MTB Talk - A Mountain Biking Forum

[Adam Tinsley]

I've got my new forum set up at: https://mtbtalk.com/

I am absolutely terrible at design. I got the theme at https://pixelexit.com/ and I like it. I think I still need to do some more customization though to make it look a little more outdoorsy. I will probably hire a designer to make a decent logo in the near future. I made that one myself.

I've just got a few nodes starting out. It's just me on there now, but I'm trying to do some social media to get the word out.

Any thoughts? I would very much like to hear any feedback or suggestions. Go easy! lol

 

[Russ]

It's good your starting off small in regards to the nodes, always the smart thing to do!

I've been recently browsing around bikes and doing research on them(specifically mountain bikes), I wouldn't be doing anything intense like some of these folks out there haha, but have seen a few trails I've wanted to go on.

Best of luck!

 

[Lisa]

I agree with @Russ with regards to the small amount of nodes - branch out as activity builds. With regards to the style, I would suggest doing some customising to make it more mountain bike-ish. As it stands, nothing about the style suggests talking about mountain bikes

 

[Adam Tinsley]

@Russ Yeah, that was my first question about the nodes on these forums. I love to watch those guys on TV doing the intense stuff but they are fearless and crazy if you ask me. I like to just ride at my own pace on mellow trails and relax and just get out into nature. Every now and then I get a wild hair and really push it. I love it! I ride every time I get the chance. I actually just finished a post yesterday about what I learned from buying my first bike: http://adamtinsley.com/2014/05/04/buying-your-first-mountain-bike/. Check it out if you want to. Thanks!

@Azhria Lilu There's definitely something missing I just can't really put my finger on it. I actually think if it had mountain bike ads it would look better just so people would know what kind of forum it was. I might get a big background image or try to find some small stock images somewhere to work into the theme. Thanks!

 

[nodle]

I like it. It's simple. Sometimes forums get so flashy that you lose focus on what the forums should be about. Your off to a great start.

 

[Adam Tinsley]

Thanks @nodle! All the credit for the awesome theme goes to @Russ. I really like the theme and I was going for simple but I'm thinking it just needs some tweaking so that people can tell it's a mountain bike forum. Especially since the name might not make it obvious to some. I'm thinking of putting a fixed, forrest background up. I found a pretty cool one last night with sunlight coming through the trees.

 

[Kelvin]

Good idea you have there good luck.

 

[Adam Tinsley]

Did a search to see how my site was ranking today and I came across this: http://mtbtalk.co.uk. It's a XenForo forum with the exact same name as mine about, you guessed it. The domain name was registered 5 days after I posted this thread. Coincidence? No. This guy is being a jerk.

I'm all for more mountain bike forums. I started one because I like them. But not when they rip off my idea and use the exact same name as me.

I didn't think I needed to watch my back posting on these forums. I really like the community and everyone has been very friendly and helpful, but I'll think twice about what I post here in the future.

 

[Lisa]

Did a search to see how my site was ranking today and I came across this: http://mtbtalk.co.uk. It's a XenForo forum with the exact same name as mine about, you guessed it. The domain name was registered 5 days after I posted this thread. Coincidence? No. This guy is being a jerk.

I'm all for more mountain bike forums. I started one because I like them. But not when they rip off my idea and use the exact same name as me.

I didn't think I needed to watch my back posting on these forums. I really like the community and everyone has been very friendly and helpful, but I'll think twice about what I post here in the future.

That's a shame. It's not something I've ever experienced myself - and I've posted about all sorts of forums on here over the years.

 

[19ninety]

Did a search to see how my site was ranking today and I came across this: http://mtbtalk.co.uk. It's a XenForo forum with the exact same name as mine about, you guessed it. The domain name was registered 5 days after I posted this thread. Coincidence? No. This guy is being a jerk.

I'm all for more mountain bike forums. I started one because I like them. But not when they rip off my idea and use the exact same name as me.

I didn't think I needed to watch my back posting on these forums. I really like the community and everyone has been very friendly and helpful, but I'll think twice about what I post here in the future.

Well I found this post this morning whilst looking in to the situation further. I think its a little unfair to go on the internet and call me a jerk without quoting my reply, dont you?

So to begin:

Greg,

My name is Adam Tinsley, and I’m the owner of https://mtbtalk.com. I see that you registered your domain name a few days after I posted a link to my website in the XenForo Community “Forum Showcase and Critiques” forum, and that you are also using XenForo software. It’s clear to me that you have blatantly copied my website and created your own website for the same purpose, on the same topic, with the same name, using the same software, and using the same domain name with a different TLD extension.

