# Get Back Our Avatars!



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

My fellow HobbyTalkers,

I have sent a message to the HobbyTalk "Contact Us" link I posted on the Modeling Forum. It's concise and polite, hopefully it gets the point across. I suggest that anybody who's unhappy with having lost their avatar send something similar - in fact, I don't care if this message just gets copied and emailed with the sender's signature:

To Whom It May Concern,

Over the past week the avatars of the HobbyTalk members on all the forums have ceased to function. I am writing to request that the problem be corrected on your end, or for information about any solution to the problem that the HT members can apply to their own accounts. Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Mark McGovern

Let's see if this gets a rise out of the current HobbyTalk owners.


----------



## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

I hope this works- I have no dog in the hunt as my membership does not have that perk.

The main reason I truly hope this works is that it may open up an avenue of communication with the new owners- and this site has a lot of bigger problems than missing Avatars.


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Richard,

Getting the owner's attention is the main idea behind my initiative. They seem to be like the absentee owners of a property that's going downhill and spoiling the neighborhood. But in all fairness, if they don't know we've got problems, the owners can't be expected to do anything about them.


----------



## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Richard Baker said:


> I hope this works- I have no dog in the hunt as my membership does not have that perk.
> 
> The main reason I truly hope this works is that it may open up an avenue of communication with the new owners- and this site has a lot of bigger problems than missing Avatars.


Yup, missing Avatars , missing Moderators...
I spoke with a former Moderator the other day and wished us luck in our endeavour to speak to the New owners....

::: http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=420351

: 
slotcarman12078 slotcarman12078 is offline 
LED Burner Outer

My Photos Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Stump City, USA
Posts: 11,577 

Unfortunately, us moderators can't do anything about this. The new owners don't listen to us at all, so don't count on them listening to you. Sorry to say, but I believe Griff has stepped down from moderating, as has Gerald. I can't say I blame them one bit. All the new owner seems to care about is selling ads and creating pop ups! 

Griff stopped Moderating last Oct and slotcarman is also no longer moderating, I don't think there are any Moderators .
Just got this from Slotcarman : I'm no longer a mod. Even when I was, I was never able to contact the owners. Not sure what the problem is, but I have no way to remedy it.... Sorry!
Mcdee


----------



## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

Not cool one bit.....


----------



## Ron Gross (Jan 2, 2009)

I don't post much anymore, but I will say this about the issue in question: many of us actually PAID for those avatars when we upgraded to lifetime membership. While they were offered for free when this format started, at one point the ability to display an avatar was bundled with a $50 fee. That's why some original members continued to appear here with an older personal logo because they understandably did not want to pay to have it upgraded. But for those of us who joined later and then did upgrade, we are simply not getting everything we paid for.

If this is some kind of technical glitch, my hope is that the new owners will fix it soon. If it has something to do with streamlining for cost considerations, I personally find that irritating. This is especially true in light of the additional pop-up ads that are now evident compared with the previous regime, which are no doubt serving to further monetize the site. I suggest that those who are really concerned about this issue contact the owners again, remain polite, but also respectfully feed them the above facts of life. It won't be me, as my primary interest now lies in another direction. Good luck!


----------



## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

Because I haven't got an avatar I haven't paid much attention to this but after reading what's in mcdougall's post above I can't say I'm surprised. I still find this site a pain as the pages are slow to load with me. And when I tried Firefox I got more ads too.


----------



## seaQuest (Jan 12, 2003)

I'm using Opera and I get zero pop-ups.


----------



## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

seaQuest said:


> I'm using Opera and I get zero pop-ups.


Opera on Droid or Windows?


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Folks,

Another HobbyTalk member just found a new email address for the current HT owner:
Admin Name: CHRISTOPHER CARUK
Admin Organization: MARTINGALE INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES
Admin Email: [email protected]

I suggest sending your message to this address as well.


----------



## Bubba 123 (Sep 10, 2010)

Ron Gross said:


> I don't post much anymore, but I will say this about the issue in question: many of us actually PAID for those avatars when we upgraded to lifetime membership. While they were offered for free when this format started, at one point the ability to display an avatar was bundled with a $50 fee. That's why some original members continued to appear here with an older personal logo because they understandably did not want to pay to have it upgraded. But for those of us who joined later and then did upgrade, we are simply not getting everything we paid for.
> 
> If this is some kind of technical glitch, my hope is that the new owners will fix it soon. If it has something to do with streamlining for cost considerations, I personally find that irritating. This is especially true in light of the additional pop-up ads that are now evident compared with the previous regime, which are no doubt serving to further monetize the site. I suggest that those who are really concerned about this issue contact the owners again, remain polite, but also respectfully feed them the above facts of life. It won't be me, as my primary interest now lies in another direction. Good luck!


I believe (Legally).. when this site was sold, any previous conditions of a Paid-Membership... are null & void (??)

Bubba 123


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Bubba 123 said:


> I believe (Legally).. when this site was sold, any previous conditions of a Paid-Membership... are null & void (??)


I don't know why that would be, Bubs. In most cases, when one buys a business, the assumption is that the new owner will honor any contracts made by the previous owner. Otherwise, if the owner's relationships with his customers became null and void as his business changed hands, there would be no reason for those customers to continue with that business.


----------



## DCH10664 (Jul 16, 2012)

I took Mark McGovern's suggestion and did a copy and paste of his letter and signed my name to it. I'm hoping this will help. Even though I never had an avatar. I still feel that this is something that I paid for. And should have the option of having an avatar, if I so choose.


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Thanks for your support, guys!

Now there's been a new development. Check out the "Dear HobbyTalk Community Member" thread at the top of the main page of this forum.


----------



## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

The Avatars seem to have returned!

I am only posting this on two of the many threads scattered around this site about this topic- I lost track of most of them.


----------



## geoffdude (Mar 31, 2009)

I don't see them.. just little green boxes and member's ALT names..


----------



## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Philip, username "vs-Admin", was listening to us over on the Modeling Forum and got his people to solve the problems we've all been having. Finally, we have an administrator who actually administrates! :thumbsup:


----------



## chuck_thehammer (Oct 24, 2007)

Thank You Mr. Administrator.


----------

