Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Thank you for spending the time to illuminate your position on a new
vehicle for a DTXpress forum. I understand your point(s) and can see the
reasoning is well grounded.

I would like to submit that moving from a "generic" forum structure (like
yahoo-groups, which contains all sorts of.. um.. "questionable" forums
i.e. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unholybarnyard/) to a dedicated
domain, would show a step UP in professionalism. The drawbacks of the
yahoo groups are many:

They embed advertising

They redirect you to advertizing before showing you new messages (from
web interface)

Want to download a file? have to read an ad.

Want to search old messages, guess what? time to read an ad.

They use your Personal information for marketing (Read: SPAM!)

They track your usage for demographic/marketing data (read: more
*accurate* SPAM!)

They do not guarantee any uptime, or database content preservation (all
files and old posts can go bye-bye at any time, don't belive me? Read
their AUP!)

Anyone and his Dog can make a yahoo group, there are many amateurs with
ridiculous groups on Yahoo (do a search sometime) so the neighbors we
have  aren't exactly the intellectual elite (i.e.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Village_Of_Idiots :)

What I propose is that we move UP to a *dedicated* forum, with
*dedicated* access on a *dedicated*, easy to remember domain like:

DTXpressions.com

not

http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/SomeDrumAmaJig


I really feel this would take the seriousness and profesionalism of our
forum and our membership up a level. I would hope to turn over the
moderation/creation/management to the more active members (such as you)
to guide the progress of the board and to help to grow our community.

I have been in the ISP business since 1996 (have a look at
http://www.archive.org to see how long my servers have been around!) and
have a stellar uptime record for the commercial servers we host here in
Austin Tx, and I am willing to donate the server time and space
(honestly, about $129/month would be the normal commercial rate for the
site like the one I am offering!) as well as the domain name (already
registered and up!) and associated administrative time if you guys are
interested in moving up to a more professional level.

In fact, I would even be willing to formalize this by placing the domain
name into the ownership/assets of a non-profit corp so no one would get
ancy about the site being run/owned by one person (me at this point).
Once we get the new area stabilized, we could make an official
announcement (that would include the Yamaha folks), and then place
redirectors (messages with the new address) on the Yahoo list to help
people find our new home and to show off our new digs. :)

Let me be clear, the *last* thing I want to do is dilute the membership
and/or split the group. Your concern is quite valid, but I think handled
correctly this could be a way to improve our image and to make our group
more condensed/cohesive/respectable/valid/powerful (oh I don't i know,
pick one! :)

So, what do I get out of this? :) I get to see the group move up to a new
level by offering a commercial system to everyone for free since a) by
lucky coincidence I happen to own an ISP and b) I have the same interest
as  the folks on the list  and I'd like to help contribute to the group.
And to help convince people I'm not a looney, I'll be really brave
here... Want to know who I am and everything about me? Go here:

http://www.graner.net/resume (even has pictures of me on stage with an
Octapad MIDI'd to a TR-505 and some Synares! Yikes! :D

To be honest, this group is *very* informative, the signal to noise ratio
is spectacular and I do not make this kind of offer very often or
lightly. The fact is that this will make more work for me, but I am
willing to do the work if it would help out the community. But, if the
community wants to uh, "yahoo!", who am I to stand in the way? :)

Comments? :)

Vern

-- 
Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE     | "If the network is down, then you're
Senior Systems Engineer     | obviously incompetent so why are we
Texas Information Services  | paying you? Of course, if the network
vern@... www.txis.com  | is up, then we obviously don't need
Cell 507-7851 Desk 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" VLG


