EHW is enthusiast owned once again

[speed_demon]

Was thinking about this, we could even advertise that the site is owned and operated by a member of the community. Looking back I think @pioand @LabRat are the best possible guys that could have taken on the challenge of bringing the site back from the brink of death.

 

IMO we saved a piece of tech history and I am going to be happy to watch the site grow and progress into the future. I think we have a really great thing here and I hope we can bring some new members on board too and really get a growing community going again.

[UltraMega]

Was it not enthusiast owned before? I think E is an enthusiast...

 

 

I won't try to speak for E but just from my own observations, while E has mentioned he didn't have the time to really focus on the site as much as he wanted, the issue with sites like these is that Discord and apps like it are taking over. Even here, most of the member activity happens on Discord. 

 

Forums like this are simply fading away across the board. While I'd love to see this site succeed, I'm not sure what E could have done differently that would have really made a difference. 

[pio]

  On 17/01/2025 at 19:50, UltraMega said:

Was it not enthusiast owned before? I think E is an enthusiast...

 

 

I won't try to speak for E but just from my own observations, while E has mentioned he didn't have the time to really focus on the site as much as he wanted, the issue with sites like these is that Discord and apps like it are taking over. Even here, most of the member activity happens on Discord. 

 

Forums like this are simply fading away across the board. While I'd love to see this site succeed, I'm not sure what E could have done differently that would have really made a difference. 

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There's a very important aspect missing from EHW.  Something OCN has in spades.  We're trying to get that here.  Normal people.......

I think its possible to grow the site still.  There's still plenty of activity at other forums like LTT and TPU.  Why not EHW?

[Slaughtahouse]

  On 18/01/2025 at 00:21, pio said:

There's a very important aspect missing from EHW.  Something OCN has in spades.  We're trying to get that here.  Normal people.......

I think its possible to grow the site still.  There's still plenty of activity at other forums like LTT and TPU.  Why not EHW?

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It’s certainly possible. It really depends what the vision is for the site and how the owners want to get there.

 

I have some recommendations but they require spend. If that is of interest, send a PM. It’s the same info I passed on to E last year.

[Kaz]

A big part that made OCN great was the news.  Before it was purchased it was my go to site for tech news.  After the purchase news wasn't really a focus.

 

Now I am going elsewhere for news, but I think it's something that generates traffic and is worth talking about.

 

I remember talking to a guy who ran an offensive cybersecurity company.  Some of his more notable customers at the time were johnson and johnson and mcdonalds.

 

I was talking about intel's hardware speculating and how that was a serious liability with spectre/meltdown and zombie attacks.

 

He wasn't aware of the spectre/meltdown attacks.  That's the kind of cool news we used to have.

[UltraMega]

  On 18/01/2025 at 00:21, pio said:

I think its possible to grow the site still.  There's still plenty of activity at other forums like LTT and TPU.  Why not EHW?

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Those sites have full time paid staff. EHW does not so that's one big reason why. 

 

  On 18/01/2025 at 09:22, Kaz said:

A big part that made OCN great was the news.  Before it was purchased it was my go to site for tech news.  After the purchase news wasn't really a focus.

 

Now I am going elsewhere for news, but I think it's something that generates traffic and is worth talking about.

 

I remember talking to a guy who ran an offensive cybersecurity company.  Some of his more notable customers at the time were johnson and johnson and mcdonalds.

 

I was talking about intel's hardware speculating and how that was a serious liability with spectre/meltdown and zombie attacks.

 

He wasn't aware of the spectre/meltdown attacks.  That's the kind of cool news we used to have.

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It also used to be true that tech news was more obscure and spread out but now there are at least a dozen sites that are alway up to date on tech news. OCN filled a gap with the news that no longer exists.

 

With that said, I agree the news section is crucial here, which is why I've focused on posting news the whole time I've been here. Would be great to have more people consistently posting news. 

Edited January 18 by UltraMega

[pio]

  On 18/01/2025 at 15:45, UltraMega said:

Those sites have full time paid staff. EHW does not so that's one big reason why. 

 

 

It also used to be true that tech news was more obscure and spread out but now there are at least a dozen sites that are alway up to date on tech news. OCN filled a gap with the news that no longer exists.

 

With that said, I agree the news section is crucial here, which is why I've focused on posting news the whole time I've been here. Would be great to have more people consistently posting news. 

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Those were just examples.   OCN didn't have paid staff when it was popular.  I agree with the rest of it though, I'd love to see more news being posted too.  It's definitely appreciated.  There's a lot of tech news I end up getting only here because you guys post it.

