What is happening and why? Any explanations?
Just my 2¢, but the site will remain a valuable archive, and I for one will leave my few watches posted, and I'm sure I speak for many of us when I say I hope everyone will do the same. A lot of work has gone into this over the years, and it would be a shame if it unravelled completely, with pictures and files being removed.
In reply to Will we still have the option by Jim Townsend
You folks know about as much as I do now. More will be revealed. Don't know what will happen to PM's, but it may be a good opportunity for members to get any email addresses and information in PM's recorded elsewhere, as I think this function (PM'ing) would be moot and removed. If there is no login ability, how would one "check" their PM's? Make hay while the sun shines.... :)
In reply to Will we still have the option by Jim Townsend
So what will we be able to view/ Date codes and ads are going to be gone or still be able to be viewed And the data base what about that? all that information that was gained will it be gone to? I get the no more members thing will all the infomation still be here to view when needed? And for how long. And if Stephen closes the site completly all this will be lost to the world forever except him he will keep all our efforts and sweat and tears.
In reply to So what will we be able to by Jim Townsend
Jim The notice pretty much sums it up as I understand things.
- - - - - IMPORTANT NOTICES - 1 July 2012 - - - - -
In reply to Jim The notice pretty by William Smith
In reply to And of course, by bobbee
I have a forum set up at http://www.antiquebulova.com/forum/ . It does not have the functionality of myBulova.com as yet. If there is interest in posting your watches I will build out the database functionality. Feel free to drop by.
Jay
Hey All,
Stephen is not shutting down the site!, He has stated that he is removing alot of the disscussion functionality which has been a major source of grief for him. Jim, Bobbee, Darhin, yugioh, as for login capabilities, maybe that portion is to be restructured such the site is always open to anyone who cares to visit. No logging in, no acccounts, just access to the data base, no one know's right now.
No, None of the panel members saw this coming, we're all shell shocked!
The site will evolve, hopefully into something better. I'm sure Stephen still has a vision of what he wishes the site to be and do.
In reply to But we will no longer be able by Jim Townsend
Jim,
Right now this may be the intent but I don't think it's carved in stone at this point, it may be, but I would't take it as gospel until it happens. I think everyone is very willing to find useful alternatives to moving mybulova forward and helping Stephen to reduce the workload of running, and moderating the site. He has worked hard to build it up to where it is, he deserves our support to address some of the major concerns, and he deserves a break from all the BS that comes in some of the forums and watch discussions which become blown way out of proportion and way off topic of a subject watch. I for one am not going to throw in the towel and as I have stated, I'm soul searching for new idea's to help Stephen possibly re-structure the site so it may move forward in a very positive light without taking drastic measures. At the end of the day, Stephen runs the site, he makes the final decisions and we should try to encourage change we can all live with.
Regards Shawn
I think it is a good idea to exchange emails or those that feel comfortable can post them. I am a watchmaker in Niagara, and my business email is:
Standard Time
Watch and Clock Repair
I'm not sure this is such a bad thing. The biggest problem with the site was the members themselves and the disagreements and arguments over calling a watch a this or a that. Sometimes asking for opinions was helpful...but normally it wasn't. A lot of times there was no comment at all...and other times questions answered and debated ad nausium. In my opinion it's time the site evolved into something different....it couldn't last the way it is. It can still be just as valuable as resource fcenter or research then as a forum for overly opinionated people. Frankly, I applaud the change.
But for gods sake lets keep the feature that we can still post our watches. Just no more comments then no more bickering. It would be a shame to lose all this. And the many many vintage Bulovas that are still out there yet to be found and added for all to benifit from.
In reply to But for gods sake lets keep by Jim Townsend
In reply to Jim, how would you see this by mybulova_admin
Hello Stephen. First of all i would not give in to pressure. I would keep the database the adverts and the ability to ad new and yet found watches. Do away with the rating system no checks no stars. Let the people post the watch as they know it. If it is an unknown then so be it. The band /strap is a throw away they wear out and get replaced over time. This should have NEVER been a consideration on naming a watch. The watch itself speaks for itself. It is what it is and no strap/band will change this fact. I dont know but please i beg you not to give into this pressure. This person is out to see this fail and i belive will have alot to gain in having it implode. Keep the ads. the database date codes etc. Do away with the rating altogether. I feel the comment section was very needed so that we all could express our own opinion on a watch and all work together to find the real and true name for any given watch.
