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well we knew it was coming... Brian Burrows wrote:Hi guys,
I have some news for you all...
This is probably one of the most difficult posts I've ever had to make...
I have transferred (sold) the ownership of Volkszone to an organisation called Autoguide.com. They are a Canadian company that specialise in running some of the largest car enthusiast web sites and forums around - and they have been doing this for a long time.
Autoguide.com have taken over the hosting and admin. of the site - with the aid of VZi's existing moderation team continuing the day to day running of the site. Nef and I are also still here to help out.
Please DO NOT PANIC - VZi will be the same tomorrow as it is today - all that has effectively changed is that I won't need to be sat at my Mac doing all the 'background' stuff that you guys don't see (often for 15 hours a day) any more - and I won't be worrying about server performance and/or bandwidth costs as Autoguide's super sexy servers should take care of all that. I will be staying on (unpaid) as an Administrator for (at least) one year to help ensure that VZi's content, tone, feel and posting guidelines don't change - there is absolutely no reason why anything should change at all. The site has been theirs for a couple of weeks now and nothing in terms of style, tone or content has changed - apart from losing a few avatars - yeah, sorry about that again! :o
This has been one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make - and I've NOT taken it lightly. Doing the recent JOGLE really brought home to me how much I need to be doing other stuff in my life. I'm 55 this year and as any of the 'older' members on here will tell you - the years slip by more quickly as one gets older - I really don't want to be sat answering (the same old) emails when I'm 60, wondering where the last five years went.
Basically, despite being able to multi-task fairly well, I've still not figured out how to make a day last 36 hours and as such I've had to let some of the things that I need and want to do, fall by the wayside - including my family - which is never good. I hope you'll all appreciate that this hasn't been an easy decision and it has never been my intention to head down this path. I always figured on running VZi for the rest of my days - but circumstances change - 'real life' does need prioritising - to let go of something I have put over 10 years of my life into - and something I'm very proud of - it feels a bit like selling the family pet TBH.
And I AM proud of VZi. I know it has its 'knockers', but I'm very proud to be part of a community that has far surpassed my expectations of all those years ago. I originally saw the forums as a nice way of folk getting to know each other BEFORE attending a VW Show and not having to wander around not knowing or talking to anyone, like us 'old 'uns' had to back in the mid-80s.
VZi has gone on to be much more than that. We've had folk make lasting friendships and even had several 'couples' date, marry and even have kids as a direct result of meeting here. It has informed and helped folk with technical queries, helped others buy or sell cars and/or parts and helped raise thousands of pounds for good causes like Brad's Cancer Foundation. VZi has also pulled together on many occasions to inform others of any 'wrong 'un's in our 'scene. A place where free speech has always been encouraged - and a proprietor not frightened of the odd 'solicitor's letter' - has ensured that folk could rant about and/or inform others of any 'bad service' they have received. I see no reason why this should not continue. Our new owners have assured me that they do not intend to alter VZi's flavour in any way - it is very much in their interest to ensure that you guys are still happy here.
Long may VZi continue.
As I wrote above - I'm not going to disappear overnight. I might even be able to post a bit more now that I don't have to spend so much time tweaking the 'behind the scenes' stuff that's never noticed until I get a 3.30am private message from one of you guys because something stopped working or we have a rogue spammer onboard. Who knows, my shows may even improve if I have more time to work on them?
I want to be the first to wish both the Autoguide.com team and the Mods every success for the future and I hope that you will all join me in those good wishes. I would also like to say thanks to YOU all - for every single post, picture, suggestion, PM, link, complaint, dog with a frisbee and message of thanks ever posted on here. Thanks for making VZi - Europe's biggest and best VW Forum - what it is today and thanks in advance for helping shape how it's going to look in the future.
I'm sure we'll be joined very shortly by Helena. She is a smart Canuck lady and is Autoguide's representative for VZi. I hope you guys welcome her as you would any other new member (and remember to ask for pics.)
I would also hope that any right thinking person would wish me well and acknowledge that 10 years is a decent shift of work for anyone to put in. However, sadly, I fully expect some resentment too... I don't do '2FacedBook' - but I sometimes get told about posts on there. I fully expect to hear about posts such as "See, I TOLD you all this time that he was just a 'breadhead'" or "See? After taking it over in 2001 and running it - Bam! Just like that! 10 years later - he just sells it!"
There's nothing much I can do about that - haters are gonna hate. I just hope the majority see that I need some 'Me (and my family) time'.
Thanks for reading,
Bri
I know a lot of you don't use it (and hate it) but it'll be interesting to see if it changes much under new ownership...
...personally, I thought he'd sell to JustKampers and I certainly wasn't expecting the new owners to come from outside the VW scene. I guess that shows just how much advertising revenue the place generates *shrugs*
