NON-MONSTER FORUMS TO BE CLOSED AND REMOVED ON APRIL 27TH

[Mike Scott]

It is unwise to invest one's sense of self too heavily in such a tenuous thing as an Internet site that is created, owned and operated by someone else.

Amen Brother! This is a site where like-minded people gather to talk about one of the things they have in common. If you want a life, turn off your computer and go out and look for one. There are no reasons why you can't, only excuses. The UMA can't be all things to all people and it shouldn't try to be. That doesn't mean people can't be "monster buddies" and have a good time while they're here, but it should be that place where you stop to have a cold drink on your daily journey, not the whole journey.

[Toy Ranch]

It's not my forum, but past experience tells me that not all forum admins like people poaching from their membership.

The UMA is not one of those. We do not have a problem with other forums, links to other forums, or if members who enjoyed the forums here that are to be removed want to get together somewhere else to continue with things, the off-topic forums as long as they are open, as well as our PM feature is available to members for that purpose.

This can be complicated to run if you don't have much computer skill, but
http://www.yuku.com/
http://proboards.com/

and others make it fairly easy to set something up.

[Monsters For Sale]

Adam,

1.  I, for one, don't use or want to use social networks and am more comfortable with discussion forums  I prefer to post on one forum.

2.  It's not my forum, but past experience tells me that not all forum admins like people poaching from their membership.

3.  I believe that people posting in this thread are expressing their opinions, whether it be shock, annoyance, grief or happiness .. no right or wrong, just opinions being freely expressed to 'friends' in the same boat.

4.  At the end of any day, if something like a forum making changes is the worst thing that is happening in my life, it would be a good day.  I really think that it's healthy for everyone to express what they are feeling.   Feelings do change, what we are reading are gut reactions .. some will be proven correct and some will be proven to be incorrect.

5.  P.S.  Do you still own the very 'cool' tee shirt that you are wearing in your avatar?

1.  I don't use any forum but this one.  I do like other things besides monsters - I'm just not very "social", never was.

2.  I don't think a ship model forum would care about their members also belonging to a hamster-fanciers forum.  No conflict there.

3.  I agree.  I get the same way about some changes.  (I get pretty irrational about some until I cool off and let my reason take control back from my emotions.)  I believe some other here may be a little like me.

4.  By all means, vent.  Have a good blow.  All disagree and argue.  Just remember we really are a family here.  We will all get through this, member and Administrators alike.  I'm sure minor tweaks will continue for a while into the future.   (It is impossible to build just one damn.)

5.  Wish I did.  If I had them, I would frame it and my Davy Crockett cap.  They were both as iconic of the time.

Personal Digression:
I stayed too long at the Saturday Matinee one week.  My mother sent my father down to the theater to fetch me.  He asked her what I was wearing.  She told him a striped shirt (the "T" was understood, it was the only kind of shirt I wore).  He returned empty-handed and foul-tempered.  "Every damn kid in there was wearing a striped shirt!"  She told him to go back and look in the middle seat of the first row.   That did the trick.

[Flower]

Thank you for making the 'links' and membership issue or non-issue clear.  I've been on forums where it was strictly forbidden to post links to other forums of any kind and people freaked if you were PMing other members about a new forum that you found.

This would or might be a concern to someone who was considering opening another forum or moving to another forum.

I think that the admins here are very good about putting their cards on the table and addressing issues with the changes.

While I have none at the moment, it's possible that other concerns/questions will pop up.

Two more cents ... While I have no idea if I'm leaving, staying, changing my posting habits .. I find it best just to just fade away if I don't like the changes, saying nothing on the open forum and then it would be easy if I wished to return .. We all have to make our own way.

[Hepcat]

I'll spare everyone my amateur "common sense" psychoanalysis of you and your motives and raison d'etre.

Oh I have my flaws.

Well, that's interesting and I suppose there is a little bit of truth in that, along with a lot of malarkey.

One of those flaws would be verbosity. The longer the post, the more the malarkey. The law of averages always wins out in the end.



If it ain't broke though, don't fix it. That's why the pending change so bewilders me.

[Flower]

Adam,

Thanks for the matinee story .. 

When I had a 'fake' coon tail on my bike, someone started spreading rumors that they carried or had fleas.  How could something not alive and  that never was alive be host to fleas is beyond me but all the New York dads made their kids toss out the coon tails from their bikes.  I'm sure that the rumor included caps too

PS .. People are strange and you might never know of a forum's quirks until you come across one or break one.

[Monsters For Sale]

Two more cents ... While I have no idea if I'm leaving, staying, changing my posting habits .. I find it best just to just fade away...

Spoken like a true "old soldier" of the Universal Monster Army.

[Hepcat]

I'll spare everyone my amateur "common sense" psychoanalysis of you and your motives and raison d'etre.

And of course you already made your thoughts on that subject very clear to me in an email some three years ago. Nothing of course that I hadn't already heard from others since late in high school. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose....

