Altec User's Board To Remain Here

Dear Altec Family,

After much deliberation, I have decided to keep our Altec User's Board here. Though it is technically mine, in reality, it's really OURS. I chose the name - Altec USER'S Board - with the apostrophe not because I am bad at grammar but to indicate possession: this is OUR board. OUR group. OUR place to fellowship with, share information with, learn from, and enjoy the company of fellow ALTEC enthusiasts. We don't get political, argumentative, or fight (well, we do bicker once in a while, but we get over it pretty quickly). We ALL like ALTEC and we all want to share and learn, not only for our benefit, but for newcomers to the ALTEC world as well. Sometimes, that means repeating answers - often basic answers - to them, but we're OK with that: everyone has to learn sometime, and not everyone grew up around ALTEC or had the bulk of their careers built on ALTEC like some of us did. We welcome all who are interested in the finest audio products - ALTEC - and are willing to share what we have learned with all who are willing to listen with an open mind. We are an autonomous entity, and we like it that way.

Therefore, we're staying. Of course, we will inform and direct people to Bill and GPA as often as possible, like we always have, and we extend towards him and his new marketing venture our encouragement and greatest hopes for success.

Todd W. White, Owner & Webmaster
Altec Lansing's (unofficial) Homepage
Altec User's Board

Here here !:Martini glass: Cheers !

I imagine that the poll result made Todd's decision more difficult. The plus is that we have both forums to contribute to. One for the older Altec products and one focussed on GPA products with both forums allowing overlap.

With regard to the poll, yes and no - not enough people, in my opinion, voted to make it a representative sampling of what the majority of folks who come here think. We have LOTS of lurkers vs posters, so I wanted to consider them, too.

Moving to the GPA site and keeping all of our discussions intact at the same time (AKA direct transfer) doesn't appear possible. The owner of Hostboard told me that the best we can do is download everything as a text file, which, I don't think, can be "reconverted" back into the format they were originally created in.

Even if it were possible, the developer of the GPA forum now flatly refuses to assist with the process, which is unfortunate, but it is what it is. He has since started up their forum again, as most here know.

That being said, I am of the opinion that the GPA forum will end up being a mostly-GPA discussion forum, which is great for Bill, as it will assist people who are unfamiliar with his products to see them, ask questions, and, hopefully, buy them from him.

I envision our Altec User's Board to remain what it has always been - a forum for people who are interested in, use, or want to someday get ALTEC products for their personal use, particularly the ALTEC loudspeakers.

Do I think that having two Altec-related forums a good idea? Not really. But - At this juncture, since we cannot recreate our Board on the GPA site and the focus there is clearly on Bill's products, I think it best to keep them separate. If we merged them, something would have to take a back seat, and, for Bill's sales figures to grow, the new GPA products really MUST be in the forefront there.

So we stay and do what we can to cooperate and, as always, steer people to Bill and GPA as much as possible.

- Todd

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lansing4412

Well... not exactly. As I explained to Todd last night, it is possible to backup and move the forum, but requires a lot of work. At the moment AUB is held hostage by Hosboard, and if they ever close, AUB goes down with them.

The text file will move the posts, but they would not be associated with your new user profiles elsewhere (GPA or anywhere else).
It's not that I'm unwilling to help, but that I would need the entire backup of Hostboard to separate out AUB. Will they give a me a backup to work on?

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While I never chime in, nor voice my opinion I feel that this comment deserves at least some basic input form me since I am the most familiar with Hostboard and its internal structure.

I am not holding anyone hostage. I am not forcing or asking anyone to stay. In fact quite the opposite as I have openly support what ever Todd decided and have been forth coming of what can or can not be done based on the current platform. I have always replied to inquiries even on holidays and when text's are sent to my cell phone. Both Altec Best and Todd have contacted me regarding the ability to preform a SQL dump of the Altec forum. My answer was simply, it is not that easy. The Altec forum is a subset of the Hostboard platform and not a separate entity. The system can provide a text dump of all the existing posts (this is an existing option in the Hostboard Control Panel to do this). In order to do what is/was asked is not impossible but would require quite a bit of work and I actually came up with a plan on how to accomplish this if put forth. However, although I pay for the servers as well as the development, I am not going to do this sort of request on my dime (my developer does not work for free).

As far as providing a database dump of the entire site. Sorry that will not happen. The privacy of each and every user of this site is important to me. Just as I have been approached in the past to sell our users email list (over 200,000), it just will not happen.

When it comes to Hostboard.... The site has been in existence since 1999. I am the second owner. I have been running online communities since the late 70s well before there was an internet. If and when I grow tired of Hostboard, it will go up for sale, with the sole intention of its continued existence and development.

After a long talk with Bill, I have deleted my latest (long) post at his request. He assured me that, by so doing, the threatened unpleasantness of another party would be eliminated. Bill feels, and I agree, that it would be in the best interest of getting past the problems and help everyone move forward.

