Has anyone heard from Mark?

Has anyone heard from Mark at all?

Cerwyn

I was thinking the same thing.
It appears to me that he seems to have given up.

Cerwyn, you have done a great job to get everything to where it is now, and I feel that this IS the new and improved forum!

Ozguns wrote:

I was thinking the same thing.
It appears to me that he seems to have given up.

Cerwyn, you have done a great job to get everything to where it is now, and I feel that this IS the new and improved forum!

I sincerely hope that Mark hasn't given up Dan, he set up his modelguns website and this forum long before I'd even heard of modelguns.
He's well known and respected in Japan judging by the numberof Links this site has on Japanese websites.
His approachability, willingness to help anyone and vast knowledge of the hobby and these guns forms the backbone of this site. Unlike many other sites, as we've all found at some stage or other, Mark's site always welcomed newcomers and never, ever, ridiculed anyone for asking questions. We all have to start somewhere and I owe Mark and this site a huge debt of gratitude for all I've learned. All of us as members have carried that ethos throughout, thankfully.
Members do come and go as circumstances and interests change of course. The VCRA here in the UK has definately hit membership hard for instance. Several names spring to mind that we haven't heard from in a long time... Phobus, Rizzo, Garyforce, Phil_D, where did Reemo and ChenKenichi from the US go? All really keen enthusiastic guys that can't be reached these days...

I find it difficult to believe that Mark would give up on this site and a hobby he clearly enjoys to the full. I hope he's ok, and that if he's reading this or if anyone manages to contact him, then please register Mark, your site is here, repaired as best as I can, ready for you to take the helm again.

I really appreciate your approval of the forums layout Dan, thank you very much. I would much prefer to see it with Mark back in charge though.

Cerwyn

I know what your saying Cerwyn.

It's just that I wonder why Mark hasn't come here, and I also wonder why the other 100 or more previous members haven't made it to these new forums either.
Even with the VCR rules, and all of us being treated virtually like criminals, we should all be able to still have fun with the hobby, but keep it confined to indoors.
Here in parts of Australia, I think it might be worse that that in the UK, but if we do the right thing, we can still possess model guns.

So what I'm getting at, why aren't these previous members joining in?

The original site had 244 registered members. Of that number only a relative few posted regularly. I'd reckon that number had dropped to about 20-30 only.

New members signed up from time to time, but lots of them either never posted, or stopped after a handful, probably to sort out a problem they had with a model or to Sell maybe?

We've 39 registered members on here now, which is great considering I haven't figured out yet how to get the forum noticed properly on search engines like Google and Yahoo. The majority are the "old faithfulls" that were the core of the original, plus new members that have joined after I contacted them directly, answered posts I've placed on other forums, or have managed to find a reference to the site on Google etc.

On average, about 10 members log on each day, but a lot less post anything. There must be several reasons for that but we need something to regain interest don't we?

Is there anything you guys would like to see here? What's missing? Is there anything you don't like?

I've replicated the layout of the original forum and added on new categories for specific makes and models just to have something new to look at.
If there's anything else you'd like, tell me and I'll set it up if I can.

I'm open to all and any suggestions guys

Cerwyn

I just checked the 460Ford forums, and he hasn't been there since May 3.
He used to post there regularly.

Ozguns wrote:

I just checked the 460Ford forums, and he hasn't been there since May 3.
He used to post there regularly.

Oh Christ, I hope he's allright

Cerwyn

I too hope he is allright. It is all his fault that I was infected by the modelgun virus. He was so kind and helpful. He never got out of his way to send me advice and even pictures when I needed help assembling my first modelgun, the Marushin XM177E2 kit. I got plenty of kind and encouraging mails that got far beyond modelguns.

Please Mark, if you read this, send us a sign!

I regret that I can not contribute on this great forum right now, but my life has turned upside down. I hope I can fix some things and then return to this forum. Anyway I am still collecting those odd toys.

Looks like it is up to you, Cerwyn, my good ol' friend!

Yes indeed folks, Mark is back, alive and well.

