.

I hope all the regulars will stay on board, they are a big part of whats makes this a great place.

I have no issue with the sale, so long as the new owners have the same general goals and vision for the forum.

 

[TooFarGone]

Bob, thanks for all you did over the years to create and develop this forum and your website.

Nothing in this world is forever, and change is exponential in the world of tech. I've learned a lot from this forum but as has been said already, it was obvious it was technically behind the times and tending toward stagnation.

I'm savoring the irony of people here on a forum about being NOMADS - who live on the road with the joys of moving along to new scenes and experiences - whining that this forum is changing. Oh Em Gee.

Wishing everyone, including the grouches, happy holidays and all the best in the new year.

 

[PeterPiper]

The New Dark theme is awesome !
Love it !

 

[Maggie]

As is obvious now, we have sold the forum. I know just how much of a shock and surprise that is, and I’m certain that your initial thoughts when it happened are of grief, anger, sadness and even doom. But, before you let your emotions run away with you, please hear me out—there is a reason why it happened and we hope it is not a negative thing, but in the long-run we believe it is a very good thing.

In fact, I have reason to believe that instead of being a disaster, its sale ensures the long-term future and health of the forum.

First, I’ve been doing this a very long time now and I’m getting older (66) and tired. I’ve reached the point in my life where I want to actually slow down and enjoy my golden years! But, it’s very important to me that all the work I have done in the last 16 years to spread the good news of nomadic living not die out with me—I want it to go on for many years to come to bring hope and joy to as many people as it possibly can.

Here’s how selling the Forum fits into that.

When I started cheaprvliving.com in 2005 and the forum in 2011, I did all the work myself and because I have very low technical skills and knew nothing about websites or forums I did a pretty poor job of it, as you are aware, on a regular basis it crashes and we cobble together solutions and have just barely been able to keep it running.

Recently I decided to bring in an editor and webmaster to restart, redesign and modernize the main website, cheaprvliving.com and to do that I must update to the very latest version of PHP. While the website is built on Wordpress, Wordpress itself runs on PHP) because the forum is a subpage of cheaprvliving.com/forums, the forum is also running on PHP and it must be updated as well.

The problem is that both the website and forum are running on very old versions of PHP because every time in the past when we went to update to the latest version, the forum crashed and would not run again until we went back to the old version of PHP.

It’s just some weird, buggy, fault of the old MyBB software that the forum is built on that will not let it work with the latest versions of PHP.

We have reached the point where we are ready to publish the redesigned and rebuilt cheaprvliving.com, but it must be on the latest version of PHP to work properly with the latest versions of Wordpress, the Themes and Plug-ins—they all expect the latest version of PHP.

However, because the forum will not allow me to update to the latest version without crashing, the new website is dead in the water. That forces me to choose between them.

My decision to sacrifice the forum is based on the certainty that the crap software the forum is built on will ultimately breakdown and no longer work, and at the same time will hold back rebuilding the website until then.

That way we would end up without either of them. Obviously, that isn’t acceptable to me. The only option was to build a whole new forum built on good software, but I am looking for a way to do less, not to begin building a whole new forum.

The decision was made, if we couldn’t find a way to allow the forum to coexist with the modernized website, we were going to close the forum. In fact we were searching for an alternative, and couldn’t find one so the plans were in the works to close the forum.

Then, out of the blue, I got a letter from a company offering to buy the forum. We looked into the company and what they had in mind and when we were satisfied they were legit, we met with them and began discussions with them. All of us felt really good about the new company and felt like they really wanted what was best for the forum in the long run.

So we completed the sale and transfer of the forum to them. I’m certain this is the only way to continue the good works the forum is doing for so many people.

And don’t forget, if they weren’t buying it, this would be a “Why I am Closing the Forum Letter” instead!

I know this was a long letter, but I thought it was important that I told you the whole story about how we have arrived here. I want you to know that with all my heart I believe this is the very best thing for the long-term future of the forum, this is the only way it is going to keep going and keep serving people in the future.

It will require some minor sacrifices such as having a few ads—but we will all gain so much more than we will lose that eventually we will all look back and be very glad this sale happened!

Thank you Bob for explaining and thanks to the new forum owners for appearing out of the blue to enable the forum to continue!

 

[gizmotron]

However I presume that also with the similarly positive Scadden RTR, this move in response to the pressures of successful growth will be a fail.

It's already a success, and it will always be a success. What you give away you can never lose or have it stolen or highjacked by people that would be happy to see it fail. In that regard it can never fail. At this point Bob could burn down the statue of liberty and he could still reach people and help them through their desperate hours of decision making. It's the message, not the internet. The branding is off the chart. This is Nomads, not Bobville. The Nomads are going to help others. They just like gathering here. That goes for Bob hanging out all alone at a lake fishing or making his videos. Nomads drive this. It's a huge mistake to try to turn Bob into a demagogue with your obvious gaslighting. Please try some helpful introspect with regards to that horrible expectation for achievement that keeps up with the Jones's.