Geekhack sold to—probably—ZealPC^WMassdrop

[chuckdee]

Why so? It was his last PM to iMav I guess. Never received a response?

That doesn't seem likely to me, after all iMav was responding normally and that's a serious question.
I generally don't trust PM screencaps from one side.

He just called him out, and bid less than the asking price. I think it's quite likely there was no response in the timeframe, if ever.

UPDATE: Someone asked Zeal the same thing... I see it was you, didn't see that before.

see you on the next forum.

I wonder what zeal could mean with that plus posting a single sided screencap of PM's ...

I never got a reply back. In fact, after iMav read the PM, he moved the OG thread to recycle bin, locked it, then moved it back. I don't see how that's a single sided ss.

[webwit]

Friendly reminder that we have a Geekhack refugee camp marketplace-f30/

Also I want to nominate this for the DT Ping award.

Reminds me of last year.
final-vote-f109/the-ping-award-t17814.html

[Superdoedoe]

Was this posted

https://imgur.com/7ssp2Ff

[Myoth]

yes I think so

[Elrick]

Isn't this whole post here ONLY to do with iMav and the future purchaser?

This is private matter between two individuals and we all have this constant sniping and suspicion which is now the norm in the United States.

iMav has put all his efforts to make Geehack such as it is and he might actually be worn out and bored of continuing this to his grave. Sometimes people have had enough and it's time to look for better opportunities elsewhere.

Because everyone is starting to act like emotional children always worrying about THEMSELVES, please have the decency to actually support iMav's decision instead of constantly attacking him. You lot didn't create, maintain and spend countless hours running it, so maybe it's time to be adult and more forgiving.

What ever iMav decides to do, everyone needs to respect it without doubt or suspicion because he is the ONLY one who has that right to choose his future destiny and not you lot, here on DT or on Geekhack.

Time for everyone to GROW the F*CK UP .

[kokokoy]

People were just disappointed that iMav mentioned that the first person to offer a 15k will get it regardless of other offers. Shortly an offer of 15k was made in public. I guess they thought that was a done deal. )

Guess iMav underestimated the power of $$$$.

[//gainsborough]

People were just disappointed that iMav mentioned that the first person to offer a 15k will get it regardless of other offers. Shortly an offer of 15k was made in public. I guess they thought that was a done deal. )

Guess iMav underestimated the power of $$$$.

Or underestimated the value of his website - an equally tragic mistake.

[kokokoy]

People were just disappointed that iMav mentioned that the first person to offer a 15k will get it regardless of other offers. Shortly an offer of 15k was made in public. I guess they thought that was a done deal. )

Guess iMav underestimated the power of $$$$.

Or underestimated the value of his website - an equally tragic mistake.

Ah your absolutely right. Guess he based it on the initial 10K offer.

[//gainsborough]

Isn't this whole post here ONLY to do with iMav and the future purchaser?

This is private matter between two individuals and we all have this constant sniping and suspicion which is now the norm in the United States.

iMav has put all his efforts to make Geehack such as it is and he might actually be worn out and bored of continuing this to his grave. Sometimes people have had enough and it's time to look for better opportunities elsewhere.

Because everyone is starting to act like emotional children always worrying about THEMSELVES, please have the decency to actually support iMav's decision instead of constantly attacking him. You lot didn't create, maintain and spend countless hours running it, so maybe it's time to be adult and more forgiving.

What ever iMav decides to do, everyone needs to respect it without doubt or suspicion because he is the ONLY one who has that right to choose his future destiny and not you lot, here on DT or on Geekhack.

Time for everyone to GROW the F*CK UP .

I would like to echo this point of view as well. Everyone seems to be quick at judging iMav in this situation, but it really is up to him. Additionally, hasn't he done a lot of the community by establishing a place of growth on GH? I'll admit I don't know a lot about the origins of GH, nor about any history of iMav, but if people really are happy with how GH is and want to preserve how it functions, then we really ought to be thanking iMav for creating such a culture in the first place.

[chuckdee]

Isn't this whole post here ONLY to do with iMav and the future purchaser?

This is private matter between two individuals and we all have this constant sniping and suspicion which is now the norm in the United States.

iMav has put all his efforts to make Geehack such as it is and he might actually be worn out and bored of continuing this to his grave. Sometimes people have had enough and it's time to look for better opportunities elsewhere.

Because everyone is starting to act like emotional children always worrying about THEMSELVES, please have the decency to actually support iMav's decision instead of constantly attacking him. You lot didn't create, maintain and spend countless hours running it, so maybe it's time to be adult and more forgiving.

What ever iMav decides to do, everyone needs to respect it without doubt or suspicion because he is the ONLY one who has that right to choose his future destiny and not you lot, here on DT or on Geekhack.

