New Owner for Model Boats

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I have been informed that Model Boats Magazine, along with RCME and the two Model Engineering titles have been sold to Mortons Media with immediate effect..

An announcement has been posted on the Model Flying site:

**LINK**

This looks promising for the continuation of the magazine itself as another company is clearly willing to invest in it. Both Lindsey and designer Richard Dyer will transfer to Mortons.

At the moment I have no idea how this might impact on this forum and have asked Lindsey if she can find out more.

In the meantime, should the forum suddenly disappear (heaven forbid!) I suggest that contacts are maintained on the Model Boat Mayhem site.

I will share any further information as and when I get it.

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

OO er! I would like to think the MB forum would continue as its good advertising for the mag?

AND…how would I fill half my day if it disappeared !!!!

Ashley (only kidding….my day is spent bashing out odd model boats)

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi All,

Well this is a fairly regular event in the world of publishing over the years as I recall :-

Not an extensive list of previous owners but all I can remember

Percival Marshall

Model & Allied Publications

Nexus Special interests

Mytime Media

All of which have owned the titles, lets hope the magazine will now progress from strength to strength.

Regards Ray

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

You missed out Model Aeronautical Press and Magicalia Ray.

The potential issue with the forum is that it is embedded in the MyTimeMedia bespoke software platform as is the Model Engineer forum. This makes extraction of the data very difficult.

However it has been done for the RCME forum but there is obviously a cost involved and the look and feel of the forum is rather different. Photos are retained but not in albums for example. Fingers crossed anyway.

Colin

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

As long as this secures the future of the magazine and we are keeping the editor and layout designer it should be a good thing.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I like The MB style forum and album feature over other forum sites I must say.

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I think the best we can hope for is some type of forum but I would be very surprised if it remains in the same format.

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

Ashley sleeps at night dreaming up the next odd boat for the next day !!!!

Harry

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

What about Marine Modelling International ????

Harry

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

This is most likely good news. I have thought that the magazine was dying.

I am not so thrilled about the current editorial direction which it appears is likely to continue.

I am not sure how this will work but we are definitely moving into a new era.

Questions remain about the forum, the archive, possibly the plans service and books?

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Harry,

What about MMI ?? it ceased publication a few years ago.

Regards Ray

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Chris,

The Plans and books division were sold by Mytime Media some years ago to Traplet publications who in short order went into administration, picked up by SARIK who currently sell the range of plans.

The free plans published in the last 3 years havn't been passed to SARIK as was standard practice, so copies of our drawings are hard to source

Regards Ray

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

This is timely as I've had my subscription renewal for a few days now and was going to renew it this morning. Will wait and see what the new arrangements are before doing so as I don't want to pay it to Mytime Media.

Chris

[Trevor Drabble 1Participant @trevordrabble1]

My subscription is due for renewal in September , and in all the years l have been a subscriber , I have never missed an issue ; until April 2022. I tried ringing MTM , but the number appears to be disconnected . I await with interest the 22nd April.

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember67585]

[This posting has been removed]

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

That's the whole point, the forum is owned by My Time Media so a change of ownership of the magazine could prove a concern.

[Francis MacnaughtonParticipant @francismacnaughton39461]

If you go to the Mortons website and look at the modelling magazine page there is a section on MB magazine with a link straight to this website. Additionally, the FAQ page on the Mortons site has a digital products section that describes PocketMags as their digital partner with a link so you can log in to your existing Pocketmags account and access all the MBM issues you bought via MTM. Hopefully this means that there should be a smooth transition to new ownership setup.

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

Posted by Ray Wood 2 on 09/04/2022 10:32:08:

Hi Chris,

………………………………The free plans published in the last 3 years havn't been passed to SARIK as was standard practice, so copies of our drawings are hard to source

Regards Ray

So what, I wonder, is the argument for not letting digital subscribers see them even in a reduced form? I was told the argument used to be protecting plan sales but that is no longer the case.

