so who still uses the old site?
- Thread starter BuzzQ
- Start date
blazinlow89
Member
- Jan 25, 2012
- 2,088
HARDTRAILZ said:
Your posts are all there, I just left this for them to ponder over.
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I find it funny that we are all a bunch of dicks, yet half these people acted like complete douche bags on the GMT facebook page. Sorry for the vulgar language, ignorant folk irritate me.
Attachments
HARDTRAILZ
Moderator
- Nov 18, 2011
- 49,665
Rawad is doing the community no favor if he isn't making it crystal clear that Trailvoy is Dead and the helpful community is now here.MAY03LT said:Looks like Rawad does more for the FB group then VS does for the actual site!
Rawad if you read this we still cool.
When he banned Kyle, that got me thinking......
....and when I think I usually come up with an Evil Thought (tm).
So I just rolled this grenade in the door. Join up if you care to:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/274576049378183/
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Attachments
And because I hate to waste a good bunch of typing, this was my first post to the group.
There seems to be an increasing level of frustration and venom happening for no good reason on a couple of FB groups. It's been over two years since hundreds of members departed Trailvoy in protest over the treatment we received at the hands of new corporate owners from Toronto: Vertical Scope.
Facebook is NOT the preferred venue to discuss detailed troubleshooting and system issues, at least for the people most qualified to be offering advice. My member name is "The Roadie" and I walked away from the #1 post count on Trailvoy in Dec 2011 along with 100% of the volunteer staff and moderators, in order to better serve members who needed assistance.
You just can't easily cut and paste technical advice, run searches, and edit pictures on FB. Some users might think so, but it just isn't true. The tech files we can offer on a regular forum are a comprehensive resource that we could never trust to a free service where we didn't pay for and control the hosting.
Vertical Scope was making it impossible to add features and fix bugs in forum software, added layers and layers of ads to the pages, even embedding them INTO threads and into pictures. They drained contributions from the site and into their corporate coffers, as a for-profit operation is forced to do to pay off the acquisition cost. They've done the same thing to over 400 once-thriving forums, in many cases driving away the communities of members who wrote the content and made the site worthwhile.
So you see it's a philosophical difference. Profit-mongering Canadian corporation depending on the unpaid slavery of volunteers, or an enthusiast-owned non-profit model where you can be CERTAIN we are just doing it tor the benefit of the community and the members.
GMTNation.com is the forum. There is a FB group of the same name originally set up to alert people to the site, and it gets its share of social and technical posts. There seems to be another group just called "Trailvoy" not set up by Vertical Scope, but that discusses platform issues. Again, anything with that name may do the wrong thing and lead owners to the dead forum. That's not doing a service to those owners. Trailvoy.com is a huge research library of archived posts (thousands of which *I* wrote), but the spark is gone. The tumbleweeds own the forums, and a few knowledge-challenged folks spout old fixes from the archives, and add nothing new to the body of knowledge.
But the community is DEAD at the mother ship trailvoy.com forums. Don't let anybody try to fool you that it's thriving. There are none of the old helpful members. Questions go unanswered for months. New member Introductions get zero responses. Vertical Scope takes your contributions and uses them for corporate goals, not benefitting the community. They cannot get ANY qualified volunteer staff. The few wannabes that might offer are clearly not member-friendly because they are either abusive in their archived posts, or they ignore noobs in the Intro threads and why would anybody value that kind of staff? Their membership contribution page even today says you get free stickers for your over $50/year "contribution". They stopped that even BEFORE staff departed in 2011.
At GMTNation.com, the staff is adequate in number, enthusiastic to the non-profit mission of the site, and organize meets and trail rides and work parties and generally care about each other as families do.
If you see the dozens of members at Vertical Scope forums like Trailvoy with "No Longer With Us" as their status, you should know that this is a Vertical Scope lie. We were originally all tagged as "Banned" for our "disloyalty", but too many members asked pointed questions. "The Roadie is BANNED?!?!? Are you FRICKIN' KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!" I got dozens of messages when folks found out I wasn't dead, relieved I had just gone to a new site. But the new site drains eyeballs from Vertical Scope's ads, and they forbid any mention of it on Trailvoy. They even read PMs (Private Messages - you might think they're private, not nooooo.) to root out dissenters and try to suppress the truth.
