Is this the same KnightMB that sold us out?

[neptronix]

You are going to change our name? What for? According to a website worth calculator ES is worth $75,000. Would a name change cause this value to drop?

Me and Justin aren't concerned with the monetary value of endless-sphere.com. That's a figure that is used to calculate advertisement worth and we do not advertise. We see that the value of this place is the community itself. Our question of 'are we doing a good job of running this' is answered by 'how much innovation and cooperation is going on here?'.

If we do a name change ( very likely ), there will be an extensive forwarding system so that we can maintain our SEO position in google, and links from other web pages. Our value may dip monetarily but it will return eventually. This forwarding system will exist for at least 5 years, maybe perpetually.

Endless Sphere was never a good ebike forum name and if we are creating what will basically be endless sphere 2.0, it deserves a name that is easy to remember and tell others about.

 

[nicobie]

Oh well, I liked it. But change is OK too.

The only thing I didn't like about it was that it rhymes with fear. People always thought I was saying "endless fear".

Are we going to have a name changing contest, or has the new name already been picked?

If it's none of my business, just tell me so. :wink: No worries!

I'm happy we are not staying static. However, I would like to see a small income stream established to help with the expenses and maybe have a little extra for you admins and mods. Advertising income would be awkward, especially with Justin being the owner. I'm thinking something entirely voluntary, but there are plenty of other options.

Carry on...

 

[neptronix]

I've told TONS of people about ES and i would bet that a good fraction of them typed 'fear' into their browser and got lost..
..or the name was so weird it didn't stick.

When we had the ownership shakeup happen i bought several juicy ebike forum names and Justin is cybersquatting on a few too. Haven't started on the decision process yet. So i refer to the new site as ES 2.0 for now.

I hate the idea of changing the name because we have such great name recognition, but this thing has lasted 14 years and we are thinking of what's best for the next 10 years, as ebikes are not done evolving and we want to remain at the forefront of that. That is why this plan is really big.

As for money, we are absolutely good on that, but i like the idea of a backup plan. But we do have some resiliency already.

Me and Justin are both business owners and capable/willing of financially supporting ES operations.
I am also a ninja at optimizing operational costs and project management because i do that for my IT business naturally. So i have kept ES very cheap to run and ES 2.0 will have higher operational costs but will still be relatively cheap.

For paying moderators or generating a rainy day fund, i think a virtual tip jar ( patreon? ) and ES 2.0 sticker/shirt/swag sales ( a cut would be given to the designer of such swag, so everyone wins ) would be cool if the community wants to give back.

If the community gets used to giving back then if we ever have a black swan event with funding then everyone would already be in the mindset to keep doing so, but just a bit more. I think that would afford us the kind of resiliency we'd like.

 

[nicobie]

For paying moderators or generating a rainy day fund, i think a virtual tip jar ( patreon? ) and ES 2.0 sticker/shirt/swag sales ( a cut would be given to the designer of such swag, so everyone wins ) would be cool if the community wants to give back.

If the community gets used to giving back then if we ever have a black swan event with funding then everyone would already be in the mindset to keep doing so, but just a bit more. I think that would afford us the kind of resiliency we'd like.

Yes, that sounds good. Run it kind of like a non profit then? I don't think any one person should have to shoulder the whole burden.

 

[larsb]

It’s a really good name. A bit mystic, environmental, makes you curious. I know that us scandinavians are generally better than americans at english but i never found the name hard

My point is: It won’t be easy to find a better name that doesn’t leave a sour taste in comparison. Don’t change!

 

[amberwolf]

Well, Iv'e had the same problem with people being unable to understand the name--pretty much everybody thinks it's "endless fear", even if I tell them "sphere like a ball", and cant' find the site. Heck, even the people reading the sticker on the side of the trike (or back of the trailer, or side of the bike), with the actual full URL, don't seem to be able to find the forum with it unless they take a picture. :/

Whether or not the actual forum name changes, and regardless of which domain it's actually hosted on, I would recommend using all the "reserved" domain names y'all have as redirects to the forum. And I mean *all* of them--that way you get even more traffic to it, and it's much easier for poeple to send other people here.

 

[neptronix]

Yes, that sounds good. Run it kind of like a non profit then? I don't think any one person should have to shoulder the whole burden.

That's how i wanted to structure ES 2.0, but Justin made it clear he's happy to pay for everything.

Whether or not the actual forum name changes, and regardless of which domain it's actually hosted on, I would recommend using all the "reserved" domain names y'all have as redirects to the forum. And I mean *all* of them--that way you get even more traffic to it, and it's much easier for poeple to send other people here.

Ah, you'd not know the folly of that because you are not a current webmaster.
This requires the maintenance of multiple SSL certificates, apache host entries, and dilutes your SEO rankings on google, etc. Generally, people no longer type a URL into google, they just search..

Directing a bunch of domain names to one place was a good tactic in the 90's and 2000's... but bites you today.

 

[The fingers]

I just typed ebike in the search bar and got a bunch of commercials.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ebike&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#ip=1
Nothing for the enthusiast or DIY hobbyist. Just buy buy buy, sell sell sell.

