PPBB closing down!

[Norminhouston]

Rob in Houston posted a note at 4:00 pm stating that he was shutting down the board.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Norminhouston

Rob in Houston posted a note at 4:00 pm stating that he was shutting down the board.

Not “closing”, it is closed and not accepting any new posts……….truly a shame, but I can appreciate Rob's position...............

[Norminhouston]

I agree, it is a shame and a real loss.

[Brucelee]

What was this all about. I am sorry to admit I don't know the board.

[9eighty6]

I also didn't know the board as I found it hard to read/follow. Anyone know what happened?

[JFP in PA]

The founder of PPBB, Chuck Hammersmith, passed away a couple of years back, and Rob Granger has kept the board running every since. Rob apparently got tired of some of the bull, but mostly the fact that running the board (server time and bandwidth) was costing him $3,000-3,500 a year and donations were only amounting to a few bucks. Add in the time and effort to keep it going and settle disputes; and I think he finally reached “the end of his tether”……

[986rgt]

I'm soo bummed about this, No warning.

Steve

[mptoledo]

I didn't like PPBB format. it was rather hard and sometimes confusing to use. What I have noticed, is out of the 8 or 9 boxster boards I have saved in my favorites, this is by far the most active. I am lucky to see 2 new post a day on most and some haven't had post in quite a while. No offense to the other boards but I find this the best. Everyone seems helpful and very civil. The boxster spec board is pretty cool, but i find myself spending most of my time on this one.
Kudos to us!!

http://www.ppbb.com/board/main.htm
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/boxster-cayman-16/
http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showforum=75
http://www.boxsterforums.com/forums/index.php
http://www.babblers.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5&pp=20&sort=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=-1
http://www.boxsterspec.com/boxster-garage-f1.html
http://www.planetporsche.net/forums.php
http://www.boxsterspec.com/boxster-garage-f1.html

[RandallNeighbour]

Richard, would you divulge how much this forum costs per year?

I'd love to know that.

[Sboxin]

These are Rob's last words on the closing of Porsche Pete's Boxster Board - PPBB


"Many have been asking, "Why close the board?"

Posted By: Rob in Houston
Date: Thursday, 6 August 2009, at 4:00:27 p.m.

Well, it was just time. Chuck had asked me to take the board several times before his passing. I always told him when he goes, I go, and we agreed that the board would just go. I told the deputies that hit may happen last year, but it didn't. There is no right time or no easy way. The deal I made with Chuck was that when it was time, I would shut it down and not sell out. There has been a way to donate to the board for years which total about $60.00/ year out of about $3-3500 in server and bandwidth costs. Several have angrily suggested that I owed them more of a warning, maybe I do, or maybe it was that ongoing bit of arrogance and since of entitlement is what finally pushed the decision.

I might say that after 5 years and $17500.00 and uncounted hours put into the board (at the expense of my family), I owe very little except to the Deputies, to whom I owe my deepest thanks.

To those that are angered, that the free ride is over, find another board and make some form of monetary contribution to it because I don't think Obama is going to bail out a BBS. "

[Sputter]

It was more of a chatty board than content but still some decent stuff and some really good archived posts.
All 'n all, between here/rennlist/renntech.org it's all covered. Don't get me wrong though, it will be missed.

Jim

[941MXVET]

When we were first getting into Porsches, I sampled all the boards I could find. I never cared much for PPBB, although I think at one time they must have been pretty good. Their style was hard to follow, and their topics had become rather shallow.


Anymore I just visit this place for objective Boxster talk\info, Pelican for the old-timers' 911 knowledge, and Rennlist for their 964 sub-fourm which is rather active for a sub forum.

RIP PPBB :ah:

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

Richard, would you divulge how much this forum costs per year?

I'd love to know that.

Truthfully, I have no idea. Richard Kwei and I split the duties; I do most of the moderation and he handles the tech and revenue side.

As far as I know, we are at breakeven since RK has never asked me for any money since we bought the site.

I do think this is the best forum that I frequent. We have such a high quality of members posting here and I so infrequently have to be a moderator in worse sense of that word.

[ekam]

PPBB layout gives me a headache... about 10 years out of date, until I changed the preference setting.

There's seriuosly way too many Boxster forums out there. If there's only a way to merge them into one big one.

Brucelee should cut down on the anti-obama posts, then this forum should gain more members... (J/K! Please don't ban me! I hate Obama!!!)

[jmatta]

I've always felt this is a very good forum; I was not a fan of PPBB...to "clique-ish" for me.

Members can post questions here and not be ridiculed or challenged to death, though everyone continues to shares their opinion on the topics.

And, we have Jake Raby, Charles Navarro and JFP piping in to keep the "expert" side of issues known.

Thanks all...

[ekam]

Originally Posted by jmatta

And, we have ...

"I have discovered great flaws with my findings, but I cannot disclose them due to litigations upon myself, my company and my proven data."

Where is FTD and LoveBunny?

We get teased by an expert (a man) and no women are in sight. This forum needs help.

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by ekam

PPBB layout gives me a headache... about 10 years out of date, until I changed the preference setting.

There's seriuosly way too many Boxster forums out there. If there's only a way to merge them into one big one.

Brucelee should cut down on the anti-obama posts, then this forum should gain more members... (J/K! Please don't ban me! I hate Obama!!!)

I try, I really do. But then I read the news and I just go off!

That is why I use the lounge. Assume I have had too much wine and ignore me.

[Kirk]

I tried PPBB several times and then I tried it again.... I just hated the posting format that was quite dated and difficult to follow. I wish I had figured out how to change the preferences to get it to display better. I agree too that the content did not seem to be as good as 986forum. This is the only forum that I check every single day and check the "New Posts" every day. I think the high level of traffic here, quality of content, and civility of the citizenship makes 986forum the best for Boxster talk.

Kirk

[rick3000]

I have never been a fan of PPBB, but I have done searches there when I am trying to solve a problem. PPBB does have some useful information if you can find it through the difficult format. It's too bad the info there will be gone, but I have found that between this site, renntech, and google I have never really needed to use PPBB.

Long Live 986Forum!

[Lawdevil]

It appears PPBB will not close down. The folks on that board are discussing ways right now to modernize the software and provide a more dependable funding source. It has been a very active board (I would guess a couple of hundred posts a day - maybe more). Admittedly, because of its format, it requires more than the occasional visit to "get it". It is more socially oriented than technical - although there are certainly technical issues discussed "ad nauseum". It has also spawned a number of annual or more frequent events around the country - such as the Blue Ridge Boxster Summit. For those of us addicted to it, it would be a great loss.

Lawdevil Mike