steven s
Well-known member
Thank you.
verticalscope.com?
- Thread starter steven s
- Start date
TheLaw
Well-known member
I have had discussions with VerticalScope, which owns several sites, especially in the automotive industry if I remember correctly.
Without stating anything with regard to the above, many businesses are looking for bargains, hoping to find desperate sellers in a bad economy. Typically, unless there is a reasonably good offer on the table, one should not regret a decision not to sell in the event the site doesn't generate the money expected. I'll say this much - I have had dealings with some of the largest community sites online. One had the arrogance to tell me that they were ending negotiations because they felt we wanted too much money for the site -- and we barely even discussed anything. In essence, they didn't want to pay fair market value. Trust your gut, best of luck.
Without stating anything with regard to the above, many businesses are looking for bargains, hoping to find desperate sellers in a bad economy. Typically, unless there is a reasonably good offer on the table, one should not regret a decision not to sell in the event the site doesn't generate the money expected. I'll say this much - I have had dealings with some of the largest community sites online. One had the arrogance to tell me that they were ending negotiations because they felt we wanted too much money for the site -- and we barely even discussed anything. In essence, they didn't want to pay fair market value. Trust your gut, best of luck.
To see what happens in the forums of VerticalScope and then you can make the decision of whether you want to sell: www.bewareofdobermantalk.com
The previous site www.bewareofdobermantalk.com was forwarded to all advertisers and corporate chiefs at VerticalScope. Lets see how human they really are.
steven s
Well-known member
No can do.
steven s
Well-known member
OMG.
I was googling something and came across.
http://www.300cforums.com/
Ads all over the place, slow page loading.
No surprise it is owned by VS.
http://www.300cforums.com/forums/advertise.php
I was googling something and came across.
http://www.300cforums.com/
Ads all over the place, slow page loading.
No surprise it is owned by VS.
http://www.300cforums.com/forums/advertise.php
MGSteve
Well-known member
I actually got a call from VS today, I ignored their previous emails as I thought it was a scam.
I'm not really interested in selling, but am interested in seeing what they're going to value it at!
What's a bit odd is that they claim 25m page views a month, the forum I run gets around 10% of that value a month, I'd have thought with all the forums they have, they would have more views.
But I have a lot of plans with my forum (which I may even get around to doing), anyway, I'll update as and when there's stuff to report, it may be of interest to other admins.
I have asked them to sign an NDA though first, no way I'm giving away such confidential info without legal protection!
I'm not really interested in selling, but am interested in seeing what they're going to value it at!
What's a bit odd is that they claim 25m page views a month, the forum I run gets around 10% of that value a month, I'd have thought with all the forums they have, they would have more views.
But I have a lot of plans with my forum (which I may even get around to doing), anyway, I'll update as and when there's stuff to report, it may be of interest to other admins.
I have asked them to sign an NDA though first, no way I'm giving away such confidential info without legal protection!
It's been almost two months sinve the creation of bewareofdobermantalk.com was created. Since this creation I have been contacted by so many breeders throughout the US who have been seriously financially hurt by the bashing taking place on Dobermantalk. ( http://www.bewareofdobermantalk.com/23601.html ). The only contact I have had was a complaint from the Chief Technical Ceo of VS who lodged a complaint to my web hosting provider claiming "Trademark Infringement". They lost there case and my site is still up. I too made mention in my response to my web hosting provider that I found it unfortunate that they chose this route, rather than cleaning up their act andprotecting individual members' reputations and livelihoods.....These are real people being hurt on thier forums by a bunch of communist faceless anonymous trolls. People hace contacted me and informed me they have been devestated by what is going on there, as perspective pup buyers should research their perspective breeder, these same people run across these bashing posts from these faceless people with no identifying information as to who they are AND/OR their qualifications and take their business elsewhere. In many cases when these injured persons request to have these damaging posts removed, they are ignored and left withthe breeder suffering the financial consequence for their "Educational Forum". VS even with legal"Cease and Desist requests are ignored. I know of an individual who was mis-identified with another individual who was a convicted sex offender - They spent pages lambasting him, besides the insult to his personal character and professional reputation, he has a documented loss of over $10,000.00 and the posts remain to this day. How he doesn't have anxiety attacks is beyond me.
I have spoken numerous times to his attorney (amongst many I have spoken too), she was contacted by outside legal counsel for VericalScope informing her thet they were immune from any legal claims by the Immunity Shield of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 which was enacted to immune website publishers and content providers from legal claims of third party posters such as per say Facebook.What they fail to realize is through research and talks with Internet Defamation Attorneys, is that there are numerous federal case laws on the books that address such scenarios whereas they ARE NOT immune from claims where they have moderators enjoined in threads wheras they can add/delete or modify posts.
So while this one individual is putting together his legal team, I too am doing the same actively. But it comes down to this, why does it even have to come down to this? I understand their business of buying forums for promoting advertising (God Bless Capitalism!), but when you own a forum there should be some responsibiblity and moral "High Road" in its forum content and protecting its' members from the abuses that take place on them? Bashing and defamation are included is included within their own manifesto at dobermantalk, but unfortunately, it is obviously apparent it only applies when it works in their favor.