When the dust settles I will try & get the policy changed.

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Posted by Richard Simpson on 10/04/2022 23:00:48:

That's the whole point, the forum is owned by My Time Media so a change of ownership of the magazine could prove a concern.

Yes, that was my thoughts as well, so I've backed up my various build blogs as I use them for reference and the advice I've been given. Too much time and effort to lose them.

Sadly when a forum closes years of useful and interesting stuff goes with it. Hopefully it won't be the case and fingers crossed.

Chris

[alan burgessParticipant @alanburgess78098]

Should the forum and all its associated build threads, hint, tips, personal modelling experiences etc. be lost…………it would be a robbery to the hobby and an insult to the many contributors who submitted invaluable sources of information.

This encyclopedia of modelling knowledge would become unavailable to any 'newbie' modellers looking for inspiration, help and the simply answer to 'how do I ?……'.

Although now retired, I spent most of my working life in IT. As such I find it hard to accept that the System/Database that supports this forum cannot be manipulated by a savvy programmer/analyst to transfer it to another platform.

I've begun copying threads I'm interested in case the IT teams do not find the task included in their project list.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Indeed the data can be mapped and converted, and has been done in the case of the Model Flying Forum. However the original forum facility wasdeveloped as an extension from a very bespoke MyTime Media software platform and extracting the forum data, and particularly the images, proved to be a complex and rather expensive job which is why only Model Flying has been converted to date to fit in with the new MTM platform and the look and feel of that forum is now very different to that of this one and the other MTM title forums.

Loss of data is always a tragedy with valuable information being effectively lost forever if a forum is shut down but in practice it happens all the time. Anything you upload to a forum has to be considered vulnerable and ephemeral as it can literally be lost at the flick of a switch. External factors can also damage a forum as when Photobucket turned off the free 3rd party hosting facility some years back and many forums found that a lot of their images had disappeared overnight.

Forums are dynamic in the sense that they have to be constantly maintained and that entails management and costs, unlike hard copy magazines which, once printed, can stay around more or less forever. It's not hard to source individual secondhand copies of MB going back 40 years or more from EBay or the Magazine Exchange for example.

This particular forum was established to support Model Boats and, along with the website, to encourage people to buy and subscribe to the magazine. If it is not seen to be doing this then there is no incentive for the publisher to continue to maintain it. It is not a charity yet many people make use of it, post on it and never or rarely buy the magazine. It is simply taken for granted as a free facility.

Colin

 

Edited By Colin Bishop on 16/04/2022 17:47:29

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Colin, am I right in thinking that this isn't the original forum and that there was one before it, which I assume lost its data?

From what you're saying it doesn't look very promising which is a real pity. Some of the folks who are members on here do post on other forums but some do not, including some who are very experienced and frequently offer their advice and will be greatly missed.

I know that forums can suddenly disappear as has happened to me on a couple of other interest forums.

I do subscribe for hard copy and digital and see the forum as an extension of the magazine in some ways but of course the new owners might not see it that way.

Chris

Edited By Chris Fellows on 16/04/2022 19:24:44

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi All,

I think it was the fashion a few years back to say a publication had a website/forum to appear to be current, I know that when RCM&E changed from our current format of forum to the new version I lost interest and don't post on there anymore as it seemed too complicated

Compared to the numbers of folk logged onto the Model Engineer and RCM&E's forum at anyone time, Model Boats maybe a different audience technically speaking.

I'd hate to think my 2680 posts & 935 photos were the reason massive date centres are fizzing away in Europe in places like Denmark, which I helped build just to store our conversations ??

I use screen shots saved of anything interesting for reference in the future

This debate could run and run !!

At the end of the day it's only a bit of fun ??

Regards Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 16/04/2022 19:47:28

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Chris,

The original Model Boats Forum under a former owner was indeed abruptly shut down without notice despite protests.

It was this event which inspired Martin Davies to establish the Mayhem forum to which many previous MB members migrated.

Colin

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