evowners.com
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11 Posts
It's been offline for several weeks now. ☹
Joined
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253 Posts
I too was wondering what happened to the site. Probably the best resource for Twizy specific info. Whois search doesn't show the domain expiring, so I guess there was a database or server issue? I wonder if anyone else here knows James or if he ever frequents this forum to let us know whats happened?
Hi @moojuiceuk I recognise you from evowners 👋. I have a feeling that there is quite a lot of user crossover between the two sites including some moderators on evowners so thought somone would have the story.
I was assuming (hoping) it might have been technical issues or migrating to another hosting solution etc rather than taking it down.
As you say it was a good resource for Twizy and other smaller / cheaper EVs.
I was assuming (hoping) it might have been technical issues or migrating to another hosting solution etc rather than taking it down.
As you say it was a good resource for Twizy and other smaller / cheaper EVs.
Hi, I’ve been in contact with James who ran the evowners site and said I would pass on his comments (I'll post this both on Facebook and SpeakEV, over to James ...
"It seems to me like the Facebook group is more than adequate. Are people missing the site simply because of all the historical data there, or is the site preferable to Facebook?
I know a lot of people are missing the site but it just doesn’t make any financial sense for me to spend time on it at the moment.
If someone were to make an offer though I might be more inclined to get it up and running again, but when I’ve advertised it before I didn’t get much interest.
Even dumping the data would require time and effort; I’d have to restore the site from a snapshot I’ve taken, fix the technical issues and then dump it from the admin section if you wanted something half usable. This would still be the case for a plain DB dump as all the data is in the snapshot.
I know I offered premium memberships to try and ease towards some kind of financial support and I’m thankful for those that helped out, including you. Ultimately though I found there really weren’t enough people willing to help out financially to make it worth my while. It is after all just a small forum and I don’t blame them.
SpeakEV basically killed off any potential EVOwners had. I tried for a while to attract more users to EVOwners but SpeakEV is just so big it was pretty fruitless.
As I said, I’m willing to listen to offers if somebody else feels able to keep the site alive; I have after all put a lot of time and money into it for 10 years so I won’t be handing it all over for free.
You are welcome to relay what I’ve said here to the Facebook group if you wish.
Cheers
James"
He also added ... "For the record I always found it difficult asking for money from people. I initially started the site to help people and I didn't want to come across like I was only in it to try and make money - but at the end of the day I was paying the hosting costs each month and spending time running the site and when the technical problems hit I just decided that I'd had enough.
Advertising alone didn't really make enough and the number of active users and engagement on the site wasn't enough to attract decent advertisers willing to spend the money. In order to run something like this successfully you really have to put the time in to maximise the financial opportunities and for whatever reason I was never really able to make it sustainable."
"It seems to me like the Facebook group is more than adequate. Are people missing the site simply because of all the historical data there, or is the site preferable to Facebook?
I know a lot of people are missing the site but it just doesn’t make any financial sense for me to spend time on it at the moment.
If someone were to make an offer though I might be more inclined to get it up and running again, but when I’ve advertised it before I didn’t get much interest.
Even dumping the data would require time and effort; I’d have to restore the site from a snapshot I’ve taken, fix the technical issues and then dump it from the admin section if you wanted something half usable. This would still be the case for a plain DB dump as all the data is in the snapshot.
I know I offered premium memberships to try and ease towards some kind of financial support and I’m thankful for those that helped out, including you. Ultimately though I found there really weren’t enough people willing to help out financially to make it worth my while. It is after all just a small forum and I don’t blame them.
SpeakEV basically killed off any potential EVOwners had. I tried for a while to attract more users to EVOwners but SpeakEV is just so big it was pretty fruitless.
As I said, I’m willing to listen to offers if somebody else feels able to keep the site alive; I have after all put a lot of time and money into it for 10 years so I won’t be handing it all over for free.
You are welcome to relay what I’ve said here to the Facebook group if you wish.
Cheers
James"
He also added ... "For the record I always found it difficult asking for money from people. I initially started the site to help people and I didn't want to come across like I was only in it to try and make money - but at the end of the day I was paying the hosting costs each month and spending time running the site and when the technical problems hit I just decided that I'd had enough.
Advertising alone didn't really make enough and the number of active users and engagement on the site wasn't enough to attract decent advertisers willing to spend the money. In order to run something like this successfully you really have to put the time in to maximise the financial opportunities and for whatever reason I was never really able to make it sustainable."
Thank you for posting this info Chris, I've been wondering what happened to the EVowners forum and now I've just joined SpeakEV as a result of finding out.
I recognise you from there too, although I wasn't very active of late.
It's a shame to see it down but I understand James's comments and hope SpeakEV can help fill the void somewhat.
P.S. Mods: I hope this thread isn't too old too reply to, nobody likes a ressurector
I recognise you from there too, although I wasn't very active of late.
It's a shame to see it down but I understand James's comments and hope SpeakEV can help fill the void somewhat.
P.S. Mods: I hope this thread isn't too old too reply to, nobody likes a ressurector
Joined
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253 Posts
Shame it's gone, but all things have an ending one way or another. Like millions out there, I won't use Facebook, so I'll be sticking about on here.
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12,687 Posts
I'm another one that will never have anything to do with Facebook - just because they have absolutely zero regard for privacy.
I'll tell them you said that!
The impression I got from James' comments were that he might consider restoring it if enough people showed a real interest and were willing to put a few quid in ... but I suppose that would only really cover costs so if you heart is not in it any more (I'm not judging here as I know there are may things I've lost interest in over the years) you would really need some advertising to give you a bit of pocket money. He was saying that he couldn't attract any advertising.
Perhaps if someone offered to run it ...
Perhaps if someone offered to run it ...
Joined
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1 Posts
I don't have facebook either.
Happy to pay a few bucks a year for the forum, or as I have offered before, happy to host the site and take the time the keep it up to date.
(But don't want to buy the site, as I'm a user, I don't want to earn money on it, either, don't want to spend many money on it)
Marcel,
The Netherlands
Happy to pay a few bucks a year for the forum, or as I have offered before, happy to host the site and take the time the keep it up to date.
(But don't want to buy the site, as I'm a user, I don't want to earn money on it, either, don't want to spend many money on it)
Marcel,
The Netherlands
Joined
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2 Posts
If someone wants to (or even can) put me in touch with him, I'll happily take it over. I already run 1 car forum, might as well have another.
@CardiffTwiz I'll drop James a message but I promised that I was not be passing out his details. So if he's interested, he will no doubt contact you. All the best.
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