ASPD Fallout

It reminds me of the scene in Titanic where the ship goes vertical and everyone falls off.

Did you ever hear of the boardgame TWIXT (c. 1968 by 3M Company)? It is a strategy game of building a fence to cross a board while blocking your opponent from crossing the board. A single move can change the momentum, requiring you to abandon a current fence line, and start a new fence. It seems complicated and simple (a paradox) but is a hoot to play.
ASPD as a site is dying, and the community is dividing with some rancor. It is easy to kick someone when they are down and powerless to resist. Such are the acts of bullies, IMHO. I am not taking sides, but I am reflecting on the death of ASPD, a site which we respect and wish to maintain in form if not in name. Death is almost always ugly, even grotesque. Let the dying die.
Let this site and community be a positive place from the get-go.

All that being said, the aspd owners' family evidently had various unspoken issues (I do not need to know) which apparently prevented their continuing the old site. Hence the demise of the old ASPD site. That family is starting the new site with a new vision.
I wish them well. I will check in from time to time.
I for one am not taking sides, but wishing well to both sides.

This site has borrowed a lot from aspd in format.
I am not an atty, but even a civilian can see an obvious infringement of copyright in the design, format, and especially in using certain names (ASPD, and the recently deceased founder) in one of the forums. I do not advocate conflict. But the founders of this site should not be surprised if the aspd owners' family protects its interest the same way Disney protested the 'borrowing' or other unauthorized use of Mickey's image (and others). Just something to consider. A way to avoid that might be to approach them with an offer of acknowledgment or other compensation by which to acquire their formal permission or acquiesence to this site's design and format. Do NOT make a take it or leave it offer. Negotiate in good faith. Seek a win-win.
Please accept this as a word to the wise.
I am not taking sides.
Let the good times roll.
HNY!
Randy

Bella - I think you hijacked my thread, but for the better...

The ol'HDH really was a diverse group...this coming from someone that knows some ''dem Originally Posted by atlcomedy

My apologies, alt - it wasn't intentional.

B.

I'm not sure all of us who are critical of ASPD are doing so with malice, being bullies, to use your words. For myself, I've felt belittled and condescended to over there by some members of the management. Others have made me believe that they have no respect for us, that they are entitled to take and take and take without any obligation to give.

It's not so much kicking while they are down as it's pushing back someone who's already shoved you and spat in your face.

Did you ever hear of the boardgame TWIXT (c. 1968 by 3M Company)? It is a strategy game of building a fence to cross a board while blocking your opponent from crossing the board. A single move can change the momentum, requiring you to abandon a current fence line, and start a new fence. It seems complicated and simple (a paradox) but is a hoot to play.
ASPD as a site is dying, and the community is dividing with some rancor. It is easy to kick someone when they are down and powerless to resist. Such are the acts of bullies, IMHO. I am not taking sides, but I am reflecting on the death of ASPD, a site which we respect and wish to maintain in form if not in name. Death is almost always ugly, even grotesque. Let the dying die.
Let this site and community be a positive place from the get-go.

All that being said, the aspd owners' family evidently had various unspoken issues (I do not need to know) which apparently prevented their continuing the old site. Hence the demise of the old ASPD site. That family is starting the new site with a new vision.
I wish them well. I will check in from time to time.
I for one am not taking sides, but wishing well to both sides.

This site has borrowed a lot from aspd in format.
I am not an atty, but even a civilian can see an obvious infringement of copyright in the design, format, and especially in using certain names (ASPD, and the recently deceased founder) in one of the forums. I do not advocate conflict. But the founders of this site should not be surprised if the aspd owners' family protects its interest the same way Disney protested the 'borrowing' or other unauthorized use of Mickey's image (and others). Just something to consider. A way to avoid that might be to approach them with an offer of acknowledgment or other compensation by which to acquire their formal permission or acquiesence to this site's design and format. Do NOT make a take it or leave it offer. Negotiate in good faith. Seek a win-win.
Please accept this as a word to the wise.
I am not taking sides.
Let the good times roll.
HNY!
Randy Originally Posted by randyrogue

seriously? who does that?

As far as the threads about ASPD that have posts from there the moderator - one of the owners here - specifically states that he got permission from Deuce to do so.

As far as the look and feel of the site go this board is using vBulletin software (but a more updated version) than ASPD did. Take a look at indys.com, bestgfe, com, other discussion boards on many subjects, and many use this software as well. ASPD does not own the bulletin software, anyone who pays for it can use it.

I had also offered servers, space and bandwidth to help out and got no response. The way they reacted was very suspicious. I hope not, but I think anyone who donates can pretty much kiss their donation goodbye since they don't really seem to have a clue as to what they're doing.

That is disturbing. If I were in business and wanted to create a new website catered to a growing community, I would have taken you up on your offer for servers, bandwidth and everything you could have offered me. What a generous offer! Sounds like they only want $$$. Something is fishy...

I had also offered servers, space and bandwidth to help out and got no response. The way they reacted was very suspicious. I hope not, but I think anyone who donates can pretty much kiss their donation goodbye since they don't really seem to have a clue as to what they're doing. Originally Posted by textodd11

Asking for member donations is unrealistic and naive. They have an opportunity to remodel as a successful business able to support itself and there's no shortage of people willing to see that happen.

