Hello Geckophiles !

[Marty]

Sorry Marty, I guess nobody who loves geckos like Nathan is able to do this job, especially when you got other interest and two other forums running.

That`s why I guess the forums are never be the same ...

Thanks for the hugs and welcomes and words of support...I'm glad you guys are warming up to the idea of progress and me steering the ship. I'm always open to suggestions ask on OrchidBoard if you want, I'm very easy to get along. When you see me doing something be sure to offer suggestions and ideas of things that you'd like to see and if it will be within possibilities I'll gladly implement it. I don't like running things like a dictator; I much prefer the democratic way

BTW, Nathan didn't die, not sure why you guys will miss him.... You'll see him here getting involved in discussions I'm sure.

There will be big changes from top to bottom, but don't be afraid, idea is to better the forum, and help the community by providing a top notch virtual venue for all of you to play in.

Everyone is concerned that I'm soon going to be featured on the cover of Forbes. That's not the idea. If I recoup the monthly expenses and the investment it will be a big bonus for me. I've been running OrchidBoard.com for a few years now and I'm still adding to it monthly from my own pocket, although it's much better now then before. If I were to sum it up, I'm probably 5 digits in the hole. But who cares, I have fun doing it.

If you want to know how OrchidBoard started, it was really strange. I was on another orchid forum asking for help on some orchids that I inherited from my brother (long story) and the people and mods were really rude and had a strange tendency of ganging up on unsuspecting visitors, esp newbies. After a rude comment, I somehow got into a fight after few stupid remarks @#$@ began to fly. I was then kicked out and told that if I don't like it I should open my own @#$% forum and run it the way I like it. I was fuming! Guess what... OrchidBoard was open the same week. It is now much larger then the other forum and much more respected We now get about 100,000 unique visitors per month. So, I've sunken some money into it...who cares ... as Nathan would say it... it's my baby

Guess what, I don't have a greenhouse full or orchids (though a ton of OB members does), I'm into frogs and I'm doing just fine running an orchid forum, even though I just have a handful of orchids... and that's just because they look cool in my vivs. I don't think I need a basement full of geckos to build on GU's foundation and make this into a thriving site that's at the center of the gecko community.

Nevertheless, I've always loved geckos. It's by far my favourite lizard (along with chameleons :lol: ) and I'm sure I'll be housing a few in my rack.

 

[lessthantito]

aren't you Marty@MistKing? WELCOME I have seen how you keep your dartfrogs maybe you can teach a few people some things about building tanks here cause yours are some of the nicest I have seen

 

[Marty]

aren't you Marty@MistKing? WELCOME I have seen how you keep your dartfrogs maybe you can teach a few people some things about building tanks here cause yours are some of the nicest I have seen

Yes, that's me. Same guy, different hat Thanks for the compliments. Here's one of my tanks that I'll be ripping apart and completely redoing.

We will have to build up the vivarium section here

 

[MiCh@3L]

You are right, Marty. Nathan is still with us 8)

I guess the main problem is that people have their problems with changes :?

Certainly you are a respectable and responsible person, without that you can`t handle 200 tadpoles - I know how much discipline is necessary to be successful in keeping and breeding posion dart frogs.

So, keep up Nathans good work.

Michael

 

[Nathan Hall]

I don't know what the bid deal is.Running a website like this professionally has nothing to do with keeping geckos.I think this could turn out to be a very beneficial move for the gecko hobby.I think the personal and emotional investment even some mods. have is too blinding and allows for biased logic (even though it may be subconscious), and unfair decision making.Some of your reactions are hard to comprehend.What are you losing by a change in management?If your motives aren't of an alterior nature than there is nothing to lose.Jumping on Nathan is inappropriate as well.Some look at him as a leader,well part of being a good leader is knowing when to pass the torch.Maybe he feels that this is the best thing for the continued success of his creation.I don't know.I can't even imagine the amount of time and money it takes to set up and run a venture like this.The strain on a marriage among other things.Just posting once in a while is a huge sacrifice of time when you have a collection like I have.How quickly your forum friends can turn on you.If you really cared you would support Nathans decision and not be negative.Think about Marty's feelings as well, everyone here should welcome him with open arms.

Try to look at this as a positive direction.Clean slate ,fresh start.Also charging for the classifieds is a fine idea.Even Kingsnake doesn't charge for their forums.Some people have made alot of money here without any investment.

Maybe Marty will have some fresh ideas.Probably clarity of unbiased and fair judgement.I think it will be great.Maybe we can all take this opprtunity to make some positive personal changes in the way we participate on the forum.

WELCOME MARTY!!

That means a lot, Jay. Thank you so much.

Maybe he feels that this is the best thing for the continued success of his creation

100% correct!!!


