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How I see it
@videotron.ca

How I see it to Jundee80

Anon

to Jundee80

Re: Holmes Fan Forum closed !?!

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.
Jundee80
join:2012-11-06
Canada

Jundee80

Member

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

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
Jundee80

Jundee80 to PSWired

Member

to PSWired
That's what I'm hoping.
seadragon
join:2012-11-08
Guelph, ON

seadragon to Jundee80

Member

to Jundee80
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.
Jundee80
join:2012-11-06
Canada

1 edit

Jundee80

Member

The following is not theory but fact.

The moderators were told by their administrator that discussions were held by the office (nobody specified) to determine what to do

The following options were mentioned:

Archive the forum which had over 1/4 million posts.

Hire a new administrator which would have to be paid.

Place advertising on the forum to cover the cost.

As I mentioned in previous posts, there was no mention of shutting the forum down completely.

I even offered to have my son, who is an IT specialist with IBM, fix the spam problem for them, without any cost to them.

I received a polite thank you.

I find it hard to believe too but over 9 years Mike posted exactly once on the forum, a Christmas message the first
year.

As long as we don't get an explanation, all we can do is make assumptions

Jundee

rickardsred
join:2004-08-20
St Catharines, ON

rickardsred

Member

I too am disappointed to see the Holmes Forum shut down. I was a member there going back a number of years, and usually enjoyed reading through the posts, and jumping in when I could contribute something worthwhile.

I gotta give the mods there credit (Jundee, Navyguy et al....) for keeping the threads on-topic, keeping the spam and flamewars to a minimum and basically making it an enjoyable forum to participate in. A thankless job, especially considering they were all volunteers.

I can understand the Holmes group's reasoning for pulling the plug though. If they don't have direct control over the content, and don't have the time/budget to pay someone to oversee it, I can see why they wouldn't want their name associated with it. Perhaps they could have renamed it the 'Unofficial Mike Holmes Fan Forum' if they were concerned about protecting the Holmes brand image?
Jundee80
join:2012-11-06
Canada

Jundee80

Member

The fan forum was independant before Holmes decided to take it over.

As far as control is concerned, Mike's daughter was administrator & you can rest assured she didn't hesitate to pull the moderators short if she deemed it neccessary.

We also all had to sign an agreement to adhere to certain rules when they took over ownership.

Jundee