New Owner of Amiga.org to be on Amiga Roundtable.

[amigadave]

I don't like some of the negative tones in some of these replies, nor the sarcastic, or the mocking that some of the messages might be taken for.  Let's not put down the new owner before he/she/they are even introduced.

I also guessed that it was DiscreetFX long ago (maybe first), but I am not so sure anymore, but if it is, why start assuming negative things about Amiga.org becoming nothing more than a site to promote the Video Toaster products, or put down the positive impact that the NewTek Video Toaster/Flyer had for the Amiga?

Yes, I agree that the VT/Flyer had little to no effect on EU Amiga users, but it probably kept Commodore alive a few months longer with the increased sales of A4000's to the TV industry in the US and Canada, that would not have been there without the NewTek VT/Flyer.

Give the new owner(s) a chance to introduce themselves and explain their reason(s) for purchasing A.org and their plans for future changes (IF ANY), that will effect all of us.  Let's not show the new owner(s) our worst side before we even know who they are, and if it is Bill P. and company, so what, it could be so much worse.  Trust Wayne and his statements that he has turned the reins over to someone who will take good care of this place that we all enjoy and have loved for so many years and hope that it will continue for many more years to come.

[amigadave]

@Piru, (Edit2: I respect your opinions and your right to have such opinions, but do not totally agree with them.)

Reasons deleted as they are off topic.

@Thread,  Has anyone considered that the buyer could be AmigaKit, or Individual Computers, or a partnership of both of them?

Edit: Nah, Jens would not have anything to do with the nuts around this place.  Who ever the buyer is, they must have some reason for spending the money to get it, and probably a plan, or hope to get some of that money back from the members here, or advertising revenue from the site, but that is a hard task, as Wayne himself claimed that there was very little income from ads on Amiga.org.

[amigadave]

@Wayne, I'll bet you are really glad to have sold this looney farm and can walk away from it now, or in the near future (but I hope you won't).

I am just as disappointed that the new owner(s) have decided to wait longer to reveal themselves to us (well maybe almost as disappointed as some), but there are a few here that are trying to blow this way out of proportion.  I would have to agree with the few members that I have not seen post here too often, but have taken the time to come out and call the vocal minority on the carpet for making this bad situation so much worse than it should be.  This vocal minority acts like they have a right to know and probably a right to tell the new owners how to run this site as well.

I am afraid that this vocal minority is going to do far more damage to this site than the new owners might ever do.  I certainly think that all the bitching about the fact that the owner(s) changed their minds and did not reveal themselves has wasted ten times the bandwidth than the fact itself.

I am sorry that some have a dislike or problem with the fact that Bill P. is the new administrator of this site.  I think he may do a fine job here and look forward to the future of Amiga.org and hope that everyone will give the new owner(s) and Bill P., as well as all of the former moderators who are staying a chance to show that Amiga.org is still the best Amiga focused website anywhere on the planet.  If he does a crappy job and screws up my favorite Amiga website I will be one of the first to join the vocal minority in the bitch party, but until that time, I will give him and the owner(s) the benefit of the doubt and let their actions here speak louder than all the bitching that is going on just because we don't know their names and don't like that they changed their mind(s) at the last moment about telling us who they are.

As others have pointed out, it is us, the members of A.org that make 90% of the contributions to what makes this site great, so as long as we, the members are still here, this site should be just as great as it ever has been.

Go ahead and flame me now, but I wish everyone could just calm down.  This does not have to be such a dramatic change for any of us.

[amigadave]

Please stay Jens.  I don't know what kind of personal information, other than perhaps an email address and/or website url that you don't want bombarded with spam  anyone might have placed here at A.org, that anyone should worry about being in the hands of any new owner(s), but I hardly think that it should be a reason for leaving.

@Thread, I truly believe that this whole mess is going to end in a huge anti-climax and everyone will be yelling about why it was such a big deal NOT to reveal the owner(s) identity(ies).

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but isn't it sort of clear who the new owner(s) is/are?  I may be wrong, as I have only my intuition, or common sense to tell me what that obvious answer is and no other evidence or inside information from anyone.

