Poll: Move This Forum To The Great Plains Audio Site Or Not?

**Todd W. White** · July 27th, 2017, 04:32 PM

As many of you know, Bill has hired an aggressive fellow to actively redesign his Great Plains Audio website. The idea is to create a single place where people can go to find parts and service for Altec speakers, new products, literature, technical manuals, etc., as they relate to Altec and Altec products of the past.

This vision includes the establishment of yet another online forum/discussion group for people interested in Altec and Altec products. Included in this plan is to import all of the conversations from this and my previous ALTEC USER'S BOARD into the GPA website and close this one down.

My question to all my Altec family out there is simply this:

Do you want me to move this forum to the GPA website, or would you prefer to keep it here as it is?

I will hold off giving my opinion until I see what everyone else is thinking. Ultimately, the decision is, of course, mine, but I'd sure like to know what you all think, as I respect your opinions.

- Todd

**bowtie427ss** · July 27th, 2017, 04:56 PM

Appreciate you putting this out for a vote.

We're a special community at this place where we have largely remained civil, respectful, and relatively self-moderated for well over a decade.

I know some will embrace the look and feel of a forum that's "just like all the others". My advice to them is simple, be careful what you wish for.

I will hold off giving my opinion until I see what everyone else is thinking. Ultimately, the decision is, of course, mine,

I can/will appreciate and respect either way.

**Old Guy** · July 27th, 2017, 06:11 PM

We've discussed moving before. It always came down to not losing the archives. I've recorded my vote.

**Phil-G** · July 27th, 2017, 08:44 PM

tough call,
The prospect of having in house picture hosting, a stable platform, a detention hall monitor, and the possibility of Bill participating in the discussion is a very enticing carrot.
I've always liked the simplicity of this board. that there isn't a hundred sub forums that are rarely seen.
and like Old Guy points out the archives are a big part of the AUB. most of these contain pictures and test results. Almost all of the pictures here are hosted externally. the saying "this thread is worthless without pics", comes to mind. The prospect of going thru nearly two decades of threads to save these would be daunting at best. but absolutely necessary to maintain the coherency of the information involved.
put me under Undecided

**mah** · July 27th, 2017, 08:48 PM

I like things as they are. In the absence of any published benefit to AUB management and/or members I can't see a reason for change.

I will add the GPA forum to the small number of forums in my 'Bookmarks' and have some involvement there, too. I hope we can avoid a 'them and us' situation that is perceived with the other old Lansing forum.

However, if there is a move I will support it.

**BillWojo** · July 27th, 2017, 09:48 PM

I'm good either way but the archives need to be preserved. With out them I would have never had the opportunity to learn near as much as I have about our wonderful Altec speakers. I spent weeks starting at the beginning and reading post after post, just skipping post about questions that have already been answered. I went through about 10 pages a night. Yea, I was a serious lurker. I forgot most of what I learned but I remember enough to know that there was a post about it, just search. There is just SO much information on this site, I'd hate to see it lost.
Either way, I'll support your decision. It's your website, just preserve it for future generations. Maybe by that time my 511b horns will be in big demand. LOL

BillWojo

**Altec Best** · August 7th, 2017, 12:56 AM

Sorry Todd ! I just saw this thread and had to vote ! So I opened the thread for a moment so I could post.We stay ! I have been talking to Steven quite a bit lately about the board he has a new software engineer onboard who has been fixing quite a few issues here and has been working hard to make Hostboard a fun place.. We complain about this that and the other thing here and this poor guy has been paying for everything out of pocket.. He showed me his Paypal account and he hasn't had a donation in like 6 months ! When I ask Steven to help fix something he usually gets on it right away ! I say we stay with hostboard as well !

**Lansing4412** · July 27th, 2017, 09:54 PM

Hello Fellow Altec Enthusiasts,

I'm sorry if Todd feels that I'm being aggressive. Actually, I'm a little pressed for time because it looks like I'll be starting a major cloud computing project in the near future, and need to complete the GPA project before that begins. After that I'll only have time to maintain the new website and forum.

The new website and forum, along with social networking and e-commerce, are to help GPA as a business. The forums, Facebook integration, etc. are all are part of this.

When I developed the new forums I assumed that all of you would take it over and manage it with your admins and mods. It would also be "free" because GPA is paying for the server. So no more asking for donations to keep the forum. You are free to redesign it how you see fit. I added the categories and forums that I guessed would make it interesting, but that can be easily changed.

Please understand that my objective is to help Bill with GPA by improving sales, repairs, etc. I can't advise Bill to integrate this forum because of some of the "other" forums hosted here. It could be used against GPA.

I'm not voting in the poll because this is your decision, but I thought you should understand everything about the new website, etc.

**Todd W. White** · July 27th, 2017, 10:24 PM

Well, I didn't mean aggressive in a bad sense - maybe proactive would be more appropriate....

At any rate, there are positives and negatives, and I would be the Moderator there, but I am not sure we can move everything - I am going to have to look into that. Plus, I want to know what our Altec family wants to do...

No offense intended...except about the turquois - much prefer ALTEC GREEN.

**LOUDER** · July 27th, 2017, 10:31 PM

Todd, like you said it will ultimately come down to your decision. As we all know life has thrown you a curve ball. I voted don't care. For two or three years I couldn't log in do to computer/phone problems. But i lurked every morning with coffee. Will still be here every morning till you decide you can't or don't want to do it anymore. sincerely LOUDER !