That being said, here's how things are going to be:

1. Our Altec User's Board will remain here, and continue to do what we've always done - talk about ALTEC, and point people to Bill and GPA every time we possibly can.

2. The forums on the GPA will focus, primarily, on Bill's new products and, of course, his expert service for vintage ALTEC loudspeakers.

This is the best of both worlds - it helps Bill make new friends and sell speakers to a whole new field of consumers who desire great sounding speakers, lets Altec owners know where to get their speakers repaired, which should bolster his bottom line, which is a good thing for all of us.

AltecBest and I, working with Steven, the Hostboard owner, will continue to explore ways to make the Altec User's Board better. Sometime this Fall, I will be doing a complete website update, which everyone should like.

SO - let's move forward and put this distasteful nonsense behind us.

That was the first time i've ever "liked" a post on a forum. ;)

Look at that, a "thanks" button too.

How cool is that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bowtie427ss

That was the first time i've ever "liked" a post on a forum. ;)

Look at that, a "thanks" button too.

How cool is that?

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Something you should use more often ! :biggrin2:

Todd you know I'm with you any way you decide.. But I have been talking to Steven quite a bit lately on the phone and with the new developer he seems to be fixing things at a good clip... Very Encouraging Steven. Thanks !

If mr p is so concerned about his name being bandied about,, why did he post the link to the speaker company site with his shiny face and name being congratulated for being the new webmaster at GPA?

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Originally Posted by Phil-G

If mr p is so concerned about his name being bandied about,, why did he post the link to the speaker company site with his shiny face and name being congratulated for being the new webmaster at GPA?

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Yes. Lol:cool:

For those who are interested. Scroll down in the FB feed at the bottom

Gary Fischer Speakers – The Re-birth of the Altec Voice of the Theatre

On the Gary Fischer site....Cypress Beauties...not sure I would define a 414 in a sealed box as "LF".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elitopus1

Yes. Lol:cool:

For those who are interested. Scroll down in the FB feed at the bottom

Gary Fischer Speakers – The Re-birth of the Altec Voice of the Theatre

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LOL

Yes yes, I see it. :cool:

He posted that link himself here. He has no legal recourse for posting his name.

wonder if it is the same guy involved with the Halcyon Lodge debacle in Cleveland,
if so -- seems like a good thing you trusted your gut...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by just me now

wonder if it is the same guy involved with the Halcyon Lodge debacle in Cleveland,
if so -- seems like a good thing you trusted your gut...

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Sure looks like him...

The Burning Taper: Masonic lecture open to the public; Bro. Jeff Peace to speak on the history of secret societies

Halcyon Hogwash

Quote:

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Originally Posted by just me now

wonder if it is the same guy involved with the Halcyon Lodge debacle in Cleveland,
if so -- seems like a good thing you trusted your gut...

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Yes. It is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Todd W. White

Yes. It is.

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good lord, we have a big problem. Todd, Bill and GPA could be in big trouble here.

It's being dealt with. He's banned from here (not Bill - the guy with the lawyer), and all of his posts are being deleted.

New posts announcing the new GPA website will be made by me shortly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Todd W. White

It's being dealt with. He's banned from here (not Bil - the guy with the lawyer), and all of his posts are being deleted.

New posts announcing the new GPA website will be made by me shortly.

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but isn't the brightest living masonic scholar hosting Bills new site??

I’ll defer to the wisdom of Dr. Leonard McCoy, which I should have heeded, when he spoke to Admiral James T. Kirk - “Beware of Romulans bearing gifts....”

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Todd W. White

I’ll defer to the wisdom of Dr. Leonard McCoy, which I should have heeded, when he spoke to Admiral James T. Kirk - “Beware of Romulans bearing gifts....”

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:D yes
"but i'm doing this for free" was the Drudge red flashing beacon for me

http://rs140.pbsrc.com/albums/r14/mi...siren.gif~c200

"the grass is always greener"..... but, nobody has a greener site than us !

As you all might imagine, the infamous Grand Master has banned me from the Great Plains Audio forum. Bill has instructed him that, at no time, and in no instance, is there to be ANY negative comments posted by him - or anyone else - about me, my Altec website, the Altec User's Board, or any of the members here. I would presume this would include PM's as well. Since I have no access to that forum, I know Bill would want to be informed of such behavior, should it ever occur. If it does, do NOT post it here - CALL Bill and tell him. He would need to know that his employee is disobeying him.

Thank you.

Meanwhile, back to things that are REALLY important...

Some relevant dialogue beginning 1:50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uKWpWkcpdM

GPA website access.

I get the message: 'There is a server resource over usage report open for this account in the User Area ................... @SiteGround'.

Mmmmm. "Less haste ....................................."