R.I.P. VMP Forum

Cam told the moderators about 24 hours in advance of the announcement and we spent that time arguing and pleading the forum's case with him, pauly and greens which is when @mcherry wrote that post. We literally begged them and I also did a little internet shouting at them too because I lack the class of the others. It was also during this time that @David A. suggested we (the mods) should start a new forum. We knew @gouis and @Colonel_Angus were already ahead of the game and had done some planning for this scenario last year and so when the announcement dropped we quickly reached out to them. It soon became clear that we needed some more technical expertise and @AnthonyI and @RenegadeMonster were then contacted. The next 48 hours is all a bit of a blur.
 
AnthonyI said:
My "Main" reasons:
  • Veiled attempt at suggesting the pause was for a "Better Forum"
  • "What would you do with more time?" ...........insert www.needlesandgrooves.com here.
  • Irritating comment #2 - "We value the community"
  • 48 hour notice
  • and my number one reason, because I actually thought for a moment it would make a difference - an ignored emotional plea by @mcherry
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As foggy said, I was most definitely not ignored. But I had no other words to share my heartbreak publicly than what I had written to Cam. He responded kindly but it was to me and I didn’t want to share.
 
Enoch said:
I believe that response is what led a lot of people to quit VMP altogether, those who did can chime in of that indeed was the case
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My main reasons:

I cared more about the forum family than their product. I can buy records anywhere. I have said numerous times that the only reason I remained was because of you guys. I didn't feel it was right to use the forum without being a customer.

The way their most loyal customers (us) were treated at the end. They acted like they didn't care about us at all and wanted us gone. So gone I am, never to return.
 
Count_Vader said:
PLEASE tell me there are screenshots. I have full faith in you guys that you roasted him alive for that shit. What a thing to say to some of your most faithful and enthusiastic customers...
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No screenshots but it was directly to me.

He apologized in a DM the next day but the damage had been done (he also posted an apology in the thread that was verbatim). He told me that he “genuinely wanted to know what we would do with more time” and came off like a robot.
 
Count_Vader said:
What was the plea? This gets worse by the minute. I mean I liked a l ot of the people that work there but CEO (Tyler?) Sounds like a blue ribbon asshole.
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I copy and pasted it to Evernote because it was beautiful and moving and I felt the thread or forum could go at any moment:

I wrote this earlier to Cam. I’ve been trying to find words for all of you but this is all I’ve got for now so I’m sharing publicly:

“I’m just gonna ask: please don’t do this.

This forum isn’t like anywhere else on the internet. Publicly accessible and for the most part pretty damn friendly. Where else are you going to find music heads of all ages, shapes, and sizes, mingling together and sharing their knowledge, sharing pieces of their lives? You have a gear question? Head on over to our gear threads where people will try to answer and won’t judge you for your set up or your budget. Wanna shoot the shit? There’s any number of threads looking for a tangent or try the Cafe where discussions range from venting about a job, sharing a family tragedy, or just communing with good-natured folks. How many people have been walked off the ledge in the Depression Support thread? I don’t know but you read through that thread and you know that it’s happened, that this forum has helped them. That people feel safe enough here to share their fears and their suffering, that this community will listen and not judge. Read through the Welcome thread and you’ll see a recent post from One Who Walks Away who explained that when he first joined, this forum was an escape for him while his wife was dying in the hospital. Did you read through the Record Store Day thread and see how this year a group of us banded together to buy Corycm his must-haves because he was too sick to go himself? The PIF thread you know but did you also see the Random Acts of VMP Kindness thread where some have shared how they’ve benefited from fellow members with gifts out of the blue? The daily challenge threads, the what’s spinning, so many small communities linked here together. Yes, some of these things happen in other places. But not all these things in one place.

I get that the forum has grown into something that may not match what you guys are today but you should still be proud of us, of what we created. Like any fully formed being, we bite occasionally, but there’s so much more good here than bad. So much more. If staff needs to take another extended time out, please do that instead of shutting us down in two days. Two days isn’t enough time to wrap this up, to end what we’ve become. Spin this off as an unofficial forum, make us admins, give this place to us. Anything. Please. Please don’t do this.”
 
jaycee said:
Anyone who was on that forum was being mined for information and I'm sure they will continue to do so on reddit or anywhere their products are being discussed. Our opinions about artists, our likes, our dislikes, our suggestions, even our humor was informing that company. Sometimes we were asked directly. Usually not. They didn't give us credit. They even toke names for their services directly from forum suggestions. Was anyone paid for it. No. Were people thanked. Maybe...but then when they continued to fail from a logistics, QC, and operations standpoint and dissent grew and people suggested that they change their tactics they took a big 💩 on the people who backed the company at every turn (see above). I know lots and lots of people here want to believe that these folks are just naive, dumb-dumbs who happen to have a company that sells records, but they very "intentionally" shut down that forum. They are not just stoned rich Colorado white guys. They are people with venture capitalist dollars to be beholden to. They are people with an image to maintain and they happen to sell records that are often warped.

I buy records from all kinds of crappy people and companies. As @HiFi Guy said I can get them anywhere, but what made Voldemort me please a place that I wanted to buy them from was that they were presenting themselves as part of the cohort of the forum and not soulless corporate bankers that wear flannel and work in an open concept office. They want to be the classy Newbury imo. The want to own the market between the old white guys that buy jazz and rolling stone records and the people that shop strictly for colored vinyl because it looks good. So instead of it being about the "story" of the music it's about the market their product can fill.

Sorry for the rant. :cautious:
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The most damning example of taking stuff from people on the forum is probably Experience Unlimited, right? That was one that really shocked me.
 
johnpisme said:
I copy and pasted it to Evernote because it was beautiful and moving and I felt the thread or forum could go at any moment:

I wrote this earlier to Cam. I’ve been trying to find words for all of you but this is all I’ve got for now so I’m sharing publicly:

“I’m just gonna ask: please don’t do this.

This forum isn’t like anywhere else on the internet. Publicly accessible and for the most part pretty damn friendly. Where else are you going to find music heads of all ages, shapes, and sizes, mingling together and sharing their knowledge, sharing pieces of their lives? You have a gear question? Head on over to our gear threads where people will try to answer and won’t judge you for your set up or your budget. Wanna shoot the shit? There’s any number of threads looking for a tangent or try the Cafe where discussions range from venting about a job, sharing a family tragedy, or just communing with good-natured folks. How many people have been walked off the ledge in the Depression Support thread? I don’t know but you read through that thread and you know that it’s happened, that this forum has helped them. That people feel safe enough here to share their fears and their suffering, that this community will listen and not judge. Read through the Welcome thread and you’ll see a recent post from One Who Walks Away who explained that when he first joined, this forum was an escape for him while his wife was dying in the hospital. Did you read through the Record Store Day thread and see how this year a group of us banded together to buy Corycm his must-haves because he was too sick to go himself? The PIF thread you know but did you also see the Random Acts of VMP Kindness thread where some have shared how they’ve benefited from fellow members with gifts out of the blue? The daily challenge threads, the what’s spinning, so many small communities linked here together. Yes, some of these things happen in other places. But not all these things in one place.

I get that the forum has grown into something that may not match what you guys are today but you should still be proud of us, of what we created. Like any fully formed being, we bite occasionally, but there’s so much more good here than bad. So much more. If staff needs to take another extended time out, please do that instead of shutting us down in two days. Two days isn’t enough time to wrap this up, to end what we’ve become. Spin this off as an unofficial forum, make us admins, give this place to us. Anything. Please. Please don’t do this.”
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And now I’m all sad again but also embarrassed and flattered, lol. I really am surprised people took the time to save this.
 
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