Looking for someone to take over the group

[wally]

Hi all,

Happy new year to everyone, and I hope you all had a safe and wonderful holiday!

It's been a while since I was able to log into the CVPUG to see what's happening. I changed jobs and moved to Germany last summer and have been so very busy that I haven't had a chance to participate in the group. With my busy schedule, I don't foresee this changing.

So, I would like to offer the group an opportunity for someone to take it over. Yes, I really did say that. Yamaha contacted me a while back with some interest in it, but I am wondering if any of the members might be interested in either running it or owning it.

I started the CVPUG in November of 1998 as a simple email list of fellow CVP enthusiasts, and it has grown to more than 6,000 members all over the world. There are so many ways this group could be improved upon and the membership expanded. I have lots of great ideas, but no time.

So, if anyone is interested, please send me an email to my private email account: wally.lafferty AT yahoo.com. Share with me your ideas and we'll talk.

Cheers!!
Wally

[tomtomsf]

Wow! That's big news for 2012!

Sounds like you have an exciting job, Wally. I hope you are in a nice place in Germany (there are many). I hate to see you give up this old baby, but I do hope it lives on.

Tom G.

[dbjorck]

Ooooh....... I think everyone would be wondering, what exactly would it entail? How much assistance could be expected from Yamaha themselves??

Brgds

Danny

[wally]

@tomtomsf, I'm in Hamburg. I love it here. It's getting cold now, but the city is beautiful!! Thanks for your kind comment.

@dbjorck, there is absolutely no assistance from Yamaha. There is a long story behind this, but they want to keep their distance from the group.

Primarily, the workload involves approving new applicants. Each applicant has to complete an application form, and you have to decide whether to grant membership or not. Nearly 50% of the applications are generated by spambots -- when you accidentally approve a spambot, the group starts receiving spam messages in the forums. I had to develop a method to help me discern which applications come from spambots and which ones are real.

Also, the work involves creating new forums when new models come out. Also managing little things that come up from time to time. Every year I pay for the DNS server and URL registration for cvpug.com. If someone wants to own the site, they will have to pick up the bill for this -- it's not much.

I can see the possibility of expanding the group to include virtually ALL digital pianos/keyboards from all of the manufacturers and selling ad space. This would probably make the site grow significantly and the ads would make the site profitable.