God will guied you Stephen in what is best for you to do. I know you have strugglrd long and hard to find the answers you seek. Go with your heart and all will be good. You are a good man that took the efferot to get this site up and running and now it is known all over the wotld as the premier site with a wealth of Bulova knowledge and history.
Judy and i send our love and our prayers and will stand by you 100% in what ever become of this site.
This was a fairly "good" site when I first joined however it went downhill quickly... Site admin. is weak and allows way too much guesswork by certain opinionated members. This site also promotes a PM (private messaging) section that is anything but PRIVATE !! I personally have had "private conversations" with other members deleted, and not... by me. The basis of this site is great in theory but piss poor in execution!!! IMO
05/05/2012 UPDATE
I've been watching this site constantly over the past year and can honestly report that it's even worse than I first reported! Site owner is such a spineless wimp. He has allowed a small number of members basically "take over" and BULLY the more knowledgeable members off the site. Arguments abound, name calling is the norm and the database has been "highjacked" to the point of absurd! Admin. recently announced that he was so "fed up" that he was going to sell the site, which in my opinion, would have been the best thing he probably could have done! Didn't happen, shame. Now he says that he's going to "PURGE" the membership roster of over 2500 members to only members that have logged in within the past year? What a YUTZ, now his membership will drop down to less than 25 based on my calculations, reason being that the other 2475 members got tired of the Bull*^+t and just stopped participating. Again, WHAT A YUTZ!
6/21/2012 UPDATE
Well it's pretty much as I predicted, this site owner has literally "Killed" his own site. The valuable and knowledgeable members have all left this site. A few have launched their own sites, the ones that are left are the ones who created all the controversy to begin with. Now, instead of true investigations, trying to re-build the Bulova watch history that was destroyed by careless Bulova management when they moved to their current headquarters, all this site promotes is speculation and guesswork.
It's been really sad to watch a website that had so much potential, literally be destroyed by weak and inept ownership. Especially when this same owner stated on numerous occasions that his main purpose was to establish a "friendly and courteous website" to re-create a timeline of history that was lost.
Finally, as a word of caution, One member in particular, {edited by Will Smith} who {edited by Will Smith}, was almost certainly the biggest trouble maker on this site, and should be given "SPECIAL RECOGNITION" for {edited by Will Smith} unwavering dedication to helping destroy this site.
UPDATE 07/01/2012
OFFICIALLY DEAD, ACCORDING TO SITE OWNER!!! AS OF JULY 4TH SITE WILL NO LONGER BE OPEN TO MEMBERSHIP, FORUMS, OR DISCUSSIONS OR EVALUATIONS.
Instead of taking a ProActive approach to saving what COULD have been a "Premier Watch Site" he let the "Inmates take over the asylum".
This will be a fine example, for decades to come, on how "NOT TO RUN A WEBSITE m
Is the back stabbing worm man enough to fess up who posted this and stuck the knife in Stephens back!
http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.mybulova.com
This was a fairly "good" site when I first joined however it went downhill quickly... Site admin. is weak and allows way too much guesswork by certain opinionated members. This site also promotes a PM (private messaging) section that is anything but PRIVATE !! I personally have had "private conversations" with other members deleted, and not... by me. The basis of this site is great in theory but piss poor in execution!!! IMO
05/05/2012 UPDATE
I've been watching this site constantly over the past year and can honestly report that it's even worse than I first reported! Site owner is such a spineless wimp. He has allowed a small number of members basically "take over" and BULLY the more knowledgeable members off the site. Arguments abound, name calling is the norm and the database has been "highjacked" to the point of absurd! Admin. recently announced that he was so "fed up" that he was going to sell the site, which in my opinion, would have been the best thing he probably could have done! Didn't happen, shame. Now he says that he's going to "PURGE" the membership roster of over 2500 members to only members that have logged in within the past year? What a YUTZ, now his membership will drop down to less than 25 based on my calculations, reason being that the other 2475 members got tired of the Bull*^+t and just stopped participating. Again, WHAT A YUTZ!
