Sport, Trick and Freestyle Kite Flying Forum

Moderators: Craig, Andy S

 
User avatar
711jrp
Posts: 845
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 6:32 pm
Location: Next door to a crackhouse

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:06 pm

A very sad outcome.
Pete
Fivers are alive
50% of the dognappers
 
User avatar
RoyReed
Posts: 1849
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:15 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:28 pm

The end of an era. I know Steve had been ill, but there must have been other reasons why he wouldn't let anyone else take over the forum.
Must fly
Roy
REEDDESIGN Web Design
 
User avatar
Ian Newham
FA Supporter
FA Supporter
Posts: 1243
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 3:57 pm
Location: Notts/Derby UK
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Sun Jun 09, 2019 3:24 pm

I think we underestimate just how much shit he took, from kitemakers, from members constantly bickering and infighting, from spammers etc. As to why he wouldnt let somoene else continue? Who knows what lurks in old PMs and stuff...
If I was seriously Ill, I really couldn't be arsed especially if it was costing as much money as some people say.

Hats off to Steve for continuing as long as he did.
 
adicakes
FA Supporter
FA Supporter
Posts: 247
Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:22 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Mon Jun 10, 2019 11:34 am

Here are the final two posts:

someone asked if I would wait to shut her down as they are "archiving the site" so I can hold off until midnight ... I'll wait until I go to bed tonight (exact time may vary depending on the amount of ... erm, uh ... "adult consumables" ingested)
thank you all for your kind words. it means more to me than I could possibly express. many, no ... make that almost all, of my friendships were formed via GWTW.
I was a customer of Dan's back in the day and when he decided in 2000 to "modernize" the GWTW website he asked me if I would help out. of course, I said I would, never suspecting what that would entail.
Dan, Rob Vreeland, and I worked nine months creating the site. my job was creating the content for every product page on the new site. many, many nights until 4 am. shortly before we unleashed the site Rob had the idea to add a forum. yes, it was a last minute idea, one which I voted no on but Dan and Rob were in. I was active on rec.kites at the time it "melted down". it got pretty ugly and I thought it would be a bad business decision to put your name on something that could go down in flames the same way. boy, was I wrong.
late 2001 Dan was ready to leave the kite business and I was looking at another Christmas season at Toys R Us (I ran the store in Chico) so again I gave a quick yes when he asked me if I wanted to buy GWTW and again ... I had no idea as to what I was getting myself into. in December of 2001, Chris and I became the new owners of GWTW.
when the site was released there was no swap meet. perhaps the best (only?) good decision I made was to create a place where kiters could sell/trade their kites.
man did I take crap for this. manufacturers were convinced that we were killing their sales. Mark Reed at Prism called and actually asked me to take it down. I convinced him it was actually a good thing for him and other kite makers by providing him many examples of kites being sold expressly to get enough money to buy the latest release of "the next kite to save the world".
anyway, what a great ride. so many memorable moments. flying with Mattieu Mayet, Tim Benson, Andy Wardley, Ron Graziano, and many others.
introducing many European kites to North America
selling a number of kites from small home builders (Wayne Knott, Dreamweaver Kites for example)
my longtime business relationship (and friendship) with Ken McNeil/Blue Moon Kites.
I need to write a book ... Confessions of a Kite Pusher
well
thank you all


Okay so here we go ... more information than I intended to share.
I was willing to let someone take over the form, however the only person I would have trusted with the personal information that is contained in this site and with the good name of Gone With The Wind declined, understandably, to take on the responsibility.
The financial burden is modest by most people standards. But as I mentioned earlier my means are modest and although everyone seems so willing now to support the forum that has not been the case over the past years and I could no longer take the risk that the cost will affect my personal well-being.
There are also a number of technical issues that make the transfer of this site challenging. for one thing the forum software is outdated and desperately needs to be upgraded to a newer version. this requires information that quite honestly I no longer have, or can't remember, or can't find. Whatever.
6 years ago I had a stroke, many of you know that And most people assume that I made a wonderful recovery. Fact is I didn't. I have a number of challenges not just physical but some mental. Which make dealing with this sort of thing extremely difficult and frustrating.
I apologize.
Seriously I'm sorry, okay?
To repeat myself, for many years Gone With The Wind was who I was ... it was what I was. Closing the last piece of it breaks my heart. I have agonized over it for well over two years.
Again I'm sorry.
Perhaps I am feeding a large ego that I never knew I had before and thank you for pointing that out. Perhaps I'm feeling sorry for myself.
Whatever.
I'm sorry.
This is not what I ever intended to do.
Sometimes life takes us in directions we did not intend nor have any control over.
I'm sorry.
We used to always say the kite fliers are the nicest people. I used to believe that was true. today has certainly reminded me that kite flyers are the nicest people except for all the assholes.
So with that, I say goodbye and will now lock the forum.
It will be read only as I have agreed to leave it available so that it may be archived.
Thanks for the memories.

