I bumped into Dan a month or so ago and he is so busy with his new family and had got so f*cked off by the hassle of eejits on the forum and constant threats of legal action that he was getting from people and dealers disgruntled at what others had said that he was adamant that he wouldn't open it up again. He might do something with it in the future but it won't be a forum he said.[/QUOTE] I can understand Dan giving up for his family, the problems that the site maybe brought him could have been overcome, eejits everywhere, but I tried to contact him to offer to buy/take over the site the first time he went off line, no reply. I think its a shame that all peeps contributions have been lost, had I known it was going off line then a lot of information I could have cut and copied for future use. I think he showed scant regard for all the users of the site and the closure could have been handled a little bit better, I wish him all the best but if he opens up the forum in the future I doubt I will use it, I like the way The Ducati Forum is going!!!
Like others, I checked Ducatisti daily for any changes , but, not to be, ah well, moved on to ducati.ms, OK, but not the same, then this site 'pops up' , just like coming home, well done Rob. It's good to see a lot of the old names turning up here too. It's a shame all that good info on ducatisti is gone, hopefully Dan may release it one day, we live in hope eh!
Call me cynical, but was it just coincidence that Ducatisti closed down JUST AFTER its founder had appeared in Fast Bikes magazine ? If Dan had problems then it's only fair that he stopped doing the site, but the way it was done - with no warning and little explanation - was not good. If it's not coming back then the current home page should be changed to state that... Nice to see that some of the more "colouful" characters from Ducatisti have appeared on here though
As i understand it, he had a more than a few offers to help both financially and time/moderator wise. All ignored without so much as a reply.
Well I was told that Dan was pretty annoyed that some ppl had allegedly tried hacking into Ducatisti after it had closed in order to access all the info that had been archived there......and then put out a notice to some saying we only had to ask him....well I emailed Dan, and never even got the common courtesy of a reply...and much as whenever I met Dan during his DD days he was a very nice guy.....to just pull the rug unannounced after a LOT of people had invested a lot of time ( and money in donations ! ) in posting useful technical information, I think, was an exceptionally shabby thing to do. And a smaller annoyance, but nonetheless a real PITA for everyone involved, was that it TOTALLY wrecked the traditional Secret Santa thing that had been going a number of years and to which Paivi put a lot of time and effort.....I was lucky, I managed to get mine sent out, but never received anything and I know that lots of others didnt either.........
And don't forget it was just after Jerry had his bikes stolen, and was using the forum to help his search for them.
I have looked for a donate button & did not find one ..I hope we don't have to break his arm to take some wonga!!!!!
Nice to see lots familiar faces here.....! - As a former moderator of Ducatisti - I can tell you that over the last 12 months Dan was around less and less, which is understandable with a new wife and a baby to enjoy. There was a lot trouble going on behind the scenes caused by a few people, and the same names kept cropping up - which to be honest was hacking us all off. We all did it for fun, and at times it absolutely wasn't.... so I can understand why Dan chose to pull the site. I will say that none of the Mod Team knew what Dan was planning (well not to my knowledge anyway) and we were as surprised as everyone else was to discover the site had been pulled. As others have said there was a huge amount of technical data on the site which it would have been great to access - I asked Dan to send me a number of technical threads which I'd posted as a word document - Im still waiting.........not to mention more personal stuff, like my Blog of the various WDW Trips and Road Trips which I Famosi Quattro have done - particularly gutted to lose these - as these were like my personal diary - it never occurred to me take a copy, as I never imagined it would disappear without warning.... The last conversation I had with Dan was at the end of Jan, when he said that the Site would be back, he just wasnt sure when, but they were in the throws of moving house.
This place has only been going for about a week but it already feels like it's "well established". - The last thing we need is for Dan to resurect the old site. There's only room for one (too much dilution) and this is now it.
I just want to say something on Dan's behalf. I did have a couple of PM's with Dan after he temporarily closed the site previously. I know how much the site meant to him and the loyalty he felt to us all (even though he did it for the love and not for any personal gain) but with a new wife and baby, his loyalties had to be to his family first, and I'd do the same in his situation. I'm guessing he didn't want to leave us all high and dry, why would he intentionally do that? It's fairly obvious that it was intended to be a temporary situation that's become permanent (or at least semi-permanent). I'm also guessing he's avoiding looking at the long list of requests for Ducatisti content that we'd all like to see again, and he also knows that if he makes a start, before you know it, he'll be sucked back into it again. I just think he's putting his family first for a change, and why not? But at least we're all here now (anyone taken a roll call?.... where's Paivi?)
I wouldn't go back if it came back now anyway. The site has become unreliable! Joined the ISC instead. At least you can have a laugh and a joke there.
Oh the downfall of Ducatisti was a great shame, however we have got some key peeps who we go riding with and they managed to get all details from our Ducatisi friends, then we kept in touch through email! everyone seems to be aware of this brand new Grapevine and all seem keen to join! So its back to the banter and little get togethers etc... Keep up the Good Work Rob Oh I suppose it would be a good Idea if Dan could let people know that Ducatisti has finished and will not be fired up again! But I would still like to thank him as I have got to know a fantastic group of people through that forum! Well Done Fella good luck to you and your Family
I have been bikeless as it has been at JHP over the winter but it came home this week. Mike and I are planning a short ride on Saturday just to check I can still remember how to ride(!) but he keeps insisting it's too far to head down to box hill Shame about the lost technical data and blogs but we have also lost the BIN TREAD! I'm sure however this forum will create it's own legionary threads in time. Suze
