The Patriot Woodworker Not for Sale

[John Morris]

I get emails sometimes, like this:

Quote

Hi,

Hope this message reaches you well. I just wanted to follow up one last time to see if you would consider selling your forum. Would love to know what your thoughts are.

Please let me know if I emailed the wrong person. Would also greatly appreciate it if you could direct me to the right contact.

Thank you.

 

Faith Lopez

faith@groupbuilder.com

(512) 766-6202

 

 

On Sun, Mar 28, 2021 at 4:22 AM Faith Lopez <faith@groupbuilder.com> wrote:

Hi,

Hope this day finds you and your community well. My name is Faith Lopez and I handle acquisitions with GroupBuilder. I wanted to reconnect to see if you would be interested in discussing an offer for your forum. If you are, please let me know the best contact email so we can chat more.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

All the best,

 

Faith Lopez

faith@groupbuilder.com

(512) 766-6202

 

I don't blame them, we have a solid community, and I respectfully decline, without even knowing what the offer is. It's more than "money", our soul is not for sale. Sure I could use a few bucks, but what we have here, money can't buy.

[Cal]

I guess they just want a "media empire".  Their interest seems to be only in the web site, nothing of the contents.

[John Morris]

19 minutes ago, Cal said:

I guess they just want a "media empire".  Their interest seems to be only in the web site, nothing of the contents.

Pretty much, I surfed over to their website, and saw a few of the forums they took over, and they were flooded with advertising, that's what it's all about, purchase a forum community, then insert their ads.

We are very proud of the fact that we don't have ads in this community, we have static graphics for our sponsors, and that's it, no pop up or google ads.

I intend to keep it that way.

[Larry Buskirk]

 

[Gunny]

Have seen that in other online forums for mechanical stuff. I gave up and just dumped them all.  Bad enough they inundate the airwaves with commercials.

[HandyDan]

[FlGatorwood]

The Handyman Club of America was a good forum many years ago.  They sold the magazine and forum.  It went from Handyman Club to hunting and sports clubs with commercials all over the place.  I don't think it even exists anymore.  I can't remember who it was that bought the forums, but shortly after the sell off, I dropped out.  I was a lifetime member.  Besides being ad free, there is an excellent group of top notch folks here that I enjoy hanging with.  Thank you , John, for not selling.  Just let us know so we can part on friendly terms.  

 

 

When my MIL died, my wife and I bought her little house and 1.6 acres.  So, I get to keep up both places.  Just the same, I get offers on the phone and in the mail to sell it.  One day a letter came and offered my $500, yes, that is hundreds of dollars for the place.  Without the buildings on it, the land itself is worth $30,000.  Sorry, no deal.  

Edited April 11, 2021 by FlGatorwood

[forty_caliber]

Good on you John.  Don't listen to the Siren songs and keep us on a safe course.  Even as a new member, this place already feels like home and family. 

 

.40

[John Morris]

On 4/11/2021 at 12:21 PM, forty_caliber said:

Good on you John.  Don't listen to the Siren songs and keep us on a safe course.  Even as a new member, this place already feels like home and family. 

 

.40

I feel like you been here a long time forty, just like old friends, thanks for calling us home.

[Woodman]

On 4/4/2021 at 11:04 PM, John Morris said:

without even knowing what the offer is.

I've got a blog with 5 years of personal writings . . . it would be like selling my diary, my heart and soul.  All those folks who trusted me with their recollections, thoughts, ideas. What of their trust.

[Gene Howe]

Looking back,  over my past musings, both those saved on the computer and those scribbled on paper, I realize how utterly inane they are. I can't imagine how anyone would find them remotely useful or, interesting. 

[John Morris]

2 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Looking back,  over my past musings, both those saved on the computer and those scribbled on paper, I realize how utterly inane they are. I can't imagine how anyone would find them remotely useful or, interesting. 

 

 Well when it comes to an outside party wanting to purchase our community, they are doing it for advertising. They would acquire this community, then plaster ads all over it that pop up, or are static, and click baits etc. There is good revenue in this method, and by our own metrics, unique visits, return visits, duration of visits, we actually do pretty good, and we could generate some pretty good revenue with ads, and the outside parties see our community as just that, a revenue source. They can run their own analytics on this community, and determine if it's a good candidate for advertising, and so far I've had 5 or 6 parties want to purchase this community, and I've declined.

 

Instead of ads, I've opted for community support, and you all have always come through, in a big way. And I think we all like the cleanliness of our community without those pesky ads, for visitors, and members, nobody sees pesky ads.

 

 @Woodman kind of nailed it for me in his post above. Also, I've got a lot of attachment to this community and the folks who call it home, and all my own personal time invested in it, at a high cost sometimes, in the early days there was a rift in the home over how much time I was spending developing this community, verses time with family. It took awhile but changes were made and we all got happy again, but I can't put a value on the time I spent developing the community and the time I lost with kids and wife, looking back was it worth it? Most definitely, otherwise I wouldn't be here. The lives we've touched in the past, the veterans and families we've helped, and my family understands this. So when I get an offer to sell, I flashback to those very valuable years in our beginning, where some strife was created in our home and the understanding and give and take, my entire family grew from all this during those years, the kids learned more about selflessness, giving to others, compassion and concern for our veterans, and much more, and I cannot put a value on that. Because of this community our family has gone on road trips to meet disabled veterans who we met here, and we hand delivered challenge coin displays and we became involved in "Homes For Our Troops" and "Wounded Warriors" and much more, and our kids, my wife, and I have all grown from it all. With your help, we got to hand deliver Christmas presents to a wounded warrior family, and that is a priceless experience, and we did that for last years Christmas project, the family our community was assigned too lived just an hour from our home.

 

So ya, thanks, but no thanks  

[p_toad]

to which i say "thank you"