Exciting News: VerticalScope Acquires SevenString.org – Meet Your New Community Management Team!

[forumtech]

Hello everyone!

We’re thrilled to announce that SevenString has officially joined the VerticalScope family! On behalf of the entire Community Management team, we’d like to extend a warm welcome to all of you. We’re here to support the ongoing operation and growth of SevenString, and we want to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves and share what you can expect moving forward.

Who Are We?
VerticalScope is a network of vibrant online communities, and our community management team is dedicated to making the work of forum moderators and administrators easier and more effective.

What Do We Do?
Community is at the heart of everything we do. Our top priorities are continuity, stability, and providing the resources needed to help SevenString thrive for many years to come. We’ll work alongside volunteer moderators and administrators to enhance member engagement, increase reach, attract new members, and continuously improve the overall community experience.

What Will Change?
From a cultural perspective, very little will change. You may see our Terms of Service and Privacy Policies being implemented, but they’re aligned with what you’re already familiar with. On the technical side, you can expect some ad changes, along with software updates and improvements to the site over the coming months, aimed at enhancing performance. You’ll also gain access to additional resources, including community management support for forum-related technical issues. Rest assured, our focus remains on community, and we’re here to make sure the platform remains stable, well-maintained, and ready to meet the needs of its members.


If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out!

We’re excited to work alongside the members, moderators, and administrators of this community and are genuinely happy to be a part of this journey with you.

Warm regards,
The VerticalScope Community Team

 

[Not The Same as Yours]

Please, DO NOT OVERLAP CONTENT with UNWANTED ADDS.

Place the adds out of content path, like in the side bar, or in a banner.

NO POPUP ADDS, EVER.

NO ADDS THAT BLOCK THE PAGE CONTENT WITHOUT USER INTERACTION WITH THEM.

 

[forumtech]

I hear you loud and clear. We just got here, but please give me some time to get the sites on our network and get the ads re-sorted so they won't be in your way so much.
-Philip

 

[M210 Low Bo Tomy]

have a nice day and rest of your week guys

 

[budda]

Can the mods be mods again?

 

[Randy]

Can the mods be mods again?

Credit to the Enthused Digital crew for that one (and particularly admin New Alex) . When I reached out to them about the problem we were having with the serial scammer in the marketplace, they restored our mod abilities. This was just about a month ago.

You'll notice things have been especially civil here lately, that's because we've been able to handle conduct issues quietly.

 

[MFB]

Credit to the Enthused Digital crew for that one (and particularly admin New Alex) . When I reached out to them about the problem we were having with the serial scammer in the marketplace, they restored our mod abilities. This was just about a month ago.

You'll notice things have been especially civil here lately, that's because we've been able to handle conduct issues quietly.

I jokingly said it in the Discord but good to know that's been righted (believe that's able to be used in a past tense)?

 

[MetalDestroyer]

Credit to the Enthused Digital crew for that one (and particularly admin New Alex) . When I reached out to them about the problem we were having with the serial scammer in the marketplace, they restored our mod abilities. This was just about a month ago.

You'll notice things have been especially civil here lately, that's because we've been able to handle conduct issues quietly.

so uhhhhhh

like uhhhhhhhhhhhh

crungy going back to his old avatar or uhhhhhhhh

uhhhh yeah you know?

 

[forumtech]

Can the mods be mods again?

Could you elaborate?
-Philip

 

[MFB]

Could you elaborate?
-Philip

If memory serves correctly, for a little while they were able to dish out slaps on the wrist and nothing really substantial compared to previous powers such as full bans for any period of time (as little as a day or until forever); all formal bans had to be run up to admin - which was one person who wasn't even an active member here - which bottlenecked the entire process and let them basically go unpunished until/if that person got around to it.

 

[forumtech]

That can be how the software works if you dont configure the team's permissions from out of the box. I can chat with the mods about this. It's better to empower your mod team, for sure. It's also important to keep tabs on over-moderation so that the rules are consistently enforced.
I appreciate when folks can share some institutional knowledge with me.
-Philip

 

[forumtech]

If memory serves correctly, for a little while they were able to dish out slaps on the wrist and nothing really substantial compared to previous powers such as full bans for any period of time (as little as a day or until forever); all formal bans had to be run up to admin - which was one person who wasn't even an active member here - which bottlenecked the entire process and let them basically go unpunished until/if that person got around to it.

Was this in conjunction with a software update or a change of ownership?
-Philip

 

[High Plains Drifter]

I'm going to be blunt here and just say that when VS acquired another forum that I was on ( and that I was moderating), that it all went south very quickly. ( And although I could be mistaken, I believe that the VS reps name was Phillip).

A big part of it was that before the acquisition, that forum had been owned and run by enthusiasts that were candidly involved with the community itself. VS and it's representatives came in and for lack of a more fitting word, "sterilized" the place and it became all about ad revenue. VS initially presented itself as friendly and seemingly involved in "what's best for the community" but it became apparent soon after that there was no intention of maintaining long-term involvement nor was there much if any concern for the actual community itself.

I won't elaborate on specifics because I don't want to clog up this thread with negativity nor assume too much but I truly hope that in reference to the passion and integrity that currently exists on this forum ( from moderators to individual members and contributors) that VS doesn't sink this wonderfully diverse community due to indiscretion or revenue-driven motives.

Time will tell how this plays out and if this acquisition will indeed harm this community or if it will have any noticeable effect at all how this place operates but I'm hoping that the enthusiasm and participation that exists here, will continue regardless of ownership, management, TOS changes, etc.

And fwiw- The SSO mod team is about the best representatives that any online community could have. They sincerely care about this community and I dearly hope that they will not be replaced with representatives that have no true interest nor background in the world of music/ guitars.

