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Someone Has to Speak Up....

djwhy60

djwhy60

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I may get lots of crap for this….but someone has to say it.

This site has been a great place to find information, meet others of the same audio geekdom, and even purchase some great stuff. There are people who are since day one and some who joined yesterday. It has been a site that has earned its place among the best audio sites ever to hit the web.

Not any more. Those who are in charge of the site have made a decision that has turned this place into a a web sh&t show. Many of the long time members are having issues that are turning them away from the site, and no one seems to give a damn. I get it, those of you who have some sort of “magic” keyboard are not having a problem. That doesn’t matter much to those who are.

There has to be a point in time where those who made the decision to “change” how this site operates change course. The lengthy time that AK has been having issues must be some sort of sign that this was not a great choice. There has to be a reason why the decision was made to go down this road, and maybe we will know some day. But as of now, it was a bad choice for many who utilize the site.

I will tell you that a large group of people I know from this site are on the verge of washing their hands of it all. Many of us have contributed, monetarily or intellectually, to this place for a long time. Would rather not see it go the way of many other sites that imploded. I like this place, A LOT. I have made “friends” here that I would have never “met” any other way. It is a shame that it might go away.
 
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I do hope you are not complaining about the 'whole site' issues we have all been experiencing lately. Or the pleas for funds to assist with updates to Site Server software to help combat the above externally originated issues which are being professionally dealt with by the Admins and Mods.

And not forgetting the sterling efforts of Mrs Grumpy. ;)

Be specific please.
 
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djwhy60 said:
I may get lots of crap for this….but someone has to say it.

This site has been a great place to find information, meet others of the same audio geekdom, and even purchase some great stuff. There are people who are since day one and some who joined yesterday. It has been a site that has earned its place among the best audio sites ever to hit the web.

Not any more. Those who are in charge of the site have made a decision that has turned this place into a a web sh&t show. Many of the long time members are having issues that are turning them away from the site, and no one seems to give a damn. I get it, those of you who have some sort of “magic” keyboard are not having a problem. That doesn’t matter much to those who are.

There has to be a point in time where those who made the decision to “change” how this site operates change course. The lengthy time that AK has been having issues must be some sort of sign that this was not a great choice. There has to be a reason why the decision was made to go down this road, and maybe we will know some day. But as of now, it was a bad choice for many who utilize the site.

I will tell you that a large group of people I know from this site are on the verge of washing their hands of it all. Many of us have contributed, monetarily or intellectually, to this place for a long time. Would rather not see it go the way of many other sites that imploded. I like this place, A LOT. I have made “friends” here that I would have never “met” any other way. It is a shame that it might go away.
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I was not going to respond to this but I think it need to.

“Those who are in charge”
Are you talking about the Mods and Admins who give their time freely to monitor the site and make hard decisions that continue to keep AK a place where a lot of people enjoy ? These selfless people are some of nicest and most respectful people I know.
Or
Is it me ? Ms Grumpy. Since grumpy’s stroke I took over control of many sites. I also took on the responsibility of making sure in some way, that the Audio Heritage site did not disappear. That challenge alone should have made me give up. But AK has been a part of my life since Tim, Ernie, Luther and David were just some audio guys who found each other on the internet and Tim started this place called AK to hang out. I also had the pleasure of walking into software programs that were so many upgrades behind that it took month to figure out how to bring it current and then month to straighten everything out after it was. Then along came AI. Not just spam, but AI bots that can figure out how to take a site down no matter how many people I have working on it.
I am fortunate to know, or have hired people who have the knowledge and skills to help me maneuver through this maze. I still rely heavily on past Admins for advice and guidance. But they are also stumped by how aggressive the bots are. I was told this morning by someone who has a huge amount of knowledge about what is happening in the internet/website world, The internet has changed so much since 2000, that using some of the resources that AK is using now can be considered outdated. So here is another thing I need to research. In between the hundreds of emails I receive daily asking for help from members. Whether it is an “I can’t remember my password”, “I forgot which email is associated with my account”, maybe it’s “I was banned and don’t know why”, or “I think I hit donation instead of subscription, can you help me?”. And those are the nice ones. Am I the best person in charge ? Maybe yes, maybe no. But do I care what happens to AK and all the other sites ? 1000% YES ! Am I going to give up or have anyone bring me down…No.
So to answer your question…. Ms Grumpy is in charge and unless you know something I don’t. I’m going to be around for a while.
 