Oh, and such a lovely send-off
 
User avatar
harveystubbs
Posts: 1207
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 1:01 pm

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:50 pm

I take my hat off to Steve under those circumstances and how very sad =D>
 
User avatar
jaydub
Topic Author
Posts: 1228
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:32 am

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Mon Jun 10, 2019 6:27 pm

I think we all owe him a great deal of thanks for what he has done for kiting. Really sad to see GWTW go, but understand Steve's reasoning. Perhaps it will give FA a new lease of life

Sent from my EML-L09 using Tapatalk
 
Andy S
King of FA
Posts: 8218
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2003 11:53 am
Location: In my house
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:36 am

Sorry to see GWTW finally gone, and it's sad to hear that Steve has been hassled about it, especially taking his ill-health into account.

Perhaps it will give FA a new lease of life

I'm watching the sign-up numbers with interest and there hasn't been a significant increase in numbers since the announcement. We're balancing on a knife-edge of disk-space and bandwidth between cheap enough that I can mostly suck up the costs and the next step where I'd have to look at some kind of ongoing donation model (Patreon or something, I dunno, that has its own drawbacks.)
 
User avatar
Hawkerhunter
FA Supporter
FA Supporter
Posts: 276
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:13 pm

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Tue Jun 11, 2019 11:37 am

Steve says he has locked it as "Read Only" but I cant find it anywhere. The web address just takes me to some beer

Andy. If you ever need a contribution to the running costs please shout up. I would be happy as Im sure many others would be, to make a contribution towards the costs.
Steve

In the bag
Talon UL, Talon standard(x2), Talon vented, Talon SUL Prism Q Pro, Elixir, Zephyr, E3, E2, Hypnotist, Nexus, 3D, Micron


http://www.facebook.com/northernmonkeyskitegroup.nmkg
 
Andy S
King of FA
Posts: 8218
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2003 11:53 am
Location: In my house
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:24 pm

Hawkerhunter wrote:
Steve says he has locked it as "Read Only" but I cant find it anywhere. The web address just takes me to some beer

Looks like he's redirected the URL. It's possible / hopeful that whoever was archiving it still has access via another address.
Andy. If you ever need a contribution to the running costs please shout up. I would be happy as Im sure many others would be, to make a contribution towards the costs.

Thanks! No need at the moment. Let's wait and see how things go. I suspect we're a bit too niche for many of the GWTW regulars.
 
DD
Posts: 101
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:13 am

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:37 pm

there is a facebook and slack.
 
User avatar
fworley
FA Supporter
FA Supporter
Posts: 2236
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:18 am
Location: Under A Bridge
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:22 pm

There is something happening .... go to http://gwtwforum.com today and you get warped to kitegnome.

Image

The Icarex type background for that image might be familiar ... to ppl who've been around a few years.

-Frazer
 
User avatar
Ian Newham
FA Supporter
FA Supporter
Posts: 1243
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 3:57 pm
Location: Notts/Derby UK
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:32 pm

Cool. Anything new from Ken is always interesting...
 
User avatar
fworley
FA Supporter
FA Supporter
Posts: 2236
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:18 am
Location: Under A Bridge
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Sat Jul 06, 2019 11:39 pm

There is an update .... quick before the Gnome changes his mind ...

-Frazer
 
User avatar
Ian Newham
FA Supporter
FA Supporter
Posts: 1243
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 3:57 pm
Location: Notts/Derby UK
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Mon Jul 08, 2019 5:49 pm

That didn't last long
'the kite gnome project is on indefinite hiatus...'
 
User avatar
Ian Newham
FA Supporter
FA Supporter
Posts: 1243
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 3:57 pm
Location: Notts/Derby UK
Contact:

Re: GWTW Forum Closing Down

Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:48 pm

...and back again