So this essay (regular readers of my posts know I'm a wordy SOB) is just an attempt to get the truth out there, and make sure Vertical Scope doesn't succeed in its attempt at revisionist history.
See you on the forums at GMTNation.com!
There seems to be an increasing level of frustration and venom happening for no good reason on a couple of FB groups. It's been over two years since hundreds of members departed Trailvoy in protest over the treatment we received at the hands of new corporate owners from Toronto: Vertical Scope.
Facebook is NOT the preferred venue to discuss detailed troubleshooting and system issues, at least for the people most qualified to be offering advice. My member name is "The Roadie" and I walked away from the #1 post count on Trailvoy in Dec 2011 along with 100% of the volunteer staff and moderators, in order to better serve members who needed assistance.
You just can't easily cut and paste technical advice, run searches, and edit pictures on FB. Some users might think so, but it just isn't true. The tech files we can offer on a regular forum are a comprehensive resource that we could never trust to a free service where we didn't pay for and control the hosting.
Vertical Scope was making it impossible to add features and fix bugs in forum software, added layers and layers of ads to the pages, even embedding them INTO threads and into pictures. They drained contributions from the site and into their corporate coffers, as a for-profit operation is forced to do to pay off the acquisition cost. They've done the same thing to over 400 once-thriving forums, in many cases driving away the communities of members who wrote the content and made the site worthwhile.
So you see it's a philosophical difference. Profit-mongering Canadian corporation depending on the unpaid slavery of volunteers, or an enthusiast-owned non-profit model where you can be CERTAIN we are just doing it tor the benefit of the community and the members.
GMTNation.com is the forum. There is a FB group of the same name originally set up to alert people to the site, and it gets its share of social and technical posts. There seems to be another group just called "Trailvoy" not set up by Vertical Scope, but that discusses platform issues. Again, anything with that name may do the wrong thing and lead owners to the dead forum. That's not doing a service to those owners. Trailvoy.com is a huge research library of archived posts (thousands of which *I* wrote), but the spark is gone. The tumbleweeds own the forums, and a few knowledge-challenged folks spout old fixes from the archives, and add nothing new to the body of knowledge.
But the community is DEAD at the mother ship trailvoy.com forums. Don't let anybody try to fool you that it's thriving. There are none of the old helpful members. Questions go unanswered for months. New member Introductions get zero responses. Vertical Scope takes your contributions and uses them for corporate goals, not benefitting the community. They cannot get ANY qualified volunteer staff. The few wannabes that might offer are clearly not member-friendly because they are either abusive in their archived posts, or they ignore noobs in the Intro threads and why would anybody value that kind of staff? Their membership contribution page even today says you get free stickers for your over $50/year "contribution". They stopped that even BEFORE staff departed in 2011.
At GMTNation.com, the staff is adequate in number, enthusiastic to the non-profit mission of the site, and organize meets and trail rides and work parties and generally care about each other as families do.
If you see the dozens of members at Vertical Scope forums like Trailvoy with "No Longer With Us" as their status, you should know that this is a Vertical Scope lie. We were originally all tagged as "Banned" for our "disloyalty", but too many members asked pointed questions. "The Roadie is BANNED?!?!? Are you FRICKIN' KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!" I got dozens of messages when folks found out I wasn't dead, relieved I had just gone to a new site. But the new site drains eyeballs from Vertical Scope's ads, and they forbid any mention of it on Trailvoy. They even read PMs (Private Messages - you might think they're private, not nooooo.) to root out dissenters and try to suppress the truth.
So this essay (regular readers of my posts know I'm a wordy SOB) is just an attempt to get the truth out there, and make sure Vertical Scope doesn't succeed in its attempt at revisionist history.
See you on the forums at GMTNation.com!
Suffering from a Facebook bug approving new members of the Trailvoy is Dead group if you're not already a friend. Working on it with the other admins. Hopefully, everybody can see what's posted, since it's a public group.
blazinlow89
Member
- Jan 25, 2012
- 2,088
blazinlow89
Member
- Jan 25, 2012
- 2,088
Fire06 said:
The one I was thinking of did not have enough evidence to support it. There are a couple of other people that could qualify, however more research is needed.