Isn't it likely that the new owner(s) is/are the same company that has recently gotten some criticism, either here or on other Amiga related website forums for advertising practices and then shortly afterward has gotten outright attacked for some unfavorable actions regarding a long running contest?  That same company would likely want to wait until the unfavorable attention has been mostly forgotten, or at least has stopped being written about before revealing themselves to be the new owners of Amiga.org and risk the unfavorable attitude regarding the other actions that are unrelated to this site having a negative impact here, and possibly even causing a few more members to leave here.  

Personally, I wish a few things had been handled better, that the owner either would have declined to announce themselves on ART in the first place, or had not decided to change their minds and gone through with the announcement, as what ever negative effect they might have perceived could have happened from going through with the announcement on schedule would most likely have not been as bad as their decision to retract their decision to go ahead with their revealing their identity(ies), but that is all water under the bridge now and we can only go forward.  Also, if my guess is correct, some other decisions that the company has made could have been handled a little bit better, but nobody is perfect and I have confidence in the company and their enthusiasm for supporting the Amiga community and I think that Wayne has made a good choice in finding a buyer for this site.

Again, I will just state that although I would like to know who the owner(s) are just like most of the rest of the members here, I will continue to put my trust in Wayne and Bill P. and only judge the new owners on what they do here in the future, not on the fact that I don't know their name(s) yet.

[amigadave]

This site isn't a party and having any contact with the site owner is very unlikely unless the site owner wants to participate in the forums themselves, which if they are a very private person, is again very unlikely.

As for the new owner(s) views and opinions regarding how the site is to be run, Wayne has repeatedly stated that nothing is going to change and the new owner(s) have expressed that they have no intention of making changes, so until something does change, there is nothing we have to worry about, or to endlessly discuss.

Your party and host analogy only reaffirms the reasons I gave in my previous post why the new owner might not want to disclose their identity(ies).  If the new owner(s) have had some recent bad press elsewhere, or here in the forums, they would naturally not want to reveal themselves if more members here feel the way you do about the host/party analogy.

Yes, it is odd and uncomfortable that the new owner has not stepped in and introduced themselves to us the way we would have liked, but that is all it is and I think we should not be making more of it, or try to dissect the reason(s), or motives for such decision is a waste of time.  The reason given (being a private person(s) that does not want to be the center of attention) has obviously backfired as the amount of attention and discussion on this topic has become huge.  Maybe that is the real reason for not disclosing the identity(ies) of the new owner?  To generate more interest, even if it is causing negative attention, it is still attention bordering on sensationalism.  I certainly hope that is not the reason though.

[amigadave]

@takemehomegrandma,

My opinion obviously is 180 degrees from yours on this topic.  I also do not agree with your assessment of why Wayne stated that Bill McEwen, Bill Buck, or Doomy are not the new owner(s).

If the new owner has indicated (through Wayne so far, who I trust and I think you also trust) that the site is not going to change, so why is such a big deal being made about what the name of the new owner(s) is/are?  If the new owner has agreed that Wayne is to remain here for an unnamed amount of time to smooth the transition, then we should give that transition and some time beyond a chance.  Yes, no one can guarantee what the new owner is going to do in the future, but you also cannot predict that anything bad will happen even if the new owner turns out to be Bill P., or Tedd Gallion, or a company with many employees and investors called DiscreetFX, or the former Netscape Executive.  

You all can judge the new owner(s) and think the worst will happen if you happen to dislike any of their previous actions, or you can go on participating on this site just as you have always done and enjoy this site until something happens to change it that you do not like.  Then you can decide if you want to stay and continue participating here, or if you want to leave.  Personally, I think choosing to leave here as soon as you find out a name, or names of the new owner(s), just to spite them because you have disagreed with one or two of their previous actions or posts, is childish, but is anyone's choice.  I choose to be optimistic and believe what Wayne has been saying all along, that this site is in good hands and will continue to be the premiere Amiga site on the Internet for the foreseeable future.  This site is more about it's members than the owner, no disrespect to Wayne intended.