I have spoken numerous times to his attorney (amongst many I have spoken too), she was contacted by outside legal counsel for VericalScope informing her thet they were immune from any legal claims by the Immunity Shield of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 which was enacted to immune website publishers and content providers from legal claims of third party posters such as per say Facebook.What they fail to realize is through research and talks with Internet Defamation Attorneys, is that there are numerous federal case laws on the books that address such scenarios whereas they ARE NOT immune from claims where they have moderators enjoined in threads wheras they can add/delete or modify posts.
So while this one individual is putting together his legal team, I too am doing the same actively. But it comes down to this, why does it even have to come down to this? I understand their business of buying forums for promoting advertising (God Bless Capitalism!), but when you own a forum there should be some responsibiblity and moral "High Road" in its forum content and protecting its' members from the abuses that take place on them? Bashing and defamation are included is included within their own manifesto at dobermantalk, but unfortunately, it is obviously apparent it only applies when it works in their favor.
MGSteve
Well-known member
Just a quick update as promised. They came back to me, with what on paper was a reasonable offer, equating to 5 x 12 months income which would have been a substantial payment (enough to clear the mortgage).
But thinking about it, I don't feel I'm done quite yet. But on the face of it, they are legitimate and well worth talking to, if nothing else, to get a valuation for your website.
As for the post above, my read on that is that its a can of worms that someone opened. probably more down to bad admin / moderation of the site than anything else really. Not saying VS are blameless, but IMO, its more of a site management failure than anything else.
But thinking about it, I don't feel I'm done quite yet. But on the face of it, they are legitimate and well worth talking to, if nothing else, to get a valuation for your website.
As for the post above, my read on that is that its a can of worms that someone opened. probably more down to bad admin / moderation of the site than anything else really. Not saying VS are blameless, but IMO, its more of a site management failure than anything else.
FredC
Well-known member
Curious what forum software you are running on the site VS is interested in?
Good Luck, Lynn that is one Nasty Nasty bunch. The Administrator is
FredC
Well-known member
Its all to true Carlos. That was and is the only reason my own forum exists on the same topic. The members even go as far as cyber stalking your business and they have even leveled death threats against people they do not agree with.
steven s
Well-known member
I think my offer was about 3 times what my current revenue is.
I understand how tempting it is. When my wife was out of work I seriously thought about going back to talk with them again.
My members understood if I wanted to sell and supported my decision.
Since then I added a couple additional revenue streams. Not fetching a lot, but it's a little extra.
Once it's sold there is no looking back.
Of the few VS sites I've seen page loading is slow and plastered with ads. One site people left to start their own.
All content is theirs. I considered it as selling my soul.
They can not run a site with the same passion as a forum owner who built it from 1 post over several years.
If I could pay off my mortgage, that would be tempting. Their offer was not life changing for me. I guess everyone does have their price.
x4rl
Well-known member
lololol I lol'dEven the captcha is an ad
MGSteve
Well-known member
VB 3.8, but I did mention it was planned to migrate over to XF.
It comes down to whether you prefer long term income vs quick cash-in. With my site, the future is looking good, MG as a car brand is returning, we've weathered the drought of new metal well and come out bigger & stronger. However if I had felt that I had taken the site as far as it could go, cashing in would quite rightly have been an option. In a way, I can see why they where very interested in buying the site.
They did make it quite clear that they prefer admins to carry on with the forum after they buy a site - continuity is a key thing and they quite rightly know that any sudden change in admins can cause havoc with a community. I don't think that would happen with my forums, its far more group lead than lead by me - my admin / mod team is great. (& I'm very lucky to have them).
At the end of the day, it depends on what the owner feels is right for them. After discussing it with the wife & thinking it through, it came down to whether I feel I'm in it for the long term or short term - and I came up with the long term decision
Carlos
Well-known member
The best way for a sale to go through smoothly, is that you must already have been an admistrator of the site before the sale.
For example, when I bought CODForums, I was very careful to not announce the sale until I've actually paid the money. I was already administrator when I bought it. I have been administrator of the site since the early days of the CODForums inception.
I completed the acquisition 3 months after the initial payment; I moved everything from server a, to server b. It saw one of its busiest day just a few days ago when Escalation info was released, and today I had the peak activity; 134 users logged in the site from vbulletin's stats, and more than 78 visitors logged into the site between midnight, and early morning.
For example, when I bought CODForums, I was very careful to not announce the sale until I've actually paid the money. I was already administrator when I bought it. I have been administrator of the site since the early days of the CODForums inception.
I completed the acquisition 3 months after the initial payment; I moved everything from server a, to server b. It saw one of its busiest day just a few days ago when Escalation info was released, and today I had the peak activity; 134 users logged in the site from vbulletin's stats, and more than 78 visitors logged into the site between midnight, and early morning.
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