[UltraMega]

  On 18/01/2025 at 15:53, pio said:

Those were just examples.   OCN didn't have paid staff when it was popular.  I agree with the rest of it though, I'd love to see more news being posted too.  It's definitely appreciated.  There's a lot of tech news I end up getting only here because you guys post it.

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OCN did have paid staff back in the day. Not full time, but there were a few paid members. They even paid me a little at one point.

 

Not suggesting anyone here should be paid, just pointing out the differences. OCN is on life support at this point just coasting on the audience it built up before it went downhill, and the other sites are not dedicated forums only, and have full time paid staff, so there definitely are some major differences that set EHW apart from other sites that seems to be doing well.

 

 

[bonami2]

@UltraMega i agree with you news are the main thing that attracted me to ocn. Sadly am working too much currently to help you out. Sorry about it. 

[Miki]

  On 18/01/2025 at 15:45, UltraMega said:

Those sites have full time paid staff. EHW does not so that's one big reason why. 

 

It also used to be true that tech news was more obscure and spread out but now there are at least a dozen sites that are alway up to date on tech news. OCN filled a gap with the news that no longer exists.

 

With that said, I agree the news section is crucial here, which is why I've focused on posting news the whole time I've been here. Would be great to have more people consistently posting news. 

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You're absolutely right.

 

OCN used to be the place that pulled together news from all kinds of sources. I started out there mainly by finding interesting articles and sharing them in the news section—it felt like a giant news hub. Tbh, it was a lot of fun sharing the latest tech news. It was almost a competition, like, who could find the latest and greatest news to post first? XD

 

I still check in on OCN occasionally, but it's truly a shell of its former self. They could improve things by making the site feel more "alive," maybe by prominently displaying an active users list so you can see who's browsing in real time. But I digress. 

 

For EHW to succeed, it definitely needs a solid news section with active contributors posting updates with high-quality content. That kind of engagement takes time to build, though. 

 

 

  On 17/01/2025 at 19:50, UltraMega said:

Was it not enthusiast owned before? I think E is an enthusiast...

 

 

I won't try to speak for E but just from my own observations, while E has mentioned he didn't have the time to really focus on the site as much as he wanted, the issue with sites like these is that Discord and apps like it are taking over. Even here, most of the member activity happens on Discord. 

 

Forums like this are simply fading away across the board. While I'd love to see this site succeed, I'm not sure what E could have done differently that would have really made a difference. 

Expand  

 

Yes, he was, and still is, an enthusiast. That’s the whole reason this forum exists in the first place, right? People get busy, and life sometimes pushes us in different directions. The passions we have don’t just disappear, but they can start to feel like burdens when other obligations take over.

[pio]

  On 19/01/2025 at 21:19, Miki said:

 

You're absolutely right.

 

OCN used to be the place that pulled together news from all kinds of sources. I started out there mainly by finding interesting articles and sharing them in the news section—it felt like a giant news hub. Tbh, it was a lot of fun sharing the latest tech news. It was almost a competition, like, who could find the latest and greatest news to post first? XD

 

I still check in on OCN occasionally, but it's truly a shell of its former self. They could improve things by making the site feel more "alive," maybe by prominently displaying an active users list so you can see who's browsing in real time. But I digress. 

 

For EHW to succeed, it definitely needs a solid news section with active contributors posting updates with high-quality content. That kind of engagement takes time to build, though. 

 

 

 

Yes, he was, and still is, an enthusiast. That’s the whole reason this forum exists in the first place, right? People get busy, and life sometimes pushes us in different directions. The passions we have don’t just disappear, but they can start to feel like burdens when other obligations take over.

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Absolutely agreed on every point.  Maybe once the bumpy transition period is over we can figure out a way to start up some sort of news posting contest or something.  That'd be kind of fun!  

And also agreed about E.  E will be missed greatly as the site founder and original owner.  (Yes, we see the ribbon thingy, yes its on the to do list to fix as we're not founders ).  Honestly, I hope he still pops in and checks up on us from time to time even.  I'm pretty sure he's just gotten busy.  He absolutely was an enthusiast and still is.  Did ya'll see some of those later reviews he published?  Hot dang!

The site is STILL Enthusiast ran, I think we can spin it that way. 

And about the paid staff thing.  Who's to say that good work won't go unnoticed?  Help us make the site turn a profit, and the staff will see those profits.  Help us make it more profitable than that, the users will see those profits then somehow (in terms of prizes, giveaways, etc).  If the site makes money, the users will see it.  Full transparency (that we can legally and morally do).  I'm here not as the owner (I didn't buy the site, Labrat did).  Not saying we'll be offering like actual wages, but it all depends.  If the bills are paid and the site is running on its own, any profit from the site (specifically) is GOING back into the site.  (This is NOT any sort of confirmation, this is just what we are planning to HOPEFULLY accomplish in the future).  Of course right now the site's broke monetarily.  So there's nowhere to go but up from here. 

