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BREAKING NEWS: New ownership

64538 Views 429 Replies 322 Participants Last post by  tdiallo
Dear watch friends, dear members, dear visitors,

Time has come for me to hand over my baby, Watchuseek, to a third party I believe and have trust in.

After 16 years of hard work (seemed like 24/7 all this time) building the largest watch forum in the world, it is time for me to step down, and focus on other projects. They will not necessarily be business projects, although I am planning to stay in the watch world (what else?), perhaps as a distributor for a few brands in the Benelux, I don't know.

What I do know is that I'm definitely planning to share more time with my wife and family. They have been coping with me for all these years. Never a real holiday (I always had to have internet access to work…). But they gave me the space to work and share my hobby with so many watch friends all over the world.

Time for a bit more relaxation, less work hours and less stress. The heart rhythm problems that occurred while I was at Baselworld last March certainly was a sign for me. A big one! It made me realize that working this hard (I also have a full time job as a team leader on a school for children with special needs) was not good for my health, and I was the only one that could do something about it.

During the many years I was approached by a couple of interested parties, but VerticalScope seemed to be the right choice at the right time.

Don't get me wrong, the decision was a very tough one, and it took me lots of time and headaches to finally make one. You don't give up on your baby that easy, I can promise you that. And there is of course my team, the wonderful people behind those usernames, the voluntary moderators, and the team of MaL's. It's hard to leave the team, almost just like that. It's tough, really tough, believe me. They have been doing an absolutely great job in the best possible harmony. Any company would wish to have such a dedicated and warm team. Thank you guys!

I would also like to thank all the sponsors and advertisers. Thank you for your business and your friendship. You made sure I could pay all the bills to keep the site up and running, and more.

Last but NOT least, I want to thank YOU, our members, every single one of you. You are an important if not THE most important part of the success of Watchuseek. Thank you SO much.

Dear friends, I hope you will understand my decision, the reasons why I wanted to step down, why this step is so important for me at this stage in my life.

The team from VerticalScope will not be doing any major changes to the site and your membership will continue like it has done all this time. I wish you and yours the VERY best, and hope this hobby and the ongoing discussions will last forever.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Ernie Romers
Founder and former owner of world's largest, most visited, and BEST watch forum site … WATCHUSEEK !
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Thank you Ernie for building a wonderful forum. Good luck to you and your family and also for serving as a team leader for children with special needs. I have a child with special needs and understand.
Sometimes you just have to do what's best for you.

Ernie, best of luck to you sir.

-Shaun
Much appreciation for Ernie and those who helped build this site, to which I assign 75% responsibility for my watch addiction. Had I not stumbled into the forums, I would probably still be happy with one or two watches!
Thank you and good luck Ernie and welcome to our new owner !
Another good enthusiast forum that has been purchased by evil VerticalScope from Toronto.. Like many good car and motorcycle forums in the past, they will introduce lots of advertising, change rules for current advertisers and just profit from member content. And no, they don't care about your stupid watches or the people on these forums. You're just a product that generates content so they can make money with advertising.

With a large forum like this, I am sure they paid good money for it and the founder made a good profit. It is always a story about how the previous owner doesn't have the time anymore, VerticalScope is the right fit, nothing is going to change, all about the community and blah, blah, blah. They never mention anything about the price that was paid for all the members and content.

I encourage you to search for VerticalScope / AutoGuide (Verticalscope sucks) and forum buyouts and make up your own mind. The moderators are going to be unpaid staff for VerticalScope as they will be doing all the work without any pay. The adminsitrator is a paid office employee and often has no experience in managing forums and doesn't know anything about the subject of the forum. And they will not stick around as they will be replaced by another faceless corporate employee. They don't activily participates and only control the moderators and forward issues to tech support.

You can say goodbye to Tapatalk because they will force to use their own app so they can control you even more and push more advertising. Also expect lots of tracking cookies, viglinks, links you posted that direct to their own advertisers website and even spam. Your email address and user profile has been sold so make up your own mind. Verticalscope now owns all your valuable reviews, pictures and other content. And they can do with it whatever they want.

