Due to OMG levels of response, I am keeping the forum open . Wow, thanks for the many emails and chats!

[Cruizin]

I have enlisted a fellow forum guru to help with this and my other forums. I'm not one to turn management of back end or my code over to anyone that I do not personally know and as you know it, there aren't exactly a lot of low pay forum gurus out there. 

 

Had an offer to sell to a company that wanted to charge for access to the Tech tips section. Yeah, seriously and yes, it would fail miserably.

I thought I could shut em down and free up 15-20 hours a week of my life, I do have a 50-60 hour a week day job already. This was the only thing driving this shutdown. 

 

I built these forums for Yamaha bikes that I have owned and mostly sold by now. I knew that I could create a killer tech tips section for the FZ/MT-07, Tracer 900/FJ09, MT10 and T-7. Then some amazing vendors came on and my forums became the place to get accurate tech DIY info for each one one of those Yamaha bikes. I had less hours to work back then. I was going to make it my full time job and then wham, Facebook opened up "Groups" and forums like mine went from 2-4K people on the website at any given time to only 60-120. There went those adsense dollars and affiliate revenue  numbers that I built with Klim and Revzilla. I kept the forum software updated and managed above industry standards, but lost ability to hire staff. While you are riding, I'm fixing stuff that updates do to the code ea week. Blah blah boring but time consuming stuff. 

 

Forums and tech tips will stay free, but to keep doing this right and secure, I will be opening a "VOLUNTARY" contributing member program and will allow some perks. Again, completely voluntary. 

 

Im sorry to the people who felt personally hurt that the forum went down. It is a lot of info, as Cory from @Camel ADV reminded me, there is a ton of knowledge on this forum. It was you that created it and I apologize for taking it down. Wasn't out of anger, it was matter of my time and the fact that a website no matter how well built, the moment you stop updating, it goes to hell fast both code and then usability. 

 

I'm paying for staff now as well as the software/hosting, so please consider whitelisting us in your adblocker settings. Or not.

 

If I sell the forums, it will be because I totally believe in the future owner. And, they made me one heck of an offer.  I have literally thousands of hours invested. If we can find more ways to increase revenue to pay for staff, I will ensure that they continue to not get in the way we use the forum.  We are back, and I have help. Ok, now Im going to fucking sleep. lol Cus me out below, I'll read it when I wake up.  I deserve it.

[Tenerider]

YMMD!

Thanks mate, you are legend.

 

Jan

[Boyca]

Awesome news!

[Canzvt]

Dude! Keep up the GREAT work! Feels better than going to a family reunion (as I like it here). I've financially supported most if not all of your sponsors with my dollars, and will continue to do so until I run out of things to buy for my bike. Happy Cory could influence you to keep it going.

[UtahJack]

Glad to see it back up, slowly my withdrawals are subsiding. 

 

Thanks, Cruzin your diligent work is apricated.

[Hibobb]

I had blamed the Russians for our loss....

[Adrenolin]

Glad you decided to keep it open.

 

[Stevoh]

I had no idea Cruzin, just took it for granted the forum would be there, extremely glad you brought it back, I can't believe how often I consult this forum for information, it sure was a strange empty feeling  when it was gone!!

[TeabagInsurance]

Awesome! Thanks so much!

[prowlnS10]

Thank you Cruzin & associates for providing an amazing depository & resource of all things Tenere 700 & your other Yamaha related forums! Many of us just take it for granted & fail to realize that somewhere someone(s) has dedicated time, resources & expertise to create & maintain this valuable resource & community & welcome the opportunity to support it via the contributing member program.  How would we contribute?

Edited February 26, 2022 by prowlnS10

[kainic]

Excellent news. More than willing to contribute! Tell me how.

[Simmons1]

Thank you so much for turning the forum back on! 

 

We really appreciate you doing this.

[jdub53]

It's easy to take a great site like this with its wealth of shared knowledge and community of members for granted - until it's gone. 

 

Thanks for reopening it @Cruizin, and I'm also willing to contribute in some manner (time and/or money) if it'll help.

[smurph]

Thank you so much for your hard work, Cruizin. A lot of my best friends all met because of a vstrom website back in the 2000's. You've done an amazing job with this site and I was truly saddened to see it down the other day. I'm glad you're back up and will do what I can to support it's growth forward. Cheers! 

[Wintersdark]

@Cruizin - Any non-American-centric T7 merch?  I'd happily grab a t-shirt/hoody/what have you.  I'm a member of the Tracer 900 forums as well, and the only reason I've not leaned into merch there is it's pretty "flaggy". 

 

Likewise, more contribution options would help a lot so people can contribute less in a go.  I get less is less; but it's still more than nothing, right?   

 

 

[williestreet]

There is no need to apologize for anything.

This is your forum, your hard work and you can do as you wish.

 

I am glad to see it alive again as there is a wealth of info on here that will be missed when lost.

It sucks that the facebook forums hurt you site because overall they are garbage and of little use 24 hours after any info is posted. 

 

Hope you get things sorted and are able to find an answer that works for you.  Hopefully you can find a buyer that works for you and you can get some personal time back. 

 

All I can add is thank you for building the forum and all the hard work that went into it.  

[AZJW]

Outstanding!   Very pleasantly surprised to see the forum back online.  I'll continue to be helping behind the scenes as before and the wife even thanks you.  She was stressing what to do with me on non rideable days!  Problem solved!  

[hobie_angler]

i freaked out! then saw your post on reddit! thank you for putting efforts to bring it back 

Edited February 26, 2022 by hobie_angler

[Boondocker]

I'm probably in good company when I confess ignorance about how much time, money and dedication it takes to run an excellent forum like this. I assumed the outage was some technical glitch - so thank you for offering a glimpse into what we users take for granted. Moreover, thank you for getting tenere700.net back online.

 

I'd like to get in the line of people who want to help, offering more time than money and a wee bit of systems software experience.

[TTIan]

So pleased your keeping this going, thank you.

[tenerecanada]

Hell. Yes. Rob.

 

Cheers pal!

[thepointchris]

Great news! Everything good has been said above, so +1

Thanks gor giving it another go @Cruizin

[sethwaterfall]

Thanks for bringing it back! 

[Jollyman]

100% agree with all the sentiments!  I’m just thrilled the site is back up! 

[itukusaes]

Thank you, really. Happy to contribute, pm me if useful/needed.