A Shameless Plug for the Website

[richfaa]

"Did not insinuate you knew the owner? Yet you say it is a privately owned forum and owned by a Montana owner? That would in itself lead me to believe you knew the owner, or basically you just posted hearsay.' The information was told us by a person that does know who the owners are and we have no reason not to believe it.

I sort of think that what that administrator is saying is that if one just can not live with the fact that the owner wishes to remain anonymous then perhaps this forum is not for you. We did not read...donate or get out.

[SlickWillie]

OK, I stirred the pot, so let me try to straighten this out. Ever since shortly after I joined MOC, I felt it was either owned by, or controlled by Keystone. I had my reasons. I simply could not see Keystone selling folks RVs, then asking them to donate to support their forum. After my post a day or two ago, I decided to do some digging, and what I found makes me believe I was wrong about the forum. Our country was founded on the idea of folks coming up with ideas to make money. With an individual owning this forum, I have no reason to question them getting compensation for their ideas or efforts. If they can make enough or more than enough to support the forum, good for them. If they desire to remain anonymous, that is their business. I will respect their wishes. I just wish I had thought of it first!

Now, all that being said, I'm sure I won't be everybody's buddy. I'm kind of like Glenn (RIP) always said he was; I have an opinion, and I don't mind expressing it.

[bncinwv]

I prefer to think that we are all buddies, Will!!! We may have differences and don't always see eye to eye, but at least we can agree to disagree!!! And, opinions are always welcome here, heck some of them provide for some pretty good entertainment!!!
Bingo

[cgaskins]

First let me say before I begin that what I am about to write is meant as constructive and not big blob of criticism. I have only been a member of this forum for about 2 months and I find it extremely useful and the people here absolutely awesome.

Has the admins/owners of the forum considered migrating to a different forum software? I frequent and utilize a lot of forums. (Furthermore, I am software engineer by trade so this is in my area of expertise.) The Snitz forum software used here is not the best that is out there and is definitely not as easy to use as other forum software. Yes,I know it is free but free does not always mean you get the best. Having worked with both various forum software in the past, vBulletin is by far the best there is. (www.vbulletin.com) It offers much easier navigation as well as administration. The other thing is vBulletin is the most widely used forum software. This means that when new members join, chances are they have already encountered and used the software somewhere else which is a huge plus. So just a suggestion on my part.... Take a look at vBulletin and consider it. Obviously, I have no idea of the costs to run this forum and the economics of switching so take my suggestion with a grain of salt.

(No, I don't work for vBulletin...) (Yes, I have just donated by the way.... )

Regards,
Chris

[richfaa]

Holy Moly Will. I though everyone agreed with me.. You mean I can be wrong???? I seem to remember being wrong once in 1973 but I was wrong about that.[:O]

[sreigle]

I agree with Will that I don't care whether the owner chooses to be anonymous. I've been around this forum since November 2002 and several times this point has come up. We still haven't been told who owns it and that's fine with me. We've learned a lot here, have had lots of help when we needed it, and have made some very good friends here. It's well worth an occasional donation to me and I also appreciate that they don't push anyone to donate. The button is there and I can click it or not and nobody says boo about it, either way.

As for Keystone's involvement, that topic has also been discussed here several times over the years. We have had the pleasure of meeting several of the Keystone execs over the years, via the rallies in Goshen. We even got to know the prior head guy over Montana pretty well simply because he's an alum of our school and a rabid fan of their/our basketball team, as are we. I once asked about their involvement in this forum. I was told they did not start it, do not own it, do not post on it. But they do read it and they do look at the suggestions and the problems and they discuss what to do, etc. I also am not the only one here who has been contacted by Keystone about something I said in this forum. For example, I was contacted about my suggestion to move the water pump switch from its original (ours was an early 2003 3295RK model) position in the kitchen where it was inaccessible when slides are retracted (think potty stops on the road). After a couple of emails and phone calls they told me they were moving it to where it would be accessible regardless of slide position. Other members have reported similar contact with Keystone. So I know they read it and suspect they value the input, the ability to take the pulse of the owners to see what needs to be changed, etc.

I even got contacted by the owner (Montana Administrator) once a few years ago to "suggest" I either delete or change my post to be less inflammatory. Well, ok, it was twice. Actually, it may have been an adminstrator and not the owner. Darn CRS.

[pineranch]

I see discussing the "who Shot John" of the MOC forum is as sticky as asking "what's the best tire" or better yet, "how much weight are you towing with that 3/4t".
Everyone should sleep better tonight knowing the our service men and women are out there defending our right to have this discussion.
Mike