6/21/2012 UPDATE
Well it's pretty much as I predicted, this site owner has literally "Killed" his own site. The valuable and knowledgeable members have all left this site. A few have launched their own sites, the ones that are left are the ones who created all the controversy to begin with. Now, instead of true investigations, trying to re-build the Bulova watch history that was destroyed by careless Bulova management when they moved to their current headquarters, all this site promotes is speculation and guesswork.
It's been really sad to watch a website that had so much potential, literally be destroyed by weak and inept ownership. Especially when this same owner stated on numerous occasions that his main purpose was to establish a "friendly and courteous website" to re-create a timeline of history that was lost.
Finally, as a word of caution, One member in particular, "Fifth Avenue Restorations" who also sells on EBay under the same name, was almost certainly the biggest trouble maker on this site, and should be given "SPECIAL RECOGNITION" for his unwavering dedication to helping destroy this site.
UPDATE 07/01/2012
OFFICIALLY DEAD, ACCORDING TO SITE OWNER!!! AS OF JULY 4TH SITE WILL NO LONGER BE OPEN TO MEMBERSHIP, FORUMS, OR DISCUSSIONS OR EVALUATIONS.
Instead of taking a ProActive approach to saving what COULD have been a "Premier Watch Site" he let the "Inmates take over the asylum".
This will be a fine example, for decades to come, on how "NOT TO RUN A WEBSITE This was a fairly "good" site when I first joined however it went downhill quickly... Site admin. is weak and allows way too much guesswork by certain opinionated members. This site also promotes a PM (private messaging) section that is anything but PRIVATE !! I personally have had "private conversations" with other members deleted, and not... by me. The basis of this site is great in theory but piss poor in execution!!! IMO
05/05/2012 UPDATE
I've been watching this site constantly over the past year and can honestly report that it's even worse than I first reported! Site owner is such a spineless wimp. He has allowed a small number of members basically "take over" and BULLY the more knowledgeable members off the site. Arguments abound, name calling is the norm and the database has been "highjacked" to the point of absurd! Admin. recently announced that he was so "fed up" that he was going to sell the site, which in my opinion, would have been the best thing he probably could have done! Didn't happen, shame. Now he says that he's going to "PURGE" the membership roster of over 2500 members to only members that have logged in within the past year? What a YUTZ, now his membership will drop down to less than 25 based on my calculations, reason being that the other 2475 members got tired of the Bull*^+t and just stopped participating. Again, WHAT A YUTZ!
6/21/2012 UPDATE
Well it's pretty much as I predicted, this site owner has literally "Killed" his own site. The valuable and knowledgeable members have all left this site. A few have launched their own sites, the ones that are left are the ones who created all the controversy to begin with. Now, instead of true investigations, trying to re-build the Bulova watch history that was destroyed by careless Bulova management when they moved to their current headquarters, all this site promotes is speculation and guesswork.
It's been really sad to watch a website that had so much potential, literally be destroyed by weak and inept ownership. Especially when this same owner stated on numerous occasions that his main purpose was to establish a "friendly and courteous website" to re-create a timeline of history that was lost.
Finally, as a word of caution, One member in particular, "Fifth Avenue Restorations" who also sells on EBay under the same name, was almost certainly the biggest trouble maker on this site, and should be given "SPECIAL RECOGNITION" for his unwavering dedication to helping destroy this site.
UPDATE 07/01/2012
OFFICIALLY DEAD, ACCORDING TO SITE OWNER!!! AS OF JULY 4TH SITE WILL NO LONGER BE OPEN TO MEMBERSHIP, FORUMS, OR DISCUSSIONS OR EVALUATIONS.
Instead of taking a ProActive approach to saving what COULD have been a "Premier Watch Site" he let the "Inmates take over the asylum".