AI has changed everything. And not for the good. Knowledge bases of all kinds are currently being scraped and plagiarized so that when you ask, "What's the input impedance of a nakamichi pa-7" in a search engine the answer appears. No need to visit AK to get that answer ...

The bots do not care the outcome. And nor do the people who seek the answer. I do not envy you Ms Grumpy ...
 
I don’t know to what issues, exactly, the OP is referring. I do know that yesterday I could no longer access AK in any way whatsoever. I got a message: “Forbidden. You do not have access to this resource.” I thought that maybe not only was I banned but being denied ever to visit AK again. I like this community. My heart sank.

I emailed Ms. Grumpy and, one way or another (I don’t know if she or tech or the weather or the hand of God fixed things), I was able to get back onto the site this morning.

AK isn’t perfect. What is? And technology—as usual—is increasingly as much of a threat as a help. But AK—warts and all—remains the best all-round audio site there is—Thanks to Ms. Grumpy.
 
Ms Grumpy said:
I was not going to respond to this but I think it need to.

“Those who are in charge”
Are you talking about the Mods and Admins who give their time freely to monitor the site and make hard decisions that continue to keep AK a place where a lot of people enjoy ? These selfless people are some of nicest and most respectful people I know.
Or
Is it me ? Ms Grumpy. Since grumpy’s stroke I took over control of many sites. I also took on the responsibility of making sure in some way, that the Audio Heritage site did not disappear. That challenge alone should have made me give up. But AK has been a part of my life since Tim, Ernie, Luther and David were just some audio guys who found each other on the internet and Tim started this place called AK to hang out. I also had the pleasure of walking into software programs that were so many upgrades behind that it took month to figure out how to bring it current and then month to straighten everything out after it was. Then along came AI. Not just spam, but AI bots that can figure out how to take a site down no matter how many people I have working on it.
I am fortunate to know, or have hired people who have the knowledge and skills to help me maneuver through this maze. I still rely heavily on past Admins for advice and guidance. But they are also stumped by how aggressive the bots are. I was told this morning by someone who has a huge amount of knowledge about what is happening in the internet/website world, The internet has changed so much since 2000, that using some of the resources that AK is using now can be considered outdated. So here is another thing I need to research. In between the hundreds of emails I receive daily asking for help from members. Whether it is an “I can’t remember my password”, “I forgot which email is associated with my account”, maybe it’s “I was banned and don’t know why”, or “I think I hit donation instead of subscription, can you help me?”. And those are the nice ones. Am I the best person in charge ? Maybe yes, maybe no. But do I care what happens to AK and all the other sites ? 1000% YES ! Am I going to give up or have anyone bring me down…No.
So to answer your question…. Ms Grumpy is in charge and unless you know something I don’t. I’m going to be around for a while.
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Thank you for all that you do to keep AK's lights on. You, the admins, and mods do an amazing job of keeping this place running. The occasional blips are far outweighed by the quality of the site and (most of) its people.

Many thanks.
 
LMAO....I knew the crap was coming. I am very happy for those of you who have a perfect experience with this site.
There are many others who are not. And if being a dick is bringing attention to it, so be it. I am too old for someone call me a name and curl up in a corner.

Lets correct some of the sh%t that is being tossed around.

First and foremost, I never called out ANY Mod for these issues. They did not create these issues, they have to fend off the masses that are having issues. I appreciate what they do to keep the site squared away.

Second, a decision was made, by someone, to change a server, upgrade software, something else, that changed the way AK functioned. This is not a new occurrence. It has been going on for quite some time. My point in that matter is, when do you shift gears and try something else??? I don't care what business you are in, if a move is made and it is detrimental to the operation of your company, you back up and punt. You should not have to jump through three hoops, delete 10 different files and do the hokey-poky just to make a post or sign into this site.

Just because YOUR experience here lately has been perfect, does not mean that there are dozens of others who are having a major issue. You know this is a true, look at all the people complaining...and those are just the ones who CAN post or even sign in. I am just the one who chose to speak up, because I could. You want to turn a blind eye to people who are really great members, that is on you. Again, if stating the obvious makes me a dick, so be it.