 

[nicobie]

I just typed ebike in the search bar and got a bunch of commercials.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ebike&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#ip=1
Nothing for the enthusiast or DIY hobbyist. Just buy buy buy, sell sell sell.

Try typing "ebike forums". We're the 4th listed.

Not too bad.

 

[neptronix]

Sad that we're fourth, probably has to do with the bad SEO features of phpbb. Yet another reason we're changing our format.
'endless sphere' is the least appealing name on that list but has a high position due to it's clout only.

I can't wait to crack the seal on that new forum software.

 

[nicobie]

I can't wait to crack the seal on that new forum software.

 

[marty]

I just typed ebike in the search bar and got a bunch of commercials.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ebike&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#ip=1
Nothing for the enthusiast or DIY hobbyist. Just buy buy buy, sell sell sell.

Try typing "ebike forums". We're the 4th listed.

Not too bad.

Not so long ago I could go to http://www.betterwhois.com/ or the Domain name registrar for that name and see contact information for the owner. Now I am not seeing that.

Think ebikeforum.com might be the best name for a ebike forum. I like short names. electricbicycleforum.com is kind of long. Important that the domain name is the same as what the forum is about so that the search engine spiders know where to look when searching all the words on the internet. I know that because I used to be a spider in one of my past life's.

https://www.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?checkAvail=1&domainToCheck=ebikeforum.com
ebikeforum.com is available $3,499.00
NO don't click on the Buy it Now button

Go to the bottom of GoDaddy's home page. WHOIS

WHOIS Domain Lookup
Find out who owns a website.

At the bottom click on - [Contact Domain Holder] fill out the Domain Holder Contact Request Form and see if the owner of the domain name ebikeforum.com would like to negotiate?

Need something done? I bought the name MartyCanDoIt.com

Whoever owns the domain name, owns the forum and can do what they like with it. Notwithstanding a team of lawyers and contracts.

 

[Greendog]

Was wondering about the history of the site so this post informative so glad all turned out good in the end and thanks everybody making it work,
I don't think a change of the name be good though,
reasons given don't seem to warrant it enough in my opinion,
I know the name originally given to a tech company but ES seems to cross over perfectly for an EV forum,
I think would be hard to find a better one,
maybe in the spirit of community that exists on this forum we could vote ? :thumb:
By the way i would gladly drink my coffee from an Endless sphere mug, whilst proudly wearing my Endless sphere t shirt, (when are they available) :wink: think the front page image would look great on both,
but happy to be consulted on matters of fashion ,I am a well known trend setter,
Endless sphere works on many levels Endless sphere = immortal planet ,ecological, a commitment to the survival of our planet, which fossil fuel free travel is,
Endless sphere = an unlimited unrestricted platform and forum for discussion and debate,
Also to me evokes image of a solar recumbent with trailer endlessly circling the globe,
plus bikes are super spheric and circular lots of things round and going around,
Not a great fan of change my ASD (autistic spectrum disorder) very boring like that :? but expect lot others on here feel the same though,
besides if you can't find this forum and are typing in endless fear, you shouldn't be playing with electrics anyway, and this site probably not for you 8)
PS coming aware I maybe using ES to indulge my smiley addiction

 

[nicobie]

↟ You know, I agree ↟

Thanks for the post, it made me laugh.

Watch out for the 'smilies' they'll try to take over.

 

[larsb]

I don't think a change of the name be good though,
reasons given don't seem to warrant it enough in my opinion,
I know the name originally given to a tech company but ES seems to cross over perfectly for an EV forum,
I think would be hard to find a better one,
maybe in the spirit of community that exists on this forum we could vote ?
By the way i would gladly drink my coffee from an Endless sphere mug, whilst proudly wearing my Endless sphere t shirt, (when are they available) :wink: think the front page image would look great on both,
but happy to be consulted on matters of fashion ,I am a well known trend setter, index(6).jpg
Endless sphere works on many levels Endless sphere = immortal planet ,ecological, a commitment to the survival of our planet, which fossil fuel free travel is,
Endless sphere = an unlimited unrestricted plartform and forum for discussion and debate,
Also to me evokes image of a solar recumbent with trailer endlessly circling the globe,
plus bikes are super spheric and circular lots of things round and going around,
Not a great fan of change my ASD (autistic spectrum disorder) very boring like that :? but expect lot others on here feel the same though,
besides if you can't find this forum and are typing in endless fear, you shouldn't be playing with electrics anyway, and this site probably not for you 8)
PS coming aware I maybe using ES to indulge my smiley addiction

Cheers man, totally agree! 8)

 

[oatnet]

As someone who has been here since almost the beginning, I would be sad to see the name change, it just wouldn't be the same.

I'm more concerned with the integrity of our history than the site's value or search-engine ranking. When people google the names of components and builds, they are going to find the content here, because the content is here. Better to buy the site endless-fear and have it redirect to ES.

My 2 cents, YMMV

 

[bigmoose]

If my memory is correct member methods was knee deep into things when the "sell out" was going down. I think I remember him holding the "nuclear option" trigger... waiting for a decision not to sell to the monitizers. Would be nice to hear his memories on the subject too.