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LazMan
Premium Member
join:2003-03-26
Beverly Hills, CA

LazMan

Premium Member

Holmes Fan Forum closed !?!

So, while not directly home-improvement related... I went to goto the Mike Holmes fan forum a few minutes ago, and there's a new splash page, saying it's closed...

I know there's a few members here that frequented that site, as well... Was there an announcement that it was being closed, or was everyone as surprised as me?

Anon
@teksavvy.com

Anon

Anon

I am as surprised as you are. Not sure what happened.
itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

1 recommendation

itguy05

Member

His 15 minutes of fame were up? Never was a Holmes fan.

alkizmo
join:2007-06-25
Pierrefonds, QC

alkizmo

Member

said by itguy05:

His 15 minutes of fame were up? Never was a Holmes fan.

Doubt it's about his fame running out.
I think his forum just became a battle ground for anti/pro Holmes and they closed it because it served no real purpose other than being another home reno forum.

It's not like his other websites are down.

LazMan
Premium Member
join:2003-03-26
Beverly Hills, CA

LazMan

Premium Member

Not a big of his (he started out alright, but his ego has become insane...) - but the forums were decent - lots of good advice; and some decent people as mod's and regular posters.

My personal take is that he didn't have direct control of the content, and he couldn't accept that...

alkizmo
join:2007-06-25
Pierrefonds, QC

alkizmo

Member

said by LazMan:

My personal take is that he didn't have direct control of the content, and he couldn't accept that...

Makes sense, it was an official forum, where people could give advices that don't match what Holmes would say (While pulling on his suspenders).

Jon5
Premium Member
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL

Jon5 to LazMan

Premium Member

to LazMan
said by LazMan:

My personal take is that he didn't have direct control of the content, and he couldn't accept that...

I didn't even know there was a forum.
But if that's why it got shut down I don't blame him. He's a brand now and needs to protect it. And having a forum full of flame wars is pointless.

LazMan
Premium Member
join:2003-03-26
Beverly Hills, CA

LazMan

Premium Member

It actually started as an "unoffical" forum, and was taken over by the Holmes group in maybe '09...

There wasn't ever much flaming on it, actually... Some advice was better then others, for sure, but generally, it never got heated...

If they were going to shut it down, that was fine, it's their ball; they can take it and go home, if they wanted - but to just pull the plug, with no notice, seems pretty disrespectful to the users and fans.

Anyways...

Jon5
Premium Member
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL

Jon5

Premium Member

Maybe it's a liability thing. If it's official as you say. What happens when someone goes there and gets bad advice from some random know-it-all DIY'er and takes it, and it goes bad?
Next thing you know they're all over the internet screaming "I followed advice from the Mike Holmes website and it burned down my house!" That may not be why. Maybe it was cost cutting or something. If I were him and putting my name on something, you bet your ass I'd want control over it though. If control was the issue.
Jaber
join:2007-07-07
Mount Prospect, IL

Jaber to LazMan

Member

to LazMan
According to his FB:
quote:
Hi everyone. I wanted to comment on closing the Official Mike Holmes Forum. It was a difficult decision but we are going to use the knowledge we gained from the forum to develop more tips and articles to help you through your home renovations. Every home is different - and the best thing to do is call a pro in your local area. Thanks everyone for your support & understanding.
»www.facebook.com/make.it ··· f=stream
Jundee80
join:2012-11-06
Canada

1 recommendation

Jundee80 to LazMan

Member

to LazMan
I was the first & longest serving moderator of the Holmes Fan Forum (9years)

I was as surprised & shocked as everyone else. We received no warning or notice. Not the moderator, not the members.

We (mods) were all shocked, to put it mildly, about this cold blooded action. If for no other reason than common courtesy, there should have been some kind of announcement.

It somehow tarnished their famous slogan "Make It Right" & does not improve the image of the Holmes brand.

To clarify some of the comments here about the ownership:

The original forum was started by Holmes. It went down for about 6 month several years later & in 2005 the Fan Forum was started by a member as admin. & I became mod again.

When the Holmes website came back they decided to carry the Fan Forum because by then it grown to over 10 000 members & it made no sense to compete with 2 different forums.

The rights to the Fan Forum were bought by the Holmes Group about 3 years ago & continued on both sites until last week.

I think LazMan was a Fan Forum member.

There was never much of a battle ground between anti or pro holmes & there was never any interference from the Holmes Group since one of his daughters was administrator and very good at the way she handled it.

I always had the feeling that the Holmes Group never paid much attention to the Fan Forum which is the reason why everbody was so shocked at this sudden action.

Jundee

alkizmo
join:2007-06-25
Pierrefonds, QC

alkizmo

Member

said by Jundee80:

It somehow tarnished their famous slogan "Make It Right" & does not improve the image of the Holmes brand.

They also have the "image" of smashing things with a sledge hammer without "warning" when something isn't "right".

LazMan
Premium Member
join:2003-03-26
Beverly Hills, CA

LazMan to Jundee80

Premium Member

to Jundee80
I knew the Linkmeister would know how to get here...