HARDTRAILZ
Moderator
- Nov 18, 2011
- 49,665
HARDTRAILZ
Moderator
- Nov 18, 2011
- 49,665
The Trailvoy is Dead FB page is thriving. The asshat Trailvoy page couldn't handle the truth, banned a bunch of us, and went private.
It's now being discussed on Trailvoy. Poor deluded ones.
Trailvoy facebook page - Chevy TrailBlazer, TrailBlazer SS and GMC Envoy Forum
It's now being discussed on Trailvoy. Poor deluded ones.
Trailvoy facebook page - Chevy TrailBlazer, TrailBlazer SS and GMC Envoy Forum
I used to be in the Trailvoy group to keep an eye out for those who were out of the loop, and Rawad was cool with referrals. I don't know what has happened as of late, but if referrals aren't cool anymore, and members are being silenced, then I might take a personal interest in seeing that the group gets shut down.
HARDTRAILZ
Moderator
- Nov 18, 2011
- 49,665
He got pissed at me and banned me. Commented directly to me and before i could finish responding he blocked me. I was not even shitty w him. He mentioned wanting to change groups name so it was kind of a surprise.
Just drop a note to legal@verticalscope.com. The risk is that when they take notice, they might get the new group nuked. In which case the next one might have to be TrailvoySucks, which has a lot of case law protecting it. But FB might be a bunch of idiots as well, and would cave and remove the group rather than get on our side in a legal battle.MAY03LT said:
Using Godaddy hosting, if I had such a web site, I KNOW they are on the side of goodness and light. Hmmmmm, yet another Evil Thought (tm)
There's also a "TrailVoy.com" FB page, but I think it's on autopilot. Did somebody now here set that up?
ssmedt
Member
- Dec 8, 2011
- 80
The group is still active just the privacy settings have been changed. Kyle's post is still there and Bill's link to the new FB page is in the comments under Kyle's post. want to know anything else before I get banned from the group lol
Got this email
Rawad Teh Molasses changed the privacy of the group Trailvoy from Open to Closed.
To see the group, follow the link below:ttps://www.facebook.com/n/?groups%2F2227350558%2F&aref=7776722&medium=email&mid=9a3434bGbd35a9aG76a9d2G90&bcode=1.1396262429.Abl7mKx1gvJh_58
Not interested?
Leave the group at any time:
ttps://www.facebook.com/n/?groups%2F2227350558%2Fleave%2F&aref=7776722&medium=email&mid=9a3434bGbd35a9aG76a9d2G90&bcode=1.1396262429.Abl7mKx1gvJh_58L&n
=======================================
This message was sent to yahoo.com at your request.
Facebook, Inc., Attention: Department 415, PO Box 10005, Palo Alto, CA 94303
Got this email
Rawad Teh Molasses changed the privacy of the group Trailvoy from Open to Closed.
To see the group, follow the link below:ttps://www.facebook.com/n/?groups%2F2227350558%2F&aref=7776722&medium=email&mid=9a3434bGbd35a9aG76a9d2G90&bcode=1.1396262429.Abl7mKx1gvJh_58
Not interested?
Leave the group at any time:
ttps://www.facebook.com/n/?groups%2F2227350558%2Fleave%2F&aref=7776722&medium=email&mid=9a3434bGbd35a9aG76a9d2G90&bcode=1.1396262429.Abl7mKx1gvJh_58L&n
=======================================
This message was sent to yahoo.com at your request.
Facebook, Inc., Attention: Department 415, PO Box 10005, Palo Alto, CA 94303
High Voltage
Member
- Nov 18, 2011
- 462
I'm thinking about going to the site and offering free decals!!!!!
Of course i'd send them GMTNation ones!!:sly:
Of course i'd send them GMTNation ones!!:sly:
Blckshdw
Moderator
Since I'm not on FB, I don't know the dirty details about how everything went down over there...But I do remember how a lot of people here got infected with the mob mentality when we first went public, and started to get quite nasty with some of the comments and post on TV during the jailbreak. To the point some of the mods and admins had to tell people to dial it down a bit. So playing devil's advocate for a quick minute, Rawad's post here seems entirely plausible to me. (assuming things happened as he stated) If that's the case, then he was just moderating like he's supposed to. When you take a step back and think about it, while we have purely good intentions, want to help people, and more importantly CAN help people, we do spam the hell out of everywhere we go in the process. Multiple posts in threads, who knows how many PMs, and whatever FB has.