I do realize that my words fall upon deaf ears for the most part because motives and intentions are already established but I do say all of this with respect to VS and I appreciate the opportunity to be allowed to voice my concerns.

Thank you.

 

[Alonious_Monk]

I'm going to be blunt here and just say that when VS acquired another forum that I was on ( and that I was moderating), that it all went south very quickly. ( And although I could be mistaken, I believe that the VS reps name was Phillip).

A big part of it was that before the acquisition, that forum had been owned and run by enthusiasts that were candidly involved with the community itself. VS and it's representatives came in and for lack of a more fitting word, "sterilized" the place and it became all about ad revenue. VS initially presented itself as friendly and seemingly involved in "what's best for the community" but it became apparent soon after that there was no intention of maintaining long-term involvement nor was there much if any concern for the actual community itself.

I won't elaborate on specifics because I don't want to clog up this thread with negativity nor assume too much but I truly hope that in reference to the passion and integrity that currently exists on this forum ( from moderators to individual members and contributors) that VS doesn't sink this wonderfully diverse community due to indiscretion or revenue-driven motives.

Time will tell how this plays out and if this acquisition will indeed harm this community or if it will have any noticeable effect at all how this place operates but I'm hoping that the enthusiasm and participation that exists here, will continue regardless of ownership, management, TOS changes, etc.

And fwiw- The SSO mod team is about the best representatives that any online community could have. They sincerely care about this community and I dearly hope that they will not be replaced with representatives that have no true interest nor background in the world of music/ guitars.

I do realize that my words fall upon deaf ears for the most part because motives and intentions are already established but I do say all of this with respect to VS and I appreciate the opportunity to be allowed to voice my concerns.

Thank you.

As a former Admin/Mod for a VS-owned forum for some years, the first 2 paragraphs sounds very familiar. Interesting to see what they do with SSO and TGP.

Hopefully the forum won't be flooded with "approved-vendors" spamming their companies links.

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

VS, will you allow certain threads to go passed page 22 without being locked down?

 

[Randy]

Was this in conjunction with a software update or a change of ownership?
-Philip

Most of us were made moderators when ownership passed to Alex Chu and that included normal, standard moderator powers (close/open threads, delete, rename, issue and assign reports, ban members).

There were one or two serial troublemakers on here (frequent name calling, racist/homophobic etc) that were banned and chased Alex down on another site to complain about being banned here. Rather than ask us to clarify what they were in trouble for, he took ALL ban abilities away from ALL the mods. New policy became having to report trouble posters to Alex for moderation, and this could take weeks or even months and the website became very uncivil.

As mentioned above, Enthused recently restored the ban powers to the moderators and you can see everyone's getting along fine since then.

 

[forumtech]

I'm going to be blunt here and just say that when VS acquired another forum that I was on ( and that I was moderating), that it all went south very quickly. ( And although I could be mistaken, I believe that the VS reps name was Phillip).

A big part of it was that before the acquisition, that forum had been owned and run by enthusiasts that were candidly involved with the community itself. VS and it's representatives came in and for lack of a more fitting word, "sterilized" the place and it became all about ad revenue. VS initially presented itself as friendly and seemingly involved in "what's best for the community" but it became apparent soon after that there was no intention of maintaining long-term involvement nor was there much if any concern for the actual community itself.

I won't elaborate on specifics because I don't want to clog up this thread with negativity nor assume too much but I truly hope that in reference to the passion and integrity that currently exists on this forum ( from moderators to individual members and contributors) that VS doesn't sink this wonderfully diverse community due to indiscretion or revenue-driven motives.

Time will tell how this plays out and if this acquisition will indeed harm this community or if it will have any noticeable effect at all how this place operates but I'm hoping that the enthusiasm and participation that exists here, will continue regardless of ownership, management, TOS changes, etc.

And fwiw- The SSO mod team is about the best representatives that any online community could have. They sincerely care about this community and I dearly hope that they will not be replaced with representatives that have no true interest nor background in the world of music/ guitars.

I do realize that my words fall upon deaf ears for the most part because motives and intentions are already established but I do say all of this with respect to VS and I appreciate the opportunity to be allowed to voice my concerns.

Thank you.

I am the only Philip that works on acquisitions here and I have been with VS more than a decade so a very good chance we have met before. I am not here for day to day engagement, I am here to help make sure the lights stay on. The site has been managed by a company before we acquired it from them and they were very hands off. Our approach should be expected to be similar only with more support for the mod team. I genuinely am not here to change rules or what the site is about, my job is to make sure the site works and the mods can continue to maintain the spirit here.
-Philip

 

[forumtech]

VS, will you allow certain threads to go passed page 22 without being locked down?

Any existing policies can be reviewed with the site mods.
-Philip

 

[forumtech]

Most of us were made moderators when ownership passed to Alex Chu and that included normal, standard moderator powers (close/open threads, delete, rename, issue and assign reports, ban members).

There were one or two serial troublemakers on here (frequent name calling, racist/homophobic etc) that were banned and chased Alex down on another site to complain about being banned here. Rather than ask us to clarify what they were in trouble for, he took ALL ban abilities away from ALL the mods. New policy became having to report trouble posters to Alex for moderation, and this could take weeks or even months and the website became very uncivil.

As mentioned above, Enthused recently restored the ban powers to the moderators and you can see everyone's getting along fine since then.

I appreciate the history debrief. I also look forward to working with the mods to better understand what the site needs for the greater good of the community. I also have little patience for bullies and a nose for social engineering.
-Philip

 

[Alberto7]

Any existing policies can be reviewed with the site mods.
-Philip

That's just part of a fun running gag between some of us members and the mods, no actual policies about threads exceeding 22 pages.