I was a long-time member there - there was actually a thread about longest serving active members, and while I didn't make the top ten, I didn't miss it by much...

I wasn't aware the forum existed in an offical capacity before the unofficial board - I joined Sanheim's unofficial one in about Sept of '05...

Jundee, if you catch wind of another forum or group where the active members from the HoH board start to gather, it would be appreciated if you could pass it on!
Jundee80
join:2012-11-06
Canada

1 edit

Jundee80 to LazMan

Member

to LazMan
I'll do my best.

Jundee
Jundee80

1 edit

Jundee80

Member

Quote"Mike Holmes
November 1
Hi everyone. I wanted to comment on closing the Official Mike Holmes Forum. It was a difficult decision but we are going to use the knowledge we gained from the forum to develop more tips and articles to help you through your home renovations. Every home is different - and the best thing to do is call a pro in your local area. Thanks everyone for your support & understanding.
4Like · Comment · Share

Sherrie Lauthner, Krista Wyss, K. Scott Downs and 520 others like this.
2 of 115
View previous comments
Rainie Leroux Not good enough. No notice, no reason. Mike, I think you may want to make this one right. I have been on the forum since it opened and you did not even e-mail anyone with any sort of notice. Very bad PR and I have lost faith in you and what you stand for.
Yesterday at 9:55am

Bob DeZeeuw I, for one, am very disappointed with this decision, the complete absence of forewarning and the lack of rationale provided as to why the decision was made. It is leaving many of us guessing. The form was a fantastic resource for those who where trying to live the "Make It Right" mantra in their own homes. Thanks to all of the active posters and volunteer moderators for their continued efforts. First time that the Mike holmes "business" has disappointed me as a fan and vocal supporter of the message.
15 hours ago"Unquote

I've been informed that the above message by Mike was not from him. Presumably it was posted by someone in the office who may also be the one who decided to close the forum.

Jundee
Jundee80

Jundee80 to Jon5

Member

to Jon5
Mike had no direct control & never interfered with the forum.
In fact, when people addressed a question directly to him they were always told that Mike did not frequent the forum.

As far as "flame wars" were concerned, there were very few over the years. Most of them were based on false assumptions or misinformation & ususally delat with very quickly by moderators.

Jundee

Bela
@rogers.com

Bela to LazMan

Anon

to LazMan
I was a member of the forum for many years and over this time I learned a lot reading and participating in threads. The moderators did a great job running the forum and there were many expert members that offered excellent advice. The forum was a great resource for people who wanted to learn about renovating their homes.

I always thought part of Mike Holmes mandate was to educate homeowners. Closing the forum does nothing to further this mandate and removal of all the great knowledge contained there is a travesty. Furthermore, Mike has always talked about treating people fairly and respectively. Closing the forum they way it was done was disrespectful to the members and moderators.

dolphins
Clean Up Our Oceans
Premium Member
join:2001-08-22
Westville, NJ

dolphins to LazMan

Premium Member

to LazMan
Personally, I've never visited the site. Judging from the comments here about the flame wars, I will go ahead and say that if the site was moderated by anyone other than industry professionals they were asking for trouble.

How I see it
@videotron.ca

How I see it to Jundee80

Anon

to Jundee80
said by Jundee80:

Mike Holmes
November 1
Hi everyone. I wanted to comment on closing the Official Mike Holmes Forum. .... Every home is different - and the best thing to do is call a pro in your local area.
Thanks everyone for your support & understanding.

Sounds to me like someone got bad advice and made a legal issue of it maybe.

I mean if they abruptly shut down a forum where people are saying it was all pro advice, and their closing message says contact a pro in your area instead, then it's very possible something went on. Could even have been something as mundane as a municipal bylaw someone got nailed for in a prov (other than Ontario) that Homes doesn't know about but required there.

... and you know municipal bylaws... they can force you to take everything down and start over.

Could be anything in relation to the above.

The closing comment, to me, seems to indicate there was a liability issue associated with the "holmes" brand.

And that's how I see it.

Lone Wolf
Retired
Premium Member
join:2001-12-30
USA

Lone Wolf to Jundee80

Premium Member

to Jundee80
said by Jundee80:

Mike Holmes
November 1
Hi everyone. I wanted to comment on closing the Official Mike Holmes Forum. It was a difficult decision but we are going to use the knowledge we gained from the forum to develop more tips and articles to help you through your home renovations. Every home is different - and the best thing to do is call a pro in your local area. Thanks everyone for your support & understanding.
4Like · Comment · Share
.........................................................................
I've been informed that the above message by Mike was not from him. Presumably it was posted by someone in the office who may also be the one who decided to close the forum.

Jundee

How much of this is a quote of another forum and how much is yours? It's confusing!

Try using blockquote or quotation marks to post quotes.
Thanks
Jundee80
join:2012-11-06
Canada

1 edit

Jundee80

Member

Sorry, I still have to get used to how this forum works.

