Blacklisted domain - ugh

[pompeiisneaks]

So I've gotten a few admin emails of late of people not getting their email anymore. I just looked on a blacklist check, and the domain is on a blacklist that's newer, that seems to focus on hosting companies that don't stop spammers, and it looks like the domain this site is hosted under is now blacklisted.

This means some, not all, sites will outright block email. I think gmail is one of them.

Sadly there's nothing I can do, as Allyn has been pretty clear fixing the email isn't a priority for him and he won't delegate dns to me so I can manage it.

So basically unless the hosting company (That sucks badly) decides to stop allowing spammers in, email will likely remain down for the foreseeable future to many domains.

~Phil

[ChopSauce]

Thanks again for your commitment, Phil.
I'm sorry I read this. I've been aware of other examples of forums whose creators seem to prefer that their baby don't survive without them but what can we users do to manage with that?

[pompeiisneaks]

Thanks again for your commitment, Phil.
I'm sorry I read this. I've been aware of other examples of forums whose creators seem to prefer that their baby don't survive without them but what can we users do to manage with that?

There are options, but most aren't very good.

1. start a new domain/new forum and let users decide if they want to move over but this is the more tedious version, it means someone has to take the time to create new posts and upload content that covers what's been covered already in the existing forum.
2. start a new domain/new forum and migrate the data over and see if users want to move over (this is somewhat frowned upon, because you're taking the content from the forum away from the original forum owner, but is done in some cases of abandoned forums)
3. convince the forum owner to pass the domain and forums over to a new owner (I've tried this repeatedly but gotten no response from Allyn)

I think basically that 1 and 3 are the best options, but I think 3 is not possible. 2 is more of a 'since we don't have control, we'll steal it' type scenario that's not that nice.

~Phil

[Colossal]

The way I see it....you either lead, follow, or get out of the way. People on this forum have a vested interest in the content and history of this site.

I vote hostile takeover. Choosing not to decide is still making a choice.

[gktamps]

There is so much valuable information and content on this forum it would be a huge tragedy to let it fail bit by bit.
Is anyone in communication with Allyn anymore? Is he healthy and able to interact with anyone about this?

[Littlewyan]

I was wondering recently about Allyn as I haven't seen a post from him for quite a while. Do we know if he's ok?

Edit: Looking at his profile he hasn't logged on since 30th May 2021 and hasn't posted since 19th November 2017.

[pompeiisneaks]

Yeah I probably last spoke to him by phone several years ago, maybe 2018 or 2019, but I don't 'know' him personally we've only had a few calls about the site, and the like. On several of these calls I asked if he was either okay with giving me the domain OR at least letting me take over more of the control of the DNS for the email etc, and he just ignored them or said no. I did have to work with him recently as well when the site had some problems where the really crappy hosting company broke things worse when I asked them to fix something. Took them a long time to fix it finally.

Either way, I have no ill will towards him, but have often wished I could do more to take things in hand fully. He seems to want to keep the domain his own as a kind of badge of honor or something similar. I know he pays some level of money to host the site on the hosting companies services. Just not sure what else he gains from it?

If something doesn't change sooner than later, I'm likely myself to stop spending time supporting the forum as it's a lot of my time daily approving new accounts, and keeping up on the forums so that nobody gets too crazy

The administration duties are annoying but worth it for me to help this community, as it's one I value as a great resource for myself and many others.

I too hope it doesn't end up going away.

~Phil

[ijedouglas]

The way I see it....you either lead, follow, or get out of the way. People on this forum have a vested interest in the content and history of this site.

I vote hostile takeover. Choosing not to decide is still making a choice.

I agree. Sh!t or get off the pot. This forum provides such valuable information. Having it hang in the balance is not okay...

[ViperDoc]

Noting the biblical scope of this forum, it seems prudent to protect and preserve the information over any one person's current disinterest. No judgment on why that may be, people and their priorities change--it is their right and responsibility. I am personally in awe of this forum. The scientific knowledge contained here is immense, and it should be preserved. I note that several forums (i.e. PRS) have recently shifted to other platforms from this one, perhaps for reasons that affect this one. I would suggest that a migration is inevitable. Whatever strategy might be best is the one you should take. The sooner the better.

Maybe you could call it "The Detached Amp Garage". Sorry, bad joke.

And by the way, thank you all for all you do to keep this forum and its culture alive. It's really cool, man.

[johnnyreece]

Count my vote in the "Whatever has to be done is fine by me" category. Phil - you've done a great job here, and what you've done (and continue to do) are appreciated.

[Guy77]

I agree as well. Whatever has to be done is fine. Too much valuable information here !
And again thank you Phil for all you do!

Cheers

Guy

[Littlewyan]

I'm a bit uncomfortable with the word 'hostile', I don't wish to upset Allyn but I'm happy to donate towards hosting fees if we do end up moving the site onto a different platform. I think TGP works in a similar way.

[Phil_S]

While Allyn's last visit here, according to his public profile, was May 2021, I believe we all owe a debt of gratitude for providing this truly wonderful forum. It's clear to me that the forum provides a great mix of enjoyment and some very high-level expertise. I can't help but wonder what may have motivated him to do this and what has changed that it seems he's become somewhat detached. It would be, IME, helpful to know what's on his mind, although we have clear indications, he's not very communicative right now. Regarding whatever approach is taken, I don't think it can be emphasized enough that the best path will be one of diplomacy and patience. In my view, any other approach leads nowhere.

[pompeiisneaks]

While Allyn's last visit here, according to his public profile, was May 2021, I believe we all owe a debt of gratitude for providing this truly wonderful forum. It's clear to me that the forum provides a great mix of enjoyment and some very high-level expertise. I can't help but wonder what may have motivated him to do this and what has changed that it seems he's become somewhat detached. It would be, IME, helpful to know what's on his mind, although we have clear indications, he's not very communicative right now. Regarding whatever approach is taken, I don't think it can be emphasized enough that the best path will be one of diplomacy and patience. In my view, any other approach leads nowhere.

I don't disagree. As I understood it, though, he didn't create the site, someone else did and when they no longer wanted to run it, they passed it over to him. He's never been a 'heavy' contributor since the early days, he did put in 1400 some odd posts back then. I thought that Omar was the owner/admin originally? Then he passed it over to HeeBGB and/or Allyn. Either way, they've done the amp building community a great service. As has been stated before, this forum is amazing and he an all the other people that began the process of reverse engineering and building these amps deserve great respect and credit. It's my opinion that letting this forum end up in the dust bin because someone's uninterested in saving it, gives me motivation to do SOMETHING. What do you think that should be? As stated, I've spoken to him now at least a half a dozen times total, and suggested on almost every occasion he could let me have more control or all control to fix it and he didn't want to. If anyone here knows him personally, and way better than I do, feel free to reach out to him and see if he'd be interested in somehow allowing me to fix the entirely bad situation it's becoming here. Email has only marginally worked, and suddenly just 'started working' at one point but only partially. Then it now is being blocked to some huge domains like gmail.com because the hosting provider is on a spammers blacklist.

They still are. They probably don't care.

~Phil

[Guy77]

I believe if we do nothing here we may loose everything eventually.
I was actually unable to reach the site for several hours yesterday, I was getting a message the site was unreachable.
Option 2 sounds interesting as a way to have backup insurance.

G