This will be a fine example, for decades to come, on how "NOT TO RUN A WEBSITE This was a fairly "good" site when I first joined however it went downhill quickly... Site admin. is weak and allows way too much guesswork by certain opinionated members. This site also promotes a PM (private messaging) section that is anything but PRIVATE !! I personally have had "private conversations" with other members deleted, and not... by me. The basis of this site is great in theory but piss poor in execution!!! IMO
05/05/2012 UPDATE
I've been watching this site constantly over the past year and can honestly report that it's even worse than I first reported! Site owner is such a spineless wimp. He has allowed a small number of members basically "take over" and BULLY the more knowledgeable members off the site. Arguments abound, name calling is the norm and the database has been "highjacked" to the point of absurd! Admin. recently announced that he was so "fed up" that he was going to sell the site, which in my opinion, would have been the best thing he probably could have done! Didn't happen, shame. Now he says that he's going to "PURGE" the membership roster of over 2500 members to only members that have logged in within the past year? What a YUTZ, now his membership will drop down to less than 25 based on my calculations, reason being that the other 2475 members got tired of the Bull*^+t and just stopped participating. Again, WHAT A YUTZ!
6/21/2012 UPDATE
Well it's pretty much as I predicted, this site owner has literally "Killed" his own site. The valuable and knowledgeable members have all left this site. A few have launched their own sites, the ones that are left are the ones who created all the controversy to begin with. Now, instead of true investigations, trying to re-build the Bulova watch history that was destroyed by careless Bulova management when they moved to their current headquarters, all this site promotes is speculation and guesswork.
It's been really sad to watch a website that had so much potential, literally be destroyed by weak and inept ownership. Especially when this same owner stated on numerous occasions that his main purpose was to establish a "friendly and courteous website" to re-create a timeline of history that was lost.
Finally, as a word of caution, One member in particular, "Fifth Avenue Restorations" who also sells on EBay under the same name, was almost certainly the biggest trouble maker on this site, and should be given "SPECIAL RECOGNITION" for his unwavering dedication to helping destroy this site.
UPDATE 07/01/2012
OFFICIALLY DEAD, ACCORDING TO SITE OWNER!!! AS OF JULY 4TH SITE WILL NO LONGER BE OPEN TO MEMBERSHIP, FORUMS, OR DISCUSSIONS OR EVALUATIONS.
Instead of taking a ProActive approach to saving what COULD have been a "Premier Watch Site" he let the "Inmates take over the asylum".
This will be a fine example, for decades to come, on how "NOT TO RUN A WEBSITE
In reply to This was a fairly "good" site by Jim Townsend
FOR THE RECORD
No one (except me) has the ability to read or delete another persons Private Messages. PMs are stored directly in the sites database and can only be accessed through the site security policy which protects all content from prying eyes and change.
I can 100% guarantee every member of this site that I have never read or deleted anyones PM.
In reply to Only a guilty man would blame by Jim Townsend
Whoever made those comments is a very bitter and twisted person. There is no need for such a personal attack on Stephen, who has done so much to make this site the veritable fount of information it is. How can you be so crass as to denigrate someone who lets people bounce their ideas and opinions off of each other in the name of furthering knowledge? It takes a light hand to balance and control a delicate thing like this site, and for putting up with opinionated people like me, so I take my hat off to him.
To be BLUNT This dribble sounds alot like ***** and who more than **** had such an ax to grind with *****. Granted he can be a bit stressing at times but **** is a very knowing on Bulovas. I came to accept **** for who ***** was and moved on. Others like ***** could not and always would look to pick a fight. I feel **** did **** share of harm to this site as well. Dont blame one man for something that was a group thing.
Also i have never heard {edited by Will Smith} direspect Stephen in the way this poster has. I feel that the person who did this had alot and has alot to gain by this site going under. Any guesses who this might be? I think we all know who it is now dont we........
comment moderated by admin.
more moderation by Will Smith 2012-07-03
Hello Stephen. First of all i would not give in to pressure. I would keep the database the adverts and the ability to ad new and yet found watches. Do away with the rating system no checks no stars. Let the people post the watch as they know it. If it is an unknown then so be it. The band /strap is a throw away they wear out and get replaced over time. This should have NEVER been a consideration on naming a watch. The watch itself speaks for itself. It is what it is and no strap/band will change this fact. I dont know but please i beg you not to give into this pressure. This person is out to see this fail and i belive will have alot to gain in having it implode. Keep the ads. the database date codes etc. Do away with the rating altogether. I feel the comment section was very needed so that we all could express our own opinion on a watch and all work together to find the real and true name for any given watch.
