8/8A Yahoo Group Changing Owners

Short note to announce that I?ve decided to transfer ownership of the 8/8A Yahoo Group over to Kevin Horton on Feb 15, 2006. I was reminded by two people that, unlike the 3,4,6,7,9,10,11 and vansairforce Yahoo Groups I created years ago, the 8 group was created by Phil Arter. It was then transferred over to Moe Colontonio and then to me for the past few years (I had actually forgotten this!). They are right ? I probably shouldn?t have the say on this one group whether it goes or stays. Good point!

Anywho, the other groups that I created will most certainly be going away ? just like the old 3rd party message board I had before the (at the time more powerful) Yahoo Groups were established. Sparing this one group, however, seems appropriate. I?ll remove all references to my site sometime over the next couple of weeks and hand over the keys on the 15th.

Have a great weekend and best of luck to the new owners,
Dougie

PS: I?ll update my site?s ?vision document? to reflect this over the weekend: http://www.vansairforce.net/VAFsitepastpresentfuture.htm

Thanks Doug.

DeltaRomeo said:

Anywho, the other groups that I created will most certainly be going away

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Or changing addresses. New address for 7 is

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RV7A/

But you will have to rejoin. I'll "mirror" any new threads on the old site starting today.

You're very welcome, Kevin!

Have a great weekend,
Doug

Keep focusing!

No disrespect, but your vision should allow for the other groups to survive.

Hard Knox said:

No disrespect, but your vision should allow for the other groups to survive.

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None taken, but in my defense this isn't the first time I've shut down a communication application on my site. I used a 3rd party message and classified board before the Yahoo Groups came along. Nobody misses those boards now.

As many have said the archive feature of the Yahoo Groups is essentially useless, making them for all practical purposes nothing more than a semi-real-time chat room. I agree.

So, this will be the 3rd iteration of a communication application that I've offered. I predict years from now something better will come along and I'll change again (and there will be complaints). The 8/8A group was unique - it was the only group I didn't create, but was given to me. That is why I'm not deleting it, but passing it on.

I admit I push the technology a little more aggressively than most kitplane enthusiest sites (I *assume* users have high speed access and 1024x768 monitors at the very least). If they don't they probably will shortly. Three years ago I had dial up. Now I have a 7-computer wireless network in my house - and it's nothing special. All plug'n'play off the shelf stuff. Five years from now I'll probably be streaming live video from the cockpit of my plane during flights in real time, and we'll marvel that we ever did without it.

I try my best and *honestly* think it is in the best interests for the Yahoo Groups to go away. I truly believe that. When Van started selling kits there was no world wide web, and as recently as a couple of years ago I was lucky if I got 250 visits in a day. Wednesday alone over 7,000 unique visits occurred and people are now uploading images in the forums by themselves of their RV activites in very near real time - so IMHO I'm providing something the largest portion of people enjoy and benefit from.

The beauty of all this, of course, is that anyone can start another Yahoo Group if they like (some already have). Market forces will determine if it flies (pun ).

Again, no disrespect taken and I appreciate your comments.

Best,

Thanks

Many of us will have to agreee to disagree, but we all appreciate your efforts and service to our community. This reminds me of the debate between tailwheel and nose nugget drivers!

Keep up the good effort and work.

Robby Knox

Hard Knox said:

...snip....This reminds me of the debate between tailwheel and nose nugget drivers!....snip

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GOOD POINT, Robby! Maybe I should move this thread to the 'never ending debates' section . YG vs. Forums.....


Best,

Sorry Doug, but I have to make one more comment on this subject.

I think you prove the point I have tried to make in a sentence in your previous post: "this isn't the first time I've shut down a communication application on my site" (emphasis mine) where you point out that these previous applications were run on your site, not a publically available site like Yahoo. You have every right to do whatever you wish with something you host and support, but I would argue that that is not the case with a site like Yahoo Groups. The whole purpose of Yahoo Groups is to provide an online environment for people with a similar interest to form a pseudo-club in cyberspace. The concept of group membership bears this out. Although it is necessary from a practical perspective that a single individual start a group, once that group is in existance it should belong to the members.

I would argue that it is similar to any kind of club, say an EAA chapter. Chapters are generally founded by a few individuals. At some point the founders may leave the chapter for whatever reason. The chapter does not disband when these people leave, it carries on with its members. New members join and old members leave, but the chapter continues.

You recognized this with the RV-8 list which you didn't start, but carried on after the founder left. The same thing should happen with all the groups.

Darn, I thought I caught you