I've replied to his post on the original forum as follows:-

Dear Mark
It is good to hear from you again Mark. I'm relieved to learn you are alive and well.
As you can see, due to the fact your original site remained in a state of disrepair for several months, that my offers of help and the repair information I sent you from phpBB had not been replied too, I set up

https://mp40modelguns.forumotion.net/forum.htm

This site was the only way I could ensure your original was not lost and, more to the point, existing members didn't drift away. I'm happy to say the "new" site has attracted several new members too.
It is entirely up to you of course, but it may be far easier to continue using "my" set up? You need not bother yourself or your brother with repair time as I've done it for you already.
I have been looking forwards to your return. Your place at the helm of this forum is still there for you

Cerwyn

I've just had a look at the original forum, and it appears to me that it might be shut down.
Unless it's unavailable because of repair work.

It just seems odd that we haven't seen Mark here.

It is a shame that Mark hasn't joined us, if it hadn't been for him, there wouldn't have been an original MP40's modelguns forum.

I had noticed there were some strange things happening on the original forum. It appears that someone managed to get into the Administration site and altered members' details i.e. number of posts increased to several million and "rank" changed from their allocated one.
Nothing harmful you understand but the security of the site had been breached.

Perhaps phpBB have shut it down through lack of use or, it is being repaired now.

We'll see...

It is puzzling that Mark hasn't had the grace to reply to several messages. Perhaps he feels that he's been 'ousted' as Admin on the new site (Thanks Cerwyn). It seems a shame that he couldn't acknowledge the work that has gone into minding, what was, his baby.

lampwick wrote:

It is puzzling that Mark hasn't had the grace to reply to several messages. Perhaps he feels that he's been 'ousted' as Admin on the new site (Thanks Cerwyn). It seems a shame that he couldn't acknowledge the work that has gone into minding, what was, his baby.

To be honest i don't think that speculation will get us anywhere

Sometimes life take it's turns or that ever lack of proper time to hobbies just isn't there.

Maybe Mark will join us, maybe not. Nontheless i think most of us would never have "met" up if it wasn't for Mark's old forum, i feel i owe him a great bit for all the things i've learned and the people i've met!

Hopefully Mark will know this

As i've said before this is my favorite pastime, mostly because of the friendly attitude and good people here.

I just need more time to handle my modelguns!! (and more money to buy more of'em...)

Cerwyn wrote:

New members signed up from time to time, but lots of them either never posted, or stopped after a handful, probably to sort out a problem they had with a model or to Sell maybe?

Speaking for myself, I've used MP40Modelguns Forum as a source of information (reviews, factual information from actual owners), and contact place (buying replicas from other members). There was not much technical that I were capable to add, I guess that's the thing that stopped me from posting regularly.

Forum's technical problems plus VCR bill in UK seem to have combined "chilling" effect that slowed everybody down... I was sad to see that this group of people has dispersed somehow, and glad that Cerwyn took the effort to contact me to invite again when I were almost convinced the forum is simply dead.

Aaahhh... the crisis is raging, yet I am still thinking "what to get next?" - that must be a good sign for modelguns

Best Regards to everybody.

It's good to have you back smootik, welcome and thank you for your kind words.

I agree with 2sharp, Mark's original forum opened up a whole new hobby and a World full of friends for me. I owe him Big Time.

Hopefully he will return, I've always made it clear to him that his Administrator's position is still there for him.

Great! So what are we supposed to do now, with 2 forums?

It's good to learn that Mark is alive and well after such a long absence.

His original forum is indeed back on-line as **** has so quickly pointed out. Where we go from here is entirely up to you gents, the members.



Edit: Individual's name deleted to comply with his demand to "reserve his Legal Right to protect himself"
Cerwyn 11th June '09

Really dont know on this one cerwyn, you and 8ace put a huge amount of work into getting this forum up and running after marks went and i thank you for that effort as it kept a lot of friends together. We always said this was a temporary forum until mark got the original sorted, but thats been a long time now and this forum has become more than just a temp forum. I think we all owe you and 8ace a huge dept of gratitude for keeping the forum active but loyalty also still goes to mark for starting the original forum and bringing us all together in the first place.
For me until,i hear more from mark and know what is happing i will consider this the main forum and of course i will go with a majority vote as to which to stick. this was as i say a temp forum but it has become much more that that, this will not be an easy decision it took many hours to copy posts from marks forum to this so nothing was lost and since then a lot more has gone on which would again take time to transfer. From what i can see this is the most informative site on modelguns in the world i really dont think the guys in Japan can even compete with the reviews videos or chat we all have posted on here and i would hate to see any of it lost.
Maybe mark can let us know where he now intends to take the forum and we will go from there, i still feel very loyal to mark he as been a wealth of info and brought a lot of people together who i now regard as very good friends, i am torn i really am, so mark need to you hear from you mate what is your intention for the original forum?