To noobs who are in the dark and never seen it, that's new information and an opportunity to find the information they're looking for. But to a long standing member, obviously they already know, probably don't care, and very likely don't want to be bothered since they like being in their happy little shell. To see the same stuff posted however many times a day has got to be annoying as hell. We're a bunch of smart and motivated people here, maybe we can come up with a better targeting strategy than mass carpet bombing? Just a thought.
Blckshdw said:
Like I said, when I was part of the group he was cool with referrals, and from what I got from his recent post, he still is. I can see his reasoning for closing the group and deleting posts. I can also see the roadies point of view as far what an active facebook group (under the Trailvoy name) implies - that Trailvoy is still active. What to do, what to do.
dmanns67 said:Oh boy. Guess that's what I get for posting more info than my usual check out g m t n a t i o n . c o m (no spaces). Tried to change it up some.
Doubt he read the first sentence though
I noticed that they zapped all your posts. Thanks for trying to get the word out.
HARDTRAILZ
Moderator
- Nov 18, 2011
- 49,665
We've been told we won some dick contest by a guy in Toronto. Didn't know we'd even entered! Is there something in the water in Toronto? Sheesh.
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djthumper
Administrator
Well because both are the same person... 
So There doesn't have to be much in that water apparently.
So There doesn't have to be much in that water apparently.
Trios
Member
- Mar 27, 2014
- 237
This whole thing is a bit surprising to me. I post on another VS forum, dieselplace.com, and the site is perfectly fine. Yeah, the ads get a little crazy sometimes and it's best surfed with Adblock, but the membership is good and the moderators are decent folk. Community appears to be thriving. So, VS doesn't always annihilate everything...but maybe it's just a matter of time.
I was redirected here by some noble soul who replied to my into thread telling me to head here; after another day or two of no response to my intro thread, I did so, and I got real answers rather quickly. This is obviously the place to be. So, thanks to whoever it was that sent me over here. Since things are as bad as they are on the OS, I say good on you all and keep up the spamming/recruiting, at least until gmt is the #1 site on a search for 'trailblazer forum.'
Thanks for setting up this site, and for being awesome.
I was redirected here by some noble soul who replied to my into thread telling me to head here; after another day or two of no response to my intro thread, I did so, and I got real answers rather quickly. This is obviously the place to be. So, thanks to whoever it was that sent me over here. Since things are as bad as they are on the OS, I say good on you all and keep up the spamming/recruiting, at least until gmt is the #1 site on a search for 'trailblazer forum.'
Thanks for setting up this site, and for being awesome.
blazinlow89
Member
- Jan 25, 2012
- 2,088
The_Roadie said:
I do not want to see what that trophy looks like.
Trios said:
IIRC, the original members that moved here or made this site, waited before doing so. They had hopes that it would not turn into what it was. Even early on before I joined GMT, the OS was a desolate wasteland. They had two moderators that had no clue as to what they were doing, and the admin never checked on anything. I think if they put more effort into keeping the site for the membership and not ad space it could work out for the better. At this point I think Trailvoy is a lost cause to VS, they know it will never thrive the way it did again.
Welcome to the Site.
Sparky
Member
- Dec 4, 2011
- 12,927
Trios said:
Welcome!
It might be just a matter of time? Maybe they mishandle some sites more than others? Not sure. I forget how long VS owned Trailvoy before everyone there got fed up and left. I didn't know the back story and everything seemed "OK" until I was invited here and read about what was going on. Having been using Adblock for a while I wasn't aware of the ad issues until I turned it off to see for myself... owwww
The very week five years ago that Vertical Scope Borged Trailvoy, I did some quick research, found out how they treated new forums as ad farms, and started ignoring the community - I started the wheels in motion for what became offroadtb.com. I saw the future and wanted at least the offroaders to have a non-profit lifeboat to flee to. That project is self-sustaining and doing well for the functional offroading mission.
Took a while longer for VS to piss off Jimmy and take away his FTP access and deny him any of the membership requested enhancements he was willing to put in.