What brought this to my attention is that your website now ranks right next to mine in search results. It does not matter that you are using a UK based TLD. Your site is still confusingly similar to mine, and geographically based URLs have little meaning in practice on the internet.

I spent weeks coming up with a name for my website, and then researched the name “MTB Talk” to make sure that it would not be infringing on an existing website that was similar to the one which I would be creating and that it was not a registered trademark. At the time I registered the domain there were no other registrations. There are no other mountain bike forums on the internet, to my knowledge, with the name MTB Talk, and I have the username on every popular social media platform.

I wish you the best of luck with your forum, but please do the right thing and change the name to something else.

What I'd like Adam, is for you to post the reply I sent to you... so that its clear to everyone I wasnt being a jerk, as you claim.

I havent copied your site/idea deliberately, this is sadly a case of coincidence and bad "luck" for me ... all I'm trying to do is start a friendly MTB community as I'm sick of getting trolled on other forums for owning a "clown bike", or seeing beginners asking questions just to get ripped for it. I want hugs n knuckle bumps, laughs and smiles


As it was late last night when I replied I didnt think to save the message in case of possible come backs, so I'll recite the best I can from memory for the benefit of my defence if nothing else;

Non of the research I did at the time showed MTB Talk to be active on the internet or in social media - thats not to say I missed something though it would seem my domain name research wasnt as thorough as yours.
I also explained that I came to the name mtbtalk.co.uk by taking inspiration from a photography forum I'm a member of (talkphotography.co.uk) who also recently made the transfer to XenForo. As a user I was impressed by XF so I eventually tested a demo shortly followed by purchasing it and then the domain name.

I choose .co.uk as its informative to visitors and potential future members and specific to the the forum location. Also that I had used "UK" in the forum description to further clarify that its a UK based forum.
I said that I would add "UK" to the slogan on my forum for further clarity until I'd decided how to proceed with this situation.
And, because I'm a nice guy, not a jerk, I also wished you good luck with your venture.

As I say, I'd quite like you to post my actual reply for clarity as it was late last night that I replied.


Now, I'm still not decided exactly on the best way forward. However last night I registered talkmountain.bike (I had considered talkmtb.co.uk, now and previously but I expect you'd feel this is too close to your domain name so didnt) and in the early hours of this morning I was up setting DNS & Glue records, getting my host to transfer the forum domain name and setting up a redirect for mtbtalk.co.uk ... at this stage I would like to keep the MTB Talk branding on my forum for its simplicity, with the thought that we will no longer share a similar domain name in search rankings and I plan to continue to target a UK audience, the forum will also feature UK specific content once it gains a user base.

Anyway, I hope this clears things up for everyone ... Adam, if you like please feel free to reply/message me here or via my forum, I'm more than happy to try and accommodate your requests. Oh, if you fancy buying mtbtalk.co.uk let me know ... otherwise I'm stuck with it for 6 years

 

[Adam Tinsley]

Ahem, I'm not trying to bump this thread unnecessarily but I need to clarify something. It appears that I'm the jerk after all and not @19ninety. This was, in fact, a coincidence and I have more than one reason to believe that now. I would like to publicly apologize to Greg for my earlier comments. I should not have jumped to conclusions without even contacting him first. He was incredibly cool about the whole thing and changed the name of his forum even though he did not have to (and still doesn't) and I know that he went to a lot of trouble and money to do that. I'm posting the following email at his earlier request:

Hi Adam,

Well this is a pain. I havent ripped off your idea (deliberately), though perhaps it would seem I hadnt researched my domain name as thoroughly as yourself. I was inspired by a photography forum I'm a member of (talkphotography.co.uk) whilst trying to come up with a simple and appropriate name. They have also recently swapped over to using xenforo and I liked it so much, as it stands out from other forum software, that I decided to demo it and finally purchase it followed by the domain.

When I did a simple google search for mtbtalk it yielded no specific results (website or social media) which is why I then acquired the domain as .co.uk to be geographically correct to my location. This is already in the forum description as "UK Mountain Bike... etc" to be clearer to visitors and potential members of the locality of the information on the forum.

For now I will add "UK" to the front page slogan and have a think about how to proceed.
Good luck also with your venture.
Regards,

He has also since suggested that we help each other out since our forums are on the same topic which, I think, shows a lot of class given the circumstances.

@Brogan Will you please nuke this thread in a few days?