Goodbye WUS, it was nice to know you for the short time I was here. I am not for sale.

This will be the new terms of service in case you're wondering: VerticalScope - Driven by Enthusiasts

VerticalScope : Driven by Enthusiasts
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You can say goodbye to Tapatalk because they will force to use their own app so they can control you even more and push more advertising. Also expect lots of tracking cookies, viglinks, links you posted that direct to their own advertisers website and even spam. Your email address and user profile has been sold so make up your own mind. Verticalscope now owns all your valuable reviews, pictures and other content. And they can do with it whatever they want.

This will be the new terms of service in case you're wondering: VerticalScope - Driven by Enthusiasts

VerticalScope : Driven by Enthusiasts
I'd actually appreciate a reply from the new management on this - in particular the use of personal information. If the terms have changed from when members signed on under the previous ownership, then they should be given notice and consent to any changes in how our personal information will be used or shared.
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Another good enthusiast forum that has been purchased by evil VerticalScope from Toronto.. Like many good car and motorcycle forums in the past, they will introduce lots of advertising, change rules for current advertisers and just profit from member content. And no, they don't care about your stupid watches or the people on these forums. You're just a product that generates content so they can make money with advertising.

With a large forum like this, I am sure they paid good money for it and the founder made a good profit. It is always a story about how the previous owner doesn't have the time anymore, VerticalScope is the right fit, nothing is going to change, all about the community and blah, blah, blah. They never mention anything about the price that was paid for all the members and content.

I encourage you to search for VerticalScope / AutoGuide (Verticalscope sucks) and forum buyouts and make up your own mind. The moderators are going to be unpaid staff for VerticalScope as they will be doing all the work without any pay. The adminsitrator is a paid office employee and often has no experience in managing forums and doesn't know anything about the subject of the forum. And they will not stick around as they will be replaced by another faceless corporate employee. They don't activily participates and only control the moderators and forward issues to tech support.

You can say goodbye to Tapatalk because they will force to use their own app so they can control you even more and push more advertising. Also expect lots of tracking cookies, viglinks, links you posted that direct to their own advertisers website and even spam. Your email address and user profile has been sold so make up your own mind. Verticalscope now owns all your valuable reviews, pictures and other content. And they can do with it whatever they want.

Goodbye WUS, it was nice to know you for the short time I was here. I am not for sale.

This will be the new terms of service in case you're wondering: VerticalScope - Driven by Enthusiasts

VerticalScope : Driven by Enthusiasts
This was my biggest fear and I certainly hope it doesn't come true. WUS is the only watch forum that I frequent and 90% of my watches were purchased here via the Sales Corner. I know I'll be watching this site very closely for the next few months to see how the transition goes.
Ditto to all the others who wish Ernie the best in his future endeavors and expressing thanks for building and maintaining such an outstanding diversion for all of us!
I'd actually appreciate a reply from the new management on this - in particular the use of personal information. If the terms have changed from when members signed on under the previous ownership, then they should be given notice and consent to any changes in how our personal information will be used or shared.
It's up to the user to check the current ToS, they won't tell you if anything changes. If you use the site, you agree. From the current ToS:

Changes. We reserve the right to change these terms of use from time to time. Your continued use of our website will be subject to the then-current terms of use. Please therefore check these terms of use regularly for the latest version.
I'd actually appreciate a reply from the new management on this - in particular the use of personal information. If the terms have changed from when members signed on under the previous ownership, then they should be given notice and consent to any changes in how our personal information will be used or shared.
I agree. I retain the copyright for most photos I post on WUS, with the copyright notice clearly indicated on each photo. I also use those photos in other personal publishing endeavors, and would not consent to an assignment of my copyright just by virtue of its publication on WUS. Nor would I agree to any extensive use of my copyrighted photos outside of WUS.

