Advice needed please...

[Host47]

In sept i closed down a grpahics community which had 210 members and 10,000 posts, due to the head admin/designer ripping templates (flash sites) from TM and selling them as his own, i banned his ass and it seemed the other staff didn't really care what he'd done and saw nothing wrong, and at the time i didn't have time to look for new staff. The site runs vbulletin.

So I would like advice on what to do now..

Reopen the site as it was left and get new staff.
reopen the site with a new name and new staff.
sell it
Don't bother

 

[LeetPCUser]

I think you should keep the name and everything. If it caught on and had that many members, then I don't think you will have a problem getting more people.

 

[peter phillips]

I think you should reopen the site as it was left and get new staff, although it might get a bit difficult getting back to normal as it was before. If you reopen with a new name and staff it will be even more difficult for you because you will have to start everything all over again.

 

[tony84]

yea re open and new staff, and seeif you can email any of your old members if you have the database still

 

[Host47]

once i restore the database I can mass email the members, - the ones i banned(staff) :P, so thats not a prob, the problem is getting it moving again and finding staff, I would also need a home page along with ideas and content, something to bring peeps in...so if things carry on the way they are with the votes, pm me if your interested in this project and helping out.

The only thing i don't like about the sites name is it ends with a z as in designz, I didn't pick the name btw :P

 

[LeetPCUser]

But you did get people in the past. This means that you were doing something right. For all we know, you could create a new site with a better name and have half the traffic!

 

[Host47]

yes thats true, but it was down to the staff that made the site and got users in, so getting staff I can trust,that don't want anything but to be part of the site in return is going to be hard, oe of the admins would need to be used to configuring vbulletin permissions, cos they never go right for me..but we'll get to that once this poll is over.

Keep the advice coming.

 

[LeetPCUser]

I would be interested in helping out. I love posting in forums. I don't really need to do anything with the site.

 

[Host47]

cheers bryan will keep you in mind...

Any more advice guys?

 

[LeetPCUser]

Thanks!

 

[Host47]

Anyone else have any views, or want to join the team.....

 

[Host47]

sorry to bump this, anyone have any ideas on how to boost this forum, i know bugger all on graphics and i feel thats the reason for the site no getting new or regular visitors, I was going to sell it but if i can't if I can offer hosting to someone to help get it up and running.

It was very popular before i took over...lol

 

[weblord]

Reopen the site as it wa sleft and get new staff.
that's my choice people come and go but still remains your domain consider it as a learning curve and next time get better staff.

 

[Host47]

the site has reopened, getting new staff is another story..lol, although we've had 25 more people sign up in jan, there seems to be no activity, the staff wasn't my choice as i didnt originally run the site, i was just admin for the techinical side of things, so when the guy got banned for ripping and the owner spat his dummy and deleted everything, i took over and restored everything. I think the downtime is the cause of it....

 

[handeyman]

yeah u should make me staff, i need something to do with my spare time, please!

 

[Host47]

what experience do you have in graphics and forums....how old are you?

 

[~LiNkagE~]

Since your designs were RIP'ed, once you re-open your site make sure you put some message like.., eg. "Due to copyright conflicts our website was temporarily down. We have dealt with the violators. All services should be fully functional" and try to get the old staff back since they knew about the Ripp'ing ( btw did they think it was Ok?, or did they not care? If they did not care get new staff)

Neminox,
Minn Soe

EDIT: I will be known as something else soon, since this Linkage username is old and a new site name has taken over.

 

[Host47]

Did all that m8, the staff where all m8's of he ripper, so they felt hard done by and blamed me for the site going down hill, they still email me and give me grief about it.

Getting staff that can design and help people etc is another story, the site was put back up in dec, we've had 26 new members since but very little activity, it's making me think it's not owrth and I should just close it for good and sell whats left of the IPB license.

 

[Neminox]

Is your designs protected?, [Im not sure if the Congress in the US Copyright effects us], If the ripp'ing caused the downhill of the of the site, and the ripper claimed it was his own, you should take legal action against them. [ Btw im linkage ]

 

[Host47]

This guy claimed he could do flash sites, one of the members messaged me and asked who made his main site, so i asked the guy, he said it was he using photoshop, bryce3d and flash, the member then showed me a TM link to his original design, so I decided to search for his current one, I went through all the flash sites on TM only to find his newest creation, I immediatly banned his ass, people wanted to know so I told them, I never thought at the time to report him to TM, I just closed his hosting account with me, the other staff said who cares if he rips..so of course they went to.

Not sure how many customers he had and is selling TM sites to...but I just want the site to continue, it was great before people loved coming, when it was taken down, I had emails asking why, when will it be back etc, so I upgraded to IPB from phpbb and set it back up...with a cpl of staff, but no activity, well very little.