This came in the eMail box today.Hi fellow MBI bloggers.
MBI is brain dead, and I'm pulling the plug. It had started quite well a few years ago, but it's dead in the water. Even the topic I posted a few months ago if we should continue had a few responses and views. 80% of the members never even showed up at the forum, nor participated in the awards process.
Many people offered to help Richard with the PHP side of the site, but none actually did anything, except Ken in China.
MBi was initially started to become an industry award, but even that caused more problems last year than what it was worth. Since MBI costs money to run and maintain, time & effort, it doesn't make sense to continue with 5 or 6 people contributing to MBI.
The main site itself has not been operational for a while, and not one person has come forward and let us know. I know that we're all very busy, and the MBI is just another of the many forums we participate in.
So thanks to the original founding team for all your efforts. Richard, our gratitude can never be enough for all the programming efforts, getting a complicated awards program working. Ken, thanks for lending Richard a hand. Cecilie, thanks for administering the awards program.
I'll stop the payment for the domains, so when they finish, there shouldn't be any sign of MBI left...
Have fun on your bikes, and maybe hope to see you at some event in the future.
Have fun, stay safe.
Mike
MBI and its quirky motorcycle awards will be no more. It's no surprise to me. I don't know why others failed to participate but for me, I suffer from online overload. We all prioritize our time and energies, and some things don't make the cut. It's not a reflection on the concept or quality of MBI, but I think we tend to do self serving things first, like maintaining our own blogs, or riding; for me I've been spending more time on non riding activities, such as photography.
MBI had a fun run, we enjoyed it while it was here. Thank to the folks who put the energy in, I met several new riders via MBI. But I'll still see them around, it's a small community. We hang out on forums, Flickr, Smugmug, ADV, Blogger...oh yeah, and the roads of the world!
3 comments:
Although I found the yearly awards to be fun, I personally stopped hanging out at MBI because I didn't like the attitude of the powers that be... Seems everytime I got an email from MBI, it was to criticize me for not participating enough, or not taking "our goal" seriously enough. Emails with titles like "If you're not gonna vote, why join?" stating things like "for motorcycle bloggers like us, it might be vital for the future to have a full support by the industry". C'mon, aren't we taking ourselves just a little too seriously?
Sorry, but I got issues with authority - just ask my boss ;-) Besides - like you said - there are plenty of other places online and on the road where we can hang-out.
Cheers,
Lucky
Second that. The first time I got a scolding email from Mike is the last time I flew his graphic on my blog.
I was slightly intimidated by the advisories which accompanied the MBI registration form. I applied, was accepted, and never activated the resulting membership. Heavily oriented toward BMWs and humor, my blog does not appeal to everyone. Four of my features have appeared in the MOA's Owners News, yet I was still reluctant to actively participate with the MBI guys. Still, I'm sorry to see this group fold.
Your comment about fulfilling personal riding and writing objectives was spot on. I find it takes two hours a day to read all the motorcycle stuff I want. And there are times when it is two hours I don't have.
Fondest regards,
Jack Riepe
Twisted Roads
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