Since some of the questions are similar to those I fielded from the moderation team I'll post a few of those questions and my replies in the hope it will address some of the concerns and uncertainty that an announcement like this brings.

For the foreseeable future I will still be in "control" of NAM from an administrative, development, and policy perspective. With the multitude of sites that Internet Brands has acquired they can not possibly staff to have someone on their team takeover all these tasks. That said there are things that I will be transitioning to them such as billing, collections, contracts, infrastructure, maintenance, etc. I'll also need more assistance with new user approval, post moderation, and reported post handling so I can better focus on development.

They are looking for us (me, the mods, and members) to do this. We know the site the best and what is the best solution for the community. Now we can speak to other sites for their experiences so we can try to best address whatever need we have prior to making a change.

As above we'll continue to drive the way the site is organizing, managed, etc.

The privacy policy we currently have will continue to be in effect. They want to focus on the advertisers. They aren't looking to sell contact information on the members to the site.

 

As I posted earlier I do own a Mini....classic VTEC powered version. I also have a passion for:
- Formula 1
- SCCA Solo 2 (hence my avatar...that's me on the cover BTW)
- WRC (I order every Live Sockets DVD produced covering WRC events)
- european and Japanese cars we don't get here
- Gran Turismo
- drifting
- long road trips
- I also own a 63 convertible VW that I restored from the ground up

Given the above I would hope that qualifies as a passion. Do I get a cookie?

Mark

 

Ill give you 2.. I hope I didn't sound like an ****, if I did I am sorry. I am just not a big fan of "bigger" company's taking over smaller places. For example mom and pop sandwich shops are better than commercial shops. I would just hate to have this backfire and take a 180 and tear apart the NAM community with pop-ups, spam, and dumb stuff. Worst case scenario, make a backup of the NAM forums and I will buy the server and space to have it re hosted to keep the community togather.

yea... I love NAM that much, and Mark I am sure you thought of all of this before you took action, I am just saying...

 

Here have a plate full

Mark

 

I used to frequent the ScionLife site long before their acquisition because I liked the custom development they did on top of phbPP (another forum software package). With the exception of the Google Ad Words the other placements highlighted have been in effect for a long time. In fact every site I've visited has different ad placement types, sizes, etc. As for Google Ad Words we've had those placements for over a year now and there were intentionally placed where they are to reduce the impact to the normal use of the site. Given my continued involvement with the site I'm sure we'll continue to ad new vendors but I will be an advocate for NOT integrating Google Ad Word placements into the middle of the forum displays and using keyword pop-ups in the middle of forum copy.

Mark

 

Thanks...I like cookies

 

I did and its also why I'm continuing on here. There were other sites that did suffer but that was because some of the owners walked away. I have worked too long and lost too much sleep to feel good about watching something grenade...hence my continued involvement.

Mark

 

I can understand that, my site is small but it brings my buddy's (we all love cars) together and talk cars there. As the site admin of my site I to have lost alot of sleep and you have prob ranked more sleepless hours but I am glad to hear that you are staying.. and thank you for your time and dedication

 

Mark, is this likely to affect the services you provide for clubs? Everyone might not know it, but NAM hosts club sites for free as part of Mark's commitment to the community. The AMVIV site and the Sin City MINI Club site are both hosted on NAM's servers and I'm hoping that support will continue.

 

That will certainly continue and its in my plans to offer a better level of service and functionality for the clubs so we can get them more tightly integrated into NAM. The first phase of this was the club directory I recently launched. My plan is still to provide additional services to clubs that will help the club with all the technical stuff needed to run the club...all without burning out the small number of people with technical skills in the club.

So in short...yes the services will continue at no charge to the clubs that are using them

Mark

 

Mark makes a good point. His involvement along with that of the site's moderators and participants are what made NAM what it is. And that's not going to change with the acquisition by Internet Brands.

FWIW, I'm just passing through. I told Mark I'd stop by to provide some context based on my experience with Internet Brands. I'm the administrator at Corvetteforum.com and have been active there since 1999. Corvetteforum was acquired by IB about a year ago.

My experience at Corvetteforum and my observation of some other sites IB has acquired has shown me that IB isn't interested in managing (much less micro-managing) this or any other site they own. Where owners and existing administrators/moderators have remained in place, the sites continue to do what they always have done to grow their communities. If owners walk away, it creates a leadership vacuum that can make keeping a site on track more difficult than it needs to be for the site's moderators.

Mark and the NAM moderators will continue to operate the site as they deem appropriate. They have a track record of success, NAM is a vibrant and active community of MINI enthusiasts and it would be foolish for anybody to step in and mess that up.

I can understand your interest and concern about your community, but give it some time to see how it plays out. The site will continue to evolve and improve because Mark has a lot of plans in the works. From my observations and our conversations, it is clear to me that Mark is an excellent site operator and an astute businessman. Stay tuned.

 

Jim - thanks for posting

Jim is one of the contacts I've made through working with Internet Brands and we've alreday been trading emails and phone calls regarding best moderation, vendor, and site practices. Given the size of corvetteforum he's experienced a lot of the growing pains that we have already gone through or those that we will go through in the near future. When I mentioned that I now have the ability to reach out to other site owners and admins I was referring to this type of communication. While it won't provide a specific how-to (because the dynamics in all communities are different) it will provide the different points of perspective I need to develop meaningful improvements for the NAM community.

Mark

 

Glad to help, Mark. I expect to continue to pick your brain about how you've done some things here at NAM. I know I'll be able to learn a lot from you.

 

Mark,
Many thanks for keeping us up to date with information ...

 

Yeah, like being able to post?

 

That's not what I meant at all. What you have today site feature-wise at no charge you will have going forward. What I was referring to is a new membership program that I'll be talking more about in the next week that will include a number of new site features, a custom grille badge, and an online magazine we are launching.

I had hoped to get everything announced this week but I just learned of a death in my family that will require me to head to Tennessee tomorrow. On Monday I'll be heading to Fontana to try to wrap up some details for this year's MOTD. I don't get across country very often so I'm going to make as much of this trip as I can.

Mark

 

This is the third forum I belong to that has been acquired by Internet Brands in the past 6 months...(Audiworld, Corvetteforum, and now NAM). Maybe it's me?

They seem to be on an acquistion binge lately...

 

How will this effect my ability to bust a certain vendor's chops every now and then?

 

Mark, Sorry to hear about the death in your family. You have my deepest condolences.
As for the site, it will be interesting to see how things progress, and I hope that the community will continue to be just that...a community.

 

It will probably be an issue. I'm not too far away from implementing a one complaint per problem policy. If the user doesn't get an issue resolved directly with a vendor they can post about it on the site. The complaint gets archived in the site, available to all those that find when researching whatever vendor or purchase they are considering, and then they are left to make their own decision. That way members get to speak their mind and then they must move on.

Mark

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm confident that the community will continue to grow and support the needs of all the MINI/Mini owners and enthusiasts.

Mark

 

Well, that just takes all the fun out of it.

My condolences on your loss.

 

Congrats Mark!
I almost contacted you about GM's future

 

I hope the first thing they do is get rid of PaloUber. Daylight robbery !

And if not, I at least hope they can send some lessons on English grammar and punctuation PaloUber's way because they really ""need"" it.

 

Good lord, why the hell did you make me look at a Scion more than I already have to, driving down the road. GO COROLLA!!!

Hope this sale thing goes over well. This site is to popular to ruin.