To answer someone's question....no I do not have a Masters degree in computer science. I make no claim in knowing how to repair this crap, nor do I know why it is happening. Do you??

If you think I am just some disgruntled postal worker (sorry to those who are)... I enjoy this site very much. I hate what is going on with it to frustrate not only me, but many others.
I have been very happy to support many thing this site has done. I looked forward to donating to the Christmas Drive every year. When the call went out for funds to support a new server I did not hesitate. Hell, I sent donations to a member who was having a rough go of it. I was even mentioned for the last couple of years as a candidate for MOY! Guess that is not in my future.
If my banishment is in the future, let me know ahead of time...that way I can collect my stuff in boxes.
So come to my door with pitchforks and torches....I stand by the points I made.
 
There's two sides of every coin. Trying to understand the perspective of the other side is a good thing.

I've seen a lot of ups and downs with forums and all kinds of changes, and sometimes it's been hard to keep my mouth shut. This site I know little about and I'm staying out of it. Except to say that I have had issues with signing in but worked thru it on my own. I did, early on, PM a Mod I was familiar with (from posts) about the issue(s) and I got no reply - that did leave a bitter taste, and the issues were frustrating.
 
To be fair to the op;

I do totally understand the frustration when a favorite on line hangout is experiencing technical difficulties. But I always try to temper that frustration with the knowledge that the "powers that be" certainly don't want their site to be the source of anything but good times for their members, and that they are working to smooth out the kinks of adopting our new software. See, the thing is, we could be still chugging along with the old software and be exposed to ever continuing threats of crashes and hackings, or we can be proactive in moving forward with newer better software that once the bugs are all ironed out will serve us well going forward.

In closing I'll say, it's supposed that Edison tried over 3000 materials for his electric light bulb filaments before settling on Tungsten, and that's exactly the kind of perseverance that's gonna win the day here. There will be no "Quick & Clean" solution, so buckle up for the ride and hope the detours are as minimal as humanly possible......


"Rutgers’ Edison Papers says no one, not even the inventor himself, kept count of how many times they tried this or that. They quote an 1890 interview in which Edison says they tried 3,000 different theories in working out a functional and affordable light bulb, and many more experiments were conducted after they had a patent and a production factory. Edison was awarded that patent on January 27, 1880."
 
Ms Grumpy said:
I was not going to respond to this but I think it need to.

“Those who are in charge”
Are you talking about the Mods and Admins who give their time freely to monitor the site and make hard decisions that continue to keep AK a place where a lot of people enjoy ? These selfless people are some of nicest and most respectful people I know.
Or
Is it me ? Ms Grumpy. Since grumpy’s stroke I took over control of many sites. I also took on the responsibility of making sure in some way, that the Audio Heritage site did not disappear. That challenge alone should have made me give up. But AK has been a part of my life since Tim, Ernie, Luther and David were just some audio guys who found each other on the internet and Tim started this place called AK to hang out. I also had the pleasure of walking into software programs that were so many upgrades behind that it took month to figure out how to bring it current and then month to straighten everything out after it was. Then along came AI. Not just spam, but AI bots that can figure out how to take a site down no matter how many people I have working on it.
I am fortunate to know, or have hired people who have the knowledge and skills to help me maneuver through this maze. I still rely heavily on past Admins for advice and guidance. But they are also stumped by how aggressive the bots are. I was told this morning by someone who has a huge amount of knowledge about what is happening in the internet/website world, The internet has changed so much since 2000, that using some of the resources that AK is using now can be considered outdated. So here is another thing I need to research. In between the hundreds of emails I receive daily asking for help from members. Whether it is an “I can’t remember my password”, “I forgot which email is associated with my account”, maybe it’s “I was banned and don’t know why”, or “I think I hit donation instead of subscription, can you help me?”. And those are the nice ones. Am I the best person in charge ? Maybe yes, maybe no. But do I care what happens to AK and all the other sites ? 1000% YES ! Am I going to give up or have anyone bring me down…No.
So to answer your question…. Ms Grumpy is in charge and unless you know something I don’t. I’m going to be around for a while.
Click to expand...
Yes, yes, and yes.
 
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