They've had great offers, some even willing to take on the burden of start up until it turned a profit. However, any business person with the tools and skills already available at their fingertips isn't going to do that without receiving some form of business agreement. They can provide invaluable support and knowledge gained over years and much experience, and that's an investment into the business.

The request to donate to join an executive board sparked my interest, because I think a co-op board would be an interesting business venture. However, it increasingly sounds like you really get nothing in return for your financial investment into it's future.

It is money is better spent on advertising and friends you've met in person.

I don't think they're malicious or lack respect for members. I think they're amateur in the world of business and I think they're sentimental and unable to properly refocus on a serious approach to running a financially successful forum. They're accidentally contributing to the demise, by doing their damnedest to contain things.

I think the new forum will have some success, but I think it will be a shadow of what it was, and nothing compared to what it could be.

I think they're amateur in the world of business and I think they're sentimental and unable to properly refocus on a serious approach to running a financially successful forum. Originally Posted by Lauren Summerhill

And if you substitute a generic "business" for "forum," that's true of a lot of people. That's perhaps a primary reason that successful entrepreneurs are relatively rare and most small businesses fail. It's easy to conceptualize a business idea, but much harder to evaluate it objectively and execute it well.

In all fairness they seem to want to continue what their sister and friend had in mind when the board first started; throw into the mix grief and clearly a complicated legal situation and it becomes a major challenge to think through all the implications that actions may have. It becomes more difficult if there is a vision in mind that is so focused that it is unchangeable. Who knows eraps could do well if they manage to get it up soon, stranger things have happened.

I just joined this site. It seems to have a similar look and feel. Been on ASPD for a couple of years and it was a great source for fun and frivolity as they say. Some fun and interesting people too. Many good contacts (in the biblical sense) came from there and I hope this site will fulfill my continued commitment to the hobby. The donation request sparked as fishy to me as well. Lots of bitterness coming from some over there. I wish them well and hope I see a few of my hobbying buddies here.

I would rather celebrate how wonderful this site is than mourn the demise of ASPD as we knew it.

Did you ever hear of the boardgame TWIXT (c. 1968 by 3M Company)? It is a strategy game of building a fence to cross a board while blocking your opponent from crossing the board. A single move can change the momentum, requiring you to abandon a current fence line, and start a new fence. It seems complicated and simple (a paradox) but is a hoot to play.
ASPD as a site is dying, and the community is dividing with some rancor. It is easy to kick someone when they are down and powerless to resist. Such are the acts of bullies, IMHO. I am not taking sides, but I am reflecting on the death of ASPD, a site which we respect and wish to maintain in form if not in name. Death is almost always ugly, even grotesque. Let the dying die.
Let this site and community be a positive place from the get-go.

All that being said, the aspd owners' family evidently had various unspoken issues (I do not need to know) which apparently prevented their continuing the old site. Hence the demise of the old ASPD site. That family is starting the new site with a new vision.
I wish them well. I will check in from time to time.
I for one am not taking sides, but wishing well to both sides.

This site has borrowed a lot from aspd in format.
I am not an atty, but even a civilian can see an obvious infringement of copyright in the design, format, and especially in using certain names (ASPD, and the recently deceased founder) in one of the forums. I do not advocate conflict. But the founders of this site should not be surprised if the aspd owners' family protects its interest the same way Disney protested the 'borrowing' or other unauthorized use of Mickey's image (and others). Just something to consider. A way to avoid that might be to approach them with an offer of acknowledgment or other compensation by which to acquire their formal permission or acquiesence to this site's design and format. Do NOT make a take it or leave it offer. Negotiate in good faith. Seek a win-win.
Please accept this as a word to the wise.
I am not taking sides.
Let the good times roll.
HNY!
Randy Originally Posted by randyrogue

I don't think anyone is trying to kick ASPD while it is down. Most, if not all, of us have at least some warm memories of it & at least for me it is more a feeling of "what went wrong???" I think if anything many of us have been generous in our commentary (or refraining from commentary altogether) out of respect for the circumstances. I think a frank analysis would be much more harsh.

As for legal assessment about design, as DG pointed out this is commercial software that many, many, message boards - everything from sports to religion - use. Maybe you should get out more That is like a kid in a small town that only has a Burger King going to the big city & suggesting all these other burger places ripped off Burger King.

I've always thought the one thing from an IP standpoint that ASPD had that could be protected, monetized (and actually had value) was the name "High Dollar Hottie" itself. However I'm not aware of any efforts to protect that.

The other thing I'll take issue with in your post is generalizing about "the owner's family" & their position on anything -- from what I can tell different members are in very different places.

I just posted on the Houston version of that thread. Basically, I'd be happy to donate if they can answer me in regards to where they came up with the arbitrary 10K number. I'm part owner of a large adult forum that serves a similar industry, and the figures for startup and operations were nowhere near the 10K mark. I'd need some documentation, especially since so many ASPD members are out in the cold in regards to their BCD payments, Sponsor Ad payments, and banner placement payments-- without so much as an apology. Originally Posted by DecemberLove

Based on posts by the owner/operators of ASPD they lack the technical skills to set up and operate the site. If they were planning to pay for all of the development and hire administrator(s) they could run up a lot of dollars quickly