Well, I'm sticking with this forum.
Without Cerwyn's and 8ace's huge input, we would not be here today.

Mark had the opportunity to join up here and let us know what was going on, but he chose not to, even though there was notification over at his site through links.
Then suddenly he reappears a few days ago.

I'm a little disappointed with this, so I am supporting this forum!
I might check over there once in a while, but this is my new hone.

I like the layout of Cerwyn's site better, the blank firing, airsoft sections and the focusing on individual models and makes of modelgun are pleasing to me.
Cerwyn has also managed to keep this site light hearted and laid back in attitude, which I like.


Just my 2 cents.
JJ

I can't thank Cerwyn and 8Ace enough for this forum and everything that goes with it. Great guys. I was an "original" forum member before this one. I didn't know what all was going on behind the scenes with Mark - still don't. But it does sound like Mark snubbed this forum for some reason. That's not what we're about. I'll follow these gents here wherever they go. Period.

Thank you very much Ozguns, Claymore, ljerr and pitfighter for your kind words of support and gratitude. I'm sure I can speak on behalf of 8ace as well as myself by thanking you for your comments.

There's a lot I would like to say, but I will refrain from doing so for the moment until we, or I, hear from either Mark or ****.

All I will say for the moment is that I will happily carry on Administrating, maintaining and promotng this site for as long as you, the members, wish.

Edited: Name removed to comply with individual "reserving his Legal right to protect himself"
Cerwyn 10th June '09

Well from my point of view "stay here",I think that after all the hard work Cerwyn and 8ace have put into making,nay keeping this site alive is well worth staying here.I agree that if it wasn't for Marks site in the first place we would never of got to share our hobby with anyone else and even better,because of his forum I have made some really good friends ,but then Mark decided to wipe his hands of his forum when it run into trouble,did not except the help that was offered him and then refused to join in on the "temporay site" so why run back to his site now?.
I'm sure Mark had his own reasons as to why he didn't join us here on the new forum (and only he will know them)but this site has now surpassed Marks original site,with a wider range of topics,more members thanks to Cerwyns and 8ace's advertising skills and a little less rigid ,so I'm staying put .
Well thats my tuppence worth antway

Kickback

I feel that it has been in very poor taste for Mark not to have offered a single word of thanks to Cerwyn et al for their enormous enthusiasm and expenditure of time in keeping this Forum alive. He hasn't even (as far as I can see) had the grace to put an acknowledment that his original site is up and running on this forum. Damn bad show in my opinion. I will stick to this site as my main frame of reference.

I want to come to Mark's help! I had very little e-mail contact with him since the forum is down and I know that he is very busy and had some changes in his life and his job. He told me he is still interested in modelguns and would like to "repair" "his" forum. sadly i do not know more than that at all.

I am feeling sad and in some way hurt too that he didn't join here, but as we all know life can change and shift the main points in an unexpected way.

I hope he will rejoin us someday. If he decides not to do so - regardless what reasons he may have - I will accept that and feel very thankful anyway. He started a great site and led people around the world virtually together. Let's be honest, without Mark's modelgunsite and forum we would have never met. And as far as I am concerned I would have never started collecting those odd big boy's toys. He never stepped out of his way and answered all my mails years ago when I was alone with a Marushin modelgun kit I couldn't put together.

Some may have noticed that I am rarely here on the forum lately. I used to visit on a daily basis, but right now I just can't do that. I have a lot of work to do and some extra volunteer work too. Add some health issues and you just won't get the necessary things done.
I know I let some people I consider friends here on the forum down, and I truly regret that. Maybe that's the reason I can understand Mark.

I am very thankful for all the work Cerwyn and his friends have put into this "temporary" forum. I think we should stay here together, at least until we know where the original forum is going.

Cerwyn and Claymore, a very special thank you to you both! You know I can't thank you enough for all your help, assistance, understanding and friendship.