The ugly truth

[retailguy]

Thanks, RG. That story was a mix between a WWF storyline and a '24' episode.

So what comes next?

No idea. I don't think that part has been written yet. We can either get Vince McMahon to fill us in, or wait until Madtown shows up. Currently, I'm out of it, and probably about 4 feet out on a 6 foot plank in a boat on the Nile river.

[mraynrand]

No idea. I don't think that part has been written yet. We can either get Vince McMahon to fill us in, or wait until Madtown shows up. Currently, I'm out of it, and probably about 4 feet out on a 6 foot plank in a boat on the Nile river.

From some of Mad's posts, you can tell he knows that he needs to do something. He either needs to get back into it and run it seriously or seriously hand it off to someone who really wants to develop it. Unfortunately, it's very likely that he isn't willing and there is no interested party to hand off to....

I appreciate his and your efforts. I hope they're not in vain. There was a heyday for PR that would be cool to see come again. Clefty might be persuaded to take a cocktail of ritalin and opioid peptides, to start writing incisive columns again, if there were a vibrant PR to write for....

[retailguy]

From some of Mad's posts, you can tell he knows that he needs to do something. He either needs to get back into it and run it seriously or seriously hand it off to someone who really wants to develop it. Unfortunately, it's very likely that he isn't willing and there is no interested party to hand off to....

I appreciate his and your efforts. I hope they're not in vain. There was a heyday for PR that would be cool to see come again. Clefty might be persuaded to take a cocktail of ritalin and opioid peptides, to start writing incisive columns again, if there were a vibrant PR to write for....

thanks for that. Sincerely.

I do believe that the day to day programming needs to be handed off. If it is, there isn't that much work. We're 5 versions behind on the software again. We're running 4.0.8 and the current version is 4.1.3. as I understand it, the problem is that the afore mentioned "style template" has to be adjusted each time the upgrade is done, or something like that. Some type of changes have to be manually recreated each time you update. I guess it's a PITA, but again, it's over my head.

Next, we'd need moderators to help. One person can't read everything. Well, right now you can, but that's not good. But the biggest need is folks to 'market' the new site. That'll take a bunch of folks not only posting, but getting out there to get folks. Bretsky did that, a while back, but we'd need more than him.

But first, someone needs the keys to the kingdom, and a promise that they won't get swiped off the nightstand at 2am.

[Guiness]

thanks for that. Sincerely.

I do believe that the day to day programming needs to be handed off. If it is, there isn't that much work. We're 5 versions behind on the software again. We're running 4.0.8 and the current version is 4.1.3. as I understand it, the problem is that the afore mentioned "style template" has to be adjusted each time the upgrade is done, or something like that. Some type of changes have to be manually recreated each time you update. I guess it's a PITA, but again, it's over my head.

Next, we'd need moderators to help. One person can't read everything. Well, right now you can, but that's not good. But the biggest need is folks to 'market' the new site. That'll take a bunch of folks not only posting, but getting out there to get folks. Bretsky did that, a while back, but we'd need more than him.

But first, someone needs the keys to the kingdom, and a promise that they won't get swiped off the nightstand at 2am.

I never understood getting rid of the moderators, and always figured 'Joe' was some sort of Kyle Shanahan-like control freak. This place seemed to run quite well like that for a while.

Tech help? I've seen enough tech-savyness here to know there's help available from posters. Myself included.

One question that's bothering me about your initial post: if your password was changed, how did you get it back?

[retailguy]

I never understood getting rid of the moderators, and always figured 'Joe' was some sort of Kyle Shanahan-like control freak. This place seemed to run quite well like that for a while.

Tech help? I've seen enough tech-savyness here to know there's help available from posters. Myself included.

One question that's bothering me about your initial post: if your password was changed, how did you get it back?

If you had moderator access on the old software you could see IP addresses. If the moderators were allowed to continue, then they could match up the IP's for Joe to me and Madtown. That wouldn't have worked very well.

Yes, plenty of help was/is available. I hope that gets used. We damn sure need it. Some of the help I tried to get was from folks here.

I had 3 accounts, (well 4 actually), Joe, administrator, retailguy and a test account called packer fan in tx. We shared administrator on the old software, but when we created the new forum, it worked better to have a new created account because of the way vbulletin imported things. So, that's how Joe was born. They were supposed to be merged, but that hasn't happened yet.

You have to have a unique email address for each one. On 5/20/2011 when I tried to log in, all the passwords were changed. When you fail to log in, you can "click here" to reset your password, but you have to type in an email address. When I tried to reset the Joe password, that email address had been changed, to something only Madtown knows. The email address used to be administrator@packerrats.com which was my email address. That's now the old administrator account, which I can now log into after resetting the password, but no admin/moderator rights are left on that account. I didn't realize this until a few days ago, that i could reset it. Next, my retailguy password was changed, and my main email address, which it was set up with, was no longer active in the database. What I didn't realize was that my hotmail account was actually tied to retailguy. I don't use that email address often, and truthfully, I don't know whether or not Madtown changed it, or I did and forgot. But, once I realized it, I was able to reset my password.

Packer fan in tx was used as a test account to test things like rights, how the main page was viewable, etc. I had used retailguy until one day when mraynrand had tried to block me and I was testing moderator access that day. You can't block a moderator and he got a message stating that retailguy was a moderator. He pm'ed Joe about it, so I tried to explain, and then stopped testing things with retailguy's account as it was too risky. That's when the new test account was born.

Hope that makes sense.

[mraynrand]

I had used retailguy until one day when mraynrand had tried to block me and I was testing moderator access that day. You can't block a moderator and he got a message stating that retailguy was a moderator. He pm'ed Joe about it, so I tried to explain, and then stopped testing things with retailguy's account as it was too risky. That's when the new test account was born.

Hope that makes sense.

That was weird. I wondered why "Joe" had set you up as a moderator. I always figured "Joe" was Madtown, just so he could avoid being harassed as Madtown.

I don't think you should be worried about Mad cutting you off completely, unless there's something more I don't know about. You helped him out. The site needs an engaged owner, it's that simple. Either that person exists, or not. The sooner that person takes over the better. All the other stuff is details. If there's a leader who cares about the site, and has the time to invest in it, it will flourish. I hope Mad - and you - find that person. Otherwise it's blogging on the Pup-Peroni website for me. I'm not following Freak or Skin to that Swedish site.

[retailguy]

That was weird. I wondered why "Joe" had set you up as a moderator. I always figured "Joe" was Madtown, just so he could avoid being harassed as Madtown.

I don't think you should be worried about Mad cutting you off completely, unless there's something more I don't know about. You helped him out. The site needs an engaged owner, it's that simple. Either that person exists, or not. The sooner that person takes over the better. All the other stuff is details. If there's a leader who cares about the site, and has the time to invest in it, it will flourish. I hope Mad - and you - find that person. Otherwise it's blogging on the Pup-Peroni website for me. I'm not following Freak or Skin to that Swedish site.

A similar thing happened with Thunder Dan. He noticed the "green square" above retailguy's avatar. There is some strange rating system that I could never figure out how to get working properly. The moderators can rate posts. I clicked on one of retailguys posts once and the green square showed up. If you hover on it it says "retailguy is on a distinguished road". there's a bunch of different levels. He pm'ed me about it. so I told him retailguy had volunteered his account for testing purposes. which really wasn't a lie when you think about it... anyway, I could never figure out how to get rid of "negative ratings", so I never let it go live. Negative ratings around here would've been a disaster.

I hope you're right about madtown. We shall see.

[mraynrand]

dp