EDIT: The VS administrators have confirmed that the TOS only reserves a continuing license to publish the photos on WUS. The copyright remains with the authors and/or photographers. There is no sinister plot here. Relax.
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I agree. I retain the copyright for most photos I post on WUS, with the copyright notice clearly indicated on each photo. I also use those photos in other personal publishing endeavors, and would not consent to an assignment of my copyright just by virtue of its publication on WUS. Nor would I agree to any extensive use of my copyrighted photos outside of WUS.
Technically, any picture you post on a Vertical-owned site can't be used anywhere else. So you can't use your own pictures that you submitted. Any review you have written, they own it.

Preservation of Intellectual Property Rights
All material on this site, including, but not limited to images, illustrations and multimedia materials, is protected by copyrights which are owned and controlled by WATCHUSEEK.COM or by other parties that have licensed their material to WATCHUSEEK.COM. Material from this Web Site or from any other web site owned, operated, licensed or controlled by VerticalScope Inc. may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way. Modification of the materials or use of the materials for any other purpose is a violation of the copyrights and other proprietary rights held by the respective providers thereof. The use of any such material on any other web site, ftp server or network environment is prohibited.
Sadly, they don't tell you this with the announcement of the new ownership.
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WUS gained prominence when Richard Paige sold Timezone to Ashford and there are plenty of people unhappy with the "regulation" beyond reason that WUS experiences, note several deleted posts in this very thread. I am aware that the users provide the content here that has made this or any other site what it is, run those people away and the site becomes silly question followed by silly question answered by people with no practical knowledge of the subject.

VS has the opportunity to improve WUS or kill it, I would hope improvement is the answer as it will increase revenue which is their ultimate goal, if I help them make money I'm ok with that but overt profiteering from copyrighted material isn't right.
To be fair, WUS already was a business with lots of sponsoring and advertising. It's just sad to see the demise of enthousiast forums with the sole purpose of sharing information without financial gain or profit. Most of it is on Facebook these days and they are even more evil than VS. ;)
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Very nice/interesting to see a fellow Canadian on tuner management team. Congrats on jumping into one of the best forums on the 'net.
Hello Everyone, The name is Helena, I manage the forum management team here at VS. Wanted to make a quick into, I will be helping Phil out with this announcement. So you will see my posts here and there. Thanks Helena
The Kafka-esque nature of this site was easier to swallow in the knowledge that ultimately the arbitrary and silent decisions were backed up by a genuine watch enthusiast.
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Would appreciate a little clarification here please, see excerpt from new Terms of Use and Notices below:

Preservation of Intellectual Property Rights

All material on this site, including, but not limited to images, illustrations and multimedia materials, is protected by copyrights which are owned and controlled by WATCHUSEEK.COM or by other parties that have licensed their material to WATCHUSEEK.COM. Material from this Web Site or from any other web site owned, operated, licensed or controlled by VerticalScope Inc. may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way. Modification of the materials or use of the materials for any other purpose is a violation of the copyrights and other proprietary rights held by the respective providers thereof. The use of any such material on any other web site, ftp server or network environment is prohibited.

Are these terms and conditions expressing a desire to protect the rights of copyright holders from unauthorised use of images/material posted on the site as I imagine, or are they laying claim to copyright on behalf of Verticalscope and preventing said copyright holders from using their own images elsewhere?

I understand that as part of contributing to the site as one of the 'other parties' I agree to grant Verticalscope a license to use my material and that is fine. However, any attempt to restrict my own use of that material for which I retain copyright, which in the case of images extends until the 70th year after my death, would not be.

Am sure a lot of contributors would appreciate having clarity on this issue.
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Would appreciate a little clarification here please, see excerpt from new Terms of Use and Notices below:

Am sure a lot of contributors would appreciate having clarity on this issue.
Agreed!

A full clarification is needed. That's absolutely crucial. Until then, I'm out.
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FYI, I have sent a PM to Helena and Philip seeking that clarification.

Rob
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