OTWA is Closing

[BellisimaJ.]

OTWA is shutting down:

First of all, let me say that any misunderstanding or issues over the last week have been totally my fault and responsibility. There has never been any 'formal' instructions for moderation here because for the most part its been so quiet, its something I thought about, but never did. So everything has been done 'off the cuff' with me as backup.

Many of the changes in OTWA that we bemoan, such as the creation of crossfire and the splitting of the forums multiple times were to save time in the areas that I could, such as moderation discussions, etc. I remember spending days on the 'latest argument' and just can't regret that thats not the case any longer. But its come at a cost, and that cost is that vibrancy is lost. A moderation argument used to garner at least 1000 posts , and its probably the most fun some folks have had in a long time (something to get passionate about).

In April, I had decided that I had to close OTWA. I would have even less time, and virtually no time this summer and I could not give users the time they deserve. I decided to wait until after eBay live, because I was hoping I'd get inspiration and ideas and it just didn't happen.

I see less and less need for OTWA; with the eBay boards and groups and blogs and other social networking sites, we just seem archaic and stale and I couldn't find anything, an iota of a reason for me to do this to you guys any longer. Our time has come, to just go quietly in to that good night.

I want you guys to post places to post together, open an ez board, eBay group etc. Please feel free to start threads about where to gather, etc...

I have a lot of people to thank for even having this opportunity to be here over the years and I'll make a special point of doing that over the next week.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

-Jim
(we'll post more details within this thread over the next week as well)
Reply With Quote

[allmusicsearch]

Ah, it must be summer! Jimtard has issued his 3rd annual Summer closing announcement.  He's early this year.  :

July 15, 2005: Bye Bye OTWA: Oldest OAI Forum to Shut Down July 31st
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...,37.0.html
August 27th, 2006: An Annual Summer Event: OTWA announces plans to close its Auction Marketplace
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...906.0.html

A quote from Mandy last year:

Timeline:
July 2005: OTWA announces plans to close its auction/classifieds marketplace
August 2006: OTWA announces plans to close its auction/classifieds marketplace
Summer 2007: ?  :twistedevil:

[BellisimaJ.]

[BellisimaJ.]

Um, he may be serious this time. There has been a big fight going on over there over mod policies, and he has been catching a lot of well-earned flack.



Edited to add:
Okay, you're probably right, lol.
Btw, I quoted your post on TCW.

[sneakymagenta]

[FiberGuy]

I've been a part of that community since '05 and used to really enjoy the banter, and still do, but on a more infrequent nature.  Unfortunately, many of the posters who I remember in my short time as a member have all but left, presumably permanently.

Also, many of the long-time regulars never seemed to welcome newbies into the community readily.  Outside of the textiles forum, I still felt like an "outsider"... a sort of "clique-ish" feeling.

Granted, I don't know all the details of what's happened with "crossfire" and the moderation as of late (I never really posted that much in crossfire because the talk just got too ugly), but I've never had a problem with how the site was ran.

I'm sad to see it go...

Cheers

[mandy]

[quote author=TulipTools link=topic=12170.msg57723#msg57723 date=1182346841]


A quote from Mandy last year:

Timeline:
July 2005: OTWA announces plans to close its auction/classifieds marketplace
August 2006: OTWA announces plans to close its auction/classifieds marketplace
Summer 2007: ?  :twistedevil:

[/quote]

I'm psychic. 

[FiberGuy]

I should mention that the closure (and the planned closure announcements) for the auction/classified marketplaces is irrelevant.  The auction/classified marketplace has been closed for some time (sort of replaced by the "stuff for sale" forum), whereas I believe the only time Jim announced to close OTWA as a whole, was mid-2005.

I may be mistaken about this, but one thing I'm sure of is that the OTWA forum and the OTWA marketplace are (or "were") two seperate entities.

Cheers

[amy]

He didn't give a closing date.

[FiberGuy]

[quote author=amy link=topic=12170.msg57756#msg57756 date=1182377388]
He didn't give a closing date.
[/quote]

I think it's coming this time, Amy.  It's my belief that OTWA has, more or less, been a thorn in Jim's side for some time.  It hasn't had the vibrancy (to use an ebay word!) that used to exist there for some time.  I doubt they're earning much advertising revenue, and much less, any member fees.  For the record, I am a paying member there.

One thing that I think hurt OTWA was it's primary focus on ebay, and that it didn't evolve into an e-commerce forum.  I can't think of ANY OAI forum that is still plugging away like they used to.  Sure, there was a forum for webmasters, but very few active posters.

I'm not saying Jim should have changed models completely, but I think if he would have put an emphasis on e-commerce (INCLUDING ebay and auctions), instead of an emphasis on ebay with a sidebar of e-commerce... well... who knows, right?  It's easy to be an armchair quarterback!

Cheers