So if you want a stagnant forum, that can't even be bothered to keep up with the latest VBulletin release and security measures, stick with VS-owned forums that drain any profits to their coffers.
Here, we're about to roll out a new platform and keep it fresh. Just wait!
Took a while longer for VS to piss off Jimmy and take away his FTP access and deny him any of the membership requested enhancements he was willing to put in.
So if you want a stagnant forum, that can't even be bothered to keep up with the latest VBulletin release and security measures, stick with VS-owned forums that drain any profits to their coffers.
Here, we're about to roll out a new platform and keep it fresh. Just wait!
They have clearly taken the blue pill, and maintain their illusion of ignorance as to what's happened. And they remain in the Matrix.Trios said:
Here, we've taken the red pills, and know the truth.
Dieselplace members might be fat and happy in their bubble, but they're like the happy residents of "Hogan's Heroes". It might be a full-time party inside, but right outside the barracks door, it's wartime, the Nazis are in control, and there is no true freedom. The Youtube video is spot on.
VS also drains all the money that MIGHT have gone to support meets, stickers, a merchandise store, and so on. The things that build communities.
How can one ignore the truth about Rob Laidlaw (he sucks donkey balls) and Vertical Scope once one opens their eyes?
Looking the other way and staying after VS buys a forum, thinking the world hasn't shifted, in this day and age, is WILLFUL ignorance and denial. Those folks might have other admirable attributes, but in my eyes, they're flawed with their denial. Unless they KNOWINGLY BELIEVE in the non-enthusiast, for-profit-at-any-cost mission of VS and their ilk. In that case, they're probably sales scum for their day job, or black hat marketers, and they're not going to be my friends anyway.
To be honest I didn't have a problem with VS owning Trailvoy until after the migration. That's when I saw a video which explained their overall plan and how us enthusiasts are a key role in their for-profit mission. They count on us (contributors and staff) to do the real work (for free) because of our love of our vehicles and our willingness to help fellow owners. They are banking on our passion when they invest in the sites that they buy.
It wasn't until I used a friends adblock-free pc that I saw the most screwed up thing - there were ad overlays in pics that I took with my camera and posted to the site. When I go out and take pics of stuff, it's for the people that need some help and not for monetary gain. It was a horrible feeling to think that someone was profiting off of my voluntary contributions. I changed a few things in my photobucket albums to remove most of the content, but for some of the popular pics, the pics were replaced with a dog taking a dooker. I renamed the pics so the IMG codes stayed the same. Out there, scattered in a field of 9800+ posts, are tech threads which have pics of a dog taking a squat. That's what I think now when I think of VS - they're like a dog making a poop.
It wasn't until I used a friends adblock-free pc that I saw the most screwed up thing - there were ad overlays in pics that I took with my camera and posted to the site. When I go out and take pics of stuff, it's for the people that need some help and not for monetary gain. It was a horrible feeling to think that someone was profiting off of my voluntary contributions. I changed a few things in my photobucket albums to remove most of the content, but for some of the popular pics, the pics were replaced with a dog taking a dooker. I renamed the pics so the IMG codes stayed the same. Out there, scattered in a field of 9800+ posts, are tech threads which have pics of a dog taking a squat. That's what I think now when I think of VS - they're like a dog making a poop.
blazinlow89
Member
- Jan 25, 2012
- 2,088
The random vehicle ads show how much they do not car. Putting ads for Ford, Toyota and Dodge non a Chevy forum should be the first hint that they do not care.
The first ad time I seen the ads was with my old tablet with old cell phone with no ad block. It was a sad sight to see.
The first ad time I seen the ads was with my old tablet with old cell phone with no ad block. It was a sad sight to see.
HARDTRAILZ
Moderator
- Nov 18, 2011
- 49,665
blazinlow89
Member
- Jan 25, 2012
- 2,088
HARDTRAILZ
Moderator
- Nov 18, 2011
- 49,665
Trios
Member
- Mar 27, 2014
- 237
The_Roadie said:
Bill,
I get the feeling that buried underneath this nice post, there is some latent animosity towards VS. Would you be so kind as to take off the kid gloves and tell us how you really feel? All this dancing around your true feelings can't be healthy!