Time for everyone to GROW the F*CK UP .

I would like to echo this point of view as well. Everyone seems to be quick at judging iMav in this situation, but it really is up to him. Additionally, hasn't he done a lot of the community by establishing a place of growth on GH? I'll admit I don't know a lot about the origins of GH, nor about any history of iMav, but if people really are happy with how GH is and want to preserve how it functions, then we really ought to be thanking iMav for creating such a culture in the first place.

For the past few years, he's not been a presence at GH, merely popping up at times to dictate to his volunteer mods what needs to be done. He admittedly did a lot in the beginning, but these Mods have done more in recent years. It would seem that to respect that work, he would have talked to them first. But as you say, the reality is that it's his decision, no matter what happens.

[Wodan]

It remains a mystery to my why this whole deal was rushed so hard.

The only benefactor of rushing such a deal can be the buyer and i don't even see a potential fiscal explanation for a rush. Q2 has already ended, the month is just beginning so this couldn't have been a "gotta seal this deal in the first half of the year so huuuuuurryyyyyy"

[pr0ximity]

It remains a mystery to my why this whole deal was rushed so hard.

The only benefactor of rushing such a deal can be the buyer and i don't even see a potential fiscal explanation for a rush. Q2 has already ended, the month is just beginning so this couldn't have been a "gotta seal this deal in the first half of the year so huuuuuurryyyyyy"

I imagine iMav never realized selling GH would be a) so easy and b) so lucrative until someone made an offer out of the blue. Things spiraled quickly after that.

[davkol]

This is my main concern:

Wait isnt VericalScope a datamining company? So iMav just sold all of the personal information on this site to a data mining company? Wow he sold himself out and everyone on this forum.

Here's an account removal request thread.

[ramnes]

It remains a mystery to my why this whole deal was rushed so hard.

The only benefactor of rushing such a deal can be the buyer and i don't even see a potential fiscal explanation for a rush. Q2 has already ended, the month is just beginning so this couldn't have been a "gotta seal this deal in the first half of the year so huuuuuurryyyyyy"

I imagine iMav never realized selling GH would be a) so easy and b) so lucrative until someone made an offer out of the blue. Things spiraled quickly after that.

this

[Wodan]

It remains a mystery to my why this whole deal was rushed so hard.

The only benefactor of rushing such a deal can be the buyer and i don't even see a potential fiscal explanation for a rush. Q2 has already ended, the month is just beginning so this couldn't have been a "gotta seal this deal in the first half of the year so huuuuuurryyyyyy"

I imagine iMav never realized selling GH would be a) so easy and b) so lucrative until someone made an offer out of the blue. Things spiraled quickly after that.

Oh yeah I understand that ... it just wasn't a smart way to play this.

We've all been lowballing clueless noobs out of top-kek vintage keyboards, this is how it goes. Flash some surprisingly high numbers and then push to close the deal before someone else cash-blocks you

[AMongoose]

Was not expecting this outcome

[TuxKey]

I am a lot more worried about someone like ZealPC becoming the owner of GH than a large corp like Cherry or Coolermaster or even Matias.

These large corps have very little interest in messing with the community topics and probably mostly care for ad space and representation. They make <1% of their profits from the REAL enthusiast community represented on GH.

These small vendors like ZealPC and Mykeyboard.eu make almost their entire profit off of the community they are looking to purchase and their profits HEAVILY depend on the reputation of their "projects" and products in the community. Their detailed interest in community matters and discussions will be MUCH greater than that of a large corp.

I've seen other enthusiast communities owned by large community-focussed vendors and my experience was even without the vendors actively getting involved in the community, there will be a core of "loyal" members that are very dedicated to the site and community and inherently become protective of the vendor financing it all. To those people really dedicated to GH, once ZealPC owns the place ... hurting Zeal or his business somehow means hurting GH. It a natural process and I am pretty sure few core GH members will truely rise above that attitude. Don't bite the hand that feeds you ...

So yeah i am expecting the circle jerking evolving around Zeals absurdly overpriced products to spread and intensify. I don't trust people who are in this community to make money.

i totally agree with you Wodan. it's a natural fact of life the way we made it to be. like "jacque fresco" said one cannot be decent honest when money is involved.
anyone that has ever watched Zeitgeist knows what i mean.. if not please do so and you will understand that it's not that i or Wodan is negative but rather choose to accept life for what it is..
i have seen the same thing happen to a couple of audiophile sites (when i was in to audiophile gear).. the site will never be the same..Thank god for DT.. btw if DT needs an end of the year collection / donation to keep the lights running we are all willing i'm not that big of a keyboard nut.. haven't even assembled my first keyboard yet ahha... but i like the open honnet nature of this community .. and Wodan does a good job building and filming it..

here are the ZiteGeist youtube link these are the ones with Dutch subtitles you can find other ones without the subs..
i keep these links to give to fam and friends here in The Netherlands hahahah..

https://youtu.be/owibVD3WkrA
https://youtu.be/x5aUUFVRPtI
​

[Anakey]

and now it is revealed that Massdrop now own GH

[mike52787]

much better than the alternatives. I think this is a good thing for geekhack.

