Thanks Jim, for the incredible contribution to the community, and infinite patience with the headaches that resulted from it.

(Like habitually speeding drivers slowing down if they think they see a police car, the announcement of new management has caused those who post abuse on the CT forums to go notably quiet.)

Thanks for your amazing vision and contribution Jim! Hope to see you around the site in years to come. Clubtread is my most favourite site of all time! - I've met so many longterm friends and wonderful people here. The site has been a constant in my life over the years for its wealth of information, gorgeous photos, outdoor passion, and the full gamut of personalities
Really glad the site will still continue - welcome Philip.

Thanks Jim for keeping this site going all these years.

Thank you Jim for your passionate vision in providing an interactive forum for people to learn and connect. We all understand the work involved and are grateful for the many wonderful years.

Also thanks to the members who have made CT a success to this day and helped me grow so much!

Welcome Philip to an eager community.

Funny, Steve

Thanks for all your hard work Jim, and welcome to the new management.

You are correct! I have been doing a little research on the beginning stages of what will need to be done to convert the site. The techs will know much more than I and have emailed two of them to get clubtread on the site conversion list and schedule once that is done its a lot of hurry up and wait. I will likely be asking for input later on what you all feel the site has needed, usually things you have seen on other sites you hoped where here.

If anyone is experiencing random errors with the search function we are aware and have isolated the problem. Will be doing some minor site maintenance in a few hours. Do not expect there to be downtime in regards to this but if there is it will only be for a few minutes at most this evening.

This issue should be resolved by tomorrow morning. If you still see any 404 errors when using search after tomorrow please send me a pm to report the issue.

Congrats on your sale Jim. This was a good community and many of us found friends here and explored beautiful trails, near and far.

Can you share a few words on the terms of the sale?

Will the community authors retain original copyright over their trip reports, photographs and other content?

VSAdmin - How will the site look, moving forward - will it acquire the look and feel of other Vertical Scope properties, which have a well-defined and well-aligned brand standard (quite different form that of the current CT brand)? Will this become a paid-subscription-only site, similar to some other past VS acquisitions?

I am curious about your roadmap, and about what you can share at this point.

Good points Seawallrunner. I would also like to add there appears to be a lack of moderation on one of the skiing sites. My hope is that you acquire this site and not leave it to it's own devices. I have seen other similar sites like this turn into a free-for-all. Will there be dedicated moderators?

Thanks Jim for creating this 'rocking' site!!! Met interesting people on great hikes through the site. Also excellent source for invaluable information.

Excellent point.

While I think free-for-alls on discussion sites result in domination by bullies who drive away large numbers of people who could be valuable participants, over-sanitization can also result in lowered participation. I expect the more "corporate" the ownership, the more the owner has a duty to protect the brand by keeping things civil. Hopefully the new regime knows how to manage the fine balance where there is lively but respectful discussion.

I have another question. There are a number of very good photographers on this site that have posted pictures. Will these be used on any of your other sites ?

I'm not at all in favour of the site becoming a paid membership like Bivouac. Anything that would tend to discourage participation like dues or fees could only be a deterrent in the end.

Just to air out that potential issue, I'd like to see admin address that question. Also, for anyone who has been using the site up to this point I also think members should have the option to remove their contributions if fees were instituted.

Thoughts?

I totally with you on all your points Mick. My trip reports have been contributed here under the initial understanding that Clubtread was a free site, the open sharing of trail and trip info. Should the new operators decide to change this to a pay site, I believe my right to remove that info must be respected.
And I agree as well that going to a paid site will drastically reduce the activity we now enjoy.