As an administrator for guu, I understand everyone’s concerns about the future of the forum. It’s an amazing community and a great resource. With nearly 13 years of posts and information, the forum has also become a living encyclopedia for hobby reasearch.
The last year has been very challenging from a technology standpoint. This has nothing to do with the change in ownership. The issue stemmed from the now archaic programming and platform originally used for the site. That platform became obsolete and we risked losing all historical data. In an effort to salvage the current data and format, we switched platforms. Obviously we are going through some continued technical challenges, all of which we hope to resolve soon.
In the end, we want to accomplish 2 things. 1) retain the history and invaluable research data of the last 13 years. And 2) develop a user friendly format (or multiple platforms) that will be relevant for the next decade. Ken Goldin has put me in touch with his technical support team and, as a hobbyist myself, I am trying to relay all of the concerns. I am also planning a trip to NJ to meet with Ken and his team to discuss our options.
Speaking of Ken, he takes a lot of blame on the forum and it’s really misguided. If anyone recalls, the site was inactive in 2013, crashed and was unattended. No new users were able to register, and no one could
Post.
Ken stepped in and purchased ownership in the site, saving it at the time. Believe it or not, due to the robust size of the database and the format that was being used, the forum is not inexpensive to keep online. There are not only monthly server fees, but also a tech team gets a high hourly rate to be on call and handle all issues. A free forum, surviving to this point, has only been made possible by Ken. Frankly, biting the only hand that feeds us, isn’t going to help.
Not to mention the fact that Ken runs an awesome contest for all of us and frankly asks for very little advertising in return. One banner ad at the top of the page is not crippling the site, in my opinion. I still greatly enjoy the ability to interact my friends and fellow collectors, while researching over a decade of data. I also do not think the fact that blowout cards owns blow out forums stops activity or people from posting there, for example. Ken, as an owner, posts very little intrusive content, in my opinion.
Does the site need repaired? Absolutely. Do we need up to date functionality? Absolutely. Unfortunately, it’s a free site, which does not generate revenue needed to quickly resolve these issues. We have some financial resources available to address the issues, due to Ken’s original investment and continued contributions. My hope is that those resources will allow us to accomplish the 2 goals stated above.
If you have suggestions or feel you can assist in any way, please email me directly. Dougiedshow@aol.com Thank you!

Doug Reiser