[davkol]

Massdrop? I'm out.

[AMongoose]

Massdrop? I'm out.

Yeah, zeal seems like a great idea now.

[webwit]

[AMongoose]

[JBert]

Nonono, it's official, they're going to discuss everything with The Community before changing anything.

If you encounter paywalls (whether paying with cash or your personal info) than that must have been the wish of The Community!

[XMIT]

I'm not fully at liberty to discuss the full details of some situations, so, please forgive me if I speak in vagaries.

Geekhack certainly had some, shall we say, competing offers. Massdrop was able to, most quickly, put together the most attractive offer that addressed the immediate needs of those in a position to make a deal.

Massdrop is certainly not the best nor the worst owner that could have come to pass. I'm conflicted with Massdrop: while their hearts seem to be in the right place, and I want them to succeed, their execution on so many fronts is so poor that it surpasses their good intentions. For some specific reasons related to my own dealings with Massdrop I would prefer to distance myself from their organization. Managing a community forum is 100% execution so they need to seriously up their game if they want to succeed here.

This is certainly a time of unrest within the GH community. I do wonder if we'll see any other forums appearing in the near future. With Massdrop running GH I'm less inclined than I was in the past to post there. (That's a real shame since I've met some truly delightful folks there.)

I'd like to bounce this back to webwit: please make sure that if DT finds itself in a similar situation - needing resources - that we have a longer time frame to determine next steps. With the dissolution of the DT club structure and sponsored memberships I'm worried that things are going in the wrong direction. (That, or perhaps DT's hosting costs are far less than I expect.)

[zslane]

Point of clarification: MassDrop plans to support GH financially, but has no interest in "running" it administratively (they are leaving that to the existing admins/mods). The cynics among you can call this a misleading lie on the part of Will Bright, but I'm taking a hopeful, if not optimistic, wait-and-see attitude rather than assuming the worst.

[webwit]

I'd like to bounce this back to webwit: please make sure that if DT finds itself in a similar situation - needing resources - that we have a longer time frame to determine next steps. With the dissolution of the DT club structure and sponsored memberships I'm worried that things are going in the wrong direction. (That, or perhaps DT's hosting costs are far less than I expect.)

Well, now you're reflecting iMav's choices upon me. This is the man who chose to remove all my posts on geekhack, and would have chosen to sell to VerticalScope if they weren't outbid. I never removed people's posts out of spite, and got the same offer from VerticalScope but gave them the finger. Club membership and other donations still cover for over two years of hosting and dta costs, so you don't have to worry for a while.

[XMIT]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Wait and see, sure, but for me, my posting to GH is minimal and this change of events makes me want to post there less.

Best case this is (sort of) like Linux: Mr. Torvalds and the foundation get a bunch of corporate cash but ultimately they're free to do what they want. Worst case it's like ImageShack: build trust for a decade, then pivot and leave a bunch of folks high and dry.

DT was the first keyboard forum I joined and I'll always be active here to some extent.

[XMIT]

I'd like to bounce this back to webwit: please make sure that if DT finds itself in a similar situation - needing resources - that we have a longer time frame to determine next steps. With the dissolution of the DT club structure and sponsored memberships I'm worried that things are going in the wrong direction. (That, or perhaps DT's hosting costs are far less than I expect.)

Well, now you're reflecting iMav's choices upon me. This is the man who chose to remove all my posts on geekhack, and would have chosen to sell to VerticalScope if they weren't outbid. I never removed people's posts out of spite, and got the same offer from VerticalScope but gave them the finger. Club membership and other donations still cover for over two years of hosting and dta costs, so you don't have to worry for a while.

Nah, you're good. You're AFAICT a die hard libertarian and that sits well with me. iMav, I've never met and never dealt with directly, so I can't say anything good or bad.

I'm saying, we've got a good thing here on DT, let's make sure we keep it going.

[webwit]

Keep in mind that I already took the initiative before to turn DT from private ownership into a club owned by the community, I gave away the "asset", and the only reason it was reversed years later, because getting help was hard and no one wanted to succeed me as the chairman, so this was easier. If the club would have worked, I would now be a retired admin and DT still owned and run by the community.