Final Forum Closure

[Al]

I have been deliberating and looking at various ways of keeping the forum going for some time, but am unable to find a suitable solution as any income is not enough or on going!

The forum cost "Just Caddys" £7-800 per year to keep online, and that's without any personal commitment from myself or Jim. The problem is that only 2% of sales are generated through the forum, and the same cost buys half a page in a very well known VW magazine for a year!

Therefore I am about to start the process of giving the hosting company notice to carry out a backup of the database and then to close the account.

This decision has not been taken lightly as we have been online 14 years this very month! But this decision has been gaining momentum for a while now.

There are several factors involved in the decision on top of the cost's outlined above including:

1. Only a handful of the same people are engaged in posting on the site.

2. We use a massive amount of bandwidth due to casual browsers using the site as a resource

3. Social media has killed forums outright, which you are all guilty of using instead of posting on the forum!

So for those reasons we will join the rest on Facebook, which is a SHIT platform, but its a FREE one!

I will advise the date of closure as as I pay for hosting 3 months in advance, and im not quite sure where we are with that as I need to check

THE END

Al

[Rich_T]

That is a shame, not least because I really will have no friends when that happens but its your money so I get the reason why.

Have you not thought of approaching someone like vertical scope to take it over?

[Rich_T]

What would it take to keep it open?

[mickw]

Holy fuck - that's my whole social life going down the swanee

[13]

Work productivity increase: 400%


This is terrible news. I totally understand your reasons though.

As above - what can we do to support it? Many have suggested donations?

I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and get fb

[tontoe]

NOOOOOOO !!!!!
As above cant we all help???

It will be adios from me
as i refuse to joint the dreaded Facebook

[Rich_T]

It will be adios from me
as i refuse to joint the dreaded Facebook

Same here, Ive managed to stay away from it until now plus frome what Ive seen facebooks layout is shit anyway. Doesnt MLBV run the facebook site, thats reason enough to stay away lol

[tontoe]

Same here, Ive managed to stay away from it until now plus frome what Ive seen facebooks layout is shit anyway. Doesnt MLBV run the facebook site, thats reason enough to stay away lol

Exactly!!!
I would gladly pay a subscription.to help keep the forum going
Lots of Other forums ask for a subscription. Before you can view post etc which may help reduce band width

[Al]

There are not enough regular members to donate or have a subscription to cover the above costs. A few quid bung in every now and again is not enough.

Forums in general are a dying breed now that social media has taken over! I hate FB as much as the next man and is a shit platform for a community due to its layout (or lack of it). But the generation of people now are largely lazy and want one login for their whole life, and cant be arsed to log into forums now.

And without trying to sound funny there are members & past members on here who contribute largely to various Caddy related facebook the pages that have nothing to do with this website so its partly your own doing!

The ones that will suffer from this is only a small number of people, the rest of the "parasitic" visitors are the ones pushing the hosting cost through the roof (These are the FB experts who use this website as a source of knowledge)! I tried making the website members view only but it destroyed or SEO, and they just register to get the info anyway!

I will get a full backup of the DB before its closed so the info will still be there if anything changes in the future

[dirtbikedave]

NOOOOOOOOOOO!

I'll happily pay a donation.
I've just deleted my facheache app because Ive decided that I want a real social life and I need to stop phishing for likes!

IMG_1837.JPG

[Elroy]

Does this mean, I won't have biscuits in my life anymore.

Now that upsets me......

[13]

What about a paid "memyers only " so us sad acts can still chat shit

That would keep band width down and we could all pay £10 year to cover costs

[worthingcaddy]

ah man, that sucks but i'm not surprised. i often feel like I'm talking to myself on here, few years ago every evening there would be tonnes of new threads with countless members interacting. I use FB but don't follow any car pages other than the caddy forum pretty much because i hate the modified car scene. i will be genuinely gutted when this forum shuts

[worthingcaddy]

where am i going to ask questions about everything now? i literally learned everything i know about engines and the caddy because of this site

[slim]

I feared this day would come

It seems a distant past when you came on here after a day at work trying to catch up on 4 pages of posts!
I'm guilty of turning to faceache as the forum got quieter and I needed a strong fix of car related material, but lets be honest it's less sociable you can't find anything more than once but it's where it's at these days!

What's going to happpen with the vw action camp out?

[blenki]

VW action will still happen Slim, it'll just be arranged on the caddy forums Facebook page

I fear it would take more then a tenner each to save the site.
If we said on average theres about 20 forum regulars, who post constantly????

Sad times indeed

[tontoe]

VW action will still happen Slim, it'll just be arranged on the caddy forums Facebook page

I fear it would take more then a tenner each to save the site.
If we said on average theres about 20 forum regulars, who post constantly????

Sad times indeed

Totally agree. what about the ones who dont do face book??
Im going to put my money where my mouth is and offer £100 towards keeping it open for a year. Its 2 quid a week ffs.

Sorry 1.92 to be precise. Its worth that just to see elroys newly built motor blow up !!!!!!!

[My Little Brother's Van]

Doesnt MLBV run the facebook site, thats reason enough to stay away lol

always gotta have a dig haven't ya?? well, by the looks of it, you have three months to get a few more in...

for the record, i always link to this forum when applicable, and apart from my ecu bloke, only ever recommend parts from the caddy shop...

and it isn't 'the facebook site' it is one of many and is only really for the mk2..

[Rich_T]

Totally agree. what about the ones who dont do face book??
Im going to put my money where my mouth is and offer £100 towards keeping it open for a year. Its 2 quid a week ffs.

Sorry 1.92 to be precise. Its worth that just to see elroys newly built motor blow up !!!!!!!

Id match your £100, anyone else?

[tontoe]

Id match your £100, anyone else?

Nice one !!!