[UltraMega]

  On 19/01/2025 at 23:58, pio said:

Absolutely agreed on every point.  Maybe once the bumpy transition period is over we can figure out a way to start up some sort of news posting contest or something.  That'd be kind of fun!  

And also agreed about E.  E will be missed greatly as the site founder and original owner.  (Yes, we see the ribbon thingy, yes its on the to do list to fix as we're not founders ).  Honestly, I hope he still pops in and checks up on us from time to time even.  I'm pretty sure he's just gotten busy.  He absolutely was an enthusiast and still is.  Did ya'll see some of those later reviews he published?  Hot dang!

The site is STILL Enthusiast ran, I think we can spin it that way. 

And about the paid staff thing.  Who's to say that good work won't go unnoticed?  Help us make the site turn a profit, and the staff will see those profits.  Help us make it more profitable than that, the users will see those profits then somehow (in terms of prizes, giveaways, etc).  If the site makes money, the users will see it.  Full transparency (that we can legally and morally do).  I'm here not as the owner (I didn't buy the site, Labrat did).  Not saying we'll be offering like actual wages, but it all depends.  If the bills are paid and the site is running on its own, any profit from the site (specifically) is GOING back into the site.  (This is NOT any sort of confirmation, this is just what we are planning to HOPEFULLY accomplish in the future).  Of course right now the site's broke monetarily.  So there's nowhere to go but up from here. 

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I agree with everyone on their comments about the news section. 

 

But with that said, just a splash of cold water; even if everyone here was posting news actively, it wouldn't bring in new members. If you guys want this site to turn a profit, you're going to have to figure out a way to have a consistent flow of new members finding the site to begin with. As it is now, unless someone specifically recommends this site to a friend, I think EHW is basically invisible to any potential newcomers. 

 

Maybe find a small-ish and cost effective youtuber that you could pay for a few sponsored videos or something, and then focus on making sure there is enough content to retain some new users. As long as the userbase is this small and virtually no new users are coming in, profit is impossible. 

[pio]

  On 20/01/2025 at 01:23, UltraMega said:

 

I agree with everyone on their comments about the news section. 

 

But with that said, just a splash of cold water; even if everyone here was posting news actively, it wouldn't bring in new members. If you guys want this site to turn a profit, you're going to have to figure out a way to have a consistent flow of new members finding the site to begin with. As it is now, unless someone specifically recommends this site to a friend, I think EHW is basically invisible to any potential newcomers. 

 

Maybe find a small-ish and cost effective youtuber that you could pay for a few sponsored videos or something, and then focus on making sure there is enough content to retain some new users. As long as the userbase is this small and virtually no new users are coming in, profit is impossible. 

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Already handled.    I better not name drop yet, but I have a handful of youtubers at the ready.

[ENTERPRISE]

Funny reading some of the posts but as others have said, definitely still an enthusiast in lots of I.T aspects and not necessarily just tweaking and overclocking. Still love to tweak and play and actually really enjoy server and storage solutions the last few years. Really enjoyed building my TrueNas server more recently. 

 

So yes still just as enthusiastic about tech, but life goals are different now and community management no longer fits within my aspirations

 

Definitely good to have the site continued by fellow enthusiasts. It is important that owners of communities live and breath the same core goals. It lends to success no doubt. 

 

I will of course be popping my head in from time to time for some reading and help. 

 

 

[UltraMega]

Well, I was demoted. Figured it would happen. Grudges exist. 

 

I would have kept helping with news, but I'm just going to leave. Good bye. 

[pio]

  On 22/01/2025 at 17:27, UltraMega said:

Well, I was demoted. Figured it would happen. Grudges exist. 

 

I would have kept helping with news, but I'm just going to leave. Good bye. 

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Grudges have absolutely nothing to do with management's decisions to change staff a little bit.  As I mentioned to you in private, this was a coordinated decision from the new owner.  We have made several staffing changes already.  Really don't think public is the right place to address this, but since you wanted to go that way, fine.

We do regret that this is effecting you personally.  If you decide to leave the site based on a title like that, with new ownership, instead of trying to build a working relationship, that's up to you.  You're welcome to stay and hang out, like I mentioned in DM.  We'd love for you to see the progress we're planning for the site and brand.

Sorry to see you go mate.

[Fluxmaven]

  On 22/01/2025 at 17:27, UltraMega said:

Well, I was demoted. Figured it would happen. Grudges exist. 

 

I would have kept helping with news, but I'm just going to leave. Good bye. 

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This isn't an airport, no need to announce departures.