liberatusvirus said:
> Vern,
>
> Your proposed alternative to the Yahoo board would undoubtedly be an
> improvement in many important respects. It's much more along the
> lines of the unofficial vdrums forum, which is a very informative,  and
> classy setup. My sole concern is this: Yamaha is aware of this  group.
> Just months after it was established in late 1999, it
> achieved a certain credibility with the company because of the
> intelligent questions and comments that emanated from it.
> Apparently, Dave Jewell has been known to check it out from time to
> time, especially, shall we say, in times of stress. I'm not claiming
> that the board has the undivided attention of Yamaha's management;
> it's definitely well on the peripery. But it does have a presence,  and
> our recent telephone foray into the hierarchy has given it
> renewed notoriety. I doubt very much that the vdrums forum has
> anywhere near the contact with Roland that this one has with Yamaha.
>
> The Yahoo board is now 600 strong. If there's an exodus, some people
> will undoubtedly stay behind. I don't know how many, but it always
> happens. That will mean that the membership of 600 will get diluted.
> Some of us would like to see this group, or whatever group takes its
> place, become even more significant in Yamaha's e-drum plans. If
> that is ever to happen, the numbers will matter. Also, the more we
> become a moving target, the less chance we may have to solidify our
> position.  Would it be unthinkable for Yamaha to search out a new
> group if it forms, or to file the new web address away somewhere in
> case they want to check it out? No, but I'm not sure that even so
> seemingly innocuous a change as a splintered board wouldn't be an
> excuse for them to lose any interest that they might have now. As I
> said, we're on the periphery. These are delicate times for e-drums,
> especially Yamaha, which has discontinued two of its three lines. I
> would like to see this group become a testing ground of sorts for
> Yamaha's ideas. I don't know if it will happen, but I don't want to
> risk anything that might diffuse its input. As a related case in
> point, we managed to get Visu-lite, a small company, to make a
> product solely for owners of Yamaha modules. This was no meant feat,
> and it happened, in part, because we could point to a large number  of
> possibly interested people in one place who would become aware of  it
> in one fell swoop.
>
> Your proposal is enormously tempting, but I think these points
> should be taken into consideration.
>
> Ed
>
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "Vernon Graner" <vern@t...> wrote:
>> Just turn OFF HTML when reading your messages. It makes it (barely)
>> bearable. :)
>>
>> I've been thinking about adding a mailing list or message board to
> the
>> DTXpressions.com website to offer up as a replacement since I'm
> not a big
>> fan of Yahoo anyway... How many of you think the embedded ads are
>> intrusive enough to justify a move?
>>
>> Vern
>>
>> PS: to see a prototype of the message base I'm talking about, go
> here:
>>
>> http://www.dtxpressions.com/phpbb
>>
>> --
>> Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE     | "If the network is down, then you're
>> Senior Systems Engineer     | obviously incompetent so why are we
>> Texas Information Services  | paying you? Of course, if the network
>> vern@t... www.txis.com  | is up, then we obviously don't need
>> Cell 507-7851 Desk 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" VLG
>>
>>
>>
>> hairytrigger said:
>> > Yes, I get those messages too. Lately, a long, horizontal one is
>> covering the text.Somebody screwed something up.
>> > Scott
>> >
>> > --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "leffelejon" <gadda@k...> wrote:
>> >> Anyone else get those advertisments all over the text in
> messages?
>> >> Its really annoying
>> >
>> >
>> > Community email addresses:
>> >   Post message: DTXpress@onelist.com
>> >   Subscribe:    DTXpress-subscribe@onelist.com
>> >   Unsubscribe:  DTXpress-unsubscribe@onelist.com
>> >   List owner:   DTXpress-owner@onelist.com
>> >
>> > Shortcut URL to this page:
>> >   http://www.onelist.com/community/DTXpress
>> >
>> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
>> > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
> Community email addresses:
>   Post message: DTXpress@onelist.com
>   Subscribe:    DTXpress-subscribe@onelist.com
>   Unsubscribe:  DTXpress-unsubscribe@onelist.com
>   List owner:   DTXpress-owner@onelist.com
>
> Shortcut URL to this page:
>   http://www.onelist.com/community/DTXpress
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/