Just because the owner(s) have not revealed themselves yet does not change this site, no matter how much you and others try to say otherwise.  It is still all the same members that contribute here.  The site has not been flooded with advertising (which I guess is some people's fear).

@Boudicca,

I think you should continue to trust what Wayne has said repeatedly, until the new owner actually does something besides changing their mind about revealing their identity.  This whole thing has been blown way out of proportion to what is actually important on this site by a few people for no good reasons that actually affect the site, IMHO of course.  I think there are many silent members here, plus Wayne himself, that agree that the "circus" as some have put it, has been created more by the people unhappy about the lack of knowing the owner, than the owner(s) themselves.

I am tired of trying to calm people down in regard to this topic so all of you can be glad that you won't have to read my long posts on this topic anymore.  As far as I am concerned, I am not happy that the owner(s) have not yet revealed themselves, but it has been beat to death already and needs no further discussion by me, as I have made my thoughts on all of this clear already.  I think we all have better things to do than worry about a name, or names, until something actually changes here.

[amigadave]

The best thing about Amiga.org is it's community of members, they are awesome. Great moderation team is already in place too.

Yes, contrary to all evidence in this thread to the opposite. (I know I was through with the topic of this thread, but I see the subject of the worth of this site as a different topic than the question of who the owner(s) are).

I think I should stop even watching this thread, but you know how it is hard to turn away from watching a train wreck.

[amigadave]

The simple fact is there should be NO REASON NOT TO IDENTIFY THE NEW OWNERS.

IF they have nothing to hide that is,  only people who walk in the shadows with their hood up are people who do not want to be recognised or known for good reason.

Sure it's just a website, there are others, is the new owner someone that members here will take offence to?

Why buy the freakin site if you aren't comfortable announcing you purchased it.

It is ALL very suspicious sorry, this is why people don't like the mystery, and until the new owner comes clean I won't be comfortable posting here.

For all I know it could be the russian mafia or the taliban who now own it haha

The simple fact is that the new owner has NO OBLIGATION to reveal their identity if they don't want to and all the ranting that has gone on here has not helped the situation.  

Maybe the owner(s) is/are just someone or some group that wants to support the Amiga community, but does not want to be a public person.  So they get someone else to run the site and their purchase is a kind of anonymous donation to keep this site running and in good hands.

Get over it and be thankful that the site is still running just as it always has been and it is still the best Amiga forum site anywhere.

[amigadave]

Okay, you have forced me to admit that the new owner of A.org is ................ Tiger Woods!

[amigadave]

@Bill P.,  I hope your Father recovers quickly and fully.

[amigadave]

@Thread,

What if the new owner is Dick Van Dyke?  Can you understand why he might want to remain anonymous?  Specially now that so many members have blown this up to such a big deal.  

1. He is a long time user and fan of the Amiga.
2. He is elderly and out of the "Lime Light" and I would guess would not want to be the center of attention and have his name thrown about by the likes of many members here after seeing many of the recent posts on this site.
3. He may have simply changed his mind about revealing his identity after thinking it over for a couple of weeks leading up to the ART broadcast.
4. He is one person that likely has the money to pay the asking price for the site and not have to worry about making any return on such charitable contribution to our community.
5. He would not want to make any changes to the site or have anything to do with the day-to-day operations of the site.

I have no idea if Dick Van Dyke is the new owner, but would not be surprised if my guess is correct.  And if it is correct, how foolish are many of you going to feel for making such a fuss about finding out the owners identity?

Lastly, to Jens, I guess you did not see Wayne's post after Bill P.'s post that said no accounts would be deleted.  I respect what you have done for the Amiga community and have half a dozen or more boxes with Individual Computers labels on them from items I have purchased that you have produced, but I do not appreciate your attempt to have the owner reveal themselves by requesting that your account be deleted and all posts that you have ever written here deleted with it.

That tactic (though thankfully declined by Wayne) seems very similar to blackmail or a veiled threat, though I am sure you will see it quite differently from your point of view.

[amigadave]

Deleted.

I suggest this thread be locked as it is serving no useful purpose any longer.  I think that everyone has had ample time to voice their opinions on this subject.