All, I understand your concern and appreciate all of the positive comments. I put my heart and soul into the forums and labored over this decision for a long time. Once I got over myself and realized that the forums were entirely too big for me to keep up with in a professional manner, I passed the torch to someone who has everything I was looking for in an admin and new owner. Don't think this was easy at all. I will definitely still be around. At this point in my life, I had to do this and cut back on the collection. Many of you are like family to me. Oh, here I go with all of the emotional stuff. I've put my trust in Marty, and I'm excited to see him take the forums to another level. You guys don't have to like it now, but understand that I would never let anyone bury these forums. I've not seen such a global community anywhere else.

 

[Tom Martensson]

Jesus christ, give him a chance to run the forum.
And why would you not pay for a advert? You make money on your geckos you sell, why wouldn´t him make a little money, for give you a chance to let the world know what you have for sale? It´s a lot of work to run a forum, nothing is free this day´s.

 

[Geckoholic]

The people that come and exchange information on a forum are what make it unique, not the individual owning it. Nathan has done an incredible job at gathering some truly great gecko breeders from all around the world (which was the hard part). With the core group already established things will only continue to get better. Nathan loves this site and I am sure he will continue to promote it just has he had when he was the owner. We are all grateful to Nathan for creating this site and I respect his decision.

Welcome to the forums Marty!

On a side note, dart frogs are what got me into the reptile/amphibian seen over 12 years ago and I will always have a passion for them. They are truly fascinating creatures and everyone should give them a try at one point or another.

Don't be a stranger Nathan!

Steve

 

[clint545]

I'd like to echo what Geckoholic said Most times it's the people that make a forum worthwhile, this forum definitely being one of them.
I love this forum for its' diversity and wealth of knowledge and gecko keepers from all corners of the world and hope to continue doing so

 

[thrower]

Okay...we have a new leader. There's nothing to be done now, so there's no use in whining. Besides, perhaps now we'll get that 10 month photo competition done

That having been said, there are a couple things that I think should be said/addressed.

First, time will be the ultimate judge of things, but I'm somewhat comforted by the fact that Marty is a nut about dart frogs. Even though he may not be able to name all the leopard morphs or distinguish the various phelsuma species, he at least has a similar obsession that will provide him with insight into the thinking of a majority of the members of this sight. He may not be the personal wealth of gecko info that Nathan is, but I'd be more worried if his private collection consisted of a single hamster.

Second, I know it's all just getting started, but we have got to do something about the theme for this board. The old board had a nice feel to it, with lots of gecko pics and comforting color schemes. As someone that only gets to check this board at night, the retina searing white we currently have is just not cutting it. Combine that with the fact that the only indication that site is about geckos is an inch by 2 inch drawing in the top corner, and you have a pretty depressing substitute.

Once again, I understand that this is just a transition, but perhaps if you just put some generic theme pack in that's similar to the old site, it would help things transition a little more smoothly until you get your vision for the site complete. As it stands now, the forum has lost every bit of the charm and unique character that helped make it what it is today.

Tarl

 

[Bowfinger]

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/news-updates/announcements.html

In case you guys missed this.

 

[trayton]

woah ,clearly you guys all really enjoyed the previous owner of this site but all this complaining is crazy, its reached a level that you have had to blaspheme.

i don't know if the change has happened yet as i am new but im just here to do what the site was created for,to share info and have a good time...lets just give marty a lil support...im sure he will value all your ideas and input so rather give a hand where you can and just grow this community closer together? just an idea...

 

[Bowfinger]

also get your avatars loaded up. i noticed even the old site look similar to this when avatars had to be shut down several months back.

 

[Marty]

I see you guys are slowly warming up Great !!!

btw, I hope you guys like the new logo... it will still be tweaked a bit, but for the most part it's done.

btw, no hamsters for me

 

[roaches42993]

Martys a Good Guy

Hey Marty,

You probably dont remeber me but when I was starting WebHerp Reptile and Amphibian Topsites I sent you an e-mail to join and you gave me a bunch of pointers on how to run a topsite because you had one . Thanks for all your help . It has since grouwn to include Gecko File :: Top Site List and hopfully soon a snake one that does just what gecko file does but for snakes .

Everyone , I havent talked to Marty in almost a year I believe but he is a really good guy anything he can help with he does help with . Nathan was a great admin but as times have changed so must admins . At least we can welcome them with some respect .

Just my 2 cents

 

[Marty]

Thanks Kenny, glad to see you here ! I'll do what I can

 

[geckocrazy]

As a good friend of Nathans i know how swamped he is and how hard a decision this was for him. I wish him the best in his new venture. With that being said welcome Marty, i'm sure you'll do good things here. I believe you made a good investment here because this is a great forum with great people. Chris Drake