[Dr.Cyclops]

I understand the Admins/hardcore monster fans desire to keep it strictly "Monsters", hence the name of the forum.I also have noticed how few monster posts are made,so I'm assuming that this is the primary cause of the Admin's decision.What I don't understand is the reason for deletions of threads/posts.I think it would be very sad to have any of Unknown Primate's posts deleted for example.  I loved to come here and see all the non-monster collections/toys etc from my youth,and I would miss checking them out.I think hepcat made a great point:why not lock the offending threads for the time being to see how things go as opposed to deleting everything.There are so many great informational threads/posts in here that it would truly be a crime if we deleted them forever (Future members might have learned a thing or two in say 20 years)
I really feel like we're all tottering on a  double edged sword here.Though you might get more hardcore monsterfans in the long run (though our generation is getting long in the tooth) it might also cause some members to leave.(though I hope not)

As a newish member, I can only say from my own perspective:The "monsters" are what initially brought me to the UMA,but the neat threads and posts by the likes of hepcat/zombiehorror/redking/flower and countless others are what kept me coming back.

X Dr.Cyclops

[poseablemonster]

If it ain't broke though, don't fix it. That's why the pending change so bewilders me.

I think this is exactly where we differ, and one of the biggest reasons why we have come to the decision to make these changes.  As Bobby has stated, we have veered away from the real reason for this forum, and this is an attempt to get back to our roots. 

You are correct in the assessment that most of the mods/admin do not post very often.  I can only speak for myself, but I rarely post because I'm not much interested in what is being posted about at this point.  Most of it has little to do with the monster toys and films that attracted me to this group in the first place. 

You are wrong in your assessment that this is about our egos and the need to have this board reflect "us" rather than the more frequent posting members.  I couldn't care less about that.  This group should reflect a love for monster movies, monster toys and such; and above all it should move beyond the petty squabbling that we have had to monitor on a daily basis.  By removing those off-topic forums, we hope to re-establish the focus of the group. 

[RedKing]

I just happened to see this this mornign befroe I had to head out to work. I'm not really sure how I feel about it-as a longtime member I definitely thinkl of the UMA as an online family and really care about everyone here, so I do enjoythe off topic threads. However I can understand where the mods are coming from. Regardless, I will not be leaving . Before I came to nthe UMA in 2008 or 09, I closed outr another forum-Xenorama-that I was a hugely active member of for years. Xeno was the only other board like UMA I have ever been on, where it was always cordial and friendly, no flaming, etc. For whatever reason the Xeno board just kind of died a slow death and eventually the inactivity there sent me looking for a new home, and I was overjoyed at finding the UMA and will stay to the end.

[Count_Zirock]

I understand the Admins/hardcore monster fans desire to keep it strictly "Monsters", hence the name of the forum. I also have noticed how few monster posts are made,so I'm assuming that this is the primary cause of the Admin's decision. What I don't understand is the reason for deletions of threads/posts. I think it would be very sad to have any of Unknown Primate's posts deleted for example.  I loved to come here and see all the non-monster collections/toys etc from my youth, and I would miss checking them out. I think hepcat made a great point: why not lock the offending threads for the time being to see how things go as opposed to deleting everything. There are so many great informational threads/posts in here that it would truly be a crime if we deleted them forever (Future members might have learned a thing or two in say 20 years)
I really feel like we're all tottering on a  double edged sword here. Though you might get more hardcore monster fans in the long run (though our generation is getting long in the tooth) it might also cause some members to leave. (though I hope not)

As a newish member, I can only say from my own perspective: The "monsters" are what initially brought me to the UMA, but the neat threads and posts by the likes of hepcat/zombiehorror/redking/flower and countless others are what kept me coming back.X Dr.Cyclops

I, too, came for the monsters, but stayed for the community. It was that feeling of closeness that appealed to me most. And, I hope posts by other fallen members, such as Uncula and Meek, can be preserved. Unknown Primate's last post was in a music thread, after all.

The decision has been made, it's happening, and we'll just have to see where it takes us. A couple of members who have already left seemed like they were planning to leave, anyway. (One told me as much in a PM.) I appreciate the chance to voice our opinions on it, even though they won't influence the decision. But, at plenty of other boards, changes are made with no announcements of any kind, and if you don't like it, p*ss off.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk

[Toy Ranch]

Several have posted about wanting to preserve the posts of our fallen comrades. That's exactly why we are saving General Discussion as read-only, and why we have asked for links to threads that should be preserved. I wasn't aware that UP's last post was in Music, and I don't know where it is, but post a link to the thread and let us know and we'll definitely save it!

[Street Worm]

So are Finks, Weird-Ohs &  Flypoggers monsters? 

[Hepcat]

They were all classified as non-monsters by the powers that be and moved from the Vintage Monster Toys to the Vintage Non-Monster Toys when the latter forum was created just over two years ago. The "What comics do you collect?" thread was also moved from Memorable Memorabilia to the Vintage Non-Monster Toys forum at the time.