The post from Mike was from his facebook page.

The next 2 messages were replies to mike's post.

The last line "I've been informed etc." was from me.
Jundee80

Jundee80 to How I see it

Member

to How I see it
The closing of the forum had nothing to do with what you're assuming.

Mike has always advocated to use pros. That's just how he feels about it & I can understand that because he has come across to much crappy work done by amateurs to feel like that.

But there are a lot of talented DIY people that get permits, know what they can handle & what they should not try to do.

And we received enough complaints from people who used supposed pros & who ended up being taken to the cleaners.

All our moderators were professionals in their respective fields and we had many experienced contractors & trades people as members. You can generally tell pretty quick if people know what they're talking about or if they're just blowing hot air.

There were always members who tried to do stuff they should leave alone & get professionals, usually because they didn't have the money or wanted to save money.

In those instances we would advise them to get a professional.

Which was also the reason why we did not allow people to recommed contractors or trades people, no matter how terrific the member claimed they were because we had no way to check the veracity of what was claimed.

Jundee
Jundee80

Jundee80

Member

I should also mention that the Fan Forum had the usual disclaimers that almost all forums have.

Just like HGTV have it on their website & Mike Holmes has a page on his TV show.

Jundee
seadragon
join:2012-11-08
Guelph, ON

seadragon

Member

I too was a long time member of the fan forum and enjoyed it very much. I am not happy to see the forum closed, but more so, how it was closed. The front door was slammed shut it everyones' face. It's too bad really, because members got to know each other a bit and now have no way of communicating with them. It just would have been nice to exchange contact info if anything else.

The only thing I can think of was that some legal action shut it down. That's just a guess on my part. Otherwise, the sudden closure just doesn't seem to fit the culture of how the forum was run.

Nice to see you Jundee! I know you put a lot of effort and time into helping run the forum. And thanks for all the information and links you posted over the years!

PSWired
join:2006-03-26
Annapolis, MD

PSWired

Member

Keep in mind DSLReports forum topics get very good Google ranks--this thread turns up at the top of the list when "holmes fan forum" is Googled. I bet you can get in touch with a bunch of the regulars through this topic.
Jundee80
join:2012-11-06
Canada

Jundee80

Member

That's what I'm hoping.
Jundee80

Jundee80 to PSWired

Member

to PSWired
Hi, Seadragon, nice to find you here. Maybe some more members from our forum will find their way here.

I don't believe there were any legal reasons for the closure. I have a theory of why it was closed.

Before I get to that I should mention that Mike was in Central America, visiting one of the SOS Children's Villages he sponsors & he just returned from there quite ill & is now recuperating.

This re-enforces the fact that he knew nothing about the closure & that the post on his Face book page was put there by someone else.

Now to my theory.

Mike is a contractor while the person who persuaded him to start the show was a big wheel with one of the big TV production companies in Canada. He is now one of the top executives with the Holmes Group.

With Mike involved with actual production of the show, interviews, writing a column for the Globe & Mail, appearing on a multitude of TV shows to promote his operation, writing
books, the Holmes Foundation, the Alberta Housing Development, SKILLS Canada, his support of various charities, he would not bother with the running of the office operation except for major subjects.

I've always had the feeling that the Fan Forum wasn't on anybodies radar at the office. That was evident to me when they never bothered to mention any of Mike's activities except on their website " www.makeitright.com ".

I would check their site every day & post the info on the forum. You would assume that with 80 000 members they would bother to do that because not everybody would check
that site.

Having been on a construction site, to show appearances, book signings, charity events, met all his crew (except recent additions), many of his regular contractors, all of his top execs, most of the office staff, had my 76th birthday party at their office (still have the giant card everybody signed), I think my theory has some validity.

With Mandy as administrator, who would be expected to protect his interests & with Mike's schedule that would kill an ox, I can imagine that nobody else would care about the Fan Forum one way or another.

With Mandy, as a mother with 2 infants now unable to continue in that role it would require a new administrator.

Because the Fan Forum did not produce tangible revenue, & I'm fairly positive that they would not want to use a volunteer outsider as administrator. Which would mean they would have to hire somebody & put them on the office payroll.

I guess they didn't anticipate the reaction of the members because they really have no idea how successful the Forum really was.

Jundee
seadragon
join:2012-11-08
Guelph, ON

seadragon

Member

Hi Jundee,

Your post makes a lot of sense. That is very likely what happened. Basically, a suit shut it down (as they are famous for doing).

That would explain a lot since the sudden closure seems out of character given the friendly ecosystem of the forum. I'll miss it.

Thanks again!
Jundee80
join:2012-11-06
Canada

Jundee80

Member

Those bean counters are only interested in the bottom line.

Jundee

chrnits
@rogers.com

chrnits to Jundee80

Anon

to Jundee80
I find it hard to believe the Holmes Group would not notice a forum with 80,000 members and not view this base as an opportunity to further the brand. I have't read any theory here that explains abrupt shuttering of the forum.