God will guied you Stephen in what is best for you to do. I know you have strugglrd long and hard to find the answers you seek. Go with your heart and all will be good. You are a good man that took the efferot to get this site up and running and now it is known all over the wotld as the premier site with a wealth of Bulova knowledge and history.
Judy and i send our love and our prayers and will stand by you 100% in what ever become of this site.
Sorry guys but I don't want this to become a slinging match.
There is no evidence of who wrote the review and really no gain to be had by finger pointing. It is a great shame though that someone close to us is out there giving the site and myself a bad rap.
I'm not a company, nor a corporation, nor a group, I'm just me. I never set out to make this site the authoritative domain of vintage Boluva's, just a place where like mind collectors of this wonderful watch brand could come to freely discuss their passion and help both themselves and others learn more about these very cool vintage watches. I've said now for a while that the site has out grown me, but I still try each and every day that I can to do the right thing by the site and its members.
A forum is full of opinions...just like Shadow G has his/her single opinion, many more visitors to the site over the years have had theirs.....that's the nature of the game.
before this is taken down..i would like to say thanks to everyone who help this site and helped me along the way it both techincal info and bulova product info.it is sad that i site that was there at the being of my watchmaking carrer is now gone..what ever the reason..i can understand the owner not wanting to keep inside fighting going on...some post have gotten pretty mean and upsetting to alot of people..people don't want to come to a site and be insulted...people want to have a good time,not be told how they are always wrong.. but forget all that and remember all the knowledge taken and given to this wonderful site... Rev. Rob thank you for answering many of my questions on watchmaking i hope to email you,and still learn from you although i have gotten pretty advanced from help by you and others..and if i need to know something i look it up..take care everyone and thanks for everything..special thanks to stephen...i am glad that the data base will still be opened..as it is a great source of info,no matter what...
Anyone who frequents this site and knows Stephen can see this "Reviewer" has an ax to grind! To name names like he did with fifth is so unprofessional. I have been collecting for a little more than two years now and was lucky enough to find this site early on. It has been a huge part of my collecting experience. I have learned so much from the "opinionated" members of this site. Thank you Stephen, Jerin, Geoff Baker, Lisa, Mark and all the other members. I have never had any worries about anyone reading my Pm's or my privacy being violated by Stephen or anyone else. I wish the site wouldn't go but in the end Stephen you must do what is best for you. Like you said your just you not a corporation or company. The net is a great thing, unfortunately it also give any clown with a keyboard a voice.
Bob Bruno
First off let me say that i was wrong in accusing any one person for the post about Stephen. A few of us have emails from {edited by Will Smith}. I was aghast at the news that MyBulova was taking such drastic actions and out of anger i accused without proof. For that i will be sorry for a very long time. When i first joined this site i will be honest i came here to get information so that i could sell my watches and took alot of heat over that. But as time went on and i found more and more wonderful old Bulovas my motive changed to that of a collector.. And it became a passion of mine and will be from now on. Yes i sell bulovas but i do keep the ones i want and sell the others to buy more. That said i want to once again say to {edited by Will Smith} all of you i am sorry for my words they were said out of anger and hurt that this great site was imploding. I shall go away now and continue to search out these great old watches and wish you all a wonderful future.
Jim & Judy
In reply to First off let me say that i by Jim Townsend
Jim I edited your comment above. While I realize the intent of this post was an apology for your previous comments, by apologizing with a name, it none-the-less indicates who you previously "accused". While we will never know who the reviewer was- nor do we need to know- I feel it is important not to identify anyone, be they apologies for false accusations or comments made in anger. I applaud your intent of the comment! IMO- the only merit I see in this thread - the content of the review- is that it brings to light the types of things which can make site administration such a daunting task.